Gentle Nudges in the Night

A gentle nudge in the night....As if to say, "Come away with me my daughter for a sweet time of communion."  That's what I sense at 3:15 about once a week now.  I told a prayer warrior friend of mine just the other day (we were both awake at the same time one early morning) it's as if the Lord walks by your bed and gives you a gentle nudge.   I am in a deep sleep and for no "apparent" reason my eyes are opened and I head down stairs to my favorite spot, bible opened, fresh journal page ready and waiting for the Lord to speak to my heart.  Me and the Lord in sweet communion.  It is something I now look forward to.  A precious and priceless time of intercessory prayer.

It was about 7 years ago when God began to wake me up in the middle of the night always around the 3:00 am hour.  At first, I didn't realize it was the Lord.  I would wake up and look around the room, pull the covers over my head and fall back to sleep.  Overtime though, I began to realize it was the Lord gently nudging me to come away and spend time in prayer.  

As my children grew older and were "making their way in this world" my heart would grow heavy and I would feel burdened to pray during those early morning hours for their very souls. I would pray for their protection, choices, hearts to be softened by the Holy Spirit.    I remember many  nights being so overcome with a desperation for God to move in their lives that I was as Beth Moore calls it, "nose to carpet", prostrate on the floor crying out to the only One who could make a difference in their lives.  On those nights it wasn't always with such a gentle nudge but with an alarming alertness to drop to my knees and begin interceding on behalf of my children or anyone else the Lord laid on my heart.  I will never know this side of eternity how those hours in intercessory prayer kept one of them from the evil one; the one who like a roaring lion is roaming to and fro looking for someone to devour.  Only God knows those things.  I am grateful for that.  

For several months it was really a discipline to overcome sleep and be obedient to get up and pray.  Now, I am simply devoted to respond to those gentle nudges of the Lord. I have learned that God will show up and  if I don't get up I will miss out on what He is wanting to show me or share with me. I don't want to miss a thing!  It's through those times on my face before His throne or sitting in my favorite quiet time spot with bible opened, pen in hand and journal ready and waiting I have learned to sit at the Savior's feet.  I have learned how to hear the Shepherd's voice.  I have been as Andrew Murray calls it, "in the school of prayer" and I am still there.  Always learning, desperate to hear from my Adonai'.  I am learning how to trust the Lord with ALL my life.  I am learning what it truly means to "love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength."  I am always learning at the feet of Jesus.  It's a great place to be!

I am learning how to persevere in prayer.  To pray without doubting but in faith.  To pray back God's Word to Him in every situation or circumstance.  To just praise Him through His Word.  To simply spend time calling out His greatness and goodness.  I am learning to pray privately what I can't pray publicly.  To pray hard things.  For example: "God reveal the hidden sins in my family tree, grant us the gift of repentance and the fruit from repentance so You Oh Lord can re-landscape our family tree for the next generation and those that follow after us."  I have seen God answer over the past few years in ways that made me gasp for air.  Things that have made me desperate for more of God's presence, promises and peace!  There have been some answers to prayer that truthfully, at first I said to myself, "Oh, why did I pray such a thing" because He showed up and revealed things that hurt down to the core of my heart, yet in the end it is a good thing.  God promises to do good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes ~ Romans 8:28-30. 

To tell you the truth; I am always amazed that the maker of heaven and of earth hears the cries of this woman's heart.  I am utterly amazed that He cares about the details of my life but He does and I am forever thankful and grateful for that.  I am His and He is mine because of the "blood of Christ Jesus".  

To sum it all up, to be a student and a disciple of Christ is an honor and a privilege.  There is no place I would rather be at 3:15 am than in sweet communion with My Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.  

So, when you feel a gentle nudge in the night don't ignore it.  Get up and go away with the Savior for a sweet time of fellowship.  You will be filled with more Jesus, more love and more of God's presence, promises, peace and power!  Don't sleep when the Shepherd of your soul asks you to come and pray!  

In the shadow of the Almighty

Psalm 91,