Love Them To The Cross
“Love them to the cross, love them to the altar.”
It's the ache of seeing what sin is doing, but not being able to open their eyes for them.
The ache of knowing Jesus is the answer, but watching them reach for everything else instead.
It's the ache of wanting to shake them awake!
The ache of loving someone who doesn't understand the war over their soul.
And if we're not careful, that ache can turn into fear....worry.
And those two can turn into control.
Control can turn into striving.
And well, before we know it, we're trying to become the Holy Ghost in someone else’s life.
But God didn't tell me to force them.
He didn't say, “Argue them to the cross.”
He didn't say, “Shame them to the altar.”
He didn't say, “Panic them into repentance.”
He said, “Love them.”
Love them to the cross.
Love them to the altar.
That kind of love isn't weak. It's not compromise or pretending that sin doesn't matter. And it's certainly not smiling at destruction and calling it grace.
It's the kind of love that tells the truth without using it as a weapon, the kind of love that continues to pray when the conversation is over. The kind of love that keeps its spirit clean, even when the heart is broken, and the kind of love that refuses to let bitterness preach louder than mercy.
The cross is where mercy met judgment. It's where sin was exposed, but love still stretched out its arms, where Jesus didn't minimize the cost of sin, but......He also didn't abandon the sinner.
Maybe that's where some of us need to bring the lost and hurting in prayer again?
Romans 2:4 says, “....the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.”
But God didn't tell me to force them.
He didn't say, “Argue them to the cross.”
He didn't say, “Shame them to the altar.”
He didn't say, “Panic them into repentance.”
He said, “Love them.”
Love them to the cross.
Love them to the altar.
That kind of love isn't weak. It's not compromise or pretending that sin doesn't matter. And it's certainly not smiling at destruction and calling it grace.
It's the kind of love that tells the truth without using it as a weapon, the kind of love that continues to pray when the conversation is over. The kind of love that keeps its spirit clean, even when the heart is broken, and the kind of love that refuses to let bitterness preach louder than mercy.
The cross is where mercy met judgment. It's where sin was exposed, but love still stretched out its arms, where Jesus didn't minimize the cost of sin, but......He also didn't abandon the sinner.
Maybe that's where some of us need to bring the lost and hurting in prayer again?
ESPECIALLY those we love deeply. Because there's something about a momma’s heart that wants to fix what's broken, repair what's heavy, and carry every burden her children carry.
We see the storm clouds forming and everything in us wants to run ahead of them with an umbrella, and a flashlight. We don't want to watch our children hurt. We don't want to see our loved ones walk through storms, pain, consequences, confusion, deception, or brokenness.
Sometimes....that love can actually start to feel desperate but it's not because we don't trust God.
It's because we love them so much that the thought of them suffering feels almost unbearable. We start reaching, fixing, over-explaining.....we start trying to repair what ONLY God can redeem.
But....there comes a place in prayer where the Lord gently reminds us that we can love them deeply, but......WE cannot heal them completely.
We can cover them in prayer, but we can't become their Savior.
We can carry their name to the cross, but we cannot climb on it for them.
So maybe we need to bring them again?
Not bring them to our opinions or our timeline.....but to the cross...to the place where the blood still speaks, the place where shame loses its name, the place where the hardest heart can still be broken open by mercy.
Not the nagging, hovering, or the constant reminders. Not the long talks that slowly turn into lectures. Not the pressure we put on them because we're scared, or the exhaustion of trying to make them see what ONLY God can reveal.
The goodness of God!
That doesn't mean, though, that there's never correction. That doesn't mean that there's never hard conversations. It doesn't mean we remove boundaries and call it love.Sometimes love has to say, “I can't walk with you into that.”
Sometimes love has to shut the door and pray on the other side of it.
Sometimes love has to refuse to enable what's destroying someone.
The goal isn't to win the argument or prove we were right. And the goal isn't to make someone finally understand how badly their choices have hurt themselves or others.
The goal is their soul!
Because when you're really praying for someone’s soul, you can't afford to let your flesh lead the prayer meeting!
You cannot intercede from a throne of offense.
Jesus didn't call us to love them to shame and humiliation...He called us to love them to the altar and the altar belongs to Him.
That's where surrender happens, where pride bows, where rebellion runs out of breath, where the prodigal finally comes to him or herself.
That's where the broken stop pretending they're whole, where the bound can be loosed, the guilty can be washed, the weary can be restored, and the lost can be found.
