Prayers That Penetrate

I was reading something recently that has stirred something within my spirit.  Prayer:  It's a concept that most of us use on a daily basis, remembering to say "grace" before each meal and maybe talking to God a few minutes before bed, perhaps we're even daring enough to seek the Lord in the midst of a crisis.  But I have read something recently that has led me to ask a very important question:  What kind of prayers do I pray?

Before continuing on, you will need to read Numbers 27:1-11.  Yes there are many big names here in this passage, and this may be one of those "breezers" that we rush on through, thinking it has no pertinent significance to our time.  But I would beg to differ.  While I am no Biblical scholar, it is my understanding that when the patriarch of the family died, the blessing and inheritance would be passed to the sons.  So here we have 3 sisters who beseech their great leader, pointing out that this tradition is seemingly biased.  So Moses, being the great man of God and leader that he was, goes and seeks the Lord about the matter.

What we have next is a beautiful picture of intercession as Moses begins to plead their case before the Lord.  And then it happens.  In verse 6 we see that the Lord agreed with the daughters and told Moses to change the laws.  Did you just catch that?  The courage those women possessed to go before Moses and ask that a tradition/law be changed is just outstanding.  But with boldness and confidence they presented their request.  But there is something that happens when we take those things before the Lord.

Moses pleaded their case with the Lord, and his prayers shifted something within the spiritual realm.  I don't know what would have happened had these 3 sisters not been so bold in their approach.  And had Moses not stood in the gap, would things have changed?  This raises several important questions for me as I read this and chew upon it.

We live in a time in which we must pray dangerous prayers.  We don't have time to waste with our self-centered wish lists before the Lord!  We must not pray according to our faith or lack thereof, it would be a tragedy to pray according to how we feel.  But we must pray with a tenacity that is unreleasing, praying according to the character of who God Almighty is!  Do our prayers line up with the Word of God?  Do they carry the same heartbeat as our Maker?  Do the prayers we pray shift things in the spiritual realm?  Oh Holy Spirit, that you would teach us how to pray...

"The Crossing"

We be praying to our God, asking for deliverance...
To be freed from all of the things that have so easily entangled us.
He faithfully leads us through the stormy waters...
As we learn to fully trust Him as our Abba Father.
Fearful we start to look to the left and to the right...
Not seeing Jesus now, we have lost our sight.
We dare not look behind at the enemies that pursue us...
For if we do our faith will shrink, becoming less and less.
Teach me to be still and follow only You...
I cannot and will not quit, until this Red Sea...You have brought me through.

Glory in Intercession

There was something that I read recently that has penetrated my heart and shifted something within me.  We speak of the glory of God and how it fills the earth and we long to know His glory.  We talk it, preach it, sing it, we yearn for it.  The splendor and majesty of God Almighty we will never fully fathom until heaven one day.  I think sometimes we tend to think that the glory of God is like a freebie at some garage sale, "while supplies last."  Oh how we have belittled the omnipotent and sovereign God of the universe to fit into our little boxes.  So then the question at hand is this:  Where can one encounter the glory of God?  While I propose that I know much of anything, I would like to turn our attention to perhaps a familiar passage of Scripture:

And the Lord said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.  Then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen."  Exodus 33:21-23

Wow!  Can you imagine?!  Like God just totally told Moses that He would allow him to see as much of Him as possible, but that He would protect him too.  Could you imagine God's huge hand covering you?  The very thought overwhelms me.  What is even more significant to me if you begin reading in verse 12 of this same chapter, Moses is actually interceding for the people of God who have sinned yet again.  Moses is pleading and reminding God that they too are His people.  As always is the case with our Faithful Father, He keeps His word and says He will do the very thing being pleaded for (vs. 17).

There is glory in intercession beloved!  Of course that is not the reason we plead our case before God.  We go to Him in the darkest of valleys and in the midst of our fiercest giants and we stand in the gap and wage war with our prayers.  We don't pray according to our state of mind or faith, or lack thereof.  But we tenaciously pray according to the character of God Almighty.  And our prayers and intercession begin to line up with His will as the Spirit intercedes for us and teaches us how to pray.  It is in these trenches that I believe God's glory is found.

