Your Spiritual Report Card Is Showing

Fatherlessness is at an all-time high.

The CDC recently released a report stating that half of all women and one-third of all men will experience a violent sexual assault sometime in their life. And that's the most under-reported crime out there—usually it happens to children, or people are too ashamed to let it be known. So you can imagine what the real numbers are.

We have children so uncomfortable with themselves that they want to be a different gender. We have people so uncomfortable with themselves they want to be another species—the young ones call themselves furries, and the older ones call themselves therians. They don't even want to be human.

So uncomfortable with themselves. So broken. So wounded. So living in hopelessness.

And here's what I need you to hear: The state of the darkness in the world is our report card.

These aren't just statistics. These are people. These are our family members. These are our tribe. Our fellow human beings. And they're dying a slow, painful death.

And where is the church?

We've Stopped Looking Like Jesus

The church has stopped looking like Jesus, who went out and touched the lepers and they got well. Instead, the church has pulled back into itself and looks more like the old temple system.

You know the one: "You need to sacrifice and serve to be accepted. Clean up first before you're welcome here. We don't actually have any power to help you. Come serve us."

That's not how Jesus operated, is it?

He didn't operate like that. He actually came to set us free from that confusion of darkness that religion created—because religion partners with that spirit of control. "You do it my way. I'm right."

If you want to control and manipulate someone, it is the wrong kingdom by definition. God the Father never did that, and Jesus demonstrated that's not the way out of darkness.

He said, "I am the light" (John 8:12, NIV). And then in Matthew, He said, "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14, NIV).

Our Report Card

So the state of the darkness in the world is our report card.

These aren't just statistics. These aren't just political issues. These are real people—real children—really being hurt, dying slow, miserable deaths.

If we're supposed to be the light of the world, why is it okay that the world gets darker?

Jesus didn't say you're the light of the church. He said you're the light of the world.

But we hid inside the church. We just started working with ourselves.

And meanwhile, the enemy takes the world. Did it move too fast? Sorry.

But the world is dark because the church has failed to shine. We've pulled back. We've hidden. We've made it about us instead of about them.

The Revivals That Didn't Change Culture

So many revivals in American history have come and gone, and they didn't impact the culture.

Recently, I watched the Jesus Revolution movie again. In that day, the church was going through a major revival—and it did not impact the culture at all.

And we made up theologies to make that be okay. Like we weren't responsible for it. "The world's going to get darker as the church gets brighter."

Well, if we're supposed to be the light of the world, why is it okay that the world gets darker?

We see the abuse and damage all around us, but we fail to see its root cause. We've become comfortable in our four walls while the world burns.

And we created doctrines to excuse ourselves: "It's all going to burn anyway." "We're just waiting for the rapture." "Jesus is coming back soon, so why polish the brass on a sinking ship?"

Meanwhile, the safest place in America for a woman today is not her home. She is statistically more at risk to be beaten or sexually abused in her own home than to walk the streets of any city in America.

This is the world we live in. And it's our report card.

Eagles Acting Like Chickens

We put the bushel over our heads. We just kind of walk around like chickens when we're supposed to be the eagles that we are.

Jesus looked at His disciples and said, "You are my apostles." He didn't use a religious term. It was a very common Greek word in that day. They all knew what it meant.

An apostle is a "sent one"—someone sent from one kingdom into another to transform the culture so it looks like the kingdom they came from.

We're sent from the Kingdom of heaven into the world to transform the culture so it looks like heaven. Jesus talked more about the Kingdom of heaven than He ever did salvation.

Again, we watered down the gospel to mean "in the by and by, we get to go to heaven when we die."

It's a fringe benefit of salvation. It doesn't define salvation.

Our job when He said, "You are my apostles," is to transform the culture, to make it look like His Kingdom here—that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What Happened?

The enemy, through confusion, has been so brilliant. He's got us to look inward, where we literally have removed apostles and prophets from our thinking in the church. "They went away in the first century."

Now we just have evangelists, pastors, and teachers running everything. The pastors and teachers deal with those inside the four walls. We're not even looking at the world. And the evangelists will go out and steal a few and get them inside.

It's not funny. But it's kind of funny, right? It's not funny when the consequence is so great. Look at the world.

Our great commission is to disciple the nations. Not just individuals. Nations.

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20, NIV).

All nations. Not all individuals who come inside our buildings. Nations.

The Seven Mountains

In our common language, we often refer to the spheres of influence as mountains. And depending on who you're listening to, there are basically seven spheres of influence that affect culture, that create the world we live in:

• Family

• Religion

• Entertainment

• Economy

• Government

• Arts

• Education, Science, and Technology

Should we impact the family? Should we impact what family looks like? Should we just let the enemy define what family is?

Who's controlling all of those mountains right now? Do they look like the Kingdom of heaven?

