Spirit of Leviathan

Well I missed another blog post last week because Monday has become a busy day. In trying to work out consistency with our TV show, Nic Poling has asked that the file be turned in by noon on Monday. We have worked out a system where that will happen, but I have to be up at six o’clock to start working on the show each Monday. Afterward, I produce the labeling for our Media Ministries products and make the duplicates to send out. This seems to be what my Monday schedule is all about from now on. I don’t mind it and I’m not complaining, I just have to figure where to fit in the writing I used to do on Mondays.

As far as the blog is concerned, Susan came into the media studio and informed me it was 7:00 PM that day. Days disappear quickly when you are doing that kind of stuff. The same happened this past Monday as I finished the TV show and started working on labeling and filing cassette tapes — another 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM day. With the newsletter coming out this week, it looks like there will be several days like that. So the blog is going to have to move to another day — at least the writing of it. Posting it is another thing.

Along with our TV show, we are uploading our Sunday morning messages on You Tube once again. I thank God for the new computer that has made all of this possible. It was so frustrating, time consuming, and failure prone before. I was simply giving up on the idea that it could be done with what we had. Again, scheduling is an important thing.

After the morning service, I immediately begin converting the video file of the message into a file to upload to You Tube. This is a process of making a gigantic file small enough to transfer over our internet connection. Then, after the evening service, I go to You Tube and upload the file. So far it been working great and all the Sunday morning messages for the month of July are posted to our channel on You Tube. It takes minimal time and effort. Preach it on Sunday, the world can view it on Monday. That is, if I keep on schedule.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Scheduling is becoming a critical part in determining what I get done in a week’s time. There is this process that must take place of defining your activities, prioritizing them, then placing them at certain times throughout the week. I know that many of you probably already do this task, but for a Pastor it is difficult. Why? Because many times people define a Pastor’s schedule. 

I’ve always been aware of this. However, it has not been until this ministry at Calvary have I been inconsistent in defining what is of value and how to get it done each week. There is always a certain frustration that comes along with this, but also there is an ever encroaching feeling of inadequacy. Sometimes I go before the Lord and say, “Lord, I’m not sure I’ve got what it takes.”

I’ve often taken note of great ministers lives. I listen frequently to their messages and read their books. I am amazed at the pace at which they live their lives. They pour themselves into everything. One of my favorite Pastors is Bishop Dave Williams. He hit the ground at a dead run and still has not slowed after all these years. His book, Pace Setting Leadership, encourages me and discourages me at the same time. He shares everything you need to do to be a great leader, and I have trouble just remembering the list.

While some feel they just need to do less, I am determined I am going to get better at doing more. Taking control of my schedule is imperative to making this a reality in my life.

Where I used to feel a little like a fireman waiting on a call, now I must be a proactive in choosing the next thing I do. Yes, there will always be times when you must lay down your life and minister to a need, but to accomplish anything in ministry, you have to define your own schedule.

The Lord has dealt with me a lot about self-discipline — getting up a six, eating the right thing, exercising, reading and studying, and much more. Scheduling is just another activity in self-discipline. There are simply a multitude of things that need to be done and the answer to getting them done is defining when. The word when is all about scheduling. Over the past few years at Calvary I have been defining what. Now I must take a long look at my weekly calendar and say when.

“Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest 

if we do not give up.”

Galatians 6:9

This brings me to what I have experienced this year — discouragement. I have never really faced it like I have lately. It is definitely a demon from hell. When we came back from District Council in May I felt different. On the one hand the ministry that took place there encouraged me. On the other hand it discouraged me. I had never felt this way before. Partly because my time is running out as I age, I’m not as strong as I used to be, and I am beginning to be able to see the end of my ministry looming on the horizon. To some I may already look like a fossil, but to me I want to finish strong and effective.

For me, keeping up with technology is a major task in and of itself. However, keeping up with the changes in the church and society are also daunting. Over a year ago I resolved to update the way I preach. I never thought I would be studying again on how to preach, but things have changed. Preachers are communicators, and you need to hone the craft of preaching to fit an ever-changing audience. What some people are able to do seemingly off-the-cuff takes me quite a lot of time and study. Again, it must be scheduled. But the thing is, I seem no better at it now than when I started out. It’s frustrating and discouraging. Like learning about a new phone, or and new software package — no sooner than you figure it out, they will change it, or produce a new one you have to learn about all over again.

As a result, I faced a discouragement this year that I might not be able to keep up. Of course, the only option is keep up or give up. Biblically I was experiencing weariness of heart and soul.

