your kingdom come

I wrote this post up North in my journal and totally forgot to put it on my blog.
(6.15.11)

There's a group called, Enter the Worship Circle (ETWC) and I really like them. When I was in college I received a CD in my mailbox anonymously and it was a mix of ETWC and a group called Speed Thy Servant. The music has been a continued sources of inspiration for over 10 years. ETWC, has put out several albums since, which I continue to enjoy! So on the album, "4th circle" there's a song called, Never Again and I have been thinking about this song a lot lately. The lyrics begin with the reality that the Lord's children are suffering. If you've ever sat with someone who suffers or experienced a culture infused with suffering you'll really understand what I am thinking about today and if you haven't had that experience, I urge you to reach out to someone or a people who suffer. I don't feel the need to describe what I mean right now because I want you to come up with the person/people based on what God puts on your heart and not my interpretation. :) I will get there though- so think about it! In my life I have endured a couple situations that were painful, but through the Lord and His using people I made it through. And I definitely needed those people to help me through those trying times. But what is really on my heart are those who suffer daily without hope of a rapid intervention. Detroit is a really broken city with generational poverty, lack of education, affordable housing, dignity, stability, etc... I have learned over the last 2.5 years that most women from this community have sold their bodies at one time or another... and it has been expressed that this is a normal way of life and many expect that I (or any woman) has done this at one time or another. Seriously. Currently I have heard that we graduate about 17% of seniors from HS. The life of many children in Detroit experience is one of suffering. Divorced or never married parents. Half siblings. Bad education. Poor diet. Absence of Dad. A stressed mom. A littered city. Danger. Drugs. Gun fights. Theft. Exposure to sex at a young age. Etc... This is a result of generational sin. both in the choices of those who live here and sins that others committed against them (think about the history: slavery, racial tensions, white flight, laws against blacks, etc...).
Burundi was also a time God revealed suffering to me. War. No money. Little food. Witchcraft. Disease. Death. Lack of education. Lack of clean water. Lack of resources. Etc...
In both places I feel live I have been given an aerial view into the realm of suffering, but I definitely have a long way to go before I understand it more. Many urban "relocaters" (meaning people who move into the inner city who were not from those areas) who have done what we are trying to do in Detroit did it for over a decade- or 2 or 3 decades- and suggest that you stay where you are for at least a decade because that's the amount of time it really takes people to trust you and let you in.
Point being- I get the suffering piece from an academic standpoint, but I really haven't entered into the suffering of those around me in a way that I hope to someday. So I am not an expert, but I still have thoughts to share!!
So I was listening to that song and I was thinking a lot of things. First, we are comforted by the reality that God hears the prayers of his suffering children and His presence is there.
But the following line from the song is what got me:
"Wake up God. Move yourself. Wicked men crush your children. We pray. We wait. how long will you say... NEVER AGAIN!?!?"
It really reminded me of the Lord's prayer where Jesus has us pray,
"Your kingdom come" (matthew 6:10).

So often I. want. life. This life. Not the eternal life God promises to those who believe... this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the prayer Jesus taught me to pray doesn't say that. When God's Kingdom comes there will be no more suffering (Isaiah 25:8-9, 65: 17-25). And as a believer my desires should:
1. Be God honoring. 2. Be good for all believers.
This reality really has me thinking not only about what I pray for, but how I pray. As I mentioned it's OK to to like life, as long as it's longing for a life that honors God, and at the same time longing for God's will to be done. And for His Kingdom to come. And the beauty of what will happen is in many ways a mystery.... but we can try to imagine the wiping away of suffering and how incredible that is.

I guess the point is, that when we move past the academics of poverty and pain and suffering and you actually feel-even a little bit- for another person- and see into the life of poverty you can't help, but want that to end.

So I long to pray more for those who suffer and pray: your. kingdom. come.

This You Tube video plays the song behind a random slide show. You don't have to watch the slideshow, but listen to the song. :)