Happy Tuesday

HE LUKEWARM HEART by Gary Wilkerson


What does a lukewarm heart look like?

A heart that is no longer on fire for God, or perhaps never has been on fire for God, has distinctive characteristics.

First, a lukewarm heart is a prayerless heart, one that has no desire to pray, no desire to come into the presence of God.

Second, a lukewarm heart is unawakened by anything in the Word. It finds parts of the Word interesting and sometimes emotionally moving but does not grasp the power of God’s Word to transform hearts.

Third, a lukewarm heart is disobedient to the Word. When the lukewarm heart begins to respond to the Word and the Holy Spirit breaks through and reveals a truth, this heart is like the man spoken of by James: “He is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror . . . and goes away and at once forgets what he was like” (James 1:23-24, ESV). The lukewarm heart is not a doer of the Word.

Fourth, a lukewarm heart has little or no passion for souls, and little or no desire to pray for or reach out to the lost.

Fifth, a lukewarm heart only comes to church when it’s convenient. Even though the Word speaks very clearly that we are not to neglect gathering together, the lukewarm heart just doesn’t feel that it is significant (see Hebrews 10:25).

Sixth, the lukewarm heart has grown emotionally dull, it is unmoved. The lukewarm heart will read this message and hear this truth, yet will not care. It becomes emotionally dull to the things of the Spirit, to the Word, to prayer and to the lost.

But there is good news for the lukewarm — Jesus is calling you out of your lukewarm state! He is saying, “Yes, I am knocking on the door of your house. I want to come in and have dinner with you and I want to see the fire of God once again brought into your heart and life.”

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20, ESV).

Daily Smile:

Mass Hysteria

A professor of clinical psychology at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, included a lecture on crowd psychology in his annual course. To illustrate mass hysteria, he regularly showed TV news footage of teenage crowds greeting the Beatles at the local airport in the 1960's. 

One year, when he ran the footage, he heard squeals and bursts of laughter from his students. When the film ended he asked what had caused the hilarity. 

Replied one student, "We recognized some of our mothers!" 

 

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