When Janice and I started the church we were both working full time jobs. Janice was working at a law firm as a legal secretary and I was working for a major pharmaceutical company. My job was not 9-5 because I was a director. I put in as many hours as I needed to get the job done. My job also had me traveling once a month. In other words, Janice and I were very busy in addition to pastoring the wonderful people at Word Alive.
I have been a full time Pastor now for over 10 years and I often look back and wonder how I did it (Janice still works full time to provide our family with health insurance). There are days that Janice would ask me “what did you today?” and sometimes I feel guilty saying “I was at church praying for a few hours” knowing that she was working hard all day at the law firm.
Many times it seems that my prayers are just me talking and not much response from God. But I walk by faith knowing that God hears me when I pray. I know that prayer time is not wasted time. My heart’s desire during my time in prayer is to see more of God in my life; to have more revelation of who He is in me.
Deuteronomy 4:29
But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
NKJV
A few weeks ago, I attended a service up in Newtown. Near the end of the service, the preacher came over to me, laid his hand on me and prophesied some things that I have been praying for – to see the miracle power of God operating in our lives. But then he moved on to Jonathan, who was sitting next to me and prophesied again about me. And this prophesy is what really caught my attention. When he spoke these words I felt the power of God reverberate through my entire being. I was very humbled by what the preacher said by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
When I went home, I spoke to the Lord about it and I felt Him say back to me that it was because of my many years of diligently seeking Him that those words were spoken.
My point in sharing all this is to encourage many of you to continue seeking God and spend time in the Word, in Church, and in Prayer. To you, it may look like nothing is happening but I guarantee you there are things going on behind the scenes that will rock your world when the time comes for God to reveal them to you. But you have to stay faithful and diligent. Can you imagine stopping one day short of God speaking to you because you thought He wasn’t listening?
I no longer feel guilty telling Janice that I prayed for a few hours because I know more was getting done in those hours of prayer than I could have ever done doing paperwork or working on our church website.
Keep the faith!
Pastor Artie Kassimis
