IRONMAN
Mar 16, 2005
Why is it God doesn't seem to be doing big things like He did back in the day?
Why is it God doesn't seem to be doing big things like He did back in the day?
I think a better question is why aren't we seeking God like men did in the past? God hasn't gotten lazy... we have.
Eli_Barnabas wrote:I think a better question is why aren't we seeking God like men did in the past? God hasn't gotten lazy... we have.My sentiments exactly. WE have traded impartation for entertainment and anointing for therepy. One reason we think that perhaps God is not moving or willing to move as he did in times of old is because our spirits have been sedated with entertainment (before anyone responds, I am not condeming entertainment, just asking why so much of it has to leave God out). I'll be the first to admit I need to magnify the Lord. I have more faith that a dollar is gonna have the nessecary backing to buy me a soda than i do that the creator of my immortal spirit will meet my needs if I'll have faith in Him. I'm not trying to hijack this thread or anything but think about when David faced Goliath. Saul and tyhe other had to try and convince Daivd that God couldn't help him defeat that giant, while many of our sermons are meant to try to convince us that God CAN defeat that giant. I agree with Eli 100%--I, me, if it falls on you too , we, are oft times lazy. God is ready and willing, we just need to magnify Him in our lives. (We cannot make God any bigger, we can make Him bigger in our lives though)
EliI agree, we have gotten lazy but we look back at how God moved in those days with such awe and wonder, do we not want to experience that ourselves or have we relegated that to just being a thing which God doesn't do any more?
I agree with Eli 100%--I, me, if it falls on you too , we, are oft times lazy. God is ready and willing, we just need to magnify Him in our lives. (We cannot make God any bigger, we can make Him bigger in our lives though)Or maybe I should ask, do we REALLY want to experience God like say Noah, Joseph, Saul (Paul) or David? or are we content in just seing on the outside looking in?
I agree with everything said.We depend on ourselves and the almighty dollar more than anything else.Was it Ravenhill that said "Most of men's prayers could be answered by a Banker or a Millionare."?It seems though that I have heard of some wonderous things happening in other countries with Missionaries.
IRONMAN wrote:Or maybe I should ask, do we REALLY want to experience God like say Noah, Joseph, Saul (Paul) or David? or are we content in just seing on the outside looking in?That's a good question! I am forced to wonder it myself when i read the awesome accounts of our God in the scriptures. Do we rally want what we say we want or are we "patty caking"? it costs what it costs, there is never a close out sale or clearence on it. I have to ask my self, am i willing to pay the price? Are we? I find my self alot of times pleading with God, "i believe but help my unbelief". I am not content to be on the outside looking in--we need to be on the inside and HAVE HIM on the inside!
Ironman, I believe that not wanting to see God move IS laziness as well.God can move! He will move! I believe it! So, now I will move!
Was it Ravenhill that said "Most of men's prayers could be answered by a Banker or a Millionare."?you know it's bad when your prayers may be answered with "if we win the lotto..."
That's a good question! I am forced to wonder it myself when i read the awesome accounts of our God in the scriptures. Do we rally want what we say we want or are we "patty caking"?You know it's funny you should say "patty caking" I thought of that expression earlier in reference to our relationships with God. Are we concerned with our own comfort too much? Where do our sympathies lie? WIth God, are we sympathetic to His will or are we more sympathetic to our own comforts? by the way I started this discussion again in the "scriptures and doctrine" section thinking perhaps it is better suited there.
Elinow I will moveThat is the proverbial billion dollar question...will I move?
