“You do not demand from us what You have not already poured out in infinite measure.”
The voice of one who cries…
We got to know Charles Idu through the messages he would send to us and many others over WhatsApp back in 2023. Some of these are featured on the Living Stones Unearthed page, “5 5mooth 5tones.”
So, we were very excited when once again through WhatsApp, Charles informed us of a new project, a prayer, poetry, and prophecy album born out of a heart that longs for surrender, deep prayer and true worship for the city of London, UK.
As we listened, we realized that there is something for us as well. We have included the transcript for the following track 3, “The Cost,” each paragraph a devotion.
“And so, we bow as prisoners, to this freedom that is found only in Christ.”
Listen and receive. Thank you Charles.
-Isaac, Cindi and Tim Murphy
Lord Jesus, the one who bore the cross, the King whose throne is a cruciform shadow, here is mystery, that the most exalted throne in the whole universe, has a slaughtered lamb at the center of it. Now how can slaughter be the symbol of sovereignty. That the rouge conqueror is revealed as a lamb that was slain. And so here we stand, beneath the weight of Your call as the ground trembles beneath this one word, everything.
For we did not know, no we did not truly know what that word meant because all we had ever know is the poverty of our own souls, and yet You, the only one who truly ever owned everything, laid everything down. And so, Jesus, Jesus, would you teach London again what the first century saints knew. That anyone who was carrying a cross had laid down ownership of their own life, the very breath that they breath belonged to another. That time had been surrendered we say in Jesus’ name, that we lay down our false claim on our own time. Or do we mean Your own time Lord, for our time is not our time, it’s Yours and we declare over London that the idolatry of time loses its stronghold over the city. And so Lord your footsteps shake eternity, as You walk into our lives, and strip away our worlds of pretense, peel away the thin layers of half surrender, tear down every false assurance, that makes us believe that we can keep parts of ourselves, and yet claim that we have given everything over to Christ.
Spirit of God, burn away the lie that our time is our own, bring us into the reality of the prayer life of Jesus, the experience of His divine prayer life, that reminds us that we are owned by a Spirit, the Holy Spirit. For you are not your own Scripture says, you have been bought with a price. You belong to another, and so what is this prayer life of Jesus, in one-word asides costly, that word is ownership. Jesus understood the way of ownership; He knew that man was to be owned by a Spirit again, the Holy Spirit.
Abba, let consecration and communion consistently command the content of our calendars, let our daily devotion determine the details of our diaries, burn away Lord, the satanic idea from hell that our gifts were self-generated and therefore should be self-sustained. Burn away Lord, the spiritual pride that says “I have given enough,” because no part of Scripture has ever suggested that Jesus wanted anything short of everything from us, our Lord, lowly lamb led to the slaughter, yet our conquering King who, who did not barter with us, You did not negotiate salvation, You gave heavens everything, heavens glory, heavens heartbeat, and You called this love, nothing more and nothing less.
Lord don’t stop, please don’t stop, bring us under yes, bring us beneath that Holy exchange, as our hungry souls tremble with this revelation that You do not demand from us what You have not already poured out in infinite measure. Everything, You, demand everything, and that is fair, or is it fair? Of course not, it isn’t. At least not for God, that One that gave more than we ever bargained for. While He, oh He got the short end of the stick, in exchange for the fullness of His Sons life, He receives our deeply fragmented lives, that somehow in the eternal measurement of His divine justice system He says, it’s worth it, it’s finished, and it is worth it.
Mighty one, break us gently, empty us fully, until you alone would fill the uncharted chambers of our being, now Lord take the illusion of control from our clinched fists. For we do not want the throne that You never built for us, we do not want the agency, that agency that we claim when we cry with half hearts it cries our lives are Yours! Make us nothing, make us nothing Lord, not in worthlessness, but in holy surrender, in complete abandonment, at the altar until Your purifying fire burns away the self-adulation and the self-worship that looks like true worship, Lord make us nothing, not in worthlessness, but so that You may become everything that You desire to be in and through us, this is our prayer. And our wisdom, our strength, our rhythm of breath, our hidden fire, our morning, our midnight, our entire lives pull, only finds true meaning, in the eternal locus of God, the eternal consciousness of God, which is Christ.
Lord Jesus by Your Spirit, make us nothing. Not in worthlessness, but that you may become everything that You desire to be in and through us.
Oh Lord give us the kind of devotion, that looks away from our devotion, give us a devotion that refuses to celebrate our devotion, less we become devoted merely to devotion, idolizing our devotion, all the while ignoring Christ’s own devotion to the cross, is this not the point of our devotion, that we ourselves are only devoted to His devotedness to us.
Lord Jesus, take everything, and then give us everything of yourself or give us nothing at all.
Let this unfair exchange become the rhythm of our days, the songs of our obedience, the fragments, no the fragrance of our lives. We surrender, not as victims, but as lovers because Jesus was not a victim at the cross, no He was not a victim of the cross, He was the lover of my soul and is the lover of yours. His love was more powerful, more prominent, than the victimization of the cross, His life was not taken, never was He a victim of death, He Laid His Very Life Down!
And so, we bow as prisoners, to this freedom that is found only in Christ. Captivated by grace and bound by mercy, as children who have sinned, a generosity of heaven and cannot go back to the half-hearted faith.
All we are, all we have, all we touch, all we dream, belongs to You.
Lord, we give you everything that we are, for everything that you are.
Everything for everything.
This is our prayer, this is our offering, this is the very longing of our lives.
Amen.
Chales Idu is a Nigerian who currently lives and serves in London, England, UK. He is blessed with his wife Sophie and two beautiful girls, Eden 3 and Zion 1. Charles loves Jesus Christ, in spirit and in truth. He is passionate about young people coming to fullness of their inheritance in Christ Jesus. Recently, Charles recorded “The Prayer Album, London A Prayer City” and started the Prayer City Podcast.
You can find more Charles by clicking here.