(Note - I include the salutation here since it shows how we as Christians cared about each family, too, and did get out to fellowship with a few that summer)
I want to share about how God is so personal to follow up on prayer. I’m sure you had many prayer requests, for justice, peace, changes in specific hearts, etc. There’s so much there, I could have typed a 5-page prayer and not scratched the surface on the pain some feel.
At times I've felt so overwhelmed, it's hard to express my prayers - especially since being handicapped, In Jr. High I felt some of the anxiety others feel; my very literal nature made it hard to know what some people meant. I had concerns about what some might do if I couldn’t see or hear something. (Grade school and high school had almost no problems.) God protected me thankfully (my reputation for always being nice, kind, polite, etc. helped I’m sure), but there is much evil out there; I know the pain is intense when a few people in authority act as lawless as those who riot violently. Yes, adults struggle, too, at times.
Yet, God is in control. Free will to choose Him also gives people freedom to choose evil, of course, but that is why there is so much emphasis on choosing Light over darkness, as I’ve been sharing. This is why God’s Word is vital to read. He promises us something so much better, something where we don't have to worry about who we are or fitting in. When we get to Heaven, there won’t even be the need for candles because Jesus will be our light.
For now, He loves us so much that when I can only manage to mumble something like, "Lord, end this mess," He knows the pain in my thoughts that I can't verbalize, the despair I see (and I'm a very visual thinker so when I hear it, I see it because I think of what I've heard or read) in this world. And, He knows what each of us feels which we can only verbalize maybe a few syllables of sometimes. Jesus suffered in all ways like us, yet was without sin (Heb. 4:15) - He truly does understand the trauma, and we can go boldly to Him because of that.
I read Isaiah 53 recently in my devotionals; God Himself chose to come down in that form! He let Himself be despised and rejected, to have the chastisement of all our sin thrust upon Himself. The world has so much darkness, and then people try to fight back against it with more darkness, which can never work. Only Light can end the darkness.
The only Light of the World is Jesus Christ, because He is personal.
We wrap ourselves in so many things that will make us feel better that are only a product of our own anger or ego or whatever, when we must instead turn to the Light of the World and let Him erase that darkness. As Psalm 139:23-24 says, see if there be any wicked way in us and let the Lord cleanse us of that wickedness so we can walk in the Light and pray for others to turn to the true Light which shines upon everyone in the world. If only they’ll listen.
As you go through your week and beyond, think about how personal God is. Remember He knows and even experienced the same kinds of things we do. Remember how Matthew had been a tax collector for the Romans, who Thomas wanted to overthrow due to persecution? Lee how Jesus dealt with so many by shining His light of love on them. Yes, even the Pharisees – He had to rebuke them because they lived in the darkness of stale, vain repetition and didn’t want to know God personally, because they were in it for themselves.
Think about how people everywhere struggle – even followers of Jesus who hold onto something which may be good but which needs to be given to God to use for His plans, and pray for people everywhere to let God work in their hearts and change them to be more like Him. That is the joy of a personal walk with God and not just empty actions.
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