Women Alive

Why do I need to go to church?  Why should I pray for other churches in my community?  Isn’t it enough that I pray, worship, and read my Bible at home?  Church is such a big topic; we all have different ideas of what makes up a “good” church.  Unfortunately in many cases our ideas can be based on what we want to get out of church and not what we want to give to the church, and in some cases we may not even feel that we need church.

Belonging to, and attending church consistently is so important for many different reasons including your spiritual walk with God.  Some may feel that if they go to church every Sunday morning they are doing their “good deed” for the week.  Well I want to share with you that yes going to church each week is a good thing, however since God looks into our hearts He knows when our hearts are attending church and when it’s just our physical beings.  With that said when our hearts aren’t right with God that is even more reason to attend so He can transform us through all the positive and rich stuff that your spirit will be filled with as you sit and listen to worship music and scripture.  There could be times in your life when you are turned off of church and start to withdrawal and feel its fine not to participate because you can worship, pray, and read your Bible at home.  However if you are feeling these thoughts it could be a sign that your heart isn’t quite right with God, or you have fear about feeling shame or guilt for sins in your life, or maybe you are just flat out angry with how life is going.  My dear friend if you feel any of these things please consider that your God misses you and wants to be close to you and wants you to be an active part of His big family.  You see worshipping, praying, and reading the Bible at home is defiantly a must, but being apart of a church family is also a must.  When you are part of a church that follows the living word, that allows the Holy Spirit to lead the church, amazing things happen.  There are many examples of how God moves when a body of believers and followers of Christ come together, the book of Acts is rich in truth and many examples are shown how God moves when a body of believers come together.

…the believers were meeting together in one place.  Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it filled the house where they were meeting.  Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.  And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. (Acts 2:1-4)

When we are obedient and come together as a group of believers, healing happens, lives are saved, hearts are transformed, and chains of bondage are broken!  When it comes down to it we were created to worship our Lord and serve our Lord and sometimes those things occur in small groups, being alone with the Lord, and with our church family.  There is a song that comes to my mind as I write for you called The Heart of Worship.  The words remind me that Jesus should be our focus at church, that we are there for Him not for ourselves, that it’s not about what we get out of it but what we give to further God‘s kingdom.

I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about you, It’s all about you, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about you, It’s all about you, Jesus

Too often we hear, I didn’t like the music today, the pastor was boring, or I didn’t get much out of the message that was given, if you notice all these statements are centered around I and not on God.  The best place to look for a church that is right for you is to ask God where He wants you to be.  God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow so when we read through the book of Acts, all the encounters with God that happened then can still happen today.  Asking God to guide us is the first step but the second step is being obedient and following through with where God is leading you, even if it means attending a church different from your friends.

We quite often hear the words “the body of Christ” and “furthering God’s Kingdom”, some may wonder why there are so many different churches in their community especially if we are all one body, one church?  As much as that is true we are also all created differently and have been given many different gifts.  If we all attended the same church I think it would be a lot harder to reach out to the community, when churches  are spread throughout the city, it becomes a little harder to miss and ignore our natural curiosity.  Churches in the same city should work together and not against, it’s not a competition on which church has more attendance or who had the coolest band, or the best youth group.  Furthering God’s Kingdom in one city means working together and knowing when to step back.  I can’t help but to think about the churches in the city of Brantford, Ontario where I live.  Most of my friends attend different churches yet we can come together and rejoice when “our” church has overcome something or a new program is a success, we share in the joys and despairs together lifting the churches up in prayer.  The church that I attend runs a very successful and wonderful ministry called Celebrate Recovery, it’s a 12 step program to overcome hurts and habits and opens the door for God to heal.  There have been so many testimonies given of people who are now free from their hurts.  There are people from different churches and people in the community that have attended this program.  Another church in Brantford has a program called Divorce Care and has just been given the opportunity to start Divorce Care for Kids.  This wonderful program is for people to find healing and help through divorce.  A different church runs an amazing soccer program in the summer months for kids (which my boys love) it also includes a bible story at the end of each game.  The same church runs Awana Club during the school year, a program for kids to come together once a week to further their walk with God, and make new friends.  These are just a few to name to show how different churches in one city can work together and reach out to one community by offering their gifts to the needs of everyday people.  When it comes down to it, all the followers of Christ will be together for eternity, so to me it only makes sense to rejoice and pray for the individual churches in your community and across the globe.  We all love and serve the same God.

Today, I ask what you can do differently for your community to help further God’s Kingdom.  What prayer can you pray for the churches in your community?  What words of encouragement can you speak over your city?  What gifts has God equipped you with to live out your purpose, to further His Kingdom?