The bows of the mighty men are broken, And those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, And the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has borne seven, And she who has many children has become feeble. ~ I Samuel 2:4-5

The passage above is taken from the prayer of Hannah, a barren woman who by the power of her faith conceived Samuel, the first and arguably greatest prophet of the Bible. Remember, brothers and sisters, it took young Samuel three times to finally identify the voice of God {1 Sam. 3:3-9} after Eli coached him to say, “Speak, for thy servant heareth.”

Are we “ALL IN”? “We drift if we lose sight of why God left us on earth. Our goal (should be) to participate in God’s redemptive plan for the world. IF we embrace purpose, we gain power.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Gaining Authority In Christ

Isaiah said that the Lord spoke to him “with a strong hand,” that is, by the pressure of circumstances. Nothing touches our lives but it is God Himself speaking. Do we discern His hand or only mere occurrence? Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance. ~ Oswald Chambers, The Dilemma of Obedience

Where is our faith to do so? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? ~ St. Luke 11:13

So, where am I going with all this? Power, Purpose, All In, Authority, Faith, Romance ALL gone missing in the men of the churches in America today, leaving the Body…

flaccid

/flăs′ĭd, flăk′sĭd/

adjective

Lacking firmness; hanging limply.

“flaccid muscles.”

Lacking force, vigor, or effectiveness.

“a flaccid acting performance.”

Yielding to pressure for want of firmness and stiffness; soft and weak; limber; lax; drooping; flabby.

“a flaccid muscle; flaccid flesh.”

I just attended a wonderful Christian Education conference where in two key breakout sessions the message was If we focus our energy and do the right thing in the horizontal “physical” realm, it will manifest in the vertical “spiritual” realm, when the exact opposite is Biblically confirmed above.

Stop and think for a moment what it means to be All In. It is an easy thing to visualize in the natural, physical, horizontal sense. We see it in everyday examples all around us in sports, business, etc. But what does it mean to be All In as a Christian? God tells us: Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. ~ St. Luke 18:22,23 On the other hand He lights the path for us in verses 1 through 8 of the same chapter via the parable of the widow…ending with a question that should chill us all.

And HERE is the key brothers and sisters. What do the men who have followed their Teacher for the past three years say after witnessing the fate of the rich ruler who had followed every rule in the natural, physical, horizontal world to inherit eternal life? And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? ~ St. Luke 18:26 Again, God gives us the answer in 27, And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God…to them that ask Him.

The enemy is devouring souls in the horizontal because our pulpits are largely occupied by flaccid actors preaching from an upside-down model. It is the reason only two percent of our millennial population hold a Biblical world view. That needs to be flipped right-side-up to focus our energy and do the right thing in the vertical “Holy Spirit” realm, and it will manifest in the horizontal physical realm.

As John C. Maxwell puts in today’s devotional, Leaders Cannot Show the Way Until they Know the Way. His very last point?   * Have a reliable guide.