Yesterday, Lord, You sent me to our little church… to walk around it and pray. I — and others — have been grieving for this small congregation. Watching its membership dwindle. Watching the concerns for its very survival rise like a flood tide.
Before I started my prayer walk, I asked You to help me pray as You wanted. And to give me eyes to see and ears to hear whatever You wanted me to see and hear. As I began my assignment, I listened…
… and, in time, You gave me words of LIFE and HOPE! I spoke those words out loud, with the unquenchable joy that inevitably comes when an answer to prayer so clearly arrives! In addition to the words, You gave me Your Word… interweaving it into my prayers as naturally as my next breath!
I prayed over the place, the people there now, and the people who will be touched in the future. Both there and elsewhere. As You, the Risen Lord, come…
… not just to visit, but to dwell!
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
What happened next took my breath away! Or, rather, gave it back to me!!!
On my fourth lap around the property, the wind began to blow. I mean blow! Over me. Around me. Filling the trees and my heart with Words of Promise that You sang to me through the airwaves.
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
“‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.’ And with that He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'” (John 20:21-22)
What precious confirmation, Lord! You are breathing NEW LIFE into this place and people!
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19)
Oh, Lord… Show us the “old” we must let go of in order to welcome the “new” You are bringing! Help us open our clenched fists so we can receive — take hold of –– more of You!
On my sixth lap, three yard workers arrived with their mowing equipment. They parked, and then went across the street to mow another property.
As surely as if I had heard Your audible voice, Lord, I knew: You are sending more workers… aren’t You? They are not here yet… but they are coming!
“Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly.” (Luke 18:7-8)
So I continue to walk and pray. Watching and waiting…
Actively! Expectantly! Joyfully!
Abba’s Girl