It’s a well-known fact that people are creatures of habit.  We do things because that’s the way we’ve always done them.  Some people say they like change, but when it comes right down to it, they usually revert to doing what they’ve always done.  Have you ever asked yourself why you do the things you do?   Chances are you’re doing what you have been taught by others, rather than what you really would do if you had a choice.  But actually, if you think about it…..you DO have a choice, the question is:  what are you doing with it?

If you go to church, why do you do it?  Have you given it much thought?  Is it because you think you should, so you just go out of habit or to please someone?  What about you who only go to church once in a while?  Why do you go?  Again, is it because you know you should, but you just don’t want to make a habit of it?  We need to understand exactly WHY we do certain things, but unfortunately, we usually end up just doing them without giving it much thought.

The church I attend has me questioning why I’m there lately, so I went to the LORD in prayer about it.  Yes, I need to go to church, but not so much because they need me there to preach, but because I really NEED time with the LORD.  However, I can get all the fellowship with the LORD I need right here at home, just Him and I alone with His Word.  I’ve always been a late-night person, so my quality “God time” is usually at night after Jenny has gone to bed.  Hours fly by in His Word and sometimes it’s time to get up when I’m done studying and praying.  It’s hard for me to get enough of the LORD, in fact, it’s impossible.

But when I go to church, it’s like punching a time-clock.  If I forgot to wind my watch, no problem, I can set my watch to the minute because church progresses exactly according to schedule, and I’m sure your church does too.  But WHY IS IT THAT WAY?  Where does the Holy Spirit have room to work in such an atmosphere?  What if the LORD doesn’t arrive at church according to their schedule in the allotted time, but He gets there five minutes after church is over?  You can always tell when church is like that:  it’s DEAD, folks, nothing happens, nada, zilch, zero.  You just put in your two hours and go home week after week.  Well, personally, I’m done with all that.

Simply put, I MUST HAVE THE LORD’S PRESENCE IN MY LIFE, CONTINUALLY!  I crave to spend time with Him, both in church, and out of it, 24/7.  I asked the LORD this week, “Can you bring revival to this church?” He responded, How do you revive something that has never been alive? Wow!  A question that is the answer!  You CAN’T expect a dead church to come back to life because it’s always been dead.  A dead church is full ( or maybe not even half full) of people who are not really alive in Christ Jesus.  They go to church faithfully, doing exactly what I did for years before I was saved.  I put in my two hours every week, thinking I was doing God some great service, when in fact, I was only going out of habit; not because I couldn’t stand to miss a chance to worship and praise God, but because it was what I did.

Again I ask, why do YOU go to church?  Does God look down from heaven and show up there and shake things up?  You know, if God isn’t there, we are wasting our time being there. How can you tell God is there? That’s the simple part:  He changes things, changes hearts, heals the sick, and people burst forth in heartfelt praise and worship.  If that’s not happening at your church, then it’s DEAD, period.

Sure, you can go through the motions of worship and praise: the choir can sing, the preacher can preach the sermon, and people can go home and say, “Church was good today”.  But WAS IT?  Did God show up and change YOUR life?  Were there people standing outside your church because there was no room for them to come inside, like it was in the first church in the Book of Acts?

Were you driven to your knees by the presence of the LORD in the place with tears streaming down your face, and your heart so touched by the Holy Spirit that you left a different person than you were when you went in?  Is your heart so on fire for the LORD that you can’t wait to tell everyone you meet about Jesus and the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel?  No?  Then you just had “church” without God.  Why are you even bothering to go?  I’ve had to ask myself that lately.

I think it’s because the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, butchered, gutted, and watered down to the point that we are just “having church” and nothing else. How can we be satisfied with “skimmed milk” when the “meat and potatoes” of the Gospel is available to us?  How can we be satisfied with a gutless gospel that does nothing to feed our soul and stir us to serve God with all our heart?  Why do we do that?  Why?  I must have an answer!

The answer is written in both Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18.  Here are the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:18-19:
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

If you’ve gone to church poor, brokenhearted, taken captive by the devil, blind, bound up, and bruised, and left the same way, then you just “had church” and spent a couple hours accomplishing NOTHING.  But it doesn’t have to be that way!   Jesus has good news for you!

He will set you FREE!!!!!  The problem is: the true Gospel is not being preached, else God would show up and perform His Word.  But, sadly, most folks come to church needing God’s touch, and leave in the same condition. It should not be that way.  Would it be ok with you if God changed all that?  Or would you rather just keep “having church” ?

It is written in Jeremiah 1:12: Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
Psa 138:2  I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
Psa 138:3  In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

I know there are people who will have a problem with what I’ve just written, who are satisfied to “play church” every week and have no desire whatsoever to be sold-out to God.  But I’m not one of them, and I’m asking the LORD to stir things up this week, to bring His Holy Spirit to bear upon us, to bring us to a point where we are CHANGED into men and women of God who are satisfied with nothing less than being in His presence 24/7.

If we can go through our lives saying we are “saved” and not have a heart that is burning to preach to the lost, and share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others, then we are people in a most sad and backslidden condition.
Can God “revive the dead”? No, you can’t revive that which was never alive in the first place.  But God can give life to those who have never had life.  God can bring His life into you, into your spirit, into your home, and into your church.  But you have to WANT IT!  Have you read Revelation 3:13-22?

Rev 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

I hope I’m not writing to those who just don’t care about the things of God.  If you really ARE on fire for the LORD, good:  go preach to everyone you can and give them the Good News that Jesus loves them.  If you’re a “self-righteous Pharisee”, “lukewarm or cold”, you don’t have to stay that way.  Jesus died to give you REAL LIFE!  The saddest case is the one who hears the Gospel and won’t open the door to let Jesus in.  Or maybe you’ve let the devil convince you “you’re not good enough” for God to love you.  Stop listening to the devil!  You can’t expect a move of God in your life if you’re satisfied without Him.  But once you seek Him with your whole heart, you WILL find Him! Then hold on tight for the ride of your life!  You will never be “lukewarm” again!