1st Thessalonians Chapter 2 is about walking worthy of the Gospel—that the Church would walk worthy of the Gospel! Do you know the biggest thing that impacts our youth about the Church today? The most common statement that I hear is, “Why would I do that? It’s just a bunch of hypocrites sitting in the church, so why would I join?” And when I say youth, I am not talking about a ten-year old. The older you get, the older that “youth age” seems to get, however, to the person growing older in age, it means everyone under 35! They simply see a bunch of hypocrites sitting in the pews and—while I know that this is just an excuse and/or a justification—they are often right, and that is the unfortunate reality of the situation we are facing.

The TRUTH however, is that God wants to raise up a Body from out of that Church. He wants to bring His Body and His people into the Kingdom age. We are called to be not only holy, refined and purified by the fire and live what we preach—walking worthy of the Gospel message in everything we do, day-in and day-out, reflecting Him. He wants us to come to a place where we will not live apart from Him and His purpose in our lives—ever. 

How do we get that deep refining? God brings it our way through variety of sources— coworkers, peers, family. We all know family is the first to tell us when we trip up, right? They know how to poke our buttons, they know where every single one of them are, and on top of that, when we get angry, they are the first to criticize our behavior and tell us that our behavior is “not very Christ-like.” That will be the justification for why they will not be going to church next Sunday. I believe that God allows this to happen in our lives, I really do, because the Lord is trying to help us take a good look at ourselves in the safety of our own homes. 

When we are in ministry, sometimes we get so used to fellowshipping and working with our brothers and sisters in the Lord that we almost become sheltered. We can even lose sight of the severity of sin and corruption that is in the world today because we are continuously encircled by other believers. As intercessors, we face and address the corruption in prayer. When we start doing research for a GOE and consider human trafficking, it’s easy to see the evil that is out there, but in general ministry, one can forget about the severity of what is out there and what these kids are facing day in and day out. We can forget what our youth are fighting against at school, with their peers, and so on. We have instilled in them the Gospel message as young children but somehow, through their years of growing up, the enemy has been able to come in and create this barrier around them. All we want to do is pierce through that darkness and pull out that Gospel message that we instilled in them when they were very young. It can be incredibly difficult and often painful, and yet, all we want to do is bring them back to the peace that they had, the peace that surpasses their whole understanding.

God is redefining the Church in this hour. His intention is to pull out of the Church a pure and a refined Body, a pure and refined Church. This is why the Lord said that we need to go back to the basics and to prepare for the harvest, and 1st Thessalonians lays out these two things beautifully.

Recently, the Lord began speaking to my heart and revealing some important things to me about the Church. I know that we see the corruption of the Church and we pray for the Church. We see the False Unity Movement that is in the Church and we are praying about it as well. These crucial issues attacking the Church deserve the intercession of the saints, which is why it’s been part of our corporate calls and Joel’s Army Prayer Points for over two years now. We are praying that God will pierce through the darkness of their hearts and bring them out of that deception. Remember though, that the Bible talks about the deception, so we knew it was coming. Our heart is to save every soul that we can, because they are being swallowed up. The truth is, this false unity deception and the corruption are swallowing up one person after another. The world doesn’t understand it, they just go with the flow. 

The world watches with worldly perspective, and with no holiness message to combat things, they think to themselves, I can have an affair and still go to church. I can be a part of the Baptist Church and I can be a part of the Catholic Church at the same time, no need to make a choice. Why? Because the Catholic Church is swallowing up the Baptist, the Protestant, the Mormon, the Islamic, the Jewish and so on, one denomination at a time. The world doesn’t see that you cannot join up with a multitude of religions that exclude the Holy Spirit or require “x, y or z” to grant the desires of your heart. In their minds, they can be part of the Protestant Church and the Mormon Church and the Messianic Churches and oh, look, Israel is involved too! Look! Islam has joined! We are just one big happy religion! A world-wide religion! Is that not what the book of Revelations warns us would come? And the Church has gotten in bed with the harlot!

Someone wrote me recently conveying their own struggle with the church and quite frankly felt that the church would kill a person’s faith if given a chance. Unfortunately, in some cases, it is the truth. In my response, I let them know that I had broken up with the church a long time ago because the church was literally breaking my heart. Friends, the church has given into every wind of doctrine—just as Paul wrote—and the Lord is calling us to intercede with compassion and fervency. Why? Because, He wants to redefine the Church and He is calling His remnant out to intercede for her and help her get back to the truth of His Word that they too might walk worthy of His Gospel!

To be continued next week…

Blessings and Love,

Ricci Wilson