"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."
-Hebrew 10:25
If it were up to me, I would stay by myself most all the time studying the word, studying books that study that word, reading bible commentaries and theologies, reading the bible, listening the worship music, and praying non-stop all day long. And, as a matter of fact, that has pretty much been the exten of my life for the past 18 months since i got saved. Full immersion, or close to it, non-stop.
But a couple months ago i decided to take the bible seriously on its command to not neglect meeting with other believers, which is basically, in this day and age, to go to church. and i have found the experience to be very edifying. and i do not see any point in my life where it would stop being edifying. learning is a life long process, for the believer an eternal process, that does not end just because we went to church a couple times.
i still go out and evangelize on the streets like i used to. i still spend most of my time alone, studying, 'praying always with all prayer', and doing all of my intimate time with God. really, we dont need to be out in the woods alone with a bible, or even alone at all in any way, in order to have a close intimate relationship with God. for me, and i think for any and everyone who truly wants Him to be, God is ever present in even the deepest recesses of our consciousness at every single second of the day. I have a 24/7 communion with Christ, there isnt a single thought that isnt taken captive to His word. of course, i am talking in general terms, i am not perfect in this, but for the most part what i say is true about my daily walk with God.
one thing i might suggest to you, rag4acrown, is that if you truly want to to do the work of God, if you want people to welcome you and accept you and listen to the words that God has given you to say to them, it might be best to just say 'hello, my name is 'rag4acrrown', how are you doing? you know, i have a word i feel is from God and i would very much like to share it with you" and then go about your delivery in a meek way, poor in spirit, making sure to speak as a dying man to dying men. althought, of course, you being a woman, you ought to be very sensitive to the fact that you are a woman, and be very careful about your attitude towards others, especially grown men, who you should not attempt to teach, but only speak to them in terms of sharing your thoughts and feelings. because i will tell you one thing that i have learned, its that it doesnt matter how anointed your message is, if it is not delivered right, people will only spit in your face. the prophets would rebuke people and speak boldly about their status as a messenger of God (elevating themselves above their listeners), and indeed we are called to do so when necessary, but only after first trying and trying and trying to communicate the word of God to them with gentleness, meekness, sensitivity, and lacking presumptions about our status or theirs. i may be way wrong about this, but i have a feeling that maybe you could have had better experiences if you would have had all these things in mind.
