Charge Your Batteries

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM OF PRESENT DAY CHRISTIANS?

Is sin our problem? No. The Apostles too were not perfect people. Is our problem insufficient quantity of the Holy Spirit? No. We have the same Holy Spirit as they had. Is our problem civilization? No, because it is actually Christianity that brought about civilization. Is it economic problem? No. The Bible says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” The problem is lack of hunger. The present-day Christians are not thirsty after God. The Lord picked up Peter who was fishing and catching nothing. And after Jesus picked him up, He said to him” “I will make you fishers of men.” So, God’s purpose for the life of Peter was to be a fisher of men. But the same Peter ran away in John 21 to do something else, the very thing that he was delivered from originally. What is causing our lack of hunger for the Lord these days can be found in the question Jesus asked Peter. John 21: 15 says, “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon, (here, Jesus called him Simon instead of just the new name, Peter, which He had given Him. Meaning that something was wrong. Peter means a rock while Simon means a reed) son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord: thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, (may be Jesus was suspicious of the first answer) Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” Peter failed at a profession in which he was an expert. Many, too are failing woefully today at what they know how to do because of lack of the hunger for Jesus in them. Jesus was asking Peter if he loves Him more than all the disciples, more than his boats and more than his fishing. Today, He is asking you the same questions. Do you love Jesus more than the world? Do you love Jesus more than all the glamorous things that are around you? Are you the kind of person who would abandon fellowship because you want to go to a worldly party? Do you love Jesus? It is the love for Him that would create the hunger. A story I read about Peter said that Peter was eventually arrested and locked up somewhere in Rome and as the soldiers were going to kill him, he escaped when he had the opportunity to do so. On his way out, he met Jesus and asked Him, “Lord where are you going?” and Jesus said. “To go and die for you the second time.” When Peter heard that, he walked back with his own legs to the Prison from which he had escaped because he remembered the words of the Lord to him; Do you love me? Feed my sheep.” He went back and they promptly caught him and as they were going to crucify him he said, Sirs, don’t crucify me the way you crucified Jesus.” So they turned Peter upside down and crucified him. That was how he died because he loved Jesus. The Bible says, “And they loved not their lives unto death.” The reason some people are afraid of death is because they don’t love Jesus. When you love Jesus, and the devil sees that you are no longer afraid of death, he will run away from you. A careful consideration of the following questions will help you to test your level of spiritual hunger for the Lord: Have you forgiven everyone who has offended you? Is there any malice or hatred in your heart? Another year is going now and God is putting everything on record. Do you cherish grudges in your heart? Have you refused to be reconciled with somebody you quarrelled with? Do you get angry? Do you still lose your temper? Or do you boil internally? Do you get jealous? Is envy in your heart? Are you sweet and clean under heavy pressure or circumstances? Are you easily offended? Does it hurt you when somebody ignores you? Are you disturbed when you are neglected? Is there pride in your heart? Do you always like to be noticed? Are you always dishonest when it comes to money? Do you gossip about people? Do you discuss other people behind their backs in a negative way? Are you on assignment for Jesus? Do you obey Him all the time? Do you steal, particularly God’s money? Would the people of the world regard you as being different from them? It is sad when an unbeliever looks at a Christian and what he or she likes about the Christian is her kind of lipstick and finger nails polish instead of the holiness and righteousness of God in your life. Such a Christian is advertising vanity instead of advertising God. The person has become like Hezekiah who when some people came to visit him, he took them around and showed them the beauty of the temple and they left. Then God asked him, “Hezekiah, what have they found in your house?” He couldn’t talk. God said, “You advertised to them all the decorations and beauty but you refused to talk to them about the God of Israel that added 15 years to your life. Shouldn’t that be the first thing to talk to them about?” God had to deal with him. Have you wronged anyone and you don’t want to make restitution? Are you a spiritual-yes person? Do you receive anything from the Holy Spirit? Have you received the spirit of Zacchaeus? Do you steal spoons, beds, chairs, office equipment, etc from hotels and offices? Are you an extortioner? These are the things that kill spiritual fire. Are you a fornicator or an adulterer? Do you get anxious or worried about any small thing? Do you pretend to have forgiven somebody when you have not really forgiven the person? Do you disobey men of God? Are you guilty of immorality in the heart? Do you harbour in-pure or unholy imaginations? Are you the kind of person who exaggerates? Do you tell lies to cover up your faults? Do you pray for others? Are you guilty of the sin of prayerlessness? Are you neglecting the Bible? How many chapters a day of the Bible do you read? Do you witness about Jesus to people? Do you have compassion in your heart for souls that are perishing? Have you lost your first love for the Lord? How can a person planning for heaven buy a tie worth N20,000 whereas he cannot spend N5,000 to buy tracts and distribute to people so that they can at least enjoy the benefits of Jesus? Do you attend parties of unbelievers and start to look around and hope that nobody from your church is there to see you because if they see you, you would be used to preach the following Sunday and so you stay in the dark areas? These are the way to check the level of your hunger for the Lord. Beloved, think about these things. James the son of Zebedee, an apostle, loved the Lord until his death. When he was going to be killed, he witnessed to the Roman soldiers who were taking him away. The executor became interested and when they got to where James was to be killed, the soldier said, “Sorry, you have to kill us together. I am not killing this man. His colleagues reported him. So James did not die alone. He died with the soldier that was meant to kill him. They loved not their lives unto death. Under harsh conditions, some Christians would deny Jesus. This is very sad. The reason masquerades and other things are running after many people in the dream is because they are afraid of death. The apostles passed that level. They loved not their lives unto death. We read that Philip was dragged on the ground until the whole of his clothes were torn and he was terribly wounded before he was nailed on the tree. Matthew was made to sit down and clubbed to death. They loved not their lives unto death. Stephen was stoned to death. Brother Andrew was crucified naked on a cross with an ‘X’ shape. The man who wrote the book of Mark in the Bible was dragged on the ground before an idol while he was preaching until his flesh was torn into pieces. They loved not their lives unto death. Almost all the apostles died a terrible death because of the gospel. Are you hungry for Jesus? Is the hunger for God in you now higher than what it was last year? Now that another year is coming, are you still at that same level of breaking down and crying instead of standing your ground and fighting the enemy? What then do we do now? We need to pray seriously that the Lord should close down every factory of the enemy in our lives. It is from this factory that anger and all kinds of evil things are coming out. All satanic factories should be closed down because their existence will entrench lack of hunger for God and kill spiritual fire. We also need to pray that the power of resurrection should enter into our lives afresh. When the power of resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ comes upon you, you will not be afraid of anything because since Christ is still living in you, nobody can kill you. We also need to pray that every spirit of death and hell should depart. The spirit of death and hell operates in two ways: