Bride Smack

Sometimes, you get to the point where you've just had enough: enough of religiosity, religious mindsets & judgmentalism. I'm a pretty patient guy & I do tolerate a lot of things: if someone doesn't believe exactly what I believe I try to understand where they're coming from, why they believe it & work w/ them. If I'm in error I pray that God will reveal truth to me & if they're in error I pray that God will reveal truth to them but I always pray that God reveals truth; usually, but not always, it comes down to Old Covenant vs New Covenant. As I was mowing the lawn this week I was reminded of something that happened a while back that rather jerked my chain.

I had arrived a little late to a get together w/ some friends & I had no sooner than sat down beside a friend of mine who immediately started into a diatribe about the state of the Church, how we need revival, how we need to be “revived”, slamming people for not doing what he thought the Church should be doing in our community (witnessing, laying hands on people & seeing healings, deliverances, etc). He was pretty rough & pretty critical. 

After ten minutes I had had enough of his smack talk & turned to him:

Me: “We [as the global Church] don't need “revival”, revival implies we're dead; we're not dead, we're alive, vibrant & doing God's work & will in the earth”.

Him: “So you don't think we need revival?”

Me: “I just told you, revival implies we're dead, we're alive. We can all use a greater revelation of Jesus, we could all be discipled more & walk more in the fullness of the Spirit but we're not dead or even comatose.”

Him:  “Then why aren't people getting healed, getting saved, why aren't we seeing miracles? I see videos of this happening so why aren't we doing it? We're weak & pathetic. We need revival!!!”

Me: “Let me ask you a question: how would you like it if I talked smack about your bride? If I ripped her up & down & criticized her based on what I saw & what I perceived of her?”

He got up & clenched his fist angrily: “You better not!”

Me: “Exactly! You wouldn't like that at all yet here you are talking smack about God's Bride. Here you are making judgments & accusations based on what you don't personally see. Just as I don't see what you see in your bride, you don't see what God sees in His Bride. Do you think God appreciates you talking that way about the one He loves & adores, about the one He's empowered to do His will & work on the earth? How do you think He feels about that? Why don't you try speaking life for a change?”

He stormed away & a few minutes later came back to the table & sat down beside me:

“So are you playing w/ me or are we just not in agreement?” I put my arm around him & said, “I love you, 'just want you to know that...” so we didn't talk about “revival” for the rest of the evening & carried on a myriad of other conversations but on the way home his mindset bothered me.

The Bible tells us that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45) & “death & life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21); there's power in our words & it's imperative we speak life & not death, positivity & not negativity. I know this sounds word of faith stuff but if we're going to speak, it may as well be life. 

We, as humans, have a tendency to see in part yet judge the whole.

Many times, we [as Christians] are guilty of judging [people] based on what we see or don't see. In my past I was very much the habitual offender of this & it's happened to me more times than I care to count:

- As I was in worship one Sunday morning service the Lord was speaking to me about several things, so I sat there as He was revealing some stuff & I was judged afterward by someone for not raising my hands or being more “involved” in the worship experience! Why they were focusing on me & not on God was not addressed…

- I had worked around 60+ hours one week & by Saturday evening I was completely exhausted, so I took Sunday off & rested; I was interrogated by several people as to my whereabouts & ripped apart for not being there despite the fact that I was usually in ministry 50 out of 52 weeks…

I could go on for days w/ example after example of being judged for what I said or didn't say, did or didn't do, act or didn't act all based on what people saw or didn't see. Much like my friend who “saw in part” & pronounced judgment on the whole [Church] accordingly.

I'm all for acknowledging facts: if a spade is a spade, call it a spade; if it's raining it's raining, call it rain. I'm all for speaking truth/life too & as a whole, we need to be careful & speak life because we don't see what God sees & He sees it all, inward & outward, motives & actions… 

I've posted this before on social media but I'll post it again for those who haven't read it:

“Don't confuse the facts w/ the truth.

The fact is you may have cancer, leukemia, vision loss, hearing loss, 

nerve damage, etc; but the truth is "by His stripes you were healed".

With the heart you believe, with the mouth you confess. 

Don't speak the facts, speak the truth.”

The same goes for the Ekklesia, the fact is perhaps the Ekklesia is not what/where it could be in your eyes but rather speak truth, speak life, speak hope, call those things which be not as though they were (Romans 4:17)…

Acknowledge the fact that perhaps your spouse is not the man/woman of God they could be right now but speak that they are becoming the man/woman of God that He has called them to be. 

Same goes for your children, perhaps they're not all they could be in Christ & perhaps they are waivering in their faith but speak life into them & over them.

If your congregation is like many others in the fact that 20% are serving & 80% are not acknowledge that but speak truth/life that everyone in your congregation are able ministers of the New Covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6), speak that 100% of the people attending are growing, being discipled, finding their place/purpose, impacting/serving both the congregation & the community.

The fact is your (insert name) ministry may be anemic but speak life, speak that you will/do have a strong (insert name) ministry; speak life over the toddlers, children, youth, men, women, worship team, prayer teams, tech teams, community ministries, the business owners, pastors, teachers, staff,  etc.

If there is power in my words (Proverbs 18:21) & I'm accountable for every idle word I speak (Matthew 12:36-37) then I'd much rather enter into eternity speaking truth, life, hope & encouragement than any alternative. The world has cornered the market on negativity, fear, criticism, on gloom & doom, on death, hopelessness & discouragement. 

We're supposed to be different, we're not called to be smacking each other, if you're going to lay the smackdown do it on the enemy in word & deed, otherwise, speak life.