: IN THESE DAYS OF UNIVERSAL DARKNESS
You have chosen to speak to us through the language of hurt and pain
Of tsunami, earthquakes, cataclysmic storms, sicknesses and death
How then, do we speak back to You and be able to minister to You
When we know You are angry and hurting all this time ?
It is as if You had a whip in hand, inflicting terror and disasters upon the nations
Yet all the time You were the One who suffers the most
O God, How do we speak to You in times like these?
When Your Holy Heart has so much tension and conflicts
And when You have chosen to use the language of pain and suffering?
It is most powerful and effective and it strikes terror to the human heart
But then, how do we pray and what language can we use in speaking back to You
In these days of such universal darkness when You, the protecting gentle Lamb
Had turn into a ruthless destroying lion?
Father, Father, we turn to the Cross, our eternal and only refuge
We use the language
of the Cross and we ask You to
Remember the Cross and all that You have done for us
Because w know that only the Cross pleases You
And it is the only language that we know will appeal to You
For it is the only
thing that brings pleasure to You completely
Because the Cross was purely the work of God, nothing of men
Remember how You created earth in six days, stood back and then You proclaimed
What You did was ‘very good’ and then You entered in Your rest?
But the Cross is better than ‘very good,’ it is the best of the best
Therefore should it not cause You to enter into Your rest?
Rest, Oh Father, rest.. lay down Your rod and Your whip
Rest from Your anger, Your pain, Your conflicts,
Rest from the tension in Your heart,
Turn and look at what You did on
Listen to that endless cry of the
sinless Son of God who shouted, ” It is finished!”
We believe You meant however great the sin of men, it is finished!
Finished, because sin can never match the power of the Cross
Where a sinless God died for every sinful men
The Cross has the power to finish every sin, evil and inconceivable abomination that proceeded from men
We are convinced of its matchless power and its awesome glory
But are You? We know You are.
This is why You pierced through the powers of darkness with that
Awesome and victorious cry of
“ It is finished.”
You knew what You did can cover sins through many eternities .
Now Father, hear Your own cry and lay down that fearsome hurting whip.
Allow no more disasters, no more pain, both to Yourself and to us
Give the nations a chance, most of all, give the church the time
The time to repent, to stir from her slumber to rise in prayers and intensity
You have not appointed us to be the recipients of Your wrath
Rather we are to be the recipients of Your grace and great salvation
Oh God, confront us positively before You do so negatively
You who have given to us Your only Son
How can You not with Him freely give us all things?
If You choose to remember our iniquity
Then none of us can stand before You
Through the Cross, You have chosen to remove them
And flung them from as far as the east is from the west
Lord, please lay down Your rod.
Instead, pick up Your staff and by the working of Your Spirit,
Work into us so that we can manifest the’ living of the Cross’ in our lives
We admit we have no strength of our own to live the life that pleases You
Therefore, energize us, not for great exploits, but to rebuke self.
And to keep it in the place of death
Because we know that only ‘crucified lives’ has power before You
It is a powerful language that You will listen to
But oh Lord, it is definitely not an easy language to speak
And so few of us have mastered it.
This is why we have to turn to you to say
Live through us and live in us as we daily yield ourselves to You.