Gracious God, You are Shalom.
You are Peace in my heart…please take up residence there and fill every space and every crack and crevice. Fill all of it.
Your Shalom is for my mind:
... which is like a high-speed popcorn maker, spewing thoughts and concerns in every direction as the heat and oil from beneath cause one eruption after another. Teach me to access Your readily available Peace to calm my thoughts and focus on Your work for the day.
Your Shalom is for my spirit.
I admit that the focus of my day, my thought life, is filled with high emotion, intense pressure from those around me and from my concern for the election and the future of our nation. Please overlay the work of the day with Your concerns. Saturate all that I’m doing and thinking(!).
Father, I don’t want this time of national and spiritual unrest (an understatement!) to be wasted because my focus has been hijacked! I don’t want to be sucked into the deep vortex of darkness and render me worthless and unprofitable for Your kingdom! God forbid!
The principalities are surely descending on Washington DC. The battle for this nation is being challenged from every side. There seems to be no way out. But God! You! You are working this out. Your angelic hosts have not taken a vacation, gone to the doctor, or decided to have a picnic. Your hosts are greater than anything Your enemy can do.
You are Lord of Hosts! Commander of the Army of God! …keeping me safe while time seems to stand still. You repeatedly make this point in Your Word:
Joshua and Jericho (Joshua 5 and 6)…that’s a good one. Your people marched around and it caused fear in the people. You have commanded us to “occupy until You come.” And after all the silence, day after day, they shouted.May the strategies of our enemy be the sword that cuts off their head!
So during my day, I am asking that I walk in Your strength as salt and light to this ailing world. You have promised to direct my steps. So You are placing me where Your presence is needed. Pour out Your Shalom on those around me: in my home, my community, and my travels.
Gideon and Midian (Judges 6 through 8)…this may be my favorite. Just a few men, swinging lanterns and making a ruckus with trumpets. The enemy was so confused they fought each other. I’d like to see a replay of that someday. So You used 300 men to overcome 135,000 Midianites. I like those numbers...as well as the trumpets! Only 15,000 escaped and even those were captured.
This day and each day forward, I am asking that I be used as a lantern and trumpet...Your voice! I want to be Your voice. I ask that You confuse the principalities and powers over Washington DC. I leave that with You. And here in the place where I have influence, I want to be Your voice, Your Shalom and I want to shed the light of You lantern. Please, Lord God of the Living, I want to be a useful soldier and walk by the Spirit.
David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). He only took 5 stones and a sling, and he only used one of them. (I bet the other four would have brought high bids on eBay.) David also proclaimed Your Word to Your and his enemy! He said it out loud:1 Samuel 17:45-47WOW! Fill my mouth with Your words of courage and victory! I really like that David proclaimed victory! YOU guided that rock! I ask that You guide my words. I really like that David used the sword of the enemy to cut off Goliath’s head. You have told us that our Sword is The Word of God! It is YOU!
45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands.
Teach me to wield Your Word. Fill me with it! As You and Your Hosts fight the enemy of this nation, I want to fight the enemy here in my mind and in my neighborhood. Bring Your Word to my heart, mind, and mouth! Fill me so full that Your Word erupts out of my mouth to the right people at the right time. Use me Lord - I plead with You. Use me for Your Kingdom that this time of waiting is not wasted! Hear my prayer.
However, as we wait on You; as we wait on the next event…Time is standing still. Nothing is happening. But when it starts to happen, time moves so fast we find ourselves running as fast as possible to keep up! Now how is that? How did You do that? We live, observing our lives from the passing of events that create perceptions. It seems like each of us have our own personal psychological time. Is that correct? Our own personal perceived timeframes —with the capacity to accelerate and slow down?
Your time holds steady. You never stand still. Your will is in constant motion, constantly being fulfilled. All so I can live in Your Shalom. I don’t always choose to live there, yet; it is always available. Forgive me.
In Your Shalom is peace for my body, soul, and spirit. It is the place You have prepared for me. It is where I am to live while You fight the battles around me. You won’t force me to remain in Your Shalom.
I ask that You teach me to live there, secure in the Salvation of Christ, who is the Commander of the Hosts of Heaven. Teach me to remain in my lane, doing the work of distributing seeds of Your kingdom. Teach me to dress appropriately in the full armor that You have provided, and to walk in confidence by Your Spirit. Use me Lord. Here I am —send me.
Shalom, much needed, amen, thank you!
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