I sat in church last night listening to a sermon on the Atonement and as I heard the pastor read certain scriptures about my Savior my heart and soul were stirred with deep affection, sorrow and delight. As I glanced around the room, it was as if everyone was listening to an old story that they had heard their grandpa tell a million times, and frankly, they were bored stiff, but politely listened.
On my way home, a great sorrow filled my heart and I pleaded with the Lord, "Please, please, Lord--revive your people".
At times, I feel very alone and wonder if anyone else is noticing this. As I was asking the Lord to show me if my spirit is too critical towards others or if my perspective is skewed, I received these quotes in a daily devotion. Thank you Lord for your caring encouragement and letting me know that others in the body are also seeing what I am seeing and writing about it.
“I ask myself, I ask you: where is the ‘Oh’ in our response to God? Where is the intensity of awe and amazement that a true knowledge of the Holy One of Israel ought to evoke? Much of the church has lost the ‘Oh’ in her relationship with and response to God. Do you want to know why so many believers are muddling through the Christian life, just trying to stay out of hell and to get by with as little discomfort and risk as possible? It is because when they think of God, instead of ‘Oh’ their response is a ‘Who?’ of ignorance, or a ‘Huh?’ of disinterest, or a ‘So what?’ of indifference.
It isn’t exclamatory excitement but a religious snore that emanates from the soul of so many in the church today when the character of God is at issue.
It grieves me to say this, but the primary reason people are in bondage to sin is because people are bored with God. One of Satan’s most effective tactics is to convince us that God is a drag. And the church has contributed in its own way to this dismal image that God has among His people.”
Sam Storms
“If we belong to a reigning, ever-present, all-powerful Lord, who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth, then should we not expect to see Him do what would cause us to have, in the words of A. W. Tozer, ‘astonished reverence’? Should we not experience, again in Tozer’s words, ‘admiration to the point of wonder and delight’? Should we not be renewed again and again by glimpses of His glory with us?”
On my way home, a great sorrow filled my heart and I pleaded with the Lord, "Please, please, Lord--revive your people".
At times, I feel very alone and wonder if anyone else is noticing this. As I was asking the Lord to show me if my spirit is too critical towards others or if my perspective is skewed, I received these quotes in a daily devotion. Thank you Lord for your caring encouragement and letting me know that others in the body are also seeing what I am seeing and writing about it.
“I ask myself, I ask you: where is the ‘Oh’ in our response to God? Where is the intensity of awe and amazement that a true knowledge of the Holy One of Israel ought to evoke? Much of the church has lost the ‘Oh’ in her relationship with and response to God. Do you want to know why so many believers are muddling through the Christian life, just trying to stay out of hell and to get by with as little discomfort and risk as possible? It is because when they think of God, instead of ‘Oh’ their response is a ‘Who?’ of ignorance, or a ‘Huh?’ of disinterest, or a ‘So what?’ of indifference.
It isn’t exclamatory excitement but a religious snore that emanates from the soul of so many in the church today when the character of God is at issue.
It grieves me to say this, but the primary reason people are in bondage to sin is because people are bored with God. One of Satan’s most effective tactics is to convince us that God is a drag. And the church has contributed in its own way to this dismal image that God has among His people.”
Sam Storms
“If we belong to a reigning, ever-present, all-powerful Lord, who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth, then should we not expect to see Him do what would cause us to have, in the words of A. W. Tozer, ‘astonished reverence’? Should we not experience, again in Tozer’s words, ‘admiration to the point of wonder and delight’? Should we not be renewed again and again by glimpses of His glory with us?”
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