One of the things that happen to many people (not all) who are in the wilderness is that God pulls them out of their regular church. This can be a baffling and perplexing experience to undergo because these people can be some of the most active and dedicated people in the whole church, and all of the sudden for some strange reason they feel like they just can't go anymore. The grace is gone; but the habit, family pressure, and religious pull can still be very strong. Try not to freak out, or beat up on yourself if this does happen to you. Many people still believe that good works buy salvation and atone for their sin, so not being able to gratify this lie can be very disconcerting and unsettling.

Obviously, the Church is actually the Body of Christ, which are you and I, the Christians. The Church is not a building, or some religious organization that has created a franchise of ministry outlets, complete with trained clergy in their particular brand of religious preferences. Churches are not bad in themselves, it is when Man organizes a religious system and progressively removes all real control or direction from God, that things start to go wrong. It can become just a dead religious farce, devoid of any real spiritual life because God's direction and leadership have been ignored or rejected. God's presence and blessing will leave if humans push His plan aside.

Now, before you run wildly out your church and paint "Ichabod" on the front door, I just want to say that God removes most Christians from church to get the sin and religious mindset out of them. It is "you" that He wants to change, and later He will rejoin you to others who have been changed just like you have been. Many of these "Out-of-Churchers", become part of house churches, or they just serve God at home in a very real non-religious daily personal interactive way. God develops great intimacy and obedience during this personal fellowship time, and you become like Adam walking in the Garden with God every day.

Usually God only takes you out of a church to transform you because He doesn't want a bunch of religious distractions hindering you. Our self-righteous works of the flesh keep our self-life thriving, and we tend to overlook some of the areas that really need to change. In the wilderness, you are stripped of all your beauty, giftings, and the religious praise of men. This will only last for a season though, and it is a time for "you" to deal with "you", and not a time for you to rebuke and correct the church that God took you out of.

You may feel tempted to criticize your old church since you no longer feel a grace to be there, but many of these people there are still very much our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Beware of some bitter, rebellious, and "anti-religious" people that want to condemn everything that God has used to help the Church up to this point. We are in a time of change, and we are returning to the simple first century church model that is directed and empowered by God alone. God is organized, but God is usually interested in developing relationship, and not interested in dead rituals that exclude His leadership.

Try to use your out of church time to work on changing you, and let God deal with the denominations. In Jesus, there are no denominations, and He is creating true unity in His Bride in this last great move of His Spirit in the earth. This is a wonderful and exciting time where we will all grow up and walk as one. God will finish His work in you, and He will rejoin you to a new group of matured and purified people. Trust Him to keep you, and to lead you through your out of church time, and remember that the Church is you, not a building.