Have you ever felt like there were shackles on your feet that kept you from moving forward in life? Have you ever been so bogged down by circumstances and trials that it felt impossible to lift your hands to praise the Lord? Does it ever feel like you are sitting on pins and needles in a church service when the preacher tells you to trust in the Lord because He cares for you and He will never leave you or forsake you? Do his words pierce the depths of your heart because everything in your life seems to be spinning out of control and you feel all alone and you feel like God has rejected your pleas for help?
Let’s get real here! We have all been there before! This life isn’t easy and every one of us has experienced times of trial that have left us feeling helpless, hopeless, and in need of rescuing! I am so fed up with plastic Christianity that portrays an image of perfection where no lines or wrinkles show from the years of hardship and pain. Battle scars of trial are covered up by this “Holier than thou” makeup and no one feels safe to share their insecurities or fears because they are afraid of what other people are going to think if they are open and honest about their past or present sufferings.
If we are going to see the oppressed released from the shackles so they can praise the Lord freely we have to make church a safe place to be real! Religion has robbed us of relationship and without relationship there is no intimacy and without intimacy there is no security and without security there is no peace! And there is only one relationship where all of these three exist and it is in a REAL relationship with Jesus Christ! Isaiah 9:6, 7 says, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
We have to give Jesus His rightful place in the church back so people can experience His life changing ministry of total healing and transformation! Jesus NEVER made anyone who was caught in sin, sick or lame, possessed or oppressed, destitute or devastated put on a happy face of perfection in His presence! He never one time rejected them for coming to Him broken and crippled from life’s circumstances! On the contrary He welcomed them in His presence and everyone who came to Him for healing received exactly what they came for! Then they would leave His presence forever changed and they would sing praises to Him and would tell everyone they came into contact with about this mighty Savior who transformed their lives with the power of His spoken Word!
Lives were changed forever when Jesus walked the earth and it is His desire today for His presence to be welcomed in the modern day church so His ministry can continue until the day of His return! He is not some far off entity that exists somewhere beyond the clouds in a place called Heaven! He is here, on this earth, right now just waiting to be welcomed into the dwelling places that bear His name on their marquee signs! We have to stop making church a place where man made rules and regulations are the main focal point of the ministry! We have to create a safe environment so the people will come in droves looking for this Savior who has the power to completely heal them and deliver them from whatever ails them!
If you have never heard it before in a church can I be the first minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to tell you I don’t care where you have been, what you have done, what you are suffering from, or what has crippled you; I welcome you into the house of the Lord! You do not have to wear a mask of perfection and you do not have to put on Holy makeup to cover your battle scars! Jesus loves you unconditionally and He accepts you no matter where you are or what you are going through!
Don’t stay away from Him just because of past experiences with church! Come into the presence of the Lord and sit with your Savior, healer, and deliverer! Allow Him to release you from the shackles that have you bound! You don’t need to go to a physical building for this to happen! It will happen right where you are because Jesus is with you right now just waiting for you to ask Him to heal you! He is REAL! He is PRESENT! He is WILLING! He is ABLE! Don’t wear those shackles any longer that are keeping you from moving forward in life! Allow Him to release you so you can begin to praise Him and so you can go and tell others of this mighty Savior who has transformed your life by the power of His spoken Word!
