The enemy is real.

Recently, we walked into the doors of a church we did not know after months of clinging to a place of comfort. We, like so many others, had been hurt by The Church. We were criticized and cast out because of the people in power. 

Oddly, that statement makes me feel a bit closer to Jesus. The people of power during His day were the ones that lead the followers to send Him to His death on the cross. If the Creator of the World, God in Flesh, can be church hurt; who are we to think that we are immune. 

Stepping out of a place of comfort was not easy for us. Heck, stepping into that place of comfort for the past few months has been torture. Now let me explain, we were hurt. We were hurt by the people we committed to serve and those who committed to serve alongside us. We were hurt by the Lord who chose to let us fall at the hands of our enemies. So often we like to hide from those hurts but our desire for the Lord has carried us into an uncomfortable place multiple times a week. 

I know. I said it was a place of comfort previously. Yes, comfortable. Yes, uncomfortable. It seems confusing but you know as well as I do that a comfortable place can get uncomfortable very quickly.

The morning we walked through the doors of this unfamiliar church, the enemy began his work. The check in system for the children’s ministry would not print labels for my children. The classroom for my third grader was not staffed and our arrival ten minute prior to service put us walking into worship nine minutes late. There were already a dozen reasons for me to feel that this decision to try to stretch ourselves was pointless. We truly felt that we needed to put to action behind our desire to be renewed. We were there. 

After the service, we were approached by several pastors. One pastor commented that he hoped the morning went smoothly for us. I smiled and told him that we had served in the ministry for many years and knew the details to overlook. He did not look to reassured by my response, so I went on to explain that those little hiccups were most definitely the enemy eager to keep us at bay. The devil was not going to just let us continue to walk through this season of rest and renewal. He was going to make us work for it. 

1 Peter 5:8-11 says,

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen

  

The enemy is real and he seeking to distroy us. How can we be sober-minded; be watchful? We must be aware of his willful actions and call him out. We must resist him and his attempts to get us all worked up and stand firm in our faith. We must keep walking in obedience to God even if it means we feel terribly uncomfortable. 

We will be going back to that unfamiliar church this coming Sunday. Overall, our experience was still encouraging. The volunteers were very friendly and remained positive but even more so we felt the Holy Spirit speak; more loudly than we have heard Him speak in some time. So it seems that an uncomfortable, unfamiliar place were we hear the Lord speak is exactly where we should be.