15"'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
Today I watched a Francis Chan sermon from a long time ago titled "Lukewarm and Lovin' It!" It was powerful and extremely convicting. I definitely recommend checking it out on iTunes. The whole point of the sermon is that we as a church are lukewarm, and the worst part of it is some of us aim for that. We want just a little bit of God. We aren't as a whole consumed by God. We don't want to have to rely on him daily for much of anything. It's heartbreaking and it doesn't make any sense when you read Scripture. There are parables in the Gospels explaining quite literally that the Kingdom of Heaven is worth selling everything we have to obtain. It's that much better. It's not about being rich or poor. It's not about being comfortable and secure. It's about being on fire for God. Being in love with Jesus. Wanting to live by faith in the Son of God.
I know this harsh and it seems critical, but if we don't realize this and pray for repentance and change our ways we are going to Hell. I'm not trying to scare anybody with this, but the road to Heaven is narrow. Are we on it? Are we fighting against the flow of the world? Do we see that we are wretched and poor as the passage goes on to explain in Revelation 3? We need Jesus, and He wants to be with us. The end of the passage says if anyone lets me in I will eat with them. Jesus wants to be a part of our lives. Do we want him more than anything? I know we hear this all the time, but do we really think about? Most of the time we are too busy counting the cost and lamenting over everything we will lose in this world, because we just don't get it. Nothing in this world is eternal. It doesn't matter. The Kingdom of Heaven is eternal and through totally submitting to and desiring Jesus we are granted citizenship. Not by just having a little bit of God.
After Francis preached his sermon he came up with three things to ask God for that he shared and wanted people to pray about. I found myself reading these and praying like I had never done before. I was crying over my sin and shame and just begging God to forgive me and to give me strength. I pray that as we read and pray through these requests that our hearts will cry out Abba Father and that the Creator will create a new experience bringing us closer to Him than ever before.
Reveal to us areas in which we are lukewarm.
Give us strength in our areas of weakness.
Do whatever it takes to make us on fire for You.
Lord I beg that you will radically change our lives and the American Church. I pray that we will longer be content with the discontent lives that live. That being lukewarm will repulse us as much as it does You. Lord I pray that you will consume us with your fire and that we will live completely and radically for you in ways we never have before.
There is a great prayer for strength I came across today in Ephesians that I feel I also need to share, because I think it so relevant after hearing a tough message.
Ephesians 3:14-21
14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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