Before assigning articles for this issue of LEADERSHIP, our editors asked scores of pastors, “What interests you about the supernatural?” Despite the open-ended nature of the question, most of the conversations followed a remarkably similar pattern.
Most turned immediately toward the dark side-spiritual warfare, demonic influences, exorcism. The recent proliferation of books about spiritual warfare-fiction thrillers as well as manuals on how to know and combat the Enemy-has heightened the interest in many congregations.
Many pastors were concerned that today’s preoccupation with such topics was unhealthy, rousing fear, suspicion, and too much attention on the occult. Others were curious, wanting to know more, especially about “deliverance ministry.”
Eventually, however, the conversations would broaden, and often we’d hear, “But there’s a lot more to the supernatural than demons. After all, conversion, forgiveness, and changed lives are part of the supernatural, too.”
One pastor in Maryland said, “For me, the most mysterious part of the supernatural is how God responds to prayer. Why does he choose to answer some prayers so quickly and visibly, and other times seem absent, leaving people with desperate needs?”
So, in addition to dealing with deliverance, this edition of LEADERSHIP addresses a variety of supernatural issues: prayer, worship, the presence of God, and “unction” or the empowering of preaching.
Admittedly, our coverage is hardly exhaustive. Many other areas remain.
For instance, not long ago I recognized another supernatural gift, one I had previously overlooked: the gift of blessing.
A year and a half ago, our family welcomed the birth of our third daughter. Mandy, we soon discovered, is a “special needs” child, severely and profoundly retarded due to microcephaly.
Today her prognosis remains, in many ways, discouraging. She is unable to respond to her environment. We have no indication she can see or hear. Despite multiple medications, she suffers frequent seizures. Apart from divine intervention, she will never be able to communicate, sit up, or use her hands to grasp.
As the severity of her condition became apparent, my wife Susan and I wrestled with many questions-not so much the “why us?” questions (we knew too many suffering believers, from Hebrews 11 to today, to feel that we should be immune).
Instead, we wondered how to pray. Does faithfulness mean we keep asking God to change Mandy’s condition? Or does faith mean we accept her condition as is?
We wondered at God’s purposes. Sure, maybe “all things work together for good” and Susan and I and all our church friends will find ourselves deepened and strengthened through this, but where’s the good for Mandy? What possible good does her condition do HER?
After a year, we learned to live with unanswered questions.
But a few days ago, a friend gave us a supernatural gift, although she didn’t call it that. She said, “I want to assure you that Mandy is one of Christ’s disciples, too. As one of God’s own, she is bearing her own fruit. God didn’t allow this for your good but for her good. God has claimed her, and she is his servant.”
I don’t think Pam realized what she had done, but she had enacted an ancient and biblical rite-the rite of blessing. By her words, she released the power of God into our situation.
As much as any Old Testament patriarch passed along a birthright, Pam had passed along a gift of hope and strength. This gift of “a good word,” I realized, is yet another of God’s supernatural gifts.
Another form of blessing is available more widely, to every Christian, as I discovered from pastor and songwriter Jack Hayford.
During a break in the interviewing for this issue’s forum (see page 14), Jack told us how his widely used worship song “Majesty” had germinated.
He was visiting Winston Churchill’s boyhood home at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, standing out on the grounds overlooking the acres and acres of landscaped beauty.
Walking back to the car from the rose garden, he said to his wife, “In a place this magnificent, it’s easy to see how a person raised here could readily imagine himself to be a person of destiny. There’s something about the environment that makes you feel, I am significant.”
Jack said, “Then I thought about all the majesty and dignity we’ve been endowed with in Christ. If that would dawn on all God’s people, if they would sense their significance in him, then we all could become more aware of his purpose in us. The song flowed out of that.”
Majesty, kingdom authority,
flow from his throne
unto his own.
His anthem raise!
A correction
The Winter 1991 issue of LEADERSHIP contained an article by attorney Richard Hammar on “Making Peace with Copyright Law.” The article incorrectly stated that churches purchasing a blanket license from Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc. of Portland, Oregon, have the right to make copies of songs in the CCLI repertoire for congregational singing, including “bulletin inserts, transparencies, and copies of choral music.”
Mr. Hammar informs us the article should have read “bulletin inserts, transparencies, and copies of congregational music.” A CCLI license does not authorize churches to photocopy choral music, handbell scores, keyboard arrangements, musicals, cantatas, vocal solos, or instrumental works.
Marshall Shelley is editor of LEADERSHIP.
Copyright © 1991 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
