Disarmed

No weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. Isaiah 54:17 I have written before about my time during the first months of my marriage failing and having to step out of ministry, and of my living on a deserted church campground for a time. The campground was the property of my denomination, and a cottage had been graciously offered for my use. It was also where I had been ordained just two short years before, as well as the place where our District churches gathered each year to report on the just ended year and about how God had been moving. I was thankful for a place to go, but it was a hard place for me to be. The enemy's assaults on me made it even more so. To get to the cottage I was staying in, I had to walk every day past the Tabernacle where I'd been ordained and where the churches gathered each year as a District. Each time I could "feel" the mocking laughter of the devil. He reminded me that this holy place was one that I would never again stand in as a pastor. One I would never really have a place in again. I can't tell you just how real all that was to me. Everything that was happening in my life seemed to undergird the enemy's words. I could not see a way where I would ever be standing in that place again. Yet, I decided I wouldn't walk on my feelings or appearances. I believed that He had promised me that I would, so I did the only thing I could do. I kept on, though I had no idea of just where I was going. A year later, while working at a bank, He began to move in amazing ways in my life. A former classmate at the Bible College contacted me. He said the Lord had put me on his heart, and that he should call me to his church to be his associate. A door opened and I went through. I spent two years as a bi-vocational pastor on his staff, and then the Lord moved again, and again through a former Bible College classmate. His church had lost its building due to debts, but there was a small group from his congregation that wanted to go on as a church. They would not be able to support a pastor and his family, but they could support a single pastor. The Lord put me on his heart and he contacted me to see if I would come. Another door opened and I went through once more. Planting a new congregation is anything but easy. The challenges were immense and it was in Northern Virginia, a graveyard for church plants. The trials and hardships were many, but in all of them we were overcomers. We pressed on. Moreover, we thrived. No, we didn't become a megachurch, but we reached people who likely would never have been reached otherwise. We impacted many, many lives. What I remember best is what took place at the end of my first year, right back at that campground and that Tabernacle. Back at that District gathering once more. I remember almost nothing from my report that day except my final words. I gave glory to God saying that I rejoiced to be back standing in the place the devil said I'd never stand again, doing what he said I'd never do again. All the weapons he'd thrown at me through seemingly endless sources had failed. He couldn't keep me from the purposes the Father had for me. I pastored and led that fellowship for 27 years. I not only saw Him move in miraculous ways, but I came to know Him in ways I never dreamed possible. Truly, He restored for me all the years that the locusts had devoured. No, I never became a "name" in our denomination. I never kept company with those who were. That was never His purpose for me anyway. Keeping company with Him was. He'd been completely faithful. Satan lost...again. The Father, through Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit was victorious again...as He always will be. So, if you find yourself in a barren place today, hearing the voice of hell in your ear, press on. Expect and believe for the miracles that He'll do in and through you. Blessings, Pastor O