Heart's Cry

     Something remarkable happens when one becomes a father. This experience brings with it a unique revelation of the connection that is shared between a father and his child. It seems impossible to describe, but it is a connection that reaches past the natural and touches the very heart. Perhaps the best way to express this connection and relationship, is to explain what takes place when a father hears his child cry.
     To a loving father, to hear the sound of his child's cry is much more than hearing - it is feeling. It is to hear the wails and have one's heart moved. It is to assimilate tears of the child. A father's heart is moved to respond to the sounds of his child - to respond to the needs behind the cry!
It is as though the father's heart cries with the child. As his child calls out for the attention of his father, the father's heart wells with tears to meet the need of his beloved. The cries seem to tear the vail of indifference and allow direct access to the father's soul.
     Upon experiencing this connection first hand, I cannot help but consider how God feels when He hears the cries of His children. As indescribable the anguish and heartbreak of a father who hears the desperate calling of his child, so
also is the Heart of the Father for His children. I can only, now, image how our cries touch the heart of our Heavenly Father. When we call out in need, The Father's heart is moved - moved to meet the needs of His child.
      This tells me that EVERY tear and EVERY cry is not only heard by our Father, it is felt. We can be sure that our God will torridly desire to meet the needs of His children, EVERY time we call out to Him. With this new found insight into fatherhood, let us be encouraged to call out to our Heavenly Father and know (without a doubt) that He will be moved by our prayers; and He will answer our prayers according to what is best for us!

-Dusty

Proud!

My wife and I are going through one of the most incredible experiences. We are on the journey of pregnancy. Miraculous! It is truly miraculous.

Currently, my wife is in her third trimester - a point in the baby's development where he begins to hear and recognize voices. This being the case, we feel it is appropriate to read portions of the Bible to him and talk to him. We do so that he may begin to familiarize himself with his parents.

 

One night, After finishing our passage about Moses, I began to speak to my child. As I was speaking, I found myself saying, "I am proud of you!" This brought about an interesting gaze from my wife, and an interesting conversation. As we talked about how someone could be proud of their unborn child, we discovered something. We are proud of our soon-born baby, not because of something he did, because of the fact that he is our child.

We discussed how this is a picture of God's heart! How often has God said, "I am proud of you," not because of anything you did, said, or accomplished. While, I am sure those things matter (mostly to ourselves), God is proud of you BECAUSE YOU ARE HIS CHILD. Yes, we should use our freedom to walk in a manner worthy of the call God has placed on our lives; we should stand firm in the power of God and desire to change the world! Nevertheless, we should also rest in the fact that our Heavenly Father is proud of us. He is proud of us simply because we are His children. With this thought, go forth and enjoy the peace that comes from the favor of God!

- Dusty

"Knocking on the Door of Prayer"

Lately I have been knocking on a lot of doors. It's part of my new job and my new season of my life. And while I was at work the other day, approaching a door, I realized something!
     Knocking on a door doesn't happen by accident. It is intentional! You walk right up to the door you want opened, and make yourself heard!
     The situation determines how you knock. If the circumstances of life are noisy and chaotic, you have to knock loudly - to be heard above the noise of life's events. If the stirrings of our emotions are the only sounds that we hear, we need to be intentional about letting our prayers drown out the sounds of our heartbreak.
     On the other hand, if we find ourselves in the silence of tranquility or solitude, we knock gently upon heaven's gates. If we find ourselves sitting in silence, we can know that our gentle knocking will resound through the halls heaven and reach the Heart of God. When we feel like God is silent, and we yearn to hear His voice, we knock as loudly or gently as we need - and know that God hears us.
     Through prayer, we knock upon the golden gates of Glory, tap upon the heart of our Lord, and walk through the door of His Presence. In whatever season of life we find ourselves (chaotic or peaceful), we can knock and know that God will open the door and present Himself to us! Not only are we promised that the door will be opened when we knock, we are promised that the Almighty stands at the door waiting for us to come to Him!

Dusty D.

A Wall-less Church

The Church, as established by Jesus - after Pentecost, was mission-minded movement. It was intended (we were intended) that it would not be of the world, but sent into the world. It was not to sit stagnate. We are not created to hide our acts of worship behind walls. Our Lord commissioned us to go forth, into the world, with the power of the Holy Spirit, and glorify Our Savior by spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ!
      the church is a place for the broken to find healing, yes. But it is not to be limited to Sunday morning worship services. Of course, we need to go to be fed, and leave to feed! However, we are called to more than simple acts of praise; we are called to more than hiding behind the walls of our "churches."
     If this persists - if we continue hiding behind the walls of comfort and inactivity - God will send a prophet with a horn. Our "church" walls will come crashing down like the walls of Jericho! Perhaps it will take the sound of heavens armies encircling us. Or maybe it will take marching in circles, before we will see victory! It may be that we need our walls to fall, in order to see God's Kingdom Purposes accomplished!
        let us be a wall-less church. Let us not separate ourselves from the mission field. Let us not isolate ourselves from our sacred calling!