What Happened To Our Tears?

"Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" - Jeremiah 9:1



I have a question that I would like to ask churches, pastor, and all Christians.  What happened to our tears?  What happened to our brokenness?  What happened to our burden for the lost and the backslidden?  This is something that I have been burdened and bothered about for a while now.  It seems that our churches and the Christians that occupy them have lost their tears and their brokenness for the world around them.  Compare that in contrast to the words of Jeremiah in the above verse.  He was known as the weeping prophet.  God help us today to be weeping Christians!

If you were to attend the typical midweek prayer service in most churches today you would find much of the prayer time occupied by shallow self-centered prayer requests.  Please don't misunderstand me, I am not trying to be rude or ugly, but rather be completely honest about the state of our churches.  If we are to honestly examine ourselves and what we pray for, it should trouble us.  Most of the time we spend more time praying to keeps saints out of Heaven than we do sinners out of Hell.

What happened to Christians specifically calling the names of people who are lost, on their way to Hell, and desperately need to be saved?  What happened to Christians coming forward to the altar and weeping for lost people to be saved?  I'm afraid that we have become to concerned with upsetting or offending someone by saying that they are lost an headed for Hell without the blood of Christ applied to their hearts and lives.  What happened to Christians weeping and shedding tears for those in the church who have fallen into sin and thus are not right with God?  What happened to us calling out there names, begging God for them to repent of their sin and get their hearts right?  Again, I'm afraid that we are so worried about upsetting or offending them that we keep quiet.

Is it any wonder why we are not seeing people saved like we used to or why we do not see the power of God upon our churches as we did 60 or 70 years ago?  When will we wake up and realize that we must get our tears back?  We must allow Christ to break our hearts for those around us that are hurting, lost, and desperately in need of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Instead of showing anger, hostility, arrogance, or a condescending attitude toward those who are lost, may God completely and totally break our hearts for their souls!  May we be willing to shed some tears and weep over their sin and their need for Christ!

I know that I am at the front of the line when it comes to failing to weep and shed tears over the sins of the lost and their need for Christ.  I pray that God will totally, completely, and utterly break my heart for those that are lost around me!  I pray that God will break the heart of our church for the lost in our community!

Will we allow God to break our hearts for the lost around us?  Are we willing to shed some tears over the lost in our community?  Like Jeremiah, are we willing to weep day and night for others to come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, forgive me for losing my tears!  Forgive me for my lack of weeping over those that are lost and on their way to Hell without Christ!  Lord, please break my heart for the lost around me and give me a burden and a passion for their souls!  Help me to be willing to weep day and night for those lost in my community to be saved!  In Jesus name, Amen!

The Source Of Our Problems

"Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom." - Proverbs 13:10



A preacher friend of mine quoted this Bible verse in one of his posts this morning on Facebook and I decided to go read it and meditate on it for a little while.  As I thought on this verse, the Lord began to speak to my heart about writing something on it today.

It is so sad to see that there is much contention in many churches today and in the lives of many Christians today as well.  Why is that?  What is the reason for it?  The answer is pride, it is the root of all contention.  Pride is at the root of the problems and contentions that we have with others, whether it be in the church or outside the church.  Pride comes natural to us because of our flesh and our lusts.  We don't want to be wronged, we don't want to be corrected, we must have things our way, we are going to give someone a piece of our mind.  We manifest all of these attitudes because of pride.

The Bible tells us that God resists the proud.  In Proverbs chapter 6, we find that a proud look is something that God says He hates.    In contrast, the Bible tells us that God gives grace to the humble.  It also says that God is near to those of broken heart and a contrite spirit.  In light of this, there are several questions that come to mind.  Where is our humility?  Where is our brokenness?  Where is our spirit of contrition?

The solution to this problem is simple; if we want to get rid of contention in our churches, our homes, and our individual lives, we must get rid of our pride.  If we are dying daily to ourselves, our flesh, and our lusts, then there is no reason for us to have pride in our hearts.  However, in "American Christianity" the problem is that we do not die daily to all of these things.  Is it any wonder that we lack the power of God in our churches, pulpits, and our individual lives?

If you look to the middle of the word "Pride" you will find "I" and that says it all!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, help me today to die to my flesh, my desires, and my lusts.  Help me to deny myself and to surrender all to Christ.  Forgive me for my sin of pride in my heart and cleanse me from it.  Give me a spirit of humility, brokenness, and a contrite heart.  Lord, help me to remember, it isn't about me but rather it is ALL about Christ!  In Jesus name, Amen!

Have Pity

"Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me." - Job 19:21


 

It has been said that no one in all of Scripture, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, suffered like Job did.  It has also been said about Job's friends, that with friends like that, you don't need enemies.  What we read in Job 19:21 is one of the saddest statements made in Scripture.  Job is desperate as he cries out for his friends to have pity on him.  What stands out to me about this verse is the total lack of compassion and mercy shown by Job's supposed friends.

