Don't put God in a box....

This past week-end I was in Alabama with our student ministry group.  We went there for the first time last year and it was mind-blowing.  Therefore, we decided to make it a yearly trip.  It is a youth gathering at a place called The Ramp which is part of Karen Wheaton's ministry.

I am going to be honest, which is what a blog is for I suppose....by the time the trip rolled around, I was sick of hearing about The Ramp.  I kept hearing about it from the youth (because they were anticipating a move of God like last time), I was hearing about it from some adults (because three of our youth are now students at the Ramp School of Ministry) and I was getting reports from the students that were there.  Now, don't think I am a hater - on the contrary.  However, I was getting such an irritation in my belly like a splinter that just wouldn't come out.  It was getting more and more bothersome.

Therefore, I wasn't very excited for the trip. 

*gasp*

It's true. 

I wasn't irritated because everyone was excited or that I was hearing about it so much.  I believe in what the Ramp is doing (so much so that we have partnered with them), I believe God is moving in the miraculous there and I believe the students that are going to school there will return not the same. 

I was irritated because it seemed like no one believed that God could move here like He moves there.

Preposterous!

Don't get me wrong, my time there was awesome.  The speakers really hit home with their points and I caught myself nodding my head so much that I probably looked like a bobble head.  The worship was powerful and I was getting Holy Ghost bumps (goosebumps) the moment I stepped foot in there.  Not to mention the miraculous did happen when a paraplegic stood from his wheelchair and danced to the King of Kings.  Still, there was that needling that was just pressing into my skin.

God is not reserved for Hamilton, Alabama.  He is not just spreading out his spirit there.  He is the same here as He is there.  So why is the spirit so thick there?  Why is it so thick that it hangs on you like a robe? 

Expectation.

We go there with the expectation that God is going to meet us.  We go there knowing we are with other believers that are also expecting a move of God.  We are going there knowing we won't settle for anything less than meeting God face to face. 

Isn't that how every Sunday should be?  Perhaps if we went to church with that same excitement and expectation then we will have the same move of God.  God delights in His people.  He wants to just envelope them and wrap them in His glory.  But if we are going to church on Sunday just to go through the motions and to not feel guilty.....then how can we expect Him to shower down all He has for us?  That is kind of selfish, dontcha think?

I will be married 14 years this December to a man that sometimes I think my heart will burst with how much I adore him.  If I only met with him once a week, maybe even twice....if I never hugged him or showed him affection....if when I was with him I thought about what I needed to do for the day or what I was going to eat for lunch....if I only sat next to him and held his hand so I didn't feel guilty about ignoring him the rest of the week......I couldn't say we would be married for 14 years.  That relationship would not last.  Therefore, how can we expect our relationship with God to flourish if we do not express our love to Him by talking to Him daily, praying, worshipping, crying, laughing and just loving Him?  Not because we feel we have to...but because we want to.  If we are made after God's own image and we long for companionship (hello....God created Eve because Adam would not do well being alone), then doesn't He long for companionship as well - with us?

He is the creator of the heavens and the earth.  He tells the ocean how far to go....he tells the lightning where to strike....he can make cancer disappear as if it never were just by saying so.  And yet we feel He only deserves an hour or two a week?

Expectation.

Go to church with an expectation.  Go with the mindset that you are going to God's house to spend time with him.  You are going there with other believers to give him the worship He deserves.  If that means you jump around, laugh, cry...run around, do a cartwheel.....then do it!  You are there to please an audience of One and He delights in your worship.

I can imagine God and Jesus hanging out in heaven.  The doors of the church are open, the worship team is getting ready, I am making my way to the front to give Him all the glory and I can see God nudging Jesus and saying - "Here she comes.  Everyone quiet.  I am about to spend some time with my daughter."

Do I suggest going to The Ramp?  I do.  I highly suggest anyone go there because you will get a touch from God and I guarantee you won't come back the same.  It is radical worship and God *is* moving in phenomenal ways there.  However, once you go and come back and then continue witho not get caught up in the fireworks.  Do not get caught up in the show---wait for the encore, it is usually the best anyway.

It's not just church....

Growing up, I didn't go to church regularly.  When I did, I went to a small southern baptist church that was right down the road and ironically enough - owned by my grandfather until he passed away when I was six.  I would get up and go with my grandmother to church and honestly, I don't even know why.  It wasn't fun in the least.  Sunday School was drab and quite frankly a little creepy in the back of the building.  The music was out of a hymn book (and I still enjoy a good ole hymn) and the preachers would get so riled up that you had to take an umbrella to avoid the spit (ok maybe not but you knew it was going to get intense if the preacher pulled out his handkerchief!).   Every Sunday we were told that at any moment we could walk out those doors, get hit by a truck and go to hell.  I am not poking fun - I am being quite truthful. 

So, I say again - I am not sure why I even went.  But over time, I stopped going.  I can't remember the exact age or why.  I just stopped.  I started to veer down an ugly path and it boils down to mistakes were made and my path ended at a fork in the road on March 2005 - the day I began my relationship with Christ.

Now this isn't a blog about my testimony.  I rarely share that in writing and usually like to save it for speaking engagements because there is so much to tell.  This is a blog about church.

I hear the common statement - one doesn't have to go to church to be a Christian or go to heaven.  I believe this to be a true statement.  My dad never went to church but I have no doubt that he was a God-fearing man and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, he will be part of my welcoming party in heaven (and yes, we will be partying it up with Jesus).  However, I do believe we need church.

Church, to me, is not a building where we go and sing a few songs and hear the Word.  That is only part of the grand scheme of things.  Church to me is family.  I walk into that building and feel a love that is so strong that I never thought such a love existed.  It's a place where I am always welcomed, never judged and always corrected when I 'think' I am in the right.  It is a place where people come together and meet needs of those struggling.  It's a place where I can vent my frustrations, my pains, my sorrow, my joy .... or just cry and get angry.  It is a place where I have many brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.  It is the place where THE Father walks among us.  Why would I not want to go?

Lately, this has been on my mind - a lot.  The people inside that church love me like Christ would.  They are non-judgemental of my past.  They don't question my motives.  They know my heart.  They trust my choices.  They listen to my fears.  The heed my advice.  They hug me even though I don't like hugs (I am getting better at it!) and they know when I am in a mood that only God can elevate.  They do this all unconditionally.  They do it only because we share the same God.  We may not be family by birth but we are family by blood - His blood on Calvary!

So as I lie in bed on a Sunday morning, not wanting to even pry the blankets off me, thinking that this is the day I will just stay home and do nothing......I slowly get up, knowing that church is the place where I get to fellowship with my family.  If I am not going to church on a Sunday, or if I claim I don't need to go to church - then what am I doing in place of it?  Nothing.

In closing, I wanted to post a few scriptures.  Now keep in mind, none of them say "you must go to church to go to heaven"....for it states the only way to heaven is through the Son.  However....

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) states - "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Here is states we should meet together.  No, it doesn't say in a church.  So you can validate your point if you say you are meeting at your home with other believers so you can encourage and help one another.  It also states 'habit of doing' which means it was something that they normally did.

1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV) states - "Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it."

I like this one.  It states in other verses throughout the Bible about us being part of the body.  It means we each are vital in the functioning of the body as a whole.  Can a body function without a leg or an ear?  Of course, but it cannot function as well as if it were whole and the other parts have to work harder to compensate.  We are all the body of Christ, each with our own abilities and gifts.  When we come together we join those abilities and gifts and create an awesome atmosphere.

Lastly, Luke 4:16 (NIV) states - "He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom."

Here is states that Jesus went to the synagogue (an assembly or congregation of Jews for the purpose of religious worship) as "was his custom".  If we are to be Christ-like...then it should be our 'custom' to go assemble and pray.

This is a standing debate.  Some think church is hypocritical, full of laws and rules, a circus, etc.....I think of church as something that is necessary to sustain me.  Just like all families, we have quarrels and disagreements.  But unlike most families, we still love one another and are quick to forgive.

I love my church and all who attend.  Every Sunday is like a family reunion where all of the Father's children gather under one roof to show Him how much they love Him.  Why would I want to miss that?