The Kingdom

030726 DC Men

Good Morning Holy Father,
You are merciful O God, and I push myself towards Your mercy. I don't know that I have been aware of my deep need for Your mercy. But as I will myself to sit before You in the Citadel and command my fingers to express my heart, mind and soul, Your mercy I need. My will staggers under the sway of a soul so craving flesh gratification that I fear my surrender is vain, narcissistic and mean. Every day I wake up to a smaller, meaner me, and I know it is sin. At the same time I Father I fear You. Not just from what I have read in Your word, but what I have learned through the history of the biggest people and the littlest. We all die. Sure enough. We lose our unit on the game board. We go about the world now. I have seen a bit. Tasted a bit. No one lives on past this breathing, working, procreating, shouting, whispering body's descent into darkness. At some point we even stop hoping for more breath, work, procreation, vocalizing and prayer. Vanity says the prophet, the preacher. All is vanity.

But then there is You. You are the one who listens to me and somehow I can say to my being - enough. You rage like a sparrow dear little soul. You preen like an elephant, precious ego, you hail the hurricane silly heart, but you whisper a vapor of prayer to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Be a man at last dear man. When your esteem is so low you can't whisper, sit more quietly and wait for the God who made you. He is in you. Around you. Don't be so blind that you think you have to whimper to be cared for. For pity sake. He could not have made you more comfortable, more rich, more free, more at ease. What suffering have you ever experienced that did not have an end date in sight, or a way through. There are millions in the world who can't even imagine the life God has given you. Stingy one. Bleak one. Of course your end is the same as all others, but look at how you wear your wealth, your status, your position. Die a little bit more. Consider those who are on the edge of darkness today and will never see anything more for liberty to work, breathe, worship, procreate, fellowship is controlled by regimes that hate men who consider You and Your ways higher than theirs.

I praise You Lord, and I do pray for those who live under the most oppressive of regimes, oppressive societies, oppressive families. You alone set the captives free. Even when freedom means to leave this world breathless. Set every captive free today Father. We are slaves to sin without Christ Jesus and His life sacrifice. Set every captive free. May every soul on earth on our way to the other side prosper as they gain life through faith in Your Son. Make Your Gospel clear in the remotest, most inaccessible places on this earth. Truth be readied in mirrors, watery reflections, sky writing, images and words; truth be set as an atomic weapon to radiate the fallen with hope, the rising with vision, the poorest with grandeur, and the lost with a glimpse of Your precious smile, Eyes of Love, and Grace to save. You are glorious O Lord and my understanding of You often times too small. But not today Father. It is all in Your hands. You can give light to the deceived. Please do it. Give those burdened with complete deception a clear, unwavering visitation of Jesus Christ the Son Eternal. Don't delay Father. How long I have heart that it is in our hands to preach to the very last one, but You Preach. You know the reach of our vain concepts, programs and plans. But You. Designer. Maker. Promoter of Kings and lesser beings. What has always been at work is Your love. I know this because You loved me and taught me love when hate was all I knew. You changed malice to compassion. In me. Desperate lost and forgotten me. You Love. It is enough to wrap the whole world in love as your creation looks with horror at the fruit of their lives and see their violence replayed over and over again. Love them all through the pain, shame and regret of pitiful pursuits. Thank You. I know You are merciful. I praise You for Your mercy. Cling to Your mercy. Grant these people worldwide a peace today that blots out the violence all around them. I have seen destruction and have known Your love at the same time. I know it is possible to look on the devastation of even what was most loved and have You so near that peace is all one feels. That is Your miraculous working power Father. And for those who have total recall, as I do from time to time, to remember the holocaust of a moment, give us this same merciful peace my Lord. For without You we are more than lost. We are chained to the evil of this world. Thank You for the freedom to write these words and to know You care, more than anyone can ever know. Even on the cross. We have Your blessing of a glorious life to come! Thank You!