The Essence of Being In a Church

Let me tell you a story! Once upon a time, a herd of sheep were in
their pasture, the rams were there too with their long horns. A baby
lion was also passing by, he saw the herd, and thought to
himself...This could be a cool feast! The Cub stood, planning our to
break through into the pasture, every side was secured by one or two
angry rams.
The lion got an idea...! He charged at the pasture, they didn't shake,
he stopped, no room yet the lion said, he tried several other times,
no success!
Owkay! He decided...let me just try my luck, i would charge at them
closely and see... The next second, he attack them again, now, there
was a movement as the lion came closer like he planned, the sheep
started running, the lion followed, it still couldn't break in, the
rams were still there! All of a sudden, the lion saw a lamb running
out the herd! Cool said the lion, he charged at the lamb, followed it,
until he started feasting on his hunt! Hmmm!
The lamb went astray, he left the herd, the circle, the protection and
then, the lion caught him.

Do you go to church...? Read This!
Years of living life in this fallen world have taught us that life on
this planet is not a real safe place. As we are vulnerable with
fallible and mistaken parents and siblings, we learn very early we
will be hurt. We will be hated. We will be ridiculed. We w ill be left
alone and abandoned. It's inevitable. As children, very early on, we
learn to self-protect by putting up walls around our hearts. We've all
done this to some degree. We learn to cope, to live through it, and to
get by in life so it doesn't hurt quite so much anymore.

In short, we learn to live self protected and self
guarded. Self-protection and self-preservation are very natural
responses to a world full of trouble. With our walls of
self protection, we are able to function, to have jobs,
to raise kids, to pay the bills, to relate to people. But
our walls of self preservation have a cost as well. We
don't really get to live in true freedom – freedom from the heart.
Sure, we can get along with others
and be functioning human beings in society, but
haven't you noticed? Many people, I'd say most
people, have become as though they are walking
dead people. Many are just getting by. Many are just surviving.
Merely going to work everyday and going through the
motions of life. Almost robotic, instead of feeling the
pain of rejection, feeling the pain of being hated,
feeling the deep loneliness, we choose to mostly
feelnothing at all. There are a myriad of reasons why people are the
way they are: tendencies that stem from heredity,
various flesh patterns that we've developed to cope
with life and to self-protect. But the bottom line is all
the same… Jesus wants to heal us. He wants to restore to us the lost
years. He wants to
make you healthy inside and out. He wants you to be
alive from within. He wants you full of passion, full of
love and full of purpose. Jesus wants you to be free in
your heart and in all of life. He wants you filled with
His power and bearing fruit 100 fold for the Kingdom. He wants to use
you to give to others as well. What is
His plan and design to heal and restore all of us
messed up human beings? When you were born-again, you were healed. But we
don't always experience the healing we have. There
is a process of renewing our minds and a process of
sanctification that allows the Christian to experience
more and more healing and restoration. God wants to
restore us from two directions. Not only is He going to heal you and
renew your mind as you continue to
relate to Him directly as an individual, but He wants to
also use a functioning and active church to restore
you and build you up as well. Both are important.