Preaching Sunday was a rush because a number of reasons, least of all was it was my birthday. The message was one of those ones you sweat over. Six verses. Some repetition. Lots of questions coming out of the passage--not many answers. When you prepare a message the preacher often experiences to a degree the subject matter they are preaching on that given week. It sure felt like I did but it did not hit until after Sunday.
I praise God for the response we saw Sunday. It was amazing seeing people surrendering to God and seeking out people to pray with. A man I was honored to pray with said he has been gone for ten years. I asked him where he had been and he responded, "Away from Jesus." I said, "Welcome home!" It was humbling.
The other thing I do not take lightly is my role as equipper. It was also an honor to share the teaching responsibility with a great friend--Jonathan Schlender. When I first met Jonathan, he was a crazy paradox. One foot in the world and one foot in heaven. He was trying so hard to be a "Good Christian." But that is not Jonathan. Jonathan is a radicle, table tossing, gospel proclaiming, gifted passionate preacher man of God who has a message to be told. It has been amazing to see a guy like Jonathan mature in his life. Get married. Be a loving husband. Lean into his future fatherhood and continue to serve our King of kings.
Thursday, I asked Jonathan how he was doing and he was struggling, as was I. It was as if a dark cloud was raining down on us. There was no reason for it--but it was there. So we decided to meet and pray. Prayer is a game changer. It lifts our attitudes, it helps us identify areas of spiritual warfare, and primarily it allows us to tune our hearts to Gods. Discouragement and depression had set in and prayer was our weapon of choice. I eagerly anticipated my prayer time with Jonathan that afternoon and the dark spiritual cloud began to break up as I began to realize that a spiritual battle was being played out this week.
God wants his servants to be weak on their own, so they can fully rely on Him for strength and provision. His plans are so much better than ours. I am still amazed at what God did Sunday, but I am learning the lesson that His provision is made perfect at my weakest moments when I cry out to him in a prayer of desperation.
