When you sing Jesus Bring The Rain, what are you asking Him to do?
Intimacy with God is going to require sacrifice on our part.
It's no picnic praying in the garden. Just ask Jesus. Every time He needed to get alone with His Father, He found a garden to pray in. And that last one, He prayed so hard He sweat blood. I have never prayed that hard. I've cried, but not bled.
He knew what He was about to do would be the most difficult thing He would ever do. But He also knew that it was for that purpose that God had sent Him to this world. It required great sacrifice on His part.
He had to leave Home. For a few hours on the cross and 2 days in the grave He would be separated from His Father. An agony that literally broke His heart. With His heart already stopped, it is the reason only water poured forth from His side when the soldier's spear entered His body.
The holiness of God cannot be where sin is. With His Son Jesus Christ carrying the sins of the whole world, God could not see His Son; Christ could not see His Father. Not until God rolled the stone away and Jesus walked out of the grave.
But that separation from God was temporary. so that when we who believe on the Name of The LORD Jesus Christ would not be separated from our heavenly Father. Jesus obediently went through the mock trial, the gruesome crucifixion, the wrestling match with Satan in hell, in order to be God's sacrificial Lamb, which took away the sins of the world. Permanently.
Whereas the Old Testament sacrificial lamb only covered the sins of the people, the blood of the Holy Lamb of God washes away (woohoo!) the sins of the sinner.
I'm so glad that the LORD saved me. But I want Him to save you, too, if you are not already a believer. So, I pray for revival. In me, in you. A reviving of the desire to be a good and faithful servant. I pray for your salvation, your sanctification, your service to God.
I pray for your faithful testimony and strong witness. For your heart to be compassionate, your actions merciful and loving, your words to align with God's Word.
I pray for my witness to be strong and true. For my words and actions to line up with God's Word. Strength of testimony and a faith-filled life.
What am I willing to sacrifice to see revival fire fall? I guess we'll find out, won't we?
