Banners on the Battlefield

I went to church today and it was very interesting.  First of all, I woke up twice this morning. The first time I thanked God for my heart beating and lungs breathing and was still sleepy, so I asked Him to send me a phone call or something/anything to let me know if He really wanted me to be in church today, then went back to sleep.  The second time I woke up, I decided to get up and test the time - if there was time to get there I would go and if there wasn't, question solved (I was really thinking it had to be past time).  But, oddly enough it was earlier than I had assumed and so I went.

After thinking about it some during the day, I have come to the conclusion that God did not "speak" to me directly this morning because he wanted me to make the "right" choice just because I KNEW what choice I should make.  No dramatic revelations of epic proportions, all but 1 or 2 of my "friends" were out sick, and the message ,oddly enough, completely opposite of of the message the Holy Spirit sent me personally.  Not in a ... "THE MESSAGE IS WRONG" way but in a this is a good message, but I have a different one for you.  So, here is what I heard today in church. :)

- We are spending too much time trying to resurrect the past. The past is GONE.  God is doing a NEW work.  Don't be caught looking behind you to the point that you do not see what is right in front of your face.
(This does not mean, don't remember where you come from!!!  Jesus told the disciples in the boat who woke him up terrified for their lives in the storm that they were afraid BECAUSE they did not remember the miracles they had just witnessed - so it is important to see where you have been, to remember the milestones in your life where God stepped in, but we can't spend our whole lives trying to recapture what was).

- We are not returning to what was.  What was got us to where we are, but the world has changed and the way we move and walk in it has to also change. The church is not facing the same battle that it faced 20, 50, or even 100 years ago. This battle is the battle to end all battles.  We are at the end of time and we need to keep our eyes GLUED to God, not glancing behind us to try and hold on to what happened yesterday.  

- Our focus needs to change from looking after the church to looking after the lost.  Instead of thinking in terms of church growth we need to think in terms of individual lives.  The end is here.  The church is set. We KNOW what we are supposed to be doing and some will fall away, but we need to focus on the "harvest", on the lost around us.  (Again, I don't know that any of this message was for the church so much as for me personally.  God is being very clear about letting me know that it is time for me to cut away from those things in the past that are holding me back.  The past is full of pain, and anger, and bitterness, as well as hope, and grace and mercy, but it is gone.  It is time to let go of both the good and the bad. Time to seek only God's face and go where He leads forgetting that which is behind us because it only weighs us down.)

- God is preparing to send power to His churches. Not the buildings or even the gatherings, but to the people who make up His church, to His Bride, to those who are actively seeking Him not just wadding in the shallows.  He is going to send power like the world has NEVER seen because this is the battle that the world has been on the road toward since the fall of Adam, and this power is for those who are SEEKING, not just those who are willing. 

- The church buildings/gatherings are going to one day face a time when they cannot exist as they are.  But, the church PEOPLE, the real church must be ready to stand strong and alone as a banner on a dark and bloody battlefield to rally all those who seek hope and who are lost.  That takes strong people.  People capable of standing alone because they know that all of their strength is from God, not themselves.

- Then the message gets very personal.  I am not sure, but I am thinking that perhaps the whole message is a personal message to me, not to the church. I am not sure where this is going exactly, but I know it is leading somewhere for me. I need to have a church (gathering/fellowship) foundation for spiritual support, but I walk into the battle alone.  I have been called out by God to do something that takes courage and the ability to stand alone with the power of the "church" to back me up.  

I have NO IDEA what that means or what I am supposed to do with this.  So, I will just leave it here, and carry on and see what God has in store keeping an eye on that which might fall under this message.

On a side note, God also showed me how I am in a small group of blessed individuals, because I don't have to "trust" that God has my heart.  I KNOW that God has my heart.  He holds every beat it makes.  I know, because my heart does not belong to me, I had my heart stop, and God started it beating again.  I don't have the theory of God holding my heart in His hands, I KNOW He does.  Every heartbeat from here until I leave this Earth is sanctioned by Him.  Every breath I take is guided by His will. There is a powerful peace in knowing that your live is literally on God's timeline and what comes is what He has sanctioned for my life and the end is already known so I don't have to worry about medical issues or problems because it will end when God says it will end and I don't have to know the reasons or the details, I just have to live my life everyday seeking God's face and I will be where I am supposed to be.