intake is vital to spiritual health
yesterday i was off from having to preach. one of our elders filled in, which is great to have lay leaders with such capability! My wife, Rachael, and I went to a worship gathering with our oldest daughter at the church she is attending, while at college. The whole experience ended up being a fantastic time.
I say “ended up” because it didn’t start off that way. Since, we were off, we slept in a little, and it actually felt good. Now, I know what it feels like to sleep in on a Sunday. We needed to leave by 9:45 at the absolute latest. But!! But, we left at 10. As I backed out of the driveway, the dash beeped at me. Apparently, we had no gas. the MTD (miles to destination) that i had enough gas for, said “0”. So, we were sweating it to make it to the gas station, which we did. by now we have about 45 minutes to travel approx. a 1 hour and 20 minute destination. So, as I was speeding to get there, I thought as I was driving…“great, I am sinning as I go to worship”
We finally arrived about 15 minutes late, having missed all the introduction, welcome and just finding a seat. By the time we found a place to sit, I had reached the point of being “ill”. I was thinking… “this is so stupid, why didn’t we just stay home and chill, we are so never doing this again”!! So, that state of mind carried on for a while allowing me to miss the engagement of my spirit to God’s through the music and singing portion of the service. I finally got a grip about the time for the preaching. I really tried not to “critique” the pastor, i honestly wanted to connect to God and enjoy being fed some. God was gracious and got my attention. It was the 2nd point of the pastor’s message. “take some risks”, he said. He was talking all about exercising faith. He said, “why do you have to feel like you have to do it all by yourself all the time”? That one really got me. I was fighting back the tears. I was thinking…“oh, no you don’t God, You are not going to do this to me now, especially now” but He did. I knew God was speaking to me. This issue about trusting the Lord, exercising Faith, taking some risks are some things the Lord has been dealing with me alot lately. It was just what i needed to hear.
After praying and thanking God for being so faithful to fill me up and speak to me, I felt like I had connected. The rest of the service was very spirit filled. it seemed everyone felt free. the pastor encouraged anyone who needed to pray to come forward and pray by themselves or with a counselor. To my surprise, lots of people started to move. I wasn’t surprised b/c I too felt the Spirit moving, but what surprised me was that people actually went to the front! I couldn’t help but wonder and wish that such freedom would exist at Crossroads. I really want Holy Spirit to move in our lives and our worship gatherings.
It felt great to commune with the Lord and just get some intake…spiritual feeding. it was wonderful! I did miss being at our worship gathering, but I had an appointment with the Lord and did not realize how significant it would be. “oh how He loves”!
LEARNINGS TO SHARE... 
Leave a Reply