God is Not a Religious Slot Machine.
If you are a believer and and you are pushing the buttons of religious performance in hopes of hitting the right one that if done well, will get God's attention and He will shine His blessing favor on you...you are living in a make-believe world of religious fantasy.
Religion has created a slot-machine God who is suppose to jump into action when the right buttons are pushed to satisfy our self-righteous acts by meeting our demands (prayer requests). Many people live their entire spiritual life trying to figure out the right sequence of performance buttons to input into the blessing keypad to get God to give them what they want. We read the Bible, quote the Bible, study the Bible, idolize the Bible in an effort to get Him to do what we think He said He would do. Our faith is in the believing that because the Bible said it, I believe and using that as an effort to “legally” force God to to perform what we think He should. God is not a slot-machine where if we hit the right sequence of keys He will open up some blessing chest and rain down blessings as a reward for our religious faithfulness.
Jesus is the “All Sufficient One” and to routinely pray for revival is indicative of God's people suffering from spiritual heart failure in need of revival to revival resuscitation. Relationship with religion to the religionists is all about reading and obeying what they think the Bible says. We have exchanged the authority of the Living Word for the authority of the written word causing us to make an idol of the book that points to Jesus the Living Word of God.
Everything from Bible reading, Sunday-go-meeting attendance, tithe giving and our praying has been affected by the pre-cross thinking of doing to get God's blessing. Popular teachings on worship, generational curses, fasting, healing, repenting, receiving blessings, and even hearing the voice of God have all been tainted by our lack of accepting and standing upon the finished work of Christ’s death and resurrection in place of our doing to gain His favor.
The purpose of the Old Testament is to point the way to Christ (the better covenant)…yet the Community of the Redeemed continues to run back to Old Testament principles like a "dog to his own vomit". They prefer to embrace the comfortable rules of religion rather than the sometimes, difficult freedom of relationship because of His grace.
When we routinely act and behave as though the death and resurrection has provided nothing of any better than the law of rules and regulations, we are bowing down to the anti-Christ spirit.
The way we know the truth about God’s limitless love, compassion and mercy is when we leave the mixed law-grace gospel and accept the grace-freeing gospel.
God blesses us with many blessings including healing...but it is because He makes His abode in us and in Him is every blessing we could ever need. So feast on Him, for He is the living Word that blesses His people because of His love and grace.
I agree with you when you say Jesus is the all sufficient one.
ReplyDeleteChrist has given us exceeding great and precious promises. But they don`t work automatically in our lives without our input. We are not robots where God forces anything on us but gives us a choice.
When it comes to salvation we have to receive Him and believe on His name.
John1:12
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
For us to receive these promises we have to ask.
Matthew7:7-11
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Paul in one of his grace messages says what we are to do to obtain grace and mercy.
Hebrews4:16
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Paul also says what we should do if we want these promises to work.
2Cor.7:1
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
I just finished reading Garry Hooper`s book called Grace For Disgrace and I like what he says on page 97.The gift of righteousness brings me into Christ, but the path of righteousness governs how I`m blessed while I`m here walking this earth.
Paul says in Rom. 5:17 that it has to be received even though it is promised to everyone.
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)