In the Tombs- An Allegory

She was so full of fear that she preferred to live her life alone than face the pain of rejection and abandonment. She dug her heels in and resisted God because of past disappointments that she had faced. All she had was broken hopes and dreams. Like the man in the tomb, she sat among the littered graveside, scraping her wounds with broken shards of discarded pottery.  Than Y'Shua asked her to trust Him. No person had ever experienced such fear and trepidation.  But one day, after calming her fears and healing her sore wounds, Y'Shua asked her to love someone more deeply wound than she was.

How could He ask such a thing- to leave the quiet of the garden tomb to enter a hell of screeching demons- to involve herself  in a bitter tale of woe? Holding her hands over her ears to keep the screams and moans at bay, she entered the dark dungeon that was literally a cave.  Y'Shua gently removed her hands  from her ears as she cowered beneath the frightful sounds "You must fully feel the misery of this place to love its inhabitant. She countered - "I thought you were bringing someone to love me?" " What is this nightmare?" she questioned. 

Then she saw a person hobbled with chains linked to the cave's walls, covered in thick debris, smut, and soot. The stench that emanated from this human collection of skin and bone was at the least malodorous, and his eyes literally leaped from their sockets. She kneeled before it- still  trembling and disbelieving. She turned to Y'Shua - to question what was the bitter tale of woe in which he had involved her.

But He was gone.

The thing, huddled closer to her and reached out his skeletal hands towards her.  Its touch so light and gentle for a maniac. With no water, she began to wash, with the very tears, from her eyes and water from her lips. Each touch seeming to caress the thing's very soul and his innermost being trembled. Many days continued hence. Suddenly, Y'Shua appeared behind her- hands outstretched. Use this- in the goblet- my blood is poured.Take and drink "

As she and the monster partook of  the communion, a beautiful prince emerged. His shackles fell off, a crown upon his head, and leather shoes in his feet. sinew, muscle, and tendon were held together. He stood erect and powerful. She had been dirtied in the whole process, and  now she was ashamed of her appearance. She held her head down - reproachful of herself. But the prince lifted her chin and looked into her eyes and her very heart rumbled. His words soothed her heart, "For this act of love, God himself anoints you with the oil of beauty for ashes - the oil of joy for mourning."

When he took her hand, to lift her, the rags fell into a heap at her feet. A golden crown appeared on her head. And brilliant raiment- white and gold was around her. A scepter was in her right hand and golden slippers were on her feet.

Y'Shua's voice boomed,  "What you have done to the least of these, you have done to me."
The walls suddenly fell away from the cave, and the fragrant air of the country rushed in.

Hepzibah - Married and Beulah-my Delight in her are her new names. The prince who was a pauper, the grotto a living hill, this story of a nightmare. But God knew its true meaning.

I Come From a Long Line of Women

To Sylvia: “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come” Proverbs 31:25

I come from a

long

line

of

strong

 women

Muscled arms

Sinews of steel

From hard days

in the field

Backbones of iron

Sure-footed

On the hard-packed

Soil of racism and defeat

 Stout of heart

Full of courage

Not easily broken

By life or putting to the ground

Children or husbands

Wise beyond years

Practiced in the art

Of intercession

Moaning

Groans

Only the Spirit 

Could understand

I come from a
Long line of such

Women

The same fields

 In the cool of

The evening

Became

A temple of praise

And love

 I come from a long

Line of

Strong women

Who reach

Beyond their

Own pain

To pull future

Generations

From the depths

Of the abyss

Dry Bones

The Valley of Dry Bones- Ezekiel 37

 ¹ The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

   I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

 ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath^[a] enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

 ⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

 ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

 ¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”

Spirit breathe on me. I feel like a bag of bones. I understand Ezekiel, how he must have felt. God is telling him what great work He is going to do with this fleshless army. God has placed a mandate on my shoulders: build schools for impoverished girls all over the world. Not just any school, schools that focus on performing arts. God has spent twenty years pouring skill, determination, and audacity into this pint-size prophet. But the hard part has not been untethering my lines, for I know with whom I am sailing at the helm of the boat.

The hard part is heading out alone. But alone, I must head. I see them just as Ezekiel saw the bones take on life. I see their shining brown, black, white, and tan faces. I have heard their prayer:  teach me with excellence all that I need to know to live a godly impactful life. It is different from the prayer I have prayed for ten years: give my students a desire for excellence in their education. I am going to be the answer to prayer now, and I won’t be alone for long.

When I visited Kenya this summer as part of a missionary team, God commissioned me to build schools for these impoverished girls within their native  countries. I would like to introduce you to Teachers of the Nations Ministry, which is dedicated to building schools for emotionally and physically traumatized girls in Africa and beyond. The Christian curriculum that will be used to educate these girls will provide an open doorway to share the Gospel message, as Christians are commanded by Jesus to do (Matthew 28:18-19). 

