On God's Page...

I heard a really cool phrase this morning... and thought, what a great concept for #seniorPastorMonday. Then I lost it. However, in the past two days, I've heard a story, or a portion of a story from two different pastor couples regarding personal decisions in their lives that will or would affect their ability to do ministry.

A funny thing about both instances; they involved a serious financial component to the conversation.

A three-way juggling act, between being obedient to the hand of God and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, trusting what has been placed in the heart, and making sense of it in the mind.

For following the mind, can cause you to miss the decision God wants and calls you to make.
Just as easily, and often for that matter, the heart misleads. The emotional "tug" and the feelings of the moment fade, to varying degrees of course; but even the strongest of instincts are occasionally wrong.

Finally, there's the downright, "yeah, I can't do that". Whether we don't feel ready, willing or able isn't really the question. It's a question of trust. Is wisdom involved? Yes. Prayer, absolutely. But wisdom only goes so far, for our finite minds are just that.

The super-natural realm of a sovereign, spiritual, Supreme Being can't be understood, let alone explained through physical eyes and earthly words. God is God and we are not. So it has always been. So too, will it forever be.

But that doesn't make the prayer in the process any less important. It doesn't negate the difficulty of the decision-making process and revolving conversations. It does not ignore the pursuit of Godly counsel from the outset to the outcome.

Nobody ever said ministry was easy. Nobody ever said the personal matters of life and faith of those who lead got easier while in ministry either.

So, on this #seniorPastorMonday, pray for those pastors in ministry struggling with any and all variety of decisions. Pray for marriages that are having difficulty navigating the conversation and reconciling the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the hand of God compared to finite wisdom and understanding. Pray God would grant discernment to know what is truly a step of faith and an act of obedience compared to what is a hope and emotion that is not a part of God's plan. May He work the miraculous as only He can do and may He intervene and keep from harm, those who are on the verge of missing God's plan and making a disastrous and damaging mistake.

To know the will of God
And hear His still small voice.
Even if it is one step at a time,
One decision at a time.
Living the life He has called us to live.
For His glory alone.

- PNC