Mornig Prayer Nov. 22

writing this morning...

we met for prayer at the table
two candles lit...
a lantern/lamp burning
JP
Zach
Me

some tea for me and JP...

and as we prayed, as has been the case with greater intensity, i sensed a hypocrisy in our prayers of thanksgiving... as we prayed thanksgivings and praises, I could hear the pretenses of men afraid to grieve... afraid to lay hold of that high-current conduit of Gods grief--that utterness of sadness over the lost sheep and the shepherds with no plan for its rescue.

Shepherds who feed themselves...

and I saw us all, there. we have been afraid to grieve...

to grieve the reality that we aren't yet that community that we yearn to be...

that the kingdom HAS NOT come
that his will HAS NOT BEEN DONE.
that the love isn't present
that we're still ripping each other to shreds
that there arestill so many idols...

that the religious leaders and teachers
strip the land bare of fruit.
that the false church spends billions
while the poor die, daily.

that the sheep are misled,
into pits where they die.
twice the sons of hell as their leaders, they are doomed forever...

for where there is a corpse,
there the vultures will gather.


to mourn...

that we are living in the darkness. that there is so much sin, AMONG US! That we, each other, sitting here, are still partners with the darkness in our flesh. That we far too often look to the flesh for comfort, strength, and help.

When all the while we have pushed Jesus to the outside...

We read Isaiah 30-33

and Isaiah 49-51, too...

we're living in a time when the Lord is calling us to war like the men of old, trusting in, relying on, listening to, HIM.

He told them to do ridiculous things! Gideon, David, Saul...

and when they were too conventional, relying on their own thoughts and ways, or going down to Egypt for strength, or going to Damascus or assyria or wherever for help, He cursed them and punished that generation...

We are being called to radical focus of dependence on Him, alone.
We are being called to radical redirection of repentance.