The Lord woke me multiple times during the night to pray for pastors. He had me pray for those struggling in their ministry to allow Him to direct them. He brought Proverbs 3:5-6 to my mind as I prayed. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight. The one time He had me praying for pastors who are feeling like they can't go on to remember all things are possible with Him. He reminded me of Exodus 14:14. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. Another time He had me praying for those struggling in their physical bodies to remember He is with them. God wants us to succeed in life. It takes submission to His will for this to happen. He reminded me of the importance of II Timothy 1:7 for all of us to remember we are empowered by the Holy Spirit as we allow Him to be in control of our life. When I woke up, He told me to read Psalm 63. It reads in The Passion Translation:
O God of my life, I’m lovesick for you in this weary wilderness.
I thirst with the deepest longings to love you more,
with cravings in my heart that can’t be described.
Such yearning grips my soul for you, my God!
2 I’m energized every time I enter
your heavenly sanctuary to seek more of your power
and drink in more of your glory.
3 For your tender mercies mean more to me than life itself.
How I love and praise you, God!
4 Daily I will worship you passionately and with all my heart.
My arms will wave to you like banners of praise.
5 I overflow with praise when I come before you,
for the anointing of your presence satisfies me like nothing else.
You are such a rich banquet of pleasure to my soul.
6–7 I lie awake each night thinking of you
and reflecting on how you help me like a father.
I sing through the night under your splendor-shadow,
offering up to you my songs of delight and joy!
8 With passion I pursue and cling to you.
Because I feel your grip on my life,
I keep my soul close to your heart.
9 Those who plot to destroy me shall descend into the darkness of hell.
10 They will be consumed by their own evil
and become nothing more than dust under our feet.
11 These liars will be silenced forever!
But with the anointing of a king I will dance and rejoice
along with all his lovers who trust in him.
King David wrote these words when he was in the wilderness running for his life from Absalom. Spurgeon wrote of this Psalm:
There was no desert in his heart, though there was a desert around him. We too may expect to be cast into rough places ere we go hence. In such seasons, may the Eternal Comforter abide with us, and cause us to bless the Lord at all times, making even the solitary place to become a temple for Jehovah.
The way David was able to worship God in this tough place is found in the first verse in the New King James Version. O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You... He sought God when he first woke. It is so important to start our day in His Word, praying, and allowing Him to be over our day. We all need to put on the full armor of God as Paul wrote of in Ephesians 6 every day. I like what Matthew Henry wrote about this Psalm:
When faith and hope are most in exercise, the world appears a weary desert, and the believer longs for the joys of heaven, of which he has some foretastes in the ordinances of God upon earth.
"...faith and hope..". are key in our lives. We cannot experience hope without faith. We cannot experience His peace if we do not allow Him to be in control of our lives. We cannot share His love if we are not experiencing His love to the fullest ourselves. We must be living in His strength as Philippians 4:13 reads if we want to be successive in our spiritual life.
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for the privilege to pray for pastors throughout the night! Thank You for the richness of Scripture You brought before me! Thank You for continuing to be with me throughout these 'tough' days! Thank You for Your peace throughout this first Christmas season without my honey! Lord, once again I pray for pastors to feel Your strength. May we all experience the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in our physical, mental, emotional, financial, and most of all our spiritual bodies. May those of us preaching today speak boldly with what You have given us. May You be glorified through us. Father, I pray You will calm the tingling in my face so it is not a distraction during the sermon this morning. Thank You Jesus for being My Empowerment! Amen.
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