I’m trying to digest a hard word that Holy Spirit gave me this morning, but I feel like many who are part of God’s Called Remnant may be going through a time of refinement and it’s worth the share.
When I was introduced to Jesus at the age of 21, I got radically saved. What does that mean? It means I fell head over heels in love with Jesus. I ate, slept and dreamt my Bible. I wanted to know more about this God who loved me so much that He left the Heavens, came down to the earth He had originally created, clothed Himself in flesh, lived and died on a cross for forgiveness of sins He hadn’t even committed. He died on that cross for YOUR sins and for mine, paving a way for a restoral of a relationship that had been breached by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven sending Holy Spirit to come down to us, to be our Comforter, our Guide, our Teacher. Holy Spirit enters into our hearts when we make a profession of faith and invite Him in. Who wouldn’t want to know a God who loves us like that? I wanted to shout His name from every roof top, let everyone I know how wonderful God is, that He IS a loving Father, but the reception that I received from others at news of my conversion was one of distain, my heart hurt because while I had wholeheartedly given my heart to Him, others wholeheartedly rejected Him.
Nothing new to God. But new to me… Only God is the changer of hearts. What we are called to do is PRAY. PRAY. PRAY. PRAY.
And while we are interceding, we HAVE to believe that God answers prayer. Did God open YOUR spiritual eyes? If the answer is yes, than what makes us doubt that He will remove the blinders off the eyes we love most? Someone, somewhere, sometime prayed for you – prayed for me. We can’t belittle praying. The Bible says in Romans 8:34:
“Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Jesus IS at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us! He IS our example, so we need to follow His lead.
Then Holy Spirit told me, “your duty as a Christian is to pray, to intercede. Your duty is not to get in the way of what I am doing. Let me do my job.” He said this in a gentle manner, Holy Spirit is always gentle with me. But I received the word, here is why – in order for hearts to change, sometimes Holy Spirit has to change situations in the people we are praying for lives, so that they will see the need for coming to Christ. If you think about your own salvation experience, what occurred within your life to make you turn to God? For me, God allowed me to see violent situations that were outside my realm of personal experience and knowledge. He brought me to the end of myself. When we reach the end of any answers, the end of being able to figure it out on our own, when we reach the point where we are aware that we are standing all alone, the Creator who created us becomes the One we cry out to. “God help me!” “God heal me!” “God I can’t do this on my own I need you.” Often people only talk to God when they have no where else to turn. As intercessors we need to know when to be still and allow God to do what He is doing in someone else’s life and when to step forward. Stepping forward at the wrong moment can interfere in what it is Holy Spirit is trying to do.
A hard word. Especially for those of us who are “doers” and “fixers” – sometimes we need to get out of God’s way and let Him do what we are praying He will do.
How do we know when and what to pray? We ask for wisdom. We ask for guidance. We pray for discernment. All the while believing in line with God’s Word. We pray the promises. We stand upon them. The Bible is full of God’s promises to us. It becomes a matter of trust and faith, and perhaps in the times when we are lifting others up in prayer, we pray that God will increase our faith to believe that He IS a God who answers prayer. (He is). And then – here is the hardest part, Holy Spirit showed me this this morning too – He actually sang the verse softly into my soul, because I needed to check myself. “His compassion it fails not…”
God’s compassion doesn’t fail – but ours does… How’s your compassion level? Is your tank low? Ask Holy Spirit to “fill her up.” If God’s compassion does not fail, and He is to be our example, we need to pray that God will HELP us in a day where people are selfish, only thinking of themselves and entitled and lovers of self. We need to keep our compassion, we need to walk in love. Even when it feels like you are walking through molasses and your steps feel heavy. Even if everything within you wants to go in the opposite direction. We need to look to Jesus as our example and walk in LOVE. Love someone through their selfishness. Love someone through their ugly. Why? Because “His compassion it fails not…” And neither should ours. We are not to be led by our feelings, we are to be led by our faith. They will know who we are by the love that we show. As part of God’s called Remnant, we have a HIGHER calling. Not to walk as those of this world walk (like living zombies) but as Christ walked, showing the love and light of Christ. We cannot change hearts. We are not called to do that – it’s not our job. What we are called to do, is love, pray and believe. Sometimes it is the absolute HARDEST thing to do. But Oh the rejoicing of answered prayer! There is NOTHING like it! We just have to trust God. In God we trust, do you?
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