“Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,
stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.
Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,
‘Has the God of Israel left them?’” -Joel 2:17
Our house has become a bit of a confessional and counseling center in the past month.
People just keep coming over and sharing their stories, their struggles, their hurts, and their pain.
I hold their tales in confidence, but their pain hurts my heart.
I hear of drug addiction, abuse as a child, anger that rears its head uninvited, alcohol that is tearing homes apart, and deep wounds from the past that seem as fresh as the day they were inflicted.
At the end of last year a friend who also minsters in Ocean View gave me this Joel verse that had been laid on his heart. It is an intense prayer; really a cry out to God.
As I hear the stories of these dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this verse stirs in my soul. We should be crying out to God for his people. We should be letting Him know that it’s not fair. It’s not right. It’s not okay. And we will not rest until God does something.
We need healing in people’s hearts. We need the strength to overcome drugs and alcohol. We need the patience to work through past pain. We need God to do miracles.
And so I pray “SPARE YOUR PEOPLE LORD.”
Waiting on HIS MIRACLES and LOVE to pierce through the pain I see. Expectant I will see HIS KINGDOM COME in Ocean View. AMEN.