What about us today?  There are people in our churches today who are suffering.  Are we willing to show them mercy and compassion and really be there for our brothers and sisters in Christ when they need us?  There are also multitudes that are lost without Christ in our culture today.  Are we willing to speak the truth in love to them?  Are we also willing to show them mercy and compassion by showing them the love of Christ that they desperately need?  I'm so afraid that those in the church, as well as in the world, think that we see them only as a number.  "We have led this many to Christ this month.  We have given this much to missions this past year or we support this many missionaries."  You and I must be willing to invest ourselves into the lives of those who are in need, whether those needs be spiritual, physical, or emotional.  We must be willing to cry with others, to share their hurts, and cry out to the Lord on their behalf.

It seems to me today that way too many Christians are in the category of Job's supposed friends.  They are merciless, they are without compassion on those who are hurting and in need.  Too many times we spend so much time condemning others that we fail to show them Christ's love, mercy, or compassion.  Now I am not saying that we accept their sin and overlook it, I am saying that these people who are hurting need someone to just love them and show them Christ.

Will you show mercy, compassion, and the love of Christ to those that are hurting?  May God break our hearts especially for those that are lost in the world and desperately need Christ to save them before it is eternally too late!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father. break my heart for those around me that are hurting and desperately need Your love!  Please forgive me for my failure to show Christ's love to these people.  Help me to show mercy and compassion to those in need, whether they be in the church or in the world.  May I make a difference in the life of someone else for Your honor and glory!  In Jesus name, Amen!

Dwelling Together In Unity

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity!" - Psalm 133:1


"The devils are united as one man in their infamous rebellion, while we believers in Jesus are divided in our service of God, and scarcely ever work with unanimity." - Charles Spurgeon

The Bible says that it is good and that it is pleasant for the brethren to dwell together in unity.  The Bible goes on to say in Psalm 133:2 that it is like a precious ointment upon the head.  With that being said, why is that we cannot seem to dwell together in unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Please don't misunderstand me, I am not talking about yoking up with those that promote and teach false doctrine; neither am I talking about yoking up with those who are not saved.  I am talking about Christians who agree on the fundamentals of the faith.  In the New Testament, Jude exhorted his readers to "earnestly contend for the faith."  He did not say contend for the issues, he said contend for the faith!

Is it any wonder that we do not see people coming to Christ when the Body is divided?  Is it any wonder that people want nothing to do with the Bride of Christ?  Our enemy, Satan, and all of his cronies are most definitely united in their cause to destroy the name of Jesus Christ.  Why is it that we feel that we must attack others in the Body who don't cross their t's and dot their i's the way we do?  Again, I am not talking about those who are in doctrinal error.  This was the problem at Corinth, they were divided with one saying they were of Paul and another saying they were of Apollos.  Unfortunately, not much has changed since then.  Today in the Body of Christ we have all sorts of cliques and camps proudly touting who they are of: I am Sword of the Lord, I am Hyles-Anderson, I am in the camp meeting crowd, or I am BBF.  Please don't misunderstand me, I am not trying to pick on these specific groups, but rather I am just using them for examples.  Sadly, the reality is that if someone doesn't do what we think they should be doing or do it the way we think they should, we want to separate from them and ostracize them even when there is no Biblical reason or mandate for doing so.

Does it bother you that people are dying lost and spending an eternity in Hell because the Body is too busy fighting among themselves?  May God convict our hearts of this terrible wickedness and sin!  We have the truth that this lost world needs, but they are not hearing it because we are too busy fighting with each other.  I know that I am running the risk of being labeled a compromiser by my IFB brethren, but that is okay because I quit worrying what "the brethren" thought a long time ago.  I am ONLY concerned with pleasing Jesus Christ and being obedient to Him.

There is absolutely something wrong when you see the level of vitriol that is present among the Body today, especially coming from "men of God."  This attacking one another has got to stop!  How can we say the love of Christ dwells in us and then turn around and go after another brother in Christ just because it doesn't agree with our opinions or personal preferences?  All of this is done under the pretense of taking a stand.  My question is: taking a stand for what?  Where is the humility?  Where is the meekness?  Where is the brokenness?

I can't help but think about what a hot time it is going to be at the Judgment Seat of Christ as we have to give account to Christ for the discord that we have sown in the Body.  How many people have died lost and are now burning in Hell because of the lack of unity in the Body?  Do we even care or does it even bother us that our lack of unity and our discord is hindering us from sharing the Gospel with those that are in desperate need of salvation?

May the Lord forgive us for our lack of unity and may He forgive us for the way treat other members of His Body!  I pray that we would ask the Lord for meekness, humility, and that our hearts would be broken!