inheritance [prayer]

"ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."      

psalm 2:8

we are beginning a rhythm of prayer here in the all nations community...and it is very exciting...and necessary.

God has laid it upon several of our hearts to begin a rhythm of prayer that not only brings a community together in prayer and worship to the God of the universe...but also does not hide...in fact it exposes our weaknesses...our questions...our vulnerabilities and tosses them at the feet of Jesus...

because frankly, after the week that it has been, i can't seem to see any other way of processing what i have seen, what i have experienced here, what is happening all around me than to cry out to God...and say...here...you deal with it.

and so we will begin a rhythm of prayer...first by praying together in community every Monday from 7-8pm...praying and listening to God and following Him as he grows this vision of prayer and builds this rhythm.

and we will pray for the people of masi and oceanview...and red hill...and bo kaap...and for other nations

we must pray for the nations...

i have been met with confusion, broken-heartedness and sometimes anger this week on behalf of and at other times because of the people in masi. there is such injustice, such carelessness, such...desperation here that i have never seen before and it is catching up with me a bit.  i have seen people living in a virtual swamp in their own homes...and i have seen men so drunk they are unable to keep themselves upright...and i have seen the desperation for something solid...something stable and reliable in some men where they are tricked into thinking that robbery and violence is the only way to get it...

...and it is all very difficult to see and experience every day...

but what are my choices...i can close my eyes and ignore the painful reality of what i know the situation to be...or...i can open my eyes and be overcome by despair or anger or a loss of faith...

but i don't really like either of these options...

instead...i want to learn how to pray for the world...for the people of masi...for the men who are so wounded and broken and desperate to be [  ] that they can't figure out what it means to be a man. i want to learn how to pray prayers that mirror that same desperation in the presence of jesus...

i want to see people healed in masi...

the book of revelation promises that there is a tree growing in heaven along the banks of the river of God that sprouts leaves that are "for the healing of the nations."

this is a beautiful image

and so i will take this prayer for the healing of these nations [masi itself represents south africa, somalia, ethiopia, zimbabwe, malawi, sudan] and will add to it the prayer for these nations as my inheritance.  after all, what could possibly be better than see these people reconciled to their maker...becoming men and women of peace who can in fact experience these leaves of healing.

And being completely transparent...right now...i don't know how the leaves of heaven will heal the people of masipumaleleh, but i do know that their simple presence means God is fully aware of the borken state of masi...and the world. He is after all...

El Roi...the God who sees.

and so i will call upon El Roi, and we who begin this rhythm of prayer together will call upon El Roi and i invite you to call upon El Roi in order to remind him of his name...

i will ask him to be true to his nature...to his promises...to his heart for his creation.  

and i will admit...and accept...that God's wisdom and his vision very rarely look like what i think they should look like and so i relinquish my need to understand how or why he acts and what he does and does not allow to happen on this earth...and simply believe...

and i will work to tune my heart and my vision to his...understanding that ultimately that is the source of everything right and just and true.

so i will ask the God who sees all things to give me masi as my inheritance...

...and i choose to trust that he will.

**photo by chelsea gentry**