Where is God? Where Are You?

Something that has really been upon my heart lately that has broken me away from my silence.  I realize I have not written in close to a year, but much has happened this year.  Maybe I'll get into all of that in another post.


But right now, my heart is heavy.  I am so discouraged lately...not by homosexuals or abortionists or even atheists.  I'm greatly discouraged by the "Church."


I guess I expect the world to act like the world, but I expect the Church to act like Christians.  I guess we all have our own convictions and views of what "Christianity" is, and while I see room for slight variances, there is just too much division between us when there really shouldn't be.

1)  Take for example modesty.  Now, we all have different ideas of what is modest, probably based upon our experiences.  However, if we look at a person's wardrobe, you can often tell if they are trying to 1) Please themselves, 2) Please the opposite sex, or 3) Please the Lord.

I am probably slightly stricter than many on modesty, but even when someone does not have as strict as a conviction as I do, I can still tell when they are trying to please the Lord with their modesty.  They do not have to have my convictions to do this.  However, when a Sister in Christ is exposing her breasts, thighs, and figure, it's also very clear to me whom she is trying to please:  the world.  Sometimes it's done subconsciously (for I used to do this), but the effects are still the same.

If anyone preaches on modesty, they are being legalistic.  This is one example of how Christians are out to please themselves instead of God first.

2)  Look at the movies, music, and television shows that are popular among Christians.  I know what is popular amongst Christians because I hear it being spoken about to one another and even broadcasted on Christian radio.  Often, these movies and shows have mostly good endings, but may have cursing, immodesty, sexual scenes or innuendos, and often the characters display the flesh, and not fruits of the Spirit.

I remember as a teen purchasing a DVD player that would remove cursing from the movies.  I was not about to sacrifice my movies, and obviously I knew there were things in the movies that didn't please the Lord, or I wouldn't have purchased the DVD player.  But I just could not imagine giving up my entertainment.  I convinced myself that God wanted me to be "happy."

Another example of when Christians put their own desires above the Lord's.

3)  That brings me to my third example.  God only wants us to be happy if it is in His Will, for His glory.  He doesn't want us to be happy in sin.....even if it's only a small, quick, seemingly meaningless sin.  If our happiness is just a feeling, it's not joy.  It's worldly.  You see, the Apostle Paul encourages us to be content no matter the state we are in.  We are not to change our circumstances to fit how we want to feel, we are to change our feelings around our circumstances.  The problem is, that takes work.  Growing in character means we will be unhappy at times.  Christ did not have emotional happiness dying upon the Cross, but He had JOY knowing He was suffering as a covering of our transgressions.

How can we expect our Savior to live the life He did?  Did He really walk this sinless life so we could have our conveniences, or did He do it so we could have eternal life?  If your answer is the latter, than why are we not following His example?  Shouldn't we be taking up our Cross daily and following His example?!


It is so easy for us to get caught up in what everyone else is doing.  Sister so and so did this and Bro. so and so went there.  We fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others instead of God's Word and to Jesus Christ Himself.  We will not be judged based upon how much less sin we did than everyone else, but we will be judged upon every single opportunity we did not take to preach the Gospel.

Often, when someone shares a personal conviction that someone disagrees with, instead of pointing out Scripture of why they have a different viewpoint, I too often hear a defense justifying something of their opinion (which will clearly not be based off of the Word of God).  Now I'm speaking of Christians.  As Christians, our decisions SHOULD be based off of Scripture, NOT of how we think God should act or would do.  We have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, we shouldn't have to justify anything!

I hear the "Church" spending more time defending going to watch a movie, wear an outfit, participating in certain activities, even LYING and DRINKING more than I hear them defending the Word of God.  I used to be apart of this "Church."  Don't get me wrong, I genuinely wanted to please the Lord, but I didn't realize that I wanted to please myself more.  God had to wake me up from my blindness and get me back into reading the Word (which I was not doing regularly, another sign that I was not putting God first in my life).

