enter

Posted on November 13, 2002 by Dana

It was very humbling to have friends cry for me while I was so sick. What is involved in entering the suffering of another? What brings us to that point where we can’t hold back the flood of tears?

Though Jesus knew His Father was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, He wept as He saw Mary and her grieving friends. Though He knew a great miracle was about to take place, He entered the pain of others. Do you think He enters our suffering today? Perhaps a greater question is: Do we choose to enter His?

Only John and a handful of women entered the most intense time of Jesus’ suffering. Though others knew what was happening, only these few actually stood at the cross. How painful it must have been for Mary to see her Son die in such a way, but where else could she go? How horrifying it must have been to see the Master hang on a tree, yet John and the other women did not shrink back. I wonder sometimes if John’s involvement in this part of His Savior’s pain helped transform him from a “son of thunder” to the “apostle of love”.

Will we dare enter the suffering of Jesus today? Be assured He does suffer. “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me… I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

I want to give you a challenge: Get to know the suffering Church of Jesus Christ. If you are not aware of the persecution of Christians in our world, you may be bothered at first (I was). It is more pleasant not to think about these things, but Jesus invites us to draw close. Most of these brothers and sisters don’t live in our land, but we can enter their suffering… through prayer, through fasting, and through giving. For over thirty years, The Voice of the Martyrs has served the persecuted Church. Visit one of their web sites and ask God to let you embrace the suffering Body of Christ. Jesus wept; will we? www.persecution.com www.linkingup.com

“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Hebrews 13:3

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turn

Posted on November 7, 2002 by Dana

I went to an interesting meeting Saturday, where John Rosemond, a family psychologist, stood before a large crowd and said, “Psychology is evil.” He was not accusing all members of his profession as being evil, but he boldly declared that humanistic thinking that puts man in the center of things is clearly opposed to God.

A dear missionary friend visited our home this past weekend. She is preparing to go to Athens, Greece to prepare for an outreach during the 2004 Summer Olympics. Anna, a native of Brazil, shared about the spiritual forces and mindsets in this part of the world that oppose Christ. The apostle Paul dealt with such matters when he visited Athens long ago. Though God used the Greek language to bring us a large portion of Scripture, the “Greek wisdom” that influences so much of the western culture is opposed to Him.

If we are brutally honest, we’ll admit we have all been deceived by man-conceived thinking that opposes our Heavenly Father. So what should we do when such conviction comes? Where can we turn but to God? What can we do but humble ourselves and ask for His truth? Yet so often we do not turn to God, and so often we are anything but humble. We have been taught to think for ourselves, and sometimes we are actually convinced we have the answers.

In the second chapter of Jeremiah, God spoke to His people in a very direct way when such thinking reigned. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” God saw Israel perfectly just as He sees us perfectly. He constantly calls His children to turn to Him. “Return, faithless Israel… Return, faithless people, for I am your husband… Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.”

I hear God calling us to turn from all thinking that is not from Him. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Oh that I heed this call and receive this blessing!

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14

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confidence

Posted on October 31, 2002 by Dana

Toward the end of the summer of 2000 we got to visit some missionary friends in Jerusalem. We came home through Athens, Greece and had a little difficulty. A good friend had given us buddy passes for this trip so we were flying stand-by. When we arrived in Athens on Thursday, the airlines told us we would not be able to fly home through the weekend because all flights were full. What a dilemma! I was to start teaching school on Monday! Also, two motel rooms per night in Athens would cost a pretty penny (or a pretty drachma in that country)! Of course the kids were celebrating. They didn’t have the same concerns about school or drachmas that I did. So what do you do when you have no control of the situation? You do what we should always do… pray.

“Lord, here we are again in a different jam. You let us take this trip, will you get us home?” The next day, we went to the airport and had a great surprise as they called our names to get on the plane. God was revealing two things to my family: the sheer foolishness of having confidence in ourselves and the great wisdom of having confidence in Him. We arrived home on Saturday. I taught school Monday through Wednesday. I found out I had cancer on Thursday.

