“Dear Lord, please don’t let me curse, cry, or confuse anyone while I’m up here…….” amen. The crying because I’m an emotional guy. I start speaking about the life that God has given me and the tears start falling. The cursing because I can get a little fired up when I start talking about the life God has given me…..I want to tear something apart sometimes. Not in a destructive way, but in a “I feel like my body can’t contain the passion and joy inside me” kind of way. And the confuse part because there is so much I want to say but can’t convey. I just want them to get it!!!!!!! To understand the love and the joy and all the goodness!!
So when Pastor Harvey asked for 15 minutes of encouraging words last Sunday, I was like, ya sure…No problem…?..?…?
I thought “hey, this will be interesting to see what happens when I don’t stress about preparing a message.” Up until this point I’ve preached with a plan. I’ve followed the guidelines of how a preacher delivers something to a Sunday crowd.
So I prayed my 3 Cs prayer (no crying, cursing, or confusing) and quietly walked across the dirt floor to the front of the church. Some time later, I’m not sue of the time I realized I was a little louder than usual and I was pacing a bit.
As Jackson, my friend and translator was conveying one of my longer deliveries, I realized something. When I let my heart do the talking, and throw caution to the wind, that’s when people start to know me. That’s when we start affecting peoples lives. I could see there faces changing. I could see them understanding how much I love The Lord. And how much He loves us. I was having fun sharing my passion for The Lord.
You don’t have to be an eloquent speaker to share your thoughts. I’m certainly not. But when I committed to what my heart had to say, the words came and the passion was shared with the crowd. It was a beautiful thing to be a part of.
God loves it when we talk about Him and in my case He usually teaches me much more than I do anyone that’s listening. I’m not ever gonna be invited to preach at your church but there is something to be said for delivering an authentic message that puts your heart and soul on display. I mean real light the place up.
So I say go looking for your own authentic delivery. If you are in seminary school, maybe don’t walk into your next sermon with my 3 C prayer approach but if you sing, drop a beat……If you do cart wheels…,by all means get a strectch in first, or if you tell jokes….put them in stitches.
Authenticity brings comfortability. And when we get comfortable, our hearts start taking over instead of our heads. It worked out pretty well for me last Sunday. Maybe it’s something you can use as well.
