“What is the heart of John 3:16?” I recently asked inmates in a California prison and Colorado jail this question about this familiar verse. As expected several men shouted out answers such as “believe in Jesus and you get eternal life.” Most of us who have memorized this text as little kids would have stated the same. But I challenged this captive audience to dig deeper and discover the heart of the text. The promise, “that who so ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life,” flows from the heart of someone. “Who is it?” I went on to ask. Joe, one of the inmates correctly stated, “God the Father!”

 

Together we dialogued about the depths of God the Father’s love for us and that He would “give His one and only Son for us.” I challenged the men to think about the gift of eternal life from the Father’s heart, what it cost the Father to give up His boy, who He was wild about, whom He loved for all eternity. I shared with them about my 3 kids whom I love so much and when I see them pain it breaks my heart. Like when my son took a late hit in a college football game and ended up in pain in the end zone with a dislocated elbow. I went nuts and ran down the bleachers to the fence near the field to try to help and to yell at the referee for missing the call. I asked the men to think about how the Father must have felt as he watched His Son falsely accused, whipped ruthlessly by violent men who made sport of it, and finally to stand on the sidelines as His only Son was nailed to the cross and cried out in anguish feeling forsaken by His Father.

 

As we discussed this gift of love from the Father I could see the tears in Joe’s eyes. In fact he walked out of the room to gain composure and when he finally returned he said “I have never seen John 3:16 from the heart of the Father before.” I could tell the Holy Spirit was revealing a truth to him that was bringing the healing of the Father’s love. His spiritual eyes were being opened up wide to the depth of Father God’s love for him in giving him His only Son to make him a beloved son.

 

As we approach Good Friday I challenge you to look at the heart of John 3:16, God the Father so loved you that He allowed His only Son to suffer and die in your place. Take some time this week and think about the suffering and pain the Father went through as He watched His Son go through Hell for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a glimpse of the broken heart of the Father who gave His most precious gift to you so that you would know His love for you, which is life eternal.

 

 

 

 

 

Bob has the gift of intercession and as he prayed I could sense the darkness shake in our midst as he called on heaven to break the strongholds in our city. After a group of us finished praying on a Saturday morning for our city I had the privilege to talk with Bob and thank him for his bold prayers. In the course of our conversation he told me about a missionary to the Muslims in North Africa, Lilias Trotter.

 

The story blessed and encouraged me; I hope it inspires you as well. Lilias was a single woman who spent a good portion of her life sharing Christ’s love in the spiritually dark environment of Algiers Africa in the early 1900’s. Many who converted to Christ were killed and Lilias and others were continuously opposed and attacked for their work. Lilias became a powerful prayer warrior and believed her persistent prayers would break the strongholds of satan in Algiers and usher in a move of the Holy Spirit in the country.

 

God revealed to her in a tangible sign of how this would work in a very unexpected way. One day the building where she lived collapsed. When the investigation was completed the reason why was pinned to the bread baker who worked in the basement of the building. For 7 years the machine to knead the bread caused vibrations that daily penetrated into the foundation of the building, and eventually cracked the foundation leading to the fall of the entire building. Here is Miss Trotter’s amazing spiritual interpretation of the event:

 

For there is a vibrating power going on down in the darkness and dust of this world that can make itself visible in starting results in the upper air and sunlight of the invisible world, “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” Each prayer-beat down here vibrates up to the very throne of God, and does its work through that throne on the principalities and powers around us, just as each one of the repeated throbs from below told on the structure of our house, though it was only the last one that produced the visible effect. We can never tell which prayer will liberate the answer, but we can tell that each one will do its work: we know that “if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us, and if we know that He hear us we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”

 

Each prayer has powerful effects and over time prayer pulls down strongholds in the heavenly realm:

 

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 2 Cor. 10:4

 

So take courage and continue to persevere in your prayers believing your prayers are powerful vibrations that Abba Father in time will use to destroy the strongholds of addictions, false religions, strangling fears, and anything else that will stand in the way of knowing the healing love of God the Father.