The Seed Blog: Hold The Line

We are at war, and have been since Satan rebelled against God, and took mankind with him. Our country is facing nuclear threats, terrorism, racism, moral decline, financial decline, national illiteracy, and social anarchy, yet our biggest concern as a nation, our reason to divide a Nation, attack our own States, and send threatening letters to our public schools about their compliance is based upon which bathroom we will allow transgender people to use. We have seen our own Christ proclaiming churches turn against the belief that Jesus is the Savior who died for us, as the only way to the Father that Scriptures are God-breathed, true and unchanging. And we have watched as the Gospel has been twisted in various ways to fit a weak, crowd-pleasing, self-created Jesus into a fallen world, rather than to love and serve the One who gave up Heaven itself, to spill His Own Blood, for you and I. 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

If we have seen all of this happen in most of our lifetimes, and we have seen it accelerate unbelievably in the last few years, since we've become a church; we have to ask the next question, "If the world lasts long enough, where will we be when we reach the next 11 years as a church?" It is very possible, that churches may soon face government restrictions on marriages performed in the church, and on what they may or may not consider sins within their own religious beliefs, under the guise of discrimination. Will we continue to meet as we do today, but in a puppet church? Will we eventually be forced to go back into homes, on hill tops, & in fields to worship as a true church? Could things possibly change that much? Judging by the rate, and intensity, of change in the past several years—it is possible. America is not only turning away from God; it is quickly turning against God! And if the world hates what we love: John 15:19-20.
We cannot continue to stick our heads in the sand as the world closes in on everything we say we base our lives upon. There is an ever-increasing pressure to do one of two things: Change or quit. But, in a war, when guarding an invaluable position that is under attack and about to be overrun, a courageous, selfless, desperate command is given: "Hold the Line!" 1 Corinthians 15:57-58. Peter, and all of the Disciples had the Truth of Jesus Christ in their hearts, but after His death, in fear and persecution, they hid powerless; until, a Presence and Power promised to them by Christ Himself, came and joined with them: The Spirit of God; and then, the scared bunch in hiding, took on a new face. Acts 2:14: From there, Peter—the one who deserted Christ, denied Him three times, went on to bravely tell the very crowd responsible for Christ's death, and potentially his, exactly what they'd done, in power; and 3000 of them were broken, and saved that day. What changed? How did the filling of the Spirit give them strength to go from hiding as a small band of victims in an upper room to a force so powerful they changed the entire world for millennia to comes? 1 John 4:4; Ephesians 6:17. Even with God's Truth, we are destined to fall without the Power of the Spirit in us. Peter and the other Disciples failed at first, because they were still self-focused; but when the Spirit of God came on them, they were filled with a love for God and others above self, that gave new courage. They were filled with a literal power they did not possess before; they were filled with a new self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7; John 4:19-24.
How do we worship in spirit and truth? It means seeing God in His Word, in His Truth; realizing who He is and what He's done for us; then, letting that stir a passion, a desire to praise and serve Him; a desire to know more of Him, and to glorify Him, that goes beyond where you worship, or how you are supposed to worship; that goes beyond keeping laws, and following rules, and knowing about Him, to a place where you are just desperate and passionate to have more of Him; just to sense His Presence, feel His love, not power, not knowledge, not things—just Him. I have seen people at the altar a number of times, in abandoned desire for Him! Spirit and Truth—that is the kind of spiritual hunger that will empower us to “hold the line”, in spite of the world's onslaught.
Walking purposefully in the Spirit and mindset of God, over the ways of this world is the only way to keep our hearts selfless enough; our minds away from what we lust after long enough, to really see God's plan in our life; to ever really hear when He speaks, at that moment He wants to work through us. 1 Corinthians 2:11, 16; Romans 8:5, 8, 14. How many times were the Apostles led by the Spirit to act, move, or go in a certain direction? They had the mind of Christ, because they were walking in the Spirit and not in the ways of the world. How can we have the thoughts of God when our hearts are in love with the world and not the things He is in love with? How can we discern the will of God when our hearts are chasing after the treasures and ways of the world instead of the King? We will never hunger for God in desperation without the Spirit; we will never clear our head of our own wants and ways long enough to hear and follow God without the Spirit; it must all start with purposefully walking in conscious awareness of God's Presence over selfish lusts. Galatians 6:7-8; Galatians 5:22-25: Walking in the Spirit of love and care for others over self will draw you closer to the Spirit of God and give you more of Him. Just as planting seeds brings more fruit.
We have to see Christ for who He is, and worship Him in Passion, desperation and pureness of the Spirit. We have to begin to follow, think on, and wait for the Spirit's leading over selfish desires; we have to walk in the Spirit's love, and not flesh, to have more of Him. The Spirit is the key to living for Christ in these dark days. But if we are not delivered; if we are to be like the first century group of Christians who were outnumbered and abused, changed the world as we know it—are you ready? We should rather go into the fiery furnace, with the Spirit in us, than not be used. We are the remnant of this generation; one of the most important. It is our job, through the spirit, to step up and, "hold the line!"