Greetings Friends …
I pray
all is well with you tonight -
It has
been a while since I’ve written
This has
been a challenging year … to put it mildly
Yet,
something gripped me today was I was listening to music and working
I was listening to a compilation of songs by Elevation Worship and Chandler Moore and in that video, they start singing a blessing:
‘The LORD
bless you, and keep you,
Make His
face shine upon you … and be gracious to you
The LORD
turn His face toward you … and give you peace’
The
blessing was not the part that gripped me.
I have
prayed that same blessing many times – over my friends here
No – it was
something else and not just the words of a verse
As they
continued, this chorus resounded:
May His favor
be upon you and a thousand generations,
And your
family and your children and their children, and their children
May His presence go before you, and behind you, and beside you, all around you, and within you –
He is with you, He is with you
In the
morning and the evening,
In your
coming and your going, in your weeping and rejoicing
He is for
you … He is for you
And in an instant – I was completely overcome and undone
The words of that song took on such great depth and perspective
I suddenly found myself effortlessly transitioning from singing to praying … to crying; intense in prayer … in the natural and in the spirit
And even
though I was the one praying – it took me by surprise
You see –
today – I was not praying for myself,
I was not
praying for my three sons
I was not
praying for my dad or my best friend
I was not
praying for my friends here
No – I found
myself instead, praying with tear-filled eyes
For every person who hates me
For those who despise the very
thought of me
For those who have plotted and
conspired against me
In the
past – I have prayed for those who do not know Him
I have
prayed they would have a genuine encounter with Him
And I thought
I was doing something ‘good’ … because I could not bring myself to pray for the
destruction of those who come against me –
But it is not enough to not
pray for destruction
There must be prayer for direction,
for protection, for construction
Anyone in
Christ is a new creation
The old
is passed away … all things are new
II Corinthians
5:17
That is
what was special and different about today –
I am not
certain I can fully convey what transpired
Something
snapped … in a good way!
I found
myself keenly aware that – as I sang and cried and prayed –
As I made
declarations for people who hate me…
Something
profound was happening in the spirit, in the heavenly realm
I can pray
for change in the world
But true
change in the world begins with change inside of individuals
And that
is only found in Christ
‘Bless those who curse you
and do good to them that hate you …’ Matthew 5:43-47
BLESSINGS!
BLESSINGS THAT BREAK THE
BACK OF CURSES
But my
prayer is not just for an
introduction or an encounter –
I was –
and am – praying for the kind of blessings that chase you down & overtake
you
The kind
of blessings that surround you and envelope you
BLESSINGS THAT BAFFLE THE
MIND!
May His
favor be upon you as well my friends –
For your
family, and your children, and their children, and their children
Have a Blessed Evening!
