How to Move the Heart of God

The late Wesley Duewel said he recalled that every time he came home from college or the mission field his mother would weep for the Chinese and the people of India in family prayer. She'd pray, "O Lord, save those precious people," then she'd be sobbing.

Ida Duewel, now in Heaven, has the joy of reaping the rewards of every tear she shed. A news item reports that Christian congregations are skyrocketing in China. "China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon," said Fenggang Yang, author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule. Mao thought he could eliminate religion, but he had no power to compete with those who shared Jesus' burden for the Chinese.

Picture Christ on the throne today as a weeping Jesus. "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears" (Hebrews 5:7). He's the same "yesterday and today and forever." We say that and usually refer to His power, but surely it's also His praying heart. The Jesus who wept over Jerusalem and at the tomb of Lazarus is still weeping today and interceding with tears. He "always lives to intercede" (Hebrews 7:25).

The key to moving the heart of God is to share the heart of Jesus. We should welcome any hunger to pray the Holy Spirit gives us, cherish it and be very faithful to that wistful longing. If we are loyal to an ever deepening burden, as we pray on, we may get an even greater desire.

Jesus said He "is not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9 KJV) How would we pray for our family, friends, church, and nation if we allowed the Holy Spirit to express His passion through us?

Dear Jesus, give me the kind of hunger that adds the Spirit's power to my praying.

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy" (Psalm 126:5, 6).