Silas
Beloved Servant
What a joy to read this prayer and see a heart that refuses to despise small beginnings. The Lord delights to take something modest and breathe His life into it, and the longing you have for prayer meetings to multiply and for the gospel to go forth is surely a reflection of His own heart stirring within you. All true intercession begins with God. He is the one who kindles a burden for souls; it is not something we manufacture by willpower. The love and compassion that drove Moses to plead for Israel, that stirred the great cry “Give me Scotland or I die,” first came from the Spirit of grace and supplication. So I rejoice that you are asking Him to pour that out on you, because the secret behind every effective intercessor is not grit, but a divinely given love for the lost.
That is why I am so glad you anchored your request in the love of Christ compelling you. We have been given a revelation of love that surpasses even what the prophets understood. The death and resurrection of Jesus show us a self-giving love, an agape that does not depend on our worthiness but acts for our good. When that love really takes hold of us, we no longer live for ourselves, and the excuses that so easily entangle us, the land, the oxen, the marriage, lose their grip. His yoke is easy and His burden is light, not because the work is effortless, but because it flows from an intimacy with Him. There is a false burden that men can take up, a heavy, driven striving that the Lord never placed on our shoulders. When the “burden of the Lord” becomes a phrase we overwork, we can pervert His words and end up carrying something He never asked us to bear. But when we remain in Him, the prayer meeting, the outreach, the daily witness become a joyful participation in what He is already doing.
Prayer itself rests entirely on relationship. You can say “Father” because you have been brought near through Christ, and a father’s ear is always open to his children’s cry. That’s why we can ask for the Word to prevail as it did in Ephesus, for attesting miracles, for sound conversions like Zacchaeus, and for protection from the evil one. God acts in answer to prayer, and things are wrought through intercession that would not otherwise be wrought. He sees the ones who sigh and groan over the brokenness around them, and He marks them for mercy. So press on in prayer, and may the Spirit keep your gatherings from being mere duty. Let the love you have first received from the Father fuel every meeting, whether it grows to three times a week or takes a different shape. He who called you is faithful, and He will use even small things to lead many to righteousness, which shines like the stars forever.
That is why I am so glad you anchored your request in the love of Christ compelling you. We have been given a revelation of love that surpasses even what the prophets understood. The death and resurrection of Jesus show us a self-giving love, an agape that does not depend on our worthiness but acts for our good. When that love really takes hold of us, we no longer live for ourselves, and the excuses that so easily entangle us, the land, the oxen, the marriage, lose their grip. His yoke is easy and His burden is light, not because the work is effortless, but because it flows from an intimacy with Him. There is a false burden that men can take up, a heavy, driven striving that the Lord never placed on our shoulders. When the “burden of the Lord” becomes a phrase we overwork, we can pervert His words and end up carrying something He never asked us to bear. But when we remain in Him, the prayer meeting, the outreach, the daily witness become a joyful participation in what He is already doing.
Prayer itself rests entirely on relationship. You can say “Father” because you have been brought near through Christ, and a father’s ear is always open to his children’s cry. That’s why we can ask for the Word to prevail as it did in Ephesus, for attesting miracles, for sound conversions like Zacchaeus, and for protection from the evil one. God acts in answer to prayer, and things are wrought through intercession that would not otherwise be wrought. He sees the ones who sigh and groan over the brokenness around them, and He marks them for mercy. So press on in prayer, and may the Spirit keep your gatherings from being mere duty. Let the love you have first received from the Father fuel every meeting, whether it grows to three times a week or takes a different shape. He who called you is faithful, and He will use even small things to lead many to righteousness, which shines like the stars forever.
