Crash and Burn
I have been burned enough times that I thought it might be worth warning someone else. The first time it happened, I chalked it up to life. Bad timing. The second time it happened, I blamed it on fatigue. Call me slow, but the third time was a charm. I finally got it.Maybe you can relate. Have you ever had your eyes and heart locked on something? You were praying for God to show up in a specific way. Perhaps you needed God to provide a job or a clean bill of health after the latest round of treatment. For you, maybe you needed God to show up in a big way in your adult son’s or daughter's life. You were praying for a positive pregnancy test… a negative pregnancy test… or a barrier to be torn down. Have you had a day when all of your energy and prayer life had been focused and God showed up. The prayers were answered. High fives were exchanged.But…The next day you crashed and burned. Your faith was at an all time high just yesterday, but somehow you find yourself gasping for encouragement just a short time later. In a ministry context, l see this all the time. We pray like crazy for God to be present, for lives to be changed, for people to be saved. When God answers, we are elated... but now we are also on guard.On guard? Yes! The enemy is relentless, and while he cannot stop God from being God, he can definitely try his best to distract us and discourage us… even just hours after the high fives. In a literal way, we will have prayer teams covering a particular need or event in prayer. The need for prayer after the event is just as real. Just a day after over 200 people were recently saved at Highpoint, I saw the enemy bring a wave of discouragement from the place we would least expect it.In a personal application, it is that situation where God brings an answer, but the enemy is happy to provide another equally daunting situation to suck the joy out of the last answered prayer. So what must we do?
1. Be awareDon’t be caught off guard. Be on alert to know that the enemy will not take the night off while you do a victory dance.
2. Be preparedEnlist other believers to pray over you specifically after the big finish line you are praying towards.
3. Take every thought captiveAs 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us, we are not fighting a war according to the flesh. We must “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
4. Stay surroundedThe need for community cannot be overstated. We need others to come around us to hold up our arms in battle as they did for Moses. When the battle is officially over, we still need other believers. It is in the moments that we have our guard down that we often need to be reminded that the latest ploy is simply that… a ploy… to keep us from praising our God for the mighty works He has done.
Have a finish line coming up? Please let me know so I can stand guard in prayer over you. No need for anyone else to crash and burn! twitter | facebook