What about you pastor?

Today I started 40 Days of Spiritual Immersion with my church family. A time that we have chosen to set aside to seek an amazing Heavenly Father in matters of prayer. I don't know what to expect or what to hope for out of this time. I know I want to see Him move in ways that challenge me and drive me to new levels of relationship with Him. I want to understand His voice. Not just understand it, but know it. I have always been curious about the words of Christ when He says in John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" ... I know my voice and there is no doubt that my voice has often disguised itself as the Father's. I want to know that when I hear the Father speak it causes my very soul to tremble in the fact that there is no misunderstanding within my spirit as to who's talking.

The Lord, in all His mysterious ways, pierced my heart the other day by using one of my church family members. A dear friend that has been part of our church for a few months called the other day to talk to me about his struggle to maintain a quite time before the Lord. He was speaking with conviction about his desire to meet with the Father, but how he genuinely struggled to be consistent in that time each day. And then he unknowingly threw a left hook that caught my chin like that scene in Rocky IV. You know the hulking 'Drago' (Dolph Lundgren) who at 6'6" and 240 pounds is quite within his rights to deliver such lines as "I defeat all man" after slaying the wisecracking Apollo Creed. It was like the scene where late in the fight the big Soviet boxer, Drago, gets cut. The announcers start commenting with furry, "He's cut! He's cut!" Drago stagers back with obvious signs of amazement knowing this guy actually revealed a weakness.

This friend of mine said very plainly and softly, "Pastor, how are your daily times with the Father?" That hook stunned me, but the uppercut that followed put me down for the eight count. "Pastor, I've always wondered if I struggle with my quiet time, because I once heard that the people in a church body will only be as strong as their pastor in the Lord." And then the crowd went silent. The weakness was revealed in a stunning manner that I myself didn't want to believe. That cut went deep... How deep? Well, I'm here two days in a row talking about my quiet time and what the Lord is teaching me, so I hope it continues to get deeper~