Thursday, April 3, 2014

Prayer Update - Iraq

During this season of Lent I'm desiring to meditate on the reality of Christ's death and resurrection, and the glorious truth that when we trust in the sacrifice of Christ, the Father sees His perfection and not our sin.  And at the same time desiring to think about what it means that out of that trust, flows love and obedience....not to earn His favor (if we could earn it, Christ didn't need to die) but as an outpouring, a reflection of His love and grace.

This is a portion of a newsletter written by my co-worker living in northern Iraq.  It struck me as an excellent summary of what the Christian life calls us to, and I'm praying Lent is a time to focus my heart and have a fresh understanding of a life that is about seeking Him, finding Him, walking closer with Him...

My prayer for you is that this Lent season finds you with a renewed sense of passion and awe at God's love for us.

And I'd ask that you'd join me in prayer that the Lord would encourage this family as they walk with Him....

Jesus is drawing all of us into the limits of our own abilities and beyond. The life of faith seems hardly worth living if He's not, and so, the stretching, stretching, and more stretching continues... unabated.

But, aren't we so glad it does. When we finally get to the end, we'll be able to look back and see a life that was SPENT, not hoarded, a life that was consumed by God's grace and presence, not just kept safe and secure in the mires of our own personal goals and dreams.

It's a life of sacrifice that God has called us to, and if we're not on that road then, our spirits' should be crying out for it. For it is upon that road that we find Christ.

I want to find Him... closer today than yesterday, more ever present than I could imagine, truly one with Him, doing together what the Father is doing in our world.

Hurdles are ever-present just like with everyone else, so please keep us close to your hearts and in your prayers, and step by step we'll climb the mountain together.


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