Cece Winans: alabaster box

A reoccurring prophetic word that I have gotten from the Lord for numerous people has been the image of an alabaster jar inside people's hearts being broken open. Sometimes their hearts are literally shaped like an alabaster jar. Now inside these alabaster jars is always the fragrance of worship and devotion, inside is the freedom to worship and love Jesus without shame or restraint. Many times when I share this with the people I am praying for, they confirm that they feel stuck, dry, even constrained in their hearts. 

But, just as the very presence of Jesus undid the woman in Bethany setting her free to worship and adore Him without caring who was around (Matthew 26:6-12; Mark 14:1-11; Luke 7:36-50), so the Lord's desire for these people was to increase His presence in their lives, breaking open the alabaster jar within their hearts and setting them free to worship and adore Him without restraint. Allowing the fragrance of worship and devotion to flow freely from their hearts in greater and greater measure. 

So this is my prayer: Lord, there are so many people who feel locked down in their hearts, unable to offer You the worship and devotion that they know You deserve. So, I pray Lord that You would increase Your presence in their lives, breaking open the alabaster jar within their hearts and setting them free to worship and adore You with wild abandon. Where the fragrance of worship and devotion will continually surround them and even be released into the atmosphere wherever they go. In Your Name Jesus, Amen.  

Alone with God

Since the beginning of this year, I have been making a concerted and intentional effort to give myself at least 30 minutes of face time with Jesus in the morning in prayer and worship. Before I even get out of bed, I turn the lights on, grab my bible and start reading. What I've come to realize is that there are so many things in this world that are vying for my attention and trying to pull my attention away from Jesus. If I don't start my day by connecting with Jesus in a real, deep and personal way, I've noticed that my days are much more burdensome. And the place where that happens for me is in reading God's Word.

How can I explain it? When I connect with God in the morning, I mean really connect with Him (and not just going through the motions, just to say I did it that my friends is legalism), it's like every morning God tells me that He loves me and that He'll be with me the whole day, strengthening me to resist temptation when I'm weak and helping me step out of my comfort zone in order to love somebody by being Christ to them. It's during these mornings that I get to hear that I am His beloved child with whom He is well pleased.

Every morning, I spend some time reading prayfully and canonically a psalm from books 1-3 of the book of Psalms and also a chapter from the Gospel according to Mark. On some days I'll read a little from Romans as well. I have no agenda, except to let the Word of God have its way with me, to let it do to me what it will. If I'm reading a psalm, I let the emotions of the words fill and resonate within my heart. We all have burdens that we carry, so I will oftentimes connect a current situation in my life to the psalm and let the psalm be my prayer to God.

After that, I get into the life of Jesus. I've been paying particularly close attention to Jesus actions. How He touched people. If you're like me, I have a tendency to gravitate and focus on Jesus' words (the red letters) because they are so profound and powerful. Jesus spoke to people's hearts and that truth changed them. So, most of the time, I'll just scan over the narrative sections (the black letters) making little mental notes of where Jesus is and where He's going. But, these days, I've been realizing that Jesus' compassion and humanity really shines in His actions towards people. He made it a point to touch people and allow Himself to be touched by people. I'll often imagine myself in the story, maybe as a person in the crowd tryng desperately to get a glimpse of Jesus or possibly even touch Him.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to touch Jesus?