Time to Pray

I've spent the last couple of weeks focused on prayer.  My time with the Lord has become a burden on my heart.  The more I pray, the more I long to pray.

I've been praying for my family, because I love them so much.  I've felt that burden to pray intensely for lost loved ones because I just don't feel time should be wasted.  I've been praying for guidance as my husband and I have made a tough decision and will need His guidance like NEVER before.  God is sending us forth into new areas and new ministries, we pray, and we don't want to let Him down.  We are excited for the first time in a long time to see what God might do.

My prayer times have included times of journaling, times of reading, times of praying in the Spirit, and times when I am quiet.  I feel led to fast, which after several years of diet restrictions, is tough for me. I long to be obedient, even if it is hard. 

I so long to be close to my Lord. The last couple of weeks have had me reeling as political battles waged in my State have revealed just how great the anger and hostility towards Christians and their beliefs.  I see families torn as two sides couldn't seem more opposite.  It was a reminder of the violent, poisonous hate Satan has for the people of God.  I see that disdain in the reactions of many.  I live wondering if my own loved one, so sure of her position, will feel the same when a loved one of hers is fined or jailed as a Christian determined to honor Jesus in all areas of his or her life... Even his or her business. When it hits home, not out of hate for anyone else but out of love for Jesus, will that open eyes?  Or will it be justified and excused as a "They deserve it" philosophy. 

I pray, because I know that the words buried just beneath the skin are only ones that will cause division.  I want to speak the truth in love, but I know deep down that It's not the time.  Maybe I'm not the person.  If an opinion about a movie  I had drew a snide comment, I know that I won't be heard.  I am a joke, as many Christians are to their loved ones.  It won't make sense until and unless the Holy Spirit opens blind eyes and softens hardened hearts. 

I pray, because I don't want to allow the knowledge that I am a joke to a loved one to interfere with my own self-worth.  I have to stay focused on learning and living out who I am in Christ. Rejection WILL come.  I know this... And I can't let the sting of rejection cause me to change the love Christ wants me to show that person and so many others.  

I pray for strength to keep going even when I am tired or weak.  

I pray for courage in the face of adversity.

I pray for peace, not in some generic sense, but the peace that passes all understanding.  

I pray for joy, that calm delight that fills me.

I pray that other Christians will take the time for their own face to face with God.  Never before has prayer been needed so desperately.  

Mostly, I just want to say thank you.  It is Easter.  Around the world Passover celebrations are being celebrated.  I know that the ultimate Passover lamb was Christ.  What an amazing God!!