Do you know one of my first thoughts after the bad news came? “Lord, you brought us home from Greece last weekend. You can get us through this.” The faithfulness of God in a lesser trial became a blessing for the new storm. I am convinced of this: God wants us to have confidence in Him always… and the devil doesn’t.

The longer the trial or the more intense the struggle, the louder we hear our enemy whisper, “Look what your God lets happen to those who are His!” I resist by arguing, “But God has never let me down. He has rescued my family before.” “But those were little problems… you are dying! How can you trust Him any more?” How tempting it is to lose confidence when things are difficult. How critical it is that we heed the Spirit’s instruction: “Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”

It is easy to have confidence that God is with you when everything is going well. But what if things start to fall apart? What if you lose your status in the community? What if you are criticized for doing what is right? What if disaster strikes your family? What if death enters the picture? What if everything in the human view says God has abandoned you? These are tests. Here is our answer: “Come to Me. I will never leave or forsake you.” Jesus experienced rejection, hardship, shame, and death… yet He never lost hope in His Father. Our Good Shepherd will teach us to have such confidence as we trust in Him.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:19-23

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enough

Posted on October 24, 2002 by Dana

I remember a home Taylor and I got to visit in one of the villages of Benin. There were few of the common things we find in our houses (including electricity), but there was no shortage of joy. The husband in the family rode a bicycle with a little license plate containing these French words: JESUS SEUL SUFFIT. When I asked my brother what this meant, I learned a secret. JESUS ALONE IS SUFFICIENT, or more simply put, my brother explained, JESUS IS ENOUGH.

This was Paul’s secret too. He had intelligence, he had education, he had health, he had position in society… but he surrendered all to gain Christ. “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

What blessings did Paul receive in his pursuit? Perhaps he gained the same things I saw in the home of Germaine and Pierrette in West Africa: contentment, joy, peace… the fruit of the Holy Spirit. “Jesus is enough for us. We don’t need much to be happy. We have everything in Christ.” Or as Paul put it: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Who gives such strength? Who is our hope? He wants us to know Him. He wants us to know He alone is sufficient. He wants us to know His love that surpasses all knowledge. He wants us to be filled with the Spirit of the Living God.

I think if Paul could pray for us now, he would pray the same things he prayed for the Ephesians long ago: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe… I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Amen

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impossible

Posted on October 17, 2002 by Dana

Some of the commands of Jesus and the apostles are impossible to obey unless Christ lives in us. “Love your enemies.” Who can do such a thing but Christ? Out of my own effort, I may be able to turn the other cheek, but will there be sincere love in my heart for the one who strikes me?

“Do not worry.” Who can do this in his own strength? And to make it even more difficult, we are commanded to rejoice! Who but Christ can rejoice through the worries of this world?

“Give thanks in all circumstances.” Even in this terrible trial? How?

“Be perfect, therefore, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Impossible! I confess I don’t measure up… but Jesus does. My hope as a Christian is to know that Christ lives in me. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

I was His enemy, yet He loved me enough to lay down His life. I fail when I let my own desires rule, but if I die to myself and abide in Him, He promises to live in me. This is my hope for loving as He does. Apart from Him I cannot.

Jesus did not worry because He knew His Father was in control. He slept in the raging storm while the disciples were terrified. Many things terrify us, but when we surrender our fears to the One above all, we receive a “peace that passes all understanding”. The One who spoke the word to calm the storm is the Source of true peace.

Jesus could give thanks in all circumstances for He knew He was in His Father’s will. Oh for this confidence! If we are in the Father’s will we can sincerely thank Him in every situation, knowing God is over all. If we are not in His will, we must run to Jesus. “Come to Me” is His constant invitation. What a Savior we have! (notice the last line of the Scripture below)

“Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” I Thessalonians 5:15-24

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