SACRED TEARS 19 MAR 2015

“They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”(1) Sacred tears are a precious pure seed that stream forth from a godly heart. They lovingly annointed the feet of Christ before his final day of agony. While a teardrop weighs almost nothing, it has the carrying capacity to carry the heavy weight of a broken heart!

PRAY W/ TEARS. Our heavenly Father repeatedly taught His people to pray with tears, “Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend [tear] your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for He is gracious & merciful…”(2) “The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep.”(3) “Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch & the altar; Let them say, ‘Spare Your people O LORD…”(4)

AN ENDLESS STREAM OF TEARS HAVE FLOWN FROM GOD’S PEOPLE. In line with God’s call for our heartfelt prayers to be accompanied by tears, countless men & women of faith have seasoned their prayers with the salt of their noble teardrops. King David wept & fasted for God’s people.(5) So did Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.(6) Job prayed with tears.(7) And Nehemiah prayed with tears.(8) There were others. Paul warned the Ephesians night & day for 3 yrs. “with many tears”.(9) And he wrote many letters to congregations with tears in his eyes.(10) In fact, over the years, the Word of God has been birthed in tears. And the church over the centuries has survived with many tears. “Their hearts cried unto the LORD…let tears run down like a river day & night…” (11) And these tears are not forgotten…God has a record of them!(12) He also knows the depth of your pain.(13)

GOD RESPONDS TO PRAYERS. There are quite a few places in Scripture, where God mentions that the tears of weepy prayers got Him to respond. “Thus saith the LORD…I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears…”(14) Why would it make a difference to God?? Does your heart beat for what you pray for? Jesus wept.(15) He wept for the things we should also weep for. He came to destroy the work of the devil.(16) How tragic that the World has forgotten their loving heavenly Father, their very Creator.(17) They even mock Him by claiming He is dead. How sad that they repay His kindness with contempt.(18) And it is getting worse, the World System is going deeper into darkness & sin, and farther from God.(19) And the church, oh my, is sliding deeper into apostasy & sin, and sleeping during the harvest time.(20) For those who know the joys of the LORD, it is indeed heartbreaking to see so many turn their back on the answers they so desperately need.

GOD’S SPIRIT INSPIRES OUR PRAYERS. I can testify that when the Holy Spirit has told me to pray for something, I get such a firm knowing that the deal is sealed…signed & delivered! The Holy Spirit is our prayer partner…He is a Spirit of Intercession, He is a Spirit that is a Comforter with empathy and sympathy. The Word teaches us that He will guide our prayers (21) and I, and some of the readers for sure, can testify that we have experienced His guidance in prayers. Not only that, but we can empower our prayers with God’s Word. It is great that the Holy Spirit lives in us(22), because we are called to be a Royal Priesthood within a kingdom of priests.(23) And priests make intercessions for others, and their nation. So as ECL 3:4 says, there is this time for weeping. Our tears speak for our hearts. We think & speak & make intercessions with sacred tears.

THE LEGACY OF OUR TEARS. Tears vanish quickly…they seem to be absorbed somewhere. But the Word teaches us that prayer is an investment.(24) Many of us have no earthly portfolio of riches. We have put our riches into storage where nothing can destroy them. Prayer is an investment of love. Love will outlast cars & money. Our tearful prayers create an endowment…an endowment for future generations of blessing. It is seldom talked about or recognized, but the benefits of a prayer do not necessarily stop, but they create a positive vitality that may exist for generations. You pray for a nation or an individual…later generations of that nation or the man’s family may well be blessed by that prayer. Our prayers can be a contribution, & a form of wealth when we have no silver or gold to give. So the tears that purify the soul & enhance a prayer may have almost an eternal positive energy to them. No wonder David put his in a bottle, and God keeps a record of them. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” MAY GOD’S SPIRIT BLESS YOU.

(1) PS 126:5 (2) JOEL 2:12-13 (3) ISA 22:12 (4) JOEL 2:17 (5) PS 69:10 (6) JER 8:21, 9:1, 13:17, 14:7, 17, & LAM 1:2, and in essence the entire Book of Lamentations is a record of Jeremiah’s sorrow (7) JOB 16:20 (8) NEH 1:4 (9) ACTS 20:19,31 (10) 2 COR 2:4 (11) LAM 2:18 (12) PS 56:8 (13) JN 21:17, 2 SAM 7:20 (14) for instance, ISA 38:56, 2 KGS 20:56, DT 26:7 (15) JN 11:35 (16) 1 JN 3:8 (17) PS 9:17, cf ROM 1:28 (18) ROM 2:4 (19) MT 24:12, 2 TIM 3:13, cf. DAN 12:1 (20) Apostasy: 1 TIM 1:19, 4:1, & 2 TIM 4:4, plus verses in HEB & 2 PTR and MT 24:14; sleeping during harvest: PRV 10:5 (21) JN 16:13, ROM 8:26 (22) JN 14:17 (23) Royal priesthood: 1 PTR 2:9, God wanting a kingdom of priests: EX 19:5-6 (24) cf. Heb 6:10 and others.