They come to hear about a God who loves them unconditionally and has the power to fix the broken places of their lives. His word has the answers to their financial stresses, relational struggles, physical limitations, social problems, emotional maladies, mental pressures, and most of all freedom from their spiritual death caused by sin. Personally, I am so thankful for the truth of this gospel (good news) that has the power to rescue, redeem, and restore broken humanity. That being said, I am concerned that we are creating consumers out of once committed believers. People who seem to come looking for some spiritual intervention from one crisis to another without developing a faith to live the “Life to the full” that Jesus came to provide in John 10:10.

Week after week I am ask to pray for people, which I count an honor and truly enjoy interceding for others, but to be honest, I rarely hear the outcome. In fact, very few ever report on the answer that so obviously came because of the apparent change in their circumstances or conditions. Now I am not complaining about the individuals but am rather concerned about the principle, or lack of the principle, of gratitude. The scriptures reveal that our faith and confidence in our relationship with Christ is directly related to our recognition and appreciation of His work in our lives.

We may call it praise, worship, thankfulness, or many other phrases to define our gratitude for who Christ is in our lives and what he does for  us in the daily details of our lives. But have we become so consumer minded that we place these expectations on our relationship with him, after all, all these “new people” are coming and receiving all kinds of answers from their experiences with Him. O.K. here it goes, when was the last time you publicly gave credit to God for something He alone could have done for you? Do you have an avenue to tell others of his goodness to intervene in the situations of your life? When was the last time you ask someone to pray about some problem you were facing and then returned to tell them how God came through in some way for you? Last Question: If you could number your request beside your testimonies ( praise reports, etc.) would it even come close to balancing out?

Jesus tells us the story of 10 lepers in Luke 17, who were crying for mercy to have this horrible situation turned around. Jesus answered their cry and the bible says they were cleansed. But jesus points out that 1 of the lepers came back to give Him praise, to thank him, to directly credit Jesus with the difference He had made in this mans life. Jesus calls attention to the fact that the other 9 did not return to give him this recognition. You may be asking,” What’s the point?” The response of Jesus is the point. Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:19 N.I.V.

“Faith” Jesus said. Faith is the key to everything we have or will ever receive from God. Faith is the key to living the “abundant life” in, through, and in spite of every circumstance and situation that our earthly journey may encounter. Faith is the key to accomplishing every plan and purpose God has for us, no matter the obstacles or opposition we will experience. Faith is the confidence to trust God with every details of our lives, anywhere and at anytime. Ultimately, faith is what God looks for in our relationship with Him.

Jesus noted the 9 were cleansed, their cry was heard and he answered their immediate request, but ultimately, they did not develop faith for the future. They will become consumers always needing some kind of intervention in the crisis’ off their lives. but the 1, developed a faith that allowed hime to “Rise and Go”. Lifted above the immediate and empowered to move forward into a life of “Overflow”. Not just an immediate solution but a faith that made him “well” or WHOLE. Ultimately he learned that Jesus can be trusted and that as life moves forward Jesus will be all he needs. Gratitude expressed will transform our immediate encounter of relief into the ultimate life of faith. We must encourage testimonies by creating simple systems to process them and appropriate platforms to publish them. Praise reports will inspire faith for the Immediate and develop faith for the Ultimate!

I watch them struggle beneath some apparent hardship while asking others to pray, asking even others for answers, and still even asking others why God would allow them to endure such circumstances. I have prayed, felt their pain, questioned myself, the scriptures, and sadly even wondered myself, why God didn’t do something to help them out of this situation.

I think we all have bore similar situations, either ourselves or with others. It can be quite draining, even bewildering at times. We somehow feel we have to defend God. Which, make no mistake, we never need to defend Him.

Now I want to get across a thought. I am no ones judge, and I do not at all believe this is an all inclusive answer. Many times our faith is being tested, our faithfulness tried, or even our enemy fighting the trustworthiness of our Heavenly Father. But I do believe there is a truth for us to learn.

In the book of Joshua, we read the story of Achan, How his sin caused the people of God to lose a battle that God had promised they would win. It is a familiar story in Chapters 6-7. While I will not recount the whole story, I do want to show a few emotions we all have faced.

1^st it caused Joshua, the leader great distress to the point of accusing God, 2^nd it caused the people of God to distrust God, and of course 3^rd it caused God’s favor and protection to be lifted off of the plan God ultimately had for His people. WE HAVE ALL BEEN THERE at some point in our Journey with this new life of adventure we are pursuing in Christ.

Well the truth was that Achan had disobeyed God’s instructions and caused all this loss and confusion. When Joshua cried out to God, God answered and told him what to do. Joshua did exactly as God commanded and the people were able to move forward under the mighty power of God and His promises.

Here is the truth I want to point out; Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” Joshua 7:19

Do you see it? Joshua said to give God glory and Praise. How? By telling the truth, repenting, telling the whole story. By not leaving others to question God’s goodness in their lives. In other words to have disobeyed God in some area of our lives, suffer the consequences, and then passively leave in question the goodness of God, robs God of His glory and is opposite of giving Him the praise He deserves.

Here is Achan’s response; Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: Joshua 7:20. There comes times in our lives when we are simply suffering the consequences of our own rebellion, selfishness, or wrong choices. Let us never put God’s goodness into question, but rather, repent and always be honest enough to admit our wrong. We don’t have to tell everyone else, but, we can give God glory and praise by never throwing the blame on Him.

Remember this is not for us to judge others by but to simply live our own lives giving glory and praise to God!

Several years ago I was pressed inside to study the spiritual connection of our relationship with others and with Christ. Is there a spiritual connection? How vital is it? What are the results or effects of the connection? Does our relationship with others impact our relationship with Christ as much as our relationship with Christ impacts our relationship with others? WELL, I believe the bible teaches that it does!

In Matthew 22:37-29 Jesus links the 1st and 2nd commandments together. Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself. From here the bible has a long list of verses that teach how we treat our earthly relationships directly impacts our relationship with Christ. Matt. 18 on forgiveness, 1 Peter 3:7 on a Husbands prayers affected by how he treats his wife, James and John teach us about loving God who we cannot see and hating a brother who we can see, and the list goes on. From these verses it is obvious that our relationships on earth or how we treat others directly affects and impacts how Our Heavenly father responds to us.

James 1:22 makes it clear we can deceive ourselves……..trick, mislead, and defraud ourselves. So here is my point; How can we hurt others, sin against others, fail others through our own unfaithfulness and yet never admit it to one another or acknowledge our wrong and yet continue to grow in our relationship with Christ? Are we really growing, or are we self-deceived? Here is what Jesus said: ”This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.” Matthew 5:23-24.

How can we continue this awesome relationship with Jesus in worship, ministry, prayer, and work if he plainly says make things right with others and then come to me? Could it be that we are deceived? Have we created religious actions that move us emotionally allowing us to believe that God’s mercy is really His approval? I fear that we have a generation ( not age group ) of christians that are deceived by their own disregard of what Christ teaches about our earthly relationships. We claim some spiritual closeness to God in heaven while neglecting, disrespecting, and rejecting the spiritual relationships of this earth. Could we be so deceived that we cannot see the trouble, hardship, and distance of God’s favor because we have allowed our own thinking to over rule God’s word and allowed our own feelings to override the convictions of the Holy Spirit in mishandling our earthly relationships?

Here is the conclusion of this blog: Only I can know if I am deceived, only if the power of God’s word breaks through the hard places of my heart, and only if I allow the Holy spirit to invade the private places of my soul by asking, repenting, and submitting to obey the Commands of Christ in my life, today? I would challenge you to do he same as we remain “Real People Discovering Life………Together!

Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family. ”But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” Luke 9:61-61.

WOW! That seems so in your face. Didn’t Jesus understand obligations? Wasn’t he appreciative of the offer to follow him? Yet he saw something underneath this seemingly viable request. He knew if this man allowed something to come before his mission, it would only open the door for other important responsibilities to take precedence over fulfilling the task that Jesus had purposed. He was about to give his life, suffer great separation and humiliation, and depend on others to be as passionate and responsible as he had been. Too much was at stake. Eternity was waiting, people were dying, and The Father’s will was first priority.

What about us? What seems so important that Eternity for others can wait? How easy it is to allow life’s obligations to squeeze out the mission of taking others to heaven with us. If we open that door, the urgent will replace the important, and people will be lost. Our lives get so full, so quick, and lost opportunities may very well mean that others die without Christ. Are we fit for the Kingdom? Have we turned back? Have we said “Lord”, only to tag on to our commitment to Christ…”But first let me”? Look at what the Lord did; The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go! Luke 10:1-3.

Listen as He now talks to us….”The harvest is plentiful”. 7 out of 10 un-churched people have never been invited to church by anyone in their whole life! 8 out of those 10 say they would consider going if only someone would invite them. “BUT the workers are few”. Those who are willing to put aside their fear, over come their pride, and truly put the mission Of Christ first, are few! What about us? This Sunday is Easter, the most attended church day of the year, and people are looking for a place to go, waiting for an invitation, and seeking to know who this loving God really is. What will be our response this week? Listen to Jesus’ final words to us; “Pray” and “Go”. Let’s put our hand to the plow, put aside our flimsy excuses, and invite someone to church this weekend. The harvest is plentiful. This could be there moment to surrender to Christ. This weekend could change their lives forever. Let us not be guilty of the “ me first ” mentality. Invite someone today!