The Sign

“The Sign?” - “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:39,40.  The only sign that Jesus would give to those facing the Truth with animosity and antagonism would be the characteristics of the time between His death and His Resurrection ... Let's go there for just a moment to get the picture!

The occupants of “Abraham's Bosom” (known as Paradise) had received a Visitor that had brought them the reality of Heaven; while the prisoners of Hell (Separated by a great chasm) were now finding their hopeless end expanding ... but this is unseen by all creation. The groaning of Creation had ceased for this moment in painful anticipation of “what if?” … hanging in the void of “Three days and Three nights”.

While on the surface of the World … right amidst the adornment:
  • The fearful Jewish rulers wanted guaranty that “the body” would remain secure in the tomb, so their guards and their feeble seal were employed and waiting. He was dead … but that word ..”It is Finished!”, sounded more like victory rather than defeat.  
  • The crowds had watched the show, beat their breasts in disgust (the show didn't go on for days like it normally would), and went home.
  • The Roman Crucifixion Team was left with an awe of the man who was posted “King of the Jews”.
  •  Joe and Nick, two secret believers, did what they could to provide Jesus a hurried but decent burial.
  •  The women followed to the tomb so they knew where they laid him, then went home to prepare spices to apply to the body after the Sabbath, and then rested. 
  • The disciples mourned and wept … they had been so full of living because of Him, and now He was dead.
  • The words of the Resurrection were muted by the moments horrendous reality... He was crucified, died, and was buried.
Hold on My Heart, Await O my soul
My pulse has faltered, and my life interrupted...
While I wait for the grave to cry “I can ne'er hold him!”
Let God Arise!

This is such a dark place to be
...in between the reality of history noted: Jesus was crucified, died and was buried (THIS IS A HISTORICAL FACT THAT EVERY MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD LIVES WITH)
... and His-story to be revealed – He Arose!

Satan knows the Resurrection is reality, and that if believed it frees men from the curse of sin for eternity. If he can just keep men in the slumber of “the sign” – If he can just keep the cross immovable. If he can just keep faith “deep and personal and silent”. If he can convince believers to “cloister”, to separate, to segregate, and to keep to themselves … he can perpetuate this Dark moment with Jesus forever in the tomb. Hear him hiss his advice, “Go ahead and celebrate your holy days. Go ahead and gather around the message with rejoicing, but keep it in your congregations and out of the market place... you don't want to offend anyone.”

Prior to His Death and Resurrection, Jesus laid out the plan that would break “the sign of Jonah” for those who were waiting to believe... it is noted in Matthew 16:24, in Mark 8:34, and  in Luke 9:23 – this is a familiar passage to any that have frequented the congregating of saints; but let's hear it in light of the moment: “And He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself , and take up his cross daily, and follow me”.

Come to the Cross. You who are washed of your sins by the blood of the Cross, lift it up, carry it and its effects away with you into the lives of others. If you will come after Him this day, this moment … His cross must be your cross. Don't feed the slumber … don't leave the world around you in the history of the cross ...awaken them with the reality that you live in Him and He lives with you... daily.

Awake – live loudly for Him – love others with Him. He is Alive!
    
HLFA,
     
Jeff

PS. The world is not threatened when your faith stays contained in a tomb, a place, a book, a building, a day, a time, etc....but the world panics when your faith goes mobile because there it has unlimited capacity. “Go into all the world!”

The Acquainting

I’m really not sure what had driven my hastened steps to the back end of the dark alley. I had a twisted feeling inside of me that I couldn’t hide not even remotely. My skin rippled with the sense of a fearfully threatening encounter. Even my breath became rhythmically shallow. My whole being seemed overwhelmingly oppressed by a specter of someone or something that had positioned itself well out of my control.

There was definitely someone following me. Although it had appeared as the tip of an extending shadow, the shadow had crept over me to the place where I was being engulfed by its darkness. Pushed forward by a great need to survive, I knew someone with an unknown and uncontrollable power had to be attached to the shadow. I am not quite sure what happened at that moment but I found myself unable to move forward, almost like I was stung by an immobilizing neurotoxin. So I turned to face my adversary.

