Published by Reasons why you May be at a Standstill
The Prophets Are Not Received
Miriam and Aaron had no fear of God in their assessment of Moses. They compared themselves to Moses in greatness. God had a different idea of their greatness. He called Moses His friend; and He called Moses a prophet.
Their reaction to God’s prophet was cause for the camp to be stopped until Miriam was healed of her subsequent leprosy and was received back into the camp.
Jesus was put in His place when He taught in the synagogue with such wisdom and knowledge In Matthew, Chapter 13. Their words were, Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? And His family: Are they not just these simple people who dwell among us (my paraphrase)?
Because they were not able or willing to receive Him in the name of a prophet, the work that a prophet could do was not done.
It is amazing that mighty works are synonymous with a prophet’s reception.
Matthew 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief
Sometimes the effort to “humble” a prophet has a double-edged sword. My mother used to say it like this: We, sometimes, cut off our nose to spite our face. I was pretty old before I understood that saying. Sometimes the things we cut off hurts us more than we thought it would or intended.
Prophets are currently running for cover. The events and issues they have seen and have attempted to report to the body of Christ have not been well received. We continue to want to hear the soothing words that promise us wealth, fame and comfort. This is not just on a national level, dealing with the government. It is on a personal level as well. We seem to be willing to sacrifice everything to have comfort in our homes. We do not want our children or our spouses mad at us so we do everything possible to keep everyone happy. We call that peace, but I promise you there is no peace in that. That is why the saying goes, “Peace and Quiet.” You may have it quiet, but there is no peace. When we walk outside of the declared direction and correction of the Lord there is no peace.
Psalms 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Are We Willing to Depart from Evil?
Another thing that stops us in our tracks is our inability to discern good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
The scriptures tell us: Woe (grief) to the one who calls good evil and evil good. Proverbs 17:3 tells us that whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from their house.
We tend to define good as people and evil as spirits. Yet when God is talking about evil, He makes reference to evil people and evil deeds as well as evil spirits. That word “evil” has to do with anything that does not bring forth life. Our words, our actions and even our thoughts can be evil and not good.
The word “depart” means to leave or lay aside. It can also be defined as “removing its authority.” So when we depart from evil, we remove its authority to bring death. This usually refers to the death of God’s word working in our lives. If God kills a dream, it is good. When we allow thoughts, emotions or people to kill a dream God gave us, that is evil.
When evil is tolerated, we are at a standstill, whether personally or corporately.
Unbelief
I am always intrigued with the history of Joshua. He definitely had to learn obedience through the things he endured. Joshua continually obeyed the Lord, yet found he could not “move forward” because of the people, for one reason or another. His leadership of the children of Israel into the Promised Land came only after he was willing to lead them into death and life. Death of the non-believers and the birth of a new generation who would believe. He had to spend an entire generation with the very people whose unbelief held him and Caleb back. Nonetheless, he became the leader that God was after and subsequently led the children of Israel into the Promised Land.
Unbelief in God’s word, regardless of how He gets the word to us will cause a standstill. Nothing happens until someone believes it. The person who believes in the invisible (what their natural eyes cannot see) is able to touch the impossible.
Sin in the Camp
Joshua’s camp was brought to a complete halt because of sin in his camp. Achan partook of spoils from Jericho that were not allowed. Joshua did not become aware of this until they started losing the battle. Here is a key for all leaders. When they began to lose a battle they knew they were supposed to win, Joshua laid before the Lord and inquired of Him for an answer. God did not tell Joshua there was a devil in the camp. He told him there was sin in the camp. That sin had to be routed out before they could progress. Everything came to a standstill. God can show us who the problem is in our congregations, ministries and business. Our fear of them far outweighs our fear of God and we may find ourselves willing to sacrifice the entire camp because of our fear of one or two.
When there is sin in the camp, even the innocent are held back. It may appear to be progressing, but the camp that has sin in it is not moving forward. It is going around a mountain that we have refused to speak to.
Leadership Can Cause a Standstill
Leadership in a local church or in the marketplace can make or break people, depending on the quality of our own lives and walk with God.
Leaders, everything in our homes is a reflection of what is really going on in our hearts. Everything that is in our ministries is a reflection of what is really going on in our homes. Good or bad, we are reproducing after like kind. The people will have our strengths and our weaknesses; our fears and our sins. Judson Cornwall said many years ago: What the minister sees in the congregation is what the congregation sees in the pulpit. If we will not fight for what is right, neither will they. If we do not live our lives holy before the Lord, neither will they. Like children, sheep will quickly pick up on our weaknesses before they pick up on our strengths.
We must be able to govern ourselves and our homes before we can adequately govern the people God brings into our care. This cannot be a separate act.
Perception
Perception is able to single-handedly bring down a person or an organization. Perception is not reality. It is simply perception. It is how you or I see things. How I see is governed by what I know and understand; my social and cultural environment; my upbringing, and much more. My perception can be flawed. I never see Jesus responding to the perception of the people. His disciples were expecting a different type of a king. Their perception of “king” was based upon their prior knowledge of what a king should look like and act like. Jesus did not try to change their perception nor did He attempt to live up to their perception. He did not change His course at all. He simply ignored their perception and continued to do what He was called to do.
We have to be very careful that our reaction to a person’s perception does not take us off course from where God is leading us. I have found myself looking at my current situation, scratching my head, wondering how I got here from there. It is because I responded to someone’s perception of me.
Perception will take us places we were not intended to go or it will direct us a route that will delay our journey.
The enemy is a master at perception because he is a master at deception. Perception does not have to be negative. We must know the difference between a personality trait and a character flaw. Just because someone does not understand what you did or way, does not mean you have a character flaw that needs adjusting. Their perception may be based on too little information.
Unless a perception is brought to you by the one perceiving I would ignore it. I have discovered that people who perceive negative things about me rarely come to me. This information usually comes to me second-hand. God did not take kindly to Aaron and Miriam’s perception of Moses since he married the woman from Ethiopia. He challenged their perception, letting them know it was misplaced.
Numbers 12:8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
The Battle
Sometimes we are at a standstill because we have not shown up for the right battle. I am still amazed that we are willing to sacrifice another generation for such trivial bickering and squabbling in the local church. The arguments continue to grow, day by day. We can find ourselves fighting a dumb battle, caught between a rock and a hard place, simply because people have decided they do not like you, what you do or how you do it.
I guess I am somewhat naïve. I really did not expect to have to fight the racial issue in the church. But I would be naïve if I were to say it did not exist. Would you believe that in 2004 in the state of Louisiana people in a church did not want me to drink from their water font? Yes, this is still happening in the church. I would have not thought twice about it had it not happened in a church.
I would think by now we would have sorted out the Mary’s, Miriam’s and Deborah’s and gotten over the gender war in the church. But we have not. The social, racial and economic bigotry I continue to see in the church is sickening to my heart. Yet, we are at a standstill until this is no longer a battle.
What is the right battle? I believe Psalms 78 spells it out better than I could.
Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Vs. 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
Vs. 4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
Vs. 5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
Vs. 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
Vs. 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
We might think that our camp is moving, but it is possible that it is not. And, if it is, where is it going? Where are we leading the next generation? Are we forcing them to forget the works of God because of our works?
