Reflection: The Watch Letter

Do you love God or do you love what he can do?
Do you love your pastor or do you love what he or she can do?
Do you love your spouse or do you love what he or she can do?
Do you love your child or do you love what he or she can do?
Do you love your sister or brother or do you love what she or he can do?
Do you love your parents or do you love what they can do?

The list goes on ...

The first question was asked by our Pastor Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn during a broadcast message I recently listened to from several weeks ago and it has stayed with me. Then the other questions followed. They remind me of a mirror. We can answer the questions above truthfully by looking at the fruit of our lives. And those answers reflect who we really are and what we really look like in the spirit.

Chief Apostle Gunn said there are two types of people in the church and that is where the division is: people who are going after the Lord and people seeking after what he can do for them. If you are just seeking the benefits, there is only so far you will go to serve God. So, naturally there will be a fence, more specifically an off-fence (offense) or separation between those who are and those who are not running after God because they desperately love him.

On August 23, the Lord gave Chief Apostle Gunn the following words: LOVE IS THE MISSING INGREDIENT IN THE CHURCH.

1 Corinthians 13 warns about love that just makes noise - love that just makes a sound with words and no action, no care, no sincerity, no follow through, no consistency, no sacrifice, no giving, no unselfishness, no commitment.

A good way to know the true answer to the questions asked above is to study yourself and your responses.

How fast do you respond or return a call/text from someone when you know they want to give or do something for you versus when they are calling to ask you for help or calling to discuss the things of God?
Do you only testify at church when you have been blessed financially or physically? Do you ever testify about the word that was preached, the prophecy that was spoken, the care someone showed, or the advice of the pastor?
If your pastor or “loved one” stopped offering financial support and only offered their prayers or words of encouragement, how quickly and how much would you hasten to be around them or talk to them?
Who are your hands and your help outstretched to? How often are you the one calling, texting, giving, sharing, praying, supporting, and encouraging? Or are you always on the receiving end?

Our pastor (and his wife as well), through God’s divine help, seems to be everywhere and involved in everything in a good way. He knows everyone’s birthday, everyone’s special events, everyone’s activities, everyone’s work schedules, everyone’s family needs or concerns, etc. First, it is because he prays and seeks the good of others and the will of God, and second because he simply loves and cares.

He always told us that love entered his heart the moment he was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.

And perhaps that is one of the reasons our love is lacking - the absence of the Holy Ghost. Not because he can’t be found but because we haven’t received him and made our lives a place he would want to dwell in. The Holy Ghost is a comforter, encourager, protector, and helper, so a desire to comfort, encourage, protect and help should be in us if we are truly filled with God’s spirit.

Going back to Chief Apostle Gunn and how he personifies the love of God: If something is important to you, it’s important to him. He celebrates with you, laughs with you, seeks with you, prays with you, mourns with you, hopes with you. He supports every household in his care in numerous ways. And that is a lot of people to support but he believes sincerely that everyone he encounters or that God sends his way is in his care. He acts the way his Father God does. He is a reflection of God's love. So, then that begs the question: Are we really God's children if we don't act like him, and are we reflecting God's love on the earth?

Can God say the same thing about us that he can say about Chief Apostle Gunn if he held up a mirror to our love? Would anything Godly show up in the reflection? We cannot say Chief Apostle Gunn is a pastor so he has to love like that. As we have been taught: LOVE IS A CHOICE and love is the calling of all who profess to be saved.

"Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee." (Acts 3:6)

This is love. Whatever you have in your hands, whatever ability you have, whatever access you have, whatever talent you have ... you give it for the good of others and most importantly for the love of God.

Ok, now I need to turn this message. I wrote a blog in February 2022 that I never posted. And I think it is time to share it. The title was going to be “Substance Abuse.”

Here is what it said:

The other day I was watching the news and the reporter was discussing the crisis happening in America around substance abuse. People are so addicted to drugs that they are having set up distribution centers all around the country to distribute packages to help people not overdose because so many people are killing themselves by addiction to substances.

And while this crisis is happening in the natural, we are also in a crisis in the church ... there is a war of serving self versus the the Lord taking place in the spirit. Whose side are you leaning on?

Chief Apostle Gunn taught us about spiritual substance abuse. It is when we chase substance more than God. When we desire substance so much it causes us to overdose in sin and thereby become spiritually dead.

A substance can be defined in various ways. Any material thing (money/job, cars, clothes, houses, possessions, etc.) can be a substance. Anything you eat, drink, or put in or on your body that causes you harm or that you become addicted to can be a substance. Content (any type of entertainment or information) can be a substance. A person or place can be a substance. Your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and opinions can be a form of substance.

We have often chosen to follow after worldly substances instead of following after the one (God) that can provide us with his eternal substance. We make the people, places, feelings, and things in our lives our idols instead of ensuring that they are used as a tool to honor God in our lives.

In fact, instead of us abusing the substances in our lives and making them our gods, the Bible calls us to honor God with our substances.

Proverbs 3:9: Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

If you can't share or give of your substance with God, with your pastor, with the saints, then you cannot lie and say you are honoring God with your life ...because you are disgracing his name. After all, God is a giving God.

So, what does your reflection say?