And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 HCSB
Last night was the last night of our revival. It has been a truly uplifting experience and last night Brother Tim Norris was speaking directly to me. He said that he had planned to do another sermon, but God laid this one on his heart instead. I’m so thankful He did.
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time then you may know that we started a small church a little over two years ago. We have experienced growth and we have seen members come and go. We have been meeting in a house and hope to be able to buy a church building in the very near future. I ask that you be in prayer for our church concerning our being able to acquire this building. It will truly be an act of God lining us up with the right lending institution. Anyway, Brother Tim spoke about negativity. He spoke about loving our church and loving each other. He reminded us that the church was not the building but the people. He also reminded us that the church was designed to bring glory to God? Are you bringing glory to God with your talk and your actions?
This morning I have a confession to make. I have been experiencing some burnout. I have allowed this burnout to cause me to be negative. There I said it. When I am negative, I am not focusing on God. A dear friend loaned me the book my Lysa Teurkerst, entitled, Your Best Yes. Sometimes our best yes is no.
Sometimes we busy ourselves doing work for the Lord. This is a good thing, but we should not allow our busyness to distract us from our focus on God. You might want to read that again. You see we can get so busy doing all this good work that we become tired and negative and easily distracted by the devil. When this happens the devil will use this opportunity to creep in. He will sit there on our shoulder and help us to engage in a little pity party. He will sit there and encourage us to have a negative attitude towards others. Don’t allow him to get away with this. Be firm in the faith. If he can make you negative, he can make you prideful and we know that the Lord hates pride.
It’s very easy to get wrapped up in all that we do and sit there and point fingers at others for not getting involved and helping out. A number of our church members were unable to attend the revival. Praise God, He sent many members from other churches and we met some really nice people and made some new friends. I don’t know why our members could not be there, but I do know one thing. It is not my job to judge them. I know some had to work and I’m sure others had valid reasons for missing, but the truth is they missed out. It was an awesome revival and even though I was a little tired, I was revived.
The more tired I become, the more apt I am to become negative. When I become negative, I give the devil a foothold. Remember we said last week that a grumpy Christian is an oxymoron. Well, I get grumpy when I get tired. But our scripture passage gives us some help in this area. First of all, we are to lift up and encourage people. It is God’s job to judge them and deal with them. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God’s job. I certainly don’t want to be dealing with all those sinners like me. So, I need to leave God’s job to God. When I see friends that are feeling the same way that I feel, I should encourage them and not join them in being negative. I am so grateful for my friends that have the God given wisdom to see when we are being negative and vow to change that. It encourages me to do the same. Two people being negative can never make a positive situation. And in all honesty, what does your negativity do to help the situation? It does absolutely nothing, my friend. It just brings you down and opens a door for the devil to walk through.
If you are taking in negativity, you will be spewing out negativity. Learn how to find a balance in your life. God calls us to do works, but He doesn’t call us to do everything. Know when to say no.
Our scripture passage today is the prescription for having a good healthy church. Remember we are the church, we should be there to lift each other up, we should not fail to attend meetings. Don’t let the devil talk you into staying home. You need to love and support your fellow members by your attendance and your work in the church. You need to be supported by them as well.
If you are not in church, I encourage you to find a good, bible teaching church. If you are in church, then get involved. Don’t just go and warm a pew for a few minutes on Sunday, get involved. But, also know when to draw the line. When exhaustion and burnout begin to set in know that negativity is probably coming right behind that. Know when to say no. Our focus should be on God and our love for His church which is the people, not the building.
Have a great day!