A Devotion to the King

It doesn’t have to be long, and it doesn’t even have to be eloquent
You are more interested in the heart, than in the words

I love You oh my King
As best as I know how and as fully as I now can – I love You
I willingly give You my heart, my life, my soul, my mind, my strength
All that I am able to give.
Let Your love rain down on me
Let my love and devotion rise to You as a fragrant offering.
Let my days be lived in such a way that draws out Your Heart in desire
Let me live and move and have my being so that
You are moved to joy from my desire for You

Draw me even more
Have me even more
Oh God, even more
Teach me to love

Father, I long for You
I have tasted You and I have been with You
Now I can be satisfied with nothing else and nothing less.
The world tries so hard to imitate You
To imitate the Love that You so freely give
But there is no love, there is no rest...
There is no peace with the love the world promises
Father! Here I am!
Have me! Will You take me! Will You use me!
Come and rapture my heart.
Captivate and ransom my affections
Lay siege to the places in my heart that are not fully Yours
Raise the battlements and let loose the catapults
Let no time be lost on negotiating
Let no energy be spent on waiting for another resolution
Break in and break forth now
Write Your Name upon my heart and upon my soul and claim what it Yours
You make all things NEW!
So come and do a new work and a new affection
A new place in my heart for You
I am a willing vessel. I am a surrendered servant. I am a longing lover.
I give myself over to who You are.
Even More! Exceedingly and Abundantly!
Great and Mighty! More than Enough!

Father! Here is Your son and here is Your servant calling out for You
Would You answer love?
Would You answer Your son’s cry for depths of love with You?
Would You give me all of Yourself?
Just come.
I would do some great work for You. I would go on some great quest to prove my love. I would climb a foreign mountain and pick a rare flower if that is what You required. But You, You do not desire some great feat of strength and courage. You are God.

You say “Come Away with Me”
You say “Come and listen to My Heartbeat”
You say “Come and let Me hold you”
You say “Come and let Me show You love”
You say “My ways are not the ways of men”
You say “My paths and My thoughts are not the thoughts of mankind”
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
I desire devotion more than great feats.
I desire you to just sit before Me and gaze at My beauty and let me love you.
Nothing more is required.
So come away with Me. Come away from that which glitters on this earth, come away from that which the earth says “this is love”. Come away with Me.
Come to the desert and let me speak kindly to you.
Come to the secret place and let me ravage your heart.
I would give all of Myself – but only to those who come away.
I would give everything that you desire – but it is reserved for those who love and choose Me above the things of this world.
Do not be swept away with money, do not be swept away with position or title, do not be swept away by status or things. Do not be swept away with that which is over quickly.
Answer a greater and a deeper call.
You say “I love You” – have you given yourself to the reading of My Word?
You say “I want to love you” – have you done what I said to do in My Scriptures?
Have you, would you – minister to the lonely, the broken, the orphan, and the widow?
Would you help the poor?
Would you go to the imprisoned?
Would you be my words of encouragement and comfort to those who are ready to give up?Would you preach My Word – here is life.

I say “Here I am, oh God.” Here I am, send me.
Let me love You and let me love Your people.

This is what it is to be a father – one, who protects, one who lifts up the brokenhearted, one who helps the needy, one who goes to those who cannot speak or fight for themselves.

Here is a ready heart. Here is a willing hand.
Here is one who would say “Oh God, have it all.”
I burn for You. Have me. Use me. Draw me. Take me.
Work in me. Speak through me. Help me.
I asked for intimacy and You answered by giving me trials that I would draw closer to You.
Still, I must have You! Even now, I must be with You!
You are all that I want and all that I desire!
Father, Oh King, Oh God – rapture my heart

Have all of me
You are no respecter of persons
I’m so in love with You, Jesus
Enflame my heart in Love
Arouse passion and desire in me to the heights of human capability
Let me close my eyes and be with You in the Throne Room
Let me live my life – never leaving the secret place
Make much of Yourself in me
Make much of Yourself in my life
Make much of Yourself through me
I want to waste my life to be with You
I want to pour out everything that I have and everything that I am
I want to have fixed gaze
I want to have single purpose
I want to be where You are
I want to do what You are doing

King and Master of my life
Commander of my soul
Lover who called me before the earth’s foundations were set
Wonderful One who is altogether lovely
Beautiful counselor
All I want is You. I want all of You
Will You give me all of You?
Take all of me. I hold nothing back for myself
Have my love, have my energy, have my resources, have my strength, have my time, have my sleep, have my heart, have my mind, have my thoughts, have my soul, have me.
Come, oh God.

