Since I become a pastor, I have noticed that my spiritual guard becomes tender and unfortified one day during the week. Usually, on Monday, I am most vulnerable spiritually. This may come to a surprise to you, but I can explain the reasons why. On Monday, as I begin to wind down from Sunday’s tension, I find myself either in deep despair or too much pride. I also feel fatigued and my bio-rhythm drops low. Similarly, in the Bible, Elijah the prophet ran away to desert after the spiritual victory, and King David stumbled when his country was at peace and winning the wars. Now I may understand why Jesus had to drag his tiresome body to pray after a long day of hard work.

 Satan is like a judo athlete. He reverses the energy we exerted on him and use it to counterstrike against us. For example, after we pray for long hours, he makes us feel unreasonably pride. After we are spiritually enlightened, he makes us find faults in others.  After we offer special service to God, he asks us to seek compensation or puts our righteousness ahead of God.  Basically, Satan distracts our attention away from God.

  This is something we experience daily as well. In martial arts, the defense is weakened after the offensive move.   In soccer, the defense loosens up after scoring goals. The newly wedded couple often fights in honeymoon.  Entertainers feel void after the show is over on stage.

 During the House Church Pastor Conference, God put a spotlight on us. The light of God was shining on us on the stage. Like the light that covers the dust on the lightbulb, our weakness and shortcoming were covered by God’s grace and used to show his abundant riches.  During and after the conference, our hearts were filled with joy, excitement, thankfulness, and assurance of the victory. 

  Now that the conference is over, and we are off the stage, it is important to protect our hearts. It is time to calm down and give time for his grace to settle in. It is time to rely on God’s protection and rest quietly under his grace. If we can rest well, his grace will multiply abundantly in us. We need to rest physically as well but in essence, now is the time to rest our hearts. We want to remember the grace he has poured on us and let his grace to settle in. 

  Then how can we rest in his grace? We need to put down our pride and weakness and look only unto God’s grace. Our hearts and lips should never stop seeking God’s protection and continuously trust his grace.  It will help if you can sketch an image in your heart. Imagine yourself “resting under the wings of God”.  Like a bird hiding baby birds under her wings, imagine yourself hiding under the wings of God. Like a child who crushes into the arms of parents after stepping down from performance stage, imagine yourself resting, relaxing, being in gratitude and being joyful in God.  And keep this image in your heart through the day. When you pray in the morning, bring up this image into your hearts or just pray for it to happen.  You will discover that the image and the prayer will guide you to where your heart should be settling in.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

Pastor Choi