Into the Fire

Have you ever loved a stranger? I’m not talking about romantic, love at first sight love. No, this time I’m talking about a love God plants in your heart without you asking for it, expecting it, or knowing it was coming. Boom! It’s there. With strength, with power, with tears. A love for someone you really don’t know. Wow.

This has happened to me twice now. Once almost 3 years ago and once very recently. It feels foolish at first and awkward, but let me assure you: it’s real. Leave it to God to make it someone with whom you have substantial differing views in some very serious and important areas of life.

The first time this happened to me I was overwhelmed with a burden for the individual’s salvation in a matter of minutes. Never have I experienced the kind of burden I had for this person. I could not even speak his name without choking up. It lasted for 2 years, heavy and intense, unrelenting. Faithful prayer. Definitive prayer. Concentrated and focused and devoted prayer for the salvation of this soul. Gradually, the burden lifted. Still, prayers go up but not with the same intensity. I trust God has placed the yoke on someone else now until His divine purpose is accomplished. I could not pray for someone as I did for this person without truly loving him. The impetus would’ve faded fairly fast. (Like that alliteration?) Somehow, God allowed me to feel a portion of His love for that person. It was intense.

Very recently, He did it again. This is not for the person’s salvation. This person is a Christian. But God wants something from this person, and apparently I get to be involved in the Lord’s pursuit of this requirement. I know a few things about this person, and I actually have access to this one, so some things are accessible via e-mail conversations, but the spiritual needs for this individual are escalating, and the Lord wants to push the envelope and make them known in a powerful way. God is not settling for status quo relationship here, and I guess my part in this is to storm the gates of hell and expose the darkness building against this person. Victory is the only solution. Peace of mind and soul is at stake. There may be “pain in the offering”, but blessed be the Lord. Without a glimpse of God’s stark love for this individual placed in my heart, I couldn’t be inspired to sustain this kind of prayer. Prayer that wakes you up all night long with the name of the person on your heart and in your mouth. Prayer that keeps them present in your thoughts throughout a day. Prayer that continues and continues even when you don’t want to do it and have no words left and are just plain tired. More prayer. I can sort of tell this person how it is, but not really. After all, he’s still really a stranger. This kind of stuff scares some people, even Christians. Sad but true. It’s such an honor to pray for someone this way. Really it’s an honor to pray for anyone, but this is genuinely different. It isn’t a choice, it’s a mandate. Born of divine Love.

Father, I thank you for the privilege to pray for your people and those who you want to be your people. Keep me faithful, sustain me, strengthen me, and give me your words to pray when mine are futile and fading. Thank you, precious Lord, for allowing me a glimpse of what you feel, your intensity that doesn’t easily fit in these feeble vessels.
Help me to be obedient at all costs. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.