Dear Friends,
Hello! I hope the month of April was wonderful and that this newsletter finds each of you well!
As I have shared with you before, I lead a prayer room team with my assistant Mallory (see picture) of about 8-10 people during the evening section (6-10PM) of the prayer room. It has been such an honor and such a stretching experience for me! I am honored that the Lord has entrusted me with this group of young adults, and that they trust me too! Since starting this team, we have been studying and meditating on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I have studied this before, but never with a group and never this slow! Currently we are in the Beatitudes (Matt 5:2-10), taking one verse each week and really pouring over it, studying it, and asking Jesus what He meant when He said it. It has been awesome and so encouraging to talk about it with each other and see what revelations each person had or what they learned.
One of my favorite Beatitudes that has really encouraged and impacted me as we have been studying is Matt 5:6 "Blessed (or happy) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled". In his book Studies on the Sermon on the Mount, Martin Lloyd-Jones says "Now the whole world is seeking for happiness; everyone wants to be happy. That is the great motive behind every act and ambition, behind all work and all striving. Everything is designed for happiness. But the great tragedy of the world is that, though it gives itself to seek for happiness, it never seems to be able to find it... yet happy is the man who hungers and thirsts for righteousness for he shall be filled. We are not to hunger and thirst after happiness. But that is what most people are doing. We put happiness as the one thing that we desire, and thus we always miss it. According to Scriptures happiness is never something that should be sought directly; it is always something that results from seeking something else."
In meditating on this scripture I realized that I am definitely one who seeks after happiness rather than seeking after righteousness. I also realized that I actually don't like to hunger and thirst! It is painful, it makes you feel desperate, and makes you conscious of your deep need. The media knows this reality and has tapped into it - are you feel a little desperate? Do you want to be truly happy? Buy a cashmere sweater. Better yet, a really beautiful, shiny new table saw should fill that hole in your heart. What about a delectable chocolate mousse cake, or a Starbucks coffee?
We settle for so much less than what the Lord would desire to fill us with! None of those things are bad - but at the same time they will never make us happy, never fulfill us, or last. Only in hungering and thirsting after righteousness will one be filled and be happy. The man who does this is the man who sees that sin and rebellion have separated him from the face of God, and longs to get back into that old relationship, the original relationship that Adam and Eve had in the presence of God. For in the presence of God is the fullness of joy or happiness, and at His right hand are pleasure forever more (Ps 16:11).
May you all hunger and thirst for righteousness and may He fill you! Thank you again for all your prayers and support! Please email me or write me with any prayer requests you, your family or your church may need, or if you would like to have more information on how to support my ministry here at IHOP-KC. Have a wonderful and blessed month!
Grace and Peace,
Rebecca
