I Have Heard Your Prayers – Part 2

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“I HAVE HEARD YOUR PRAYERS…”

With the revelation of God’s promises comes trust and strength in the waiting period between the voicing of our prayers and His answers to them. We hope in the unseen and not the seen, walking by faith and not by sight. We can rest in the promise that He will do above and beyond our imagination (Ephesians 3:20-21), for what is impossible with man is possible with God!

“From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened,
no eye has seen any God except You,
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.”
(Isaiah 64:4 HCSB)

As David exclaimed the preciousness of God’s thoughts to him in Psalm 139:17, we can also know that our thoughts and prayers are precious to God as we seek Him with all our hearts.

Let the breath-taking thought of God’s delight in you cause you to run the race with even greater fervor. Let the humbling thought of God’s care for you awaken even deeper love for Jesus in your heart. Let the awesome thought of God moving on behalf of those He loves inspire you to intercede even more unceasingly — praying the very prayers He’s already put on Your heart.

Let Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on the earth as it is in Heaven!

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I Have Heard Your Prayers – Part 1

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“I HAVE HEARD YOUR PRAYERS…”

Your words echo in my mind… What more could this daughter of God long to hear? They carry such intense meaning for this young woman after Your heart.

To one seeking after Your heart,
those words bring healing.

To one desiring to live worthy of Your calling,
those words bring determination.

To one preparing the way for Your return,
those words communicate life.

To one with the heart of an intercessor,
those words communicate love.

To one with the heart of a worshiper,
those words stir up tears of joy.

To one longing to know You more,
those words stir up wholehearted devotion.

“Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God,
your request has been heard in heaven…”
(Daniel 10:12 NLT)

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Write This on My Heart

Lord, write upon my heart the depth of Your love,
The love that You showed in the shedding of blood.

Inscribe upon my heart Your sacrifice given
With joy at the want of relationship with us.

Etch into my heart Your selfless humility, all that You are -
That I would live as Christ to this world.

Jesus, Your love – so pure and freely given,
Make me as one selfless and pure like You.

Write upon my heart, deeply on my heart -
All that You are, that I would love like You do.

Ever deeper and deeper, inscribe upon my heart
The depth of Your love, shown for me on the cross.

Write this on my heart. Etch it ever deeper, that I might shine forth -
Shining for the glory of God, who made and loves me.

You who are a King, yet You humbled Yourself to the point of death, death on a cross, taking the filth of our sins upon Yourself so that we could have a love relationship with You. Something so undeserved, and yet You love us that much! Do you know Jesus? God loves you!

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The Reason for the Wilderness, Hope Deferred

“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”
(Deuteronomy 8:2)

That You, Lord, do not outright place us into the abundant place of blessing in our destiny right away is a thing of immeasurable good. You first bring us to the wilderness. There You bring us to the end of ourselves and to the fullness of You. You test and humble us, equip and grow us–lest we fall hard and become prey to the temptations of success and blessing.

It is because of Your great goodness and love that You do this. You know what is best for Your children whom You love. Your banner over us is love! Your leadership is perfect! Your ways are just, true and right.

You want us to live for You and by Your living words of life, being led by Your Spirit alone. To do so more and more, to be deep calling unto Your deep, takes time spent growing in relationship with You. It takes time spent seeking the depths of Your Presence in the Holy of Holies by which we have access through the blood of Christ. It takes growing in hearing Your voice and obeying You. It takes patience, trust and faith in You.

You are good, so good. Your love for us is so deep. Your leadership of our lives is wholly right and truly perfect, laden with Your perfect love for us as You say, “I only want the absolute best for you. Will you trust me, My child?”

God has the very best for you. In hardship or trials, trust Him. In the pain of hope deferred, trust Him. In times of fear or failure, trust Him.

He sees you! He loves you! He has the very best for you!

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I Shall Taste and See

You are so near,
Yet never near enough.

Oh for the day to come
When my eyes fully see,
And my senses fully know
The goodness of You, my God.

Still the hope remains
That just as David prayed,
I shall taste and see Your goodness
In the land of the living.

So good You are,
Endless and matchless always.

Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26)

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Setting Our Minds

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace…”
(Romans 8:5-6)

We must constantly ask ourselves, “What am I setting my mind on? What am I focusing on?

For me, that means not allowing my mind to go to the negative aspects in life or in situations, you know, the glass half-empty thinking instead of seeing the half that’s full. It can be easy to do, especially in the midst of difficulty or even just in the mundane of everyday life.

So how do we set our minds on the things of the Spirit?

We do so by fixing our eyes on Christ, and reminding ourselves who God is — sovereign, in control, all-knowing, and for us not against us. We also must remind ourselves that God is ultimately using everything in our lives — the good, the bad and even the mundane — to make us more like Jesus in our speech, attitudes and actions. Even when our feelings and circumstances don’t line up with God’s truth and promises, this helps us experience God’s peace and hope.

The war we fight.

As believers we constantly battle our flesh, which is hostile to the things of God (Romans 8:7). When that bad attitude surfaces or we find we have bitterness or wounds in our hearts, it’s easy to dwell on the pain instead of setting our eyes on Christ.

Continually we must remind ourselves that God is refining us and allowing these things to surface. He wants to remove all the impurities from the precious gold within us, but this often means we come face-to-face with whatever He is working out of us.

Our help in all times.

