The Answer IV

2 Tim.1:⁷ (TLB) “For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them.”

God’s answer (His solution) to despair is community. It is not possible for you to be planted in a local church and serving actively or be part of a Life Group (House Fellowship) and no one will check up on you if you suddenly disappear. Rom.12:¹⁵ “Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.”

The real reason a lot of people do not want to join a Life Group or do not want to be accountable in a community is fear. People are overly focused on and afraid of the negative things that can happen. People are afraid of getting hurt. For some, their fear is rooted in a previous bad experience, or someone’s opinion about church folk. I am not here to say the Church is perfect – no! The day you find a perfect church and you join, that perfect church becomes imperfect because you joined.

There is no perfect church anywhere. The point is this, the Word of God is life. If God’s Word says ‘do something’, then just do it. If it appears you did not get the result, then do it again. And because the Scriptures cannot be broken you will get the result. That is how I run my life. God is saying, join a Life Group but you are afraid. God is nudging you to go for counseling, but you are afraid. God does not want you to live in fear. 2 Tim.1:⁷ (TLB) “For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them.” God wants you to be wise and strong, and not afraid.

So, where do you go from here? For some of us, if you are currently in a traumatic situation – you need counselling. Go and speak with your Pastors, that is why God has put you in that church family. For some, what you need is to plug into community to combat loneliness, to combat defeat, to combat despair. Join a Life Group, get engaged in the life of the church. But do not encounter a message like this and do nothing. Do not just be a hearer of the Word and not a doer. However, before you can even talk about getting into fellowship with men, you must first get into fellowship with God. Yet for some of us, we need to move from co-dependency and find our way to interdependence. Start by asking God to help you and seek Godly counsel and support.

Community is God’s answer to loneliness. Community is God’s answer to fatigue. Community is God’s answer to defeat. Community is God’s answer to despair. Get into a community of faith.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace to be a doer of your Word and not just a hearer. Help me walk in the light of Your truth revealed, in Jesus Name. Amen!