Sitting outside a local church, my heart is given to wonder, to probing…

The same people go in, depending on the denomination, with the same bondage a, the same types of meetings, and the same level of emptiness, depending on the “brand”. And, I think to myself, where is the hunger? Where is the need to touch the Lord? To sense His presence and be consumed in His goodness?

I wonder, some, have we thought God right out of the church? Have we settled for less than what He has offered, and I so, why?

I refuse to think that he Gospel age had something we do not. I refuse to believe that some special grace is waiting yet to be released, so that we can be with Him. For 2,000 years, it is finished, and God has given all He needs to and It has been ours since then, to whomever would believe

The kingdom is more than a doctrine.  It is more than Robert’s rules of Order.  It is about a living connection to a head of pure gold.  It is about a love with a King, greater than that of the Earth.  If we love the world and things of the world, we do not have the love of the Father in us.

This is life Eternal, to know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.  John 17:3.

Scripture tells us that we will all be taught by God.  Where is theknowledge of God in the church?  Where is the fervent love for the Almighty?

We understand fellowship because it is something we can see.  But when it comes to the invisible, who understands the Holy?  When He is removed from our practical daily exercise, supposing that He is mere knowledge,doctrine, and words, we are left to imitate the world, with it’s devices, with it’s sensuality, and with its entertainment.  This cannot be!

Yet, over and over, do churches and their leaders are turning to the mundane, rather than the unseen, to the plans and programs of man, rather than the prayer room?

Surely, there is no unction without prayer.  And decidedly, the only way to deeply get to know the Father is to seek Him.

This is the path to know Him, perfectly.

The plain gospel is always Christ and Him crucified, and the living in Him daily is the walk of the Spirit.  If we live by the Spirit, ultimately, we do not gossip, we do not hate and envy, we do not covet.  We would not maliciously treat one another, for we will walk by love.  Not merely human love, but His–a love that gives beyond measure, endures to the end, and never runs dry.

We must always be ready to give an account for our lives.

God ordained the local church, and He is the one that has set its steps.  God honors even the most broken, struggling church, as He honors the weakest, sincerely following believer, but He calls us higher.  He calls us to truth.  He calls us to freedom.

Consider, for a moment, a whole church.  There will always be new believers, there will always be a need for healing, deliverance, and instruction in righteousness.  But, imagine that the foundations were place.  Imagine a vibrant church life, where greater than 50% of the congregation actually know the Lord, in His Love and His Holiness, who are joyful, without religious control, and genuinely seeking Him.

What would be the limit to such a thing?  What is the key to such freedom?

It is Christ, and coming to know Him, the very mission of the church, and yet, somewhere, many have stopped along the way.  Some have not pressed on to know the Lord through Faith.

We must press on to know Him, and continue to grow in Him, in who He is, through prayer and through the Word.

This is what the local church must be, setting free those who are bound, and healing the blind and captive.