The Kingdom was supposed to be like leaven that leavens the whole lump. Not coming by force and taking them, but through love, releasing the Kingdom and transforming from the inside out.

That's been the plan from the beginning. That's what Jesus asked us to do.

But sadly, we turned inward to the church, and we let the enemy take the mountains because we removed the idea of apostle and prophet, and we don't even believe that's our job.

Let me correct that: It's my job. It's your job.

What Are We Responsible For?

And you don't have to take on this weight or this responsibility like "The whole world's my problem." No, no, no, no, no.

You're responsible for you. And as you get healed and you have healthy connections, you begin to transform the world around you—your metron, your assigned area of influence.

He's the King of kings, and He's the great orchestrator, the great conductor. And we're doing it together, and it expands exponentially. That's how it works.

And what is expanding is the Kingdom of heaven, which operates in the power of love, not force.

Two trees, always. Never force, never coercion. Wrong kingdom.

Our job is to transform it from the inside out. Healed hearts coming together begin to transform the nations. We take it from the inside out.

The Renaissance We Need

A renaissance isn't like a religious revival that comes and goes or an awakening that comes and goes. It actually changes the culture.

In the Dark Ages, in the 13th century, the Middle Ages were called the Dark Ages. Life was really miserable. The bubonic plague. People were just used by other people. Slavery was common. Women were nothing.

And then the renaissance was birthed. The word "renaissance" itself means rebirth, restoration.

And when that happened, society began to be changed. Renaissance wasn't like a revival. It actually changed the culture. Government changed. Education changed. The arts changed. Social systems. The way people treated each other changed.

Now, not everything in the renaissance was godly, but the impact and the effect was astounding. It made a different world that we're still benefiting from.

That's what we need. Not another revival that leaves the culture unchanged. We need a renaissance—a rebirth that transforms everything.

If the Church Is the Light...

The world can't have them. They're His, and they're my responsibility. I am the light of the world. You are the light of the world.

The fact that it's even going on is our report card.

These are real people. Real children. Really being hurt. Dying slow, miserable deaths.

We can't be comfortable looking the other way any longer.

We're supposed to preach the gospel with signs following, not information following. Love. Power. Wisdom.

If we lose the world, we lose their heart because we can't win them over with knowledge. It's the wrong tree.

We win them over with Him. With us being connected with Him so that when they're in our presence, we're actually standing before kings—because their children are children of the King of kings.

And we don't have to worry about what we're going to say because we have the mind of Christ, and He's going to give us that word of knowledge or that word of wisdom or the word of kindness or the smile or the word of acceptance.

They feel accepted. Because we now know how the Father feels about them, and we're going to partner with the right kingdom.

It Starts With Us

We don't have to have a religious answer. We have to have the Healer.

He has the right answer in the right moment, at the right time, and I don't have to worry about what that is.

Because if we lose them, it's because we've lost their heart. It's all about connection. And they don't care who or what we know unless they know we care.

It's human. We connect heart to heart. It's how we're wired. We are biologically and neurologically wired for connection. Everything comes from the heart.

We have to connect heart to heart, even with people we don't agree with. We have to stop making agreement be the basis of our relationship.

The Challenge

Judgment has to start in the house of God. I am the temple of Holy Spirit. You are the temple of Holy Spirit.

Clean me first. Search my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me. Lord, I repent for having been silent or having lobbed fruit from the wrong tree. I repent for that. I don't want to do that anymore.

The house has to start with us. And then as I get clean and you get clean—now en masse—we begin to have Holy Spirit igniting us.

Healing always takes place from the inside out. The Kingdom is from the inside out.

The Kingdom of heaven is inside you. You empower one kingdom or the other.

The battlefield is in your mind, and the territory it's fighting for is your heart. The choice is yours.

Stop Making Excuses

We can't keep making up theologies to excuse our failure.

We can't keep saying, "Well, it's all going to burn anyway."

We can't keep saying, "The world is supposed to get darker."

We can't keep hiding inside our buildings while people die outside.

The world is dark because we've failed to shine. The statistics are horrifying because we've failed to love. The culture is broken because we've failed to transform it.

This is our report card. And it's time we own it.

Not so we can wallow in guilt and shame—that's the enemy's playground. But so we can repent, get clean, and start doing what we were called to do from the beginning.

Be the light of the world. Not the light of the church. The world.

Transform the culture from the inside out. Not through force or control or lobbing religious answers. Through love. Through connection. Through the presence of the living God dwelling in us.

The Time Is Now

These are not just statistics. These are our family members. Our tribe. Our fellow human beings.

And we cannot continue to be comfortable while they die.

The time for bold and courageous action is here. That bold action is simply walking out the truth in love.

Your spiritual report card is showing. And so is mine.

What are we going to do about it?

Blessings,
Susan 😊