“For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” -Hebrews 4:12(ESV)

In our my way, right away, Burger King, and Daytona 500 paced lifestyle we are always looking for convenient talk shows, talk radio, (xm radio) clips, articles, blogs,blanket text messages,(you know the ones that if you don’t send to 10 people your not really a Christian! Give me a break!) e-mails, etc. etc. that will inspire and impact our lives in a positive way. The crazy thing is that on any subject matter or facet of our life that is need of a drastic make-over, we trust more in these convenient resources and their authors, and really don’t know what they believe to be truth theologically, spiritually, mentally, or morally!

Ok, let’s say we do know something about the character of these individuals that we allow to sow into our lives regularly through word or practice of life, could there be anyone on the planet that could assist us an help us through the tumultuous waters of the daily grind better than Jesus? Just a thought! We are a “Sponge Bob” culture that is always in soak up search engine mode, often in information overload, from negative and positive resources, and the resources that we are relying on are apparently letting us down! We as a nation have never been more overweight, over worked, over stressed, and in need of a major over haul make-over in every category of our lives! Back up that bus! Really! If this is true, and it is! Check or Google the stats! We need to revert back to a ”Resource” that has always been relevant to any culture, era, or people group that has ever existed on this planet. Are you ready for the answer? Drum roll please!……..The Holy Word of God-The Bible!

In our Family of Faith right now Jesus is doing many things in many different realms of our ministry. There is a God Atmosphere right now in small groups for adults, student(youth and college), and children that I have not experienced since I have been called here almost three years ago! The Lord has placed a sense of urgency in my heart to assist in bringing an age appropriated dynamic to all of our small groups so that true Spiritual and numerical growth can become reality through a solid and sound platform of relevance from God’s Holy Word that  can be dispersed to all of our age groups. 

People of all these categories inside our body are stepping up and serving where the Lord is instructing them to, and people from the outside of our church who have been in an environment of faith that they feel was going against what God’s Word teaches, or have been washed up on the banks of Spiritual hurricane through church split or dissension, or from just scars that sometimes come from serving the Lord even in His Church! I know that’s hard to believe right?

 With that being said I have often been advised by several of my Spiritual mentors that when prayer should be the most intense within the Body of  Believers, for the Body,  is when You as a Body are having mountain top experiences! When I was told that for the first time I looked at the Man of God that Christ had given to me to help shape and mold and nurture me in the Faith and almost laughed out loud! I was like, WHAT? Ha ha! Yeah right? After about five years since that “Gold Nugget” of advice, I have come to know that he was right!

With all that Christ is doing in and through us right now we are prayerfully seeking another staff position to come along side of me and under-shepherd our student ministry. Since June of 2009, when our student pastor was led to another church field,  we have been following the leadership of the Holy Spirit as He leads us and guides us in this process! You can only imagine, especially if you are reading this post and are a pastor or you are married to a pastor; that we have experienced several ups and downs in this search because of this position being unfilled!

However, one of the most amazing things that I have seen has taken place in this spiritually tiresome and rigorous process! Christ has assembled a team of student small group leaders in our youth department that have been phenomenal! A sold-out,humble, faithful, and very excited group of Spirit led men and women who have been called to service by the Lord to assist(by teaching them the Word of God) and serve our youth even after the Lord provides us with a point leader in our youth department! Now that ‘s awesome! Usually it’s like pulling teeth to get anyone to volunteer to  follow Christ by being obedient to Him in the calling He has for them! So that’s another  awesome “God”  thing to add to our Spiritual mountain top experiences.

To get to the point of this post though, I must say that it has been hard to know what to pray? As followers of Christ we know that we have been called to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him; right?(Luke 9:23)  That comes without saying! Duh! We are followers of Christ! This(Truly Following Christ) can only be done though by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us in mind, heart, and spirit, and in body! Alot of times instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to burden us with what we should be praying for, we take it upon ourselves and pray what we would like to see happen! I cannot find anywhere in the Word of God where we are instructed to pray that way.

Jesus always prayed that the will of Father God would be done, so that He may be glorified through the Son because that was the intentions of the Spirit of God in Him!(John 13:31)  In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ prayed, “Father not My will but your will be done!”- (Luke 22:42)- right before the Roman guards were about to seize Him and He was to  fulfill the perfect will of the Father that would completely and wholly bring about Redemption and Salvation to all who would believe and follow Him with their lives-The Cross!  So, with all of that said, we as Christians know that we should allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what prayer concerns should be made priority, and how we should pray!

 But sometimes, just sometimes we don’t know what to pray or say(which is what prayer is by the way! just talking to God through Christ the Great High Priest, our Mediator) to Him! The  Apostle Paul instructed us on this topic or in our case a real life dilemma in our spirit! He said, 26 “In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with GROANS  that words cannot express. 27 And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”- (Romans 8:26-27)

As we continue to live on this side of  Heaven and await our future Hope, Christ Jesus our Lords return, we can only hope for what we have not seen, and that is the basis of our undying faith in God. We are looking for Him to come and glorify His creation, and for all eternity wholly transform them into the “Sons of God!”  As we serve and wait for Him to return for His Church and His children, it is our Hope that sees us through all the trials and temptations and weak moments that arise! Hope, keeps our focus on the things of Heaven and the Lord Jesus until that great Day! Previously in the passages before this one the Apostle Paul said just as we wait on our glorification, on the future Hope that is coming for all who believe , the Holy Spirit helps us in our weak moments when we don’ t know what to pray! He intercedes on our behalf when we just can’t get the words out  to our Lord and God, audibly or just from our hearts cry! Finally he says that He- (God) who is always searching our hearts, also knows the mind of the Holy Spirit, and He knows that His allegiance is totally pledged to fulfilling His complete and perfect will!

 Wow! that’s a  comforting Truth! When we don’t know exactly what to say God in prayer on any topic or situation the Spirit of God in us GROANS or utters the very words that need to go up to Him, and it will be according to His will because the Holy Spirit only has one agenda! To bring Glory, Honor, Praise, and Pleasure to God our Father! Groaning has never been a personality trait that could ever be expressed in a positive light the way we as human flesh moan, groan, and complain, but the  petition that He (The Holy Spirit)  makes to the Father will always be productive,where alot of times ours will be counter productive! Something to entertain and ponder from God’s Love Letter to us- The Holy Bible!

In the Name of The Resurrected Christ,

Pastor Anthony Potts

“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”- A. W. Tozer

Do you ever feel just spread so thin in your schedule that you don’t know how you could give anyone anything else? Anymore time, money, service, or anymore attention? You are maxed out ! Here is an awesome thought! Our God is so Omnipresent(has ability to be everywhere at all times); Omniscient(all knowing), and is Omnipotent(which means all powerful)! Our God is never spread thin! Or having a day of conflicting schedules! Or under the weather or sick , or undergoing some type of illness! He always has time to spend intimate time with us all throughout every minute of every day, and He knows exactly what we need, and has the ability and the authority to administer to us and provide what we are in need of the most! He loves His children and is fully capable of parenting them perfectly! Wow! What a Dad!

In Christ,

pastor anthony potts