Saturday, March 05, 2005
Under Attack
Tonight was tough. I was delivering the epilogue at youth club this evening and it did not go well. I really believe that what I had prepared was from God by His Holy Spirit. I had prayed and actually begged God that He would move in a mighty way during the epilogue... but, on the surface, that didn't seem to be the case.
There was a good crowd at YC tonight and, even before I got up to speak, they were pretty restless. That is usually the case, though, so I expected them to be respectful and calm down. No such luck.
It was partly my fault. As soon as I got up I was saying the wrong things and before too long everyone was talking amongst themselves. I tried to regain some control but the lads to the right of me seemed to be doing their utmost to distract me. I lost my concentration three times. I didn't say all that I wanted to say because I was so disheartened.
I came home with Jenna early and I really was so let down by my delivery of the epilogue... and so hurt by the lack of respect shown to me. But then I got thinking about it some more. If it is true that what I had prepared was inspired by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, surely Satan would be doing his utmost to frustrate my efforts and God's work, right? Maybe the reason I struggled so much tonight was because Satan recognised that God wanted to move in people's lives tonight and, by pulling the strings of those with which he has control, he prevented those with hearts fertile for the seed of Truth from receiving what was meant. (Is this not the very spiritual warfare that has been preached about in recent services from our pulpit?!)
(On a side note: my epilogue was entitled "What Is Life?" There is a poster in the upstairs hall where we play football that is entitled "How Do You Estimate Your Worth?" - it talks about the same thing that I was talking about. Now, throughout the first part of the night as we played football, that poster was knocked down twice by the ball... and it was me that had to lift it up and secure it both times. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it but can you see the correlation?)
But screw Satan! God is more powerful that anything Satan can spit out. If God wanted to move in hearts tonight and draw people to Him then He would have done it despite the best efforts of Evil and despite my own failings.
If nothing else, the gospel was preached tonight. I told the young people that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, who is God. I told them that they needed to get right with God by giving their sin to Jesus. Paul tells us in Ephesians (and Romans and I think Galatians, too) that faith in Yahweh comes from first hearing the Truth and then accepting it. I was able to facilitate the first part of that tonight...
God, I pray that you would work in the young people who heard tonight so that they would accept the Truth - so that they would be saved, in Jesus' Name.
There was a good crowd at YC tonight and, even before I got up to speak, they were pretty restless. That is usually the case, though, so I expected them to be respectful and calm down. No such luck.
It was partly my fault. As soon as I got up I was saying the wrong things and before too long everyone was talking amongst themselves. I tried to regain some control but the lads to the right of me seemed to be doing their utmost to distract me. I lost my concentration three times. I didn't say all that I wanted to say because I was so disheartened.
I came home with Jenna early and I really was so let down by my delivery of the epilogue... and so hurt by the lack of respect shown to me. But then I got thinking about it some more. If it is true that what I had prepared was inspired by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, surely Satan would be doing his utmost to frustrate my efforts and God's work, right? Maybe the reason I struggled so much tonight was because Satan recognised that God wanted to move in people's lives tonight and, by pulling the strings of those with which he has control, he prevented those with hearts fertile for the seed of Truth from receiving what was meant. (Is this not the very spiritual warfare that has been preached about in recent services from our pulpit?!)
(On a side note: my epilogue was entitled "What Is Life?" There is a poster in the upstairs hall where we play football that is entitled "How Do You Estimate Your Worth?" - it talks about the same thing that I was talking about. Now, throughout the first part of the night as we played football, that poster was knocked down twice by the ball... and it was me that had to lift it up and secure it both times. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it but can you see the correlation?)
But screw Satan! God is more powerful that anything Satan can spit out. If God wanted to move in hearts tonight and draw people to Him then He would have done it despite the best efforts of Evil and despite my own failings.
If nothing else, the gospel was preached tonight. I told the young people that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, who is God. I told them that they needed to get right with God by giving their sin to Jesus. Paul tells us in Ephesians (and Romans and I think Galatians, too) that faith in Yahweh comes from first hearing the Truth and then accepting it. I was able to facilitate the first part of that tonight...
God, I pray that you would work in the young people who heard tonight so that they would accept the Truth - so that they would be saved, in Jesus' Name.
