Walking Wounded

 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds." Psalm 147:3....."Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near." John M. Moore

Last night, in one of the ministries I'm involved in with our church, I had the opportunity to pray with two people who are walking through dark and painful times. I prayed what I felt He was leading me to pray, and at their conclusion, both persons were weeping. His Holy Spirit was much upon those times, but not because of me. It was because He was coming to the rescue of two brokenhearted people. He was seeking to bind up their wounds, and to bring healing to their lives. It's what He does and who He is. He only seeks that we who are His would be His vessels in the ministering of that healing and comfort. I was thankful and humbled that I could be. I don't remember anything that I prayed, and I know there was nothing profound in any of it. It was simply the case of Christ reaching through my insufficient words to minister life to two people whose lives have been overwhelmed with darkness and death.

I don't consider myself a man of many talents, but some have said that I do have a gift for effective prayer. I hope that's true, and I do seek to be used by Him in that ministry. In recent times, I am seeing more and more that there is no lack of opportunities for God's people to touch and minister to a vast, broken world that's suffering heartbreak and loss in ways beyond measure. People God loves are walking through suffering that in many ways is beyond comprehension. I see greater evidence of this all the time. Another ministry I'm involved with at our church is in our Compassionate Ministries. We distribute food to people in our community who need it, yet food is really the secondary thing we offer them. Primarily, we offer His love and connection to Him through praying individually with those we minister to. On many occasions, I have prayed with people who for the most part are overlooked and forgotten by the majority of our society. So often, after simply embracing them, praying with them, I have finished and beheld their tear filled eyes. His Spirit had ministered to them. In some small way, He had brought them a binding of their wounds, and a healing of their pain. It's what He does. It's who He is.

We want to do great things for Him. Build great ministries, see great results. This is especially true of those who pastor and lead. We can get so caught up in our "visions" that we never see the people He's placed before us. Wounded, hurting, suffering people. I know. I've been caught up in those visions. I didn't see those people....until I found myself among them. Then, He brought healing and the binding of my wounds through those He sent to me, who ministered to me. Since then, I have tried to be available as a vessel of His healing. I haven't always succeeded in that, but I want to. The Father knows that the need for me, and all those who are His to be aware is immense. We need to see them. I need to see them. You need to see them. But that can only happen once we stop seeing only ourselves.

Too many of us in His church have little trouble ministering compassion on a limited basis....so long as it doesn't infringe upon our real priorities. Being available to Him to do so at any time is another matter altogether. It's not a ministry that will bring acclaim or even much notice....except in heaven, but few needs in this world are greater right now. The walking wounded are everywhere before us. We either see them....or we don't. They're there right now, before you and before me.

Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. I love the words to that hymn. Are we willing, in Him, by Him, to help with those burdens? Will we, with love, offer a cup of cold water to those dying of thirst? It will likely go unnoticed by most around us, but it will not be so to those who drink from that cup, or from the One who fills it.

Blessings,

Pastor O