june prayer update

On My Heart

"You shouldn't feel that way!"
It’s a message I’ve heard from our culture, from the church, and from myself. But it’s not a helpful message.

A Teen Challenge student recently told me he believed his feelings were from the devil. It saddened me to witness him thinking that way. A few years ago, I was thanking God for various things—including my emotions—when I realized I didn’t actually feel grateful for my emotions. Specifically, I wanted to avoid feeling sorrow and anger. Several factors contributed to this. I didn’t see anger expressed in my home growing up and I hated the overwhelming sorrow and anger I felt when my dad died during my early adolescence. I came to think that these emotions didn’t fit the perfectionist image I was trying to uphold. And I came to believe that experiencing such feelings wasn’t consistent with being Christ-like.

But I’ve come to see that our emotions—even the uncomfortable ones—are part of how we are created in the image of God, who also experiences these emotions. I’ve realized that trying to talk myself out of certain feelings only backfires. Now, I view emotions as a gift from God—a valuable signal revealing what’s going on inside me. They are not to be hated, ignored, or suppressed, but rather felt and learned from.

Although emotions shouldn’t be in the driver’s seat dictating our decisions, they shouldn’t be stuffed in the trunk. They’re part of how we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

As for ministry opportunities:
I still have several open Sundays on my summer calendar for speaking engagements. In the past, July and August have filled in completely, so now is a great time to schedule me. I’m real excited about a couple of recent messages I’ve developed. One is on confession of sin with a personal testimony and the other is on praying prayers of lament based on Psalm 13.

GENERAL PRAYER

Pastor Ed covets your prayers. You can use the acronym OAR to pray for his speaking ministry. 

O—Open doors of ministry

A—Anointing

R—Responsive audiences

Pray also for wisdom as he mentors Adult and Teen Challenge students, open doors and open hearts for sharing the gospel on the street and fruitful ministry as he connects with pastors and ministry leaders in Lebanon and throughout the region.