Take The Reigns Off!

Riding my motorcycle from Colorado Springs, CO back home to Kansas City was quite the experience. The radio stated that the heat rose to well over 108 degrees in the shade. I really don't know exactly how hot it was out on the black top of I-70. I found myself having to pull over and soak my T-shirt in the sinks of every single Rest Area along the way, which made for a slow, difficult day of riding.

At one particular rest stop I met two women who were driving my way. They had a sticker on the side of their car with a Cross on it. As I was straddling my bike and putting on my helmet, I commented on how I liked the Cross. This began a short discussion that resulted in me identifying myself as a pastor. We exchanged pleasantries and they rode off. I took one last drink of water and started up the bike.

Before I could continue my journey, the ladies had done a U-Turn and come back to me with the driver's window down. The driver informed me that the Lord had just spoken to her and that she had to come back and give me a direct 'word from the Lord'. I turned off my bike and listened intently...

She said that God wanted me to know that He wasn't totally pleased with my youth ministry the way it was and that He was going to explode my youth group and do a new thing in it. She then asked what I thought of that. When I informed her that I wasn't a youth pastor, but actually a lead pastor, she back-tracked a bit and said that although the youth ministry was indeed going to explode, that the church I pastored would never be pleasing to Him, or grow, if I didn't "take the reigns off".

I asked her, "What do you mean, 'take the reigns off'? What am I supposed to do?"

She said that she had heard of Desperation Church, and that she knew that we were too "formalized and set in our ways". She mentioned how we always have our "little singing times and preaching times", but never leave room for the Holy Spirit to move and minister like He wants to among the people. She said that He was angry about the way that I had squelched the Holy Spirit by "reigning Him in, instead of letting Him reign". She began to describe how I needed to allow times of intercession and repentance, and forget about the singing and preaching and just let God knock people over with His presence and His power.

As I sat on top my bike, my soaked shirt already beginning to dry in the insane heat, I told her that I was very sorry, but I didn't feel that was a Word from God and would not be accepting it as such.

She was flabbergasted by this comment. She said, "Listen, I'm only telling you exactly, word-for-word, what I am hearing the Lord tell me. If you refuse to listen to the Lord, then that is on your hands... not mine!" She then drove off, heading east on I-70 towards her apparent home in Shawnee, KS.

I sat there for a few more moments and talked with my Friend, Jesus.

Honestly,... My conversation went something like this:

"Lord, please tell me that wasn't really You. I don't feel like it was You. That didn't sound like You. If it was You, how come You talk to people like her specifically about how I should be ministering, but You have been silent about the "reigns" thing every other time I've sought Your counsel? I read Your Word... lots. I love it. I am surrounded, pretty regularly, by those who are in love with You. We constantly are talking about ways in which we can love/serve/obey You. I love that. Why exactly would You dump all this on me, in that way, in the middle of Nowhere-Kansas, on the hottest freakin' day of my life?"

Nothing. No response. Only silence.

When I desperately need to hear God... and He doesn't make a peep... I have a choice. I can either freak out, get angry, and walk away from Him. Or, I can be still, wait,... and think back to the last thing I heard Him say. As I said earlier, He's my Friend, so I chose option #2.

I started my bike and started eastward on I-70. As I rode, all of a sudden, specific Scriptures began popping into my mind:

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1)

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

"'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.' And He left them and went away." (Matt. 16:4)

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." (Psalm 1:1)

"Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy." (Proverbs 12:20)

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Galations 1:10)

Listen, I know I'm not very impressive. I wish I could write that I heard God audibly speak to me. But, for some reason, my Friend God doesn't work that way with me. It's almost as if He's pleased when I trust Him, love Him, and obey Him out of simple, child-like faith. (Remember Hebrews 11:6?)

As I rode, a big smile spread across my face. I knew God wasn't condemning me, but rather He was encouraging me. He was loving me. Within a half hour I was zooming past those two ladies and I flashed my smile and gave a wave... and I left them and their so-called-word-from-the-Lord far behind me. It was then that one last Scripture popped into my head:
"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect." (Psalm 33:10)

May I never be a man, a pastor, or a Christian that puts the reigns on God's Holy Spirit. I truly desire for the Lord to reign in every aspect of my life and ministry. Perhaps that won't look like what others envision,... perhaps it will. However, one thing I'm grateful to be learning is that the Spirit of the Master is good and wants to make Himself heard in our lives. The prophet Elijah discovered that that Spirit does not usually come in a strong wind, an earthquake, or a fire - not usually in obvious, in-your-face kinds of ways. He is more subtle; He typically comes to you and I in a gentle whisper.

And that whisper can be easily missed when there's too much emotional noise around, or when we're crying out for an audible, or even visible 'sign'.

It's when we learn to quiet our soul to listen, we may be surprised at all that we hear. Wisdom, comfort, peace, truth, encouragement... all these things come from God's Spirit... to His friends.