While I Prayed Tonight…

While I prayed tonight, I earnestly pleaded with God for one thing: “Help me remain relevant to people’s lives, not from the pulpit but on the ground”

You can easily lose touch with people from the pulpit over time. It’s so easy to become detached from people’s pain, struggles, tears and needs (no doubt I have my fair share of them)… or even their testimonies.
I want to walk with people, hand in hand through their journey.
I want to see life through their eyes.
I want to learn from them.
I want to understand why they are depressed and discouraged sometimes.
I want to understand why life beats them so badly sometimes.
I want to understand what makes them weep in the middle of the night.
I want to put my hand over the shoulder of a brother so often and say the words “Everything will be alright”.
I want to remind a sister “Keep hope alive, we are in this together”.
Maybe if I understand better, I can encourage them well and be there for them well and help them on the fight for joy well. Oh God, so help me!!!

Talk is good. Preaching is great. But I want to walk the walk.
I want to be like Jesus; He dug deep into people’s lives and the resulting transformation was amazing on every occasion!

So tonight… I found myself pleading with God to help me remain relevant, to help me remain a salt, to help me not lose my savour. I don’t want my light to become dim; Lord keep me alight.

As I retire to bed now, I am reminded of my own words printed on the back of my wife’s hooded sweatshirt: “Stir up in me a Passion for Your Name, Fan into Flame, Keep me Ablaze”