Are You Paying Attention?

In the Bible there is a short passage of Scripture in 1 Chronicles 11 about the men who served David. They are called his "mighty men", and they actually did some pretty impressive things. One of my favorite stories about them, is found in verses 16 - 19. In it David was up in a cave, while the Philistines were at Bethlehem. David was thirsty, and made the statement that he would sure like a drink of water from the well that is found at the gate to Bethlehem.

There were three mighty men standing nearby that heard David's desire, and immediately left for Bethlehem, broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well and took it to David. Now I want you to see something here, because if you just read this casually you can gloss over it. These three men heard David's desire and went to fulfill it. They didn't wait to be asked, and they didn't wait to see if he really meant what he said. They were paying attention to their leader, and were ready to move at a moment's notice.

They fought their way through the army of the Philistines, the three of them. That was no small feat, right? Then they drew water from the well. Have you ever drawn water from a well? It's not like turning on a faucet. You have to lower the bucket down into the water, then pull it back up, and then pour it into whatever container you brought with you to fill up. And remember they fought their way through the Philistines, they didn't sneak in and get the water. That means that while one guy was getting the water the other two had to keep the Philistines at bay. Then, they had to go back through the army to get back to David.

We have reached a point at Word of Life, that I'm sure none of us ever thought we would be. Our Pastor, friend and mentor has gone on to be with Jesus. If you've been around Word of Life for any time, then you know that God told Pastor, "Go to Sand Springs, Oklahoma, raise up a New Testament church and from there you will touch the world. And I (God) will call faithful people alongside you to help." That is the mission of Word of Life, train people and touch the world, and that is what has been happening for thirty years.

We find ourselves at an interesting crossroads so to speak. Pastor David is no longer with us here on this Earth, so what do we as the flock of Word of Life (And Word of Life churches all around the world.) do? How can we best serve Pastor David now? I think it is by doing what these three mighty men did. They were paying attention to their leader, and we can too!

Right now we have men on staff who are leading Word of Life; Pastor Chad, Pastor Jesse and Pastor Terry. Not to mention we have a board who is looking out for the best interest of Word of Life and every area in which it has influence. We are being led at this time, each and everyone of these men are Spirit-filled men who hear the voice of God. They are here for such a time as this, and they need our support.

I for one am really going to be paying attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit and do my best to be proactive to the needs of the leadership, how about you? Instead of waiting for a plea to be made from the platform, I'm going to continue to do the things that I've always done, and look for anything else that needs to be done and do it too.

No one will ever replace Pastor David, he was one of a kind. But that fact still remains that we do have leaders at Word of Life and we as the mighty men (And women.) need to be paying attention to our leadership and be ready to charge the enemy to get them a drink of water if necessary. Keep 'em up folks, there is still a fight going on...one that we will win!