Category: abide

A Far Greater Glory

Posted on by Dorci

 

I sat listening again to a teaching about the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Crowds surrounded him waving palm branches and laying their coats on the ground before him as a grand gesture of acknowledging him as their king. All around him came shouts of adoration, proclaiming “Oh save!”

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna! Blessed is the king of Israel!”

They couldn’t contain their jubilation, and their excitement was heard far and wide.

Their king had finally come and he would set up his kingdom and make all things right.

My mind couldn’t help but jump ahead to what I knew they’d be facing near the end of the week. Their gleeful expectations would be turned upside down. Their hopes and dreams would be dashed, their hearts broken. In my mind and heart I stood with them in grief on that Friday as they watched their king being arrested and beaten beyond recognition.

They wanted their lives to be made right here and now, but they wouldn’t be, and I understood that frustration. Like them, I have been desperate for solutions and when those solutions didn’t come as quickly as I wanted, or at all, a part of me became disillusioned.

I knew what it meant to have certain expectations, certain hopes as I lifted up prayers to my King, month after month after month, sometimes year after year, and see many of those prayers go unanswered. I understood just a little bit of that devastation at not receiving what I wanted, what I needed, or, what I thought I needed.

Their disappointment would cause them to assume He wasn’t at all who He said He was, and in just days, that, and the prompting of the chief priests, would lead at least some of them to change their shouts from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify him!”

I felt a sorrow for them I’d never quite felt before. Oh, if they only knew.

They saw Him die, buried, and they returned to their homes and lives the way they’d always been. No King, no kingdom. I couldn’t help but grieve with them.

On the third day, as they sat in their grief, the one in whom they’d placed all their hopes, the one who’d been wrapped in burial cloths and secured in a tomb behind a large stone with guards securing it, would surprisingly, miraculously, joyously be raised to life and the stone rolled away. I can just picture the smile on His face as He waited to surprise them all. He showed Himself first to the disciples, and then to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time.

He’d be with them over the next forty days, speaking to them about the far greater salvation of their souls, their freedom from sin and the healing of their hearts. He’d tell them of the kingdom of God where He was going to prepare a place just for them and all who would believe in Him to live with Him forever.

Of course He wouldn’t leave them alone, though. He’d send His Holy Spirit to fill them with power, with love and boldness, strength and courage, peace and joy.

No, His earthly kingdom would not yet come, and they would still live with all kinds of hardship, sickness, and much persecution, but He had for them, and for us, a far greater way.

They’d shouted to be saved, but their desires were only for this life. God had so much more in store.




“Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way,
which makes us right with God!”
2 Corinthians 3:8-9

Just as Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior, had far greater plans for them, He does for me and for you.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, 
who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5

Yes, in this life we will still face trials of all kinds, but we can glory in them knowing He’ll be with us every step of the way, strengthening us, giving us courage and wisdom, making us into the very image of Christ as He prepares us for our eternal home. In His wisdom He’s using it all for His glory in ways we cannot begin to imagine, and that is call for joy.

May we keep the faith in the One who loves us, and at the end of our very short lives here, may we, too, say –


“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:7-9

The Sacrifice of Praise

Posted on by Dorci

 

Well hello there. You might have noticed I’ve been mostly absent the past year. I’ve been dealing with more health issues than I can tell you, and I’m still trudging through it all. It would be easy for me to say it was a wasted year, but in God’s hands I know nothing is wasted. Sometimes the Lord calls us to go with Him outside the camp, outside the comforts we know, die to ourselves and share in His sufferings so that even in the middle of the pain, the grief, the suffering, we will come to know He is still good and faithful and worthy and offer our Great High Priest a sacrifice of eternal praise.

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
Hebrews 13:11-15

I don’t understand it all, but God does. Instead of trying to explain it, I thought I’d let Brandon Lake say it for me.

May the Lord bless you all with enduring faith.

(please scroll down)

 

Hard Fought Hallelujah
by Brandon Lake

Yeah, I don’t always feel it
Yeah, but that’s when I need it the most
So, I’ma keep on singing
‘Til my soul catches up with my song

There’s times when my hands go up freely
And times that it costs, oh-oh
There’s days when a praise comes out easy
Days when it takes all the strength I got

I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah (ooh, ooh)
And I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, oh
‘Cause God, You’ve been patient
God, You’ve been gracious
Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing
So I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, whoa-oh
Hallelujah (ooh, ooh), hallelujah

I’ve wrestled with the darkness
But I’m tryin’ to reach for the light
Yeah, the struggle keeps me honest
And it breaks down the walls of my pride

‘Cause faith isn’t proven like gold
‘Til it’s been through the fire, eh-eh
My head, heart, and hands are feeling heavy
But that’s when I lift them just a little higher

I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah (ooh, ooh)
I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, whoa-oh
God, You’ve been patient
God, You’ve been gracious
Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing
I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah (ah, ah, ah, ah, ah)

I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah (hallelujah)
I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, whoa-oh
God, You’ve been patient
And God, You’ve been gracious
Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing
I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah (ooh)
Oh, hallelujah (mm, eh-ah, eh)
Hallelujah

Oh-oh, oh, oh-oh-oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-
Halle-, mm-mm
Hallelujah

 

Martha, Martha

Posted on by Dorci

“As they went, He (Jesus) entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Then tell her to help me.’

