Matthew  7:7:  “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”

I am now in the Weeping Room of the Heart of Jesus.  He is sharing with me hearts that I have never met. He shows me the heart of a woman who was recently widowed.  She is grief stricken, worried and fearful for her children.  Her children are off to school, she is sitting home alone and she weeping tears of sorrow, loneliness, hopelessness and fear.  She is anxious.  This morning I woke up feeling this same anxiety but I had nothing to be anxious about. I had a day free from anxiety, no pressures, and no stress here at the Abbey.  I should be at peace free of any anxieties, yet I was anxious. I did not understand until now. I knew and recognized that I had entered the heart of God but I entered a room less visited. Without realizing it I had entered His weeping room and the anxiety I felt was the anxiety felt by this woman who has been left alone in this world.  I could feel that abandonment that fear and that loneliness.

“Lord,” I cried, “I came here expecting to have a joyful time.  I expected this time to be filled with celebration and perhaps revelation and now I find I have entered a world of sadness and heartbreak. Am I to spend this week in feeling this sorrow and anxiety that is not my own?”

Jesus answered: “I left my throne in heaven to come to this earth to feel what I could not feel in heaven. I wanted to feel your pain and your suffering.  Is it too much to ask for you to do the same for others?”  “But” I argue, “What good does it do to feeling another’s suffering, I don’t even know this woman, I never met her and I most likely never shall what am I accomplishing by feeling her pain.”   Jesus held her heart out to me and said: “Here, hold her heart in your hands as I continue to hold it.”  I did and the grief, the heartbreak, the fear was so intense I cried out to Jesus,”  “Oh my God, come help this wounded little lamb, come bring her peace, rest and comfort.’  Jesus then said: “I shall.’  I knew without a doubt that a young widow somewhere in this world who had been crying her heart out had suddenly felt herself surrounded by the peace of God, that she was now rejoicing and praising God and that Jesus was feeling her pleasure and joy.  Suddenly, I too felt that pleasure and joy and I was rejoicing.  Where this woman was I have no idea, who she is I have no idea, but I know she exist and I prayed for her and she was comforted.

Jesus then said; “You have not because you ask not.”  This child of mine was so filled with grief she did not even think to call upon me and I could not help her unless she asks because I have given everyone a free will. Yet, you were in distress over this woman’s suffering and you asked for relief. The only way I could answer your request was to bring her comfort and peace. That is why you must learn to bear one another’s burdens, so you can pray that fervent prayer.  Far too many people spend all their time saying words of praise to me which I appreciate but they neglect to intercede, to stand the gap of those I long to comfort and save. It is a higher praise to me when you share my burden for those I love.  That is the highest praise when you share in my sufferings.

The word for ask in Aramaic is sha’al which is not just asking for something it is asking out of a real need.  We can ask for a lot of things, but most of the time the need is not really pressing.  The very act of asking represents a need but often that need is just curiosity or for some assistance to make life a little easier.  This word sha’al is asking for something more important and specific.  The word has a built in commentary.  It tells us what type of asking we are doing. The word is spelled Shin which is the passionate love of God, the Aleph which is a unity with God and the Lamed which is expressing your heart to God.  Sha’al simply means to ask but used in this context it is asking for the passionate love of God  to be so unified with Him that you can express your heart to Him or His heart to you.  In other words if you ask from your heart He will give it to you.

Too often we do not ask from our hearts, we ask from our minds.  When I worked for LESA I stood in the prayer line in their mega church and I would pray for people who would come forward for prayer.  One time a young man came forward and asked for prayer for cancer.  He didn’t specify what type or where it was located and I didn’t ask. I only started to pray out of duty.  Suddenly I thought: “I am wasting my time, I don’t care about this man and his cancer, and I don’t even know him.  I am not praying from my heart only from my mind.  I quickly asked the Lord to allow me to pray from my heart. Instantly I felt this pain in my right side so great that I could hardly breathe.  As I finally got control of myself I asked this man where the cancer was and he said it was in his right side in the very spot I felt that pain. I was able to pray not only a sincere prayer, but a prayer from my heart for I felt what that man felt.  It was not pleasant but you know what, I believe God found pleasure in that prayer and I would gladly experience that pain again if it would bring about a prayer from my heart and a smile of pleasure from my God.

So I made a promise to God that if He would allow me to enter His weeping room and share in his suffering and the suffering of others, I would ask or sha’al offer a prayer from my heart. If He so desires He can take all the joy I feel in my heart and give it to that person’s heart for in finding that sorrowful heart filled with joy would only replenish the supply of joy I just gave away.