"As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle" Exodus 17:11-13
What I find amazing is that the good Lord has provided me with layers of encouragers, protectors, advisors, and friends that "hold up my arms".
After church I have a few people that love me enough to be honest. OK, my wifey is on this list. She has learned to "gently nudge" in areas that need attention. She was kind enough to advise me to limit my rabbit trails because they were distracting and hard to follow. Good tip. Good to know. Another of these amazing believers, takes the time to frequently send me e-mails of what blessed her in that particular service. Perhaps she is wise enough to use "praise" as a method of influence with me. I am not sure that is her intent, but it works and I value her insight.
Church music is one of the most controversial topics in America today. Go to any pastor's conference and church music will be discussed in every corner. However, God has surrounded me with not only talented musicians, but Believers that have a heart for God and a heart to serve. Every year that goes by, God's people are blessed through our worship team.
And something I am terribly proud of, is our church "Prayer Chain". This is a group of believers that believe in the power of prayer. When I receive a prayer request, I shoot our Prayer Chain coordinator an e-mail and I know the Saints are faithfully praying. The weekly answers to prayer are astounding. And I love to be astounded. It is part of my faith building.
I love writing. The good Lord nudged me to start a blog. So December 1st, 2011, I began writing, fully expecting to have no readers. However, about 1,500 hits a month are following my blog. I find this both humbling and motivating. God has opened my eyes to His working in my daily life. Before I began blogging, God was very active in my life, but I took it for granted. Now, I pray that God makes me aware of what He is doing so I can write about it. I find that as I face the problems of life, follow God's lead, and learn Biblical principles that provide God's perspective, the blog writes itself. I bathe my blogs with prayer. Begging God to use them to encourage and lift up the readers. Each and every reader is a gift from God and I cherish each of you.
There are literally hundreds of aspects here that I could write about, but I am going to limit it to two more. The danger of this is, I don't want anyone to feel left out. The number of people that work behind the scenes to keep my ministry functioning, is remarkable. And I am deeply moved at their level of self sacrifice and dedication.
God has provided me many spiritual advisors from a wide variety of backgrounds. They range from retired pastors to funeral directors to school teachers to retired forestry workers to my dad. I value their insight and cherish their counsel. What is remarkable, is that God has provided me a team that has strengths different from mine. They have life experience much different than mine. Their education and skill sets are vastly different from mine. Thus, when I am faced with circumstances and problems outside of my current abilities, I drop to know knees before God and ask for wisdom. And the good Lord usually sends one of these amazing counselors to my side, providing balance, insight and wisdom.
I do not believe that a high number of church attendance on a given Sunday is any reflection of God's approval or blessing. I believe that God draws people to church and they have a choice to follow His leading or not. However, when they show up at church, my heart leaps for joy. I believe that people come to church to hear God's voice. Most people spend all week getting thrashed by the events of life and for 2 hours, they take refuge in a church building. People open their hearts and minds and invite God to speak to them. I have found that the church building is more of a hospital for hurting souls than a club house for God's posse. My point is this, each time a soul walks through the door of the church building, my heart is lifted up and I feel God expanding my ministry.
“‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
Numbers 6:24-26
