TapIn

I am convinced of one thing this morning...

We as Christians, both individually (and pretty much the Church as a whole), have not even scratched the surface of the power that is available to us and in us.  

I got trumped by the adversary recently and I failed to share with my church family the pain I am presently experiencing (in my Mother's heart) over my son. He is truly in a serious crisis (and life-threatening)  situation.  But, for a moment, I believed that people were tired of hearing about his plight... so I didn't mention anything; I just put on my smile and did the Sunday morning church thing.

I got a lot out of church; the message was strong and the fellowship sweet, but oh how I missed the point of corporate worship!

Reluctantly, after church, I posted a vague prayer request on a private prayer facebook group that our church has.  I was pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of love from my friends in Christ! Dear ones, responded! Almost immediately showing that they truly cared and were interested! 

This morning, in my quiet time with God's Word, I stumbled on this letter written by Paul to the non-Jews (aka Gentile; aka me) believers in Ephesus!

A letter to every non-Jew believer... (from the letter to the Ephesian Gentile Church; chapter 3)

8 Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles (that's us; pretty much every believer I know!) about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. ; 9 I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning 10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. ; 11 This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.; 12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored. 14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

This hit me, hard! Not only was I not 'tapping in' I was denying my church family the privilege to 'tap in' on behalf of my son, too!

All this has got me to thinking how essential corporate prayer and worship is. People (aka believers) are peculiar. We arrive at church, ready for 'worship' (or at least we should arrive that way). But people don't want it to take too long; they want to get in and get out in a timely fashion.

The early church (and churches in third world countries, and even many of the 'hoods' of America today-I'm speaking from my own personal experience!) don't 'worship' like that. They truly hunger and thirst for corporate Worship, Prayer, and Fellowship, no matter how long it takes!

Yes it is true, I got trumped by the devil! But I get it now! I want to "TapIn" to the Power of Christ in Me (only using the capital "M" because of Christ in me) :)