I don’t watch a lot of TV, but if I wanted to watch a show about heroes rescuing people I’m sure I could find a variety from which to choose. I would certainly select one that has some “life-hanging-in-the-balance” kind of drama going on. Perhaps a burning building with fire closing in on people and at the last minute the hero fire-fighters climb tall ladders and save the day! That kind of excitement makes for some good mind-numbing watching. The idea of desperate trouble and last second rescuing from disaster resonates with us.

Desperate trouble and last second rescuing resonates with our spiritual lives as well. Admit it, the personal testimonies of God’s rescuing have more staying power in our memories when the rescue-ee has teetered close to the edge or has plunged head-first into looming peril, right? God as Rescuer seems to be a part of His character that we can understand. We’ve seen Him in action in our own lives and in the lives of others. The storyline is somewhat predictable……we willfully make selfish and poor choices and enjoy them until things begin to unravel (as they always do) and then panic floods in. We don’t call the Rescuer yet, though. We flail around until our heads go under the water and then we call a 911 prayer to our ever-faithful Daddy and He comes. He always comes. He always will. It is the way of Love. There is no other outcome. He will always be our Rescuer. Been there a time or two or twenty myself. And we are always grateful to be in His safety once again. It is all rather exciting.

Could He be telling us every day though that He wants us to be more rescued? Whuuuu?? We understand the rescuing procedure. We know the number to dial when things get really out of hand. When things are going along pretty well He is just supposed to be practicing His rescuing skills and disaster preparedness, right?

What if He is up to a whole lot more than we even notice? What if He is waiting for us to call when it isn’t an emergency and let Him rescue us more. Read these words from Ezekiel 36: 26+27NIV, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” We need more rescuing than just from sin emergencies. We need to be rescued from our hearts of stone and we have to be the ones to do the asking. You may be thinking that He did all of that the day you asked Jesus to come into your heart. You can ask Him to come into your heart and have it be a heart of stone. That’s what I did. That was where my journey began but I have asked Him to rescue me day after day from my heart of stone and it has been one glorious transformation. My heart will be transforming from stone to flesh every day for the rest of my life.

You and I need to be more rescued. He has just been waiting for you to say the word and give Him permission to operate. Of course He is waiting to rescue us from calamity in the moment but He is also the God of the big picture and He wants more life in your life than you have ever dreamed of. A heart of stone will always cause drag. A heart of stone can’t be any more hurt but it will always cause us to sink under the weight of it. A heart of stone doesn’t have to take any risks but where there is no risk there is also no hope.

Why do we wait and give no pause until disaster strikes? Would you, could you be so bold and trusting to ask Him now and every day for more rescuing? Oh how He longs to meet you where you are and create life where there was only death. You might be saying that you do have life and He is alive in you. Great! But we could also pry the lid off the box we have put Him in? He wants to be so much more than you have ever dreamed of and it all begins with more rescuing. Being rescued every day doesn’t make you weak…..only the drag of a heart of stone will do that.

No matter how far you have journeyed with Jesus, there is so much more He wants to teach you, show you, be to you. More love, more power, much more rescue. If we could let Him run wild and free inside of us then we could live wild and free in this world and the next.