ARE YOU GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINING?

Jeremiah 2:6, Neither did they say, “Where is the Lord. Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness…”

In this Scripture, the children of Israel had already forgotten how God had delivered them out of the bonds of slavery…

They had been delivered…They had been set free…They knew which way to travel…They knew they had experienced the hand of God in their lives…but they had turned again to their old ways and had started to grumble and complain and just follow vain worship…and rituals…They had started to run on self once again…HAS THIS HAPPENED TO YOU?

Christianity is an intimate, growing relationship with the person of Jesus Christ…It is not just a set of doctrines to believe, habits to practice, or sins to avoid…Every activity God commands is intended to enhance His love relationship with His people…

God designed worship for us to see Him in His glory and to respond appropriately... For many it has degenerated into “religion,” one more meeting to attend out of habit…God established the sacrificial system so that we, His people, could express our love to Him; but we often diminish our gifts to our Lord into futile attempts to appease Him and to pacify our guilty conscience…

God gave us prayer so we could have conversation with Him, but we often distort this by “saying prayers” and hurry off without ever listening to what is on our Father’s heart…Often when praying in a public service, the one praying is praying to the people instead of God...!

God instituted His commandments as a protection for those He loves, but the commandments can become as pathway to legalism rather than an avenue for a relationship with our Father in which He protects us from harm…

Religious activity apart from fellowship with God is empty ritual…The people of Jeremiah’s day were satisfied to have the ritual without the manifest presence of God…They had become so comfortable with their “religion” that they didn’t even notice God absence…

It is possible to pray, to attend a worship service, or to give and offering yet not to experience the presence of God…? It certainly is possible! And that has been the sad observation on many a Christian experience…

Don’t settle for a religious life that lacks a vital relationship to Jesus Christ…

When God is present, the difference will be obvious…

Just because someone may say in a prayer that they feel the presence of God in a service does not mean it is true…They may be feeling something based on the pizza they ate the night before…

When a church body becomes so focused on a building or some worldly project that they go forward without faith…they are not allowing the Presence and Power of God into their body…When we have or want to have some special fund raiser for a certain project…we are walking in fear and not faith…

When fear intimidates, the faith is contaminated…Remember, without faith it is impossible to please Him…

Often we have a certain kind of faith, but it must be the kind of faith that depends on God, rather that ourselves…

Robert N. Graves, Sr. Fisherman for Christ…