The prayer meeting was good. I say ‘good’ because the Holy Spirit was with us, to direct, rebuke, comfort and strengthen. Tomorrow many people celebrate ‘Mother’s Day’. Maybe I needed to remember the feelings of a mother whose baby is sick. The congregation was weak this evening. My instincts as a mother in Zion were stirred to the core of my being. The baby was too weak to swallow the solid food I prepared in advance. I had to give the baby the water of life, drop by drop on its feverish tongue. I reminded the brethren that only the child of God ‘feels’ the presence of the Holy Spirit. Only the child of God is able to truly love God and other people. The unbelievers talk about love but it is only a fading imagination in their confused puffed up minds. Only in the presence of God there is ‘fullness of joy’. Nowhere else can this free powerful liberating joy be found!

King David committed adultery with Bathsheba. For an hour of pleasure he killed her marriage, he killed her husband. Unbroken and unrepentant, for about a year, the beloved King of Zion survived on past glories. He gained a woman and he lost the joy of his salvation. He repented at last but the pain was deep and lasting.

In the same way, this evening, we repented because our hearts were hardened too. Religion is spiritual adultery. In the midst of men who lust after miracles and grieve the Holy Spirit, we stumbled and fell. Thank God for the drawing power of the Holy Spirit! Back to the Cross! God wants our hearts to be tender, trembling at His Word, humble and faithful, at peace with Him and self. Led by the Holy Spirit, we came back to the source of life, to the fountain of joy. We sang and prayed: ‘Create in me a clean heart, Oh, Lord…And renew the right spirit within me… Cast me not away, from Thy Spirit, Oh, Lord… Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me… Restore unto me, the joy of my salvation… And renew the right spirit within me…’ In the presence of God we found ourselves. It is so easy to become hard of hearing and stiff-necked. It is so easy to lie that all is well, when all is not well. It is so easy to become proud. Truth liberates but truth is so hard to be appreciated. Truth is a choice. We choose truth tonight! ‘Unto Jesus I surrender…Unto Him I freely give…Worldly pleasures now forsaken, Take me Jesus, take me now…’ I love You Lord Jesus! There is none like You! In weakness and strength I am Yours! I will never be ashamed of my tears! I was born to worship You Lord Jesus! I love You Jesus! Let the whole world say what they may, nobody can take this joy away….Lord I believe… Take me Jesus, take me now!’