Holy Invitations

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame." -Psalm 22:1-5

This cry from Psalms 22 has been near and dear to so many people I have talked to over the last several years. My God, my God why have you forsaken me? Worldwide we've seen such an outbreak of darkness. Sickness, loss, warfare, poverty, broken families, and the list goes on and on. No one is immune to the valley of the shadow of death in life. I know I am not the only one who has cried out, "God where are you?"

Does that cry of the heart feel familiar? Have you been waiting on the Lord or been in the deep depths of grief in this season? Have you found yourself unable to pray anything other than tears? Or maybe have you simply been met by silence in the secret place? You are not alone. In fact, there is probably a lot more people than you know walking through the same process with the Lord that you are.

Recently I was having a lot of pain in my neck and head. After about five days of just pushing through I finally got to the point where I was realizing I needed some type of strategy to overcome this. I woke up the next morning with this feeling from the Holy Spirit that I just needed to schedule a massage to get my body worked on. My mind of course was fighting it thinking well maybe I can just push through one more day, but at this point it was painfully obvious I needed some outside help.

I arrived to my appointment and really never saw the therapist except for her sticking her head briefly in the door to explain what to do. About five minutes into the massage I realized this girl was not only highly skilled at her job but she was gifted. I didn't have to explain where my pain was or what was going on in my body she could just feel it and went right to work. A few more minutes went by and I just felt like I really needed to bless this girl with a good tip. So I prayed a few more minutes and the number I had in my head seemed like too much. So I prayed a few minutes more thinking I must have misheard the Holy Spirit. For the next half hour it seemed I just kept going back and forth with the Holy Spirit and finally I heard in my spirit, "This girl is using her gifts to bless you. She's believing for me to provide for her and her family just like you are. I'm giving you the opportunity to partner with me to release my glory in her life." Have you ever had one of those Holy Spirit moments where the only response you could possibly have is, "Yes, Sir. I hear you loud and clear." Then there is just silence because how else could you possibly argue with the Holy Spirit more after that.

The massage ends. My pain is dramatically reduced. I come out of the therapy room and go to pay and then I see her for really the first time. She's pregnant. Another mom like me, warring for her child, and believing for His provision. It was in this moment of great pain in my body where God gave me this holy invitation to partner with Him to release His love into the earth...into a family...into a daughter.

We don't know the prayers that are being prayed around us. We don't know the process or the trials. We don't know the consecration or the warfare. It is so easy to stay focused on our own pain, our own fears, and our own problems. It's so easy to get to this place in prayer that we're so focused on the things we know and see. It's so easy to fix our eyes on what we want in life or even the things that we desperately need.

Yet, we serve a God that loves the nations. He's doing something not just in us, but in the earth. He's preparing His bride for His glorious return. When we get so fixated on our own pain it's so easy to miss the big picture of what is really going on in the preparation of our lives. Let's face it, I did not go get a massage because I wanted a day at the spa. I didn't even go because of the pain because the simple price tag of it had me stressed out. The current process the Lord is walking me through teaching me that He is my Provider is just honestly too scary to go and spend "unnecessary" money without His leading. The only reason I said yes was because the Holy Spirit woke me up that day and told me to go. I'm so glad He did, because not only did He meet me in my pain but He also answered the cry of a mother to be, who also needed to see His grace that day. I was reminded that if I can have faith that He'll provide for her then of course He can provide for me too.

God's plan is so much bigger than our own lives. It's so much bigger than what is happening in your family, community, or even your own nation. God is doing something in the Church throughout the world. Psalms 27:27-28 says, "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations." You may be walking through hard times today, but God is with you. He is inviting you into a holy partnership for what He is doing in the nations to prepare His bride for the coming of the King.

When we see God rightly for exactly who He is and remove every distraction we then remain in the proper alignment where we're not praying out of our pain or places of weakness, but instead we're hearing and seeing what He is doing. It's then that we're able to partner with Him in even the most mundane moments of our days so that He can release His Kingdom through us into the spaces and regions of the earth that are so desperate for His love, truth, and grace. God is so much more powerful than we realize. When our hearts are fully surrendered to Him we are able to receive so much more from Him through these holy invitations.

I encourage you to take some time today to sit with Jesus. Ask Him how you can partner with Him today in what He is doing in the nations. Does He want you to pray about something specific? Does He want to work through your pain or circumstance? Is He asking you to give something to someone? Does He simply want your full attention? My prayer for you today is that you would seek His face and then be obedient to the adventure He's calling you on.

Ask yourself these three questions today...

1. What is on God's heart for the nations today?

2. What process is God doing in my own heart?

3. What holy invitation can I say yes to today?

   
   

Then remove the distractions, sit at His feet, and wait for His presence to come and rest on your life. You have everything you need today, because you have Him. God has not forsaken you. He sees you. He hears you. He has chosen you. He delights you. He's calling you into a holy invitation that will release His glory not only in your own life but in the world.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." -Romans 15:13

The Evergreen Remnant Crewneck Sweatshirt

Buy Now