God Doesn't Listen to Religion He Works through The Heart

God Doesn’t Listen to Religion He Works Through The Heart

4/5/12

Religion identifies millions of people throughout the world and serves as an identifying factor within these people’s lives.  Religion also serves as a stability of people in which in some instances defines the people and serves as their boundary and then tend to forget that God work through every person in the way that He sees fit, no matter what denominational church they attend.  God’s Church does not recognize denominational boundaries but works through the heart of those who are listening for His voice.

My parents were ministers for over 50 years and are still active in the work of God.  Dad is a wonderful person and was an absolutely terrific pastor during his active ministry, which includes the role he plays in today’s church.  Dad has always been open to what the word of God says and has taught my brother and I to keep our spirits open and on track to what God is saying today.  Kingdom concepts have been a part of my life for many decades now and now the concept is beginning to filter out of me through writing.  What makes this so unique?  Well, it is another example of how God works through people in His own way even though it goes contrary to what you believe is possible.  As I have stated before, I despised writing when I was younger and had no desire to even write a letter to a friend. So, what was God thinking??? J

With my parents being ministers for an extended period of time I have been basically involved with only one denominational group.  Dad was always friends with the local pastors of the area and kept in close contact with them throughout his tenure in the area.  Even today he keeps in contact with some of the ministers that have moved away from this area; what an example I think to myself.  I now realize that this action by my father is a concept of Kingdom that many other people miss.  Kingdom does not recognize denominations, only people.  Yes, humans have their ideologies about who, what, or where to believe but Jesus came to restore the church through people, not by a name of a church.

There was a time in my life that I really did not grasp this concept and I confided my beliefs into a denomination rather in what the word of God said.  More specifically I will talk about a time when I was in the 5^th grade and we had just moved to Mobile, Alabama.  I have to begin this scene with a returning to or backing up of some things to paint the picture.

The year was 1979 and we had just left the city of Salinas, California so that dad could have a short rest from pasturing.  The circumstances had grown into a whirlwind of feelings that my parents had to sort through and just kind of relax a while before entering into a new ministry.  The place that we landed was in Mobile, we had family there as well including my brother who had escaped to the area some months before.  My parents had just resigned from Alisal Assembly of God church and were embarking on a time of rest.  Note the name of the church it will be a point of interest as this note continues. 

Dad was not pastoring during our time in Mobile, he was working as a carpenter for a private company, the same one that my brother had been associated with recently.  It was hard work but it was something that dad knew like the back of his hand and which provided a means of living while the rest period continued.  Mom worked during this time as well and each day she fought the civil war all over again with her coworkers.  The amount of time spent in Mobile was not very long and dad began to look for another church to pastor.

While our stay in Mobile we attended a few churches in the local area.  The church that we began attending when we first arrived was First Assembly of God which was a fairly large church and it was also where my brother attended.  As time went along we began to visit other churches including Moffat Road Assembly and Crichton Assembly of God church.  Dad had an old friend that pastured Crichton Assembly and my parents actually liked attending this church.  Shortly afterwards my acceptance of this church hit a snag and I began not to share the same feelings for this church as my parents did. 

My noncompliant attitude towards this church and every other church in the area became apparent to everyone around me, I wanted to attend First Assembly and no other church would do.  Mom and dad pressed me for a reason why First Assembly was the only one I would attend but I really did not give them an accurate answer at the time.  A short time later, one of the churches that we attended opened up and my parents considered trying out for their position.  This is when I informed them that I would not attend any church that was not named First Assembly and that no other name would suit me.  The cat was out of the bag, my denominational spirits had finally spoken and I was engrained with a name and there sat my standard.

About a year ago I had the feeling like I should begin to pray for other countries.  Pray for the people, their security, the churches, governments, etc, etc.  Of course, I had no idea at the time of why God placed these countries or the desire to pray for these countries into my heart.  The prayers consisted of nothing too specific just mainly in general terms but it was the praying of the people that began my quest for other countries.  The prayers were nothing elaborate but just simple ones that went straight to the point.  I had no certain continent that I stuck with, just whatever country that came to my mind at that moment.