This is what God used to wake me up, and if you're struggling with putting God above all worldly things (which by the way, I still have this struggle with the flesh), maybe this will help you as well:


God showed me that I was looking for the line of sin.  I wanted a Bible that was written like the Ten Commandments, "Can I do this or not?"  Almost like the magic 8 ball that used to be popular.  I didn't want to take the time to study the Word of God or get in my closet and pray and wait for His answer (patience has never been a virtue of mine).  I simply wanted to know, "God, can I go see this movie?, Can I wear this outfit?, etc."  If God told me "No", I would be a "good little Christian" and not do it.  But my heart was not doing it only because I didn't want to do wrong.  I wasn't being obedient out of my love for God to please Him.


I would want to dress as close to the world as I could without sinning.  I wanted to be fashionable and look nice, but I didn't want to sin.  I wanted to be entertained by books, movies, and music...you know, the same type that the world produced, but without sinning.  I wanted to be involved in all of the fun things the world did, as long as it didn't involve sin.  In my mind, I saw nothing wrong with this type of mentality.  I genuinely thought I was "good."  My pride from comparing myself to others blinded me from how God saw me.

God has now impressed upon my heart to not look for the line of sin, but to be as far from it as possible!  You see, God is nowhere near that line of sin.  So when I stand near the line, I may not be crossing it, but I'm still far from God.  When I'm far from God, my judgment is cloudy.  

I live between two towns.  My address is in one town, but I actually live closer to the other one.  No matter what my address says, in my life, I have been more heavily influenced by the town I live the closest to.

You see, I may not have crossed that line of sin, but when I'm closer to the world than I am to God, I'm not glorifying Him.  In fact, sin is not just a direct violation of God's Word, sin is doing anything out of the will of God, and I can promise you, God does not want us anywhere near that line.

So now, instead of asking myself of how close to the line of sin I can get, I try to remember to ask myself "Is this edifying to God?"  When I screen videos for my children to watch, I no longer just try to make sure there is nothing "bad" in it.  I now try to make sure that what they are watching will benefit them in their life.

I find my 2 and 3 (almost 4) year olds quoting Scripture and trying to determine who has to be Pharaoh and who gets to be Moses when they are pretend playing.  Sure, my kids could have spent time learning things in a book or on video that "wasn't bad", but what value would it have for their eternity?

My husband and I both grew up in Christian homes and we are so thankful for that.  But neither one of us were encouraged to read our Bibles everyday.  We spend our times doing things we wanted to do (not "bad" things).  We chose to spend that time primarily for ourselves (convincing ourselves we deserve "me" time, which ended up being most all of our time).  Most of what we learned biblically was within the church.  And unfortunately, the "Church" has gotten away from the New Testament Church that was for the Believer and has now transitioned into an entertainment center to try and convince non-believers to come and see that Christians can have just as much fun.  The problem is, those from the world are coming for the fun, not the Word.  We hope they would get saved in the few minutes we squeeze the Word of God in, but the reality is, these people are changing our churches, we are not changing them.

The Church was set up for believers to encourage, equip, and exhort one another.  If an unbeliever came along, they would welcome them with open arms, but they would not welcome the sin.  They would not tiptoe around the sin.  The purpose of the Church is to equip, encourage, and exhort one another together, so we can go INTO the World and preach the Gospel.  The sinner would be welcome into the Church, and they would either change and stay, or feel so uncomfortable and out of their element from the Holy Spirit working in their heart, they would leave and run from God.  The number one priority of the Church is not actually to win souls (though that is amazing if that happens), but to train the Saints so when the Saints go into their parts of the World, they are taking the Gospel to those people.

The problem is, we want the witnessing to be done in the church.  When we do this, it's a controlled environment, positive peer pressure, and the preacher does most of the work (for that's why we pay him, so we don't have to do our job as much).  If we do more witnessing in world than in the church, we'd have to talk to people (and even though I like to talk, I still get nervous speaking with strangers).  Many Christians are convinced to win others by their life, and while that is VERY important, that is not the only example Christ gave us.  If we truly want to please the Lord, we will GO into the world and PREACH the Gospel with our lips, not just our lives.

