"Anoint me one more time Lord"

Prayer and preaching

I started preaching fairly recently—six months ago actually.

Since then, I’ve been regularly preaching at my church’s small youth group alongside a few amazing leaders. For the first time, I’ve been taking what I’ve learned in seminary and church and putting it to work for the sake of others.

Aside from a short exegesis of a verse and sharing my testimony at a few times, I was (and still am) very new to this.

I have been a student of church, theology, and scripture for the better part of the past three years, mostly due to the fact that I am a naturally curious person. This has led me to pursuing a more formalized study pathway through seminary, but I still have a long way to go before I’d consider myself anything close to a Biblical scholar.

Late last year, I felt God leading me to start serving in our youth group, I felt a deep burden to preach and teach. I wanted to study hard and present scripture clearly to kids who were struggling with connecting with God’s word and what it meant for them. I decided to approach it the way I do most things in life:

Figure it out and ask for the guidance of the leaders I have around me. Trial and error style.

And since December, I have learned a ton. Most of which has come through doing. But I have a long ways to go. All the elements of teaching—scripture, content, format, context, audience, delivery, pro presenter slides, and every other aspect preaching has been a constant thought in the back of my mind almost every week since December. I am self aware enough to know I am my most annoying when I am sermon prepping and poorly regurgitating commentaries at 11:30 PM to my sleepy wife.

All this to say, teaching has been a responsibility that I don’t take lightly and has been on my mind quite a bit.

I recently was watching a panel of some of the pastors, teachers, and Biblical scholars who have helped contribute to the seminary program I am in, talk about their sermon writing process. They all shared what their process looked like in detail and it was wonderfully refreshing to hear how each one had a different plan of attack based on their skills and talents and how God had uniquely gifted them to lead in their local context all over the globe. And while each of them had a slightly different sermon writing procedure, one thing was the same.

It all hinged on prayer.

Every one of them said they wouldn’t touch a sermon without praying until they had sought the Lord deeply for insight, wisdom, and instruction. Wether for planning out a six month sermon series, or for that week. Hearing them talk about a genuine reliance on God really convicted me in a way that I hadn’t expected.

This realization hit me like a hammer.

Each pastor, wether they were from Canada, New Zealand, Europe, or the US, all acknowledged in some way that they relied on prayer to direct, lead, strengthen, and work in them every time they prepared and delivered a sermon.

One of the pastors shared his weekly Sunday prayer before he taught to his congregation. It was his habit to kneel during worship and pray scriptures over the message. He quoted:

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

“so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

He shared how this centered his confidence in the message before he delivered it. Not because it made him confident in himself, but it built his confidence in God’s word and God’s will. He would then pray for his congregation and all the different stories that he knew were represented in the room (the drug addict, the grieving, the struggling, the mature, the new believer, ect.) He would thank God for the opportunity to serve them, and then he would pray something I will always remember.

He would pray: “Anoint me one more time Lord.”

His reasoning for this was simple. He didn’t ever want to rely on his earthly talents without asking for the supernatural power from the Holy Spirit to guide his delivery of Gods word. This prayer helped him recognized his daily dependence on God to help him minister well.

Something about that phrase just captivated me.

Anoint me one more time Lord.

I think partly because it reminded me of Hacksaw Ridge, when Desmond prays “just let me get one more Lord”, But I think more than that, it revealed how little I’ve relied on the Spirit of God in my own preaching.

And I can’t stand that thought.

I believe that preparation of a sermon is important and I’m not advocating for spontaneity without study. But I honestly can say I have been preaching for God without seeking his grace to do so. And that makes me sick.

In my curiosity, or my pride, or intellectual idolatry, I have been missing out on allowing God to move through me—simply because I hadn’t asked Him. My sermon writing has looked more like a formula, and less like a collaboration with the Holy Spirit. My preaching more like reading a script than a partnership with the Spirit of Truth. And I reject that. I repent, actually.

I need God’s grace and gifting daily to do what He has called me to do. I need prayer to inform my every step and I don’t think its too much of a leap to say that this applies to everyone.

But I don’t write this to apply my life lessons to others. If anything, I write this to share something God is doing in my life and in my heart as I learn the ropes of ministry. Including the trial and error.

And as much as I want to share neat, theological insights or polished seminary concepts, I think its important to write about the lessons and mistakes I am learning in real time. My hope is that it will keep me humble.

I know a lot of friends and family follow my writing and I want to say thank you for the support. I love you all.

-Z