Jesus answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed. And Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.’” Luke 10:38-42

Ouch. As a fellow Marthaian, reading these words of Jesus have always made me cringe a little bit.

Have you ever had thirteen people, or more, (including the Son of God) show up at your house unannounced to hang out for a while? What do you do? Maybe you start by running to the fridge to scrounge up something to drink. And what about food? Are they staying for dinner? What could you put together? You start pulling all the food you can find from every shelf and drawer, you think as fast as you’re sweating, taking out pots and pans, plates and cups, you run around the table setting it…  And you’re getting more and more frustrated by the minute.

But maybe it doesn’t end there. Maybe you’re busy finding enough chairs and cleaning the bathroom and washing the dishes and sweeping the floor, and on and on and on.

That was Martha. (And yes, I may have been known to exhibit this kind of behavior.) And then she stops, out of breath.  She can’t take the stress of it all anymore, and she marches herself over to Jesus.

“Don’t you care?”

In other words, aren’t you paying any attention? Haven’t you noticed that I’m doing all this work by myself and I’m stressed out?

Jesus’ answer to Martha was “you are worried and upset about many things.”

He had noticed, and He did care. He saw all Martha was trying to do. He saw she was trying to serve, and while that’s a good thing, He also saw she was doing it with an anxious and frustrated heart. And so He waited until she got to the end of herself and came to Him. I can imagine Him holding out His hand to her, inviting her to join them.

I know how hard it is to stop worrying and racing around trying to do all the things that need to be done in a day, a month, a lifetime, and just sit at Jesus’ feet.

Yes, some things need to be done, but some things can be left for a day, a month, or altogether. There are always things to be done, but Jesus calls us to come sit with Him.  

Martha was worried about giving them temporal food for their bodies but Jesus wanted to give her and the rest of them eternal spiritual food for their souls.

He knows we can do nothing without Him. Anything He calls us to do He wants us to do, not with anxiety, but in His strength, with His wisdom, His knowledge, and most of all, His love. Our first and greatest need is always to sit at His feet and learn from Him.

Who knows, if Martha had joined the rest of them, maybe afterward Jesus would have set a meal before them a la “wine at the wedding in Cana.”

I think we all have at least a little bit of Martha in us sometimes. We can get so stressed about life that we wonder if God even sees what’s going on in our lives. Doesn’t He care?

He sees and He cares, more than we can imagine. He knows that’s why we need Him. In the midst of it all He wants to give us His wisdom, to prepare us for things to come, to show us His will, to give us rest for our weary souls.

Sometimes God has ways of making us sit. When He has something to show us He will hold out His hand to us, one way or another, inviting us to come sit at His feet. And when we do, He’ll make a provision for all those things we are worried and upset about.

For weeks after my stroke He made a way for us to have dinner first by our church family and then for six months by our gracious neighbors. My husband took over many of the responsibilities I’d always had, and my job was to heal and to seek Him, to read His Word, and to write what He’d show me.

It’s been a hard road of frustration and sweat and venting. And every now and then I try to get up and run around, worried and upset about many things. But He keeps “double-naming” me like He did Martha, not in a condescending way, but with love and compassion, and He pulls me back to the thing that’s needed most: sitting with Him and letting Him feed my soul.

 

 

Heavenly Father, we know this life is short and you have much to teach us. Help us not get sidetracked and instead do the most important thing: spend time with Jesus. As we do, please give us His mind and heart and transform us by the power and love of your Holy Spirit. We trust you to provide and make a way and we give you all the glory for what you’re going to do. In Jesus’ precious name I pray, amen.

A Prayer to the Lord of the Harvest

Posted on by Dorci

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’”
Matthew 9:35-38

 

Dear Heavenly Father,

We praise you, Lord, that you are a God of compassion. Your compassion for the world caused you to send your Son to die on the cross for our sins. Then it was your compassion for each one of us that caused you to draw us out of the world to Yourself that we might live as your children, reflecting your bright light of love and truth to those around us.

Lord of the harvest, we ask you to send out workers into Your harvest field. As the world grows darker and evil becomes more apparent every day, we pray you would equip us with your eyes of compassion that we might see people around us as you see them: lost and in need of a Shepherd. Give us your heart of love, grace, and mercy, and let our words be the words of your Holy Spirit, filled with His power to soften hearts and open eyes to the truth so that there will be a harvest of righteousness in abundance.

Give us wisdom, discernment, and boldness as we walk in faith to whatever harvest field you call us, whether it’s to our next door neighbors, our friends, our family, across town or across the world, to share your truth in love with anyone you would have us. Prepare their hearts, Lord, and ours.

May you bind the work of the enemy, and keep us in prayer, as you open eyes, hearts, and doors for us, Lord, and give us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  

In His mighty name we pray, amen.