Day 239: When Our Hearts Are Not Big Enough To Pray
Read: John 17:1 - 12
On my heart today, as I am absolutely sure they are on the hearts and
in the prayers of countless people are the ones who found themselves in
the path and on the ground of the Oklahoma tornado. The men, women,
and children who were in their homes, in their classrooms at schools,
stores doing their shopping, in cars, and trucks going to work, going home to their families, doing the everyday things they did on so many regular days in the past, even the day before the storm destroyed their way of life. I see life scattered everywhere, stories of people looking for loved ones not knowing if they are alive. There is so much to do, help to provide, it is just absolutely staggering.
What do you pray for when there is just too much to pray for? The sheer
magnitude of it all and I have to ask it - where does anyone begin to
pray in the midst of such a great catastrophe as this or any catastrophe
for that matter? Generic words just are not going to cut it. I know in
my heart and by God's Word that God hears all prayers however the words
may be strung together. But still they seem wholly insufficient to me to
address the enormity of their needs. As much as anyone might call the
other a "Prayer Warrior", have the God given gift of intercession,
called upon by God's Holy Spirit to bear the burden of Prayer (Nehemiah
1:1 - 2:5), we're still out of our league.
As much as we never want to admit it to ourselves or another human being, whether they are a believer or not, in times and places such as Moore,
Oklahoma, we are so very much out of our league. And we struggle with
that as we very well should. Our hearts are in the right places but I
have to admit that my heart is simply too small. I am sorry to tell you,
the reader, that your heart is also just far too small for this task. In the Gospel of John we find in rich detail of Jesus' last days and moments with His disciples. All of Jesus' words are precious and powerful for the believer, but as Jesus experiences His final moments His words reveals the deepest depths of God's heart.
In searching Scripture for a heart which is unquestionably big enough, I came to this verse: "11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are." If you have ever experienced a
moment in life when you have felt anything close to what the community
of Moore undoubtedly feels now, then you know that God's heart is
the only heart big enough to provide the measure of Love required to
meet so complex a need. He prays for our safety, prays, intercedes
before God on all our behalves for divine connection, divine unity and
Love.
Let Us Pray: Wonderful God! We thank You that You fill our hearts with Your hope and our lives with a sense of expectation, that You heal our wounds and
wipe away our tears, that You excite us with Your grace and overwhelm us
with Your mercy, that in Christ's life, His death and resurrection You
have demonstrated Your complete victory over death and despair and given
us the divine assurance that nothing, but nothing can bring an end to
Your loving-kindness toward us or separate us from Your love. We thank
You O God of our salvation for the peace, hope, joy and courage with
which You have filled our hearts and our lives and for the gratitude
with which You have flooded our hearts. Thank You for praying for us,
interceding for us when we cannot. From the bottom of our hearts, thank You for sending us Your Heart - Jesus Christ.
http://www.youtube.com/
Read: John 17:1 - 12
On my heart today, as I am absolutely sure they are on the hearts and in the prayers of countless people are the ones who found themselves in the path and on the ground of the Oklahoma tornado. The men, women, and children who were in their homes, in their classrooms at schools, stores doing their shopping, in cars, and trucks going to work, going home to their families, doing the everyday things they did on so many regular days in the past, even the day before the storm destroyed their way of life. I see life scattered everywhere, stories of people looking for loved ones not knowing if they are alive. There is so much to do, help to provide, it is just absolutely staggering.
What do you pray for when there is just too much to pray for? The sheer magnitude of it all and I have to ask it - where does anyone begin to pray in the midst of such a great catastrophe as this or any catastrophe for that matter? Generic words just are not going to cut it. I know in my heart and by God's Word that God hears all prayers however the words may be strung together. But still they seem wholly insufficient to me to address the enormity of their needs. As much as anyone might call the other a "Prayer Warrior", have the God given gift of intercession, called upon by God's Holy Spirit to bear the burden of Prayer (Nehemiah 1:1 - 2:5), we're still out of our league.
As much as we never want to admit it to ourselves or another human being, whether they are a believer or not, in times and places such as Moore, Oklahoma, we are so very much out of our league. And we struggle with that as we very well should. Our hearts are in the right places but I have to admit that my heart is simply too small. I am sorry to tell you, the reader, that your heart is also just far too small for this task. In the Gospel of John we find in rich detail of Jesus' last days and moments with His disciples. All of Jesus' words are precious and powerful for the believer, but as Jesus experiences His final moments His words reveals the deepest depths of God's heart.
In searching Scripture for a heart which is unquestionably big enough, I came to this verse: "11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are." If you have ever experienced a moment in life when you have felt anything close to what the community of Moore undoubtedly feels now, then you know that God's heart is the only heart big enough to provide the measure of Love required to meet so complex a need. He prays for our safety, prays, intercedes before God on all our behalves for divine connection, divine unity and Love.
Let Us Pray: Wonderful God! We thank You that You fill our hearts with Your hope and our lives with a sense of expectation, that You heal our wounds and wipe away our tears, that You excite us with Your grace and overwhelm us with Your mercy, that in Christ's life, His death and resurrection You have demonstrated Your complete victory over death and despair and given us the divine assurance that nothing, but nothing can bring an end to Your loving-kindness toward us or separate us from Your love. We thank You O God of our salvation for the peace, hope, joy and courage with which You have filled our hearts and our lives and for the gratitude with which You have flooded our hearts. Thank You for praying for us, interceding for us when we cannot. From the bottom of our hearts, thank You for sending us Your Heart - Jesus Christ.
http://www.youtube.com/
Names of God
www.youtube.com
THANK
YOU!!! 1 Million + Hits! It's amazing how I've gotten emails and heard
about how this video has gone around the world. Praise the LORD!!
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