Yesterday I took some friends of mine, (a young lady and her mother), hunting and she bagged her first deer. She and her mom were very excited. She patiently waited and watched for deer and right around dark three of them cautiously approached the field. She took careful aim and squeezed the trigger and the deer dropped like a sack of potatoes. It was a perfect shot!
They took photos from every angle as they were excitedly talking and texting their family and then her little school buddies and were still doing so an hour later when I got them back to their car and they headed to their home in Tallahassee.
She might take many more deer during her lifetime, and some will no doubt be bigger trophies, but she will never forget taking her “first deer”. I remember my first deer like it was yesterday. I was just 12 years old and that big old buck came running by my stand and I shot him with a perfect shot to the heart on a dead run with a 12 GA. shotgun slug.
Yee haw! You could have heard me yelling a mile away and I was shaking with buck fever like I was suffering from hypothermia. Now I’m old and gray and in a few days will turn 68. I’ve taken many more deer since that day than I can remember. I still enjoy seeing those big bucks, but that feeling ain’t like it used to be I tell you.
Unfortunately that is the way many go with their spiritual life. Folks get all excited when God gives them their first victory, be it their own salvation or leading someone else to the Lord, but then if we are not careful it begins to fade.
I’ve been writing Words for the Day since 1999 and lately I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s time to give it up. Five days a week I write it, and often I don’t feel like doing it. I write it anyway and it is most often at this low point that invariably some jerk will write and criticize me and I feel like “what’s the use”, but then someone will write and tell me that my devotional helped them that day and I slog on.
The same can be said about my speaking ministry and leaving my family behind as I travel all over the country on planes (that are loaded with sick people), staying at hotels with uncomfortable pillows and eating bad food at great expense.
And then there is the Jesus Alliance and trying to accomplish a lot with only a little and often being surrounded by apathetic people who don’t seem to care about much of anything aside from offering criticism.
So how does one remain all pumped up?
Hmmm . . . I suppose that the discouragement that comes with so many years of fighting the battle causes burnout because we get to thinking only of ourselves. Perhaps we should focus on those around us and absorb their energy like that excited little girl yesterday evening that took her first deer. Imagine spending some time talking to someone about their relationship or lack of it with our Lord and then having them say, “Yes I want Jesus in my life” and watching their excitement and the tears running down their face as they pray the “Sinners Prayer” with you.
I used to have a drawer full of letters from people that told me they came to know the Lord, changed their mind about committing suicide, determined to stay married instead of getting a divorce, got off drugs and/or alcohol, or told me that I helped them solve some other problem with Words for the Day. I’ve seen many come forward and accept Christ after speaking in prisons, churches, and even luncheons and breakfasts. And I’ve received encouraging letters about what I’m doing with the Jesus Alliance in trying to achieve unity in the church.
Many of those whom I’ve reached with my little ministry seem genuinely excited like that little girl. Maybe I should tap into that and instead of being burned out I can use their flame to re-light my own fire.
Please offer a prayer for those of us who are attempting to help others through our various ministries and ask the Lord to encourage us. Discouragement comes from satan and he seems to be very good at it. Many people leave the ministry each year and just the opposite is needed. We need more workers in the harvest fields and not less.
I will be on a deer stand in a few minutes and I will pray that God renews my determination to serve Him this glorious day that He has made and rejoice the entire time I’m doing it as I watch His sun rise and bring the forest alive.
Psalm 118:24
This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
November 11, 2014 – Click here to listen