What came to
mind was that God is the perfect, righteous, holy, just, gracious, merciful,
all-knowing, all-wise Father who is able to do what is very best for every one
of his children even in a situation that has caused me so much pain at the
hands of my spiritual siblings. Because of God’s perfection in every facet of
his person and character, he will work out a plan that is impeccably
all-inclusive.
In other
words, God is able to do something that is the highest good for every one of
his children. He will take into account our various degrees of immaturity, sarkiness,
and ignorance of him. He will include our self-centered view of our
circumstances, our limited understanding of Scripture, our tunnel-vision
regarding the immensity of our pain and our sarky-certainty of who to blame, and
the present stage of the fulfillment of all his plans and purposes for his
people and all his judgments against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
In considering
how God’s answer to my cries for justice will include every nuance of his will
from before time began, and will satisfy his eternal and infinite thoughts and
intentions beyond what my injured soul could ever imagine, my prayer has to be
for my speediest readiness to experience whatever he has planned and purposed
for each and every person involved in any situation that feels to me like a breach
of justice.
Practically
speaking, my prayer needs to be something like this:
“Heavenly Father, I pray that you would glorify your great
justice, mercy and faithfulness by bringing every person involved in this
debacle of your family’s relationships to the same place of grace before the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ where every sin of every person involved has
been triumphed over by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our
Lord.
“I pray that each and every one of us would witness the
greatness of your glory in forgiving all our sins, cleansing us of our impurities
of heart, soul, and mind, breaking us of our stubborn and sarky pride, healing
the wounds we have inflicted on one another, covering the multitude of our sins
with such love that outnumbers any of the grievances we could ever bring to
mind, and granting us the same forgetfulness over one another’s sins as would
make us like you in remembering our sins no more.
“I ask you to glorify your name before a watching world so
that your glory in reconciling your children would have greater effect for good
than our fighting and bickering has done to harm the cause of Christ, and
dishonor our family name.
“I pray that you would take all the harm that Satan has
intended through stirring up his diabolical divisions, and work it for such
good among all your children that every one of those involved would both
actively and passively give you glory as the healer of all your brokenhearted children,
and the binder up of the wounds of the whole body of Christ.
“I pray that you would make the same public spectacle of
Satan’s divisive work as you did in triumphing over all our sins on the cross.
Where Satan has set a stage to dishonor you with another expression of your
children falling into Adam’s sin, take over his stage with a revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ turning every stumbling stone into stepping stones of
reconciliation. Work in such a way that will give you greater glory in the
bringing together of your stubborn-hearted children than would have been seen
if we had continued to get along.
“Father, I ask that you would show the world your power to
heal broken relationships of every kind, to soothe the sting of the wounds we
have inflicted on one another, to humble us all under the mighty hand of God so
that every one of us can be lifted up in the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that you would be glorified
for doing the impossible, and for even bothering to show us such mercy.
“Father in heaven, forgive me for my contribution to any
situation that has brought dishonor to your glorious name. Forgive me for any
pride that has caused me to be anything less than loving towards my siblings in
Christ. So unite my heart with the redeeming love of your heart that I would
only know how to lay down my life in love for my family rather than stand over
them demanding that you serve my purposes above your own.
“And, when you bring an offended brother or sister to me
with their grievance of anything they have felt has been an expression of
injustice towards them, or unloving behavior in their direction, give me the
same grace to hear their heart as I have expected of you in all the complaints
I have brought before your throne. Let me hear them the way Jesus hears me. Let
me welcome them as Jesus welcomes me. Let me forgive them as Jesus forgives me.
Let me acknowledge my wrongs to them in the light of the safety I have felt in
acknowledging my wrongs to you.
“Father God in heaven, grant that there would be greater
love in our relationships through reconciliation than we had previously known
in our early seasons of getting along. Let us have Joseph’s joy in reuniting
with his family, and the same wonderful testimony to your glory that would last
the rest of time even as millions have found comfort in the way you provided
for your people through his slavery and imprisonment at the whims and wishes of
others. As you coordinated people, and world-events, to bring your children
together at just the right time, in just the right place, in just the right
circumstances, in order to make your glory known throughout the ages, so
coordinate all of time, space, and matter to obey your command to come together
in the greatest possible display of your glorious work of fixing what is broken
in your people at this present time.
“Father, my desire is to go where you go, to love whom you love,
to do what you are doing, to forgive whom you forgive, to welcome whom you
welcome, in peaceful, childlike trust that you are presently, and momentarily,
doing what is very best for all of us, including the glory of your own holy and
awesome name.
“I ask that you would bless my spiritual siblings in
whatever way would be for your greatest glory and our greatest good. I pray
that you would unite your divided children in the way that would bring us all
to the same peaceful humility in your presence that can rejoice in what you are
doing with us all without demanding that our place in the fulfillment of your
purposes uniquely distinguishes us in any prideful way.
“And, Father, to cover anything I cannot think of, in any
ways I could not ask or imagine you doing, I simply ask that your will would be
done among every one of your children even as all the hosts of heaven so
gladly, and quickly, and thankfully do your will before your throne.
“I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen!”
My God be
glorified in his answers to our prayers.
From my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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