You are Relentless
Your Love and Desire do not relent
There is no giving up and there is no giving in.
Come King and rend my heart
I give all that I am to You.
There is so much that I wish for and so much that I hope for
Oh King! I surrender. I hope in You.
I desire You. I do not even know what is the best path to take
I do not even know and cannot even see all that You have
I look and there is so much that I cannot see.

Living flame of Love come baptize me
All consuming fire – come now and consume even me
All consuming love – come now and burn
All consuming beauty – come and overtake me
There is no one better and there is nothing that I want more
Father, have mercy and grace on Your servant
Beauty, Arise!

Hope

Could I write on hope? It has been a theme of my life since I was a child. Always hoping, always looking forward, and always praying for things to come true. We don’t always get what we hope for, but sometimes we do. It is because of those sometimes that I keep on hoping and trying and wishing and praying.

I hope for great things and I hope for small things. Even now I can feel my heart beating, wanting and hoping. It wants so much to come to pass it feels as though it could beat right out of me and keep on beating for a minute straight on it’s own as it lay on the floor.

Romans 5 says “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

This is where we have to stand and this is where we must believe: hope does not disappoint, because God has poured out His love into our hearts… hope does not disappoint.

What do you hope for? What does it mean to hope, anyway? In the very least, when we hope, we can know that we are not alone. Ruth hoped for a new future back in Israel, multiple occasions throughout history the Israelites hoped to return to Jerusalem, Esther hoped for salvation for her people and Job hoped for deliverance from the Hand of the Lord.

To hope is to have the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. To hope is to look forward with desire or reasonable confidence. To hope is to believe, it is to desire, it is to trust. Sometimes, we can even hope against hope… this is to continue to hope, even when the odds are against our favor.

Hope is a powerful emotion. Hope has kept people alive in prison camps, and hope has kept starving people from giving up who were lost at sea. Hope has reunited old friendships and Hope has rekindled flames of love that had been relegated to faint flickers.

We must continue to hope. Hope is the opposite of passivity. Hope is the antithesis of apathy. Hope is how we keep on going. Hope is strength when there only weakness, hope is love when there are only lonely nights, hope is fighting when the mobs have already surrounded, and hope is the next step when we’re lost in the wilderness. Hope is how to really live.

Hope is how you say to life, “I will not give up, and I will not give in.” Hope is the reason you get back up when you have been knocked down. Hope is the reservoir to draw from when the ship has already taken on water. Hope is where we look to when the alarm clock sounds in the morning and a new day calls, beckoning us to get up. We can either charge the day or flee from it. We must hope! Even when all we can do is hope against hope…

Hope! Keep hoping! Look to hope as a mighty warrior, look to hope as a trusted companion, and look to hope as a faithful friend. Remember, hope does not disappoint. Hope, when coupled with prayer and faith can bring even greater things to pass. This is when we bring our hopes before the King of Kings and lay them before His feet.

This is when we take the deep desires of our heats and the great wishes and prayers and hopes and dreams and say to Jesus; “Oh King of My heart and oh Lord of my life. Here are my hopes, here are my dreams, and here is what I want so deeply to come to pass. Would You have them? Would You take them? I don’t know what else to do. To my knowledge, these are noble hopes. As far as I can see, what I lay before You are good things. And even though I call them good and want them to be, I still bow my knee and say ‘Thy will be done’. Thank You Father, for I know that You are good and I now rest in Your love. Be pleased now Oh King. Come and have Your way.”

Keep hoping. Keep believing. Keep going.