As God grows you to be more like His Son, keep your eyes fixed on Him, knowing that He is always helping you by His Holy Spirit, giving you His strength, comfort and guidance in all things. Know that if you ask, He will provide the wisdom and grace you need according to His perfect will.

“…the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.“
(Romans 8:26-27)

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Battle Cry (You Are All We Want, God)

song in the night…
(Background: I woke up at 4:00am this Saturday morning while I was attending Zadok House of Prayer’s Keeping the Charge conference because God had the new song below going through my head. Hopefully I’ll record it and post the audio soon!)

(Chorus:)

You are all we want, God. We want You, we want You.
You are all we want, God. We want You, we want You.
All the enemy has stolen — Bring it back, bring it back.
All the enemy has stolen — Bring it back, bring it back.

The distractions are many in this battle that’s raging,
The things trying to take us, to take us from You.
But we’re called to You, God — our Portion forever,
Like Levites we minister to You, holy God.

(Chorus)

For worthy of honor and glory and praise,
Worthy of worship, our hearts we raise!
Worthy of honor and glory and praise,
Worthy of worship, our hearts we raise!

(Chorus)

So come have Your way, Lord, come take us over.
Come have Your way, Lord, come have Your way.
So come have Your way, Lord, come take us over.
Come have Your way, Lord, come have Your way.

(Chorus)

[The Levites, the sons of Zadok] shall enter My sanctuary,
and they shall come near My table to minister to Me,
and they shall keep My charge.
(Ezekiel 44:16)

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The Dry-Desert Wilderness

Deserts “appear to be lifeless, but surprisingly none are.”
(BBC’s Planet Earth)

Hungry, Thirsty, Weary, Frustrated?

For the most part, desert seasons in our walk with God can seem void of life, but are far from it. God uses these times to grow us, and where there is growth, there is life! Dry times bring forth even more life than if we never went through these times with God.

Change, Change, Change!

Because of the nature of wind and sand, deserts are constantly changing shape. Times when we experience vast amounts of change can also feel like wilderness seasons in our lives.

Remember This!

In the desert, one thing is constant and unchanging — the sun, even when it has set for the evening or when the sandy winds block it from view. Likewise, remember that no matter what is going on in your life, Jesus is always there, even if it feels like He is distant or even absent. Even when the winds of the desert blind us, God is still there.

Ultimate Source of Life

Keep yourself latched onto the Source of life – God Himself. He is your Living Water and Bread of Life, He will sustain you even when you think you can make it no further. Keep pressing on and drawing near to Him no matter what.

Hold onto God’s promises despite how you feel and the happenings around you: God will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8), and He uses all things for the good of those who love Him in order to make them more like Jesus (Romans 8:28-29). God is faithful and unchanging.  His love is unending and unconditional. He is always with you, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

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Lion of Judah, Fiery and Compassionate

I saw Your face in the night before I slumbered,
You as the Lion – the Lion of Judah, fiery and compassionate.
Love poured forth from Your eyes and something indescribable -
The vision fleeting, yet a moment so intense!
Your eyes penetrating deep and deeper still.

What were You expressing with Your eyes, oh Lion of Judah?
What do You want to express, my Savior, my Lord?
Your servant is listening, aching fully to hear,
Oh Lion of Judah, speak, even with only Your eyes.
I want to deeply know – what’s on Your heart?

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Put Your Songs in Our Hearts

The sheer weightiness of God’s presence during our pre-service prayer time blew me away me this morning.

Saturday night I had a tension headache that continued into morning, threatening to make the day more of a fight for focus than usual, but the weight of God’s presence and the focusing of my mind on Him quickly swept it away. What’s such a pointless thing as that compared to the beauty of God anyway?

God awakening my senses to His presence as I entered into worship and prayer eclipsed all else. His glory far eclipses all afflictions, large or small (a headache is nothing compared to other things!) As the lyrics of the song How He Loves go:

“…all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.”

I’m finding the sweetest moments with God are when He’s refining you in His fire, growing you into a tree with roots planted deep in Him by the streams of His Living Water, and making you more Christlike (Psalm 1/Jeremiah 17). It’s worth it. It will be worth it. It already is worth it. Jesus is the One I want to live for. What else is there? Nothing and no one is better. He’s the fairest of all!

Today I wanted nothing more than to be still & quiet before God’s throne. God both amazed and blessed me at once, and how humbling this is! That God would, firstly, send His Son to take away my sins, though none of us can even love Him without Him! And that He would bless by using the imperfect vessel that is me as His vessel when God needs no one–I mean, one word from His mouth  brought forth creation–why would He even want to use me?

Yet so much does God care, about each one of us! Yes, He doesn’t need us–He’s God, but He does want us! I can’t repeat it to myself or remind others enough, nor can I fathom it fully: God made us to love us and us to love Him, to have a relationship with us. God is love!

I wrote this in magnetic poetry on my fridge yesterday:

lead me to the mountain, Lord,
teach me the language of Your heart.
give strength to my spirit,
and humble me like Jesus.
I rejoice in Your everlasting love!
sing Your freedom songs through me!

He’s been answering that prayer all along, but today He took it to a new level in me for His glory yet to graciously show me who He made me to be as His vessel of love, truth and light!

Lord, You are outstandingly loving, merciful and beautiful! Keep putting new songs and prayers in our hearts and upon our lips, words wholly inspired by Your Spirit! We need the songs and prayers You want sung, proclaimed and prayed more than any others!

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