Worship As Ministry And Mission

"Do not be greived, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Nehemiah 8.10

Okay, so has anyone out there heard of Hobby Lobby. Well, I am now gainfully employed as a regular part time employee of Hobby Lobby.

I was realizing today, that one year ago I was pastoring a medium sized suburban church near Charlotte, NC. Six months ago I was living in Kansas City learning about intercessory prayer at IHOP-KC. And now, today, was my second day in the frame shop learning the art and craft of framing pictures for an hourly wage.

Our family needed to supplement our income, because our support base was not at a sustainable level. Several weeks ago, in my devotional time, I felt God lead me to "get a job." And so I began sending out resumes. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

So last week, in humility and desperation, I made a list of area big box stores, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot. I even checked out the possibility of teaching in area seminaries, universites, and schools. As I was headed out one day to see what the world had to offer, my wife mentions that I might check out Hobby Lobby. Now for those of you not acquainted with HL, it is an arts and crafts store, with everything, including custom framing [I'm foreshadowing here]. My pride and masculinity flinched, and then I decided to pursue it. What did I have to lose?

I walk into Hobby Lobby and fill out an application. I ask an assistant manager if they have any positions open. Among the list of positions open is a framer. She asks if I have any experience. No. But I apply anyway. I walk back to the frame shop to get an idea of what it's like. And I notice the music is somewhat familiar. I listen more carefully. No it can't be. Is that what I think it is. Yes. There is no doubt. It is Christian music. Hymns and contemporary songs set to a musical score. But why here?

After inquiring about the position in the frame shop, I am invited into the maangers office. We briefly discuss the position. I share up front that I am a pastor trying to build a prayer ministry and need to supplement our family income. He shares with me that HL is a company based on Christian principles and proceeds to tell me about the framing position and will get back in touch with me. My overall impression is very positive.

A few days later I'm in the managers office for an interview. The first 30 minutes is spent filling out papers and enduring a math test, without a calculator. Most of this math I haven't done since school. Elementary school. The other 30 minutes after one innocent question on my part, he tells me his family homeschools, his life was changed on an Emmaus Walk that he attended with his best friend and accountability partner, and that though he attends a baptist church, in the end, he simply wants to love Jesus!

So here I am, a missionary intercessor, working for a man who loves Jesus, in a store whose mission and vision are scripturally based, where they are closed on Sunday, and where they play Christian music all day. I am working in a marketplace prayer room! I wept for gratitude this morning on the way to work. I know that my hourly wage cannot sustain my family. I know that it is absolutley foolish in the eyes of the world for me to be "stuck" in some hourly wage job. And yet this is where God has me for now. Over the last two and a half months, this is the only door that has opened. And I have knocked on several doors. When I walked into the building, there was a spirit, no doubt the Holy Spirit that welcomed me. I did not feel that presence at Lowe's or Target, or any other place I sought employment of this kind.

I don't know why God has me here. I only know this is where I am. And my job is to remain faithful and grateful and make the most of the opportunity.

All because my wife told me to go to Hobby Lobby.

International House of Prayer that is, not Pancakes.

For those who would like to experience a little bit of worship and prayer via the web, follow this link:

http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?id=16910

Scroll down to the Global Bridgroom Fast heading, and click on the free live webstream.

It's free the first Monday through Wednesday of the month! This is where we were for six months, in Kansas City, learning about intercession in the context of constant worship. Think of it as a prayer meeting that never ends. A taste of heaven on earth. Hey, didn't Jesus pray something along those lines? On earth as it is in heaven...

"Dimitri Pavlovich...was trying to teach Ivan how to absord a broadaxe blow with his shield and twist the weapon out of his enemy's hands. But Ivan would have none of it. He kept leaping backwards, dodging the axe entirely, then whacking Dimitri on the back with his practice sword. Oh, how clever it seemd to Ivan, this dancing. But what Ivan did not understand, could not grasp in his feeble foreign mind, was that in battle there would be a man to the left and to the right of his enemy, who would see the sudden gap in the line as Ivan leapt back, and he would never have a chance to leap forward again to make his clever blow. Instead, he would have to retreat farther yet, and that if the man to either side of him did not fight his battle for him, soon the enemy would come pouring through the gap, and the day would be lost. A man had to stand his ground, giving no inch to the enemy,bearing his blows and striking back harder, forcing the other man to give way."

Before having my eyes opened to the spiritual warfare of intercession and the militant aspect of the church, I never really heeded or cared for miliaristic images as part and parcel of the Christian life.

Jesus speaks in Matthew 11.12 in reference to men like John the Baptist taking the kingdom by violence. I used to think that this was a negative. I thought Jesus was saying violence was not appropriate. But it is a different kind of violence of which Jesus is speaking. When we live authentic Christian lives in a secular world, we will be disruptive. We will be disruptive in the same manner Jesus was. Read Matthew 5. If we live true to Jesus, we will suffer injustice as a result of our witness. The world will reject us because they will see Jesus. At least they should, shouldn't they? Jesus made enemies living a life of grace and mercy. And so did his disciples after him. They all suffered the same fate as Jesus. They were branded and disruptive to society and they killed them just as they did Jesus. Paul was no different.

As the body of Christ, we must respond to the attacks of the enemy with the same militant spirit as Jesus, John the Baptist, the disciples, and Paul. But as is pointed out in 2 Chronicles 20 and Ephesians 6, the weapons of our warfare are not of this world. God is the one who fights on our behalf. Standing firm, using the sheild of faith, we are to extinguish the arrows of the enemy. We are to take the blow head on. And then use our shield, the shield of faith, to disarm the enemy.

What a powerful image is revealed in this book excerpt of what happens when we do not stand our ground in faith. The line of defense is weakened, in our own life and in the Body as a whole. I confess I have stepped back way too many times, given ground. And we wonder why the church is in the state of decline that it is.

Dale Anderson, the director of the Intro to IHOP program, said over and over, at some point we as the church must stop retreating. At some point we must stop giving ground to the enemy. And with passion in his voice and tears in his eyes, I began to understand the militant nature of this journey of faith. In the spirit of Nehemiah, we must open our eyes and weep over the state of the church, be willing to confess our part for current state of the church, and then take our place to repair the breach in the wall. This is the heart of intercession.

This gives me chills as to the reality of the spiritual warfare we face. Over and over, we are called to stand firm. God give me the grace and strength to stand firm another day. I cannot do it without You.