DO WE GO TO CHURCH TO GET CLOSER TO GOD? ARE WE SEEKING HIM? DO WE EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS?
The priest and I had a short conversation after Memorial Mass on Monday morning. During the short sermon, he had asked what God wants from us, and then alluded to our need to do better and try harder. The idea was to live lives that honor God and are worthy of being remembered, like Mother Mary, the Saints, and the Apostles, and although unspoken, I would add “like Jesus.”
No one had really answered him when he asked what God wants from us, and his answer didn’t seem clear to me or seem attainable since working harder and doing better is a bar that can never truly be reached. So after the service ended, I walked up to him, thanked him for the service, and told him that I had an answer to his question of what God wants from us.
“God wants us to fully surrender to him. He wants our heart,” I said.
The priest pointed out, “Yes, but we fall short.”
I said something like, “Then it’s a good thing we are being transformed.”
He responded with, “But we’re not there yet, we need to keep working harder.”
Taken aback, I said something about relying on the power of Holy Spirit rather than working harder, and then I walked away sad, feeling a disconnect after our short dialogue about faith.
This post, partially written, has sat on my computer ever since, because Holy Spirit has been working on my frustration with a lack of Biblical guidance in many churches. He’s been working on my heart as he instructs me in loving people while passionately hating the Enemy which is hell-bent, literally, in destroying the Church. Holy Spirit is working on my heart to want to unify believers across denominations and point them to Jesus…. the real Jesus, from the Bible, not the Sunday School Jesus I grew up learning about.
I love church people, but I have struggled with church services that have more traditional elements than Biblical ones. I am beginning to see that traditional elements aren’t in of themselves bad. Some people prefer more PREDICTABILITY in their Sunday morning service while others prefer more POWER of Holy Spirit which alters the flow.
Regardless of which camp you’re in, though, there is one question that Holy Spirit wants us all to ask ourselves, “If the reason to go to church is to get closer to me (God), then what are you holding tightly to that is not me? Are you seeking me? Do you even know who I am?”
DO WE GO TO CHURCH TO GET CLOSER TO GOD? ARE WE SEEKING HIM? DO WE EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS?
If the liturgy was taken away, could you worship God and see him there?
If the music stops, could you worship God and still see him there?
If the sermon deliverer went away, could you worship God and minister to him yourself?
If the statues and pictures went away, could you worship God and still see him there?
If the furniture, the pews, the chairs, and the pulpit went away, could you still worship God and see him there?
If the building went away, can you still worship God and see him there?
IF YOU WEREN’T GIVEN DIRECTION, WOULD YOU STILL WORSHIP GOD AND SEEK HIM?
If it’s not Sunday morning, or Saturday night, or whatever day and hour you usually show up at the church for a “worship service,” DO YOU still worship God? DO YOU still seek him? DO YOU know Jesus as the Bible reveals him to be? Is he the LIVING WORD which guides your life?
In John 14:16-17, Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.”
Churches, pastors, and priests need to do better guiding people to wanting a relationship with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because religion and telling people to strive to work harder and do better is only burdening the body of Christ. The Enemy of this world does not want Holy Spirit released in churches, and there are many pastors and church leaders who are not willing to set down their idols in order to seek God through the power of Holy Spirit. Many quench the Spirit because they are submitting to the spirit of fear, the spirit of religion, or the spirit of witchcraft.
ASK JESUS TO REVEAL ANY HINDRANCES TO TRUE WORSHIP.
The responsibility isn’t only on church leaders, though, when congregants aren’t growing in their faith. Seeking Jesus is an individual action, and it needs to be deliberately chosen every single day. Relying on pastors, sermons, podcasts, books, and videos to guide us is still insufficient to meditating on Scripture, reading the Bible, and spending time with God in prayer.
If technology was taken away, could we still worship Jesus and seek him? Would we?
Our DAILY BREAD cannot be spoon-fed to us, and it’s every person’s responsibility to choose who they appear like to the world. What we think about most defines what we become… SEEK JESUS and LET HIS SPIRIT GUIDE YOU IN ALL TRUTH.
(Originally published May 27, 2026 on Facebook)