Might and Power or Spirit Led

October 7, 2024

When I first came to LaGrange, one of my church members was always quoting Zechariah 4:6, “So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” The church member made it clear what it meant, that we could trust in our own might and power, or we could trust in the Holy Spirit to lead our church into the future.

There were many times our leaders joined together in listening prayer to see if God would whisper His will for us at that time. Usually, the Spirit would lead us down the hardest path we could imagine. It was the path we couldn’t accomplish without trusting in the Spirit’s might and power to see the victory. We got pretty good at recognizing this preferred path of the Spirit until the Spirit caught us by surprise.

It was a time in the life of the church when things seemed to be going well. We were growing in numbers, finances, and spiritually. During that time, the worship elder asked the ruling board about the way we prayed in worship. Our discussion wasn’t going anywhere, so we decided to listen for God’s voice. We were very excited by what we all felt we heard, “Teach the congregation to pray out loud, and let them pray in worship.” The next Sunday, we were excited to introduce the new way of praying for one another, and let the members pray for each other’s prayer requests during worship.

It went horrible. People were angry. We heard things like, “That is the pastor’s job. I’m not about to pray out loud in church. I didn’t like the way s/he prayed.” You get the picture. Over the next weeks, we tried to tell them that God wanted to teach them to pray for people out loud, in the day-to-day workings of their lives. Worship was the training ground for God’s plan.

By the next Board meeting, we figured we had gotten something wrong. We began to have listening prayer and received the same guidance from the Holy Spirit. We didn’t like it, but we knew that we all had heard the same thing from God. We planned a teaching exercise for the next Sunday’s service, hoping it would calm the congregation.

That bombed. The discontent was even greater with threats from members of the congregation of quitting the church if we didn’t go back to the way things were. Attendance dropped over the next three weeks, until the Board met again. We knew God would release us, or in some way guide us, to the right way to do this. God’s gentle whisper wasn’t such a whisper, and He communicated to us that we were doing it just the way He wanted. He was teaching people to take prayer into the world. I can tell you that is exactly what happened.

Today, our church members tell me personal stories of God’s amazing victories, as they are used by God, to pray everywhere and anywhere. They often say, “When I started praying I didn’t know what I would say, but then God gave me the words, and helped me to remember prayers I heard from worship.”

That experience changed the way I pray for people dramatically. Now, I look for every opportunity to pray with people no matter where I am. Last summer I went on a guided kayak trip with my wife. The guide was a young man and we were his only kayakers, so we were able to talk about many things, including his dreams, hopes and aspirations. As I handed him a tip, I asked if he was a man of faith. His face lit up as he nodded. I asked if I could pray for him, to which he readily agreed. After years of praying for people in public, the words came easy as I prayed for his faith, God’s will and his dreams. When I said, “Amen,” the look on his face was full of joy and thanks. Only a few people have rejected a prayer over the years. Hundreds have been richly blessed as God has used my prayers to strengthen them.

Do you think you trust in your own might and power or the Holy Spirit more? Have you ever felt the Spirit lead you in a direction you didn’t want to go? Have you gone anyway? What happened? Do you think you could learn to pray with people whenever they need a prayer? I promise it gets easier with each prayer you offer. Praise God’s Spirit, the power of His church!