The Church: Repairing Destinies

Saturday 22 April
READ: Luke 7: 37 - 48
MORE LESSON: John11: 2

The church is a place for raising men. The house of God is a place for giving meaning to meaningless lives and repairing ruined destinies. The church is like a hospital where the sick can come and be healed and a school where the unlearned can come and become something in life. There must never be discrimination and segregation in the church. It is a place where everyone should be able to come, rest assured that he will be accepted and raised.
Some pastors are always looking for good and ready made people to bring to their church. A good shepherd is known when bad people come to him and he makes good out of their lives. It must be fully noted though that the job of making something out of people who are nothing in the church is not only for the pastor; it is for every child of God whom the Lord has raised. After all, the church is not one man or an organisation; together all of us who have been saved constitute the Church of Jesus Christ. Every child of God is raised to raise others.
The Church is the Light of the world. Light only makes impact when there is darkness. An already well lit place needs no further light. It is the dark places that actually need light. It is the person that is struggling and helpless that needs the church more than the person who already has all his acts together. This is the reason Jesus said, ...They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: Matt 9:12.
God has called us individually and corporately as a church to rebuild old waste places and repair the foundation of many generations. This means repairing the foundations of people's lives. Drug addicts, harlots and sinners are not to be condemned and banned from coming close to us while we assume a holier-than-thou attitude. We should rather love them, bring them to church and repair them. People who have been spoilt by sin need the repairs that only God can give through the Church of Christ. We must love, accept people and work together with the Holy Spirit to see their destinies changed.
However, a sinner is not to be brought into the church and allowed to remain in his ways. We are not to tolerate sin, making it appear acceptable. Sinners are to be accepted and loved but sin is never to be accepted. Jesus accepted harlots in the Bible but He converted them to saints. One of them came in tears, using her hair and precious ointment to wash Jesus' feet as she pondered the greatness of what the Lord had done for her. Mary Magdalene who later became a great follower of Jesus Christ was a demon possessed woman out of whom the Lord cast out seven demons and repaired her destiny (Mark. 16: 9). The church is a place of transformation of lives.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that anyone that comes in contact with your local church will be transformed daily to the full image of God, in the name of Jesus.
* Pray that God will make you an instrument in building the lives of people and His church, in the name of Jesus.

PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every forest harbouring altars against me, catch fire now, in the name of Jesus.