I have spent some time out in the dark fighting demons and other characters of satan's creation. Mostly I have been fighting myself...for months. It has been a dark time with moments of bright light. Enough light to not lose hope but more darkness than I ever wanted to experience ever. Despite being lost I soldiered on fighting, winning some battles, losing others, caring for Gods people, falling into pits of selfishness. Will the battle ever abate Father? Will you help me? Will you deliver me from this swamp of despair? His answer was certainly unexpected.
I discovered with clarity God's love for me, my desire to please him and my desire to serve him.
This discovery came from the most unlikely source. A book.
This past weekend a new dear friend Pastor Gary Hornsby of The Rivers Edge hosted a leadership conference at my church. The keynote speaker at the conference was a guy named John Bevere. I knew of John because my small group is studying one of his curriculum on Drawing Near to God. Funny though I fall asleep during every video segment of this study. ATTACK ATTACK the darkness not wanting me to see something, I should have known.
I struggled through the first several hours of the conference feeling I had little right, desire, motivation, whatever to be there. Despite this a voice in the back of my head reminded me of the need to fight through where I was and worship the Lord anyway. I did and spent the entire time of worship in repentance. Alternating between worship and despair. God won.
After some preliminaries John began to speak. I have to admit my expectations were low after all I could not stay awake during video segments of this guy, how would I do with him live for two hours after an intense 60 hour work week. Man was I wrong. John talked about his new book Extraordinary: The Life You're Meant to Live . By the time he was done for the evening I was hooked.
The following afternoon John retook the stage and continued to explain how we as Christians are not called to mediocrity but to the Extraordinary. So I bought his book and decided to read it with new eyes, remember the old post? I want to read this book with the eyes of my heart.
So in this series of posts I will chronicle chapter by chapter what my journey through this book is. You see I am only a few chapters in and already I can see that God desperately wanted me to read this book. My journey need not be so dark, he has offered me a light to guide my path and I want to share the journey with you.
'The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zep 3:17
PRAISE BE HIS HOLY NAME
AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment