He’s Always Inviting | A Guided Prayer for Healing

In one way or another, if you were raised in church circles, you’ve heard something about God’s invitation for you. Maybe it sounds like His extended hand or open arms, but the premise is the same. God is always ready for you. He is constantly inviting you in.

Something that strikes me about this is the idea that every invitation seems to have an RSVP deadline. I have to accept by this date otherwise the offer goes away. This makes sense in the natural world because an RSVP date creates some level of commitment. It gives a little necessary pressure for someone to say yes; It encourages you to make a decision.

And yet, in some sense, God has never put an RSVP on His invitation to you. If you have not said yes to Him today, the invitation will still be there tomorrow. And again, ordinarily, this sounds absurd. Wouldn’t you want a full list of who’s coming? Isn’t there a quota? How will you know how much food to make?

But God doesn’t think like we do, and His banquet is nothing like ours. This is what Jesus shares with us in the Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24). “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests,” Jesus tells us, and when it was time, a servant was sent out to let everyone know. 

This part of the story is followed by something super relatable, that I call the “But Jesus, I…” Jesus lists off a handful of excuses people make for why they can’t come to the feast. So the man preparing the feast sends his servant out again and again to invite everyone. “There is still room,” (Luke 14:22). The invitational man can’t stop inviting people because he has a seemingly endless amount of room.

Now what can we take from this? Well if you’re a human, you have experienced some level of sexual brokenness. And if you found your way to this blog, I would guess you agree with that statement. 

There’s something about human sexuality that pierces the core of who we are. As a woman, my sexuality pierces the essence of my feminine identity, meaning any disruption to my view of sexuality causes major ripples of disruption to my identity as a woman. To experience my own sexual brokenness on any degree causes me to recoil when looking at my heart deeply. I have a natural tendency to look at the sexual temptation I experience and shut down all compassion towards myself. It might even sound like…

“Oh sorry Jesus. I've already uninvited myself from the banquet because I knew you wouldn’t want me there anyway.”

Ouch.

But what if He did want me there? What if His invitation was unwavering? What if His invitation wasn’t dependent on my actions or my brokenness.

If you’ve been walking with the Lord in any capacity, you have heard this in one way or another. Odds are you have preached this to others in your life. But how often do we let the Lord extend an invitation to us, knowing full-well we are unworthy of the invitation in the first place?

This is the invitation I extend to anyone who took the time to read this: set a timer for seven minutes. (If you took the time to sit down and read this article, you definitely have time to pray for seven minutes). Read the parable below two to three times (or as many times as you need to get the context). Close your eyes, and welcome in the Holy Spirit. 

Begin by imagining Jesus as the Man hosting the banquet. What does He look like? What is He wearing? How does He send out His servants? Which servant comes to you? Where are you when you receive the invitation?

Now here is the kicker: what is your excuse? What is preventing you from saying yes to the Lord today? Are you busy inviting yourself because of your inadequacies? Are you “too busy” for the feast at hand? 

Tell Him and watch how Merciful Love responds. Discover how He will come and invite you more personally. 

Watch how He declares truth over every excuse. 

Watch how He welcomes you in.

The Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24)

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”