What do you do when a woman interrupts the worship service, uses inappropriate language and claims the church is persecuting her?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers. I mean, I can tell you how I tried to handle that situation at church this morning, but it didn’t work very well. She wouldn’t calm down, wouldn’t listen to reason and refused to leave. The congregation watched in stunned silence. The woman was obviously agitated and very confused.
Praise God that a woman in the audience came to my aid and eventually coaxed her to leave the auditorium. Despite the bizarre circumstances, we continued to worship. The worship team soldiered on admirably despite the unnerving development.
After making sure the woman had someone to talk to, I returned to my seat. It was then that everything began to take its toll on me. What in the world just happened? How can I possibly preach after that?
Ignoring the worship leader’s call to sing, I bowed my head and prayed until it was time to preach. My emotions swung back and forth, praying for the Lord’s will to be done and for me to have the full armor of God on. This was spiritual warfare, pure and simple.
On the other hand, I felt absolutely terrible for the woman, knowing how confused and delusional she was. Part of me wanted to run after her and comfort her.
Regardless, I sure didn’t want to preach anymore. Those around me had seen me crying and praying, and a woman encouraged me with a pat on the back when it was my turn to preach. Knowing I had to get up and do my thing, I did.
The rest is pretty much a blur. After admitting I didn’t want to preach, I led a prayer for the woman and then delivered what God had put on my heart. To be honest, I’m not sure what I said, and if it was even close to what I had prepared.
And now, here I am, alone in my office, writing this blog entry. And I’m still stunned by what happened. Was it real or a dream? Did a woman really stand up in the middle of the worship service and say all those things in front of all those people? Did it really happen?
But when I peel back the emotions and really think about this morning, the most amazing thing is how great our God is. He took a preacher who didn’t want to preach, couldn’t preach, and preached for him. He took a broken man who was upset and under attack and delivered a message to His people.
Make no mistake, our God is a great God, the only God, Creator God. I praise your name, Jesus, I praise your holy and powerful name!
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”1
1 Ephesians 3:20-21
that's an amazing verse! and a crazy story! Praise God that He is able to work through us. You knew what you had to do, and trusted God to carry you through.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's certainly the oddest thing to ever happen to me at church. And yeah, those verses may be my absolute favorite in the Bible. Memorize them--it's worth it! :)
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