Words redefined…

These are words that have been misused as man supports the flesh and denies the Spirit. Where do you stand? How do you interpret these words? What meaning do they have for you?

TRUTH:
A concept, as definitions, something we search and search for to appease our mind, human wisdom but we will never know or come to accept it is Jesus, and Him alone, we will not accept Jesus as Truth and the only truth, without being humble… humble yourself... “I am the truth…” there is no truth without love!

JOY:
Has come to be temporal and elusive, a kin to happiness, as if it were mirth or laughter; The Joy that is our strength, was set before Jesus… the resurrection through martyrdom, laying down His life leads to our joy… now more so in our opportunity to follow and do the same…

CHURCH:
The place of meeting has become an end unto itself, rather than a celebration of martyrdom through the resurrection of the called ones, no matter what the format or style or dimension it’s mostly shrouded in self-serving at best. To constantly come week after week and learn Good News is evidence of not coming to an understanding of it…

WORSHIP:
No longer present your bodies as a living sacrifice in Spirit and in deed, it has become some thing we sing about, pray about and talk about, acts of loving sacrificial service replaced by sing-along lip service…

SACRIFICE:
Is now seen as something idolaters do, not Christians, seen in the best light, it’s something Jesus did for us so we no longer have to…  there is no love without sacrifice… and its lack is sending a chill through the body… feeling cold?

LOVE:
This command to love our neighbor is observed in our confession “We do!” for our lack or hesitation to annihilate them… love is seen as a cessation of revenge or restraint rather than service… for there is more inaction than acts of loving service in the church…

GIVING:
Rather than give our all by laying down our lives as in following Jesus, we give from our bloated hidden abundance, mostly to pay off our debt of guilt… or are we trying to buy our way in?

PRAYER:
Rather than a lifeline from our salvation to our resurrection in faith… it’s a drone of I wants or a litany of murmuring complaint but for most, has become like the hose on the wall… “Break glass in case of fire” we use it only in extreme need, if that…

LABOR:
Has come from obedient loving service going to the harvest created by God, to something we do to pay the bills of our comfort and because of the place we’ve given it. This gives us opportunity to choose to add to our comfort by working more or maybe we’ll share some… even tithe… We labor for the Lord giving benefit to ourselves, ya think?

THE ROCK:
Of our salvation, the foundation we stand on, Jesus! Has more or less become a song we sing or to some who enjoy the music beat a little too much… the other half of roll?

THE CROSS:
From pick it up daily… We’ve come to gain the comment “I wear it around my neck every day… and night” and it’s 18 carrot gold!

FRUIT:
From seeds of love, to reproduction… we now have an unknown quantity, because of our non-loving inaction, we get to use the term “fruit” to judge others… and the blind continue to lead the blind…

SERVICE:
No longer loving actions toward others even our enemies… it has become an hour or so a week where we serve God… by showing up…

MINISTRY:
From the menial, the humble act of washing feet as Jesus… to ownership, my ministry, my title, my way, all the while spending more time talking about doing something or talking about yourself, lovelessly shallow… my, my, my, sound a little vain?

COMMITMENT:
Just like marriage we enter selflessly into it for life, we make it work until we tire of it and withdraw into our selfishness until we divorce ourselves of the idea… until it is bankrupt of worth… then we make excuses and speak against it… after all we’ll all be together in heaven, right? … if you get there…

SUBMISSION:
We come under for a season only to come out and declare boldly we’ve been there!

HOPE:
From eternal and incorruptible it has become an aspect of the negative, and accepted as wishful thinking, Hope it don’t rain, Hope I get a good parking space, hope the kids stay quiet, hope it’s a short sermon…

EVANGELIST:
This for too long has been someone that brings the message of salvation to the Church…

THE SPIRIT:
From the simple condition of God in us through Jesus, “I will never leave you or forsake you” to the flesh having a field day with, let’s get into the Spirit, to the Spirit fell on us… did He trip, does He aim at us, is He pushed; do we believe it’s in our power that we can do something to allow it to happen? If you believe God inhabits our praises; yes in the old contract when we were without Him, now we cannot praise Jesus without the Holy Spirit it is He who praises through us! Nevertheless even in our misconception we recover from the event of His presence very quickly…

FAITH:
We’ve each been given a measure… for too long read about, talked about, alluded to and even prayed for it mistakenly but we don’t use it, because we don’t live in it… it’s more like a wall hanging glanced at and admired…

SINCERE:
Desire, intent, motive has become “Well I meant it when I said it!” Ergo the road to hell is paved with it…

INTEGRITY: 
There is so little, we lost it’s meaning altogether…

ANOINTED:
Consecrated, covered with oil, blessed by the hand of God, Jesus is anointed and now the anointing… It has become jargonized, this is anointed, that was anointed, that look was anointed, what you spoke was anointed, we are well lubed at the mouth with anointing but we still squeak of the flesh…  

FIRE:
To burn for God until we are no more and it is as Paul says “No longer I but Jesus” has gone full circle to getting on fire is an encouragement to act in the flesh of good works by your own strength and then… burn out!

PASTOR:
Someone directed as Peter to… feed my sheep, is now a self proclaimed place you arrive at when you direct others under you, knowing there’s no one over you, to correct you… Hungry? Here’s an apple… you’ll love it to death…

FOLLOW ME!
Here the opportunity is yours, to define for yourself, to know what it means and act on it… don’t try to define it in your mind but go to your heart… take a moment and consider this call… can you hear the Spirit… do you know the voice of Jesus… focus on Him and let the Spirit lead you…

Words have power unless… they have their meaning watered down or become vague for little use or become redefined or are just not used at all. There are many words that have become misused or misrepresented or manipulated so their meaning is dulled or altered but you should get the point from the sampling above. Consider what we’ve come to and where we should be…

Consider your use of words but more importantly consider the call of God for you to follow Jesus
With that said we have these words for you… Open you heart to receive the love of Jesus and keep receiving until you are filled to overflowing and you desire to share it with everyone…

The only words we need to know are...
the call to follow begins and ends in the command to love…