Hello Church!
Chelsea Maitland here. A few years ago I had the privilege of witnessing radical bravery in the midst of fear- and it came from an 11-year-old girl. It was one of the most significant ministry experiences I have had to date, and I want to share it with you because this type of boldness in the Holy Spirit is accessible to you too.
I was leading worship at a middle school summer camp. It was everything you imagine a middle school summer camp to be- full of joy, creative games, and all kinds of dancing and singing. The kids were phenomenal worshipers- but what caught me off-guard was that they actually started to lead me in worship. They were so fully immersed in these songs about following Jesus, becoming aware of the Holy Spirit, and asking God for miracles, that it caused me to engage in deeper, more intimate worship with the Lord.
One evening we started singing "No Longer Slaves" by Bethel- and during the chorus I called out to them, "Sing this to the face of fear." As they sang the words "I'm no longer a slave to fear/ I am a child of God" I started to notice a shift in the body language of one of the students. She seemed scared.
The worship set ended and we found that this student was having a panic attack. Myself and a couple of other leaders stayed with her as the other students went to their next activity- and we found that this particular panic attack was spiraling fast, and was lasting a long time. As time went on we saw that she was staring off into the distance at something that we couldn't see. As she wept, she described a presence that she found terrifying- so we prayed. We prayed that in the name of Jesus this presence would leave this little girl, we prayed that she would know that she is a child of God and we prayed that this presence would know that too. We prayed that in the powerful name of Jesus, when we said amen, that it would leave.
We said "Amen" and nothing changed. I was mad. I walked up to my piano and started singing "I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies" and sang it from a posture of frustration at God. I asked God, "Why won't you rescue this little girl from fear?".
Just before we were about to take her to the hospital, I watched this child walk right up to whatever this figure was- this presence that was causing her crippling fear- and say, "Be gone in the name of Jesus- I am a child of God!".
She fell to the floor and cried tears of joy, and tears of relief because it was gone.
You see if God had answered my prayer in the way I asked God- which was that this scary presence would leave when I said "Amen", this child would not have had the opportunity to claim her own worth in Jesus in the presence of her own enemies. In the presence of fear.
The Holy Spirit empowered her to do that, all on her own.
That type of rescue- radical, claiming-your-worth, deliverance from fear- is available to you too.
Come hear Pastor Mark take us through chapter two in the book of Nehamiah on Sunday. It's another story of God empowering us through God's Holy Spirit to be bold in the midst of fear.
Peace be with you friends,
Chelsea Maitland