Quote:
Originally Posted by New Beginnings
The fact that my husband is a chronic "backslider" makes it difficult. It seems he believes if he wasn't backsliding, all the riches blessings would be present in his life. Yet he has not taken the initiative to step up and "function."
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1. There are many who are "backsliders" and who think that somehow in spite of the "rich ministry" they blew it. They can't function but it isn't the fault of the system but their fault. Somehow.
2. There are many who come and function but are dry. They can't get happy like in the old days when they were swimming in the spirit, but they think that if somehow they keep going through the LC motions the spirit will return.
3. There are many who are very active, former FTTA trainees, with wives and husbands and children and professional-level jobs, who wonder why the LC experience isn't even a pale shadow of its former self. They have heard all the stories of the Elden Hall days and the great migrations to take the cities of the earth. Then it all dried up. Why? Storms? Rebellions? Lukewarmness? It is always, again, the fault of the congregation, not the "high peak" theology or the "rich ministry".
All of these folks are waiting for something good to come along. All of them are captive by "strong-holds". Their minds have unquestioningly absorbed certain things which they hold as unassailable truth, which when questioned will fall apart like so many cobwebs.
The "rich ministry" got a hold because they used a lot of verses, compared to what people were used to. Maybe the average church-goer was exposed to, say, 3% or 5% of the text of the Bible in a year. Along comes the "minister of the age" and goes over maybe 7%. So it seemed to me, coming in from the outside, that I was snowed under with Bible verses. But I noticed eventually that there are a lot of verses they really aren't interested in, because they don't line up conveniently with LC dogma. So they are ignored.
I think this is a pretty good chunk, actually. Some of it is pretty basic stuff, like "remembering the poor, which very thing we were eager to do", (Gal 2:10) which neatly coincides with Jesus' work among the despised of Judah, Galilee, and Samaria.
What I am suggesting is that you "enjoy", publicly and loudly, some of these verses. Let the Holy Spirit breathe life into them. And receive the LC verses as well, because those are also God's words. Just hold the interpetations carefully. But enjoy.
And those 3 "classes" of people will be puzzled: where is the joy that this person has? Why is God speaking to her and not me, etc? The strongholds will crumble. Believe me, the gates of Hades cannot withstand the word of God dwelling in you richly. As you see the Shepherd emerge through the mists of time, as the Holy Spirit declares the things of the Son to you and the Son shows you the way home to the Father, the small light in you will burn intensely and those people will see it.
So forget about your situation, at least to some extent. Focus on the Son of God being revealed in the word of Scripture. It will happen. Seek and you will indeed find. And as you find, light will pour out of you and others will begin to stir, and turn, and consider. The strongholds will not stand.