To those who seek My face, I will reveal My heart

Many years ago, at one of our conferences, the Lord gave Lindsey Cummings (Francis’ wife) a powerful song in the spirit that deeply reflects the Father’s heart. We have posted the precious words she was inspired to sing at that time on the Youtube above, following a deep time of prayer we had been having for children who have been betrayed and abused.

It is the nature of God to be one with those on whom He has set His love. Jesus identified Himself fully with humankind by living amongst us, and still to this day He identifies with us through His ministry of intercession, His Holy Spirit interceding for and through us, often in groans beyond words. (Rom. 8:26, John 17:20-24; Luke 22:31-32, Heb. 7:25). The Christmas carol puts this so perfectly when it says, ‘He feeleth for our sadness, and He shareth in our gladness.’

The more sensitive we are to the Holy Spirit, the more the things which hurt the Lord will hurt us. We should not be in the least surprised if we experience His grief and even His anger when we encounter evil in the world and false beliefs and practices in the Church (cf 1 Sam. 15:11; Exod. chapter 32; Rev. chapters 2-3).

Not only does the Lord continually experience the grief of seeing people hurting each other, but He feels acutely their refusal to turn to Him. As the parents of any wayward child know only too well, there is no greater pain than that of love which is rejected.

Something of this anguish was made clear to us one day when I saw the Lord one day on the Cross in a vision when I had a vision of being with the Lord on the cross looking out over the city of Jerusalem. It was not the physical pain that I could feel, nor the mocking crowds that I could hear, but rather a sense of utter desolation and loneliness. The very people He had come to save had nailed Him to the Cross. It is as though Jesus is still on the Cross today because we have refused to let Him do His saving work in our lives.

Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem’s rejection of Him, so we may well find ourselves weeping for our uncaring world. (Luke 19:41, cf Matt. 23:37). Such intense prayer is born of the same compassion which moved the Lord Jesus – and it can stir within us at any time as the Spirit stirs within us in response to the needs and emptiness we see in peoples’ lives – and the crazy, deluded beliefs so many absorb into their souls. We long for them to know the reality of God’s love, and pour out our hearts to the Lord in prayer for them.

To intercede for someone else is to enter spiritually and emotionally into their condition, crying out to God as if we were in his or her shoes. No wonder the Jewish Rabbis claimed that ‘tears are the highest form of prayer:’ they can bring about breakthroughs in ways that more ‘conventional’ prayers could never do. Tears are such an appropriate response to so much that is happening now around the world.

When we read in Hebrews 5:7 that Jesus offered up loud cries and tears to God, Barclay reminds us that the Greek word that is used here (krauge) speaks of a cry which a man did not choose to utter but which is wrung from him in the stress of some tremendous tension or searing pain – such as torture. As the writer recalls Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane, it reminds us there is no agony through which we may be called to pass that the Lord Jesus has not experienced.

Well did Paul liken such intercession to travailing in labour! (Gal. 4:19, cf cf Is. 66:9) No mother in labour can afford to put the brakes on, no matter how much it hurts! We remind ourselves, too, of Hannah persevering in prayer to have a child despite the constant provocation and misunderstanding that she faced from both a rival wife and an unperceptive priest. Rather than resorting to futile day-dreaming, Hannah gave herself to fervent prayer. The result of her prayers (and why should we be embarrassed to talk about results in prayer?) was the birth of the greatly anointed prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 1:27).

The Lord feels it deeply when divisions set in and families and fellowships stutter and go their separate ways;
grief fills His heart likewise when He sees fear and tyranny gripping stifling and controlling, whether families, fellowships or nations.

There is a cry in the Lord Jesus’ heart every time a child is abused,
a woman is raped,
and when people suffer and die in pain.
There is an ache in His heart when false allegations wing their wicked way and cause acute distress.

He feels the pain when godly wisdom is set aside,
promising works come to nought
and honourable men and women are dishonoured.

Lord of shattered dreams,
You see and share the tears,
of all who are brought low for whatever reason.
Impart Your very present help,
Turn impossible situations around we pray,
and bring glory to Your name.

If anyone would like a score of the music for To those who seek My face, you can find it here.