Too often we want to pray a 1 minute prayer and see the results we're looking for and gaze into His eyes of fire as an added bonus.  Oh saints how we have lost the art of intercession and true communion with the Father.  No war is fought and resolved in 1 day.  Moses had already been given the 10 Commandments on the 2 stones after time with holy God on the mountain.  When he came down and saw that the people had sinned greatly and worshipped this golden calf  that came out of the fire, his fury raged and he threw the tablets to the ground, crushing them to pieces.

Perhaps just when Moses thought he was on a breakthrough, things turned for the worse.  Maybe just when you thought your prayers had been answered, things turned out to be otherwise.  Moses persisted and climbed that mountain again, and he interceded.  Not only were his prayers heard and answered, but the glory of God was made known in a very real way to Moses that day.  Moses was in the trenches of intercession yet again, but in those trenches was the mighty hand of God moving to cover, protect, save, and deliver.

There is something that shifts in the spiritual realm when we dig down deep into the trenches of intercession and plead our case before a just and sovereign God and remind Him of His promises.  It is no longer a matter of the giant at the top of the hill taunting you, or the enemy who surrounds you on every side, but a matter of God's mighty hand resting above you and doing the very things that only our omnipotent God can do!  Oh saints, there is glory in intercession.  May you climb the mountain yet again to drink deeply and wage war...

Life is Crazy but Life is Good

I have a beautiful family (dad, momma, 3 siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and so on)! I have an exceptional spiritually family! Then I have a God! There is no earthly words to describe Him.

So I have a good life but it's slightly crazy.

Right after this past Thanksgiving is when I really began thinking about this. During that time my cousin from Michigan came to visit. She and I are VERY different. From the very first day she got there we ran from place to place everyday. Between Nutcracker, House of Faith, Christmas at Old Fort Concho, and our many church services I, as well as the rest of my family, had little time for sit down ministry with my cousin. I began to notice how crazy and unexpected the life I live is. Then I realized that God did some pretty crazy and unexpected things too: saving only 8 people from a world-wide flood, speaking through a donkey, burning up not only an offering but the whole alter, stirring a virgins womb, sending flames of fire to hover over peoples' heads. HE created things to be like that.


After my cousin left, we had about a week or so of somewhat normal life (I'm not sure if thats even a possibility any more) when out of the blue a teenager and her baby end up living in our house. Wow, God, ok, so what now? I love them, really, alot, but that was so unexpected! Now my mind ponders this a little deeper. If everything God did was expected what would make HIM so great. Just a rough guess now, but probably 90% of the time, we as humans, are totally not unexpected. You usually guess what your best friend is about to say next. Or what our mom will say when you ask her if you can do something right after you got in trouble.


The point is I believe God blessed me with a crazy and unexpected life. Without it, life would be utterly boring! I love the life I live because it is a gift. I'm not promised another day, another hour, another breath, but there's God watching over me ready to give me a big bear hug when the craziness feels like too much for my flesh.


God you are so good. Thank you for the crazy life. It's the color in my black and white picture.


Jesus Mighty Jesus!

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Come!

Bells are ringing and hearts are singing, but the spirit yearns for more.  Gifts are wrapped and trees are trimmed, but the soul is not satisfied.  There is a longing that resonates beyond words deep within the reservoir of every human alive.  It's a call unlike any other, for it's a commission from the highest ranking official ever, King Jesus.  Can you hear it?  The voice that sounds like many rushing waters is speaking your name.  He calls out to you in the midst of the chaos and invites you to come.  Do you hear Him? 

Come and rest, all ye who are weary and heavy-laden.  Come and drink deeply all ye who are thirsty.  Come and eat all ye who hunger.  Come and sit at the sweet feet that once bore the spikes pierced by love.  Come and gaze upon the eyes of fire that never shut or grow dim or weary.  Come away with me my beloved.  Can you hear Him?  Oh we sing of that call, we long for that kind of commissioning; "Oh come let us adore Him, come and worship Christ the King."  Do you hear Him?  Thus the beauty of Christmas unfolds before our flesh-laden eyes.  And He tenderly speaks ever so loudly with a simple request:  Come and just be.

