PRAYER FOR LOVE & MERCY!
GP 75
5/71
1. YOU'LL NEVER BE A TRULY GREAT LEADER OR SHEPHERD UNTIL YOU LEARN TO HAVE COMPASSION ON THE SHEEP--UNTIL YOU LEARN TO HAVE GREAT LOVE & MERCY. Sometimes we feel we can't stand it or we'll weep. We feel we can't be so tender-hearted, so we feel we have to harden our hearts in order to bear it! But that's not the Lord's solution! But rather, cast thy burden on the LORD & HE shall sustain thee!
2. GETTING HARD & TYRANNICAL IS A FLESHLY COMPENSATION. IT'S NOT THE LORD'S SOLUTION. Nurses get that way! They don't have the Lord to cast their burden on. No one person can stand all the suffering & pain they have to constantly see, so they have to callous their hearts until they've become almost butchers of Mankind!
3. FOR GOD'S SAKE, WE'RE SOUL DOCTORS! DON'T ALLOW YOURSELF TO BECOME A BUTCHER WHO ENJOYS SEEING OTHERS SUFFER, just because you can't stand to see pain & problems. You're going to have to ask God to give you a tender heart!
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4. PRAYER: JESUS, JESUS! WE NEED YOU, JESUS! GENTLE LOVING JESUS WHO WEPT FOR THE MULTITUDE, Who was so weary & yet He came forth & looked upon the multitude & had compassion on them & healed them, as exhausted as He was, He didn't harden His heart!
5. YOU DIDN'T HARDEN YOUR HEART, LORD, BUT YOU HAD COMPASSION UPON THE MULTITUDE. YOU STAYED TENDER, QUIET & HUMBLE. YOU WEPT OVER THEM TIME & AGAIN. What grieved You more than anything else was their hard hearts--even those whom You would have gathered unto You. You didn't want to see them suffer. Help us not to get hard. We're so used to seeing problems & difficulties. Because we're in a hurry, the quick way is to harden our heart. We don't take time to soften & melt & love & care for them. We want to break them right away quick, instead of gentling them. We want to delve in & slice & cut, instead of being like the osteopath, who tries to find natural means to cure the disease & tries to find the root of the problem. We slice away at the symptom & cut away the cancer & quickly try to chop off the arm or the leg without trying to find a way to HEAL the wound. We just cauterise with the sword heated in the fire & we burn & injure even more sometimes.
6. YOU HAD SO MUCH TO SAY AGAINST THE HARDNESS OF HEARTS. Help us not to judge them with harshness, Lord. You're so good to me, Lord, when I've been so wicked & such a failure, so I understand how You can help me to be merciful & patient & long-suffering & kind. All these things take time! Chopping off an arm in a sudden operation--THAT doesn't take time & it sometimes kills the patient! But natural ways take time: A change of diet, a change of scenery, the encouragement to exercise, trying to coordinate. Such gentle leading of the blind, such tender understanding of the feeble-minded--these things take such time! You could slap them in a padded cell & put them in a straight-jacket & let them go mad through such harsh treatment, or we could put our arms around them & encourage & inspire & show we have faith in them.
7. THIS TAKES TIME! WE'RE IN TOO BIG A HURRY SOMETIMES. IT'S LIKE GETTING ANGRY AT A LITTLE TINY BABY. How many years it takes to grow up & for parents to teach & to train them to feed themselves & go to the bathroom--YEARS of love & patience, yet the parents don't give up & get angry & throw them out just because the children can't do everything themselves! Help us to have patience, help us to have love. Help us to be easier on the spiritually & physically handicapped! It takes time to change the diet, establish the exercise, to realise they have to have more rest than normal people--that we can't push them so hard. It takes time--on our most uncomely parts we do bestow the greater care! Help us to be willing to take time! This being in a hurry is a lack of faith--that it's got to be done right now, or it won't be done. We're trying to do it in our own strength!