Then it hit me: This is an attack!. I canceled the pity party, got my eyes off of myself, and started looking for signs of this disease in the other members of our church. Sure enough, they were also experiencing a powerful force of discouragement in their lives. So there it is, the devil has once again been exposed.

Cloaked in apparent apathy is a device of the enemy called discouragement. Our people were slowly being eaten up with weariness, just like I was experiencing. Outwardly it looked like no one still cared about anything other than themselves. This is more than just feeling sorry for yourself. This is actually a tactic of the devil to convince us that no one cares about what we are going through. The purpose of this attack is the same as it always is — to get us to attack one another.

Once again we are battling a spirit that is trying to attach itself to our church. Like so many others we have fought, it too has a name — leviathan. It is a multi-headed monster whose tactic is to bring division through distraction and discouragement. Each of his multiple heads picks at you and injects the poison of self pity. No one head is enough to defeat you , but the consistency at which he comes at you causes you to grow weary.

I am now just learning how to defeat his attack on my life, but I know I must share this now with our congregation so they will be aware it is not just them, it is an attack!

There are a couple of things this attack indicates. One, we are on the right track. Leviathan’s purpose is to get us to change course, to compromise, and to blame others for our feelings and loses. He wants us to start pointing the finger of blame at someone else. His constant barrage of difficulties keeps us swinging our fists, wildly hoping to ward off the attack. We end up hitting one another in our attempt to stop the constant discouragement (we hit each other with our defensive words).

The first step in defeating this new enemy is the acknowledgement of his attack. The second step is in the resolve that we will not blame others for what we are going through. You can’t fix your own life by attacking someone else’s life. If we, as a church, are going to defeat an enemy whose purpose is to divide us, we must be more committed than ever to stand united in the Spirit.

“Therefore encourage one another
and build each other up,
just as in fact you are doing.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Even if you don’t feel it, even if you think it is someone else’s fault, don’t speak the words leviathan places in our ears. Speak words of encouragement. Speak words of faith. One mistake most believers never overcome is airing their personal feelings. We must hold fast to what the Word speaks over us and not succumb to what the enemy is speaking over us right now. The facts may discourage us, but faith is what encourages us.

At the fist of the year we emblazoned a battle cry across the front of our church — pursue, overtake, and recover. This comes from the story of David retuning to Ziklag only to find the enemy had destroyed the town with fire and taken everyone’s family captive. In the same way, this year we have been pursuing the enemy to take back what is ours. However, as you read on in 1st Samuel chapter 30, David and his men become tried in their pursuit.

8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. 9 So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. 
10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.”

1 Samuel 30:8-10

One third of David’s men could not go on. They loved their families, they wanted to recover their possessions, they wanted to serve their king, but they were too weary to make it any further. In the same way, we cannot quit simply because others have fainted in the battle. They are depending on us more now than ever. We cannot point fingers at those who have fallen into discouragement. We must encourage them with our increased efforts to make up the difference, while they are resting in the Lord. 

I am taken, and sometimes challenged, by how other ministers are able to do so much in a day’s time. However, I will not let their success become a discouragement to me. I want to adopt the attitude that if they can do it, so can I. It is obvious the Lord is with them. He is also with me. He is with us, as long as we hold together and encourage one another in his grace and in his power.

Finally, I am finding my way through this tough time in ministry. The Lord told me a long time ago, if you want to enjoy life, learn to enjoy the taste of victory. I have become that way. So instead of saying to myself, “Oh God, here’s another battle to fight in an endless list of battles,” I now say, “Here’s another victory for my king, my family and my church.” This is the attitude I want to instill in the people of Calvary. In the midst of our battles we must remember two important things. One, the Lord is with us. Two, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

In practical application. I must now become a person who lives by the dictates of a schedule. Creative people shun such a lifestyle. However, if I am going to do more and do it better in less time, I must submit to a daily schedule. This means less and less can I go by the way I feel. More and more I must rise to the task of completing my daily assignments and doing them with excellence every step of the way.

My challenge to Calvary is for you to encourage someone else today, no matter how you feel. Instill in them the awareness that even though we are in a battle, God has promised us the victory. Even though there will be still another battle after that, we are more than conquerors through Christ, who loves us.

Discouragement may look like apathy,

despair may look like I don’t care,

and I quit only means I’m weary in my heart.

Calvary Assemblies of God | 720 N Plum St Union City IN 47390 | Pastor Brian P. Jenkins |  (765) 964-3671 | www.calvaryassembliesofgod.org