Today was supposed to be another usual post about praying and fasting 24 hours for America. Since 2016, this blog has banged the drum about fasting for America. Since Fall of 2023, we’ve been urging monthly, 24-hour fasts for the election, for Trump and other leaders who serve America, as well as urgent social and spiritual issues.
In our house, we never miss a month to pray and fast at least 24 hours for the President and our nation. But, less and less do we feel the need to remind our readers. If you’ve read our posts for any length of time, you’ve heard it. There is no need to keep watering the saturated.
Further, there are now growing numbers in the online Christian cosmos urging people to fast and pray. We’re thrilled every time we hear a well-platformed leader issuing the call to fast. The Spirit has rooted this message in America.
With this in mind, we’ll keep posting whenever and however the Spirit leads, but it will not be the extensive prayer lists for America and calls to fast 24 hours a month. You already know we are doing this, and we pray you continue in your home. You know how to hear the Spirit’s voice. He will guide you how to pray.
Today, instead, I want to share a dream I had with you. You’ll notice a symbol used above within the dream and understand why it was on my mind. Here is the dream:
I stood side by side with Jesus as He leaned out over a low balcony with a clear pitcher of water. We were looking down below at many variegated planter pots and boxes. Before He poured the water, I noticed every bed was completely saturated to the brim with at least two inches of standing water above the soil. I told him, they don’t need to be watered, they can’t soak up anymore. He must have agreed, for He then poured the water on the dryer soil around the planters.
Waking, I questioned, could this reflect the modern church in America? All different shapes and sizes, saturated with worship and teaching… but could some be failing to water the world around them, keeping it all to themselves and leaving the culture to fend for itself while it turns into a desert? Certainly this is true of some.
Many others are, however, sharing the Gospel everywhere they can in this modern age. I love the clever believers who have kept up with technology and started podcasts, YouTube channels, social media, and more. They are absolutely salt and light to the online world.
A dear friend and sister in Christ and I had a deep conversation today about the modern church. We noted how institutional most have become, how unlike the early church.
They’re not all bad and certainly do many good things, but all too many have become so inward-focused and failed to influence the culture. They surround their attendees with meetings and events and keep them so busy, they barely spend time with their families, neighbors, and rarely make a dent to influence the world.
During our discussion, I was profoundly reminded by the Spirit, human history as recorded in Scripture began with one man, Adam, walking with God alone, talking with Him and learning from Him. And the Bible ends in Revelation with one man, John, alone on an island talking with God and learning from Him, writing down His revelations. Pause for a moment to think about the profound way God chose to bookend the Bible: just one human in relationship with God at each end.
After the call and conversation with my friend, I started praying about what to blog today. The Spirit whispered the phrase, “houses of the holy”. I’d heard the phrase before but didn’t know the reference. Turns out there may be both a cultural and spiritual symbol.
Houses of the Holy happens to be the title of a Led Zeppelin album from the early 1970s. I was never much of a connoisseur of rock music. Frankly, I don’t recommend Led Zeppelin now, for most of their songs are not holy at all.
Insulated in Christianity as a youth, I listened only to Christian music. Many years since, after being slowly exposed to broader varieties of music, I’ve found much “secular music” to be clever, beautiful and profound.
Side note: If we are careful to weed out the truly sinful or demonic messaging from our entertainment, there is still much to appreciate. We don’t have to be afraid. We should teach our children discernment, but then trust them to use it and pray for them as they to learn to navigate this dusty, earthly life with two feet planted in Heaven.
Back to Houses of the Holy, apparently, Zeppelin released this album after two of the band members built studios in their own homes. It was more eclectic and beloved by the people but not the critics. Although not “pure” to our Biblical standards, it was considered a more innocent album of the secular band’s collected works.
The leader of the band had a little girl by this time this album was released. Maybe he was seeing life differently being a father for the first time.
While Houses of the Holy sounds like a reference to churches, I don’t believe the composer was talking about church. He was talking about love relationships, marriage. How damaged they can be… how much we get hurt when they fall apart. Still, I couldn’t help but ponder the corporate church in the phrase.
It seemed ironic that Led Zeppelin’s music became more popular and cleaner when they brought their production of it home. Now, let’s transition to discussing the modern church. While two widely differing subjects, I think there is a strange parallel.
