"The Pointers To Missing JESUS- 2" ( By Gbile Akanni)

• Spiritual Experiences become mere Customs

“And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast”.Luke 2:42 KJV

Look at that important phrase “...after the custom of the feasts.” They went there, but it was to meet a custom …a program that had already been set. It was to meet a custom that must be followed…the step-by-step 'lifeless' constitution , organization, or mere form, that has been arranged and must be followed … And anyone could run through this so called program without meeting Jesus. So they went “after the custom of the feast”: routine man-made procedures.

In some Christian circles today, it is a custom to come to church and just dance around and sing without necessarily touching Jesus. It is a custom in several congregations to make noise and to shout “seven big hallelujahs” facing North, East, or West. It is not because there is any real or overflowing joy, or that people genuinely are saved and delivered from sin and reconciled to their Maker, or have become spontaneously filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit which is the genuine outcome of such experiences. But men are programmed and manipulated to shout “amen”, “Hallelujahs”, “Glory to God”…, While in bitterness, in vengeance, in resentment, in anger, in adultery, and every wantonness you can imagine in their private lives. These are nothing but customary empty noises from noisy and sinful hearts.

In Psalm 137:1, 3, we read;

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept… for there they that carried us away captives required of us a song ; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?”

Dear officiating Pastor and Minister, how dare you program men to sing Hallelujah {a genuine heavenly song and language}with a strange voice, from strange heart and in captivity? How can men and women captured and captivated by lust, worldliness, forgery, bigotry, and adultery, spontaneously sing such songs, except it be by programme or other such mechanical arrangement and devices of men? Where will the supply of the Spirit come from to make such joyful and acceptable noise unto the Lord?

Again in Titus 2:11-14:

“…the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, THAT HE MIGHT REDEEM US FROM ALL INIQUITY, AND PURIFY UNTO HIMSELF A PECULIAR PEOPLE ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS.”

As you can see in verse 14, 'sins,’ 'iniquities', or every ‘works of the flesh' are killers of zeal and every form of good works. A man that Jesus has never redeemed from all iniquity can never possess genuine zeal for glorifying God! And I see you as Church leader investing so much in drums, trumpets, loudspeakers, and other bogus public address systems to create 'effects' and 'noise' - an imitation of what the Holy Spirit alone can do in men and women once they are genuinely delivered from sin and flesh in their lives.

Rather than 'program' the drummer in your Church to beat the 'conger' seven times and the keyboardists to press the percussion key each time you shout “praise the Lord” pursue reality, holiness and purity! Pursue, and have victory first over your taste, passions, appetites and all selfish tendencies. Then you shall have joy and genuine happiness both in you, those around you, and in your congregation! This would pay off better than your custom of standing up to sing or say “I see the Lord, He is high and lifted up and His train fills the temple…eem…eem…I can feel Him right now ….ishhh…umm…and such other Pentecostal slangs and languages that is presently everywhere, when in reality you neither feel nor see Him.

You could also miss out on Jesus without knowing it when spiritual gifts and services that started with great convictions and earnestness in you has now become a custom. Has your preaching or messages for instance become an ordinary lifeless duty or routine, and no longer with prayers, the initiatives, and the deep burden for the conversion and the salvation of souls with which it started with? Even you choir-master or choir member; do you still sing to touch souls, or your ministry in songs has become as customary as a daily paid worker? Something you do just to “catch an honorarium”!

I need to now check my life. Check yours too. Truly you were “born again” some years ago, are you still in touch with that fire that was kindled in your heart at the beginning? The love, the passion, the motives you had for doing all that you are presently doing for Jesus, are they still there? Or has your worship and service degenerated into ordinary custom?

“I know thy works, and thy labours, and thy patience…and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have something against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works….”
Rev. 2:2-5 KJV

This could be the words of the missing Lord in your heart! Take heed and be obedient, today!!