I am realizing more accurately who I am these days. The more I discipline my flesh to align with the Spirit, I am killing the old and finding the new. So much is happening this [school] year. Sure, there are challenges and the things that stretch the mind and spirit… but there are also so many beautiful new things. Every new and difficult thing has a part to play in my new self.  A self that has little to do with ME at all and more to do with my Jesus.

So I am slowly seeing that something inside me wants to preach. And I don’t say that lightly. This is not a special gift that I have and it certainly is not something I even ever aspired to. It is something God is creating in me. I think there are times in your life where you have these lightbulb moments – the kind of moments where you are doing something and suddenly you think – aha! This is it! This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. And for that second, you have a glimpse of destiny right there in your lap.

I’ve had a handful of those moments and I vividly remember each of them. One in particular was when I was in Peru on a missions trip, preaching to a group of people we had gathered on the streets outside Lima. I had subconsciously raised my hand to volunteer to preach and had no idea why I had done so. I did not know what to say or how I would pull the message off with a translator at my side. But that night, I experienced the intimate beauty of working with the Holy Spirit like never before. I began to speak… and then I was not even aware of what I was saying. Only that at certain times the Spirit gave me “notes,” things to say and when to say them. At the altar call, perhaps a dozen people came to salvation!!! I was in absolute shock. What happened? Where did all that come from? I knew precisely that it was NOT me.

Still after that moment, I did not desire to preach, but I have noticed a few other times that when the moment arises and I am joining the Spirit in what He is doing, I absolutely LOVE to preach. I love to see the Gospel clicking in someone’s mind. Even if they do not say anything, the eyes show it. They are thinking about it, about this Jesus they had never heard about before. I love the authority of the Spirit that kisses the Gospel and makes it come alive. As Johannes has been teaching us, without the Holy Spirit to ignite the Word being preached, you have nothing but a show. And showy preaching is so yesterday, so ineffective, so been-there-done-that.

I want the original fire. The real thing. The crazy passionate from-the-heart Gospel that cuts to the heart of the listener. The Gospel that changed the world and turned it upside down from the moment Jesus began speaking. The Gospel that revolutionized twelve disciples’ lives and turned them from ordinary men into unashamed wielders of the Truth. This is something I want to be a part of, something that transforms not only the people hearing the Word, but also the person presenting it. Because every time I have the beautiful opportunity to share the Gospel, something shifts inside of me. Something that I know makes me a little more like Jesus every time.