I have been giving this alot of thought lately where my own church is concerned. Even though the Lord blessed us with the church building for one dollar, we are still finding ourselves not growing nor recieving the blessings as we had hoped. It occurred to me that many of us come to church one day a week and expect a miracle break through because we are there. And week after week our pastor talks about the stewardship, the faithfulness, the accountablity and understanding God's Word enough to actually "do" it in our daily lives. As confirmation to this, God has also given me teachings about the same things in which not nearly enough will even bother to come out and hear His Word and feed on it. Herein lies the main problem. Without hearing and being made aware of God's terms and conditions, we will not recieve our blessings the way God intends on giving them. We will always be going through lean times financially, spiritually, mentally, and physically. If we would only just take the time to study and put into action the instructions from our heavenly Father, we just might begin to see our blessings flow and we just might begin to see our church family grow!

Lately, I have been made more aware of the persecuted Christians all around the world. There are many countries that are hostile to the gospel and many more where it is restricted from being taught. It's hard to realize that in the 21st century that so many fellow Christians are being imprisoned, tortured, mutilated, murdered and persecuted for their belief in the One and only living God and His Son Christ. In America, we still have a freedom of choice and what is hard to understand is that still so many Americans are oblivious to Who Christ is and what He has done for each and every one of us. Too many are ungrateful and have the mindset that "we" deserve everything "we" have worked for, sometimes not even working for. "We" just assume that "we" deserve the very best! It grieves my spirit so much to know that so many people are in danger for their love of Christ and these same people are willing to die for His name. They could care less about material possessions and often times they don't own one single thing. But their faith in their eternal inheritance is all that matters to them. They know it's for real. What then is our problem? For more information on the persecuted church visit www.persecution.com.

It all began the other day when I was reminded in Acts 5:29 that we must obey God rather than men. This is exactly what these persecuted people are doing, even at the risk of their lives. This is the true meaning of being a Christian. It also occured to me that perhaps our ministry is not recieving it's blessings is because we aren't actually following the terms and conditions of God's Word concerning them.

For example, it all begins when Christ tells the Pharisees what commandments are to be kept. He takes the original 10 and turns them into two simple ones. First, love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind. Second, love your neighbor as yourself. (Mt. 22:37-38)

It is commanded of us that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Who are our neighbors? Christ didn't just mean the person who lives next door to us. Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke's gospel 10 to help us realize our neighbor is anyone in need of help. Are we doing this today, or are we just helping ourselves? I honestly believe that our love of "self" could be keeping us from our blessings. We just aren't loving our neighbors as we do ourselves. Are we really so special? God tells us that even He is no respector of persons.

"Let love for your fellow believers continue and be a fixed practice with you (never let it fail)." Heb. 13:1

From this, I'm understanding that we must never fail where our love for fellow Christians is concerned. Then if you continue to read, it clearly states who we are to love.

"Remember those who are in prison as if you were their fellow prisoner, and those who are ill-treated, since you also are liable to bodily sufferings." Heb. 13:3

You may be asking, what will happen if you choose to ignore the people being persecuted for Christ's name. Well, Christ also lets us know what will happen in this instance also. It sure doesn't sound to me like we will be the ones getting blessed in the long run.

In His account in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is talking about the parable of the sower and the seeds. For those who have no spiritual ears to hear, they will not understand the meaning of this earthly story with a heavenly message. Christ is saying that for those who have invested their time in hearing and understanding they will recieve more spiritual understanding but for those who remain stubborn, whatever understanding they may have had, it will be taken from them. God's truth will not be made known to them and the enemy will destroy them. The sad thing is, there are so many people like that today, you can't even make them realize their future. Satan has made their hearing dull. But Christ refers to the people as sheep and goats upon His return. The sheep are His followers, the goats are Satan's children who are doomed to eternity in the Lake of Fire. Christ promises His sheep an eternal inheritance into His Father's Kingdom in heaven because they fed Him, clothed Him and welcomed Him into their homes. But to the goats He rebuked them because they did not do any of these things for Him. They didn't care about their neighbor.

"And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?" Matt. 25:38-39

Then Christ the King told them that whatever they did to the least of His brethren, they had done for Him. But, to the goats He said...

"Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!" Matt. 25:41

He continued to explain to them, "I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me with help and ministering care." Matt. 25:42-43

None of this made any sense to them. Christ said that He will reply to these goats at His return and say, "Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least of of these, you failed to do it for Me. Then they will go away into eternal punishement, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life." Matt. 25:45-46

Christ makes this very clear how we as Christians are to care about our fellow believers. Since those who are being persecuted in the name of Christ are Christians, doesn't that make us responsible for them? Are they not our neighbors, better yet, doesn't that make them our brothers and sisters? Doesn't God bless us in order to bless others? If we have no intentions of answering the call of those who are in need of help, how then can we ever hope to be blessed by God ourselves?

And if Christ came to serve, are we not to do the same? I believe that if this country goes on just trying to get their own house in order first before they can help anyone else, then I can't see their blessings coming as they are hoping for. In order to take our minds off our own problems, we should indulge ourselves into real life of others. When we become involved in someone else, we learn that it's not about us. If we are in need of a friend, we should then go out and become one to someone else. I know I am in Christ when I can make sacrifices to give a brethren a hand up, because they in turn will do the same thing for someone else one day. It's through this kind of loving reaction that the Word of Truth will become a very real action. People do tend to believe what they see. And what they see just might turn into faith one day and they will turn to the Lord for salvation. This is what it means to be a living epistle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In making any kind of commitment, know what the terms and conditions are before you sign on the dotted line. You will be held accountable.

When Jesus changes your heart, He will give you a heart for others.

If you feel this article has touched you or have any comments, won't you please post your thoughts? Thankyou.