8. IT TOOK TIME TO TEACH & TRAIN ME TO GET WHERE WE ARE NOW--& THAT'S AT THE BOTTOM! We couldn't get any lower! If anything's to be done, YOU have to do it, Lord! We have to just wait on YOU. Not by might, nor by power, but by Thy SPIRIT! Help us to have the patience to take the time with You & with others, with those who are handicapped & those who are weak & crippled & babes--even our own leaders! Sometimes we've taken days to deal with some of our very top ones at great danger & expense & trouble! We could have just lopped them off, but You wanted to preserve them, Lord. We ask that You will teach Thy sons & daughters patience & faith--which takes time--teach them never to get in such a hurry--not to push themselves so hard as though they had to do it in their own strength! Help them to learn how to lean on You & to know that You're going to take care of it somehow--to trust You! Carrying the burdens ourselves would just drive us insane--& this harshness that some people have is a form of insanity! It can become extreme, this unmercifulness comes from getting our eyes off You. You said You would keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he TRUSTETH in Thee!
9. FORGIVE ME, LORD, FOR THE TIMES I'VE BECOME IMPATIENT BECAUSE I DIDN'T KEEP MY EYES ON YOU. Sometimes I get so upset I just want to wipe the floor up with some people & beat them the way I want to instead of letting YOU discipline them the way You know best!
10. THANK YOU, LORD, FOR ALL OF YOUR PATIENCE--& FOR SHOWING US THAT THE BEST HEALING TAKES TIME. It can't be done overnight. We have to correct the CAUSE. These outward manifestations are just symptoms of an inner disease. We could try to get rid of them just by slicing them off, but we have to get at the root, which takes love & probing & massaging & gentle feeling, which takes hands of love & hands of mercy & hands of gentleness!
11. THE ONLY WAY WE CAN BE PATIENT WITH OTHERS IS TO KNOW WHAT A HOPELESS CASE WE ARE OURSELVES! You've been so gentle with us--not rewarding us according to our iniquities. You've been so patient & loving!
12. IF THERE'S ANYTHING WE SHOW THESE KIDS, HELP US TO SHOW THEM TENDERNESS & GENTLENESS--THAT THEY ARE SO DEAR TO OUR HEARTS--that You've gone so far out of Your way--Your hands are torn by the rocks & thistles in rescuing these little lost lambs. Help us to take them in our arms & hold them close to our bosoms & nurse them back to strength & health & wholeness! Help us, O Jesus!
13. LORD, IF YOU'RE ANYTHING, YOU'RE THE PICTURE OF PATIENCE, CALMNESS, LOVE & GENTLENESS, LONG-SUFFERING--THE PICTURE OF TENDERNESS, GENTLY WOOING LIKE THE DOVE--easily frightened away if met with hardness & resistance. You don't try to force anybody, Lord! Your Holy Spirit gently descends & can be easily shooed away. It doesn't land where it's not wanted. Help us not to be like the eagle who pounces upon its prey & sinks its talons in it & devours its prey. Help us to be like the gentle dove of Thy Spirit!
14. LORD, YOU'RE PICTURED AS A GENTLE, TENDER LAMB--not a beast of prey, not a ravenous, merciless, cruel monster, but a harmless lamb, who allows itself to be eaten to bring life & strength--& nourishment to others--who lays itself on the altar of sacrifice & who allows itself to die that others may live! Help us to be like Thee, O gentle Lamb of God! Give us Thy Wisdom, Thy Patience, Thy Mercy!
15. THY HOLY SPIRIT IS LIKE A MOTHER--TENDER & GENTLE, WITH THE LITTLE BABY. Not even the father has so much patience. But Thou art like a mother, hovering over, waiting, comforting, nursing, nurturing!
16. IF THERE IS ANYTHING WE'VE BEEN KNOWN FOR, IT'S LOVE. They look up with such trust & such faith, such hope that we have the answer--that we can help them because You're in us! We're like the shepherd with wooing voice & gentle tone & deft & gentle fingers! We heal the broken-hearted, bind up the wounds & set the captives free--not with violence but with gentleness--to win the World with Love! If You could only teach us this lesson--it's greater than faith: Though we have faith & wisdom, tongues & interpretation, though we have a sacrificial spirit--our service is nothing without our love!
17. YOU SAID, "I WILL HAVE MERCY & NOT SACRIFICE." WE MUST SPEND TIME ALONE WITH THEE TO LEARN WHAT THIS MEANETH! THE GREATEST GUIDE IS THE ONE THAT SHOWS THE WAY! We're samples! Help us to be like You, Lord Jesus! Help us not to be like the Enemy--the Accuser of the Saints, the harsh, the cruel, the devourer--but like the little gentle Lamb of God! With all of our discipline, sometimes we've been too harsh. We've not had the patience with these little lambs we should have. Help us to be forgiving & patient & to have mercy as WE want mercy, & to treat THEM in THEIR errors as we want You to treat US in OURS!
18. TAKE NOT THY SPIRIT FROM US! Cut us not off! In Thy tender loving kindness, have mercy. Deliver us by Thy Mercy. Not that we deserve it, but because You're so gentle & tender & loving & patient--so faithful!
19. HE THAT WOULD BE GREATEST AMONG YOU MUST BE SERVANT OF ALL. The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister--to be a servant! Help us to minister, not just expect to be ministered unto & to have them jump when we snap our fingers! We have to be their servants.
20. LORD, WE FEEL TOTALLY UNWORTHY EVEN OF THE MINISTRATION OF THESE LITTLE ONES. We look with wonder on them as they minister to us in all these little things that are so important to our health & well-being & especially Thy Work. We don't feel worthy even of the tender loving service of these little lambs.
21. WHAT A SURPRISE WE'RE GOING TO GET WHEN THE LORD HANDS OUT THE REWARDS AS TO WHO WAS REALLY GREATEST! Many of these little ones whom we sometimes have trampled on in our damnable hastiness are going to be so rewarded & shine so brightly with the purity of their humility. We'll be ashamed, they shall outshine us, Lord! We don't think we ourselves could have done these things the kids do. They're greater than we are. They have more faith--more humility--more courage--more long-suffering--more faithfulness! We're the least amongst many brethren. We don't know how You even use us, Lord. Every one is greater than we are, Lord! Such saints, these little ones! Their saintliness amazes us! Their sacrifice astounds us! We are but their servants--unworthy servants doing only that which is our duty to do!
22. WE'RE NOTHING, LORD! IF THERE'S ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT US, IT'S ONLY YOU!--NOTHING OF OURSELVES. OUR ONLY HOPE--YOU IN US, LORD! Help us, Lord! Help us not to be of the Scribes & Pharisees who laid upon the people burdens more than they were able to bear! Help us not to be as they were, who said, but did not! Help us not to be lifted up in pride about what we accomplish. It's just that You put us there at the right time & the right place!--No credit to us! (Tongues & weeping!) "Nothing in our hands we bring!--Simply to Thy Cross we cling!" We are absolutely NOTHING!
23. THEY ARE THE DIAMONDS OF DUST, THE SMALLEST OF ALL CREATURES! THEY ARE SO SMALL & SO LIGHT THAT THEY FLOAT UPON THY AIR! They are the ones that catch Thy sunlight! They are the ones that shine! We are like lumps of unwieldy clay & rocks & stones that cannot rise above the floor! We are like the dirt on the floor which will catch them & on which they can rest until Thy breath catches them & they float again into the sunlight! We dwell in darkness but we are there to give them a place to land. We are to be as nothing and out of sight! But to let these little ones shine, not to rise from the floor & make fools of ourselves. But help us not to fail them. Help us to be there for them to rest upon. But help us to stand back & let THEM shine--let them turn & twist & tumble in that utmost yieldedness to the Breath of Thy Spirit--that total lack of will, or anything of their own--just floating on Thy air--tumbling, rolling, scintillating, shining, exhilarating--so beautiful! Help us to stay out of the limelight--help us just to be there to catch them when they fall--just to be there to give them a place to land! THEY'RE Thy stars--these LITTLE ONES are the ones that You're using! Help us, Lord, to be willing to catch them when they fall. Help us not to scold them & try to blow upon them ourselves. Help us not to try to stir them up ourselves, but to WAIT for the Breath of Thy Spirit. Help us just to be their servants--just to be there where You want us to be, Lord!
24. THEY'RE THY EXALTED ONES! WE'RE THEIR SERVANTS--THEIR SLAVES--THEIR HANDMAIDENS, TO WAIT UPON THEM & SERVE THEM! You use us so mundanely--just to provide the places.--Thank You for using us, Lord, for helping us to be willing to receive them--not to exalt ourselves against them--not to try to jump & leap into the light ourselves--but to stay there hidden & out of sight & let them shine. If we only knew how nothing we are. He that thinketh he is something is nothing at all. "If any man thinketh he standeth, let him take heed lest he fall."--1Cor.10:12.
25. WE ARE NOT EVEN EQUAL--WE ARE THE LOWEST OF THE LOW! HELP US TO WAIT UPON THEM! What is a mother but a slave to the child? What is a wife but a slave to her husband?--A helpmeet! What is a shepherd but a servant unto his flock? The farmer kneels by the cow & serves her & the cow is like a queen with the farmer at her feet--a mere servant. A leader is servant of the follower! May we be servants of the flock, Lord, slaves of Thy children.--In honour preferring one another. You are our Servant, Lord, waiting upon us all--ministering rather than being ministered unto! You are the greatest Sample of Humility & Mercy!
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The prayer of a shepherd after having to reprove some of his flock:
26. LORD, I SENT THEM OUT WITH A SPANKING THIS MORNING. I DIDN'T FEED THEM! YOU FEED THEM, LORD! YOU COMFORT THEM! That's the trouble with being in a hurry! Whenever I spank them, I have to have TIME to love them, Lord--otherwise they get discouraged! Forgive me, Lord! Help them! I failed, but You encourage them, Lord!--By Thy Holy Spirit, like a mother who encourages & comforts them after Daddy spanks them. In Jesus' Name. I'm sorry, Lord. Encourage, inspire, instruct & lead them by Thy Own Hand, Lord! Help me to be a better Shepherd, Lord!
27. THEY'VE WORKED SO HARD & DONE SO WELL--MORE THAN EVEN THEY SHOULD HAVE. (The Shepherd falls upon his face & weeps:) Forgive me for scolding them, Lord. We know they needed it, but forgive me for not COMFORTING them AFTERWARDS. Help me to have more concern & love & thoughtfulness. Help me to lift them up & not just beat them down--a lifter-up of their heads. Jesus, help me not to add to their burdens, but to share & bear their burdens! Help them, strengthen them, give them mercy & love & joy! O Jesus, we need You so much, Lord! (The Shepherd weeps) How can I scold anybody else when I myself am such a failure. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy!
28. HELP ME TO BE MORE LOVING, MORE KIND, MORE MERCIFUL, MORE PATIENT! Forgive me for getting upset. We find Thy servants have not obeyed & have left Thy Work undone & we get so upset. Somewhere it must be MY fault. I'm the leader. Forgive me, Lord, I must not have made it plain. Help me to make it more simple so they can understand it. Lord, I don't know anything. I'm an unprofitable servant. Forgive & help me. I don't want to be like that! Keep me humble & broken & dependent upon Thee, Lord! Help me to strengthen Thy children, feed Thy flock, guide Thy little ones. May these Letters be an encouragement to them. Help it to feed them! Help it to lift them up & heal the wounds. Help them to seek Thy face & find sweet fellowship with Thee. Thou art the Great Shepherd by Thy Spirit. Help us not to be hard but tender & gentle, like You, precious Lord! Give us strength now to finish the task, wisdom & love--that they may feel Thy Love--that it may lift up their heads & make them happy & give them joy & inspiration & strength! In Jesus' precious name I pray! Amen.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family