“Say it again”

We were talking, my friend and I, about the hard, hard work of intercession.  How it’s right tough work one does for months and months.  That, in the carrying of burdens, you do just like He said, and you ask and knock; you knock and ask, and you do it again and again.

In the current season I’m in, I find that things have shifted.  After days, weeks, and months of petitions, I’ve ground to a halt.  I’m tired, yes, but it’s more than that.  Where in certain seasons of intercessory work, my heart turns daily, hourly to the Father, desperation wafting heavenward, entreaties wrapped in groans, I’m not there now.

“Why don’t I feel like praying about this?”  I put it to Him straight the other day, walking past rows of corn shoots greening in the field.

“Intercession is hard work.” His voice was loving and kind.  “Sometimes it can only be done in segments.”  Ah.  Yes.  The Father knew my frame.  Knew I was dust.  Knew all that clamored, relentless, needing to be done; that drained a girl’s energy straight out through her feet.

Thinking of it now, I remember His whisper on a recent day.  “I’ve heard every prayer you’ve prayed.”  My thoughts whirled like calendar pages riffling in a breeze.  All those weeks of asking…

“I caught every one.  Not a single prayer has fallen to the ground.  I’ve got them right here in My bowl.”  And just like that, I saw a golden bowl cupped gentle in His hands, my prayers like incense, liquid gold, inside.

“Thank Me.” Oh, speak, Father, for I am listening.  “Thank Me for what I Am doing.  No need to ask right now; only thank.”

Today, if you’re in a season of constant petition; if you feel that you ask and ask and nothing’s happening, let me share this word with you:  Say it again.  Yes, say it again, that thing you want, that thing you need.  Say it again, for He’s catching them all – all those prayers, all those requests, and He’s got them safe in that golden bowl.  Soon shall come the season for thanksgiving, and your prayers will shift to praise.

Until that day, my friend, “Say it again!”

Warmly,

Rhonda