A Word from the Word

Photo by Na Inho on Unsplash

Sometimes, when the Lord gives me a simple word, He just wants me to savor it for an extended period of time. As I do that, the word becomes precious, something I won’t easily forget. He builds more understanding of its meaning into my heart as I continue thinking about it. That’s the way it has been for a couple of months with Hebrews 12:2, “Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….” It’s about keeping our eyes fixed steadfastly on Him, no matter what’s going on around us.

For a few weeks now, I have been in quite an intense time of intercession over a particular matter. I’m glad the Lord highlighted this part of Hebrews 12:2 before the crisis that I’m lifting heavenward began to unfold. As many of you know, when we are in the middle of serious intercession we can get weighed down in our emotions. That’s when “looking to Jesus” / “fixing our eyes on Jesus” is most critical.

Shortly after first hearing the message of Hebrews 12:2, the Lord also highlighted Psalm 109:4 to me: “For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself to prayer.” (Some translations say “but I am in prayer.”). This goes hand in hand with fixing our eyes on Him. The best solution to a problem is to set aside our own thoughts, arguments, or fix-it plans and just go to prayer about it. We deliberately take it to the Lord and expect in faith that He will work it out as we persevere in interceding.

There’s one more thing we should do to keep our hearts peaceful in the middle of troubling situations or heavy prayer assignments. Psalm 119:78 reveals it: “Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in Your precepts.” We keep God’s Word before our mind’s eye — what it speaks of His nature; verses promising answers to prayer; His principles of purity, truth, goodness; His promise of a glorious future with Him forever.

If you don’t know where to start, try reading, listening to, and thinking on particularly uplifting sections of the Bible, such as the Psalms, the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, and some of the smaller New Testament epistles.

If we tie these three concepts together and consciously practice them

• Keeping our gaze upon Jesus,
• Staying in an attitude of prayer,
• Continually reminding ourselves of what His Word says,

we will live in a place of joy and peace we could not possibly maintain otherwise. We will think the thoughts of God. And, our intercessory prayers will be powerful without making a wreck of us in the process.

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Encouragement from God’s Word

All-Surpassing Peace in a Shaking World