Matthew 15:7-9 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother’, and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
And so my “Church” today. It is full of hypocrisy and man-made teachings and rules. How far you have strayed from My Word. How far you have walked away from My commands. Do you not see? Can you not discern by watching your “pastors and teachers”? Do your ears not burn when you listen to their lies? No, because you do not invest time in studying my Word, you do not invest the time it takes to come to know Me. Talk to Me. Listen to Me. Pray to Me. Devote yourselves to growing in knowledge, wisdom and discernment. You give me a couple of hours one day a week. Then spend the rest of the week pleasing yourselves. Worship is a state of being, not a few songs sung in a church building. Devotion is a daily choice, not a couple of hours spent in a church service. Studying my Word is not 10-15 minutes – even 30 – spent reading some Scripture without thought, without prayer for understanding, without asking Me what it means and how it applies to your lives and then listening for My answer. You pay lip service to Me, until everything falls apart. Then you are willing to listen. But, if you were diligent in your pursuit of Me, you would not fall apart when your lives are difficult. You would understand the reality that knowing Me is the most important thing you can do in your earthly lives, followed by sharing that knowledge of Me. That is devotion. That is a true act of worship. That is pleasing to Me and to Father. And that shift in focus – from self to Me – is the key to a life of devotion and worship and true relationship with Me.
Amanuensis 