Here is a simple and yet powerful truth that should be posted around your home and office …
“The Holy Spirit can accomplish more in 5 minutes than you can accomplish in a lifetime.”
I seriously doubt that anyone reading this blog post would challenge the statement. You’d be a fool to argue against the statement, right? But, if the truth be known, there are many reading this blog post that have a head-knowledge that this is true and have mentally accepted it but in their week-to-week ministry, their actions prove that they really believe otherwise.
What am I talking about? Are you sitting down? Get ready to maybe see yourself in this scenario. You’ve studied and prepared, studied some more and prepared even more, you’ve found the coolest object lesson that will drive home your main point, you’ve written a skit that your great, great grandchildren will be talking about decades from now, and you’ve searched and searched until you found the perfect YouTube video to use to wrap up the service. (Sound familiar so far?) You’ve got the service planned down to the micro-second of when the first parent usually barges into your service to pick up their angel. The word “WOW” is written all over this service from the beginning prayer to the very end!
I know that you’ve experienced the next part of this scenario. Midway through your masterpiece service, there is a nudging or prompting by the Holy Spirit to put the lesson on hold so that He can do what only He can do. And your response? Glory be to Jesus, not on my shift. You’ve “studied to show yourself approved unto God …” and it’s going to take more than a little nudge to interrupt this service (I may not be with you right now but I can sense that you’re painfully nodding your head because you’ve been there, done that, right?).
Read that statement one more time. Is it really, really true? If so, why would you ever consider to continue and bulldoze through the lesson and not allow Him the opportunity to unfold the plans of heaven? During the course of our 36 years of children’s ministry, I’ve never walked into a service unprepared. I’ve prayed, studied, and gathered the items that will make the teaching come alive. And yet, there have been times when I’ve sensed in my spirit a prompting to deviate from the lesson or to park and stay on a particular point of the lesson. There have been times when those working alongside me recognized that the lesson was about to be interrupted by the Holy Spirit for a specific need. But what about the lesson? What about all of the hours of preparation? I’m thankful that I’ve learned early in my ministry that if I will obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit, life-changing ministry is ahead.
I challenge you to know and then walk out this powerful truth. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead. Be sensitive and obedient to His voice. If you will walk out this truth, I guarantee that you will have a service and results that will far-outlive the coolness factor of anything that you’ve created! Destinies will be forever changed.
Amen!!! I recall a particular Street-and-Sidewalk Mission from many years ago. Our team had spent months preparing for a one week mission. I had personally spent hours and hours studying and preparing to teach one of the small groups. On the very first day, during our opening statement, we had a potential melt-down situation concerning one child who got along with nobody – including himself. I was taken aback by his comments and had no idea how to proceed – except to call out in silent prayer, asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom. He not only gave me wisdom, He took over our discussion. AND the entire weeks small group discussions became geared to making friends. Ultimately, by allowing the Holy Spirit to move as He wanted that boy met his best friend – Jesus. He also made friends with the kids in our group. He went from being the enemy of all to having friends for the very first time in his life. What a privilege it was to have a “front row seat” watching God work a miracle in that group, and the boy in particular. The Holy Spirit is amazing!!! He did in a few moments, spread over the course of a week, what looked utterly impossible. That boy was truly a new creation in Christ!