Note to a Friend

Good morning dear Friend,

As I was praying for you and your family this morning I had a sense to share this with you:

"My Dear Lord, I can but tell thee that thou knowest I long for nothing but theyself, nothing but holiness, nothing but union with thy will. Thou hast given me these desires, and thou alone canst give me the thing desired. My soul longs for communion with three...Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring thee, always humble and resigned to thy will, more fixed on thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and suffering." Taken from The Valley of Vision, pages 230 and 231; a collection of prayers.

Then Paul's words in Colossians: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions...We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ."

A prayer of mine over the past few years has been based on something I've often heard you say, "I want to love Jesus more today than I did yesterday." I pray that for myself, I pray that when I pray with Vickie, and I pray that when I pray for and with others. 

As I pondered the season of life you're in, I sensed that you are experiencing the inexplicable and mysterious dynamic of Colossians 1:24 - not that this hasn't been with you for years, but rather that you've gone from black and white to color (the Wizard of Oz). Sometimes you have three friends to bear the burden of the fifth friend with you up to the roof and down through the roof...and sometimes it seems as if you are bearing the litter yourself. 

The intercessory life, living as incarnational intercessors in koinonia with Jesus, is the Way of the Cross... “so then death works in us but life in you” (2 Corinthians). 

Be encouraged my dear brother...

Much much love,

Bob