BE COMMITTED

Dearest Saints, This is a burden on my heart that I would like to share to benefit each of us. In todays world, it seems that commitment has become less of a reality than it has several decades ago. Within a body of Believers, it seems that more people walk away or just become silent when we don't agree on some form of doctrine or allow ourselves to become offended over actions of others. Most of the time, it is simply mis-understanding. People become silent or fail to communicate and dis-associate with other believers rather then to try to work things out and be committed to seeking the better interest of others like we are admonished to do (Phil 2:4&21). There is a definite lack of commitment amongst Believers today and we need to do our part to put a stop to this. It's all about taking responsibility to do our part to promote unity instead. Christ Himself was admonishing His Disciples that if there was any factions between two people, before a person was to leave a gift at the alter, he/she had to make the attempt to make things right with the other person (Matt 5:23-25). In other words, people could not expect to effectively serve the Lord when factions/divisions were present in their situation. We are allowing the real enemy to have the upper hand within the body of believers by becoming silent and distant rather then being unified like Christ would like us to be. Christ went to that agonizing trouble to die for His Church so we could be a strong body of united believers rather being weakened because we choose to harbour differences that brings dis-unity. Some of the things that we are allowing the enemy to cause division within the Church includes: a. being competitive rather than complimenting each other with our talents; b. Showing partiality (showing favor to one over the other); c. Believing ones ministry is more important then the other; d. Being easily offended; e. Not wanting to be humble and admit that we need to grow up in the Lord; f. Remaining complacent, not wanting to leave your comfort zone; g. Seeing other people as the enemy instead of understanding who the real enemy is (satan and his demonic followers); h. Being too quick to judge and critize one another many times because we mis-understood one another. You may come up with many other issues that you have experienced that bring division. There are some people that used to associate with myself and now for some strange reason, they choose to dis-associate with me by just remaining silent. I don't know why to this date which is a definite problem within the body. Many people are mis-understood because Christians don't take the time to understand one another and quickly judging when we should learn to communicate instead, but we don't. How can one fix a problem when others are silent and don't say anything? Gods people need to communicate better. We allow the enemy to have his way to bring division for no reason. People are not committed to try to make things right or take the time to communicate to try to mend any broken areas. People are taking the easy way out just to withdraw themselves and be silent. When we silence ourselves to one another, do we think we are pleasing God? We forget that we love God to the measure we love the least of our own Brethren (Matt 25:40). We are not going to agree on everything, but that doesn't mean we should not dis-associate ourselves with other believers. We need to agree to dis-agree on petty issues and know that we should ALL AGREE that we are to exalt the Lord Jesus, worship Him and live to glorify Him. We fail to fulfill our purpose in life by living to worship Him when allow division to take place. One of the best passages that the Lord loves unity is found in the small chapter of Psalm 133. If we all agree that we need to exalt Him and Worship Him, then we need to be DOERS of His Word which is His will. Nowhere in the Bible does God say it is acceptable to become divisive within the body. Unfortunately, I have known people to leave the Church altogether. They have no more fellowship with God Himself which is foolish because God is the One who promotes genuine love in the first place. So why would any believe want to leave God all because others may not have been a good example of Christ? We need to learn to confront in a loving way instead of remaining passive and silent. Bringing Unity takes work and commitment on our part, but is always DO-ABLE when God is on our side. We lose out so much when the Church remains passive rather then spurring one another on to good works (Heb 10:24). If we say we love the Lord, then we are going to want to do His will by being committed to Him and to one another. We have to put a STOP to dis-associating ourselves when we should learn to work things out. We need to STOP becoming easily offended. We need to STOP the gossip and being critical that only brings division and be more prayerful to one another. I often have found out in life that it's not often the other person who is at fault, but my lack of prayer for them. Even if it may be the fault of another, are we failing to sincerely pray for one another? I must admit my fault in this. Many times, the prayer rooms have very few people attending there and flocks of people come to be entertained instead. I believe if we spend quality time to get alone with God and be committed with sincere prayer for one another as our priority, we will see a greater move of God reaching outside the Church by drawing others to Himself and strengthening the Body of Believers within. In Acts Chapter 2, it mentions that when the Believers get together in unity, God was able to add thousands each day to build His Church (people) vs 41. God moves when we love one another and unite together as a healthy body. We need to be more committed to doing what God admonishes us to do instead of taking the easy way around everything and becoming passive. We are never justified by being silent and removing ourselves when we fail to do what we should do to keep the Unity and Peace amongst Believers. We can't be strong in the Lord or effective in doing that as long as we blame one another or become silent when we should be reaching out. If we are expected to "Outreach the world", how can we expect to do that when we can't reach to one another within the body? I would ask you to please read the following verses that promote peace & unity (Mark 9:50, Rom 12:18; 2 Cor 13:11; Gal 6:16; Heb 12:14; Phil 4:9; Col 3:15). God says "No one will enter His Kingdom unless they do the will of the Father" (Matt 7:21). Being Doers of His Word by promoting and maintaining unity is His Will. Let's do all we can to be committed by doing our part to promote unity and be Peace-Makers (Ps 133; Matt 5:9). Please email to the undersigned should you wish to unsubscribe from receiving my Blogs. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Ministry Encourager Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/