This may sound blaspheming to the traditionalist, but I don’t think God’s church needs buildings and institutions. Let’s set aside our traditions for a moment and, without motive to destroy them altogether, consider the pitfalls of the corporate church. Then, let’s talk about what is Biblical.
When we have institutionalized churches, the necessarily hired leadership are tempted to become focused on money, salaries, utilities, a building for this, another for that, fund-raising and much more.
They are driven to harangue the people to volunteer for every activity they think up to keep the people engaged, attending, serving their programs, and giving.
Pastors in larger denominations too often become competitors… whose is the biggest church with the most people? Whose program is the best? Whose online presence is most widespread? Whose salary is greatest? Who publishes the most books? Who is most looked up to by others in the denomination?
Oh my goodness, is this Biblical? One obvious problem with such centralized, ladder structures is when the guy or group who reach the top aren’t pure or filled with the Holy Spirit. Then, oppression or faulty theology spread like unchecked wildfire round the globe everywhere a big denomination has influence.
Seminaries are built to further teach truth mixed with some unchecked fallacies, curriculum are generated and spread, and on and on it goes. Worst case scenario, what may appear the most official and professional eventually serve up the least healthy, unbiblical experience.
Again, not trying to throw out the baby with the bath water here, for surely the Spirit is alive and well in many corporate churches. Just being honest about the Biblical-sized chasm between the early church and some modern, institutionalized “churches”.
Consider another idea for comparison. A radical proposition for a localized, not centralized body of believers. And one which I believe might be closer to the early church.
What if we had neighborhood groups of believers who meet once a week to share their lives with each other? Rotate meeting in each other’s homes, no building or overhead needed. Share what God has done, what He has said to each of you, share struggles and praises, sing, pray and encourage each other… Colossians 3:16
Give what you otherwise would have given to a corporate church to local charities and people in need that you personally know. Look after the orphans and widows of our people who are found faithful… Sound familiar? It is what the Apostles urged the early believers to do. James 1:26
Instead of paying one guy to teach and lead for decades (creating a pressure cooker of near workaholic expectation and judgment upon him and his family), which at times makes the congregation feel like permanent baby birds, the small groups could encourage each other to grow in hearing the Spirit of God.
Realize, it is children who constantly need leading. Spiritual adults in the faith should not. They should have learned to hear God directly and to follow Him. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me.” (Jesus) John 10:27
Groups could inspire each other to become the independent Priests and Saints which Paul revealed long ago are our exact identity in Christ. We hear from and answer directly to Christ, our High Priest. If you are in Christ, you are not just a “lay person”. YOU are a PRIEST! YOU are a SAINT.
I know for those raised in traditional church this sounds radical, but friends, it is Biblical. The church is not a building, it is the people of God. Every time two or more believers get together, they are “Christ’s church” gathering.
The most important thing modern believers need to know is how to individually hear God. When filled with the Spirit, Jesus says He guides us into all truth. John 16:13 And we, as iron, sharpen each other. Proverbs 27:17
Covid changed church for a lot of people. When church doors were shut for months at a time and we all stayed home, some of us realized we could hear from God better and fellowship more deeply with fewer people. We discovered what it meant to be the Bride of Christ one person at a time. Some friends and I through weekly conversations and praying together grew in recognizing the Spirit’s voice in dreams and visions and learned to interpret them.
Ironically, when the church stopped being a building for us, we became the more Biblical church we were always intended to be.
There is no intended conclusion here. It is a thought piece meant to provoke consideration and conversation.
Compare what the New Testament teaches about the early church with how we are doing things now. Not all are meant to “bring church home”, especially those already plugged into healthy bodies of worship and service. We don’t want the good ones, the true healthiest influencers, to fall apart. Just for all believers to consider there is more than one way to fulfill God’s expectations as revealed in the New Testament.
But let’s be honest, many have been home since 2020 and not going to buildings anymore. Maybe they listen to occasional teaching online and little more. Consider getting together with one or two of your Christian friends and talk about the Bible, talk about the Lord, share how you experience and hear Him, and see where it goes. You might realize wherever you are, your house is already a “House of the Holy…”
Peace.
FAITH AND FASTING 