What Have You Done For Him Lately : Pastor Jeannette Samuels
Yep, a spin off the old song, “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” Unfortunately, that old song is the way the church has been operating for way too long. We have looked at the Lord as someone Who is there only to meet our needs, solve our problems, grant us three wishes, and then disappear back into the genie’s lamp.
With recent events, it seems like everyone is happy that the church has left the building; but I have been asking, Isn’t that something that we do twice a week, every week? Thousands of churches have left the building, going to online services; but what’s to get so excited about if that is all that has happened? You simply went from a church building to your home building. The Bible says “…what good is it if someone claims to have faith but demonstrates no good works to prove it? How could this kind of faith save anyone? For example, if a brother or sister in the faith is poorly clothed and hungry and you leave them saying, ‘Good-bye. I hope you stay warm and have plenty to eat,’ but you don’t provide them with a coat or even a cup of soup, what good is your faith? So then, faith that doesn’t involve action is phony. But someone might object and say, ‘One person has faith and another person has works.’ Go ahead then and prove to me that you have faith without works and I will show you faith by my works as proof that I believe. You can believe all you want that there is one true God, that’s wonderful! But even the demons know this and tremble with fear before him, yet they’re unchanged – they remain demons.” ( James 2:14-19 TPT) Other versions say, “faith without works is dead.”
We, as the body, cannot say that we have faith in Jesus Christ and not do anything. We didn’t close our doors, and because of that there have been several families and individuals impacted by the love of God. Amen, that’s awesome. My challenge is, what about our individual lives? Have we reached out to loved ones that don’t know the Lord yet to tell them that He loves them? Have we given of our excess food, money, clothing to those who might be in need? Have we given of our time to listen, pray and encourage someone that might need it? Have we helped a neighbor with yardwork or a surprise note on their door? Have we let people go in front of us in the long lines of that stores that have been open, or are we joining in the grumbling and complaining about those lines? Have we been obedient when prompted by Holy Spirit to give someone an encouraging word or to pray for their healing, or have we grieved Him and stayed silent or ignored Him because it was inconvenient? Have we checked in with those struggling with sickness or the widows that are alone?
Why has the church waited until this moment to start looking at things like this? This is to be our life day in and day out; re-presenting Jesus to everyone that we come into contact with. It’s time to SHOW our faith, and quit talking about it. It’s time to let the fire, the anointing, the life and love of Jesus flow out of us into our families and communities, and not allow compromise or the limited understanding of man or government stop us, stifle us and keep us silent. It is time LFC; it is time for this church to rise up, go out and be bold. If we won’t do it now, we certainly won’t do it later. Proverbs 28:1 says that the righteous are a bold as a lion. I’ve never seen a lion back down from anything… It is time to let the Lion of Judah roar from the inside of us to change this city, county, state and nation!!!! SHOW THEM JESUS!!!
