James 4:4 "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend to the world becomes an enemy of God."
Lord, in reading through the Old Testament I see over and over again that Israel went through cycles of being very close to You and walked with You and then slowly were infiltrated and drawn away but the world. In love you disciplined then, sent prophets to warn them to bring them back to You, and when they didn't return You had to send disaster until they finally cried out to You. Then still in love and mercy, you would send a deliverer.
Evidently Your church...Your Bride… is no different. Oh, we are a sinful and stiff-necked people! In our past Satan has lured some away to liberalism, some to legalism, and some to go back to the world that You saved them. I believe in each case, we have lost sight of who You really are so we lost our love for, and healthy fear for, You. You are so long suffering and patient with us.
The world does not storm the gates of the church. It sneaks in like so many tiny snakes into cracks in the foundation of a large building. Then they breed and before we know it our building is horribly infested and we have to call an exterminator...a revivalist who is not afraid to tell us the truth. James was your tool in this instance; Life Action Ministries was your tool at our church awhile ago. As I said before, we are seeing more world in the church than church in the world.
We see it too in the movies and programs we watch on TV, the video games we play, the digital distractions that abound, and in the provocative way that we (even female children) dress. We hear it in the conversations we have with other believers.
O Lord, help us all to see that this is hatred toward God and that we are to be IN, not apart from, the world. Your Bride should not be Your enemy, Lord. Purge Your church of the World and help us all to be a Bride pure and holy as unto You.
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