Come back to church, so says James Miller
Hi everyone,
I would like to encourage people by putting some flesh on the bones of a story that I told at a recent prayer meeting. It concerned a divine meeting with Angela Strang at a cafe in Edinburgh. I say it was divine because God established it!! This story is really about the power of prayer, something close to the heart of Pastor Jacob! Prior to meeting Angela at the cafe, my attitude to the pandemic was typical of a lot of Christians at the time (October 2020). I hated the thought of wearing a mask in church and socially distancing myself from my brothers and sisters in Christ. I also hated the thought of not singing in church!! I did not believe that it was possible to worship God in such circumstances. I was wrong!!!
Hebrews 10:25 states that we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhort one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (NKJV). The Message says that we should not avoid worshipping together. We should spur one another on!! Difficult to do effectively outside of a church service. God is talking about face-to-face encounters here. He wants His family to gather together under one roof. Nothing less than that will do!!! I was avoiding my duties!!
My attitude needed to change in order for God to change my circumstances. Angela Strang was the vessel chosen by God to deliver a blunt message to me! The day of the meeting started like any other day. Angela asked me to meet her outside a church in order to do some gardening work at the back of the church. It was planting bulbs and weeding. We were trying to make the path at the back of the church and the surrounding grass area look better. After the work was over for the day, Angela invited me to a cafe for some lunch. I did not suspect a thing!!! I thought it was a routine lunch appointment. God had other ideas!! What I did not know is that Angela and Calum had been praying about my situation prior to this meeting. I was like a lamb going to the slaughter!!! During the course of lunch, and with great skill, Angela suddenly asked me why I was not coming to church. I just repeated the excuses I mentioned earlier in this article. Angela demolished them one by one!! As I was still recovering, Angela suddenly went back to our previous discussion about football and life in general. I had been warned!! We parted on good terms and I went home to think about my future. I was not offended and did not feel under any pressure.
The next day I texted Angela and told her that I would see her at church on Sunday. I could not think of any reason why I should not be there!! One good reason for being there was to encourage Pastor Jacob!! Angela said that I would encourage him just by turning up. I never thought for a minute that I was discouraging him or anybody else by adopting the attitude I had. I was wrong!! I needed to change my attitude in order to align my will to His! Not my will but His!!!
Since coming back, my life has changed radically. I have made many new friends. I love entering the doors of Life Church and spending a lot of time at the doors. It is my calling. It is a calling I abandoned because of pride. Pride can stop you from receiving what God has for you. I had stopped listening to God. God chose Angela to help me to listen to God again. He is speaking to someone reading this article today. Why are you not at church? Why are you not at the in-person gathering of your family? Why are you refusing to listen to the call of your anointed shepherd (Pastor Jacob)? He wants you to come home so that you are not eaten by wolves. There are many of them looking for victims at this time. Please come back to your family.
Do it not for my sake or Pastor Jacob's. Do it for God's sake!!! You will receive a warm welcome.
God bless.
- James Miller
