"I Need You!"

I waited and waited and waited for God. At last He looked; finally He listened. He lifted me out of the ditch,   pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God. ~ Psalm 40:1-3, The Message

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There come times in the midst of our harsh trials and deep sorrows, our anxieties and fears, our confusion and loneliness when we find ourselves in an abyss; a spiritual dead zone, or broken down alongside a dark, unfamiliar and barren stretch of life's road.

We're lost.

We're weary.

And we're frightened.

So much so that all we can do is send up a flare in the form of a desperate, simplistic prayer, in the hopes that Someone will hear us and come to our rescue.

Nothing wordy or eloquent necessary here.  Four words or less will often do. Words often shouted.  Most times whispered.   Almost always accompanied by tears. 

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A plead for help.

A cry for mercy.  

A prayer of abandon and surrender.

"Lord, I need You!"

Joining together with all of you for whom this simple, yet powerful prayer is lifesaving and life giving....

Your Will Be Done

This morning, while I was searching for something else, my Bible flipped open to Matthew 6, and my eyes fell onto this well-known, oft recited passage:

"This, then, is how you should pray:
'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'" ~ Jesus, from Matthew 6:9, NIV

A few minutes ago, I came upon this video on K-LOVE radio's website, by Tenth Avenue North's lead singer, Mike Donehey, speaking on....The Lord's Prayer.  Coincidence?  I think not. 

My will....or God's will be done, here on earth as in heaven?  Sometimes, God has to pry open the hands of His beloved, yet strong-willed child to remove whatever we are holding onto so tightly.  Whatever is keeping us from doing His will.  Because whatever He has to give us; whatever He has for us to do, wherever He has for us to go is so much better, although we might not see it that way at the time. 

How many times in my life, this past month -- okay, let me be completely real here --this past WEEK!!! -- have my fists been closed tightly around something or other (or someone) that I deemed as MINE, refusing to surrender to my Father? How many times have I rebelled against God, wanting to do my own thing?  How many times have I refused to walk down the path created for me by Him, choosing instead to run in the opposite direction, because it wasn't where I wanted to go?  What a struggle it has been for me to let go, to surrender, to obey.  To choose HIS will, and not mine.

As Mike reminds us here in this video, even Jesus struggled with surrendering to the will of His Father.  Right there, on a dark night, in the garden of Gethsemane:

"Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.'  

He went away a second time and prayed, 'My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.' "  ~ Jesus, from Matthew 26:39; 42, NIV

This world truly holds NOTHING for us. God HAS everything.  God IS everything. As the Father loves His Son, so also does He love us with an 

unfailing

unconditional

unchanging

unfathomable

LOVE

What are you struggling to hold onto today that you need to surrender to our Father? Please don't wait until He has to pry it out of your hand(s). Let go and let God's will be done in your life. 

Rescuing The Prodigal

Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' ~ Luke 15:4-6, The Message

The Lost Sheep, by B.R. Burton

I still get chills whenever I watch the video I've posted below.  It's been around for quite awhile now.  Perhaps you've seen it before.  Or perhaps this is your first time viewing it.  If so, all I can say is, 'Be prepared.'


The skit itself was performed at an event called Winterfest, in Knoxville, Tennessee, back in 2006. YouTube boasts over 19 million views of it on their site, and I'm sure I've viewed it at least one of those million.  Okay, I'm embellishing, as my darling daughter would say.  But hey -- I've really seen this lots and LOTS of times, often posting it on my Facebook page over the years.  It's simple -- amateurish, even - yet I have found it to be most profound and so powerful. I've seen other versions of it done by other church youth groups, but this one remains my personal favorite and close to my heart. As I said, it still gives me chills. 

When we first come to know the Lord and surrender everything -- our heart, our mind, our spirit, our very life -- it's a beautiful thing, isn't it?  Everything is so wonderful and new. And He becomes everything to us and truly is our First Love, as described in Revelation 2:4.  


But, Revelation 2:4 isn't just a verse containing a lovely sentiment and description of Who the Lord is; it's actually an admonishment to the church of Ephesus, pointing out that they have forsaken the One Who is --was-- their First Love. 


