When we arrived here in Germany we were required to register at the "Rathaus" the place where we were staying. This was required within the first week of our arrival here. When we went to the "Rathaus" we had to fill in a form. You had to fill in the address where you are staying. This became then your registered address in Germany. In one of the blocks we had to fill in our religion. Before I arrived here in Germany I was told about this and it was recommended to me not to fill in any religion. I was influenced by this and left it open. I did not fill in any religion. When we handed the completed form in they ask us and I said that we did not fill in the religion block.
We told them that we do not have a religion, we have a relationship with the Lord. They just looked at us and left the block, blank. Today we know more about this form here in Germany. If you fill in Roman Catholic or Christian the government take a portion or amount from your salary and pay it over to the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It does not matter if you belong to a church or not. Even when you say you are Christian they do this. What will you fill in when you need to complete a form in like this? Will you fill in your religion? Will you state, Christian or what will you fill in?
Today we are all caught up in a worldly system and sometimes we need to stand up for our beliefs. We live in this world but are not of this world. It is not necessary to be caught into this system and it is time that we as believers get into a different mindset and truly understand what God had in mind for mankind. Even if you are stating today that you are a Christian, do we really understand this concept? The name Christian was a label given by pagans to followers of Christ. Many believers accepted this term, but do we know what it means and was it God's intention to be names like this. Christian means "little Christ". It only appears twice in the Bible. The word "Christian" appears in Acts 26:28-29 and in 1 Peter 4:16-17. Christianity was never a term given to us by neither Jesus Christ nor any of the apostles.
This term was never to be a title or label that we wore but a lifestyle that we lived demonstrating the nature of "Christ likeness". The first believers were called Christians by the early observers of their lifestyle, their power, their boldness and their Christ like authority. Many of us bear this title and labelled ourselves this title but it tends to mentally lock a person into a religious mold and limits him in the reality of what God intended him to be. But, it has distracted many people from the original purpose which God had in mind for us.
Many of us just took on this name because our parents were Christians and we grew up with them with Christian principles. But many of us do not have the lifestyle, the power and the boldness of the very early Christians or the apostles in the Bible. Many of us just accepted this name or title because we are church goers. Many will say that they are Christians because they have accepted Jesus into their life and are saved.
The most powerful motivation of man is to pursuit power. Many wants to exercise it and in their pursuit they will became dictators in ruling their countries. You can see today where this is happening how the rest of the people suffer. This pursuit for power is in a desire which is planted in our soul. It is in man's nature to do it. Man was created to exercise power and designed to manage it. But the enemy succeeded in our pursuit to exercise this power by corrupting and leading many in the wrong direction. Remember Satan wants to destroy and kill. He succeeded in many important people throughout history by pushing people who pursuit power to rule into dictatorship. The enemy's goal with Adam and Eve was to drive man from Eden where man had a relationship with God.
God's purpose was to establish relationship and not a religion. Most believers have a definite idea of what they think a Christian should be. Some of us have identified strongly with this term or label and have fallen into the trap of trying to live up to their expectations. We should stop to try so hard to live like Christians and all the false assumptions associated with this term or label. Many of us is oppressed and in bondage and caught up in religion. Ever since this tragic calamity of man's disobedience to the Lord religion has been his veil attempt to return to God's presence or to compensate for the loss or absence in your life.
Therefore every religion on earth represents every activity of mankind in its self centered search for God. No matter what "ism" or philosophy and what the name bear all religions are in exercise in futility because they express man's vain frustrating pursuit to recover what he lost. Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism may have variant philosophies but all three declare that humans can reach self- transcendence within themselves. Humans can reach perfection and became unirated duties. These concepts run in opposition to the fundamental basics of Christianity. Martial arts, which originate from the Far East, are grounded in Eastern religions. Engagement in training will eventually expose each practitioner to concepts taken directly from these religions.
Now what are we and many other people on earth, searching for? We can search only for something we lost. Humanity is facing a dilemma; no matter how hard we tried we could never find an infinite God by using finite human resources called religion. Religion is simply man's search for God. It does not matter how committed, how dedicated, how loyal, how faithful, how zealous, and how active or how complex our pursuit may be as long as man is still searching dissatisfied and desirous for more he has not find that Kingdom of God.
