Trapped??? Was I going up or down?

Imagine you're trapped inside an elevator door! You run to jump into the elevator so as to not miss the ride to the top with the up button. Yet, it seems somehow you don't quite make it inside. It's just too hard to pull that other foot inside and submit to the ride up to the top. Isn't it easier to just let one foot dangle down towards the ground floor? And, why am I constantly struggling with the door that traps me right down the middle?

One foot inside is going up and the other is firmly planted down. As you stand in the middle it has you trapped into a yo-yo affect not going down but never really going up. You often feel the pain, struggles and agony of this world as the door closes in around your body. The elevator tries to incline up but you still have one foot down on the ground floor. As the elevator inclines you can't seem to let go of down and make it all the way up inside the door.

Is this not how the church is today? We are caught in the middle of the world but we are trapped in an elevator repeatedly going up and down. We repeat the same trials over and over and we never seem to overcome our bad habits. The same trials plague us again and again. We never seem to be able to quite make it in between Sunday to Sunday. We condemn ourselves and we never seem to quite believe that God can save us and forgive us from our repeated sins. Then we walk away because we fear we are a hypocrite and God really can't use us in our sinful state and we can't ever get good enough to get God! We are hanging in the balance and at the least bit of trouble it pushes over the edge and we fall completely back to the world!

The church itself has also gone this route as a way of appeasement. We no longer have to stand for truth and righteousness. Holiness is old and archaic and we have to find our own path with the Lord. We just have to love and accept those who struggle. Nothing is really a sin anymore and if we are struggling with something we don't really have to be delivered from it anymore. We just have to ask Jesus to forgive our sins but no real change is needed. No need to ride the elevator  up to more of God because down on the ground floor is good enough for me. And if we compromise on holiness and righteousness then people won't feel bad and they will come back to church. They don't have to change how they look or act and as an act of trying to make them feel good. It's OK for me too, I will let down my standards so they will feel comfortable. We are now the Community Church!

Wake up church!!!!!!! These are the last days! We cannot sit idly by and expect without prayer fasting, and reading the word of God, that we will ever ride up the elevator to the top! Why do we think that living for God hard will make our lives easier? Now is the time that we must stand to girt up our loins with truth. "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on a breastplate of righteousness;" Ephesians 6:14

We are being called back to a life of holiness where we no longer partake in the things of this world. God commands us to be holy, "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16 We are commanded to live holy. We cannot partake of this world and have one foot going up the elevator and one foot going down. It's true that we must live in this world and that we will have things come our way but the Lord made a way of escape. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Psalms 55:22 If we want to hang onto this promise we must be righteous and holy. If we are not living a life of holiness then we cannot expect this promise in our lives!

"Yes, we do have the promise that we will not be “tempted beyond what you can bear” (1 Corinthians 10:13), but we need to understand what that verse is saying. It says that God will not allow Satan to bring temptation, or enticement to sin, into our life that is too much for us to say no to it. When we are tempted to sin, God will make a way for us to resist it. That is because He wants us to live holy, just as Christ who calls us is holy," (RonEdmondson) http://www.ronedmondson.com/2009/03/god-will-allow-more-than-you-can-bear.html

I'm not saying let's not live in the world that we are not able to relate to those around us but we have to pull our heads out of the sand. God is requiring more from us, He has personally been dealing with me about Television and movies, He is calling me to set them aside.  They are often not pure and holy. We have a command, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8

 I heard it said recently that the media clouds our minds with clutter. Television, Radio, Internet, Entertainment, Music, these things are not bad in themselves but they have become our focus and they are weights. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us," Hebrews 12:1 I don't want to live with weights in my life anymore! I no longer want to be trapped inside an elevator crushed by the world as I can't make up my mind whether I want to go up or down!

What are the steps I must take to ride the elevator to the top?

1)  1) You must first have the truth in your life. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved!" Acts 4:12
Jesus is the only saving name whereby we can be saved.
The Apostles in Acts asked Peter what they had to do to be saved, "Then Peter said unto them , Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost". Acts 2:38
What is the Holy Ghost? "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:4

2) We are then to be separate and holy from the world. Without holiness in your life you will not see God. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" Hebrews 12:14 We are called to live a life unto the Lord that will not make sense to those around us but we are commanded to be this light in the world. We cannot be the master and the servant at the same time! He has called us out to be a peculiar people, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;" 1Peter 2:9 We don't have the luxury to be like everyone else!

3) The church never has the option to walk backwards! We cannot become a community church lazily coming to church and never affecting change in the lives around us. Once you have the truth you must buy it and sell it not! "Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding." Proverbs 23:23 Much is required of those who hold the truth in their hands. "...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:..." Luke 12:48 The church who walks backwards from holiness and righteousness will be blinded. You can't expect to be saved if you reject the truth you once knew.  ^"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

Conclusion:

For such a time as this, God wants to take your elevator up to the top! We must cling to the truth through the steps of salvation. We must come out and be separate from this wicked world. We do this through holy living, prayer, fasting, and reading the word of God. We must stop trying to live in the middle of the elevator! Once we have the truth and are living a life of holiness we can never walk backwards. Once we do we lose the promises of God in our lives and we become blinded and start to believe a lie. Our lives are not our own. Surrender all and you will live for God easy and you will enjoy all the promises of the Lord. Now is the time to set aside every weight that comes to easily sidetrack your life! For we have been called as such a time as this to live a life unto the Lord so that we might be saved, see others saved, and enjoy the promises of the Lord!