July 2, 2012
-
Relying on Yesterday’s Anointing…
For years when I would lead prayer at prayer meetings the hearts of people there would be stirred and there would be a strong anointing, even when I wasn’t as mature and experienced in faith and in the ministry. During those same years I made sure I had extended times of prayer with the Lord as often as possible, every day if I could then. Those times of prayer weren’t always powerful, but it was clear that I was storing up more and more Living Water with every prayer time and so when I would get to lead prayer I would be overflowing.
But then I began to minister more and more often. I became a lay pastor at my church and led a church plant team to plant another church in Seoul. I began to have to minister more and more. While most of my sermons had been sharp before because they were few and far between, when I had to start preaching more often I found myself having to pace myself. Some sermons were powerful, while others were just the word that needed to be shared. I would be hard on myself when I didn’t feel there was much power in a sermon I would give. I would feel like I hadn’t pressed in hard enough. God was having to teach me grace.
Through grace I began to learn how to rely on the Lord more… not so much relying on how much time I spent with the Lord (although this of course was important), but trusting that whatever the Lord would give me from that time would be right, even if it wasn’t a power-packed word.
Now though, I’ve led prayer and preached enough sermons and taught enough seminars that I’ve finally grown comfortable in these roles (I never thought this day would come!). And now I’m facing a new danger… relying on yesterday’s anointing for the ministry today. There is such a delicate balance of pressing in to the Lord and walking in His grace. If we press in too hard we are becoming religious about our time with God and making it more about getting something out of Him rather than just being with Him. But if we just relax and spend some simple time with the Lord and not press in all the time we can actually lose touch with the Lord. We need a balance.
My wife doesn’t want a powerful date every time we go out. She loves a romantic date and special occasions, but too much can be too much. She would rather just hang out with me most of the time. I have to keep a balance… it’s good to relax with her… but it’s also good to keep sharp and do something special here now and then… I can’t rely on the memories of our past powerful dates for our passion and love to keep strong.
These days I feel the Lord longing for some of those powerful, passionate times with Him. He isn’t demanding, I just know it’s going to be good. It will keep me from relying on yesterday’s anointing… and I know I will be overflowing again.
God bless!
