Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Rev. 22:1-2
Lord Jesus, I begin today with one compelling image and many intense longings. The image is the Tree of Life, standing tall, verdant and fruit-full in the New Jerusalem; our future home of perfect health, perfect relationships, and perfect everything.
Because of your finished work, the Tree of Life will be accessible to the whole family of God “24/7″—bearing the fruit of your great sacrifice and transforming love. Its leaves will be perpetually green—a celebration of our complete healing and eternal wholeness. Jesus, we long to live and work, play and praise in the shade of that tree—where every disease and disintegration, distress and depression will be gone forever. Soon, Lord, soon… please.
There are so many people I love desperately in need of all kinds of healing. I pray for broken marriages and toxic relationships; for those suffering with mental diseases and emotional traumas; for peace in racially torn communities and redemption in evil-divided churches.
I pray for friends with stories of abuse and abandonment, heart disease and home stress; for those who are crushed by the consequences of destructive choices, and for those who are still running from grace as fast as they can; for those in the destructive vortex of addiction, and for those who call addicts spouse and child, parent and friend.
Even as I pray for healing in these stories, I surrender to the mystery of your sovereignty. Jesus, do I wish you’d always answer my prayers just as I pray them, when I pray them? You bet I do. But I know you to be more merciful, engaged, and wise than I can imagine. I trust your heart even when I don’t understand your ways, Jesus. So very Amen I pray, in your holy and grace-full name.