A Church with a Heart for our Community

February 26th Thursday

Greetings in the name of “the Lord of all the Earth” (Micah 4:13) and Jesus Christ – THE Crucified and Risen Saviour! Thanks be to God for another great morning in the Kingdom and I trust that you are aware of God’s presence. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to gently stir your heart and graciously disturb your thoughts…so that you receive all that He wants to give you.

This morning I have been doing my part in preparing the music for Sunday morning’s corporate worship…and God gave me an impression – a vision of what was on his heart. I was playing the song: “Softly and Tenderly”, which will be used during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Usually the song is connected with the invitation: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”  Matthew 11:28 – but this morning, God directed my attention on the passage from Luke 15:11-24 … the Parable of the Lost Son. God showed me an image of the “Father” in prayer, simply repeating his son’s name as his love ‘called the son home’ – to share in a meal of celebration and belonging and love.

We have had a regular time of prayer to pray for the needs of the church family for many weeks now…and part of that time is praying for family members to be healed, to get employment, to have safety and protection as they travelled, to have relationships restored, for them to come to their senses. This morning, God said to me that that is a good thing…and to simply call them home. And then: I know what they need – I see beyond the surface – Like the father in the parable, I have been looking for them to make the steps toward the place where they belong.

“Pastor,” says God, ” will you and your congregation keep – ‘calling them home’ – without judging or criticizing or being hard-hearted or sermonizing or ‘pastor-izing’ or conditional love?” Then I heard the song again: O for the wonderful love He has promised – Promised for ‘them’ and for ‘us’ – Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon – Pardon for ‘them’ and for ‘us’! And God began to reveal another “video” and I watched as individuals that we had been praying for, stop in the midst of their day’s activities and turn their heads, as if they heard something — maybe their name being called — and for some there was a turning of their face–their heart—with a determined smile on the face.

As this moment passed, I went and grabbed my prayer list, beginning to speak out the names of those we have been praying for – simply calling them home! Why don’t you do that for your family?

Be blessed!