Have you ever spoken to other people and said ‘We need to be more loving, (or to be less quick to judge, or take safety seriously, or any other suggestion)’? Is that what you really meant? Isn’t it easier to phrase it this way when what you really mean is that ‘You need to (fill in the blank)’? How many people are really eager to identify themselves as a part of the problem? If you are then you can use this terminology, but you should make it emphatic by going on to say that you include yourself in the offenders.

Do you take the Bible literally? Do you insist that everything be interpreted at face value? There are people of good conscience that view some things in the Bible metaphorically. Even I taught in parables. Perhaps this issue isn’t as important as you think. The most important thing is to understand and embrace the underlying transcendent truth that is the point of the story. If you miss that, what advantage is there to insist on the literal truth of it?  If you understand the story and incorporate the lesson into your life, then it isn’t as necessary to defend it as a literal account.

This month my Inbox has filled up with prophetic words for 2020. A prophetic word comes from a prophet who God has spoken through providing inspiration, and sometimes ominous, thoughts from God.  I listened to the 20 prophetic words sent to me by Sid Roth's ministry. Soon after, I received another 20 prophetic points for 2020 from James Goll’s ministry. Then every other day, I received additional prophetic words from Elijah list. All these words challenged me, but frankly, I felt a bit overwhelmed. I started to ignore them because there were just too many words, and I was uncertain about what I could do about them anyway. Then I felt stirred; I pondered what I could do. These prophetic words are all wonderful; how could I contribute to make them happen?   

Do you think of the church as an army? There are Bible verses to support this, and many more references  in hymns and other forms of Christian culture. Yet churches do not go to war in the conventional sense. So what martial aspects are appropriate for a church? Soldiers are trained to commit themselves to and sacrifice for a mission. They are trained to act as one under a unified command. In this way a small group of soldiers can dominate a larger but disorganized opponent. You don’t need a uniform or a rank to function as an army for a common mission. All you need is unity.