It makes man frustrated and you are frustrated in your religion or whatever you are practicing. Your emptiness cannot be substituted with alcohol, drugs etc. Religion is man's substitute for the Kingdom and that is why it cannot and will never satisfy him. Religion preoccupies you in order to distract you. In you there are a hunger and emptiness in searching for that Kingdom. Religion is designed to keep you busy. Religion is hard work and normally hard work is rewarded. Even if you are rewarded you will still have that emptiness as you will still be searching for more. This is why religion has so many activities in it.
We will never rest till we find the Kingdom. It was never God's plan to establish a religion. Religion is a result of man's response to a deep spiritual vacuum in the recesses of his soul for something he cannot describe or even identify. The word "religion" denotes belief systems, creeds and adherence to faith or convictions. These can be rituals and cultural practices. Every civilization through history cultivated different forms of religion and served to address questions around life and death.
But God resolved this problem Himself. He came down to us and His desire and purpose were to bring us back into relationship with Himself and return to us His lost Kingdom. He never gave man religion! Now realizing this is it not a stupid thing to search for something you never had. Why are we searching for religion if it was not for us and did not belong to us?
It is important to note what God gave Adam. God gave man dominion over earth. God gave man dominion over creation and earth. When God created man He first gave him His image and likeness. The first mandate and assignment God gave man was dominion. Dominion means to rule, to reign, to master. The creator said let "them" have dominion over earth. This statement is most critical and contains the secret to the transfer of power and authority from God to man, from heaven to earth, from the unseen to the seen, from the spiritual to the physical.
This is the foundation of divine delegation of responsibility for management and ruler ship over the earth to man. This is the power which Adam had on the planet earth before he lost it. Apart from this power man had dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the air, the livestock, and all the things that creep on the ground. There was set boundaries for this ruler ship. The implication was that God never intended man to rule over his own kind but rather to rule the creation and the resources of earth.
Through Adam's disobedience he not only lost his personal relationship with the heavenly Father but also his ability to rule and have dominion. Earth became a territory under an illegal government. It was than ruled by the enemy. Satan became the ruler of earth! Adam lost the legal representation of heaven on earth. Adam defected and still lived till he was over 900 years old before he died. When Adam and Eve sinned through disobedience their spirit died and they lost their ability to rule. Adam and Eve lost the kingdom.
There were many rebellious consequences through Adam and Eve's disobedience: Loss of position and disposition. Adam and Eve had to leave Eden. Transfer of responsibility. Many have problems to carry responsibility, big or small. Self consciousness and shame. Adam and Eve hide themselves and covered themselves. Fear and intimidation of authority and matters. Today many people struggle with fear and many have fear for creeping creatures. Loss of dominion over nature.
Many exercise power over people which can result in dictatorship. Frustrated toil and hatred of labour. Many people hate to do hard labor. Pain and discomfort. We struggle to overcome sickness and problems. Need for human accountability. We are looking for credibility and recognition.
When God's people were under oppression in Egypt he raised Moses to lead them out of Egypt. They were slaves and in bondage.
Many of the people who became born again believers and who came out a background of Hinduism etc. are much more dedicated and on fire for the Lord. This is because of their dedication, their loyalty and their pre-occupation with the different rituals, traditions and activities in their religion which they were involved in.
God's plan was to send His son to the earth and to restore and regain this kingdom. Jesus came and did it for us. In one of his parables Jesus want to reveal this secret to us and many overlooked it and do not see this. I even overlooked this and did not see it at first.
Most of us know the parable Jesus told about the prodigal son. He wanted to explain to us what happened and to reveal the Fathers attitude towards us. God is ready to welcome us with open arms and wants to completely restore our full status as sons and daughters. The prodigal son's problem was that he was looking to come back and serve. He wanted to be a servant in his father's house. This is our problem to - we want to be servants of the Lord and many of us are servants of the Lord.
There are much more in a relationship than that. If you want to settle to be a servant then you will miss out on much of the joy of knowing Christ and the fullest and deepest aspect of kingdom living. Too many of God's people only know how to be workers in the field and do not know what it is to be the son of the house. Upon his son's return the father in the parable called first for a ring to be put on his son's hand.
The ring was a symbol of son ship and authority in the family. Once he had the ring it meant that everything else in the father's house was his as well. He had ownership of the same stuff his father had. Christ came to earth died on the cross and rose from the dead to put a ring of son ship on everyone's finger to bring us back into fellowship with our farther so that we might assume our rightful place as his children and as citizens in his kingdom.
We need to get in a different mindset and the difference is not in our abilities but in our mentality. We need to change our focus. Then we can see what God had in mind for us.