Committed To GodSample

Do you know why Christians don’t pray more than we do? Because too many of us are too self-sufficient. We don’t feel like we need God, until an emergency pops up. The Christians in Sardis were educated, affluent and at ease. As a result, they relied too heavily on themselves and became blind to the enemy’s surprise attacks. One of the greatest dangers of success – whether it’s financial, status, relational, career or anything – is that the higher you go up the ladder, the more independent you become. Why pray when you have an unlimited MasterCard. Success often lends itself to a spirit of independence that involves God only in emergencies.

But not only were the Christians in Sardis self-sufficient, so were the pastors and spiritual leaders. We know this because Jesus also introduced Himself as the One who has the seven stars. Stars are a reference to the spiritual leaders. This reveals that there was a void of quality leadership in the church. The leadership that should have been setting the pace for the congregation to follow in terms of grabbing onto and pursuing the work of the Spirit, had been setting the wrong pace of independence and ease. A mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew.   

The job of the Holy Spirit is to not only energize your spiritual life, but it is to also make sure Satan doesn’t have his way with you. It is to give you victory to overcome. But the Holy Spirit does not do His work apart from your connection and cooperation to Him and with Him. A life devoid of the Spirit of God is a life open to defeat in every area. It is just a matter of time.