Revelation Chapter 2

“You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”
Revelation 2:3, NIV
 
Prayer Over Our Children
     Oh God, help my daughter work hard and persevere through hardships for Your name’s sake. May she not grow weary. Keep her heart faithful and true to You so that she may never forsake You as her first love. I pray that You will grant her a heart of repentance which desires to return to the zeal of her first love. Oh God, give her ears to hear. May she overcome and eat from Your tree of life.
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    Bless my little girl, oh Lord, with a richness in joy, love, peace, and all things in the spirit during hardship and affliction. Oh Father, do not let my daughter be afraid to suffer persecution but find her faithful so that she may receive the crown of life. Give her ears to hear, oh God, and the strength to overcome.
     Help my little girl remain true to Your name and a faithful witness, never renouncing You. May You protect her against the enticement of sin, sexual immorality, and false teachings. Bring her to repentance, oh Lord, for any sinful way. Oh God, give her ears to hear. May she eat Your hidden manna and receive a new name in Christ.
     May my daughter be known for her deeds, love, faith, service, and perseverance in the Lord. Help her continue to grow in You and do increasingly more for Your kingdom. Keep her from tolerating sin, holding onto Your truth and Your ways. Oh God, give her ears to hear to overcome. Empower her to do Your Will so that she may receive authority over nations and be given the morning star. Give her ears to hear, oh God. May she eat of Your tree of life.
 