The part that's hard for those of us who are praying is the reality that we can love them to the altar, but we can't surrender for them. We can carry their name in prayer, but we can't carry their repentance. We can stand in the gap, but we can't become the Savior. We can water the soil with tears, but ONLY GOD gives the increase.
And yes, that can FEEL helpless, but it's not.
Prayer is not helpless.
Love is not helpless.
Intercession is not helpless.
Every time you whisper their name before the Lord, heaven hears!
Every time you choose mercy when your flesh wants resentment, something great is being formed in you too.
That's where surrender happens, where pride bows, where rebellion runs out of breath, where the prodigal finally comes to him or herself.
That's where the broken stop pretending they're whole, where the bound can be loosed, the guilty can be washed, the weary can be restored, and the lost can be found.
The part that's hard for those of us who are praying is the reality that we can love them to the altar, but we can't surrender for them. We can carry their name in prayer, but we can't carry their repentance. We can stand in the gap, but we can't become the Savior. We can water the soil with tears, but ONLY GOD gives the increase.
And yes, that can FEEL helpless, but it's not.
Prayer is not helpless.
Love is not helpless.
Intercession is not helpless.
Every time you whisper their name before the Lord, heaven hears!
Every time you choose mercy when your flesh wants resentment, something great is being formed in you too.
Every time you refuse to give up, even when nothing looks different, you are sowing seed in ground you may not see harvest from yet.
Do not faint, praying momma!
And let us not be weary in well doing:
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
- Galatians 6:9
Do not faint, burdened husband or wife!
Do not faint, grieving father!
Do not faint, interceding grandmother or grandfather!
Do not faint, faithful friend!
Do not faint, church that still believes God can reach the unreachable!
Do not faint, watchman on the wall!
Do not let what you see make you forget what God can do!
The same God who met Saul on the road to Damascus can still interrupt someone’s path.
The same Jesus who saw Zacchaeus in a tree can still call someone by name in the middle of their mess.
The same Shepherd who left the ninety nine can still go after the one.
The same Father who ran toward the prodigal can still meet them while they're trying to find their way home.
And until then???
Love them to the cross.
Love them to the altar.
Not with a love that's frantic, foolish or excuses darkness....but with a love that keeps Jesus lifted high.
Our job isn't to drag them...it's to lift Him. Lift Him in our prayers, in our homes, in our responses, in the way we forgive, and in in the way we hold boundaries. Lift Him in the way we refuse to let despair become our language. Lift Him when we're tired, when we're misunderstood, when the person we're praying for looks even farther away than before.
Do not faint, faithful friend!
Do not faint, church that still believes God can reach the unreachable!
Do not faint, watchman on the wall!
Do not let what you see make you forget what God can do!
The same God who met Saul on the road to Damascus can still interrupt someone’s path.
The same Jesus who saw Zacchaeus in a tree can still call someone by name in the middle of their mess.
The same Shepherd who left the ninety nine can still go after the one.
The same Father who ran toward the prodigal can still meet them while they're trying to find their way home.
And until then???
Love them to the cross.
Love them to the altar.
Not with a love that's frantic, foolish or excuses darkness....but with a love that keeps Jesus lifted high.
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. - John 12:32
Our job isn't to drag them...it's to lift Him. Lift Him in our prayers, in our homes, in our responses, in the way we forgive, and in in the way we hold boundaries. Lift Him in the way we refuse to let despair become our language. Lift Him when we're tired, when we're misunderstood, when the person we're praying for looks even farther away than before.
Because...the cross still has power!
The altar still has room!
The blood still reaches!
Mercy still calls!
Grace still restores!
And God is still able to save!
So today, I want to encourage you to pray differently.
Lord, help me to love them to the cross. Help me love them to the altar. Help me not to get in Your way. Help me not to let fear dress itself up as love. Help me not to carry what only You can carry. Teach me when to speak and when to be still, when to draw close and when to step back, how to pray with faith and not panic. Teach me how to love with truth and not control.
And Lord? When they finally come to the altar, let them find YOU there. Not my anger, my disappointment, or even my “I told you so.” Let them find YOU. Because YOU are the One who saves. YOU are the One who draws, the One who restores, the One who brings dead things back to life.
And until I see it with my eyes, I will keep bringing them to You in prayer again and again and again...to the cross...to the altar....to Jesus.
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