Bold

Lately it seems as if life is stressful, and or my mistakes and shortcomings are on the big screen for me and everyone else to see.  As a woman, I often feel responsible for mending things.  I want to be able to fix the problem or mend the relationships around me.  It is my nature to want to give, even if I have no idea how to give.  I find that my heart aches for so many people and reasons, and I am stuck not being able to do anything or fix any of it.  I hate this feeling.  I hate feeling out of control and without recourse.  The only thing I can give is prayer, and it sometimes it feels as if prayer is not enough.

Then God put this on my heart the other day.   Read in the book of Hosea.  I know you are wondering, Hosea?  Where did that come from?  Well, actually I am behind on my quiet time materials.  (Quiet time materials are something my Pastor offers us, a day-to-day guide to be in the Word of God.)  The book of Hosea is the book for the month of August.  I felt a tugging at my heart, by the Holy Spirit to read the first two chapters.  I read them.  It was about adultery.  Naturally my mind was like,” Ok God, I don’t like this subject, my marriage is happy, what are you really trying to tell me?”  That is when it occurred to me; just what God is telling me.  Chapter 2 of Hosea is a parallel of how Israel is like a cheating wife to God.  It describes how Israel is adulterous and how the consequences from such behavior come and devastate Israel.  It describes the pain suffered and the strife that follows when cheating on God.  Then it goes on to describe how the Lord will reconcile His people and their broken hearts.  He describes a foreshadowing of Jesus and the forgiveness and atonement offered in forgiveness of sins.  It was a great description of life choices, consequences, accountability followed by forgiveness and love.

 

I thought of the stressful relationships in my life.  I thought how as life and people change, it is not really up to me to reconcile or try to fix everything.  My role should be, to accept responsibility for my actions, apologize when I need to, and love as God calls me to love.  I cannot control the reaction of other people; therefore, the Lord is the one who is the reconciler of all things.  It seems so simple!  I am sure that the Lord being called the Reconciler of all things is probably a song lyric or even a verbatim verse some where in the Bible.  However, this is one of those truths that when you hear it, and you say, “Yeah!  Right on, that is MY GOD, the reconciler!”  It doesn’t quite mean some thing until you need reconciliation for something.  I love that the description of the strife and consequences of life result in a second chance.  The use of adultery here, I consider a metaphor for all things that keep you distant from God.  God wants a personal relationship; He wants real worship, love, and faith.  He is not only the reconciler, but also the author of the second chance!  That is something worth saying AMEN over!

After coming to that conclusion I also came to this one.  God wants a personal relationship, prayer is how you talk to God, and IT IS ENOUGH.  God is enough all the time.  I recently listened to one of my brother’s sermons on Boldness.  He talked about praying boldly, and what it would be like if we prayed as big as God is.  He said we often put God in a box that we can understand, but limits God.  God is the creator of the universe, the maker of all things; the book of Isaiah describes how God can measure the earth’s waters in the hollow of his hand. (Isaiah 40:12) I do not know about you, but I think that is AMAZING.  I think my brother had a great point, prayer is enough, and maybe the prayer given should be bold.  A bold prayer is not just about asking for relief in stress or direction in life, but believing God is going to answer you.

My prayer today is that even though life seems hard right now, and control is hard to let go of, God will answer my prayers.  God can achieve all the things that seem impossible, and for those who are reading this, I pray God will answer your prayers, and that the prayers you offer will be bold!