From The Cross To Glory

A Sunday, some years ago, I was fasting. As I was listening to the sermon that morning I heard God say, 

 "Pray for My body."

So I continued the fast and each day focused my prayer on whatever the Holy Spirit led me to pray for His body. Among other things I prayed for the fear of the Lord, finances, missionaries, pastors, laborers for the harvest and workers to rise up.

One day I specifically prayed that God would heal His body. I felt such a certainty that the body of Christ was so sick and the sickness was like a cancer that was rapidly spreading.

On the last day of the fast  I woke up and before I had even opened my eyes, I had a song on my heart about the Cross. As I fully awakened I had a vision of Jesus. He was holding a cup in His hand and He said,

"The reason so many are falling away is because they refuse to embrace the Cross. The end is closer than ever before. For those who embrace the Cross the end is glorious."

He looked at me and held out the cup. "Will you drink from My cup?"

I hesitated because I knew it was the cup of suffering. I told Him I didn't want to drink from that cup and I needed His grace to help me to do so.

He said, "Embrace the cross, the end is glorious."

I took the cup and drank from it. It was so bitter and it made my stomach hurt. As I drank I saw so many things it was almost a blur and I couldn't see it all. I saw wars, strife, people suffering, others carrying or being nailed to their own crosses. Then all was silent and I was dressed as He was. My robe was so beautiful and everything was bright and white. Then I heard the worship of so many saints, all united in our praise of the Lamb. Finally My head was laid in His lap as He sat on His throne.

This vision could have lasted longer than a minute but for me the message was clear. In order for me to be with Jesus forever I must take up my cross, but in my flesh this is impossible. It is only through the strength of God that I can allow my flesh to suffer the agonizingly slow death of the cross.

When we think of suffering we often think of those who suffer unto blood shed. However in this country very few experience the pain of being martyred. At least for now. Our crosses tend more towards our dealings with people or circumstances. For instance when we encounter an offense the temptation is to respond in some carnal way, yet the Word of God says to forgive. To obey that Word I have to nail my fleshly desire for revenge firmly to the cross and graciously extend the hand of peace.

Crosses are not easy. No one wants to drink from the cup of suffering and humiliation. Yet Jesus gave the answer. In Luke 22:42-43 we find Jesus asking His Father to take away this same cup. Jesus was not spared but His Father sent an angel to strengthen Him.

The end truly is near folks and many are forsaking the Word of God to live their own version of Christianity where suffering and humiliation don't exist. Many are already deceived into thinking that they are still right with God despite the fact that they refuse to obey His Word.

Nothing in me wants to suffer. Yet God demands it because this flesh must die. So my part in the matter is to find my own Garden of Gethsemane and cry out to God for the grace to take up my cross, that I too may follow after Christ.

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Heb 12:3

Trust Him...He Knows The Way.

I have a memory that never fails to make me smile.

It was a very hot summer day and I was doing some work at my church. My youngest daughter was with me.When we finished whatever task I was working on we headed home.

On foot.

I asked Salome if she would like to stop by the store and pick up something tasty. I warned her it would make the trip longer, and hotter, but she chose the “something tasty”.

On our way home Salome began complaining about the heat. Our usual route home had very little shade, and was very hilly. I decided on a detour.

“Mom?”

“Ya Honey?”

“Do you know where you’re going?”

I had to laugh. At this time Salome was about five or six years old.

“Yes, Salome. I know exactly where we’re going.”

The detour we took was shady and less hilly, but unfamiliar to my daughter. So it wasn’t long until she questioned me again.

“Mom, are you SURE you know where we are?”

“Yes, Salome, I know where we are. Stop worrying.”

We hadn’t walked much further when,

“MOM!!! WE’RE GOING TO GET LOST!!!”

I don’t recall how the rest of the walk went, though we obviously made it home just fine, but ever since then God has used this memory to remind me that He knows the way.

All I wanted to do that day was make the way home a little more bearable for my daughter. She, however was more comfortable with the old familiar way. Never mind that it was hotter and a much tougher walk.

I’m sure I was tempted to get at least a little annoyed with her, except I could see myself in my little girl.

I’m a lot like that. The old ways may be harder, but at least they are familiar.

What is it about human nature that resists trusting God?

He is bigger than me, older than me, smarter than me…

Yet when He takes me along an unfamiliar path I hesitate, tense up, and with trembling voice I shout,

“GOD!!! I’M GOING TO GET LOST!!!”

With compassion He takes my little hand into His eternal one and says, “With me, you are never lost.”

Nodding, I try to ignore my unfamiliar surroundings and just focus on His big, strong hand holding mine.

I keep following, but I’m still a little…

…anxious.

Suicide Watch

It is so wonderful having a big family. Oh, it gets chaotic in my house, but I am not really looking forward to the day when they leave the nest one by one. I love the days when we are all together laughing and at peace. I love having six children to kiss goodnight.

What I hate are the times when life is going on as usual, then suddenly a scream of pain shatters the silence. I hate turning a corner with my arms filled with laundry only to run into an upturned face covered in blood.

