Seek Him, Earnestly...

Photo Courtesy of Ian Lindsay

Father God, Sovereign LORD, Jehovah Rapha ~ You are the God who heals.

Only You can sustain us.
Only You can extend us.
Only You can strengthen us.
Only You can purify us.

Your mighty hand extends to all the corners of the earth.
Your presence is great and as deep as the darkest parts of the oceans.
Your majesty soars higher than the heavens.

Only You are creator.
Only You are defender.
Only You are redeemer.
Only You are healer.

Your angel armies swoop down and battle the darkness-
Enemies fall at the sound of the trumpets.

The oppressor,
opposer,
destructor,
His power cannot stand- He has no power in Your presence.

The enemy flees -
Your land is free - I'll proclaim it today and in all of my days.

You are God alone and Your Word can heal. Your Word can topple the enemy today.

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion in the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away and there will be none to deliver.
I will go away and return to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face; 
In their affliction will they earnestly seek me. Hosea 5: 14-15 NASB

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11: 6 NASB

Communion ~ A Celebration in our Solitude, Solidarity, and Savior

Photo credit: Dadion Gomez

Last night our church held an on-line service. I will be honest, I have so many mixed emotions about the fact that we have been told by our government not to gather. 

• I feel relief because it allows me (a long proclaimed hypochondriac and highly anxious individual) to stay "safe" in my home. 
• I feel frustrated that I can't see our loving church family and friends as we look forward to doing every week.
• I feel perplexed at how we seem to have lost our right to gather and worship freely in a democratic society. (Please, this is not a political post, just an honest one about my mix of emotions). 

So, last night, when we gathered as a family in front of our TV and streamed our worship service on-line, I was excited that our pastors had told us to prepare our own Communion elements before hand. Cool, breaking bread with the two most important people in my life...my husband and my daughter.

And, as Pastor Alex began speaking during our time of Communion, I instantly thought of how it was for the early church, and how it IS in SO MANY places around the globe...where Christians are persecuted for their beliefs and where they take Communion together despite the risk of imprisonment, torture and death.

Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I held the bread and juice tightly and I felt throughout my soul the deep longing to be taking the elements of Communion IN my church building WITH my church family. But we couldn't. We absolutely couldn't, and that was a feeling I had never experienced before. 

The persecution of Christianity still goes on every day too. It's not just "in the days of Nero" or in some distant past that we see depicted in etchings on cave walls. It is really happening now, every day, around the world. We see this is confirmed in recent studies, for example:

While alarming, the British study is not surprising. It affirms 10 years of Pew Research showing increasing governmental restrictions on religious activity worldwide. The latest Pew report indicated that Christian groups were harassed in 144 nations in 2016, up from 128 the year before, with China leading the world in government-sponsored restrictions on religious exercise. Muslims were second most targeted, persecuted in 142 countries. ~ Journal Review, 12/6/2019 

This is why I'm praying Psalm 91 daily for our family, for our community, and for our world. This virus is not "just a virus." This virus is the just one more attack from our real enemy. My husband and I were watching the second movie in the Hunger Games, and there was a line "Remember who the real enemy is."

So true.

The "real enemy" is not the person hoarding toilet paper, nor the person who makes the declaration that we need to close non-essential businesses. The "real enemy" is the opposer, Satan, who opposes freedom and wants us bound in slavery to him. He loves to see us separated from each other, he loves to see us bickering over who is at fault and who should have done what to prevent this from happening. Let's not give him a foothold with our anger and fear.

Let's celebrate our victory through our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Let's celebrate that we can still break bread and still worship God. Let's pray for healing and peace and celebrate the victory we have over death in Jesus's victory over the grave.

God, have mercy over all the earth and all its inhabitants. We are a desperate people and we need your healing to be poured out upon us. You are God, Most High, and we humble ourselves before you and plead your wisdom, healing and peace cover us today. Amen.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Psalm 91: 1-2 NKJV

Is This Our Year of Jubilee?

Father God, I praise You for the sunshine and I praise You for the rain. You are the Beginning and the End. No other God before You and none after You.
You are LORD of all Creation and You are LORD over all.
We continue to question and wonder and search for answers during this time of trial over our world. God, may we all earnestly seek YOU...for we are told in the book of Hebrews that we must believe in You and in earnestly seeking You we will see our reward.
So, what is Your word for me today? You bring the word JUBILEE.
I can hear the song in my head:

"Behold, He comes, riding on the clouds,
Shining like the sun, at the trumpet call,
Lift your voice, it's the year of jubilee,
Out of Zion's hill salvation comes." The Days of Elijah by Robin Mark

And what is that time, God? Jubilee is a time to show our faith in You, and rest in You, and allow our storehouses to be depleted as we live off of all the abundance and excess that You have provided us in years past.  

God, I have often marveled at the idea of the year of jubilee. I have often asked, "How can we get one of those?"

We live in a world of go, go, go, and busy-ness and excess and distractions. But now, God, now that has been stripped from many of us and we feel anxious and baffled and lost.

So, God, my prayer is for us to settle into our jubilee. My prayer is that we will see Your steadfast love and provision as we are required to "be still". Today, I turn off my TV and I turn to Your Book and I look for You and wonder at Your amazing character.

As I have learned, Father God, the year of jubilee was a time to celebrate and reclaim our personal liberty in the freedom we have found from our sinful character. We look to You and ask You to dig out our sinfulness and restore our hearts anew with the fruits of the Spirit.

I also have learned that the year of jubilee was a time to restore true prices on property. Oh, God, how we need this in our world. In particular I know we need more affordable housing in our very city and surrounding cities. Perhaps this is Your appointing for how this will be done. I do not know the answers, but suddenly I see some clarity in the "reset". Because, what is OUR property? Does it not all come from You?

Finally, I see how the year of jubilee is a time to live the simple life. I'm starting to value things that I never held of value before. I'm saving that little bit of soap left in the bottom of the container. I'm snacking less because I don't know how long to make it last. I'm reusing the tin foil that I cover baking dishes with. God, I will praise You in this time of questions and uncertainty for I know You work ALL things for the good of those who love You. Romans 8:28

God, do all things line up and point to this quarantine as being the year of jubilee? Probably not. But is this where You are turning my eyes today? Yes. You have reminded me through song, and Word that at a point in time in our world's history, they took an ENTIRE YEAR off from sowing and reaping to REST in You.

Would this have been our choice had we not been forced into this? No. Did any of us see it coming and were we all prepared? No. Let us learn from this. Let us see that our security lies not in our cars, nor our homes, nor our money. We have no guarantees in this life. No one true thing other than You, God.

Have mercy on us today. May today be another giant LEAP forward in the solution to this crisis. Give wisdom and strength to those serving in our medical, scientific, political and emergency-driven industries. We need these people strong and healthy and wise and level-headed, and we need Your healing and provision.

In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen