The funeral I preached Wednesday for a friend who died outside of a crack-house here in town affected more than I realized.  The last post on the calling of a minister to speak a word for God has continued to rattle around in my head like the buzz from guitar amps after a great rock show.  I feel like I have so much I want to say, but I need to be patient in hearing it from God before a I try to communicate it all in this impersonal medium of the blogosphere (perhaps that is not only one of my most serious personal struggles but something inherent among those of us who write “electronically.”)

If the ONE THING we must be about as ministers is speaking a word for God, to the people, then there are countless things we must guard, and guard against, or we will surely take our eyes off the goal.  One thing that we must wage absolute war on is SABOTAGE.

DON’T LET “THEM” SABOTAGE YOU, YOUR LIFE, OR YOUR CALLING.  Who is “them?”  It can be your spouse, your children, your church members, a lost person you are trying to win to Jesus, an acquaintance at the Post Office, a cashier at Walgreens, or the very fallen Angel Lucifer himself.  It can be your list, your inbox, your voicemail, or your Blackberry.  We can become so caught up in doing the stuff of ministry that we never obey God or actually serve Him.  It is the tyranny of the moment; things must be done, and I must be the one who does them.

We ministers are go-getters.  We like to make things happen.  I feel no greater sense of accomplishment than making a very long list of things to be done early in the morning before my first cup of Broad River Coffee is gone and marking those things off my list before supper that evening.   I honestly go through many days working through my ministry list without ever even thinking about God.  And if I am too busy to think about God, the chances of me hearing a word from Him are greatly reduced.

Lists are not evil, nor is hard work.  But how many days have I been a slave to a list as opposed to being led by the Holy Spirit?  My day is sabotaged, not by demoniacs who run out of the tombs at me, nor by drug pushers or pornographers assaulting my family or my home, but by all the busy little things that nip at my heels while The Holy Spirit, all the while patiently trying to get my attention, is whispering a word to me.  First, that word is for me.  Then, if I handle it right, it is for the people, or the person, that God ordains for me to speak it to.

I must say no more often.  I must turn off my phone and leave it off for more than a few hours.  I must decide that praying with my wife after the boys are in bed takes precedent over watching a lame re-run on TV.

If we are not obsessive and militant, our days (and subsequently, our weeks, years and eventually our lives) will be sabotaged by every conceivable power and person.  We must fight for our lives, for a word from God for us and for others.  Do whatever it takes, and don’t let “them” sabotage you.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 8th, 2007 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.