Is God “In the House?”

God is “In the House”?

Just because WE go to church, it doesn’t necessarily mean that God is actually there.  Just because we build a building and slap the name ‘church’ on it doesn’t mean God is obligated to show up there.  God is like us, He doesn’t want to go where He is not welcome.  He’s not going to force Himself upon us and make us want Him. 

So contrary to popular belief, God may not necessarily be everywhere you think He is. Or He may be there but access is extremely limited to Him because of barriers put up by religion, attitudes, desire, people’s hearts, and so on.  And even though we say “God is in the House”, He actually might not be there. 

And even if He is there, many times God simply can’t do much at all.  Not because God doesn’t want to, but because of people.  In a sense, we can determine the amount of God we will allow. That sounds absurd, “God is God” you say.  But even Jesus couldn’t do things in places where he was limited by the audience.  There are numerous stories of where helping people wasn’t possible because of the people that surrounded Him.  Read the Bible and find out for yourself. You don’t have to take my word.  And taking it one step further, we can keep people sick, hurting, and broken by our attitudes.   

We Keep God Distant

In most churches, there is a barrier that actually keeps God distant and holds people in bondage, all the while they pray for God to come down.  It must be a very confusing sight to Heaven to see this. We cry out for You to come near us God, we are singing songs about You, but yet we have put up this giant barrier to You.  A wall barrier of our attitude and arrogance, a barrier of unbelief passed down by generations of religious teachings. 

Have you ever been in a room where you can just feel someone’s bad attitude?  It changes the atmosphere of that room, and not in a good way. 

Now put yourself in MOST churches where half the people don’t even know if God is real, many aren’t even interested in being there, and others are full of unforgiveness and bad attitudes, that they are of course, justified to have. 

Then there’s the super religious that are so holy, that God comes to them for advice, while they judge all the other lowly sinful peons.  Others are fighting and bitter, and still others are just doing a religious duty and don’t expect God to ever do anything.  But yet we expect God to show up in this situation?  We don’t even want to be there, why would God?  This is not the environment that God deserves, and most likely He’s not even there. 

We Push God Away

The problem is, you cannot stand in the real presence of God with all this junk, at least not for very long.  It’s impossible. I mean, you can certainly try, but you aren’t going to get anywhere.  Having God show up can be uncomfortable.  It’s easy to stand there in a dead church and keep all your junk nice and tidy and secure but once God shows up, we are forced to deal with it, we are forced to make a decision. Do you want God to remain, or do you want to keep your bad attitude?

Ultimately, It’s easier to just push God away than to actually have to deal with our hearts.  We keep Him distant and out of reach.  We keep people sick, poor, and broken, while preaching to them a weak gospel that limits anything that God can actually do.  We defend our denominations and keep God powerless in people’s lives, it’s just easier than to have to admit we may be wrong.

God has very little choice as to where to show up on Sunday mornings, yet we are so arrogant and prideful to think that God is in the house and that we have it all together.  Most churches proclaim God is with them while they are full of people who are chained down and bound spiritually, handcuffed by their spiritual beliefs taught and passed down for generations.  They walk around full of junk and darkness while professing to belong to God, even though there is nothing recognizable of God. Even God is saying I don’t recognize these people.  Sadly, most churches aren’t exhibiting the Kingdom of God but the best efforts of men.  

“Go Tell John”…

In Luke 7:22 it says “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”

This is what we should be seeing in churches everywhere. This is evidence that the Kingdom of God is there and that we should be there too.  I want to be in a church because God is there and His Kingdom is alive, working, and evident.  Everything else is just useless or secondary.  We shouldn’t choose a church because it fits us but we should choose a church because it fits God.  

We must choose a place where the Kingdom is evident, where people are saved, rescued, healed, and delivered.  A place where your life can truly change forever, where you can truly become, and be all that God has intended for you, and your family. It’s time to start looking for that kind of church.  A church where Heaven is allowed to be wide open to all, where God is allowed to attend.  Don’t miss out another day actively start pursuing a church where God is in the house and don’t settle for anything less. 

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