There he stood…but there was nothing about His appearance that even remotely held my attention in a threatening way. I tried hard to find anything about him that would infuse admiration, but I was at a loss. I needed to grab for something that I could use to validate the fear filled feelings that actually carried me into that alley. But what stood before me was so unassuming and so unthreatening that my blushing countenance sunk in despair. I had nothing to begin to contrive a story that would explain my uncontrollable actions. And He, in all of his lack of luster, just stood there looking at me. The only thing that was left to do was to study the man standing before me.

A more focused look revealed that there seemed to be something about Him that was so bruised, so wounded and yet so free. The longer the gaze, there appeared something very broken about Him, and yet in the brokenness there was an undeniable dignity of wholeness. His garments appeared rumpled, unkempt, stained, and soiled by some earlier tragic abuse. There was noticeable physical evidence of violence that his body had borne and was still carrying. But the humble way he held his battered frame carried no cry for “pity me” as with most men in his condition. What happened next would alter me for the rest of my life.

He stepped forward slowly and deliberately stretching out his scarred and gnarled hand in my direction. For some uninhibited reason I moved toward His wounded outstretched hand. Something deep inside me needed His touch. I somehow knew this was His introduction to my grief. I knew this was the connection that He was longing for and that I desperately needed. Why did He want to make a lasting connection with the deepest grieving burdens of my life? Why did He want to fully identify with all that would and could destroy me? Why did he count me worthy to take on my pain? That touch, that longing connection, though momentary on this side of the veil … had my heart on its knees and the eyes of my soul thrown open wide.

I now understood his appearance, because with the addition of my deepest darkest pain, his countenance grew even more unremarkable. He was wounded for my transgressions; the chastisement that would produce my peace was upon Him, He walked away beaten and I was left healed. He clung to and removed my deepest darkest burden, and wrapped that burden within and around His own dignity. Though devastatingly leprous, He held me close. I knew that this was love. Now, I was beginning to understand the essence of real beauty and the lasting consequences of His acquaintance with my deepest need.

The end of our sin is where our life begins with Him.

“But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8
“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” I John3:16

Let Him touch us, and we will live.

And as she slept, I laid my hands upon her pain and wept knowing He feels her pain deeper than I ever will. And He cares way beyond what I can imagine. He lets me care with Him. Praise His Name!

Isaiah 53 HLFA,

Jeff

Change - Stinky fish or Welcome Rest

Holy mackerel!!(Sanctified Stinky Fish?) Did you see that? Did I see what? … This type of conversation could go on for hours (minus the sanctified stinky fish) if a child is given full authority to ask questions, and he (or she) is strapped into a car seat with nothing else to do but look out a window as sights and sounds flash by their world. Most children will not keep looking and asking about the ever-changing scenery, but after a short period of time they will drop slowly into a stupor until their eyelids lock shut and sleep engulfs them. We may comment that “they were so tired”, even though they had fully rested prior to the trip. What is the deal? (Now this is the point where we can discuss all the possible reasons for this phenomenon happening, or not happening, so as to compare stories of our children or our childhood memories … I will give you a few moments …. OK, enough!)

What made them so tired (or what wore them out)? It is the same thing that wears us out … CHANGE. We can only take so much change and then we begin to shut down. Change is inevitable. Change is happening all the time. It can be unnoticed until it is a surprise. It can be resisted until it causes submission. It can be enjoyed if it is our plan, or loathed if it imposed by another. Change that is looked forward to with pleasant anticipation we may call adventure. Change that feels forced upon us because we had no say in the matter is always spoken of as “unfair”. We will live through everything from “nuisance” to “earthshaking” but will always come out of the “change” with the lasting effects of different degrees cause by the stress on our lives. Our reaction to change makes us what we have been, what we are and what we will be. Our attitude and responses to change will create the legend of who we were ("Remember Jeff, Boy he was a grouch!).

There was a man in scripture whose name has been intertwined with this concept of painful change – “Job”. We have seen the “patience of Job” attributed to those who seem to be able to put up with a lot and still come out mild mannered. Remember though, patience is not a virtue …it is a choice. It is only seen as a virtue by those observing one that appears to be handling suffering well; it is a different story when seen from the vantage point of being the one suffering.

