The other morning my husband Derek and I, sat down for our prayer time together which we do almost daily.  These prayer times have become the backbone of our marriage and such a tremendous time of mutual edification in our faith-walk with the Lord together as we pursue His Eternal Purpose.  I tell you this to give some context to Jesus’ sense of humour in what I experienced that morning.

As we sat together I was battling internally with events from the night before where I had so obviously stepped out of living from the Lord’s spirit and totally lived out of my soul! (Eeech, aint that ugly?) I felt the Lord had shown me how I had given the enemy a foothold by reacting out of my soul and now, although I had confessed and was focusing on the Lord instead of the debris I had caused, I had become agitated and irritable.  The event had nothing to do with Derek but as we prayed I was fighting to draw my attention to the Lord and away from Derek.

By God’s grace I could recognise that the enemy was trying to antagonise, draw me back onto the ground of my soul which is not a pretty place. I was thankful to recognise this activity and by God’s grace, still had moments of beholding Jesus, worshipping and praising Him in song as I often do, and from a genuine place – all the time aware of the firey darts and arrows coming my way.

When our time in prayer appeared to come to a close, I shared my struggles with the events of the night before with Derek who then sought to encourage me to behold the Lord further, casting off the sense of responsibility to battle and fight.  His words were true and right, I knew them to be true, I wanted to be open to receiving through him, he was humbly encouraging me in the truth. But! It just wasn’t getting past the irritations and agitations in me! I was trying to humble myself to receive but wasn’t having much success.

Derek described beholding the Lord in these times as being like when a lint filter (like out of a clothes dryer) is covered in lint and then with one big blow all the lint is blown off and the filter is completely clear. It was a great picture and I understood what he was saying. Alas, there still was something in me that just wasn’t receiving life from it.  I mentioned that I understood what he was saying but that I was “clearly still feeling very agitated and irritable” (even if he hadn’t noticed).

Derek began to speak of how he too was aware of the ‘Antagoniser’ attempting to throw firey darts at him also, in relation to a separate event. In the context of explaining how he was feeling antagonism between us that wasn’t wanted, he said “…and I get irritated when you’re praying…” – ?? What????

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!! I couldn’t believe it! I couldn’t believe he said it! I tried to contain my laughter as he continued on with serious and beautiful words of wisdom, but that was all I could hear! – he gets irritated when I pray! Hillarious!! So I burst out laughing and I mean real laughing, tears, and hardly able to hold back. Talk about blowing the lint off the filter!!! It was blown clear off the thing! The irritability and agitation was gone! The firey darts and arrows were bent and spun back around from whence they came! The lid was lifted! Jesus and I were laughing! Jesus knew how often I get irritated when Derek prays, clears his throat, the way he speaks, the tone of his voice, all of his quirky ways. Ha! (It’s ok, Derek checks my posts before they go out 🙂 )And Jesus knew how often Derek was irritated with my prayers, the way I speak, my monotone tones, my humming and singing, my fidgety ways on the lounge next to him, my sniffing! ha ha ha!!!

Derek started to laugh as I expressed all of this to him and I couldn’t believe how the enemy had been exposed and sent running! It’s as though the Lord came in and said “Now, let’s forget all this spiritual talk and just be real and frank here, let’s just cut through it all and say what’s really happening” and by doing so, I was set free!! The truth shall set you free and free indeed!!

Tears of laughter turned into tears of gratitude in seeing the Lord’s splendour and grace. His wonderfully astounding sense of humour. His personality. My goodness. What a personality our Lord has! Derek said was it any wonder people in the New Testament would invite Him to their house, He must have been such an awesome person, the life of the party!

Jesus, You are Truly Amazing and I never cease to be amazed at You. How wonderful that You love to reveal Yourself to us, You love us to know You because You are wonderful to be known! Who can compare with You Jesus? You make us laugh!