Love

Its not like this is a new concept. It is what we base all of our faith on. So why would it be necessary to even post a blog about it? I guess it is because I was thinking about this sermon that was preached some years ago. I couldn't believe the simplicity of it  and I don't mean it in a good kind of way. It use to take a whole lot for me to gather myself to get up and get ready for church services to leave and get there at a decent hour to get the seat I would feel the most comfortable in to get the spiritual food I have been looking forward to all week and then with all of my expectations at the ready, the minister comes to the podium and says, "God is love and He loves you." Instead of making the incredible-oh-you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me face, I wait to see if she is going to hit me with some rhema. But then she says it again and again. Nothing changed for that message except the inflection in her voice. I couldn't believe this was it! For an entire 40 minutes, it was all she said, again and again!
I cannot even describe how upset I was after the message was over. I expected the pastor to come and say, "what was that?" But he didn't. In fact, he was actually a little blown from what was said. I even watched the other congregants and they acted as if they just heard something for the first time. "Wow, that was so good, wasn't it?" One of the congregants said. As I walked towards the door I kept hearing that same thing over and over again. What did they hear? Frustrated as if I had a Sunday School lesson and was dismissed for the week, why didn't I get what they got?

The following Sunday Service another of the ministerial staff was assigned to speak and the equivalence of that message was the same as the week prior. What was going on? This time when people left there was a slight stagger as if the power of the Holy Spirit came and sat on us all. Why was I not feeling this? I prayed for the expectation and believed to receive. Its how I have been trained and what has always worked for me. When the minister announced that there was a sweet spirit in this place, it was way too obvious and completely unnecessary to say - for everyone else. I was looking around to see if anyone was feeling the same way I was or if there were a couple of folks that just decided to pretend to be going through the experience as well. Nope - seemed like it was just me!

Has any of these things have ever happened to you? Did you ever ask why or why you seemed to be left out of the loop? Knowing that there are many members in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV), all of those members having different functions and different experiences in their own personal walk, I can be a testament of my experience and hope that it is rhema for those who read this entry. I believed that week was a great week. I spent much time with the Lord and studying His Word. I received such insight in the many things that I had no clue of before. When the mid-week service or Sunday service approaches, I pray for the speaker and the service as a whole. Many times I have been in my car and received a Word from God. The message was confirmation of that Word or the mirror image of what He gave me the entire week of study. I recall sitting in the sanctuary after services in complete awe of Him. I received so much during the week and I looked forward for the church services not only for the confirmation but for that...you know....I just can't describe it but what it is described on the day of Pentecost - that rushing Mighty Wind.

It was just so simple to receive it. All one has to do is spend time in prayer and study. The sincerity of your heart does everything else. Then watch God! So if I received all of this without having to be around all of the assembly, why then couldn't I be pleased when they received a fraction of what I got? I don't know. I figured it was okay for me to be greedy when it comes to the blessing of God. For it is written to covet the best gifts (1Corinthians 12:27 KJV).

But what if it became a common practice to study and pray or worship and praise, would you ever get use to the outcome of that? If everyone senses that sweet Spirit in the sanctuary, but what if you sensed Him all of the time, would you look around to wonder what everyone was referring to or be glad that they finally got what you have had all along?

I recall when I first came to a particular church service, I contemplated on being a member there or not. Though I sensed the Holy Spirit at the entrance of the building, I was still watching to make sure if this was the ministry for me. A few weeks later, my sister and I came and was seated closer to the front. We were ecstatic to get a place so close and right behind the ministers. While waiting for the services to begin, the pastor's son came in the sanctuary and laid his bible down in the row in front of us. Before he got to the seat, we both leaned back in ours and said simultaneously, "whoa"! Not because he was a good looking man but because the Holy Spirit was on him so thick that it pushed us like a wind would. He looked as if it were just another day. Everyone was smiling up in his face. It could have been because he was the pastor's son or they were experiencing what my sister and I did. We didn't know who he was and asked one of the ministers in front of us when he chose to sit elsewhere. I recall that he didn't stop and close his eyes as if God were speaking to him or even react as if there was a sweet Spirit in the place. He was looking for the right seat to sit in before services began. It was as if, he became acclimated to the Spirit being on him all of the time. Shouldn't we all be like that or don't we believe that He is the greater one on the inside of each and everyone of us?

These days when children are having children and that generation has grown with little to no structure, there is a sense of believing that no one cares - because actually no one has. Structure and discipline show children that there is someone who loves and hopes he/she becomes successful. Can you imagine when a number of that generation comes to church services and becomes saved, there they are actually coming to the realization that there is a Heavenly Father that has been watching all of this time and now are experiencing His Love. It makes sense that a simple Sunday School lesson could cause a generation of people to stagger. We have to watch not to take something that is so easy for granted. We have come such a long way. I know I am not where I use to be or could have been. I won't forget and am so appreciative of Him. What say you?