As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7 ( KJV)
Most of us are familiar with the proverb quoted above. In contemporary language, it means that a man typically lives up to his self-image – the view he holds of himself. If he sees himself as small and insignificant, incompetent and failure prone, he will accomplish little in life because he will attempt little. He will never see himself as a leader and, therefore, will not step into that role even if it is offered to him. He will settle for lesser jobs than he is capable of because he doesn’t believe that he is capable and will settle for lesser relationships because he will feel he doesn’t deserve more. It’s not just men who are crippled by a small and insignificant self-image, women fall into that trap as well.
I am the convinced that the church has fallen into that trap as well. The church, typically, has a much smaller view of herself than God does. The enemy has done an outstanding job convincing us that the words of Christ are not really true when he said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church.
Somewhere, Satan planted a distorted interpretation of certain passages in the Bible that has become a prevalent theological view, especially in the past 50 years. The view is that in the last days, evil will abound more and more and that the church as well as goodness will dwindle and become week. The idea is that things will get so bad and the church will be so down trodden that Jesus will simply pull his people out in moment called the rapture. Basically, this view declares that Jesus will have to evacuate his people from a lost cause. Of course, then after the tribulation, he will return with his saints and establish his millennial reign. Scriptures do say that the world will get darker in the last days but light always shines brighter in the darkness. The question is how do we respond to this growing kingdom of darkness. Does the church find herself helpless to push back or do we walk in the authority of the King and take planet earth back in his name?
Many prophecies declare just the opposite of this view that in the last days the church will seemingly have no power against the darkness. Isaiah declares, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isa.2:2-4).
This is a picture of the church that has been exalted above earthly governments and the nations are drawn to the wisdom and glory of the church. Isaiah says that this will occur in the last days. In Acts 2, Peter declared that the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost marked the “last days.” Many theologians refer to this period as the church age. We are still in those days and believe it or not, many leaders of nations around the globe are meeting with God’s prophets in private meetings in search of wisdom and problem solving for their nations. They are already coming to the church for answers and finding those answers just as Isaiah prophesied. Entire nations such, as Honduras, are inviting the church in to preach and share the gospel in schools, universities, and even police stations because they sense we have the answer to something they desperately need.
Habakkuk also prophesied, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab.2:14). Later, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations because he had been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt.28:18-20). In recent years, the church has decided that Jesus meant for us to make a few disciples in every nation rather than to make disciples of entire nations. We have settled for less.
In the Book of Acts, Peter preached, “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:19-21)
What restoration is Jesus waiting for? Could it be the restoration of the church to its intended glory – the bride of Christ, strong and radiant, and reigning on the earth so that she is a glorious bride waiting for her glorious groom? For centuries, Christians believed that they had a hand in the return of Jesus and that when they had preached the gospel to every creature under heaven he would return. Now, many Christians believe that the trigger point for his return is when the world inevitably gets bad enough and the church inevitably gets weak enough that we must be rescued. With that view, who would even try to redeem culture or nations? Who would even try to cover the earth with the knowledge of God, disciple nations, and draw world leaders to herself? Even if a believer has a desire to do those things, he or she is told that it would be futile because it is not God’s plan. But what if Jesus is waiting until the church restores the glory and leadership of God’s people that he always intended? What if he is waiting for the church to restore glory to the Kingdom so that nations come to us as in the days of Solomon when kings and queens travelled to Jerusalem to seek his wisdom and see his glory?
Much of the church today does not see herself as the glorious bride of Christ triumphing in victory over the enemy and bringing in a harvest of nations for her king so that God’s intent – that his children will rule this planet as his representatives – will be restored and then Jesus will return. We are like the Israelites who saw giants in the land and saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison. Even though God had promised them that he would give them the land and every place they set their foot, as grasshoppers, they saw no point in even making the effort.
At this point, most of the church is suffering from a poor self-image – the bride of Christ, weak and worn, tarnished and looking desperately to escape this planet rather than winning the war. It is true that Jesus came the first time as the meek and submissive Lamb of God who would not lift a hand to defend himself against the enemy. But he rose as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Rider on the White Horse and the Commander of the Armies of Heaven with all authority in heaven and on earth. It is not his nature to role over and give the earth to Satan after he died to take it back. It is not his nature to retreat when he declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church and it must not be the nature of his church or our nature, as followers of the King, to retreat or see ourselves as weak and helpless either.
As the church thinketh in her heart so is she. We need to redefine our view of the church and with that to redefine our view of ourselves as those who make up the church. There are sports teams who have a tradition of winning and confidence that they will continue to win. When they walk on the field or the court they see themselves as the victors before the game even begins and they walk with a certain swagger that intimidates their opponents. Even when things get hard in the game they still believe they will win in the end because, in their hearts, they are champions. We need to believe that we are champions because the leader of our team cannot be defeated and that leader lives within each of us.
The Lord tells us that we are more than conquerors, that we can do all things through Christ, that we have been given power and authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy, that we can make disciples of all nations, and that Satan himself will flee when we resist. How does that add up to a desperate church waiting to be evacuated from the planet their King died to redeem?
If I know I am part of a winning team, then I can see myself as a winner. If I know I am on a championship team then I can see myself as a champion. As we define the church, we define her members. We define ourselves. We need to begin to speak and prophesy victory rather than defeat, glory rather than insignificance, and exaltation rather than humiliation. We are the body of Christ in this world and Jesus doesn’t lose. As you go out today, walk and think like a champion because that is who you are in Christ.
