Post No. 9 - Reading Time: 4:45

A person in our church Sunday morning had a medical situation that required transportation to the Emergency Room. It was right in the middle of our worship time when the ambulance came. Of course, the people of our church gathered around and prayed, as we did after the ambulance left.

We’ve seen it before in our church because of the age of many of our members. We picked up from there, but a half hour had passed. So we went right into our communion time, took up an offering and left.

I felt strange afterward, because I felt all morning it was going to be an amazing service. I also felt I had an amazing message to complete my series on prayer, before the Easter rush. I even told the congregation that the word I was hearing from the Lord that morning was “amazing.”

Pumped Up

When I prayed before the service Sunday morning I felt elevated and “pumped” for what was about to happen. However, it just didn’t. Yes, it’s always good to worship the Lord and to be together as a community of believers, but this time I left feeling strange. Was it the devil fighting against what I was about to preach? Was it some other spiritual attack designed to bring me down from what I felt was a spiritual high I was experiencing? Was it something else or was it nothing more than life as usual.

Sometimes you walk away from events in your life wondering about what they mean. Sometimes there is something behind them, sometimes there is not. However, when things don’t go the way we expect or plan, then we tend to overthink the “why.” Sometime we reflect too much on how an event affects us in the first place.

After lunch we went to visit the person in the hospital. It was a treat and release. I had to move on with my day, but still I was curious if the morning’s events meant anything more than just what they were. Looking back, since the first of the year I’ve actually felt this way many times. I guess that’s why as things come up I relate them to that feeling and begin overthinking them.

Putting Up A Fight

The battles I’ve been through to preach this series on prayer have been the worst I have experienced in a long time. It takes its toll on your joy, but it also reminds you of how weak you are.

My determination, after several attacks on our church in the spirit realm, is that it is more than just some common occurrences. Our church and I are experiencing these battles simply because prayer is a very powerful weapon of God, more so than all our human efforts combined.

When a church bows down to pray, heaven and earth are moved. Although we began this year with a Week of Prayer, God has called us to a lifestyle of prayer from here on. It’s more than just a season we are going through. The battles may be seasonal, but the results are eternal. These recent circumstances may be of the enemy or just the way things are. Nevertheless, they can distract us from the imperative that the Lord has put before us—to pray!

After Missions Sunday next week, I’m going to return to my message that I missed and complete this series on prayer. I’m also going to precede it with prayer, just as I did this time. There is one open Sunday before the Easter season of messages and services. I need this closure, I need to know that I have given our church God’s Word concerning prayer.

Lift Up The Standard

All of us need to know, that when you get close to what God desires for us to be doing, “the enemy shall come in like a flood,” but “the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:9 KJV) So I think my final position towards all that is happening is to remain on task, continue to pray, and try not to think about it too much, lest I come to the wrong conclusions.

If you felt the same way about Sunday, maybe you need the same attitude. No matter what happens, the foundation of truth in our lives does not change. Therefore we remain steadfast in our labors. Especially the labor of prayer.

Someone even commented after the service Sunday morning, “Was this the “amazing” you were talking about?” No, but our God still is, and as the old hymn goes, “I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene.”

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” — 1st Corinthians 15:58 KJV

Shake it off, get back to work, kneel down to pray, and move forward.

Until next Monday, may the Lord bless you! Pray for us!

Pastor Brian Jenkins

Calvary Assemblies of God