Sunday, November 7, 2004

The Eye of the Tiger would have been a fitting theme song this morning, as today was a day of grit and victory. Let me explain...

This past week was so trying. Satan was attacking the Journey at so many angles, and I seemed to be involved in every one. It is no fun to be in a fight, but the only good thing is that the enemy made himself visible and the enemy is defeated. A spirit of gossip and hurtful words took center stage during the last half of the week, threatening to tear people from the church and cause division. But I decided, according to 2 Corinthians 2:11 that this church body should not be unaware of the devil working, so I have been "blowing the whistle" on the devil all week, speaking into people's lives and rallying them to be strong in the Lord.

I took this approach in my message on Sunday, speaking from Judges 6 and using Gideon's meager beginning to tell our people that it is "No Time to Surrender" when I sin, hurt, feel defeated, am weak, don't understand, already have the victory, or when I doubt. These are all signs that the devil is working, and God wants to do something great. If we will simply persist and get through our struggle, we will often find great victory lies just on the other side.

I felt the message hit home well, and I am praying for a renewed sense of unity and purpose. By the way, in our service we had 69 people, a new high! We could have easily had around 80, but several people were gone (Kesselrings, Karla, Kathy, Bonnie - and all the kids). God is so good, and strength and encouragement come from so many places. By the way, next Sunday it looks as if I will be baptizing between 6-9 people, so I am very excited about that.

Overall, a great day. The Spirit was present in the worship and in the message and in the people. I cannot wait for more days like this to come at The Journey!