For all of you who are struggling with church politics issues, or whatever, like I am...
God put the words to this song in my head this morning while I was praying. I am still shaking so badly, I can barely type. I am doubting that I am going to get much work accomplished today, because I keep getting called back to pray some more...
The song is from the musical "Martin Guerre," which is a fabulous play, but that's beside the point...here is what God brought to my remembrance:
The Holy Fight
Here tonight, see the light...pray together by the candlelight. God is love, God is light, feel His power as we kneel before Him, let us pray for guidance for the holy fight.
Voices rising, as we tell the story, in our faith united by His heavenly glory, in the kingdom of the father, feel the holy church arising...
Here tonight, see the light, pray to Jesus by the candlelight. God is love, God is light, feel His power as we kneel before HIm, let us pray for guidance for the holy fight.
Here's part of what I prayed (I write out my prayers, because I am just a little attention deficit ): "We are not fighting against _________. We are not fighting against ________. We are fighting the forces of hell that would use Your children for their evil purposes. Open their eyes to the fact that they are being used by the devil - let them repent and and STOP speaking against Your anointed - let them STOP working against Your plan, or remove them from the church, in Jesus' name!!"
Wow...I don't even know the last time I have felt this much under the anointing. A co-worker just walked in and somehow I managed to have a conversation with him in English, without laughing, crying, or falling over! Don't know how I did it, quite honestly...
It's amazing how the Spirit of God rises up within us at times like this. You will find some of the greatest ministry coming out of this. I know when I'm under something like this, the anointing is so strong...(although it's not fun to go through!) We are so much more dependent upon the Lord when going through the fire...
I am believing for the strongholds to be broken in your situation. There has been a evident history of abuse there in the past. Hopefully it will be able to be broken under the current pastor, and not just perpetuate itself once more. I know you probably don't want to think about it but.......if not........take heart that all of you will go on to GREAT THINGS. God has great things in store for those who go through these type of fires. Nobody that has ascended to greatness has done so without something like this happening. It's like a pre-requisite for the blessing of God to be released, I think. You know, Larry and I just had a tremendous blessing released into our life, actually several of them in different aspects. We are just standing in awe of the goodness of God. Just today as we sat and talked I said, "Look at what we went through years ago to bring us to this point...we sowed in the past what we did not reap until now...we endured fire that there seemed to be no reason for, until now...we gave and at times, thought it was in vain - until now." All those things were pre-requisites to be where we're at now at this point in our lives. Though, I didn't understand it then.
You are a "Joseph" of the Old Testament. He's my favorite guy in the OT. Just remember, he had to go through the pit to get to the palace. Do you know what "pit" stands for? Preacher in training! You may be in the pit right now but you are headed for the palace. Sometimes it's a long road to get to the palace. And at times I thought, "my God, we are sidetracked..." or... "we are on the side of the road broken and bleeding, we'll never get there..." But one day you encounter your breakthrough. And remember, the first half of the word "breakthrough" is...break!
I am standing with you in your situation...I know the others on the board are too. We have been there...the fire can be hot at times but you will emerge soon and just remember, the fourth man is in the fire with you! (Kind of interesting...it's your pastor, your best friend and you in the fire...just like the 3 Hebrew guys... Just remember, the fourth guy is there with you!!!)
Puppetmaster: Loved the song. I'm continuing to pray for you. Pastor D: Wow! what a message! Loved the PIT. Thanks so much for your continued words of encouragement. Tracy
I still don't know what is going to happen...but I know I am back in the game!
I told my DH last night that I've really been struggling since getting licensed, because I went through that whole process, got it done, and now I'm not sure where to go from here. It's been sort of like graduating from college all over again. And when I'm feeling low like that, it's so easy to get upset by church politics issues, and when I'm at my lowest, that's when the devil likes to kick me even more by bringing in all of my insecurities with my friends, and whether or not I really have them. And so it's been a vicious cycle for the past couple of months...
But no more! I refuse to give satan the satisfaction for even one more minute. After my powerful time of prayer on Friday, DH and I had a fabulous evening, just lounging around the house, watching TV, and hanging out...no crying, no frustrations, nothing except enjoying each other's company. Then we spent the day together Saturday (we sold some books, CDs and DVDs to get some extra $$ to go out!). At the end of the day, I ended up with this horrible stomachache, for no apparent reason, and I said out loud, "Satan, you're not going to win this. So just go away." More irritated than desperate, I might add. I had written last week in my prayer journal that I wanted attacks from the devil to be like mosquitos that I could just swat away and never think of them anymore. And as soon as I said that, I immediately felt better.
Continue to keep the whole situation in your prayers, though - DH sent out the letters to the three nominees on Thursday afternoon, so they will probably start calling tomorrow to either accept or decline. Our SP and his family are relaxing until Thursday in one of the "clergy cottages" on Lake Geneva available for MN pastors, so at least he will have some time to just "be" and not worry about church stuff (It's a strict rule of our district: pastors staying in the clergy cottages are there to have fun and relax; no church business allowed!)...
Anyway, thanks for your support so far. I've definitely felt your prayers over the past week...
): "We are not fighting against _________. We are not fighting against ________. We are fighting the forces of hell that would use Your children for their evil purposes. Open their eyes to the fact that they are being used by the devil - let them repent and and STOP speaking against Your anointed - let them STOP working against Your plan, or remove them from the church, in Jesus' name!!"
Just remember, the fourth guy is there with you!!!)