I'll never forget when little Chelsea's hand was slammed in the car door and we had to take her for stitches. I'll always remember the terror of 2 year old Shannon falling out of a three story apartment window when the screen gave way as she leaned on it. The story of John Daniel playing Superman and putting his foot through his glass window as he was attempting to fly is classic....blood everywhere (And more stitches). Calling the ambulance on Christmas day because Salome thought it would be fun to drink finger nail polish remover was almost as interesting as calling poison control the day her little brother Mikos decided to drink bleach. Michael is 5 and I have no stories to tell about him. He will hopefully allow his mom to raise him in peace.

I thought it a very apt description when I heard parenting described as "suicide watch". We love our children, feed them, clothe and shelter them...and try our best to keep them from killing themselves until they grow up. Perhaps pastoring, leading, or mentoring should all be labeled the same way.

There is something rather perverse about human nature. I've noticed from the moment people get saved you really do have to watch them like a hawk. There are people who, no matter how good God is to them, will go out of there way to sabotage their walk. God gives them life and they do what they can to destroy that life.

They hang out with the wrong people, listen to and look at all the wrong things. They won't listen to wisdom and think you're trying to control their lives.

You can preach, pray, and praise them and they will still find a way to get entangled in pride, bitterness, or offense.

They are the ones who are bored at prayer meetings, but love to hang out with people who gossip. They find no value in reading the Bible but love entertainment. (The more carnal the better) They love to talk about everything but Jesus. You look at their immaturity (They've been in the church 15 years) and wonder if you're wasting your time.

Yet God says to bear with them, be patient, don't give up. Maybe they won't let you disciple them but keep watching over them. Don't let them kill themselves. Perhaps with time and trials they will weary of their way of doing things and let Jesus be Lord.

Perhaps they will soften their hearts and actually get saved.

Don't stop watching.

"Son of man, I've made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, 'You are going to die,' and you don't sound the alarm warning them that it's a matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault. I'll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep right on sinning anyway, they'll most certainly die for their sin, but you won't die. You'll have saved your life.

Ezekiel 3:17-19 The Message

Mothering The Motherless

In a day of women leaving their homes by the droves to pursue their own interests we are fast becoming a nation of not just the fatherless, but now the motherless. 

Many children who have been abandoned by their fathers have turned to crime, violence, addictions and sexual immorality.  They are angry, suicidal, and despair of having any success in life.

I shudder to think what will happen to children who lack the nurturing influence of that mother who has decided to abandon her home and run after men half her age.

We have sent out a message that men need to father the fatherless. 

We now need mothers to rise up as well.

We need older women to help young mothers...married or single.  We need homes open to countless of homeless teens or twenty-somethings who have no one to love them.  We need women who will teach girls and young women how to cook, clean, and yes, sew on a button. We need women who will bake the cookies and pour the milk for the kids that come home to an empty house.  We need women to put their arms around boys and tell him they have worth. We need women to come along side of other women who are forced to work countless hours to make ends meet and bring that loving encouragement when they feel they are neglecting their children. 

We need ...

MOTHERS.

If you have never had a child go get one.  If your children are adults use your experience to help bring another child into adulthood.  If you have a house full already then what difference does one or two more make?

On this Mother's Day we will fill our churches in this nation and be honored.  Enjoy your day, but as you do look around for that one whose mother is not present and let God use you to fill that empty soul that was left

MOTHERLESS.

Say Yes And Love It!

Learning To Say No Without Feeling Guilty

The Power Of Saying No

The Book Of No...250 Ways To Say It And Mean It And Stop People Pleasing Forever

These are just a sampling of the self help books that have been written in order to help people kick the bad habit of saying YES to everything. 

Now I have never read any of these books, but as I was considering the subject of this blog I just wanted to see what kind of titles are out there.  Each one seems to be written to teach people how to say NO so they can have more time to do what they want for themselves.

When I Googled to see what kind of titles I could find on SAYING YES I found more of the same just worded differently.  Such as

Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No, to Take Control of Your Life

And that's the bottom line isn't it?  We want to be in control of our own lives and be free to do whatever we want.

Let's just make this easier on all of us shall we?  There is no need to read books on the subject.  If you and I can find out what is really important, set those priorities, and commit to let not get us off track it will be easy to know when to say YES and when to say NO.

The problem is most of us are not really honest about what our priorities are.

When I say us I mean Christians.

We say we believe in Jesus but we find so many other things that are more important than...

GOD?

So we say NO to everything He says is important.

We say NO to serving, NO to prayer, NO to giving, NO to obeying, NO to following...no, no, no, no

NO!!!

It seems to me we don't need to read books on how to say NO.  Our selfish nature has been doing that ever since we learned to speak.

When are we going to spend money on books that teach us to

DENY OURSELVES

and say YES to those things that benefit everyone else but us?

If our top priority was to seek and love God and to serve and love people then we would be saying NO to everything that took priority over that.

When Jesus called the twelve to come follow Him they said YES and dropped everything to do it.

When He invited the rich young ruler to sell all and be His follower the young man turned from Jesus with a sorrowful NO because He loved His worldly possessions more than God.

But what about enjoying what the world has to offer?  Is it a sin to have fun, enjoy a little luxury now and then?

Absolutely not...

That is not until the call comes to set it aside, leave it altogether, or give it away, and we look Jesus square in the face and say...

NO.

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  MK 8:34 ESV