Living
in America can mean a lot of things; freedom, protection, security,
abundance… I guess to many that live in the inner-city’s, lost their
jobs, or that live in white-suburbia that have over extended
themselves, maybe they don’t feel this way about America…
I
know for me coming back in from Africa after 14 months, there is a fog.
It is a like a false reality about life – how we do Church, how we
raise our kids, how we run around looking for something that just isn’t
there.
I can’t tell you how many people I know or have talked to that
go to church every Sunday, but feel something huge is missing… they
just aren’t getting fulfilled.
Last
week I sat with an American pastor that has lived in Africa for the
past 30 years. He told me he was shocked by the American business man
and American Church.
They just planted a Church in Dallas and, because
some of the members prayed in tongues, (Their spiritual language), they
were almost run out of town!
He
said, “Gary, you know this, but in Africa everybody prays in tongues,
if you don’t, you can’t make it, especially if you’re building a
kingdom business or a ministry, I can’t believe the Church of America
is still fighting over the gifts of the spirit. It’s like they believe
in some, but not all that God has to give, what is wrong?!
It’s
kind of like the “Prosperity” Message we have bought in to here… We
have polished it, shined it up, made is sound so good that we have
believed it. In Africa, if you preach about prosperity, they just look
at you with confusion and grief. They are worshiping the Lord for what
He provided today; food, a miracle, life.
Please
hear my heart; I love my country and I am in love with the bride of
Christ, the Church. I just have seen and experienced something that I
am sure most of you have felt. How do we rise above the clouds and
touch the garment of the creator, here, in America?
I have found myself falling back into a fog – looking for something that just isn’t there, or maybe something I just can’t see…
Ditto on what everyone else says. I am caught between not wanting to judge or criticize the church and my beloved country, but at the same timewe are not doing it right here! I am struck by something either you or Andrew said: we have to reject God’s good to get God’s best. There is good here-but we have to push past it to find His BEST! miss you guys!
Black – on the money ! Fight to stay free indeed – don`t go there . xo A.
Well said, Gary. I completely relate to this experience coming back to America from the world race. I often feel as if I am underwater – wondering if the warbled murmurs I hear are the voice of God, the world, myself… it’s hard to discern anything. I’ve tried to hold on to my experiences on the mission field, but it’s like trying to hold on to a dream once you wake up… it was so real at first, but then slips away little by little.
I completly understand what you are saying. This is definately a foggy place. It’s like we are moving in slow motion spiritually, almost like we are underwater. I think when we (the American Church) give away what we have, then maybe we will be able to break free. It seems to me that giving and living ministry is what breaks the chains of wealth.
Gary! I love that you are seeing and realizing what’s going on with church. I also find it helpful that you are sharing about your return home bc your incite helps me for when I return in a couple months!
I know all too well what you are talking about. Some days I even beging to wonder if what we experienced last year was all an illusion because it just doesn’t seem like reality here. I fight to hold onto the truths I have learned, but the odds seem to be stacked against me. Even in a place of communtiy where I thought I would find the kind of reality I experienced last year, I have been mostly dissapointed. We all seem to have lost our grasp on God’s reality and settled for what is normal here.
I have been feeling very restless in my spirit, knowing that there is more than this, knowing that life doesn’t have to be this way, but not quite able to break free from the oppression and the fog. I want so desperatley to walk in truth and authority, but I just feel so stuck. And the word stuck reminds me of another word that would better reflect my frustration, but it wouldn’t accomplish anything to say it, so why bother.
Well there’s something to look forward to. It’ll be extremely helpful to have several people to walk thru it with. Praying for you.