Christians are called to internalize Christ, not to institutionalize Him.

Without ongoing awareness of and attunement to the presence of “Christ in you,” Christians live as if Jesus is located some other place. That’s why we feel like we need another authority figure to instruct us and a religious structure to organize us. We become dependent on a weekly meeting and mostly ignore that Jesus is alive and available to lead, empower, and comfort us day and night. Christians are called to internalize Christ, not to institutionalize Him.

Awake o sleeper.
Jesus is a Keeper.
Keep Him active
In your heart.
Let Him keep you
Enthralled by
His presence.
That’s the essence
Of walking by faith.

Christians love
To organize,
Systematize,
Institutionalize,
And formalize
The faith.
If we would realize
That Jesus is alive,
We could internalize
His presence
And revitalize
Our heart.
“Christ in you,
The hope of glory.”

Be Spirit-led.
Let Jesus be
Your living Head
And direct you
In all you do.

Christians can gather and be led by God’s Spirit without setting it up and organizing it as an institutional church. Jesus, Himself, present and active today, is very capable of building His body without a human run religious organization. We need to let Him build His “ekklesia” — the name of the participatory town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities where anyone present could speak.

When you read about the 5-fold giftings in the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13), they are supposed to train the saints (Christ-followers) to do the work of the ministry. They’re not to supposed to control the saints and make them dependent on a religious organization that makes them a passive audience for spoon-fed Bible lessons every Sunday.

Our greatest enemies are invisible. Human enemies can kill our body, but demons can depress and consume our soul with their tormenting and lying thoughts, feelings, images, and desires. We need God’s supernatural revelation so we can inwardly behold and daily surrender to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Then we will be divinely empowered to effectively win the deeper spiritual conflict as we fight to continually experience the deliverance of HIs Lordship as people who are literally led by His Spirit as children of God (Romans 8:14). Notifications on your conscience let you know that you have messages from God, but it’s easy to ignore them and shut your conscience down.

I don’t visualize Jesus. When I interact with Jesus, I have such a strong sense of His presence (both within and around me) that I have no need to picture Him in my mind.

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