Satan is on assignment to keep you detached from God's plan and will for your life. Since the Garden of Eden, he has been working to separate man from God. He is always working to cause people to detach from God. He tries to get God's people to live their lives as a "lone ranger." (That show has been canceled and is only seen in reruns) He wants them (the lone rangers) to restlessly wander around with an island mentality, living with an invisible barrier around them keeping the world at bay. The devil attempts to bring people to a place of detachment so they are isolated from the body of Christ and live a hopelessly unfulfilled life.
If the devil can deceive and separate you from God-ordained attachments, you are in big trouble. Detached people are hopeless people. They turn to destructive attachments such as drugs, alcohol, crime, illicit sex, and the list goes on. They detach from God, right values, family, friends, church, and even self-worth. Satan is out to ruin your life in any way he can. Jesus said in John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to kill and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
Satan knows that if he can get people to separate themselves from godly attachments, the same type of life that he lives will become their existence as well. Instead of living an abundant life, they will experience one filled with darkness and death.
It's very easy to see how you cannot grow and succeed in Christ apart from God-ordained attachments. Notice the attachments in Ephesians 2:19-22: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit."
We are built together for one purpose and that is to be a habitation of God. God will only inhabit as we are built together. God's plan does not include a mere visitation in our lives every now and then. He is more interested in a permanent habitation! That is why one of the most important God-ordained attachments you can make is with a local body of believers--the local church in which God directs you to become part of.
Unfortunately, in direct opposition to God's desire for a holy habitation, an epidemic has swept into the church. It is a rising trend of detached people. They have detached themselves from the things of God by becoming attached to lesser attachments that include people, things, sports, relationships, experiences and friendships.
We've all seen it time after time. In the fullness of God's divine timing, He was ready to utilize someone in the ministry, but they are not in position. They had been drawn off course by lesser attachments.
There are many examples in God's Word. The rich young ruler for one. He was bound by a lesser attachment--his money. It prevented him from receiving the God-ordained attachment that Jesus offered--the kingdom of God.
Judas Iscariot is another. He was the treasurer in the disciples. He even preached the gospel, cast out devils, healed the sick and raised the dead (Matthew 10:1), but he formed a greater attachment to money and sold Jesus out!
Even though a lesser attachment may seem to be good, if it is not a God-ordained attachment, it will hold you back, get you off track, and steal life from you. these type of attachments are designed to keep you from God's best.
Too many people live far below what God has designed for them. Psalm 92:12-13 says, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God."
"Too many people live far below what God has designed for them. Psalm 92:12-13 says, "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." The key to the fulfillment of this scripture in your life is to be planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God."
I would be in error in teaching this message if I did not tell you about one of the most vital attachments one could possibly make in your life. After your personal relationship with the Lord, your relationship with the Body of Christ--specifically the body of believers that He has called you to be a part of--is the most important attachment you can make.
Ephesians 4:11-12 explains that this is how you become equipped and perfected as a child of God. It's through the five-fold ministry gifts or offices that are in operation in the church that will cause you to grow and develop into our fullest potential in Christ.
An attachment to a church family will bring stability to your life. You will become immovable and unshakable against situations and circumstances that try to defeat you in your daily life. It's through God-ordained attachments that you become planted in the courts of God. As a result, you will develop spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally God-ordained attachments.
When you are connected and attached to a local body of believers where the Word of God is taught in the fullness of truth, you will become established in the spiritual realm, and supernatural increase can then occur in your life. As you protect and keep yourself in an environment that will help you maintain God-ordained attachments, you will easily recognize and eliminate wrong attachments. However, it is up to you, to keep yourself in an environment that will keep you alert to the devil's schemes and ploys.
Some folk think that "I don't have to be a part of a church to have a relationship with God." It is so easy to be deceived, and God does not want that you happen to you. He has clearly said in His wonderful Word how important it is to be a part of the body of Christ.
Read if you will the passage found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-21. When the Apostle Paul said this, he spoke of course, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about how the Lord compares us to our own human bodies. We would never cut off a hand and leave it at home while we went some place. In the same way there are many "body parts" that are missing from the body of Christ.
In John 15:1-8, Jesus referred to Himself as the vine, His Father the vinedresser, and the body of Christ--the Church--in the earth today as the branch.
God intends for His children to have a relationship with Him through the body of believers. He wants you to fellowship with other believers and to not live as an isolationist. He wants you to place yourself under the influence of the five-fold ministry gifts that He placed in the church for your benefit.
1 Corinthians 12:27-28 says, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after than miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."
God speaks into our lives through the ministry gifts that are speaking in the earth today. It is the role of the five-fold ministry offices--one of them being a pastor--to speak and bring light to those areas in our lives that need adjustment. It is the ministry gift's role to reveal God's truths to you as well as expose attachments that need to be severed in your life. Ministry gifts will also reveal the relationships or friendships that need to be made stronger. As you are obedient to their guidance, God will be able to bring greater blessings into your life.
People's lives will be changed when they become rightly attached to the body of Christ. Those that come to church on special occasions or once a month, they really don't know who they are in Christ; and as a result, their lives are constantly broken and defeated. They allow the enemy to keep them off of God's path for their lives.
Let me interject something right here: I'm not referring to those that are disabled and cannot possible make it to a place of worship on Sunday morning or evening. I am speaking of those that are able, but choose not to do so.
What's the difference? God-ordained attachments, relationships, and being attached to what is right and to what will produce the promises of God in your life day after day. It is so clear that when you become attached to the body of Christ and join with other believers week after week in a corporate setting, your relationship with the Lord is taken to a higher level. The result will be that your relationship with your family will also develop into a deeper, meaningful relationship.
It is perfectly clear that God wants you to be part of a vibrant, Spirit-led, life-giving church, where you can grow into a deeper relationship with Him. This becomes even more clearer when a crisis arises in your life. The support you receive from your pastors as well as your brothers and sisters in the Lord will strengthen and sustain you during challenging times. That's why it is so important that you attend the right church.
If you don't have a church in your town that you can call home and a body of believers that you call family, then purpose in your heart to drive whatever distance it takes to hear the Word from a man or woman of God who will equip you with a timely Word from the Lord to keep you on the path of righteousness. As you pray about which church to attend, the Holy Spirit will speak to you. You will bear witness in your spirit as to where you should connect yourself and settle down.
When you visit churches, find out how the church was birthed. Was it conceived and nurtured by the Holy Spirit, or out of strife, division, and the desires of the flesh? A church born by the Spirit is God's responsibility. A church born of the flesh must be maintained by the flesh. This type of church will struggle to accomplish its goals.
A church birthed out of the Spirit of God is easily sustained. The Spirit of God nourishes it. As a result, sound, life-giving Word is preached, and the people flourish. The congregation will grow and become strong in the Lord and develop loving and committed relationships with one another. The church will be a thriving body of believers and look like what a church is supposed to look like--a place where people continually grow in God and are being restored, healed and delivered. This mature body of believers then turns around and reproduces this maturity in others. It will be a living, vibrant manifestation of God Himself.
When looking for a church, look for these things. When you find them, attach yourself to the church. After you make this attachment, you will find that increase will come to you and your family in every area of your lives.
