Power

We pulled up to our church building this past Sunday morning and were greeted by 4 or 5 cars belonging to McKinney’s finest.  Police cars in front of a church building evoke many emotions, fear being one of the strongest.  But we are told not to fear, so we got out of the car and headed for the door.

A young transient man had caused a little bit of concern from some women in the church building especially when he began undressing in the lobby.  So the police were called in to ensure safety.

It was apparent that this young man was struggling from some sort of addiction or mental illness.  After the police met with him, this young man asked if he could stay for our service, and the elders encouraged him to stay and asked several members of the congregation to watch out for him.

He stayed relatively calm during musical worship, but after about 5 minutes of preaching, the young man was in front of the podium having a “dialogue” with the teacher that didn’t make sense to anyone.  The teacher calmly and quickly called this young man up to the podium.  With compassion and strength, he asked the rest of the elders to join him, and he prayed for this young man.  He prayed for his mental and spiritual peace and for the agents of the evil one to leave him.  But most importantly, he prayed in the name of Jesus Christ because it doesn’t really matter what you say if you don’t call out to the One who has the power to make it so.

The young transient man was quiet the remainder of the service. 

 

I am thankful that my kids were able to witness this real life lesson that can be applied in so many ways:

• That man was not our enemy, but the spirits in him were. 
• They were shown to give acceptance to people who are different than us especially for the opportunity to share the Truth of Jesus with them.
• They saw with their own eyes the power of praying in the name of Jesus and how the demons flee from His name.
• They witnessed a group of caring, compassionate Jesus followers show the light of Jesus instead of judgement, fear, frustration, and hate.

As we continue to wrestle with our state side assignment and seek after which path we are supposed to go, we often try to figure out everything ourselves.  When we are beyond frustrated, we finally remember to pray.  We are learning that prayer comes first, asking which way to go before we start running down the path is now our first priority.  I thank God for His object lesson, witnessing firsthand the absolute power of Jesus.