RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

As you search the annals of church history, you’ll find that the people who have been greatly used of God have been men and women of prayer. They’ve learned to wait in the secret place of prayer and allow God to impart His heart to them. They’ve been people whose hearts have been passionate for the things about which God is passionate.
George Mueller began orphanages for children in Bristol during the 1800s. He trusted God to meet their every need. He never asked for money, but he clothed, housed and fed many thousands of children. Near the end of his life he said that every person for whom he had prayed to come to Christ (with the exception of two), had come to know Christ as their Savior. After Mueller died, those two people also came to a personal knowledge of Christ.
David Brainard ministered among Indian tribes in the Northeastern part of the United States during the 1700s. It was said of him that the snow would melt underneath him because he prayed so long for the Indians. He was God’s instrument to bring many to the knowledge of the Savior.
When our hearts beat in harmony with the heart of God, He will do incredible things to bring to pass those things for which we have interceded. The heart of God breaks for a lost and dying world. When our hearts feel the same burden, we will cry unto Him and He will hear and answer us. The Psalmist said, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him” (Ps. 126:5, 6 NIV).
When a mother weeps for a wayward son, it touches the heart of God. When a father cries to God for His fallen children, it moves heaven to earth. When young people are broken over their schoolmates’ salvation, the Spirit of God is released from heaven to capture that school for Christ. God holds dear to His heart the tears of His children.
The Bible says, “Thou hast taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Thy bottle; are {they} not in Thy book?” (Ps. 56:8 NAS). God has a bottle where He stores our tears; a book where He records our heartaches. As we weep for those who are without Christ, we must never forget that God has not forgotten. One day, in His time, He will open the heavens and pour out a blessing upon us that’s beyond imagination.
A pastor recently told me when his church put in new carpet for their prayer room, he made a special request of the Lord. He said, “Oh God, I pray that this carpet will be dedicated to You by the tears of your people.” Not long afterwards, his prayers were answered. The church had a series of “revival meetings” with Life Action Ministries. God moved during those days, and the prayer room was filled with people weeping in brokenness and repentance over their sins.
Tears touch the heart of God. He understands the hurts of humanity because He gave His own Son for those injured by their own sins. Perhaps the shortest and most powerful Scripture in the Bible is the one that simply says, “Jesus wept.” If God in human flesh wept, then we’ll also weep when we grasp His heart. If you find yourself weeping for the souls of man, remember God is storing your tears in a bottle. One day, He will open that bottle, and out of it will flow “rivers of living waters.”