The Search for True Faith

In the past year, I have encountered a tremendous amount of discouragement. I lost four close relatives and our church closed for over a year, due to the  corona virus pandemic. My prayers have become more intense as I have taken a deep look at my faith, priorities and church. When our church closed, I was forced to examine whether or not we had true faith or if we were simply religious. I knew the church’s doctrine was sound but I questioned whether or not we actually believed what we preached. After all, we allowed a virus that has a 98% recovery rate to shut our doors for an entire year. I asked myself, what kind of faith is that? I searched the scriptures to see if they justified this decision. What I found was the very opposite. The scriptures state, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching,” Hebrews 10:25. Some would argue, they continued to assemble online. However, according to the Oxford dictionary, the word assemble actually means, a group of people gathered together in one place for a common purpose. If it is possible to assemble without being physically present than one could argue there is no reason to ever go back to physically assembling in a church building.

As my husband and I studied the book of Acts, we realized the first church was very different from today’s church. They were willing to suffer for Christ’s sake, even if it meant disobeying the law of the land, in order to obey God. “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men,” Acts 5:29. This put us in a tough spot. We had to choose whether to continue participating in online service and disobey God or to physically assemble in worship with another church. We chose to obey God by assembling with a remnant of Christians who had made that same decision.

In doing so, our faith grew deeper and stronger. We, along with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ of different races and cultures, gathered together for one purpose; to worship and glorify God. We sang songs of victory, while being told to stop singing. We saw people removing their face masks to shout praises to the Lord in the midst of one of the biggest storms our country had ever seen. God protected, blessed and strengthen us tremendously. We were not being foolish or unwise. We were actually exercising true faith.

This type of faith is the same faith shown by Hananiah, Misha’el and Azariah, better known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, before they were thrown into the lion’s den for refusing to worship an idol god. They knew the King’s threat was real. They also knew there was a possibility they would die in the fire. However they responded, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up,” Daniel 3: 17-18.

God wants us to truly believe His word and walk by faith, which means our actions should be a direct reflection of what we believe. “For we walk by faith and not by sight,” 2 Corinthians 5:7. Sadly, so many Christians, especially Pastors and church leaders, missed the mark last year. Countless churches closed, being guilty of the sin of omission. This statement is not to bring condemnation but it is to admonish the church to repent.

Think about it. We loved ourselves so much that we continued every other essential practice to make sure this physical body was cared for, yet we neglected spiritual matters and went without assembling in God’s house for days on end because an evil world that hates God, told us it was dangerous and non-essential. I’m not arguing a point. I am stating facts.

The dust of covid-19 is starting to settle and churches are reopening, with proclamations of revival. However, it is imperative that the church repents for our disobedience to God. There will be no true revival until we realize our wrong, humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our own futile thoughts of how church should be. We must fully embrace God’s way and allow His Spirit to break us again. We must realize where we have fallen short and understand, only God can get us back on the right path.  We must cry out for mercy. We must become lovers of Jesus Christ more than lovers of ourselves. Then and only then will true revival come. If not, our churches will be filled with dead bones of religious men.

“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number,” Jeremiah 2:32.