Now, to the present day; I am a member of a bunch of groups on a search engine.  These groups vary in topic from history to church history.  The people that are in these groups are located from all around the world and have widely scattered views on almost any topic that is presented in the groups.  The people in these groups allow me to understand other points of view that originate from different parts of the world.  I know that not everyone around the world shares the same opinions as we Americans do, but I did not realize just how different we can be sometimes.

I do not accept many new group invitations since I barely have enough time to keep up with the ones that I am a part of now.  However, a few months ago I asked to be a part of another religious history group and after a few days I was accepted from the moderator of the group.  I had not been able to read any of my mail for some time so I had to weed through a bunch of messages before I came across my first message in my new group.  The majority of the people in the group are not from my denomination and actually the group itself is associated with another denomination.  As I looked at the title of the message I was intrigued of what I was going to see when I opened up the message.  The title of the message was titled “Prayer”, simple and to the point.

When I opened up the message I received a cold chill down my spine as I read the first line of the message.  It was from a lady that began her message praying for the people of Mali.  She included in the first sentence of her typed prayer the exact areas of prayer that I had included in my prayers for other countries.  I was stunned and really just sat there for a few moments trying to comprehend what I had just read.  I actually reread the sentence again before reading the next sentence.  Now, other people praying for the same issue does not surprise me at all, we hear of it all the time; however, what was so shocking to me was that some lady across the world was praying for the same issue as I had been praying for.

I do know and understand that God speaks to others to pray for the same things, this too is not a new concept to me.  I also know that God works in ways that surprise people when they come into light, but some of us have a tendency of drawing denominational lines within our minds that actually block us from realizing that other people that attend other churches pray for the same things. 

There are a few passages within the Bible that state that God is frustrated with man’s concepts of religion and how obedience is better than the rituals that religion practices.  When you read these passages we mentally picture of the animal sacrifices, the ritual songs and worship services but we rarely include prayer.  Prayer is an individual practice that all of us differ in when we complete it.  True prayer comes from the heart and not from a ritual recital that some denominations practice.  True prayer is a direct communication with God and should not be contained through denominational boundaries.

The lady’s message of prayer for the people of Mali reinforced the concept that God works through people’s heart rather than listening to the religious denominational solidarity that is portrayed as a whole.  Even though denominations are present and are still relevant in our world, we as Christians need to be aware that the church denomination that we attend should not overrule what is in our heart and that God desires to have a relationship with you, not the Assembly of God Church or even the Catholic Church.  I am not against these religious establishments at all, but it is time that we Christians refocus ourselves as one in Christ instead of drawing the divisional denomination lines which render the Church powerless.

It is time for us to put away the petty differences that divide us so that we can once again effectively reach the people of the world.  We have aligned spirits with denominational boundaries so much that we have lost our way as a church.  Our participation in the chairs of the church has been well received but our willingness to convey this message to others outside of the church has been abhorrent.  So much that we Christians have been entertained with fighting amongst ourselves to render which is right and who we can blame for our misguided views within our own denominations.  See, how effective denominations have become?

Our hearts are the key to this spiritual warfare and how we are to be approaching this battle.  The heart is the source by which God speaks to us and by which we should speak towards others.  Our hearts should portray God at all times, even in times of trouble and despair.  Our hearts should be aware of our surroundings and be ready to respond when God speaks to us.  Our hearts represent the means of how God knows us and how He communicates through us.  It is a relationship that is based on the simple source of life within you called the heart and it encompasses every aspect of your life.

It is time for us to restore our hearts back to God and for us to plant our spirits back into the Word of God so that we may totally understand what God is saying to His people for today.  Our spiritual battles have been raging for centuries but we need to hear the messages that are being said through others and realize that our time is running out.  As Glenn Beck stated the other day, we are all Catholics now, not saying that all of us are attending that denomination but that we are all included into one group according to the spiritual forces that are against us.  Those forces group us in together as one group, don’t you believe it is time that we ourselves begin to accept this concept?

DLB