Living Stones

Good morning, my friend!  Good morning, Father!

“As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 2:4-5 (NIV)

Father, we are so grateful to have found You.  What a comfort and security to know that every failure is covered in forgiveness.  What a joy it is to be used by You in the building of Your kingdom, to be offered the extension of Your scepter, granting entrance into Your presence by the Blood of the Lamb.  What a relief to see fleshly tendencies falling away, releasing chains to our past and lightening our steps.

Father, I lift my friend before You.  Mixed with these blessings and the glorious hope of our salvation is a thin vein of sorrow.  As Your children, we are so grateful to be claimed as Your own, but along with the precious belonging and acceptance You offer, comes a rejection by mankind.  A heart in dogged pursuit of holiness and obedience, even without a single spoken word, can evoke anger, rejection and cruelty by those who still love their sin.  Father, comfort and console Your child.  Rejection was painful when they were little and on the playground, and it is painful now.  You created us to live in community.  To be held at arms length, shunned and left out brings with it an aching of the soul, a longing for what could be.

Bind up their wounds, Father - both old wounds and those freshly inflicted.  I pray that You give them Your eyes to see circumstances.  Give them heavenly lenses to shift their perspective.  Exchange hurt over rejection to compassion for the plight of the lost, who when confronted with the full magnitude of their sin pull away from those shining the light. A searching heart sees beacons of holiness as a lighthouse of hope, while they are seen as glaring, intrusive searchlights by those who hold fast to their love affair with the dark.  

Insulate Your child from fiery darts of wounding words, cold shoulders and turned backs.  In humbleness and humility, when confronted with the bitter chill of rejection, turn up the flame of love and compassion within them.  Like You, may their love remain unwavering.  Saturate their hearts with Your Word and the oil of Your Spirit, that it may serve as fine tinder, easily set to flame by Your Spirit, but repellant to the rainstorm of taunts of the enemy.   Both in moments of peace and turmoil, guard their hearts in Christ Jesus.  Let them hear Your words of tender love and affirmation.  And heal and prepare them for what Your Word says is to come - that they may stand in the battle with their hearts ablaze, not with hatred, but with love.  In Jesus Name ❤️

Dear friend, have you been rejected, because you represent the Father wherever you go?  Sometimes we are rejected due to our beliefs, but other times it’s due to our delivery.  Use great care that your word are always to bless and encourage, build up and bring hope, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Ask the Father to give you soft words that are full of grace and His compassionate love, remembering where you once were before you found Him.  Then, in all humbleness, if you encounter rejection, remember they aren’t rejecting you.  They are rejecting God’s Spirit within you. 💡