DAY 10

FLIES

JOHN MACDONALD, LEAD PASTOR

Do you have a hunger for God? If we don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. —John Piper

My custom has been to rise around 6:30 am to spend a couple of hours with the Lord each day before heading to work for staff prayer at 9:00 am. One of these mornings, on my back patio, I had my Bible open and was reading when a fly came and landed on my Bible. I quickly waved my hand and shooed it away without much thought. But as soon as I began reading again, the Holy Spirit stopped me and asked me, “What do flies usually land on?” I immediately had this picture in my mind of a rotting animal carcass. I answered, “dead things.” The Holy Spirit went on and said, “Flies are attracted to, swarm around, and land on dead things. Right now My Church has attracted flies. Remember, there is no life apart from Me!”

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” —John 6:33 (NIV)

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” —John 14:6 (NIV)

We live in a world where the Church is supposed to influence the culture around us. We have received the mandate from Jesus Himself to go into all the world, make disciples, be the light, and through us heaven will invade earth. But the opposite has happened; the culture of our day has infiltrated the Church. Now the Church looks more like the dying culture around us than the living organism birthed at Pentecost. When the Church was birthed in Acts 2, it was clear that Christ’s followers were meant to illuminate the power of the Holy Spirit to transform and bring the new life found only in Christ to the world.

I’m sure I don’t have to point out the elephant in the room, but for clarity sake, I will. You and I, we are the Church.

What has happened? Well, as a people of God we have become distracted by the world and the things the world offers. We are such a busy culture, running from here to there, taking the kids to a practice, a game, an event. We are all so busy filling our schedules and lives with the world that there isn't any margin left for the things of God,let alone for intimacy with Him. We have placed other things above our highest priority, which is intimacy and fellowship with God. We have tried to find life in places other than Christ. We have substituted work, schedules, sports, hobbies and just about everything else in place of our time with Him.

I don’t know if you remember reading about this throughout the Old Testament, but this is what Israel kept doing over and over and over again... they worshiped idols. They made themselves lord over their own lives. They didn’t want to live and walk in intimacy with the Lord; they wanted to do what they wanted to do, and the flies eventually landed on them as their nation was devoured and taken into captivity.

How do we get back to being the Church that we created to be according to the book of Acts? The Church that caused darkness to flee in every direction. The Church that experienced unprecedented miracles and lived in jaw-dropping power. The lame walked, the blind could see, the deaf could hear, and those chained in bondage were set free. The Church, made up of a people who surrendered and submitted everything to the Lord. A people who knew Him, walked with Him, made Him their highest priority, burned with passion for Him,and heard His voice daily.

How do we get back? We PRAY! We SEEK! We PRESS! We become DESPERATE! We ask for the hunger to be restored for the things of God. We take a critical look at our lives and evaluate them against the WORD! We SUBMIT! We SURRENDER! We FOLLOW! We make Him the PRIORITY! We make Him LORD!

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, awaken me from my slumber, revive me and raise me from spiritual death. Help me to execute all that needs to go away in my life so that I can make room for only You. Restore my intimacy with you and make me strong in my faith, in character, and in my pursuit of You! In Jesus Name breathe your life into me.