An open prayer,
I know I am not alone on this and my honesty and heart may encourage you!
So here I go again… to teach another Bible study, or to Sunday school class, or to a church service. And my heart breaks because you never know if there will be 100 or 1 that will come. Why do I take this personal? Why do I think that it is a reflection of me or my husband or my family for that sake? Why if only 1 shows up, do I get discouraged or think that it has to do with my personality or style? (2 Corinthians 3:1-3, Galatians 6:9)
WHY? . . .
Because LORD, I do not want to be the one that stands in the way of your gospel being proclaimed and truth taught and hearts softened! I do not want to bring Your Name dishonor but instead I want to speak with such reverence that others stand in awe of YOU! (Ecclesiastes 5:1-3) Not me! I so much want others to see You despite my faults and failures! (1 Timothy 1:15)
So in saying that, I have to be reminded every second that You are God. And You Lord are bigger and stronger and above all my failures. TRUTH~ God has set me here for such a time as this and this place! (Esther 4:14)
I know they are not rejecting me, but You …(LUKE 10:16) And honestly that breaks my heart even more! For they know not what they are doing! For they know not what blessing they are missing, by growing closer to you and being challenged by other believers! But also what blessing am I and You oh Lord, missing from their rebellion? Lord, I know you know their hearts and I often wonder sometimes if I would go if I wasn’t invested myself. Yes, I would go and Yes I would want to because it is with other believers that I am encouraged more so to continue on this path. (Hebrews 10:25) If they don’t come, does that make them a sinner? NO, May it never be! But it does reveal the condition of their heart…if it is steadfast. (Colossians 1:2-23, Psalm 57:7, Psalm 108:1, Psalm 51:10) Sometimes coming to such things is about your growth but sometimes it is more about serving others and encouraging the body of Christ to stand.
I know if I desire to shine I must stay close to the Light! Keep me in your Word and let my mouth be an overflow of my heart that is secure in You and Your Word! (Psalm 19:14) Let me have boldness to speak truth and joy in all I do, Let it be for you not my own ambition. May I be humbled in knowing that you have given me eyes to see. Open the eyes of many…
In saying all this I thank you, Lord for the faithful few and the heart to serve those that seek you! I pray there are many more that come with soft hearts, eagerness for Your Word and find rest. For Your glory not my own!
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
~LUKE 10:1-24
