I Am Not Alone

May 08, 2008

One of the greatest battles I face is loneliness; the feeling that I am in this all by myself. I guess this is true for many pastors and those involved in ministerial leadership. After all, who does a pastor talk to? I mean, I don't won't anyone to know when I am discouraged, depressed, disillusioned or feeling downright defeated. Maybe it is the pride of not letting anyone know I am not the inventor of positive thinking, or the fear that the man they think is a sturdy Superman is really a whimpering Clark Kent, or the insecurity of letting anyone think my hotline to God is out of order. I guess most of us pastors, at times, walk a very lonely road.

But my church members share with me that they too feel lonely. I am convinced that many, if not most. Christians live with the subconscious resignation that the "victorious Christian life" is one that is out of their reach and they are just glad they are going to Heaven--and not every Christian is even sure about that! They live with the feeling that they cannot do the things that most "super Christians" can do--things like sharing their story, serving in ministry, even leading one person in a bible study becauseonce they think that they are in this all by themselves.

God in His infinite wisdom, knowing us better than we know ourselves and realizing that the feelings of loneliness, insecurity, and inadequacy would plague us has given every pastor and every Christ follower a secret weapon-a weapon that we all carry with us 24/7--a weapon that though unseen can unleash incredible divine supernatural power through us and accomplish mighty things for the glory of God. That weapon is more than a power--it is a person called the Holy Spirit.

God has given the Holy Spirit to us for the two most important and difficult things God commands every Christ follower to do : prayer and witnessing.  Prayer is hard work for me and I suspect for others and witnessing is evidently so daunting to the average believer that (according to statistics) over 90% of Christ followers have never tried to share with even one person.

It should be obvious that the Devil would want to oppose those two activities more than any others because he doesn't want us talking to God about others and he doesn't want us talking to others about God! So what does God do? He gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us to do both!  I think about Romans 8:26-27 and Acts 1:8 and it encourages me in two things: (1) I have a teammate who is guaranteed to given me divine power and (2) because of God's Holy Spirit I may feel lonely at times but I am not (and never) alone!