Let’s keep going… because in my mind, I believe Holy Week has begun.
Time to eat less, and to read more. Time to write more, as we read more.
Time to reflect. Time to pray.
And, oh, do I mean it. We really have to pray, especially when we are reminded of just how great an opportunity it is to fall on our knees and cry out to the Lord.
12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.Daniel 10:12
3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”
So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.Acts 10:3-4
Our prayers are heard. Whether we are Jew (Daniel) or Gentile (Cornelius), we are heard. The prayers we pour out from hearts made new by Christ, our supplications spoken through the mind of Christ – they have been made a memorial before God, and angels respond, coming to us because of our words.
I refuse to insist that the guaranteed responses of the Most High are because of our merit or our performance – but because of Christ and His finished work, we certainly have a line; that is, sure communication with the Creator of all things seen and unseen – we can run to our Father, and He hears us, and He responds.
I say this to myself, as much as I say it to anyone else who happens to be going through this; All our prayers – the prayers for our loved ones, the prayers for the ones we love, the prayers we’ve been praying since day one for the folks whose hearts we’ve asked God to touch because we were at our wits’ end, trying all we could within our power to no avail;
All our prayers, for our families, for our communities, for our cities, for tribes and tongues, for nations;
All our prayers, for our workmates, classmates, associates, acquaintances, business partners, folks we’ve transacted with; for those who call themselves our enemies, for those who have openly revealed their antipathy and hostility against us, for those who persecute us, for those who hate us, for those who use us;
ALL our prayers are heard, and God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – responds in His full might and matchless wisdom, according to the riches of His grace, and according to His everlasting love.
May we find peace in this tonight. May we find assurance and security in the fact and Truth that our God works all things for the good of those who love Him. May we rest, knowing that our God is our Father who is for us, and not against us.
Oh, may we continue to pray and cry out, before, during and far after we find satisfaction – for true pleasure and joy is not found in the fulfillment of all we ask and cry for, but already abounding in His presence. We speak from authority for change, but our power is found in the peace that is already ours, here and now.
We close in prayer according to the Word, according to David’s composition in Psalm 34:15-22.
We give thanks to God, who we call our Father – only by the finished work of Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We thank our Father, for we have been made righteous – not by who we are, not by our performance; We boldly proclaim that we are righteous before God and favored by our Father, only because of Christ and His birth, death, resurrection and ascension.
Because of Christ we give thanks, because the eyes of the Creator of the Universe are on us, lovingly watching over us.
We give thanks, because the ears of the Maker of Time and Space are open to our cries and our calls.
We are at peace, knowing that the face of the Lord, who is our Father, is against all who do evil; He cuts off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Yes, we cry out, and the Lord hears us. We cry out, and the Lord delivers us from all our troubles.
He delivers us from the deadly pestilence, from the evil that stalks by night, and the arrow that flies by day.
Yes, let us give Him praise! For He will not allow us to be snatched from His hand.
Let us glorify His name, for death has lost its sting, and hell has lost its victory!
Give praise to the King of Kings, and to the Lord of Lords! For we are protected, we are heard, and He responds to us according to His might and His wisdom!
Give glory due to His name, for He is close to us when our hearts are broken – He draws near to us, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we know that even when we are suddenly, painfully rejected, we have been fully accepted in the beloved.
Indeed, let me give thanks to our God and Father! For only by His Word am I charged and empowered to bless those who have persecuted us – only by His Life-giving Word, only by His Spirit am I overflowing with love to happily avoid repaying evil for evil and insult for insult, gladly and wholeheartedly blessing those who hurt me – that they may not doubt the full goodness of God as they behold it, and that they would come to repentance unto salvation!
Oh, we distinguish the men and the agents of evil, and with that in mind, again, we declare: We are at peace, knowing that the face of the Lord, who is our Father, is against all powers and principalities who do evil; He cuts off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Give thanks to our Lord and King! For again, we cry out, and the Lord hears us. We cry out, and the Lord delivers us from all our troubles.
Our hearts may be broken, and our minds are rattled, but we shall not always be shaken! For we behold our Father, as He is as close to us as He could ever be, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed for us all! We are thankful, because we are saved from condemnation; We take heart, knowing that sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning!
And, indeed, we may be afflicted by one and many things… but our faithful Lord and King shall always deliver us from all of it. We shall not be condemned, but redeemed!
Thank You, Father!
Thank You, Jesus!
Thank You, Holy Spirit!
MOVE – for the unity of the Body, for the expansion of Your Kingdom, to the utmost glory of Your name! Halleluyah, and amen!
I thank God for these times… and I am thankful that our Father, our God moves as we speak. His Spirit speaks with us, and He moves in ways only He can move.
He ministers to us fully and completely – from our bodies to the deepest depths of our souls. And as He moves in us, surely He continues to move in all we pray for – people, tribes, and nations.
May we continue to flow in the Word – may we continue to take in the Word, that we would speak the Word boldly, and the world would move. Again, for the unity of the Body, for the expansion of His Kingdom, to the utmost glory of His name!
Halleluyah. Amen.
121740/365000
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment