Did anyone notice when you crawled out of bed this morning? I have a friend who likes to say, “The kingdom of darkness gets nervous when any Jesus follower wakes up“. We are the light of the world according to Jesus. He noticed and He longs to show you his heart in the middle of your “normal” life.
In Matt 9:35-38, we read that Jesus was walking in the middle of the same streets and the same crowds as everyone else. But, he saw things differently. While everyone else just saw the usual things, Jesus saw the crowds in a unique way and felt deeply for them. He saw that they were lost, directionless, wandering around like sheep with no shepherd!
With a heart burning with urgency and deep compassion for the people, He turned and told his followers to open their eyes to what He was seeing. Then He told them to pray for laborers. He is calling us to the same mission.
His first priority for us is to love Him by actually seeing people through His eyes. As we allow Him to get our attention, we will be overwhelmed by what is “really” going on around us. We will begin to sense that He is actually saying something and He wants us to listen. The massive heartbeat of the Father is to be up close with every person we will see today.
It reminds me of the prophet Isaiah and his encounter with God in Isaiah 6. As he was going through his daily routine of serving as a priest in God’s temple, the Holy Spirit grabbed his attention and Isaiah had an intense vision of the glory of the Lord. Isaiah desperately cried out for mercy and God sent an angel to purify his lips so that he would be clean. Then something revolutionary happened at the core of Isaiah’s being.
In Isaiah 6:8 it says;
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”.
How long had God been saying this? Was Isaiah hearing the passionate heartbeat of God in a way that he had never heard it before?
What about you? As you get up out of bed and live out that same old daily grind, God is trying to get your attention. Whatever you do, don’t turn away from Him because you feel unworthy and afraid. Isaiah felt the same way. But he stayed in God’s presence. He experienced the Fathers heart for people as he heard what the Spirit was saying.
What do you hear the voice of the Lord saying?
When you experience His deep love for people you will be swept up in His mission. He is still asking “Who will go“?
Let’s rise up and ask the Lord for laborers and with burning hearts cry out, “Here we are, Father! Send us!”