what i'm learning

Part of what I’m to be doing is to journal what I’m learning and how will that help me in Zambia, both on the spiritual/biblical side of what I’m learning, and also the agricultural and cultural side of my studies. My main focus is going to be agriculture, but I’m also studying the early church, its design and function. What is the definition of a strong church? How do you strengthen the church? How were elders and leaders qualified, chosen, and what are their responsibilities? I have also been reading through the Bible. It has been very interesting/unsettling/concerning/frustrating/ and even, once in a while encouraging.

In a lot of areas what I am learning is not matching up with what I am seeing taking place in the church. I ask the question, WHY? One of the main reasons is because the church in America has become more of a corporate institution than the Bride of Christ she is. I have a commentary I did on James 4:4-10, but I have not had the courage to post it as of yet. There are those who would say the church has failed; I don’t believe that. Are there areas the church needs to desperately address, to get back to its first priority? YES. I have said it before and I will say it again: the church’s first priority is Prayer and the Word, as according to ACTS 6. Or you can go back to when Jesus cleared the temple. He said, “My Father’s house is to be a house of prayer”. Now I ask you: your church (where ever, whatever it is), is it a house of prayer? I think for it to be a house of prayer that would mean that prayer is what is taking place there the majority of the time (that does not include activities, programs, concerts, entertainment). How many churches still hold a prayer meeting in their church consistently? If you have such a church, count yourself blessed and thank GOD for it! How about your elders and leaders? Are they devoted to prayer together or does ‘business’ get in the way? None of the issues that the church is dealing with today are actually new. Just read through Acts and the Epistles, and you will see. It not only tells of the problems but how to deal with them.

As I have been writing this I was convicted by the Spirit that my family is a church (where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name). As I was writing where the church is lacking, GOD showed me that is exactly where I and my family are also lacking. We have been so busy doing ‘business’ (our studies, support raising, etc.) that we have neglected OUR first priority. And that is Prayer. We began to take care of that tonight (it is NOT a onetime thing). You could literally feel that the last thing satan wanted was for us to confess where we had failed, to praise our Father for what HE has done, and to strengthen the angels in the midst of the spiritual battle taking place. To sense the presence of GOD in the room, words do not do it justice to describe so I won’t try. The lesson here is that it needs to be done in the home first. If it is not done in the home it will not be done in the church. So the question: are you doing it in your home? If not, do not expect it to be done in the church. The responsibility lies on you/me to do it, then begin to work it out in the church as a whole.