Free to Worship
 
     So, there is a new dance floor in the Wingert household. Traditionally, our dance floor of preference has been our kitchen floor. Amidst the counters, cabinets, and kitchen appliances sits our radio. It perches beneath the cabinets, blaring its joyful noise. Often, when I am preparing food or our family is eating dinner, a favorite praise song starts playing over the airwaves. Inevitably, either me or Sweet Pea will start dancing to the music. Before we know it, the two of us are cutting across the floor, shaking, and moving to the music while we sing at the top of our lungs. But a new tradition seems to be unfolding.
     It started one night when I heard Sweet Pea singing in the shower. A day where my spirit felt battered and bruised, my body screamed for sleep and rest. Plus, my husband had stepped out for a moment which left the two of us girls home to navigate the nighttime routine alone. The water pummeled against the shower walls as I rounded the corner with sleep clothing in hand. Sweet Pea’s voice although muffled could still be heard over the pounding spray and the bathroom walls.
     *“I’m going to jump in the river,” she sang, amidst the soap and bubbles, “Jump in the river…” I smiled. Her cheery voice lifted my weary spirits. Thump, thump. The frosted panes to the shower walls rattled as Sweet Pea jumped. Listening, I paused outside the bathroom door. Bump, bump! This time, I heard Sweet Pea stomping her bare feet.
     *“I’m going to dance in the river,” she sang, “dance, dance…dance, dance!” Once more the shower walls banged and shook. Her joy was infectious. The grin on my face widened. Then, I picked up my cell phone. I wanted to bless my little girl by playing some praise and worship music to accompany her cheery disposition. Not able to see what song I tapped on my screen nor caring of what song I selected, I blindly scrolled through her collection of songs. There! I double tapped on what I knew was a song from her favorite group but had no idea what song it was.
     The opening chords to the music started playing as I opened the bathroom door. A wall of warm moisture clung to my face as I stepped through the doorway. The stream of water from the shower head echoed loudly in the small room. Steam fogged the frosted panes of the shower walls, but Sweet Pea kept humming. Then, she heard the music.
     “Mom, Mom!” She stopped mid scrub. Her eyes were large with excitement.
     “That’s the same song that I was just singing!” So ecstatic was she that she began to jump up and down.
     The opening chords unfolded as the two of us listened intently. And so, it was!
     In one rushing moment, all my heaviness vanished. Sunshine and joy dawned beautiful and bright. That God would care so much about a little girl and her mother to orchestrate such detail and synchrony between the singing and the sightless, radiated core deep and filled me to overflowing. The joy which had already spread soul deep now cascaded in glorious waterfalls. We squealed, we jumped, we praised the Lord.
     We looked at each other with wide Cheshire grins. Then, as if we had rehearsed it a thousand times, we simultaneously started singing and dancing in perfect synchronization. She, in the shower. Me, in the tiny space between the wall and the vanity. Like a line dance, we moved in perfect parallel motion, stepping to the left and then stepping to the right.
     *“Dance, dance, dance in the river.” We shouted in one voice. Our feet stomped and our hands waved. Smiles wide and eyes bright, we once more slid and stepped to the left. Then, we slid and stepped to the right.
     *“Jump, jump, jump in the river.” Thunk, bump! Once more, the panes of the shower walls rattled and shook as we both jumped with happy abandon. Again and again we moved in synchronized steps.
     *“And if it goes to the left, then we’ll go to the left,” called out the young voice. She and I slid in perfect step with each other. Sweet Pea radiated pure joy, a wide smile bursting from her mouth.
     *“Go to the right, and now we’ll go to the right,” called the voice again. Once more, she and I slid and stepped to our right.
     “We’re going to…” it started to say, but it could not be heard above our own voices.
     *“Shout-shout, Shout-shout! In the river!” we yelled at the top of our lungs, jumping up and down simultaneously.
     Where a spirit of heaviness had once resided, light and joy now dwelt. The darkness disappeared and fled when the garment of praise had been donned.
     Worship is a weapon. It combats fear, anxiety, and depression. How? Because when we can let go enough to worship and praise our God, our fears, anxieties, and troubles are likewise let go.
     There is a reason why we are told to put on “the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3).” Not only is praise and worship the antidote to a spirit of despair, but when we praise God amidst heaviness, we become like mighty oaks. “…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor (Isaiah 61:3).”
     This imagery of an oak tree symbolizes strength, endurance, solidity, and majesty. It is when beauty is made from ashes, joy replaces mourning, and we don the garment of praise instead of despair that we become mighty oaks of righteousness. How? Because praise amidst trials and despair causes us to grow strong, endure hardship, become firmly planted, and display God’s splendor. Moreover, like the oak trees’ strong branches, God uses the very limbs we hold up in praise to Him to shelter us from the rain of despair and weariness. It is also in this way that worship becomes a weapon against Satan.
     Yet even as praise and worship is our weapon, we need to wield it well. How effective is our weapon of praise if we do not vigorously thrust with sturdy limb? What enemy will flee when we wave with timidity and caution. Our praise and worship needs to be strong and vibrant, full and free. For without such whole-hearted engagement how else will the enemy flee and how much more pleasing will our praise be unto the Lord?
     Moreover, to be free in our praise of the Lord can bring us nothing but pure joy. And joy, itself, is a weapon for joy gives strength. Yet, so often we feel tethered to our perceived expectations of what proper adult behavior might be. We think too much of what others might think about how we look and move. But, if we abandoned our own inhibitions and worship in the freedom of child-like joy, I wonder how many more praise offerings we would bring to our Lord? For me on this day, I laid over twenty jumps, shouts, dances with arms waving and hands moving, and a double-triple-quadruple portion of joy than what would have been there before. In fact, none of these praise offerings would have even been offered and laid down before Him had I not surrendered to the joy which was placed before me.
     Although we find ourselves surrounded by forces beyond our control during this pandemic, we still possess the ability to praise and worship our God. Dutifully sheltering in place, we find our typical freedoms temporarily inhibited. Though our comings and goings are restricted, our ability to gather in large numbers are curbed, and our ability to engage and interact in person are hampered, our freedom to worship is not. Here in our great country, we have the right to worship our God free from persecution and harm.
     Therefore, within the privacy of our homes (which most of us find ourselves) how much more should we be free to worship in fullness of heart, mind, soul, and body? How much more can we relinquish our social inhibitions to worship in the fullness of the Spirit, when we our away from the peering eyes of the world and in the solitude of our homes?
     Oh, people of God, let down your guard, relinquish your reservations, and free yourselves from your inhibitions to worship that you may know the fullness of the Spirit. Surrender yourself to the joy of the Lord that you may be strengthened. Cast down your worries, fears, and despair to don the garment of praise. Let us endure with strength and solidity like the mighty oak that we might display the splendor and majesty of God. Come, let us praise and worship the Lord, our God!
 
*song lyrics from Deep Cries Out to Deep by Beth Kids Music
Bethel Music Kids – Deep Cries Out
Bethel Music - Raise a Hallelujah
 
A Parents Prayer
Oh God, help me to let go of my inhibitions and worship You in fullness and freedom. Let me surrender my worries, weariness, and troubles down before You. Grant me Your joy that it may serve as my strength and help me to endure as the mighty oak of righteousness. Oh God, may my praise and worship of You amidst these trying times, be a mighty display of Your splendor and majesty. Amen. 
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