The Beast Passes By

Good morning as the new day begins. We pray often and sometimes at length for something to happen. But, there are those times when we are grateful to God that the beast we feared has passed by. Last night, if you or I were sensitive to the prayers around us, we might have heard a rather large shout of "No, not now, Lord!" as the rains came down. The river is still above flood stage and we could stand a couple of days off from the rains. However, around 1300 yesterday, God made some room in the river to the tune of about 2,000 cfm in the flow. Probably just enough for the rain to fit in.

The beast passes by. The flow in the river is down this morning. I saw no difference in the fields when I took my morning stroll, which means the waters came no closer to town, well, other than the rains falling on the town that is. The thunderstorm did not unleash a torrent by any means, but it was enough to get us all praying together while still in our individual homes. An event can be like that. God wants us praying with one mind, and certain conditions bring that out in us. At least I hope there was no evil knothead somewhere in town praying to be flooded out. In that case we would have to say praying mostly with one mind except for Georg Gurkel down the block who needs a good head thumpin'.(Georg is a fictional person I made up for an example. Please, put down the torches and pitchforks!)

Without a catastrophic event or the possibility of a catastrophe, we must use other means to pray with one mind. Church prayer lists are wonderful for getting us organized to pray for the same things. Perhaps we won't pray at the same time, but we have the promise in Revelation when an angel takes a golden censer and offers up the prayers of the saints with incense to God. We don't often think of our prayers as an offering to God, but keep up the good work! Pray that the beasts of the world pass on by. Work to pray with one mind and heart. Give God the offering He is due. Amen.

Bucky