Greater is He

Two nights ago, I preached at a youth event I help lead. One of the largest groups we were expecting could not make it and it had not been as well publicized as previous events had been, so frankly, I was really nervous that it would be a letdown from some of our previous events.

I felt like I hadn't put as much daily effort into it as usual.

It kind of snuck up on our whole team.

It was at a new location.

There were some communication problems in the planning of it originally.

As the worship team was ministering, I was praying desperately in the background for God to use the team in ministering and me in preaching to glorify Himself.

In a lot of ways, I felt like I was in over my head because the night before, there was a pretty significant change in the way my sermon was going to be done. But it didn't matter. Because Greater is He that's in me than He that is in the world.

Sometimes, as a spiritual leader, people constantly need you for guidance and decision-making. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your are self-sufficient. It's easy to think that because others rely on you, that you do indeed have it all figured out. And it's easy to think that the world is dependent on your efforts.

Among spiritual leaders, the "Superman Complex" is the really strong, and I count myself chief among those that have this disease.

God used me that night, and many people commented on how much I had grown as a preacher. The fact is that I hadn't grown. I had diminished. God had grown inside of me.

He used that night to remind me of my dependence upon Him. I'm not Superman. He is. And sometimes, it takes the feeling of being unprepared for me to realize that God is God, and He doesn't need me. I need Him.

How beautiful.