| In a growing church and supported by a dedicated group of men, the pastor
sometimes experienced a free-floating anxiety as he awoke from sleep. When
fully awake however, his love for the Lord and confidence in His gracious
mercies dispelled any sense of anxiety and he continued to work effectively
for God. |
| Unexpectedly one morning, while in intercessory prayer with his deacons,
this nameless and unattached undercurrent of fear came up within him. It
had never surfaced this way before and so he lifted the matter to God in
his heart. |
| God's guidance on his heart was that he should ask his spiritual brothers
to pray for him. He did and knelt among them as they laid their hands upon
him in prayer. |
| As they prayed he became aware of their prayers ascending like frail incense
vapours to God. Suddenly the scene changed and he became aware of God's
answer coming down toward him like the thundering approaching of a mighty
unseen locomotive. Power was not in prayer. Power was in God's answer to
prayer. |
The scene changed again and he was aware of himself within his own body,
hearing a voice, as clear as any human voice and coldly logical, warning
–
| 'Be careful! Be very careful. You are the
pastor. You have responsibilities. Be careful.' |
|
| Immediately, a warm and gentle voice spoke within, saying –
|
| This second voice was full of love and compassion and, recognizing it
as the Holy Spirit's voice, he chose to do just that. |
| Instantly, as at a distance, he felt his body convulse backwards, knocking
away the hands of those praying over him. Flipping backward in a 180 degree
flop, he struck the ground with the back of his neck. The rest of his body
landed shaking. |
| Shaken themselves, the deacons regrouped around their pastor and began
to pray with increased emotion, but it was all over. His body was totally
suffused and saturated with the sense of God's peace. He led them on in
prayers with a calm sureness of the sovereign presence of God that needed
no reassurance. |
| Never again, was he pressured by undercurrents of insecurity. God was
his total peace. In years that followed, high risk journeys to refugee camps
in civil war areas, and along roads continually ambushed, made no contribution
to any form of anxiety. It was God's business and only God's business that
mattered. |
|