When we cease to stop doing and simply be, worship overtakes our being.  Absolute royalty, King Jesus, choosing to be born amidst the stench of a stable:  May our praises rise as a fragrant love offering before you today O Lord.  The pure and spotless One, slaughtered like a lamb for my sin, on a cross that bore no dignity or respect:  May we lay down everything and not waste one precious drop of your blood Jesus.  And the One who was beaten beyond recognition laid to rest in a tomb, risen and reigning victoriously over all the earth:  May your glory King Jesus fill the earth like the waters fill the seas!  Have your glory King of glory!

There is no other call I'd rather answer.  Come away my beloved.  Oh come let us adore Him.  Let us worship Christ the King.  Do you hear Him?  Silence yourselves.  Be still and know that He is God.  He still calls.  His love beckons us deeply.  He still speaks.  Do you hear Him?  May the deepest yearnings of your heart be consumed by the presence of the One who invites you to come...

Emmanuel

Christmas:  It is here and permeates the most mundane of life's activities.  The lights are hung, the tree is trimmed, and the hustle and bustle of it all has not slowed.  The carols are harmonically sung throughout the crisp air of the wintery season, and the hearts of people are warmed as they give and share both love and life with one another.  Emmanuel, God with us.  One of the many names of glorious God, quoted throughout Scripture and seemingly a favorite term for this time of year.

God with us.  Stop for a moment and let that sink in and really penetrate to the depths of your being.  Oh sure I imagine it brings comfort to so many whose hearts are at their loneliest seasons of the human soul.  What peace it must bring to the one who oft feels abandoned and left to face life's giants alone.  But there is another side to this that I have never chewed on before, and I must say it is bringing a bit of a spiritual self-gagging reflex reaction.

The carnal nature of my flesh is so quick to rush foolishly into the depths of sin and without second thought.  My spirit beckons to pause and stare into the fiery eyes of a holy and almighty God, but my flesh reigns supreme.  I proceed without caution and do the very thing that nailed Jesus to the cross.  Like a dog that returns to its own vomit and like the pig that rolls in the muck and mire, I allow my flesh to dominate and dance in it's evil desires.  Moments later, my cold heart stops.  I feel naked before the One, running in an attempt to go hide.

There is a little phase that most children go through, I can still remember this time of my life as a child.  It's time for bed and it's been a fun day and exhausting all in one.  Your body is ready for rest, your flesh fights it.  So choosing to honor your parents and do what you know is best, you slowly stumble to bed.  But in tow is your blanky, favorite teddy bear, that special dolly that you must have, and maybe even a good book just in case.  And oh of course, don't forget that extra little action figure you slipped in your pocket.  You crawl into bed and tuck in each one of your friends, then cover up yourself as you lay with all of your precious belongings.  It's great for a moment, until you realize that there is no room.  The extra toys have lost their fun and special purposes because they are crowding you out of your bed.  So you decide to just keep 1 or 2 and carelessly toss the others aside.

And so I find myself in the grown-up version of this old classic.  My spirit yearns for the sweet and all-consuming fire of Jesus, yet my flesh refuses to release these sinful desires.  So I try to do the impossible.  I drag my feet to the One who knows all and is all, with my selfish desires in tow, my secret sin in my pocket, and all of these other eartly desires that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross.  I am learning that it is not possible to pursue the presence of holy God while at the same time entertain the pleasures of sin.  It must be one or the other, it simply cannot be both.  God is holy and can have nothing to do with sin.  While I know this to be true and have known this, I sit and reflect as to how I came to this place of compromise.

Emmanuel, God with us.  It is quite difficult to commit that sin when you know and believe to be true that Jesus is right there with you.  Like the fork that scratches against the dinner plate is the cringe I feel when I realize I have just sinned intentionally against the holy One.  And I realize that my world of sin and complacency cannot coexist with the kingdom of God.  So I begin to toss these things aside, treating it as the wretched sin and rubbish that it is.  While we are all sinners in need of God and His grace and forgiveness, it doesn't have to be like this.

God commands us to be holy because He is holy.  I cannot embrace the One and all He has if I insist on keeping my hands full of junk.  I cannot receive what He desires to give me if I simply keep my arms folded in indifference to sin.  I cannot go where He leads if I choose to stay dancing in the mud.  I cannot hear what He is saying if I plug my ears up because His voice brings conviction.  I cannot go on sinning without second thought and repentance if I truly understand Emmanuel, God with us.

May Emmanuel invade your space and permeate the very core of your hearts this holy-day season...