The Protector and the Preacher
Jul 11, 09:26 PM
The past couple days our church has been hosting a mini conference about the Holy Spirit. For a long time we haven’t been able to do much because of taking care of the babies. When there’s an event that doesn’t have childcare we have to figure out how to keep the babies fed and happy. It’s been difficult trying to keep them happy and quiet so we generally have avoided taking them out like that. Now that they’re getting bigger, we have tried to be a bit more open to doing things.
So we decided to go to this conference. Rich Nathan, our senior pastor, was speaking along with Robbie Dawkins, a Vineyard pastor from the Chicago area. Friday night was cool, it started off with us missing worship because of feeding the babies but we soon moved into the cry room and were able to dump our bag of toys on the floor for them to crawl around with while we listened to the talks. Both Rich and Robbie spoke during both sessions and it was really cool to hear the stories of God’s power moving in amazing ways and to be challenged to not wait for God to open the door for us then go through it but instead to move toward the door with the expectation that God will open it. That evening there were more people in the auditorium than during most Saturday evening services! The room holds just over 3,000 people and it was mostly full! After the teaching, ministry time began. There was extended time of prayer and worship and it was clear that the Spirit was in the room and moving.
Saturday morning Rob had to run lights for the session but we were still able to pay attention to the session with only a minor disruption. We got to be a part of worship this time because we had fed the babies before the session started then we moved downstairs to the cry room again. After more stories and teaching they began ministry time again and someone felt that God wanted the children in the audience to be prayed for. Specifically they felt that we should pray for what God has called for the children – their destinies. We looked at each other and decided to bring the babies up front for prayer. When we got up there Rob was approached by a woman who asked if it was just the two of them (he was carrying RJ, Kristy had Evie). Rob said that it was the 4 of us and she shifted over to Kristy and Evie while another woman came to pray for RJ.
The woman praying for Evie was named Evelyn, but she goes by Evie! She said that she usually prayed for people, but she hadn’t felt it during the conference. Her husband asked her if she was going to go and pray and she ended up going up where she met us. As she was praying for Evie she said that she felt that Evie would become a good preacher or pastor. When Kristy said we had been praying for a bold baby she said that she sensed that Evie was bold and to give Evie a Bible at a very young age, even as young as three to read. A little later she said that all 4 of us were going to be used by God to lead people to Him. She also said that she could see that Kristy has a lot of joy from the babies.
The woman praying for RJ is actually on staff at the church and was excited to meet RJ. After praying for a bit she said that she felt that he was going to be a protector. She didn’t really explain what that meant and it seemed like a surprise for us since RJ has always been the more sensitive one, but as we talked about it later we realized that you have to be sensitive to be a good protector, otherwise you are unable to understand and empathize with whoever you are trying to protect. It also gives you compassion and perspective. She also prayed for good communication between Rob and RJ. This is something that we really have prayed a lot for as well because we want to have the relationship with our children that they can talk to us about anything and be completely comfortable.
So as we looked back on the two words spoken over the babies, we can see a little more about the kinds of things God has in store for our precious little babies! We are going to continue praying for them and teaching them as much as we can to follow hard after God in everything they do and especially to guide them into a deep relationship with the creator of the universe.
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