But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your First Love]. ~ Amplified Bible


As time goes by, so many things can come between us and the Lord -- love/sexual relationships, money, alcohol/drugs/party lifestyle, warped body image, as portrayed in this video, AS WELL AS those things and people we consider to be 'good,' like our careers, our service to God through our or someone else's ministries, our families -- pushing us farther and farther away from Him, until Jesus becomes almost like a distant memory.  He tries to get our attention, but we no longer see Him.  We can no longer hear His voice.  


Because, much like the lost sheep that Jesus spoke of in the Book of Luke, we've wandered far away from our good and loving Shepherd, due to our rebellious nature or by responding to the enticing call of other things or people.  


And 'suddenly,'  we find ourselves in some deep, harrowing trouble and precarious situations.

The Rescue, by Nathan Greene

And also from the Book of Luke, like the prodigal son, we become so lost and hopeless, ensconced in our own ilk, blinded and consumed by our guilt, we begin thinking our Lord can't POSSIBLY still love us.  

Prodigal Son -- The Turning Point, by Stephanie Frostad

But unlike the prodigal son, we begin to falsely believe that He is so disappointed with us, that surely He has turned His back on us and abandoned and forsaken us. No WAY will He forgive us this time and we listen to the voice of the enemy gleefully (yet falsely) warning us that no, we CAN'T go home again.  We see nothing in our future but pain, suffering and darkness, and come to believe that the only way to end it is: death.


I have been there in my life.  And more than once.  Yes, I've believed the dark one's lies.  I've come to the end of my rope and each time, decided that it was better to hang myself with it than to believe that Jesus was still holding onto it -- and me -- and was desperately trying to pull me back to Him.

Perhaps you've been there, too, dear reader.  Or maybe, you're there right now. Your shaking hands are clutching onto that end piece of rope, wondering what to do next, wondering if it's even worth holding onto at all.  

Let me tell you with all honesty, sincerity, love and hope that YES, YES, YES, IT IS WORTH HOLDING ONTO!!!!  Hold on tight, and let the Lord Jesus Christ pull you to safety -- to Him!!! Let HIM break your chains, knock down and destroy your enemies, cleanse you of your sins, guilt and shame. Let Jesus rescue you!  Because you are EVERYTHING to Him!  


I'm forever grateful that Jesus's voice broke through my deafness, calling me back to Him. I'm forever grateful that the Light of His Presence broke through my darkness.  I'm forever grateful that when I've come to the end of my rope, instead of winding it around my neck, I clung tightly to it and allowed Him to pull me back to the safety of His welcoming arms.  I'm forever grateful for Christ's endless love, His boundless mercy and grace, and His relentless pursuit of His little wandering black sheep as He lovingly, tenderly reminds me, over and over, that He is and always will be, EVERYTHING to headstrong, prodigal me. 

The Good Shepherd, by Nathan Greene

Today, no matter how far you've wandered; no matter what you've done or become involved with; no matter how hopeless you or your situation may seem.....won't you believe that Jesus loves you SO MUCH, He will drop EVERYTHING to go searching for you?  That He will set aside EVERYTHING to come running and fight for your life? 


Today, won't you let Jesus be EVERYTHING to YOU?

Whatever......

Have you ever read a portion of Scripture over and over, become so familiar with it you can quote it in your sleep, BUT THEN -- read it again one day and become aware of something totally brand new in it?  I had that happen today with Isaiah 6:1-8 ~

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:


“Holy, holy , holy is the Lord Almighty; 
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”
 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.


 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”


 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.  With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. ”


 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? ”


And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

The Vision of Isaiah, by Luke Allsbrook

I noticed something today in this passage that I never noticed before.  God NEVER mentions WHERE He is looking to send this certain someone He's asking for.  He doesn't say, "Whom shall I send to the land or town of ..........?"  "And who will go for us?"


Ummm....go where?  And to whom? To do what? God is pretty much light on logistics here. 


