How do you know if you are a movement junkie? Do you run
from one church to another, or one seminar to another looking for the latest
and greatest answer to your besetting problems? Is someone promising you that
you'll get wealth if you just attend this one prosperity conference? Or is
someone promising you that you'll lose weight if you just perform this one
simple thing? Or perhaps it is healing that you need - are you going beyond
your local church to find this? Perhaps you seek more power in your life, and
someone has taken Scripture and is promising you a power that is just now being
revealed and unleashed in the world.
Dear friend, if this describes you, you are not alone. I
am a recovered movement junkie. I've been there many years ago, and I know what
I'm talking about. Since then, the Lord
has taught me many things from His Word about movements in the Christian world,
and how to detect and discern which ones are of Him and which ones are not!
Overwhelmingly, most of the movements I was a part of were not of Him. This is
not to say I have not experienced supernatural occurrences in my life, because
I have, in fact, many times.
When I came out of the movements, I came crashing down
like anyone who had been high on drugs.
Movements give you a temporary feeling of a spiritual high, and you
start to think that you should be on this high all the time. But when reality hits and you crash, it can
be so devastating that you can lose your faith altogether. In my case, it drove me to the feet of Jesus
and I begged Him to show me the truth of His Word so that I could be set free
from being a movement junkie. He did
just that. What I learned was that I had
very subtly put more importance of what I was seeking ahead of seeking God. I trusted the movement itself, and that this
is the only place where God was going to really move, rather than believe He
can move anywhere and in whatever way He chooses. Mainly,
we need to seek Him, and not the supernatural manifestations of Him. Does that make sense? Scripture says that we are complete in Him,
not in the spiritual manifestations of His Spirit. After all, it is a walk of faith and not
according to the senses. Look at this
verse:
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ.
Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily.
Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head
of all principality and power:
We are complete in Him - we need nothing more. Isn’t it far more important to do His work,
and then receive His reward of the supernatural in our lives as a result of
walking in obedience to Him? What
matters most to God? Is it how good we
are, healthy we are, wealthy, or powerful we are? No.
According to Scripture, what matters most to God if we’re going to be
religious about something is found in the following verse:
Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and
the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from
the world.
Turning to movements takes our mind off of God and the
much work He has for us to do. Are we
running to special services, and on the way there, by-passing people who are
truly in need? Too often we forget about
the widows and the fatherless, the lonely and the bereaved. Too often we try to get our needs met in
supernatural ways, rather than through the hard work of dying to the flesh and
humbly serving our great God in whatever capacity He has called us. I believe that our needs get met when we apply
the following:
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
It’s really quite simple - he supplies our needs as we do
His work. There is no need to strive,
and we are not to be moved away from the simple, but profound Gospel message. In addition, we need to know our doctrine,
know our Bible, and study to show ourselves approved unto God.
1Ti
4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the
doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and
them that hear thee.
Eph
4:14 That we henceforth be no more children,
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph
4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow
up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Notice in verse 15 it is time to grow up. We need to move beyond our childhood of
looking for the gospel goodies, and believe whatever comes along, and instead
seek to know and speak the unchanging and solid truths of the Bible.
Col
2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col
2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and
stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with
thanksgiving.
Notice again in verse 7, a great sign of maturity, to be rooted
and built up in Him (not the movements that are out there). God
uses suffering to grow us - we want to run to the latest and greatest movement
out there, and when that fails, we run to the doctor or bank to meet our needs,
but God wants us to run to Him. Sometimes He answers right away, other times,
He makes us wait. While we are suffering, we are growing, and our faith is
getting stronger because we seek Him and His Word to meet our needs. There is no magical formula – we can do this
in our private time of devotions, in our local church, or in a small Bible study. The Lord can do anything for us, and He will
not go back on His Word. He promises us
that if we seek Him He will reward us. The greatest reward is a closer walk
with Him. We stop focusing so much on our
own needs and start caring about our relationship with Him more. A natural outgrowth of this is that we also
care more about what He cares for - other people!
Today there are many
different movements sweeping through Christendom. Some of them might be beneficial, and others
very destructive. I encourage you to
test everything by prayer and the Word of God.
If you are in question about anything, ask a pastor who is sound in the
Bible and someone you know you can trust.
It may save you from a great deal of grief later on.