Job’s life changed radically in a moment. He went from prestigious prosperity to pity-filled poverty overnight. In the book of Job chapters 12 -14, you can read Job’s amazing self-reflection of his situation while struggling with the change in his life. Here is a sound bite from Job’s wrestling with all the dimensions of the radical and disappointing change in his life: Job 14:14 – “If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come”. Job here is viewing death as a welcome change because of the intense struggle he is trying to endure. Most of mankind will only struggle for a while. We have a limit, and when it wears us out, we crave rest no matter how it may come. BUT … THERE … right in the midst of the change … is our unchangeable God. “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6 (Therefore, placed in His care this change is never “wasted”)

It is easy to fast forward to the fact that if we know Jesus, then we will be with Him in Heaven, and all this will be over. But God never has intentions of “wasting” our lives and allowing this time of change to pass without reward. He doesn’t want our lives to be lived in vain. Change is a constant gift of a renewable vantage point in which we have the opportunity to see Him in His unchanging glory. This glory is evidenced in His active role of loving us through the change. He is the supply for all of our needs according to His immense riches that are amassed for our sake during this life of ebb and flow.

We will change, times will change, positions will change, possessions will change … everything changes but our God. Strongly note this: He is appropriate in His care for us in all of this change. Trust Him. The only time change is a waste is when we decide we can handle this ourselves. The life that is truly blessed is the life that acknowledges that HE WILL TAKE CARE OF ME. So as I am strapped into this car seat of life, when I am overwhelmed by my vantage point, I will lay my head back, close my eyes and trust Daddy to get me to where ever he is taking me. It will all be good. It will be Okay. “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” II Tim. 1:12

HLFA,

Jeff

PS. By the way – the picture has a subtle message for me as I view it –“resting while trying to go too fast”; There is a limit to what we can handle … (reminds me of the awkward position we put ourselves in when we really aren’t trusting God).

Staring Too Long

Just try to listen to someone talking to you about something that is not even remotely catching your interest! The phone rings, and the telemarketer (first of all they can't even pronounce your name) begins their rambling diatribe from a “throw your brains away”script with a tone of voice that is almost as interesting as an automated attendant.

"Blah – blah-blah-blah-blah-blah" ...The disconnect is inevitable.

The way we view God's care for us is many times much the same. We seem to qualify or disqualify God's care for us by filtering His response through our self-disappointment and self-devaluation. This has us abandoning hope in God while we try to measure our loss of worth as a reason that He hasn't or won't hear our voice. Why should He care for us?

Holding to the false opinion, that God will only answer our prayers because we are “somebody” or have "done something worthy" of His care, is extremely detrimental to our total well-being. If the truth shall set us free, then there is a good chance a lie will ensnare and enslave us. Why are there so many “Christians” on drugs for depression and drugs to manage undiagnosed pain?

Sure there are a lot of reasons for medicating ...physiological, psychological, sociological, but could looking too long at our problems and looking too little to the One who can solve them be KEY. Do we remain in prayer? Do pray to prevail? Or do we pray because we get tired of hearing people say “Did you you pray about it”? If we would be honest, we plan and worry in larger chunks of time than we do in waiting on our God in prayer.

The likelihood of our even beginning to see the miracle of God's forgiveness and continual care for us, while we continue to stand and stare into a sordid sinful event in our life, is close to "nil". And until we back away from our sin, stop being the judgmental spectator of our hearts, and truly focus our concerns in His direction ... “nil” will keep recurring.

Someone close to me has written a song entitled “My Pain, My Healing” – The bridge of the Song reads :
            “Longing for shelter- from the cold-you give me strength when I’m not bold -
              If pain is healing - I want more - I’m still here kneeling - please restore.” 

There is a truth in these lyrics possibly hidden even from the song writer just as it was from David in Psalm 66 (and to the casual reader of the words of this Psalm contain a healing treasure that may be missed). If David stopped at verse 18 like a lot of us do – “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” … we may not catch what he really has said. We may not hear that what he has said is this – “If I continue to stand and stare as spectator and judge of the discrepancies of my heart, I may be silent and there is a good possibility that the Lord will not hear me speak from my need, because I am so overwhelmed by my discrepancy it may seem louder than my prayer)”.

You may even hear the Psalmist say … “I have sinned, God won't hear me”.
The sad thing is this may create an addictive loop, and we may continue to choose sin because we feel He doesn't care ... but He does, please read on!

