How often I have looked to heaven and cried, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens, Lord, and come down!”(Is 64:1) I have bent myself in my prayer closet and whispered, “Lord, come and break through the darkness.” (2 Sam 5:20) There is nothing inherently wrong with these prayers and certainly we do want the Lord to come near and give breakthrough in our situations.
But lately, I have felt like the Lord wants to change my point of view. If I am always waiting for the Lord to BREAK INTO my life and circumstance, I have adopted a mindset that He is somehow separated from me, outside what I am living in and walking through. This skewed understanding makes it seem as if He is sitting far off on some white cloud watching to see if I can figure things out in my life. My experience in this salvation is vastly different.
You see, I have known Jesus to be a Good Shepherd, always close and guiding me with His sheltering love. I have known Him to be the One standing firm footed on top of the billowing waves, pulling me out of the stormy waters when I wavered in my faith. I have known Him to be the One Who holds my hand as we walked through the blazing furnaces of my hardest circumstances. I have known Him to be the wind blowing on my face in the secret place, eyes blazing with passion as I worship. No, I have never known my Jesus to be in any way separate from me. I abide in Him and He abides in me. We are connected. He is closer than the breath in my lungs. That is the Jesus I have known.
He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.(Heb 13:5). He is not far away waiting to break in. The Lord is very much present in the Body of Christ and in the life of the believer, and He is still very much a miracle working Messiah. All the power that surged out of Jesus as He walked the streets of Galilee still resides in Him now. The voice that healed the sick with a word, made devils tremble in fear, and raised the dead, is the same voice that whispers in our souls.
As disciples of Jesus, we are filled with the mighty Holy Spirit. We need not wait for God to show up and deal with the needs we see around us. He has equipped us to bring hope and genuine caring to the society in which we live. We have been commissioned to represent God to the broken and hurting people we encounter in our daily lives. When we find situations that are far beyond our means to help or even know how to address, and believe me that we will find them, we have the privilege of interceding for those who are suffering.
Instead of asking the Lord to break in or break through, perhaps we should step out and be the witnesses He has called us to be. Let’s try praying, “Lord, will You send me and when I get there, just go ahead and BREAK OUT.”
Pray with me? Lord, we stand absolutely amazed at You. You fill us with wonder and joy. We are captivated at the very thought of You. We praise You. You have made our lives so much more than they were supposed to be. You have poured glory into us and we didn’t deserve such generosity.
Lord, as we look around at our community, we can be overwhelmed at the problems we see. So, Lord, do BREAK IN for those who around us, but can we dare ask it? BREAK OUT of us. Let Your light shine through these earthen vessels. (2 Cor 4:7) Let Your love be poured out of these frail vessels. Let Your miracle power be manifested through us. Let these earthen vessels leak the power of God
