Speak Lord, Your Servant is Listening

            Oh the power of the Word of the Living God.  He knew exactly what they needed to hear.  Our fellowship had gone through a very difficult time.  We had suffered what many call a “church split.”  Many had left our congregation, and those who remained were just as hurt as those who chose to leave.  The reason so many chose to leave is not as important as those who chose to remain.  In fact, leaving is much easier than standing!  There were various reasons the people stayed, some because they didn’t know what else to do, and some because they didn’t know where else to go.  Some stayed because they were committed to the Pastor and his family, and a few stayed because God had not released them to go.

            Our ladies meeting took place not long after this difficult division in our family!  Yes I said family!  We had prayed together, laughed together, and cried together!  We had warred together, danced together and fellowshipped together.  And now over half our family was gone.  Some left without saying a word.  Some left angry and bitter, while others wept as they left.  We don’t know where they went or what they were feeling!  We just knew there was a terrible void where a family once dwelled together.

            I now stood looking into the faces of the women who were left and I knew they were looking for answers that I could not give them.  But I knew the One who did have the answers.  And He was now telling them, ‘Come unto Me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:28)  Come unto me my daughters – you who are weary – you who are wounded and hurt - you who carry heavy burdens that weren’t meant for you to carry.  Give me your burdens and I will give you rest!  He knew exactly what they needed to hear and as soon as His Word came out of my mouth, they grabbed hold of it and Holy Spirit began to minister to them through the Living Word.  As the tears flowed, it brought healing to their hurting hearts and wounded souls.

            But the Lord wasn’t through – He had much more to say to His daughters.  And if you are reading this and have prayed about where you belong in this great big family of God, I pray you will receive this Word for yourself as well.  It is a Word for all of God’s daughters.  Regardless of race, creed or color, He has a purpose for your life and an incredible journey awaits you as you come unto Him.  That’s how it began for me so many years ago.  I came to Jesus with a broken, bleeding heart and gave Him all my burdens.  The sin, the disappointments, and the broken and shattered dreams of my past had become burdens that I simply couldn’t carry any longer.

            I have divided the Word the Lord gave me into an outline that is easy to understand.  As I stood before those women I knew the Lord was calling them to a place they had never been before.  He was calling them to come up higher – up to Zion !  Up to that heavenly place where they could be seated with Him.  The following is the word of the Lord for all His daughters.  Wherever you are, regardless of your circumstances in life, He is calling you to be part of His great army.

THE CALL:

“Come unto me – you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest!

Take upon yourselves the burden of the Lord, for my burden is light and my yoke is easy.  (Matthew 11:28-30)

COME RIDE WITH ME

I am your Commander in Chief

There are no casualties in my army

And the benefits are out of this world

Some of you have to go through basic training Some of you are ready now

I am gathering together the greatest army of soldiers ever assembled”

            If you want to be part of this great army of soldiers, you must learn to lay your stuff at the feet of Jesus and trust Him with it.  When you lay yours down and pick up His burden, I promise you He will take care of you.  I know because as soon as I laid it all down, He pulled me from the dark place I had fallen into and placed my feet on a solid place to stand – the Rock of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I exchanged my burdens for His joy, His peace, His forgiveness, and yes His burden.  And that day, so long ago, a journey began that I never dreamed was possible.  It first began as a journey of healing for me; spiritual, physical and emotional.  He gave me a brand new heart and placed in me His steadfast Holy Spirit and began to move me to follow His ways. He drew me into the secret place of prayer and began teaching me how to be a soldier.  His commission was simple really – Souls!

THE COMMISSION:

"The battle is great for we are fighting for the souls of man

But remember – the battle is mine saith the Lord (Zechariah 4:6)

You have been assembled for training

                Eighteen years later, He is still moving me by His precious Holy Spirit to follow Him in all I do.  One of the first things Holy Spirit will teach you is simple obedience.  As the Spirit of God led me each day to come aside and spend time with Him, He taught me many things.  He gave me a love and a passion for the Word of God.  As I learned to obey the written Word, He taught me how to hear His voice and obey the spoken Word.  He then taught me how to hear His voice and write down what He was saying.  I learned to hear what thus says the Lord while sitting at His feet.  And I learned to journal what He was saying while sitting in His presence.  And while all this was wonderful, He taught me something I will be eternally grateful for, He taught me to be a worshipper.  For I soon learned this was the KEY to victory after victory after victory!

