Over and over, we have been emphasizing the vital need to build an “atmosphere of faith” in the Living Church of God. Scores of our brethren need to be healed. Hundreds of our brethren are no doubt going through trials and tests even as I write this. And we are now entering the “last days” when—as the Apostle Paul wrote—“perilous times will come” (2 Timothy 3:1).
Remember that even the children of Israel suffered the first two of the ten plagues on Egypt. If this pattern repeats itself, God’s people today will certainly be humbled and SHAKEN by the coming horrifying weather upsets, the earthquakes, the famines, the disease epidemics and persecution—even though we may be spared the final all out onslaught during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 3:10). We will all need extra faith and COURAGE to make it through the next decade or two in good shape spiritually.
But, even now, our busy daily lives and the “cares of this world” eat away constantly at the roots of our faith in God. The television set is left on far too long even in the homes of many church families. The REALITY of God and Christ and Their Plan is blurred by this constant feeding on violence, sex and “make believe.” And many of us allow our businesses, our jobs, our housework and other “normal” activities to eat up so much time and energy that we don’t have enough time left each day to genuinely SEEK God in earnest Bible study and fervent prayer.
The true God of the Bible is certainly UNREAL to the professing Christians of this world. As the Los Angeles Times (July 27, 1999) recently reported:
Both cultural icon and spiritual touchstone, the Bible is revered by three major world faiths with billions of believers. But in a paradox to tax the wisdom of Solomon, it is widely unread.
According to one religious research firm, two-thirds of Americans don’t regularly read the Bible or know the names of the four Gospels. More than half of Americans surveyed can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments. And the majority say they find the Good Book irrelevant.
Yet, dear brethren, we are the people of God. We are the ones who should be ready to “stand in the gap” and give our peoples a heartfelt WARNING of the coming Holocaust and to teach them God’s ways as they respond to Christ’s Message. But we will have neither the knowledge or the faith to do this unless we genuinely study our Bibles FAR MORE than this world’s churchgoers.
Please remember the Apostle Paul’s inspired teaching, “So then FAITH comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). We in the Living Church of God must constantly “feed” on the Word of God—and so, in effect, “feed” on Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who FEEDS on Me will live because of Me” (John 6:56–57). Do we in the Living Church of God want to see more and more of our brethren miraculously healed? Do we want to see demons cast out? Do we want to see God’s direct POWER miraculously manifested through His Church today? Then let us constantly TAKE TIME to “feed” on Jesus Christ by earnestly, prayerfully studying His inspired Word. In fact, it is good to say a short prayer just before studying the Bible—asking God for understanding, for true knowledge and for increasing FAITH.
Remember that even Jesus Christ Himself could NOT do many mighty works among friends and relatives in the area of His own home town. “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of THEIR unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). Let us therefore build a powerful “atmosphere of faith” within God’s true Church so that Mark 16:20 will someday be said of us as well as Jesus’ original disciples: “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying SIGNS.”