Daily writing prompt

What job would you do for free?

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I was mislead
To think someone dead
And forever gone,
But then I learned that
He’s still going strong.
I met Jesus Christ
Outside of church walls.
Now every day He calls
For me to follow Him
And as I do
Adventure flows
And my heart grows
Beyond anything church
Ever told me about.

Now I’m a freelance church reformer. It’s a job I do for free. I believe that the traditional church format misrepresents the risen Jesus. So, I speak and write about the biblical alternative of Spirit-led gatherings (based on Romans 8:14 and 1 Corinthians 14:26). I also frequently gather with other believers for us all to listen to the risen Jesus and then for each person to say and do what He tells them to.

Is the traditional way church is being done effectively working?

_____ Is it continually and clearly demonstrating the power, presence, and reality of the risen Jesus?

_____ Is it training people to listen to Jesus and to follow and obey Him throughout each day?

_____ Is it connecting Christians heart-to-heart with the living Jesus and with each other?

_____ Is it helping people receive Christ’s forgiveness and to live in daily freedom from a guilty conscience, tormenting thoughts, and enslaving cravings?

_____ Is it turning people into sold-out Christ-followers and passionate lovers of Jesus?

_____ Is it making disciples who literally put others ahead of themselves, obey God rather than man, and love their enemies?

_____ Is it setting people free from destructive attitudes and behaviors and filling them with love, joy, peace and the other fruit of the Holy Spirit?

_____ Is it equipping Christians to constantly obey the 50+ New Testament “one another commandments”?

_____ Is it empowering people to be “led by the Spirit” day and night?

_____ Is it teaching Christians to share their testimonies by telling the people in their lives how the living Jesus set them free, transformed them, and empowered them to love and obey Him with deep humility and profound gratitude?

Traditional church presents Jesus as dull and boring. The truth is that He is constantly restoring and thrilling the hearts and lives of those who daily hang out with Him.

Church acts like Jesus is dead and long gone. The truth is that He is present today and still going strong.

Church talks about a Jesus that is tied to religion. The truth is that it was religious people who pressured Rome to kill Him.

Church makes people dependent on a professional clergyman. The truth is that Jesus wants His followers to listen to and depend on Him. He says: “My sheep hear my voice.

Church causes people to think that Jesus has an on and off switch and is confined to a Sunday religious program. After we sit through the routine between the “Call to Worship” and the “Benediction,” we think that He is done with us for the week. The truth is that following the living Jesus is a totally committed lifestyle of continual surrender to His presence and His will, not a religious “service” that we sit through once a week.

I’m not criticizing people for going to church. That’s fine. I’m encouraging people to go beyond church and to begin to enjoy the glorious experience of a moment-by-moment relationship of continually interacting with and obeying the risen Jesus.

When problems come
And our hope dries out
Our roots are forced to
Grow deeper and stronger
To reach the water
That flows from Jesus,
Christ in you, the hope
That releases glory,
And roots and grounds us
In the depths of His love.

Often a breakthrough
Requires we go through
Things that break us down
So we’re desperate enough
To let God get through
The wall of our church pride.