Be Careful What You Preach

As a minister there are a lot of situations, conversations, and events that would not be appropriate for me to share publicly. So today's post is lacking a good deal of detail but that doesn't change the experience or the lesson learned.

On Sunday I preached on the idea of approaching God in prayer with a child-like spirit. The two main ways we do that are coming to Him messy and helpless. Now almost every lesson I teach is somehow speaking back to me and stepping on my own toes, but Sunday was one that I knew I needed and yet thought I had a pretty good handle on.

That thought last until Wednesday morning when I woke up to some very disturbing news and an all around bad situation. To put it as clearly as I can....I found myself completely overwhelmed, scared, and ill equipped  in a matter of seconds. I had been thrown in the deep end and wasn't certain I knew how to float let alone swim.

But then I remembered my own sermon, the one God put on my heart just 24 hours earlier. "Come to Me helpless." He says. And that's exactly what I did. As I scrambled to evaluate the situation, plan next steps, and the muster up the courage to take those steps, I stopped and began to pray. It wasn't an eliquent prayer. It wasn't worded well or even very formal. It was just a helpless child crying for his Father to come and save him once again.

And praise God! That's exactly what He did! In the midst of a terrible circumstance, God helped the helpless and began to give hope to the hopeless. Now you have to understand with some details this would be obvious but without them, you'll have to take my word for it. There is NO WAY I could have ever done anything I did yesterday, or played any kind of role in helping, had it not been for the grace and mercy and power of God.

I'm not sure what the future holds for those involved, but I know God is there and He alone is in control. And because of the hope He brings, today is brighter than yesterday.

So be careful what you preach. What you teach. What you ask for. You just might have to live it out. I echoed Jesus and invited others to approach God messy and helpless with a child-like spirit and Monday morning I got the opportunty to realize the power of that approach. Jesus did it on the night He was betrayed in the garden and God gave Him the power to overcome death and sin for all time. I did it yesterday and He gave me the power to help the hurting. What can He do through you with that kind of approach?

"The prayer of the righteous man is POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE."   James 5:16