Pray… Come to the aid of your church, Lord Jesus, for godly men are rarely found there. The faithful are disappearing from within her fellowships. One man speaks falsehood to another, and naive souls are deceived by flattering lips and deceptive words. O God, protect us from deceiving words and tongues that boast of great things, for those who deceive and are deceived believe they will gain victory through their cunning and lies. They think they have a right to say whatever they wish, and there is no ruler over the affairs of men. They say, “Lord, Lord,” and yet do not do what You command. They think they are rich and in need of nothing, yet their deeds are lawless and their hearts lukewarm. They tickle one another’s ears and, turning away from the truth, they embrace myths and teach as doctrine the precepts of men. They exalt the strong and lord themselves over the weak. They flaunt worldly riches and suppose the gospel to be a means of great gain. They think they are rich and in need of nothing, when they are poor, pitiful, blind, and naked. Having become futile in their thoughts, their hearts have been darkened. The wicked strut about freely when vile practices are exalted among the sons of men.
Because of the devastation of the naïve, the lost sheep left wandering in Your house, and the groaning of the needy, arise O Lord! Set the lowly in the safety for which they long and expose and humble the proud. Your words are pure words—they are as silver tried in a fiery furnace: refined and pure. Speak to and preserve Your true church, O God! Yes, forever guide and preserve Your remnant from the evil of the chaff growing up amongst the wheat.
Consider… Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture! So often we are repulsed by evil people prospering in our society. Yet, do we feel the same way about such practices going on within our fellowships? When those who say they believe are more concerned for their financial well-being than their spiritual well-being, and their teachers excuse worldly lifestyles for the sake of keeping their temples full, all in the name of grace, does it not concern us? When the vast majority in the church say, “Lord, Lord” with their lips every Sunday, yet deny Him in their deeds in the marketplace, do we rise up against the injustice? It seems all is excused as long as we maintain an image of godliness by making an appearance in our temples on Sundays. Jesus indicated it mattered not what we claimed with our mouths, but what we practiced with our deeds (Matt. 7). Paul said to be saved we would need to “repent and do deeds befitting repentance” (Acts 26). When the frustrations of trying to live with integrity in a dishonest society while getting little help by way of example from the religious in church buildings, we must make a conscience decision to seek out true community and live as spiritual people. Otherwise, we will be numbered among the rapidly-disappearing faithful. Like the One we follow we must speak the pure words of truth, call out false teachers for the sake of the flock, forsake worldliness and preserve personal godliness. That is the example the lost sheep of the house of God need to see.
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