Praying for the Consolation of our City

Each week when I am sitting down to write to you, it is a conglomeration of the prayers I’ve prayed over the last several days, and the movement of the Spirit in the moment, and a wrestling of my own flesh. I want to keep you interested and invested and coming back for more! I want the reading to inspire you and stir you! I often begin writing with that intention and then stop, pray over my words, and delete most of what I’ve started. We aren’t participating in the FPT as a weekly pep rally, we are here to walk together in faithfulness.

I read today through the stories of Simeon and Anna in Luke. They were people of prayer in a very challenging political and spiritual time. Luke 2:25 says, “Now there was a man named Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” In prayer it was revealed to him he wouldn’t die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. He was longing for and praying to see and experience consolation; being consoled, tended to, cared for…and the answer to that was Jesus. He knew the prophetic promise that this salvation would not come without great challenge, but he was able to rest peacefully knowing God was delivering on his promise. He rested in that truth when Jesus was an infant, before any miraculous signs or parables or sermons would mark him as Messiah. Prayer was the way Simeon arrived at the peace of gratitude despite the coming challenges, celebration of a work in progress, and release to trust God’s continued plan. His prayers were motivated by his love for the people (waiting for the consolation of his nation) and the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

In the midst of his confirmation of Jesus’ arrival, Anna comes to this little family. She too is marked by her worship, particularly in the form of fasting and praying. When she saw Jesus, she spoke of him to the people around who were looking forward to the redemption of Israel. 

The parallel beauty of these stories are their concerns for the time in which they lived and the people with whom they shared life, in the scope of greater truth. They weren’t looking for a quick fix answer or something to pacify the current situation. They were interceding for divine interventions into their time of history and into the hearts of the people in their nation.

Consistent, faithful, Holy Spirit led prayers…and Jesus is the answer. 

We are standing together in this temple, full of the Spirit, faithfully praying, motivated by love for our family in our current situation…and Jesus is still the answer. I pray we would become aware of his presence and it would produce peace in us for the progression of salvation and the consolation of our city through the expression of Jesus in Living Waters, knowing the road will be a mixture of ups and downs, and resting on the increased revelation of the Kingdom of God among us. 

I pray this week we would be devout, righteous, full of worship, and relentless in our prayers for his presence, specifically in our finances.

With great love, 

Sommer