Throughout my long years of ministry I have so often heard people state, "I don't think it's right to pray for myself. I just pray for others." I've always tried to convince them that our loving, caring God wants us to lift our own cares and concerns to Him. We are fortunate that He is not like a human being who might get tired of hearing us "whining" and complaining! I have learned from personal experience that my Heavenly Father, my Abba, sincerely desires to hear all my expressions of joy and gratitude, as well as my laments and cries for help.
I decided to write about this today as I was reading in the book of Nehemiah. In chapter 2 we see Nehemiah going before the king to give him his wine. The king takes notice of Nehemiah's forlorn expression. The king asks, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I stopped reading there at verse 2, and sat for a moment, feeling the presence of Holy Spirit. Then I heard Him say, "This is how your Father feels about you. He notices your sadness of heart." I was deeply touched. Even though I know God cares about what I'm going through in every single day, it is greatly encouraging to know that He sees and recognizes our "sadness of heart" and He wants us to tell Him about it! Nehemiah 2:2-6: "...so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time." It may seem odd to glean understanding about prayer in the book of Nehemiah, but it really spoke to me this morning! If King Artaxerxes, a pagan king, would be this benevolent and concerned about Nehemiah's sadness, how much more will our Heavenly Father care and want to hear about ours? Once the king learns the reason for Nehemiah's sadness, and the way to help him out of it, he is pleased to do so. Oh, how our Abba, our Daddy, wants to communicate with us in this intimate way! Nehemiah prays to God, "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night" (Neh 1:6). He really does see His God as a Person with ears and eyes, and he knows it pleases God for us to praise Him and to cry out to Him, day and night! How blessed we are to know that we have Yeshua as an intercessor on our behalf. Job said, "My Intercessor is my Friend as I pour out my tears to God." (Job 16:20). Therefore He (Yeshua/Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25) Life in this world becomes more challenging every day. People are struggling financially, emotionally and physically in the face of rising inflation, more threats of disease and loss of jobs and homes. God cares. He really does want to hear from you, His children. Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner. (Lamentations 2:19) Whatever our personal struggles in this hour, it can't be any worse than Jonah's, when he found himself deep in the bowels of a huge fish! How in the world did he deal with that unimaginable horror? He prayed, "From the depths of the grave I called for help and you listened to my cry" (Jonah 2:2). Ask God to fortify your tired soul, infusing it with His strength. Take the promises of God's Word as spoken to YOU personally - because they are.
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There is perhaps nothing more critically important in these perilous times than being assured of your intimate relationship with Jesus/Yeshua, your Redeemer. If you know about Him because you've heard about Him and have heard others talk about Him, then you don't yet know Him in the personal, intimate way that He desires. Many have asked me how I really know Jesus in this deeply personal way. Since I have had a couple of sweet, beautiful experiences with Him in this past week, I'd like to share them with you and hope you will share this with others. You might be surprised and amazed (as I am) at the unique ways our Lord chooses to interact with us and show us how much He wants to be a part of our everyday lives, thoughts, and experiences.
The first encounter was during a time of worship. I was in my living room, caught up into singing and worshiping the Lord with the music on my TV. As I was singing, I began to feel the gentle Presence of the Holy Spirit surrounding me, and then I heard the loud, insistent chirping of baby birds from inside the bird house on my front porch. I tiptoed to the front window, still quietly singing to the Lord, and to my delight, I saw a mama sparrow come gliding in, her mouth full of food for her tiny newborns. My heart began to overflow with this precious picture of faithful provision for the smallest creatures, when suddenly a new song flowed from my TV and I heard these words: "His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me!" Is He real? Was He attracted to my worship? Did He find a way to let me know that He was right there, watching me, enjoying my blessings in the feeding of baby sparrows? Some would laugh and call it a coincidence. I guess they do not yet know Him. This second encounter was early this morning in my "prayer closet." I arose at 6:30 a.m. and knew that John was still sleeping, so I went downstairs with my Bible and my journal, to spend some quiet time in the Word and in prayer. My heart was really humbled and soft this morning, knowing I needed to pray for John. Communication and words are becoming more and more difficult for him. He tries to tell me something and he stands there for a long while, working hard to get the words to flow from his brain to his tongue, and finally gives up in frustration and says, "I can't get it out!" This morning I purposed to pray specifically for this terrible disability, asking God to heal my husband and to heal his speech and cause his words to flow! I opened the Bible randomly, as I so often do, asking the Lord for help, and found it had opened to Judges Chapter 12. It is the story of Jephthah the Gildeadite, known in the Scripture as "a mighty warrior" (Judges 12:1). He is made a Commander of the Israelite Army and leads them into battle. I wasn't seeing anything that had to do with my prayer until I got to verses 4-5: Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.” The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him..." I sat there for quite a while, stunned at this verse abut pronouncing a word correctly! Was this a coincidence? After all, this is an ancient story about a strategy used to tell who was genuinely an Ephraimite and who was not by their ability to pronunce the word shibboleth correctly. "But what does this word mean?" I wondered. After looking it up I found that the meaning is "flowing river"! Is this a coincidence, or is the King of the Universe showing me that he hears my prayers over my husband, whose words cannot flow, and who stumbles over pronunciations? I marvel over these small ways that He demonstrates His presence with me and His care over me. He wants to do this for and with you, too When you pray, don't forget to listen. And have your Bible handy! He may send you a song, or show you a verse, or just send warmth and comfort into your soul. However He chooses to do it, just know that it is His way of bringing you close, and teaching you to trust Him. His eye is on the sparrow; and I know He watches me! |
AuthorKelly Ferrari Mills SubscribeArchives
April 2024
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