(Reading Time: 9:30) We had a good service Sunday morning as we wrapped up our series on The PRESENCE of the LORD. I’m not saying we had any open manifestations like I mentioned in my message, but there is an increased awareness of his presence in our services. I felt a release as I finished the series. This great sense of relief comes at the end of a very hard week for Susan and I. We literally were on the move each and every day this past week. District meetings, pastoral meetings, banquets, lunches, counseling, and visitation—left us getting home each night as late as 10:00 PM. On top of that, Susan and I were pouring though the financial data trying to make a sensible report for our Annual Membership Meeting this past Sunday night.
We did get it all done. Not my best work, but I began to feel stressed, something I try to avoid at all costs. Many times when I feel this way, I simply go to the Prayer Tower and the Lord lifts it from me. However, this time, I either couldn’t let it go, or the Lord chose to remind me of what it feels like by leaving it in place.
For me stress has to be pretty weighty for my body to even register it. However, by the time I feel it in my stomach, it begins to show up on my lip. Everyone is different, but for me the stress-chain produces tiredness, stomach upset, and my lip breaks out with a sore. Sometimes when I am suffering from stress my immune system begins to falter and I cannot ward off sicknesses.
Well, this morning, I am taking a much needed break from everything. Susan and I joke around that “if you break the Sabbath, you will die!” However, the principle behind those words is not a joke. You simply cannot run continuously and not have it affect your physical health. I just need a day of rest.
Another thing that stress brings on is totally different from the physical affects it produces. When you are under stress your attitude is affected also. Thursday night as I was setting up the sound system and the video show I had done for the Chamber of Commerce Banquet, I was under the stress of a time constraint. My laptop was not cooperating with the video projector I borrowed from the City Building. I was running out of time and everyone was wanting to talk to me and see the project I had been working on. Then, a community leader walks in and wants me to include his slide show with his speech that night. Ugh!
Then a verse came to my mind as I looked up and saw all these people standing about me, wanting this and wanting that. They were all excited and looking forward to the evening. Would I truly want to spoil their joy by expressing how I felt about it? Then the voice of the Lord quickened this verse to my Spirit:
“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”
Jeremiah 12:5, NIV.
I sat there in the midst of my stress realizing that even during those kind of moments, God is not very far away teaching, comforting, and guiding. Then a peace came over me. As each person said, “Can you do this and can you do that?” I answered, “Sure,” remembering that I was there to serve. Later in the Prayer Tower (Friday morning) I asked the Lord about what he had said to me Thursday night. He explained that if he were going to use me for greater things, I would have to deal with many things, like a stressful week, and much more. Again, he asked me, “What do you want? Do you want to stay and this level or do you want to advance?”
Sometimes the things the Lord says to me gives me pause. In my mind I keep thinking that I’ll get to this place where it will be easy. In reality though, the more you are given the harder it becomes. Then I remembered what I used to tell my sons, “It doesn’t get easier, you get better.” The Lord was showing me that I am not where I need to be in my spiritual strength and commitment. He was showing me that many difficult times lay ahead, and in the same way I am preparing our church, I must also prepare myself.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”
2 Timothy 3:1, KJV.
We are living in the perilous times the Bible speaks of. People are faltering in their commit to their jobs, to their families, and even to their church. Some, who have been faithful for years, are sliding away from their faithfulness and succumbing to the ways of the world. Worry and fear cloud many people’s minds—even those who are educated in the Word of God. It’s not going to get better, but much, much worse.
“25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon,
and in the stars;
and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things
which are
coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
Luke 21:25, 26, KJV.
As God gave me a greater perspective from his Word about my current stress levels, I began to understand that to lead through these final last days will require more strength and stamina than I currently possess. Susan and I have worked so hard to become the couple that the people of Calvary need us to be. However, through this last week, the Lord has shown me that much more will be required to become the couple that God desires us to be. This is because he is not just concerned with us making it, he is concerned with those whom we lead.
“If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!”
Proverbs 24:10, NIV.
My personal revelation from this, and my encouragement to you, is God is calling us to greater things, but that also necessitates greater strength and commitment.
“Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees!”
Hebrews 12:12, NIV.
Rather than being a time to draw back and nurse our wounds, it is time to seek the Lord like never before. Why? So that we will be armed with understanding and spiritual strength to stand in the evil day. The Lord does not want his true church to be caught unprepared for times of testing. He wants us to pass the test.
I passed a test this last week by simply understanding what the Lord was showing me about my own weakness, before it had a chance to bring me down. He does this in small ways so that we will be prepared for bigger life-altering trials in the future.
“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die,
for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”
Revelation 3:2, NIV.
I’m not good at prophetic warnings, but I think there is a spirit of warning behind what the Lord is saying to us at this time. The American church has grown too apathetic to the things of God and has become overly engrossed in the ways of the world. Many of us have grown indifferent to the correction of the Lord and continue in our own head strong ways. We are promoting God’s judgment upon ourselves.
What makes my heart cry is that many will not seek the Lord through his Word to understand the times we are living in. They will continue to seek the comfort and pleasures this world gives. All the while, those same comforts and pleasures continue to sap their spiritual strength until they can no longer pursue the Lord and they begin to falter and fail—first in their weakened minds, then in their outward actions.
“10 At that time many will turn away from the faith
and will betray and hate each other,
11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness,
the love of most will grow cold,
13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
Matthew 24:10-13, NIV.
Finally, God causes all things to work together for good and for his purpose. The main reason he allowed me to become overly committed all in one week, and not to take a Sabbath day off, was to show me that I need to spend more time strengthening myself in his Word and his Spirit so I may effectively lead our church through these perilous times ahead. He was also preparing my spirit for the new series I will be preaching in April, after Easter. It is called, “It’s Time to Seek the Lord!” My prayer is this series will call us back to his Word and devoted times of prayer so the upcoming trials and temptations will not overtake us and cause us to fall away from our faithfulness to him.
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness.
He is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9, NIV.
“Calvary exists to demonstrate the love of God to the families of our community!”