Yet Isaiah is more than ready, willing and able -- eager, even!! -- to go wherever, to whomever and to do whatever it is God has in mind. Can't you just picture Isaiah jumping up, waving his hand and shouting, "Here am I. Send me!"?


How many of us can honestly say we would do that? If God were to speak today and merely say, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?", I wonder how many people would jump up out of their comfy lifestyle seats, frantically waving their hand like Arnold Horshack from 'Welcome Back Kotter' (hopefully SOMEONE out there remembers Horshack and this '70's sitcom) and yelling, "Ooh, ooh oooh! Here I am, God!  Send me!!!!!"  

No specifics, no details, no Google Maps satellite view of the lay of the land given.  Just a simple question, with a simple faith and trust in a loving Abba Father being the desired response by He Who created us for so much -- one of those things being for us to become the hands and feet, the eyes and ears and the heart of His Son, Jesus Christ. 


Kind of a scary thing to imagine for some of us, yes? I think of the times over the years that I've heard stories from various folks, sharing how hesitant they were to say "Yes" to God in such an Isaiah-like way, frightened He would send them straight to Africa, or some other remote, forgotten and disease-ridden place on earth where even the staunchest of missionaries fear to tread. 


Truth be told -- I was one of those people. Fearful, distrustful, not very spontaneous and somewhat detail oriented.  In school or at a job, whenever a teacher or a boss would ask "who would like to volunteer for such-and-such?", I would avert my eyes and wish myself invisible, especially if (a) no logistics were initially offered, and/or (b) the volunteering would cause me to go somewhere, do something or interact with someone I found difficult or distasteful.  For years, I fluctuated between being like Moses, wrangling with God over my lengthy list of lame excuses, and acting like Jonah, speed boating it in the opposite direction of God and hiding below deck with eyes tightly shut.  Those of you who've been faithful readers of this little blog of mine might remember (or not) that I wrote a post with similar points back in December of last year called "The Struggle", where I described my grappling with being obedient to the Lord over something specific He was calling me to do at that time.  While I did finally say "yes" to His particular calling back then, I must admit it certainly wasn't with waving hands and joyful shouts, and my headstrong wrestling with Him over other things continued into the new year.


But all of that came to a screeching halt recently. Really, I can't even explain how it happened, except to give complete credit and glory to God, because over the past few months, I've been battling with some tough, very personal issues in my life.  And then to suddenly find myself being able to give God an Isaiah type response to His callings (notice the plural here) in the midst of it all is, well....kind of weird.  Kind of scary. SO...NOT...Me. 


But also, SO...Absolutely...Amazing.


Back in February, I was inspired to write this poem of sorts. As I was hand writing it into my journal, I remember thinking -- "What?? This isn't me, God.  I can't seriously and truthfully ever share this with anybody, because IT'S NOT WHO I AM!!! And You know it! Why would You have me write this, anyway?!"   I'm telling you, I must give God a real good chuckle (and no doubt, some big headaches, too) now and again with the things I say to Him. Because He knew all along that a time was coming soon when these words would be coming not just from my pen and my keyboard, but from my heart and my burning coal touched lips as well. To Him. 


And all I can say is this: When you surrender all to the Lord Jesus and allow Him total access to do whatever is necessary in your life; when you are ready, willing, able and --eager, even!! -- hold on tightly to Him, take a deep breath, and  be prepared for the ride of your life.  Is it easy?  No, not very. Get ready for twists and turns, ups and downs, and at times, you'll find yourself passing through tunnels where you can't see anything at all.  Like a roller coaster ride, it's exhilarating, breathtaking and frightening, all at once.

But don't be afraid.  God is right there with you -- along for the ride and the long haul.


Are you ready?

Whatever

Whatever word You have for me -

I will speak it.

Whatever song You write for me -

I  will sing it.

Whatever story You dictate to me -

I will write it.

Whatever gift You offer to me -

I will share it.

Whatever trial You present to me -

I will accept it.

Whatever burden You lay on me -

I will bear it.

Whatever truth You speak to me -

I will believe it.

Whatever promise You make to me -

I will stand upon it.

Whatever plan You have for me -

I will live it!