I believe if God has truly transformed our hearts and lives, we won't be able to keep IT in.  We will be so excited to tell....just like a little kid who heard a good secret.  Man, if sharing the Good News of Jesus was as important to us as it was about learning new, juicy gossip, our entire World would be in revival and our Country would be in a different state.  Our Country is not fallen because of the homosexuals, and abortionists, and evolutionists out there.  Our Country is in a dire state because it no longer looks to God as its Master, but He's more of a God who saved us, so we are thankful and give Him our Sundays as our appreciation.



So to sum it up, the "Church" has me concerned for many reasons:

1)  The Church justifies their sins as opposed to defending their beliefs with Scripture.

2)  The Church looks just like the world, but with designer clothes on.

3)  The Church doesn't agree with the government, but has enjoyed the benefits and freebies it gives them, so it doesn't throw too big of a fit.

4)  The Church has made itself a god over God Himself.

5)  The Church has changed God's Word to align with its new beliefs.



I know this is not every Christian.  However, this is a sad trend that is growing more and more popular as time goes on.  This has happened in the past, and God has always responded with wrath.  God has amazing mercy, but He HATES sin, and sin will be destroyed.


The whole point of this post is for you to ask yourself this question, "Am I trying to please God 100% above all else?", or "Am I trying to please myself and still working within God's standards?"

I never want to go back to asking myself the latter question.  As Christians, we have liberty in Christ.  We are no longer bound to the Law of Moses.  But that doesn't mean that we should take that liberty and do as we please....we should still only want to do things that are pleasing to the Lord.


There are many Christians out there that have stricter convictions than I do myself.  I'm okay with that.  I may not agree with them, but I am so thankful they have convictions and are trying to discern and live for the Lord over themselves and what they believe they have a "right" to do.

1 Corinthians 10:23

" All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not."


These conversations are not always comfortable, but true friends encourage us to walk closer to the Lord, even if it points out our own sins.  True friends care more about our eternity and what God will say to us on Judgment Day than what we want to hear today.  What kind of friend are you?

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Do I have to go to church EVERY Sunday?!?!

Today I want to tackle a topic that I hear so much about.  However, I first want to show both sides of the argument before giving the convictions that God has laid upon the hearts of our family.

Do we really have to go to church EVERY Sunday?  This is a very hot topic.  My intentions are not to step upon anyone's toes.  You need to pray about all of your family decisions, not trust what I or anyone else tell you to do.  You alone will be responsible for the decisions you make.  Whatever you decide, be certain that it is a decision you can defend standing before God.  As always, when in doubt about a subject, it is always better to err on the side of caution, rather than to be against God's will for your life.


Here are often some arguments I hear AGAINST going to church every Sunday.  I'm not saying this is an exhaustive list.  This is simply what I often hear.  If you have anymore reasons, or you have some that you often hear, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

1)  "There is nothing in the Bible that states when or how often a person of today's time must attend church."

This is a true statement.  It is often believed that you must attend church everytime the doors are open...especially twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday night.  However, this argument is found nowhere in the Bible.  We simply need to attend church as often as we are convicted to (in many cases, three times a week may not be enough)!

2)  "It's okay to miss a Sunday 'once in a while'."

Once again, the Bible does not state how often you and I must attend church.  So certainly, there is nothing said about missing some Sundays. 

3)  "My children have sports games on Sundays.  It is the only time that it is offered and I feel like this is a great opportunity for our family to be witnessing to other families."

Certainly, this could be true.  However, I would doubt that 99% of the families who are playing sports on Sundays, do so in order to win others to Jesus.  I think most families are there to play sports first, and if someone happens to hear about Jesus along the way, that's a bonus.  You have to look at your family's heart and see if you're honestly in that 1% or not.  We don't want to just do whatever we want to do and then try to somehow make Jesus work in that.  We want to do what He has planned for our life, and then let Him provide our fun for us while doing His will.

4)  "We have Bible time at home and, therefore, we don't need to go to church every week."

How wonderful if you are having daily family Bible time at home!  This is something I would bet most Christians don't do (in fact, we didn't do it for much of our married life up to this point).  However, church is not only a place for you to go and learn from the Word.  It is a place of fellowship with other believers.  We need our accountability, and we must remember that our brothers and sisters in Christ need us there as well.  Can you imagine everyone skipping church one Sunday and some families come to church who are not saved?  Who will talk with them?  Just the preacher?  Why would they continue to come and seek God if God's people don't feel it important to go to church?  So while I commend you on having Bible time at home, remember, church is much more than just going to hear the Word of God.

5)  "Sunday is supposed to be the Sabbath day.  I'm supposed to rest like God did."

Oh this is one I hear often!  And to be honest, many church people are soooo busy with choir practices and wedding showers that they forget to rest on the Sabbath!  First of all, I don't believe that Sunday has to be your Sabbath day.  I mean, if I were to have a baby on a Sunday, I don't want my doctor saying, "Sorry, I must rest today!  Just hold that kid in about another 24 hours!"  The Bible says to "REMEMBER the Sabbath day to keep it holy".  If you choose to do this on a Sunday, then certainly you need to rest.  However, we CAN rest in the House of God.  We don't HAVE to be so busy at church.  We should be able to attend church and celebrate the Sabbath on the same day!  However, if you're having this trouble, I would suggest resting on a different day than the day you are going to church.  Church is important in many ways, including  fellowshiping with one another.

We certainly are not required to be at the church every single time the doors are open.  However, I would urge you to search your heart.  Why wouldn't we as Christians WANT to be at church as much as possible?!  I mean, it should be a place of learning, a place of fellowship, and a place of worship!  When you're out in the world all week, it's a BLESSING to get to be with other fellow believers in the House of God!  Can you worship at home?  Certainly, but what if your brother or sister needs you?  You won't be there.
I encourage you to make church a #1 priority for your family.  If you're having trouble getting up and going to church every morning, maybe you need to search your relationship with God.  Here's how you can know if it's your relationship with God that needs to be refocused:

Would you get out of bed on a Sunday if you had a doctor's appointment?  What if you were meeting a friend?  Would you be on time to work?  If you answer yes to any of these questions, maybe you should re-evaluate what your priorities are.  I know often I try to tell myself God is most important, but when I really look at my actions, I'm not displaying what I'm preaching.

For our family, we try to attend both services on Sunday.  We do not currently attend Wednesday night services because my husband works during that time.  Certainly I could still drive the 40 miles to go, but with two little ones, I know that I would be spending all of my time correcting and training, and probably being more of a distraction than learning myself.  However, we hope for my husband to get on first shift soon, to where that is not an issue and we can attend on Wednesday nights.  Even if not, as soon as we feel my oldest is old enough, it is worth me taking the girls to go even if I am not able to pay much attention due to attending to a baby.  Araylah will be old enough to benefit and sit and listen, even if I must leave to attend to the baby in the nursery.  As soon as we feel she is old enough for that, I will take all of my children (no matter how many) to the services.  We currently practice being still and quiet at Family Bible Time.  Hopefully, we will get to add another service soon.

We do try to attend every service on Sunday, unless we are out of town (in which we try to find another church to attend).  Unfortunately, lately we have missed due to bad weather.

I tell you what our family does, not for you to be just like us.  Some of you might be judging me for not attending Wednesdays while others only wish they could attend most Sundays.  I am only saying this to say that my husband will be held accountable for our church attendance as a family.  The same applies to your family.  We need to be certain we are not doing what is "convenient," but what is pleasing to God.

There is no magical number of times to attend church, but if you're asking yourself, "Do I HAVE to go every Sunday?," I would reckon you're not really wanting to be there...in which case I would either find a church you wanted to go to every week, or I would re-evaluate my relationship with God (do you even have a daily relationship with Him?).  I know that the more I attend church (mainly because we are in a church that we felt God lead us to), we HATE missing.  We know we are missing out on a blessing when we miss.  Why would I not want every blessing I could get?  That's why I want to be at church so much!  I enjoy being blessed and encouraged!

So, we do miss a Sunday here and there, and currently, we miss all Wednesday night services.  But we are not missing them to please ourselves.  I know that God looks at our hearts more than anything.  Don't let someone make you feel guilty for not being at church every time the doors are open.  Simply make sure your heart is where it needs to be with God and let Him do the convicting on this issue!  But don't avoid the issue to keep from feeling guilt either!  Pray about it.  Seek God on this issue and He will give you what your family needs!

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