Church…where are you?

Church….
Where are you?  Where have you gone?  Where is your heart?  Where is your love for one another? Do you know your flock? Do you know your brothers and sisters? Do you know their hearts? Do you know their struggles?  Do you know their needs? Do you pray for each other? Are you a safe place where people can share their hearts, their failures and trials they are going through?  Do you love each other enough to encourage, exhort and rebuke when needed?  Is love spoken, is compassion shown, is grace and forgiveness extended?
Where are you, Church?

Have you become distant, uncaring, unloving and superficial?  Who can you go to when you need prayer? Who can you go to when you have a need, whether spiritual, emotional or physical, in the body that you attend?  We know that our Heavenly Father is there for us always.  But He wants His church/His people to be a place of love, refuge, security and strength.  Not only for the lost…but for believers as well.  A place to be refreshed, encouraged, renewed and even restored!  When was the last time you felt genuinely loved, safe and unjudged?  When was the last time someone came up to you with a word of encouragement? When did you last give a word of encouragement to someone?  Do we love enough to see, do we love enough to pray, do we love enough to even care what’s going on in each others lives. Church, where are you?

If we truly love Him, we should also love one another….”deeply, from the heart”, as Paul states it.  Love is an action, not just a feeling, not just a word.  Love that comes from the Lord, true agape love, cares, encourages, builds up, it does not tear down, or belittle, or degrade.  You will know them by their love, Jesus said (John 13:35).  NLT says it this way…
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
Are we proving that to each other?  That our love for the Lord is genuine, and our love for each other is real?  Do we love without strings?  Do we love without judgement and being critical?  Apart from Him we can do nothing….we can’t truly love. Do our fellow believers feel more valued, accepted, cared for and love from the world than by their brothers and sisters in Christ?   Shame on us if they can not come to us in times of  need.  Shame on us if we don’t lift those that are struggling up in prayer and fight for them, when they cannot.  Shame on us when we don’t care enough to ask, “How are you really doing”?   Where are you, Church?

Many are falling, many are dying daily, many aren’t able to stand, let alone…fight the good fight!  Let us be willing to help them, our brothers and sisters, the young and the old.  Lord, help us, those who are called Your church, to just be willing to step up and step out. We know we can’t be there for everyone…so Father, show each of us those that we can minister to in our body.  The tired, the sick, the lonely. Help us to love, to care,  help us to be a safe place for each other.  Help us be forgiving, help us to build up, encourage, rebuke and seek to restore those in our church families.  Help us to invest in each others lives, to be real, to be transparent, to be genuine with one another.  Lord, let us have a heart for those that struggle.  Help each of us who are called the church, to be your hands and feet not only to the lost world, but to the weary, to the downtrodden, and to the prodicals among us.  Give us Your words, Your heart, Your eyes to see and most of all…the desire to be used by You to meet needs.  Where are you, Church?

Jesus, we know that You alone are our hope, You alone are our strength, and You alone are our help in times of trouble!  So let us direct those that need a touch…to reach out to You!  To cling to Your promises, to hold on to Your Word, and to seek Your face.  Let us always be directing them to You and encouraging them to stand on Your truth!  Use us Father, to be a blessing to others, to serve one another, to open our lives up to one another.  Show us those, whom we can share Your word with and pray for or with.  We are the church! Fill us afresh with Your Spirit!  Let us not grow weary, let us not grow complacent, let us not become blind, and self centered!  Let “Here I am Lord, use me” be our cry, to the body and to the world.  We need You Lord, more than ever, as the enemy seeks to kill, destroy and to devour our brothers and sisters! Trying to destroy lives, families, testimonies, and our church bodies.  We know that in the last days the love of many will wax cold. Let that not be me….let that not be you.  Church, where are you?

Selah. 💜