An uprising

Oh God, You said that You never leave and You never forsake.
What is going on now?
I cry out. A heart, torn and rent. I know You are near, but my heart still breaks.
Day after day I wonder when You will draw back Your hand.
My strength has left me. I keep no more hope for myself.
Hour after hour I long and hope. I seek rest, but it escapes me.
Now I only find solace when I am not awake – a life on the edge of utter exhaustion.
My strength runs on the brink of despair. I fall to the ground. I can see no end.
I thought it was over. I thought it was done. Now, I see it was only a lull. It was only an ebb in the work You are doing. Now the full force of the flow of Your Hand goes forth.
I can not stand. I keep no strength, no hope, and no confidence in my own ability.
In the morning I am forced to trust in You.
There is only one remedy, and there is only one cure.
Not on my own, I command faith to arise. Deep calls out to deep.
Deep has now visited. Deep upon deep sets the table and takes counsel.
I see beauty all around me. I am hemmed in, before and behind.
There is a hedge around me. Its walls are thick and sure.
What do I believe? Oh God, I believe in Your love.
There is no other safe place.
Hope for a future… it hurts worse than I ever thought it could.
Opened up once more, the first time in years, and the hope was shut off.
Yet, even now, in brokenness, it was worth it… that another may know of the beauty they posses, that another may know love – like a breaking dawn – if for only that, all was worth it.
I look in the mirror and do not recognize my eyes any more. They carry a great weight that they have not yet carried. I listen to my own voice and it too carries a weight that I have not yet known.
I walk, more and less sure. I approach each day, with more and less confidence. My entire outlook has shifted. I keep utterly no confidence in my own ability. I only walk in the strength of my God. I no longer run to close ones when great pain comes. I run to the arms of One who is greater. I no longer worry about my own life. I have given it up. I see each day as a day that does not belong to me. I walk with great pain.
Each movement, each word, each hour… I can feel come and go. I used to rush in life, I have found I have to slow down. The only words that I now heed are the words of the One who died for me when He says “Come Away My Beloved”. I go to that place.
It is in the wilderness, it is at the olive press, it is at the breaking point, it is in the praetorians’ cell, it is in a cave in the Negev, it is in the house of mourning.
Why does God work so hard to answer our prayers for intimacy with Him…? I cried out for it. I pleaded for it. I prayed and fasted for it. I said “Oh God, I want You. Take all else away. Call me, draw me, bring me to Your inner chambers and Your inner courts! Have my life!”
And then He answered that prayer.
Who could have guessed that it would look like this? …to share in Christ’s sufferings… to be made more like Him… for Him to increase and for us to decrease… it comes at a cost.
We can’t have something for nothing. We can’t be brought into the inner chambers of the King and live our own life.
He has to work in the heart to build the integrity and character and dependence on Him to handle such treasure as intimacy with Him. Intimacy comes at a price.
It is connected and can not be separated from the dying to the flesh.
The more of the Spirit, the more of the world has to go.
Hope deferred… is not hope destroyed.
Defer by definition is to pass on to another time.
It will still come to pass.
So the only appropriate response is to press into the King.
The only thing left to do is to pray, is to fast, is to answer His call to come away as Beloved. Though my lip quivers, though my teeth shake, though my knees tremble, though my strength wanes… I call faith to arise. With nothing left… faith arise. With no hope, with no strength, with less than nothing left… faith, arise.
Faith, Arise!

God’s work on my heart: an outpouring

Something has changed in the atmosphere.
I can feel it.
There has been a breakthrough.
The time of testing is over.
The time of refreshing is at hand – it is here.

It is a season of coming into destiny.
It is a season of coming into joy.
It is propulsion to greater things.
They begin now – they start now – they go forth from this place.

I can hear the sound of a different drum beat.
I can see the marching formation of a new army.
It is a new day.

Destiny and dreams coming true.
The answer was sent from Heaven and now it has reached Earth.
It goes forth now, It is in the air, It has arrived.

Earlier, it was on the way and could not be stopped.
Earlier, things had been set in motion.

Now, it is here.
Now, it has come.
Now, is the time for living out dreams and destiny!

Something happened inside me, something on the inside.
A work from Heaven, divine hands performing surgery.
It’s over. I feel like a great battle was raging, and now it is over.
God has called a ceasefire.
God has called an end.
God has said “it is done”

I don’t care about it any more – trying to make things happen.
I finally surrendered. I finally let go.
No longer, am I enamored by mankind.
No longer, do I place my hopes for a future with humanity.
No longer, do I look to flesh to bring about destiny.

I look forward.
I look upwards.
I look to the King.
Promotion, influence, provision, dreams, all things… come from Him and Him alone.

Can you see it? Can you hear it?
The sound of many rushing waters; it is the sound of God.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has arisen.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is on the move.

Power breaks forth now.
Rumblings and lightnings and terror and splendor.
Holiness manifested, Glory revealed.
Heaven has invaded Earth.
The supernatural invaded the natural.
God has come.

The power is when I am on my knees before the Lord.
The power is in the prayers.
The power is in my weakness.
The power is God on the move.

He said “My Grace is sufficient for you, My power is made perfect in weakness.”
I don’t know that I fully understand, but I embrace it.
It is the power of God that I hold, I keep none for myself.

I finally let go.
And instantaneously, God was there.
I bow my knees, I bow my head, I close my eyes, and I walk into my destiny.
He propels me.
It is done. I can’t get away from it. He will do it.
The God of all. Amen.

Mark Anthony