ma·ture
fully developed; full-grown
We are in a season of God wanting to MATURE His church.
Whether you believe it or not, we are in a spiritual war. Yes, we've always been. BUT right now there's a climax of spiritual activity. A world war three, if you will.....but spiritual. The enemy is raging. The Church as a whole has been passive for decades, sitting on it's rapture rug, waiting for Jesus to come rescue us from this world. Um, no. We were supposed to stand up, push back darkness, gain ground for the Kingdom, and offer reconciliation to people - back to God. Instead, the religion, passivity, and fear of man has made the Church weak and ineffective. We now succumb to not wanting to offend or hurt feelings, lose numbers & finances. Worse yet, the enemy has snuck so far into the Church that there's now homosexual pastors, alcohol in church, literal club scenes on Sunday mornings with raunchy music and twerking. Dear Lord, help us.
There's also more subtle ways that the kingdom of darkness has snuck in. Witchcraft is in the Church. And when people speak out about it, it's met with the harshest resistance. That boggles my mind! When the watchmen on the wall are seeing infiltration and sound the alarm, the most harsh responses come lashing back at them....all from the fellow Christians! What on earth?! If there's a bullet stuck in my leg that for some reason I didn't notice, why on earth would I yell and attack the person trying to tell me it's there? No, no, no. It's time for MATURITY in the Church.
As an intercessor, this has been heavy on my heart. I know for a fact it's heavy on a LOT of other people's hearts as well. When we speak out about what we are seeing in the natural and the spiritual, we are trying to help, not attack. So we need more discernment and wisdom from the Holy Spirit.
Here are a few ways to grow in spiritual maturity for the entire Church - pastors & leaders included:
Get back into the Word. Read your Bible! We should not be spending more time listening to podcasts, searching out the next big conference & prophetic words, than time with Jesus in our alone time, reading the Bible. We need to grow and it comes through the Word. Read the Word, preach the Word, know the Word. (Matthew 4:4, Psalm 119:105, John 1:1)
Operate in the full gospel. As in - do what Jesus did! Healings, deliverance, preaching, fivefold ministry. The Church as a whole is way off kilter in this. Some churches focus on just one thing and it's hurting the Body. And, yes, Christians need deliverance & healing. Don't let fear of man keep deliverance out of the churches. Deliverance is the ministry of love and it's necessary. The best way to operate in the full gospel is to let go of control and LET Holy Spirit lead!
Humility, repentance, and have a healthy fear of the Lord. I cannot tell you how many times the Lord has laid this on my heart to pray for the body of Christ!
HUMILITY. Let's remove all spiritual pride, shall we? We are not better than others because we've gone to a special spiritual school or were trained under a super apostle. We have not hit the roof of ultimate spiritual knowledge. This spiritual pride is causing a divide in the Church. Elitism. Holier than thou. The untouchables. When this happens to pastors/leaders, then it makes the congregation feel like the unwashed masses. Warning: we are to care for the flock, not hurt them. Let's be real and vulnerable as pastors & leaders, let down the concrete wall, and not give in to fear.
REPENTANCE. We seriously need a tidal wave of repentance to hit the entire body of Christ. Repent for taking things in our own hands, for spiritual pride, fear of man, letting things seep into the church and creating unholy mixture, not trusting God to supply what we need, for relying on ungodly counseling, hidden sin, and whatever Holy Spirit reveals to you.
FEAR OF THE LORD. It's great that we are a friend and not a slave of God, that we are beloved sons & daughters. However, nowadays we tend to get too chummy and the reverential awe and respect for the Almighty God who created the entire world out of nothing, is not there. He is El Shaddai, God Almighty. He comes first. Time to go back to basics. Scrap our plans, blueprints, ideas, and go back to the feet of Jesus. We are made to worship Him, pour out our praise and love at His feet. He has saved us from so much! He alone is worthy. He alone is trustworthy. He alone is mighty. He deserves all of our worship and praise. He alone knows the plans for our lives and what we're here on earth to accomplish.
Remove the mixture. The enemy is not going to show up in the church in horns and a pitchfork. He's been around longer than us and knows our weaknesses. It's called strategic warfare. He's going to come sliding in, like a sneaky fox through the bushes. Did you know that gossip, control, and manipulation are all forms of witchcraft? Yep. So don't participate. (Not to mention there's actual witchcraft in the church.) Also, things that have slid in that appear to be good but in reality are occultic from their roots are also growing in the body of Christ. New Age has infiltrated, on the heels of inner healing and an awareness of emotions. Yes, we are to be more in tune and inner healing is necessary. However, the enemy has slid in, twisting things just a bit. Enough to be acceptable. Yes, God is the originator and the devil copies and twists. BUT we need to purge the mixture out because the enemy has a foothold in that area. Want to see Christians freak out when you mention some of the mixture? Show them: yoga (Hinduism, a testimony), enneagrams (repackaged horoscopes, the orginator), certain healing techniques (ones that use altered states of consciousness), to name a few. Why do they freak out? Because they have been blinded to it and weren't aware it was demonic in nature. So there's a pushback because the enemy has a foothold in their lives. How about we stop searching for the next cool technique for healing and go back to the basics? The Word of God washes and renews your mind and heals. And my personal opinion: deliverance seems to be taboo and in it's place are a million techniques/classes. Makes you wonder when the enemy slides in through many of these techniques and makes you avoid deliverance. Hmmm. How on earth did the early church in Acts ever do ministry without knowing all these profound healing techniques?
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. - 1 Peter 5:8
Father God, we know that you are wanting your Body to stand up, shake off what's hindering us, and be bold warriors in this season. We come before you today and ask you to PURGE the Body of Christ! Remove all that hinders us! We give you permission, Jesus, to deliver us, heal us, and restore our lives/families/marriages. Remove all mixture in our churches. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Wash over the body of Christ with waves of humility, repentance, and fear of the Lord. Shake all of your churches, Lord, and let all that is not of you, fall off! We pray for your true churches to stand up, be bold, be teachable, be in unity, put you first in all things. Reveal all ungodly soul ties to mentors, ministries, and counsel that are not in the best interest for your Church. We cry out for revival, but we know that we MUST put our own house in order first, and that includes our own churches. We need to be strong and solid in order to handle the masses coming in. So strengthen us, Lord. Mature us. Do all that is necessary! We want to be obedient first and foremost. We honor you, Holy Spirit, and ask for YOU to have your way in our churches. We are nothing without you. Thank you! We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ! AMEN.
