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I’m going to ask everyone to pray for our pastors, especially those who listen to the leading of the Lord, who honor His Still Quiet Voice and who take a leap of faith and trust in Him.

Let me tell, you that is so not for the faint of heart! The Lord will take you on some wild, scary adventures. It takes some genuine strength and courage to follow His lead. Those who do are great risk takers, rebels with a clue, people after God’s own heart.

We need to build a giant prayer hedge around those people, to tell the Lord how grateful we are for them, to ask Him to shine His favor on them, and to reward their faithfulness.

How often we forget that rebellion is actually ignoring God. It can manifest itself in complacency, safety, and conformity. We don’t realize it, but that successful,  clean cut guy, with a thriving ministry can be in full blown rebellion and hasn’t heard the Lord’s voice in 12 years. Conformity is not always obedience.

I’ve been there and done that a few times. Those times when you’re going Uh Lord, this looks financially and spiritually unwise, it makes very little sense, now Christians are calling me a heretic, and most of my atheist family is suggesting I go get screened for a brain tumor. Really Lord, I’m not sure if I’m going to wind up incarcerated or on mandated medication…..

Did I even hear you right??!

I’m not exaggerating at all, that’s a true story. Y’all be happy to know my cat scan turned out just fine. Apparently my frontal lob is functioning as it should be.

My life is pretty simple, my choices kind of inconsequential, at yet the last time it happened I really learned the truth about leaving behind and cutting lose the need for people favor. Not just any old people either, but family, friends, husband, even my own children. Not even my dearest and closest can come between God and I. And the enemy, good grief, he really comes at you when you’re actually listening to God and doing the right thing. I was left wondering if I had a target tattooed on my back or if I was just now a designated chew toy.

Rejection can be really painful too, especially if it comes from your loved ones or those who’s favor you covet. And obeying God is going to flat out cause rejection and lots of it.

For me, I am so grateful for those times when I took a leap of faith and listened to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It didn’t look good in the material world at all, it was counter intuitive, but doggone if God didn’t know exactly what He was doing. Hindsight is 20/20 and way after the fact, it actually scares me to even contemplate what might have happened had I been too afraid or failed to honor what He was telling me.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Spiritual death,emotional death, even physical death. The point being, we really need the Lord to lead us, because we alone cannot see the big picture, and often what seems right to us and right to the ways of the world, is not going to be right at all.

I actually know of  five pastors right now, all very dear to my heart, dealing with this very thing, all at the same time. Let’s lift them up in prayer, let’s ask for the Lord’s favor and blessing to be upon them. Let’s praise them for their boldness, let’s thank them for their example, because someday the Lord is going to say, “well done good and faithful servant” and we’re all going to know exactly why my Father is so delighted in them, and so proud of them for being faithful.