Power with Purpose!

It's been a tough few weeks. I've dealt with heartaches, pains, troubles, betrayal, anger, frustration, and doubt. I have also had to deal with personal sin for which I repented to God and confessed to my wife. Even so, guilt, shame, and all the trash that plagues the thoughts of a “righteous man” when he falls were there at the very fore-front of my mind for the better part of a week. It took God speaking to me to get past the inertia of all this mess and get back on track.

God has never spoken to me in an audible voice but, when he does speak to me, I know it. He spoke to me on June 14th, 1982 when I repented before him in tears. He spoke to me in August of 1993 when I answered His call to complete the first works through water baptism. He definitely spoke to me in September of 1993 when He filled me with His Spirit! And over the last 17 years God has taught me how He speaks, even though I still sometimes forget how to listen.

This latest ordeal did what ordeals normally do to me – they drove me to my knees in prayer (This is part of how I know the Spirit resides within. I usually run from trouble and pain, but God encourages me to stay obedient.). Like a sailor on a hobie cat, I hung myself way out there, tightening the sheet and hiking the beam of the boat until it almost flips overs. It's a risk sailors take to get the most speed out of their craft. I hung myself out on the edge of my prayers; earnestly but passionately letting God know that I was at the end of my rope. I could not go any further and all of this 'mess' was about to tip me over and put me in the brine.

The Lord did not send an angel (or anyone else for that matter), to speak words of comfort, pet my ego, or pat me on the back and give me a cookie. Thankfully, He also did not answer some of the prayers that I prayed (Someone out there knows exactly what I am talking about.). Instead, He lead my to 1 Kings 19...

In this passage, Elijah had just come out of a great victory – and stepped straight into a world of trouble. He ran for his life and then parked himself under a juniper tree and started feeling sorry for himself. God sent messengers to Elijah to feed him. No words or comfort, no “Aww! It'll be okay!” In other words, God did not feed Elijah's self pity, He just fed his body because He had work for Elijah to do, so His answer to Elijah was, “Get up and get back to work! You have a long journey ahead of you and your next task is to go and anoint some folks to be king so let's get started!

I sank back in my chair and gave thanks to God. There was no beam of bright light, no fanfare of heavenly trumpets, and no pacifier. God had just finished telling me that there was a lot of work to do and I had better get about His business. He “spoke” the truth in plain an simple terms that even I could understand.

My emotions are still raw and the struggle to keep them under control is still fresh in my walk this week. But I know God has spoken, so I will do what I have always done when He speaks: I'll pack up my troubles, post-mark them to Jesus, try real hard not to take them back, and move on for God. Sometimes power with purpose is just that simple.