Wanting (Part II)

A couple of hours after I finally fell asleep, I was awakened by other family members who were preparing themselves for a brand new day. Since it was a Thursday, I quickly stepped out of bed in order to attend the neighborhood prayer meeting that regularly took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:00 am. Upon arriving there, I soon felt warm all over by the blazing fire of the Holy Spirit through the fervent prayers of the people gathered together.

I simply sat there.
I savored the delicious and holy nectar.
I saturated my heart, mind, and ears, listening rivetedly.
I soaked myself with the brook of prayer bubbling all around me.

Then, something exciting happened to me.

God touched me.
God talked to me.
God tossed His fire at me.
God turned His face toward me.

I understood at that moment that, despite the strongly alluring nature of my "wanting" (the ever-consuming lust of the heart of man), its pull is quite insignificant compared to the "wanting" of my all-powerful God -- a divine longing that is altogether holy, perfect, uncompromising, unending, all-encompassing, ever-reaching, and joy-producing.

On that early morning, I learned and sensed how clearly God functions through His "wanting":

God wants me.
God wants all of me.
God wants to guide me.
God wants to hear and heal me.
God wants to touch and transform me.
God wants to restore, strengthen, and uphold me.

God wants my heart, not my sacrifices and rituals.
God wants my hands to be laborious, fruitful, and productive.
God wants my head to be filled with thoughts that are pure and lovely.

God wants me to share my entire being with Him -- my days, nights, concerns, heartaches, dreams, hopes, successes, failures, ups, downs, doubts, fears, joys, sorrows, plans, victories, sufferings, pleasures, etc.

God wants me to be His, and His alone.

God's heart spoke with such clarity and boldness that everything else disappeared around me. Unconsciously, I stopped paying attention to what was happening during the service. I heard no intelligible word, no memorable song, no specific message from the congregants during that entire prayer meeting.

What I did gain, however, was a vibrant sense of understanding -- a keen awareness of why God sent Jesus on His earthly mission. This awareness made me unite my voice with that of Job asking:

"What is man that You make so much of him,

that You give him so much attention,

that You examine him every morning,

and test him every moment?"

Job 7:17-18, NIV

God loves people because, in them, He has deposited His spirit.
God desires human praise because He inhabits the praise of His people.
God longs for the creatures He has created because they are made into His likeness.
God yearns to save all of mankind from doom and despair, offering them hope through the cross.

God wants me.

Precious Father, thank You for desiring all of me. Help me to never forget that I am special in Your eyes -- a masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to good works which God prepared in advance for me to do. May Your "wanting" guide me to follow You gratefully for the rest of my life. Amen!