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- TRP #007: Your Abundant Compassion
Hey friends, welcome to this week’s issue of The Remnant Post!
I apologize for missing a week of this newsletter. I’ll share a quick story about why that happened and how it pertains to today’s prayer prompt and passage.
We had finally gotten settled in after our move to Eugene in mid-January, and since then I’ve been regularly praying up at the top of Skinner Butte's lookout, for God to move in our region.
Shortly after our family began to get sick and has essentially had only a few brief periods since mid-January where no one has had an illness. Over the last 2 and a half weeks, I’ve been dealing with a lingering (yet somewhat mild) set of strange symptoms from headache and mild fever, to cough, to stomach issues, to full-body hives.
We quickly began to consider if there was something spiritual going on. As we began to pray and ask God to give us clarity, instead he spoke to me about different things. The first had to do with using my experience as an Army Ranger to inform how I think about executing mission work, and the second was pointing me to Daniel 9.
If you haven’t read Daniel 9 lately, I highly encourage you to take some time to read it out loud and pray it to God on behalf of our city. It starts with Daniel turning his “attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”
Before the angel Gabriel reaches him with the answer from God from the spiritual realm, Daniel finishes with:
“Listen closely, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion. Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name.”
He is petitioning God to act, not because he or their people deserve it or are worthy of it, but because God is abundant with compassion. Period.
We too should expect God to move not because our region is getting notably “better” and more righteous, or because we have the right changes coming to legislation, or because as the church we’re getting our act together. We should expect God to move in our city in accordance with his character and his desire, which is to show his abundant compassion to his people - even those who have turned from him.
Prayer Prompt of the Week:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for your abundant compassion towards us. Your patience abounds, your grace abounds, and your love abounds. You are merciful towards people who deserve death, myself included, and have instead wrapped us up in your amazing plan of redemption.
We ask, because of your abundant compassion and not because of our righteous acts, that you would move over our city. Father would you cut evil down from its place of influence, convict lost sinners and bring them to repentance and saving faith, awaken every heart in The Church, and transform this whole region from the inside out.
We love you and we thank you that like all your past covenants, your blessings towards us aren’t dependent on our perfect righteousness, but are brought about because of your love.
In Jesus mighty name, amen!
Verse of the Week:
