Thursday, March 26, 2009

Commitment

When we got to the church property today at about 1:30 p.m. the property was filled with people praying. It was noon prayer time. Noon prayer time in America wouldn’t even fly because it comes at lunch time for us. That would require fasting, and well... we sort of struggle with that. I am not sure, but I would judge there was at least 200 plus or minus a couple. 200 people gathering to pray in the middle of the day. I have not been able to assemble that kind of a crowd for prayer any time of any day! I have to say again, I think they have more to teach me about priorities than what I have to offer them. They prayed for 2 hours. I know we have jobs and schedules, and in part that gives us opportunity to be here, I have no stones to throw. But I do have to ask at the end of the day, how often we spend ourselves trying to do God’s job along with our own to the neglect of our relationship with Him. We seem to forget we are connected with the ruler of the universe, and sometimes He really longs for us to set aside our striving and driving and pause in His presence to be renewed in Him, to entreat Him to help us solve our problems rather than race out and try to conquer them all on our own. These people are reminding me about commitment, and I take great courage in their prayers. The enemy of our souls is fighting hard, but with this kind of prayer assailing the heavens, I have received quite a confidence boost! Karen shared tonight that someone made the commitment in the States to pray for us between noon and one, what is really cool is that person is joining about 200 Haitians at the same time praying. I’m not sure of our impact on this trip, but I am confident of God’s impact. With all those prayers, I already see the mountains beginning to shake! Take more time out of your schedule to talk to God today, you are not meant to go at this alone, but God does not come where He is not invited. Don’t leave Him out of your journey. I have to tell you He won’t suffer, but you sure will! Not certain about you, but I have enough suffering in my life without asking to pile on another truck load by leaving God out of my life because I simply didn’t invite Him into my day. Let the Haitian’s lead us on this one, get some more God time into your life today! Blessings always.

1 comment:

MamaB said...

Thank you for the beautiful image of so many gathered in prayer.
I think the work you are doing is amazing and am so thankful for people like you who are willing to sacrifice to help others.
While this post inspires me to better consider how my time is spent I do need to say that there is part of your post that is terribly wrong.
God ABSOLUTELY suffers when we are not in relationship with Him. He cares about EVERYONE of His children, those that know and accept Him and those that do not. Each of us are precious to Him. It is heartwrenching to imagine that He, Our Father, does not suffer when we are not in communion with Him. Imagine if one of your children turned their back on you, rejected you or just were not able to include you in a part of their day or in their life - of course you, as their loving father, would suffer greatly. God loves us big. It is hurtful to see God portrayed as such a detached, uncaring being. God wants us all to be in relationship with Him and each other.
With hope,
A fellow believer