What I learned at the Gauntlet part 2

I realize that there was a pretty long gap between these, but I'm trying to teach you guys to not make my blog into an idol. I mean honestly, whether it's one day or three weeks, I'm constantly getting e-mails saying, "when's the next blog post coming David? I just can't get enough!" But just hang in there and I promise you'll always get more from me eventually. On to part 2.

I need to just shut up. For way too long I've just preached at my small group guys. I felt like I had to really nail down the point by repeating it and making sure they got it. But God showed me that I'm not the one that makes a lasting impact anyway. When I keep rambling on, not only do I end up boring my kids and losing all of their attention, but I'm telling the Holy Spirit that I don't trust Him to do what He does.

Two weeks ago was my last full small group with my guys in Anderson. I knew it was a big night, so all afternoon I was praying for what God wanted me to say to them tonight since this would be the last time I really got to talk to them all together and I wanted to make it count. But I never really heard anything. And then I continued to pray that night during the worship service about what God wanted me to say during small group and God very clearly told me, "You just need to shut up and listen." So I did just that.

Matt led the discussion and the kids wouldn't stop talking. Every time I had something I wanted to say, I'd start to say it and someone else would start talking and I'd never get the chance to say anything. Eventually I just relaxed and listened to my kids talk. I got to understand how far these guys had come since I got them about a year ago and how much God had used me and Matt to grow these guys into who they are now. And I never would have gotten to see that if I had tried to talk to them the whole time.

In Matthew 21:2-3 Jesus tells two of His disciples to go get Him a donkey and a colt to ride into Jerusalem on. He tells them what to do and he tells them what they need to say for it to happen. Now, the story doesn't have a ton of details to it, but here's what I think happened. I think that God had been working on the heart of the owner of these animals for a while now. He had been teaching Him about trust and generosity. God might have even sent an angel to him ahead of time to tell him that a couple of guys were going to come get a few animals without asking and he needed to let it happen. Regardless of how it went down, God did some behind the scenes work to make this thing go down.

But, the two disciples going to get these animals didn't know any of this. Jesus just told them what their part in it would be and exactly what they needed to say. And I love that they didn't argue with Jesus and say something like, "but what do you want us to do if he says no to that?" I probably would have. I mean, they didn't know what God was doing behind the scenes and Jesus didn't tell them. But in verse six it just says "they did as Jesus directed them."

When God gives me words to say, I need to say them but there's no need for me to add anything to them. If God is telling me to do something, He's really just telling me to do my part in it. It's not all on me. He's doing tons of work preparing the situation behind the scenes. I just need to trust the Spirit to do His job and not worry about the "what if's?" and know that I'm only one part of what He's wanting to do.