It was early September, the sun was warm on my face, coffee in hand I decided to stop at my local shoe store. As I browsed through the shoes admiring all the brands I did not need, I noticed the clerk staring at me while talking to herself. I smiled and started to walk to a different section, she began to follow me, this time singing rather loudly. I said a quick "hi" as she glanced in my direction and just stared. "That's odd" I thought to myself, "maybe I should pray for her" the thought came as quickly as it left and out the store I went. I began to feel guilty for not praying for the lady because after all that is the "right" Christian thing to do. When I got in my car, I asked God His thoughts on my shoe store encounter, I heard the words "I didn't ask you to pray, I wanted the presence in you to permeate the place and lay a foundation." I was then reminded of the importance of hearing.
"You are so bold" a friend of mine said to me during a coffee meeting and instantly the times I didn't step out and do what God was asking of me flooded my mind. "I wouldn't use the word bold" I jokingly added. I began to press into this thought of boldness. I quickly realized that boldness should actually be called obedience. When God asks us to be His hands and feet, His only expectation of us is that we obey, nothing else. Of course there is Grace when we don't "obey" because we all far short of the Glory of God but shouldn't obedience be our heart desire?
Which brings me to the title of this blog. I am guilty of Making Excuses just like you are. We make excuses about why we shouldn't do something. We make excuses as to why the direct call couldn't have been God. We make excuses as to why the timing isn't right or that we will say yes when the season in our life changes. You see, when we live from an Eternal mindset the timing is always now and obedience is for TODAY. If you truly want to see revival in your Community and State, it starts with you, its not up to the next great revivalist to show up, its up to you.
Simple obedience brings revival and simple obedience is practiced in the Secret Place. Only through relationship with God can you truly know what the day to day will unfold for you and can I challenge you to press in and ask HIM. God says multiple times in the Bible that He will tell you of things to come, yet we live life like God is keeping our destiny to Himself while we aimlessly strive and fail to figure it out. If you believe that God withholds your destiny from you, dig into The Word and check your heart, God withholds nothing from His kids. More times than not we are the problem, our weak endurance is the problem, our lazy prayer life is the problem, our unwillingness to press in until we have received our answer IS THE PROBLEM. Not only do we live in a faithless, perverse generation, but a lazy, excuse making one too.
Many lazy, excuse making Christians are celebrated as they practice grace without truth. The Bible says in the days to come even the Elite will fall away. Will you fall away from the Endurance and Holiness it takes to run this race? Will you fall prey to New Age teaching that has been intricately sown into the messages so many "famous" preachers preach? This post will ruffle some feathers and I get it, it has ruffled mine more than once. But I refuse to stay silent when carrying the truth. Only at the end of yourself can true Faith manifest and then a relationship in the Secret Place will be birthed.
We all fall short of the Glory of God, but we don't all fall prey to the enemy and his schemes. In closing I hope you receive this message as a charge to hear and obey and not as a rebuke. However, as a young Christian with years of ministry training, I will be the first to say that "The Church" has utterly failed the world. We are powerless without a revelation of Holiness, Endurance filled prayer, and the Obedience of the Lord found in the Secret Place. Its time that we walk in the Authority and Power that was bought for us at a high price; be the hands and feet, maybe then the world will actually desire the very thing we have... Jesus.