With a deep sense of yearning, this has become my prayer. Today, I seek to share with you the grief in my soul.
Thirty-four years ago, the Lord sought to make me His own, but I only acquiesced out of fear. Twenty-three years ago, He took the broken pieces of my heart and promised to mold them into a great masterpiece. Eleven years ago, He drew me to Himself creating with me a deep desire to know Him more.
He surrounded the fresh soil of my heart with others who planted seeds that served to teach me how to seek Him, to trust Him, and to love Him.
It was then that I was ready – to serve Him.
For nine years, I have had the honor of serving Almighty God. I have been given a great gift in the opportunities to watch God move. And an even greater gift in the peace and joy that I have found in Christ. And while He has guided and directed my path, I had to say yes.
Some believe that when you say yes to Jesus you lose all of yourself. But for me, it was only when I said yes to Jesus that I found myself.
When you become a follower of Jesus, you do so with the intent to be more like Him. To love like Him. To pray like Him.
To die like Him.
The majority of us will not carry an old rugged cross up Calvary’s hill. We will not agonize as we are demoralized in front of a crowd of those we came to serve. And we will not become blurry-eyed from the pain that we are dealt as we hang for hours. We have been given that grace, because our price was paid by the One who took our death as His own, so that we could take His life, as our own.
But we still must die.
We must die to self. We must let go of the things of this earth that threaten to destroy us. We must let go of bitterness, hate, selfishness, un-forgiveness, fear and worry. And when we do, when we turn toward Jesus, we have the honor to receive His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
Only then, can we find ourselves.
Turning toward Jesus is not a religion, but a relationship with the One who knitted you in your mother’s womb. With the One who holds your heart in His hand.
It is a choice.
So with that preface, I share with you my heart for the body of Christ. This is the yearning of my soul. I yearn to see an awakening within the hearts and souls of man and woman alike. I yearn to see hearts healed, families mended and Joy within the Body. I yearn to see the homeless surrounded with love, the helpless find hope and the lost be found.
Will you join me?
Father God,
You are el Shaddai, Almighty God, Maker of Heaven and Earth. You stand outside of space and time and You call us Yours. You sent Your Son to earth to teach us to love and to live and to give us the divine opportunity to dwell with You forever. Jesus took the death that should have been ours as He wrote our name on the palm of His Hand and nailed our sin to His Cross. On Peter’s faith, Jesus built His church and today more than 2000 years later we are still struggling with what that means.
Abba, people are homeless, they are helpless, they are lost. And while my life is only a drop in Your story, I feel the weight of the pain that Jesus felt when He looked over Your dear Jerusalem and wept. How He yearned to share with them what would bring them peace, but how it was hidden from them.
Oh Father, today our eyes are still blinded to the only true peace that we can ever have. And that is through Jesus.
Lord, this is what the enemy of our soul desires. To shield us from the One who brings us peace. To break the bonds that were created at the beginning of time. To remove our peace and leave chaos in the wake. But, You GOD sent Jesus to return our birthright. Lord, You sent Your Son to give us eternal life. You essentially gave us Your Heart on that fateful day, so that we would be forever connected to You. The enemy has no power over us, only that which we give him.
So Lord, TODAY, I let go of the binds of the enemy. I ask that You break the chains that are keeping us from knowing Your peace. I ask that You remove the veil that keeps us blinded from Your love. And I ask Lord for an awakening. I ask that You send the enemy away, he is not welcome here! I ask that You would awaken the body of Christ from her slumber. Please God do not let us be the church that has a reputation of being alive, but are truly dead. Please do not let us be the church that tolerates those who mislead them into immorality. Please do not let us be the church who pretends to be something we are not. Please God, do not let us be lukewarm.
Father God, give us ears to hear what the Spirit says. Help us to hold on to what You have given until You come. We yearn to be victorious, dressed in white, our name acknowledged before You and Your angels by our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus. Help us Lord to shine Your light, to share Your heart and to show Your love to a world that is hurting. Help us to encourage and build one another up. Help us Lord to Love God, our neighbor and our enemy as You have called us.
It is with Your love, God that this world will be made whole.
Thank You Father, thank You for drawing us to YOU. “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!”
AMEN