Originally released April 16, 2014 – Download PDF:  Christians Grasping at Straws.04.16.14

The temptation today for Christians is to see the evil perpetrated by government leaders or others that do not claim to be followers of Jesus Christ and complain about it.  We jump on Facebook® and make sure everyone knows exactly how we feel about what is going on in the world around us.  We quote statistics and conservative champions, but we rarely quote Jesus or the Bible.  Until we take our stand on solid Biblical truth, we grasp at straws, never getting to the root of the problem.  We succumb to what I call “Symptom-Mania”.

Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (Jn 7:38-39).  That should prompt a question in our minds, “Where are the rivers of living water in my life?”

When we make the choice to stand in front of the mirror and ask ourselves why we, you and I, aren’t moving in the power that is set forth in the Bible as normal Christianity, then and only then do we have a chance of seeing the tide of death and depravity turned that has entered the world.  A democracy is not immune to evil in the hearts of men and women who do not choose to follow Jesus Christ, nor is it immune to Christians that choose to move in the power of the world rather than the supernatural life giving power of the Holy Spirit.  We must understand that talk alone isn’t going to get the job done on Earth that Jesus’ and the Holy Spirit were sent to do.  Jesus didn’t just talk while He during His ministry.  He allowed the Holy Spirit to flow through Him in works of the devil-destroying, demon-crushing, illness-healing, life-filling RESURRECTION POWER!

Paul said it this way –  “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.  For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (I Co 2:1-5 NASB).  He went on to say, “But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power.  For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.”  This lends itself to a question—if we aren’t moving in the power of the Holy Spirit, are we simply arrogant, puffed up in our so-called Biblical knowledge, but knowing nothing of His power?

You and I need to ask the question, “Where is the power in my life?”  Until you and I get the answer to that question, we are just going to be flapping our gums wasting another day as the enemy of our souls continues to take ground by his power.  Rest assured the devil works in power and he can accomplish much when Christians choose to grasp at straws rather than confront themselves and their own powerlessness.  The devil loves powerless Christians because they aren’t a threat to him or his works.

In the final analysis there are only two kingdoms; one ruled by the Father, Son & Holy Spirit and the other ruled by the devil; both move in authority and power.  But that won’t take us far enough.  We must be convicted of the standard Jesus set forth in Jn 7:38-39.  Until then, we will be grasping at straws while the enemy continues his blitzkrieg from the mountains to the prairie to the oceans, white with foam.  The Holy Spirit is allowing us to see our depravity and our sin-filled self-reliance to accomplish the Great Commission in our own strength.  He is proclaiming Revelation 3:15-17 in our day—

15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know [which is exactly our problem!] that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Until we “get” this truth, we will be flapping our gums, grasping at straws and continue to live lives far short of what Jesus proclaimed would be normal, i.e. rivers of living water (the Holy Spirit) flowing from our innermost being.

The Holy Spirit was sent to take ground and establish the Kingdom of God and see that the will of God is done on Earth as it is in Heaven.  Is the will of God being done in the Church, in America or any other nation on the face of the Earth?  If not, what are we going to do about it?!

You can make your own choice, but I choose to align myself with Biblical truth and confess that I am still not moving in the power that is clearly revealed in Scripture and that, yes, I am blind, naked, wretched, poor AND miserable…everyday; my condition never changes.  Every day, I wake up completely and utterly dependent on Jesus Christ because of my true condition before Him.  Why is that so important for me?  It is because Jesus proclaimed that, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God” (Mt 5:3).  Until you and I get this foundational truth, we will never see the realization of the Kingdom of God or His power in our lives, families, communities, or our nation.

It’s time for you and I to get real and stop walking in denial while grasping at straws – realizing our true condition and move into the power of the Kingdom by, in and through the Holy Spirit.  The world doesn’t need Christians grasping at straws.  It needs Christians who know their true condition before God Almighty, who hunger and thirst for His Spirit and have made the decision to allow the Spirit to do whatever He needs to do to establish His Kingdom in them so that rivers of Living Water will flow through them.

Mark C. Biteler