Right now there is someone still punishing themselves by disagreeing with the interpretation of verse 18. Without knowing it, you have stared way too long at your problem, and think it has gotten bigger than God's provision to rescue. Read the passage in its entirety and trust the discovery of the Psalmist.

Psalm 66: 18-20.
“If I regard (by staring too long at) iniquity in my heart, (there is a potenial) the Lord will not hear (from) me:
but verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.”

God, in His love, grace and mercy extended to His Kids, Hears and Attends to the voice of our prayers... no matter how faint, how tainted, how small, how long, how seemingly insignificant, how embittered, how broken… God doesn't turn away from your prayer and never turns away His mercy from you.

Trust – Pray – Rest – Breathe,

HLFA,

Jeff

Stuck in the Middle

“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also is in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Gen. 2:9
  
“But the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Gen 3:3 ( This was Eve's flawed explanation to Satan of her “middle”situation... what is with the “touch it”, God never said that.)

“O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known, in wrath remember mercy.” Hab. 3:2

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Re 2:7

If you have surmised that the verses above are nothing more than random statements from Scripture, then there is a good chance you are over burdened by your current state of affairs. You have no time for mind games or puzzles that are presented by mad men. You are pushed by an inner pressure that screams “you have to arrive somewhere soon or your life will implode”. With this pressure you feel that you may explode, lose connection with gravity and float into uselessness. We have all been there at one time or another, but some with less frustration than others. What is it with this “middle” land, this place of waiting, longing, hoping, doubting, and disappointment, that holds us in depressing captivity?

I hated it from the “get go” when I was pulled into the playground game known as “Monkey in the Middle”. You know how that game works: two bigger kids (or more talented in ball handling) begin tossing a ball back-n- forth with you in the middle. They just happen to toss the ball high enough at the point where you are standing that you have absolutely no chance of getting the ball without exerting a massive amount of useless energy. And even if you get the ball, the other two players walk away and the game is over. Stupid! And this is supposed to be fun? (Right now the ball handlers are saying “I don't get it?”)

As life moved on, with out being cognizant of it, this game would become a strange omen-like shadow that would continue to position itself across most of our lives. Somebody, something or some event would put you right smack dab in the middle. The basic problem, that we all share, is that we think “the middle” is a place of worthless existence. We see the intense struggle, and wonder why no one else is having a rough time (not true). We are very uncomfortable with being in the middle. Our knee jerk reaction is to declare a pity party and send out invitations; but we either don't invite God or we lose His invitation because we are convinced “He doesn't care anyhow”. When in reality it is where our God is and desires to be...He is in the midst, in the middle, with us.

This is the place where we can allow Him, or trust Him to show Himself “Mighty” to our benefit. This is where all the conflict of life converges – the disease, the healing, the storm, the rainbow, the fire, the chill, the famine, the feast, the praising, the confusion, the clarification, the cursing, the blessing, the waiting, the movement, the roaring of our enemies, and the reviving of life. This is the place where He saves us. This is the place where He rejoices over us with great joy. This is the place where He rests in His love for us as we can bask in that truth. This is the place where He will “joy over you with singing”(Check out Zephaniah 3:17)........BUT IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED...O people of God, of all people you will remain even more miserable than those who have no relationship with God!

The danger of “the middle” is we can shut down, talk to our own pain and listen to our own words. In the middle we may even agree with our false assumptions and write out the sure failure of our own futile destiny. Do you feel you are in the middle? Feeling you are nowhere and you are nobody? This is deceiver's easiest illusion, because it agrees with our deceitful hearts and keeps us from seeing Jesus there. Catch your breath in the middle and listen to God's Word. Get your second wind in the middle and share every ache of your heart with Jesus. This is where He is, take full advantage of the middle... it is to your advantage that you are there.

Rejoice with Him, Rest with Him, Sing with Him … He is yours and you are His … nothing can change this truth poured upon by the unlimited supply of Heaven.

Take hold of the throne grace and climb up into the Daddy chair … right now!

In the Middle.

HLFA,

Jeff

PS. The Picture attached is the rock that marks the spot where Flight 93 went down on 911 - America was and still is in the "middle" ... Oh how we need a Heaven sent rescue!