Yesterday afternoon was short. After a week of intense praying, shepherding the flock, reading through the Bible with the rest of the church, and preaching my soul out during the morning service, I was tired. After church I flopped into my recliner and dozed off to sleep. Eventually I got up and lay in the living room floor directly beneath the ceiling fan and crashed for about an hour.
When I awoke I grabbed a quick shower and slipped on some fresh clothes before heading back to the church. I intended to go a different route with the message but I could not shake [Jn 10:10] “The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy but I have come that you might have life and life more abundantly.”
I shared my testimony in the message about coming from a home where Satan ruined and destroyed lives for many generations. I followed the lineage of my grandparents and how their children turned out. One was murdered. One committed suicide. One became an alcoholic. One aunt was a broken and battered woman. Then I talked about my brother and I using our middle names throughout the whole message so no one would know who I was talking about. When I talked about how Jesus made the all the difference in my life to break the cycle of dysfunction and abuse, they were moved. One college student commented to me afterward how hard it was to believe I had come from such a horrible background. I told him not to take the family he had for granted.
I hate Satan and the havoc he has caused in so many lives. I hate what he has done in my family, and destructive patterns I see in my own life. One of the things he loves to do is to cause strife and divisions in families and in churches. During the invitation I gathered Taylor and Tanner to me. They are both jealous of each other and constantly at odds with one another. I prayed with them both at the altar and challenged them to get right with one another. Taylor asked to talk to me privately. He could not get the words out. Tears began to gush out as all he had been holding on the inside came out. I held him while he cried on my shoulder soaking my shirt. It was a beautiful scene I hope not to forget. Over and over again I reminded him he is forgiven and it is time to quit listening to the devil.
Many others responded to the Lord. Again I hate to report no one was saved but several were brought closer to Christ. One man even went to the pulpit to claim his deliverance and the power of God to restore his marriage. He challenged the church to get real and to respond to God.
It blessed my soul to witness teenagers going to their dads and moms to repent of their bad attitudes and rebellion. I saw many other people huddled at different places around the altar knees and heads bowed in prayer. One man lay prostrate on the ground and I lay prostrate with him in front of the whole church to pray with him about his burden. It didn’t matter. God moved and touched us as Satan was exposed for the liar and deceiver that he is.
My kids have a Toby Mac CD where the chorus says, “Go on Devil get yourself out of here; I don’t need you. I don’t need you.” We chanted that together as a congregation. The crowd was significantly smaller last night than yesterday morning. I choose to keep believing God is going to breakthrough. I have stepped out on faith and believe He will do a work in these days bigger than FBC and a work that impacts all of Seminole. Go on devil get yourself out of here we don’t need you.
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