The Cloistered Church

O' the power of the cloistered church! We drive our Pentecostal cars to our Pentecostal church where we enjoy Pentecostal fellowship with our already saved friends... We enjoy a perfectly Pentecostal service where we sing our Pentecostal songs and afterward hop in our vehicles to turn on our Pentecostal music, all the while talking about how great the Pentecostal preaching we heard was. Then we go to work on Monday away from our Pentecostal bubble and make fun of those who are not saved, take pictures to send to our saved friends of how unsaved they are, tell them how unsaved they are compared to us, and leave feeling quite content. Then finally we get back together with our Pentecostal friends on the weekend and instead of edifying one another we tear down those whose standards are not as high as we think they should be, talk about preachers and saints that have let down their guard, and leave feeling quite content that we are saved and they are slipping.

How do we expect to see anyone saved if our entire sphere of influence is already saved! How do we expect to see revival if we never pursue the lost nor see our own need for personal revival? This is an hour of sifting and shaking, only those who have a deep inward root system will stand in this hour. The shallow roots that spread along the surface are destined to perish along with the sinner and the ungodly. It is time to do some inventory!

So what is the power of the cloistered church? Ask them cause they know better than you or I. However, I refuse to lower my vision to the dirt, I am looking to the hills from whence cometh my help, my help cometh from The Lord! 

I am a member of a wonderful assembly who takes in the sinner and loves them like Jesus, who edifies one another, and prays for those who are slipping. We have a Pastor that does not follow a Sunday/Wednesday ritual, he allows God to move when and where The Spirit of The Lord wills it! The preaching is strong, the preaching is Pentecostal, the preaching is powerful! When the church becomes cloistered we lose those elements. 

An old country preacher once said, "You can write hen house over the door, but that don't mean there's any chickens inside." Just because a sign reads Pentecostal doesn't mean there's any fire inside!

May the God of heaven bless us with a desire to go beyond our comfort zones, to go into all the world, the highways and hedges, and compel them! But first, may revival start within us all and flow out like rivers of grace and mercy.