In one of our Tuesday morning prayer times there was a word that the Lord wanted to give us ( our IDT family) a gift…..the gift of mourning. (mourning #3997 lament, bewail ) “ the utterance of grief in different degrees of intensity. In some verses it applies to what goes in the depth of one’s heart but does not outwardly manifest itself, but in other verses it refers to a grief, a mourning that is one that manifests itself externally,” taken from Synonyms of the New Testament by Richard C. Trench. One example of the external mourning is Matt 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. The promise to those that mourn is that they will be( comforted #3870 to receive, consolation, encouragement, comfort, strengthening.) I believe this also can refer to James 5:16”Confess your trespasses, to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” When we resist this mourning and this confession/transparency we end up walking in darkness and not walking in the light (!John 1:6,7). Walking in darkness in any way, not only affects our fellowship with Him, but also with one another.

“The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God, but it must be wrestled out alone before God.

Belief is not an intellectual act; belief is a moral act whereby I deliberately commit myself. If there is one standard in the New Testament revealed by the light of God and you do not come up to it, and do not feel inclined to come up to it, that is the beginning of backsliding, because it means your conscience does not answer to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you for going on as a more true disciple of Jesus Christ or for going back as a deserter.” Quotes from Oswald Chambers “My Utmost for His Highest” (John 12:35, 1John 1:7)

Heb 12:1,2 “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us (following words in parenthesis are the word definitions in Greek)

( lay aside # 659, to put off or aside or away from one self)

( every weight #3591 encumbrance, whatever is prominent)and the

(sin #266 miss the mark, wander from the path of uprightness, violation of God’s law)which doth so easily

(besets # 2139 entangles, skillfully surrounding that which prevents or retards running)us and let us

( run #5143 exert one’s self, strive hard, spend one’s strength in performing)with

(patience #5281 endurance, steadfastness, consistency, not to be swerved from my deliberate purpose, sustaining perseverance)

( the race #73 the place of contest, the arena or stadium, any struggle or contest)

(set before us #4295 to be placed before the eyes, to lie in sight )

(Looking #872 to turn my eyes away from other things and fix them on something else) unto Jesus, the

(author #747 one that takes the lead in anything, an example, pioneer) and

( finisher #5051 perfector, one who has in His own person raised faith to its perfection and so set before us the highest example of faith) who for the

(joy #5479 gladness, the cause or occasion of joy, of persons who are one’s joy “I was the joy that was set before Him”) that was

(set before #4295 to be placed before the eyes, to lie in sight) Him

(endured #5278 remained, did not recede or flee, persevere under misfortune, hold fast, bear bravely and calmly)

the cross , despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Take some time and journal the above Scriptures (Matt 5:4, James 5:16, John 12:35, 1John 1:6,7, Heb 12:1,2) and ask the Holy Spirit for His conviction on where you might need to “mourn”)