Terracotta Warriors

A friend spoke out this image today during a time of prayer. He was reluctant to share it, but as soon as he started speaking, something stirred in my heart. He had been praying, as others were praying for a variety of nations. We hadn't mentioned China... so this seemed to come up out of the blue. But the more he tried to set it aside, the clearer the impression became for him. He's a shy man, but he felt he just had to speak. And so he did.

He said only a few words. He looked for recognition in someones eyes..."do you know what I mean, those clay soldiers?" A few heads nodded. And then he simply said that he believed it was time for the church to rise up from the dust. He nodded himself, apparently pleased with that being enough said and sat down again.

But his words echoed for me.

A buried army, made with toxins...at the hands of men. Qin's Armies
"Funerary art " ...an immobilized but perfected army...returning to dust.
A very curious world heritage that has me thinking....

As I've meandered through this day, my thoughts drift to all the things in my own life that are like those clay statues. The wood, hay, and stubble that will eventually be burned away.... all those things that are done of myself. Even the words we speak without waiting for the Lord. Those monumental arts commemorating death. My hope is to be more like Joshua. Waiting at the tent of meeting, for the Lord. Not stirring, not saying anything, until He moves.

My prayer today is simply to rise up.
To honour the Holy Spirit that is in me.
Be fully alive in Christ.
And to wait upon the Lord.

(I pray that for you also.)

Psalm 24