BATTLE STRATEGY:

“WORSHIP – WORSHIP – WORSHIP

WORSHIP IS THE KEY

Worship is your greatest weapon

In order to get your instructions

You can come in and out of my presence when you humble yourself to worship me”

            Worship is the key to receiving from God.  I will say this often as you read this Word.  You see, it was while worshipping that the Lord Himself would often enter my room and speak to me.  It was while worshipping that He would share His secrets with me.  It was while worshipping that He would give me a new strategy to continue fighting the good fight of faith.  There He would give me a Word for one of my children so I could stand on it when the circumstances were screaming something else.  I learned to trust His Word above everything else.  I learned firsthand that He is faithful to His Word.  It is His Word and He cannot lie!  If He said it, He will do it! 

            Those times with the Lord weren’t just feel good sessions; they were training sessions to prepare me for what He was calling me to do.  But before I could be useful for the Master’s service, He had to get some junk out of my life.  He began to uncover and expose some things in my life that I needed to repent of, and get them under the blood of Jesus.  I had to be willing for Him to do this!  And before He could sanctify me, fill me with His Spirit, and have a vessel to house His glory, He had to purify this vessel.  It’s all a process that we must be willing to go through.  I was a willing vessel.  Often my prayer was, ‘Whatever it takes Lord!’  And it has often taken the fire!

            Once I had done what He had asked of me; ‘Come unto me Betty and give me all your burdens and I will give you rest,’ He gave me the rest of the Word.   “Take upon yourselves the burden of the Lord.  For my burden is light and my yoke is easy.”  (Mt 11:29-30)   I love the Amplified version of this as well.  Allow me to share it with you.  Imagine that He is speaking directly to you as you read this.  “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.”  (Mt 11:29-30)  This is what He did for me.  I found blessed peace and quiet rest for my soul.  You can’t buy this kind of peace with all the money in the world!  It is free for the asking!  There is only one condition – and that is to take up His burden, His yoke, and learn of Him.

            I have learned that His burden truly is light!  I have learned to go to my quiet place of prayer and when I enter I lay my burdens down at His feet and I lay my head against His breast so I can learn of Him and His burden!  I have also learned that by laying down my burdens and picking up His, He takes care of mine!  For the first ten years of my incredible journey with the Lord, I spent it in my place of prayer communing with the Father, learning the burdens of His heart and then praying and interceding as He taught me. 

            What is the burden of the Lord?  If I had to put it in one word it would be SOULS!  But there is a battle going on in the spirit realm for these very souls, and unless we pray and intercede they will be lost forever!  The battle for every soul is first won in the spirit realm.  The battle for your soul was first won in the spirit realm before you became a child of God.  And if you are not yet a child of God, then know that there is a battle being fought for you right now.  You cannot see it, but the one who came to kill, steal and destroy is out to win your soul for an eternal damnation. 

            The Lord has always had an army who was willing to lay down their burdens and pick up His.  As you look around at the condition of our world, you can see that the battle is intensifying and He is looking for a few good men and women.  But we won’t fight this battle the way the world does.  We must fight it with His weapons.

WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE:

“We will not wage war as the world does

When you put me on – you are covered – you are protected

            Every born-again child of God has either been in a battle or has been the object of a battle.  I went through basic training by first learning to fight for my own family!  With this training behind me I could now answer the call to come ride with the Lord in His army!  He taught me how to fight for His family!  He called me to watch and pray for the children of Israel .  What an incredible journey this has been!  The word above was true when the Lord gave it to me a few years ago and today He impressed on me to share it with you.  It is His Word.  The battle has intensified and will continue to rage until the Lord Jesus comes back for His Bride.  His last word to me for His daughters is this.

ANSWER THE CALL:

  “ARE YOU READY TO JOIN THE GREATEST ARMY OF ALL TIME?”

“HERE AM I LORD, SEND ME”