To My Church,
Do you remember when my son said, “Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for service in the Kingdom?” I hope you don't think he meant to never think about the past. You have been serving me for many years and have a very rich history. I don't want you to forget that — after all, I gave you the Bible so you would know what happened in the past.
What's really important is that you don't focus on the past. Far too many of my followers start looking back too much and forget to think about the future. Once a disciple — or a church — starts thinking that the best times are in the past, my ability to work through them is diminished. The best is always ahead of you, and that's where I want your attention.
So, as we look toward the beginning of a new year, I thought I would offer you some ideas for resolutions, things you need to work on so that you'll be ready when I call. Even though you are serving me in the present, I am always preparing you for a new work.
Put me back at the center of your church.
I know that sounds strange, but I feel kind of peripheral. Sure, you call the building “my house” and you do things in my name and you pray to me at every event, but I need to be at the heart of everything. My church has become too much of a human enterprise. You are making decisions based on your opinions instead of seeking my will. You are voting based on what you want instead of what I am leading you to do. It's time to stop that.
When you have a meeting, whether it be a committee or ministry team or even a business session, I want to be at the center. I want you to seek my heart ahead of time in prayer and Bible study. I want you to really ask what I want and really listen for my answer. I want you to speak or vote based on what I am leading you to do, not what you want. If you are going to speak, be sure it is a spiritual discussion. Business that takes place in my church and in my name should be guided by me and not you. You should be sharing biblical principles and your sense of my will when you speak for or against an idea.
Please do not say things such as, “I want this” or “I don't like that.” When you say those things, you are putting yourself in my place and pushing me out. I don't like that.
When I called you to follow me, you covenanted with me to empty yourself so that I could fill you. You covenanted with me to accept my will in place of your own, to let me be the Lord of your life. I want to be Lord of your church, too.
So in 2008, how about resolving to put me back at the center of your church? Instead of seeking to preserve what has been, or to keep things the way you like them, or to avoid discomfort, how about seeking me? Put your hearts into finding out what I want you to do, and then do it. As long as church is about you, it cannot possibly succeed. As long as it is about me, it cannot fail.
Make prayer a priority
I'm not sure you quite understood what I meant when I said my house should be a house of prayer. You do a lot of praying, but it seems like you have forgotten what prayer is supposed to be. You ask my blessing on a lot of things, and you ask me to heal a lot of people, but there is so much more.
A firm commitment to prayer is a must for any church that wants to make a difference for my Kingdom. I want you praying for each other, for the lost people all around you, for your Sunday school teachers, for your pastors, for your church leaders. Sure, I want you to pray for the sick, but not to the exclusion of other things. Where is the time of confession? I don't hear much of that anymore. Where is the worship? You'll sing to me, but I'd really like to hear it in your own words. How often do you spend time in prayer seeking my will for you and for your church? And how often do you spend some of that time quietly listening for my response? You often pray to me for guidance, but it seems like you've made up your mind and just want me to rubber stamp your decision.
When was the last time you prayed for my kingdom? For other churches that serve me? Are you supporting my missionaries in prayer? Yes, I know you send money, and I appreciate that, but I want your prayers too. All of my servants are on the same team, yet you go long stretches during which it seems that you've forgotten that anyone else exists.
I want you to get serious about prayer. Work on making it a reflex instead of an afterthought. Often your prayers amount to asking me to solve something. I want you to seek me. Give me an honest chance to put my words in your heart. Let me guide you. Let me inspire you.
And please don't worry about making your words sound nice. When you think about how you sound to other people, you are no longer really talking to me. And that's what I want, for us to talk. You don't have to say anything out loud, but let's have a conversation.
If my Spirit is the engine of your church, then prayer is the fuel. Too many of my churches are just coasting along, or coming to a dead stop. I need for you to be running at full speed, because I have big plans for you.
Let faith drive out your fear.
Even I can't count the number of times my followers have quoted that verse about “perfect love drives out fear” and then proceeded to let fear be their guide. There are strong dividing lines in my Kingdom — the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, and so on — and just as surely there are the churches that live by faith and the churches that live by fear.
I know I did not create all of you to be mathematicians, but I need for you to realize that there is an inverse correlation between fear and faith. When there is more of one, there is less of the other. It is a law of nature just like gravity. The more faith you have, the less fear will affect you. The more fear in your heart, the less faith.
Hopefully it's obvious that a church must not be driven by fear if it's going to be useful to me. Don't you realize that fear directs your energy and focus? If you are afraid of failing, you will not be able to accomplish anything because you will be trying only to avoid failure. If you are afraid of dying, then you cannot really live because death dominates your thoughts. If you are afraid of running out of money, then all of your attention is on finances and none on me. If you are afraid of change, then all of your energy will go into preserving what is. If you are afraid of people getting upset, then your need to keep everyone happy will paralyze you. When you fear earthly things, you waste all your energy avoiding them and in the end they own you. If you're going to be afraid of something, why not fear disappointing me? The only thing that should really scare a disciple or a church is failure to follow me.
I want you to resolve to make this a year in which you live by faith. I want your confidence in me to overwhelm your fears, not the other way around. No more letting fear direct your energy and attention. No more saying we can't, no more worrying about money, no more worrying about people getting upset, no more thinking it's too hard or too different. Fix your eyes on the future I have placed before you, and march forward in faith.
Love
You may have noticed that when my Son summed up all of the law and the prophets, it boiled down to love. I know that you love me, but I want you to resolve to love more deeply this year, and to let that love be your driving force. I need all of your heart and mind and soul and strength to be devoted to me. I need your faith to be matched by your love, so that your deepest desire is to seek me. This kind of love will make it easy to put me at the center of everything you do. It will make it natural to bring prayer and Bible study to the forefront. It will make fear a distant memory.
I need for you to love me so much that you will do anything for me, and I don't mean saying you'll do anything. I need you to love me so much that your own desires pale in comparison, your fears melt away, and your selfishness crumbles.
I designed each one of you to be different, but not so that you would bicker and argue amongst yourselves. You are different so that you can work together as my body, unified and directed by your love for me. Do you love me enough to stick together? When you fight with each other, when you attack each other, when you spread gossip and sow division, you are tearing me apart. My Son already allowed his body to be broken and torn for you, please let that be enough. If you are passionate about loving me, then that should create enough unity to get you through anything. If you are passionate about serving me, then nothing will stop you from doing my work.
Do you love me enough to go for it?
Do you love each other enough to serve me as one united body?
Do you love my children enough to do anything it takes to save them?
I hope all of those answers are “yes,” because that's the kind of love it will take for you to be the church I created you to be.
Your best days are ahead of you, if you truly believe that they are. However, if you believe that your best days are in the past, you will prove yourselves to be right. I cannot use you if you are looking back. I know the plans I have for you, and I want you to embrace them. I want you to have a future and a hope, and I want you to be the ones who carry that future and that hope to my lost sheep all around you. Remember that I have plans to prosper you — it is your plans that cause harm. Resolve now to face the future united and driven by your love for me and for your fellow human beings. No more pushing me out of your business. No more skimping on prayer. No more fear. Only love.
Oh, if only your human eyes could see, if only your human minds could conceive of what I have in store for you. You will see it, if you seek me with all your heart. My peace and my grace will always be with you.
Remember, don't go to my church, be my church.
I AM
Bruce Powers is pastor of Westhaven Baptist Church in Portsmouth.