Why do we first come to a Church meeting and encounter God
Often our motive is to try and get met whatever it is we see as our greatest need. Like:
• To get a financial blessing possibly after some great set back.
• To get deliverance from a ruinous addiction and thoughts of suicide.
• To get a physical healing.
• To recover from a divorce or the loss of a loved one.
• To find a girlfriend or a boyfriend, or a wife or a husband.
And God may be able to meet us at the exact point of our perceived need, if we will hear Him and believe Him. And in the process be able to convict us of our sins and forgive us, because of what Jesus did at Calvary, and get us born again. But the sad thing is how do we often then respond? We think “OK God, I can handle things again from here”. Where’s our loving gratitude to God? Where’s our understanding of how great our ongoing need for God is; and how great is the ongoing Salvation He offers us? We are so often like Israel was after receiving God’s blessing. We are like the 9 ungrateful lepers who were healed:
Ps 107:13-19 Then they (Israel) cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved
them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. (Just like He did for us)
15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! (But we don’t, we return to our ways)
17 Fools, because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, were
afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food (spiritual food – the living word of God), And they drew near to the gates of death (again).
19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble (again), And He saved them out of their distresses...Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving...
Luke 17:12-19 ...There met Him (Jesus) ten men who were lepers...And they said,
"Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God...And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this (non Jewish) Samaritan?"
Where were the multitudes that Jesus healed physically, at His trial and crucifixion? They had deserted Him, and some may have been part of the crowd that said crucify Him.
Matt 12:15 ...Great multitudes followed Him (Jesus), and He healed them all.
Mark 15:8-13 Then the multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him (Pilate) to do just
as he had always done for them...He was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. Pilate said to them "What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?"
So they (the multitude) cried out again, "Crucify Him!"
Where are the millions of Christians today who once received a great blessing from God? Are they still with Him, walking with Him, totally submitted to Him, sanctified, bearing much fruit and gathering others to Him? Or have they returned to their own way and gone astray not knowing that, in their spirits, they are miserable, poor, naked and blind?
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned (again), every one, to
his own way (even though) the LORD has laid on Him (Jesus) the sins of us all.
2 Thes 2:3 2 Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way, for that day (of Christ’s
return) will not come except the apostasy comes first, unless the predicted
AMP great falling away of those who have professed to be Christians has come...
Rev 3:17-19 (Jesus to the Church) You say, 'I am rich, with everything I want; I don't
need a thing!' And you don't realize that spiritually you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. TLB
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire (My word), so that you may be rich, and white garments (My righteousness) so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes (the fullness of My Spirit), so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Our delusion is that we just don’t see how great our need for God is. We focus on our immediate need in the natural and are satisfied if that is met, or complain if it isn’t. Either way, we then wander away and neglect both our ongoing salvation and the body of Christ through whom God offers it to us. We don’t see what great peril we have put ourselves in:
Heb 2:3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which first began
to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
Heb 10:25-26 Don’t neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage
one another, and all the more as you see the Day (of Christ’s return) drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately (not doing God’s will) after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ESV
Prov 21:16 The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in
KJV the congregation of the dead (dead to God and headed for eternal destruction).
Isa 55:1 Listen, everyone who is thirsty (for God)! Come to the waters (of My word); He who has no money, come, buy and eat (feed on My divine nature in exchange for your soul) Yes, come, buy priceless, spiritual wine and milk without money
and without price, simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing. AMP