Here's a thought to mull over... God never stopped moving, it is evident that by the fact that some one shared the Gospel with us and we were saved. However, the closer you are to the source, the more quickly you revieve. Think of it in a parable form:There was a an older couple that had been married nearly 50 years and throughout thier marriage they always owned a single cab pick up truck with a bench seat in the front. One evening after supper they went for a drive. The husband was quietly driving, as he always did, and the wife began to muse as she rested her head on her arm that was leaned aginst the passenger side window; "Dear, do you remember when we first started courting? You were so loving! You sure have changed! Why when we were courting and even after we married, you always used to put your arm around me while we drove around, you don't do that anymore.. . " interuppting her without missing a beat he glared at her with a 1/2 smile and said "i haven't moved."Let's get closer to the source.
Let's get closer to the source.how close to we want to be to the source?
All up in it! :-P
Psa 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. I don't want to appear divisive but I will share my personal beliefs on this topic. The closer I get to Almighty God, the more I feel so completely unworthy to know Him. Edwards talks about 'evangelical humility' and my response to God is often one of terror and awe. I am also honestly afraid of the price to be paid. I think my best thoughts on this are the eyes of Jesus Christ on the day of judgement; I can only begin to comprehend and feel the majesty of His glory when I will look into the eyes that love the entire world. I am ashamed and dismayed at the ineffectual nature of my prayer and worship because it lacks power, the power of heaven. I can only seem to know this absence because of it's lack of presence rather than as evidence of the unseen.I can feel my flesh fighting the cross and the world will not be silent long enough for me to hear His voice. It's not that God is too small, it's that I'm too large and I'm afraid to be truly broken. Thankfully the Holy Spirit prays for me in ways and with words I can not know and somehow that comforts me. I want to know God but it seems so hard to forget myself and that for me is why God has such a small part of my life. Just my personal observation and opinion.RichHebs. 12:28-29 Wherfore we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, therefore let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
All up in it!AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!
RichI certainlly admire your candor in all this. God certainly wants us to be honest with ourselves and with Him. When we pray it is important to remember God knows what we need already. We need to ask Him to lead us in that prayer so we can pray according to HIS will, so we seek after what He wants us to seek for, that way we can't go wrong. We also tend to pt God in a box and thus limit His ability to work in our lives. We should be so much more open concerning what God can and will do, we miss out on so much because we simply won't believe because it is outside our comfort zone. If God can kept Daniel from being eaten by lions, He can do the same for me.
I don't want to appear divisive but I will share my personal beliefs on this topic. The closer I get to Almighty God, the more I feel so completely unworthy to know Him. Edwards talks about 'evangelical humility' and my response to God is often one of terror and awe. I am also honestly afraid of the price to be paid.Thank you for your comments brother Rich, I can definetly relate to what you are saying. There needs to be a recapturing of the fear of God in our lifes if we are going to serve God with all our heart. To see what Jesus did is not enough we need to realize the fulness of God and what this mighty powerful God did in humbling Himself to a man and even death on a cross. We need to have fear mixed with faith, believing in God and having an awe and reverance for His name, honor, and glory. I do agree that we need to get desperate and go all out for God but at the same time its scary to talk so much about it and it just ends up being words.
Why is it God doesn't seem to be doing big things like He did back in the day?Simple, we stopped truly believing Jesus Christ is truly alive from the grave and stopped treating Him as Lord. When the idea today is that we need to have Christian Coffee Shops in order to have "real" ministry, God doesn't have to backup such nonsense with signs and wonders. The only power a Christian Coffee Shop will see is in the power of its espresso.
I have the pleasure to host a good many foriegn nationals who come to Ohio. Many are coming from very presecuted areas in India, Africa, ect...Specific locations with held.God is still on the move in power in these countries. What we have in the western cultures is basically flawed christianity---or what many Africans call Amercanized christianity.That's not a complement.Our walk of faith doesn't cost us anything, or should I say it doesn't cost most of us anything.So is God doing big things, yes. Here in America? I believe He will but He's waiting for us.At what cost?That is what I've been searching out with greater intensity as the last year has pasted.There has been in me a growing dissatisfication with the statis-quo. The same as what I see in many here on this site.All I can say is keep on pressing into God until all heaven breaks loose here in western culture.
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