Girls in Third World countries, such as Africa, are more often the victims of war, sexual trafficking, female circumcision, and ethnic cleansing than are females in other parts of the world (Sengupta 2005). Consequently, these traumatized girls find it difficult to cope emotionally, are often sexually and physically abused, unable to find gainful employment, and live in poverty.

 In fall 2012,  the vision begins to take on flesh as God breathes life into communities and countries by raising up an army of young girls. Here are God's mandates:

         Provide a godly-educational setting for girls who are unschooled.

         Provide medical services to meet the girls’ physical needs.

         Recruit mental health professionals to donate time to help with the girls’ emotional needs.

         Teach students viable economic skills so that can support themselves and their families.

         Equip students to share the message of Christ within their own communities

I see those bones come together and begin to dance, sing, and become an orchestra of praise to God.

 Spirit-filled,

mj

Jonah, Me, and a Whale of a Tale

 Wise King Solomon said that it is the small foxes that spoil the vine (Song of Solomon 2:15) . I know that it is the truth. I believe like Jonah, I have sin in my heat, it is a small, dark spot, but if when Jesus comes to remove it, I resist, it becomes larger and wider. The Ninevites were Israel’s enemies who fought and enslaved them brutally. So when God asks Jonah to go to Nineveh, he honestly had, in his mind, valid reasons not to go. But his prejudice against the Ninevites and resistance of God’s call, begins a process of alarming proportions. His sin of ethnocentrism and hatred cause him to lose perspective –the perspective of mercy.

I, too, like Jonah believe I have a right to resist God’s call on my life to love the ungodly, especially those who have been unkind to me. Listen to what God tells Jonah, “ But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty  thousand people who cannot tell their hand from their left hand, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11). I can be like Jonah more concerned my comfort than things of eternal value. Jonah cared more about the vine which sheltered him from the sun and the east wind.

When I am in the midst of a battle with God, like Jonah, I won’t win either. My life will be “destroy[ed] like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind” (Psalm 48:7). Lately, I have battled with the desire to do things my way, but I do not want to be like those broken boats of Tarshish. You know Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish" (Jonah 1:3), but he landed in the belly of a whale where he cried,

“You hurled me into the depths,
   into the very heart of the seas,
   and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
   swept over me.
⁴ I said, ‘I have been banished
   from your sight;
yet I will look again
   toward your holy temple.’
⁵ The engulfing waters threatened me,^[b]
   the deep surrounded me;
   seaweed was wrapped around my head.
⁶ To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
   the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, LORD my God,
   brought my life up from the pit.

 ⁷ “When my life was ebbing away,
   I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
   to your holy temple.
 ⁸ “Those who cling to worthless idols
   turn away from God’s love for them. ⁹ But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
   will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
   I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’”

Jonah learned what I have learned recently, those worthless idols, the things I put above my allegiance and obedience to God, my preferences and my unrefined desires, cause me to turn away from God's unfailing. I have finally realized that the only thing that can separate me from His love is me. Not past, present, future, hardship, persecution, or disappointment if I wont let it (Romans 8:35-39). In fact, some versions of scriptures asks,Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?(Romans 8:35) I alone must choose to walk away from His embrace or at least I try, but like Jonah, God finds me where I have been hiding. Just as He searched for His first children, Adam and Eve, as they hid in the garden covering themselves with fig leaves, He still searches for me and you. And when we are ready, He puts back on dry land just as He did Jonah (Jonah 2:10)

Signing off,
MJ
 

 

Refiner's Part II

God has two functions in the refinement process of rejection: to increase my love-walk and decrease my fear. Yes, God was refining me through the rejection that I have experienced, but God also was refining the people involved too, although they may not have realized it. There are usually two dancers in a tango, but in a spiritual dance, there are three counting God. Think about the fact that God used Stephen's death to lead to Paul's conversion.

Although I had to choose to wrestle through my disappointment, I never considered climbing back into Abba's arms for a time-out from the body of Christ. Instead, I talked to a wise counselor and poured out my heart. She assured me that I was being promoted. I don't quite like how promotion feels. Oh well. But, I do so love God, and I am gaining His heart for his children, my spiritual siblings.

I want to say that I am a person who can't be cut or wounded, but that would be a lie. Yet, I desperately want to be Christ-like and forgive those who wound me because they are not aware of what they do. I want to be like Jesus who cried, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:24). Or Stephen who asked that God not count his assailants' sin to their account as he was being stoned: "Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).
Stephen had his eyes on Jesus. It was the same for the prophet Isaiah. He only recognized the Lord in the year that King Uzziah died (Isaiah 6:1). God had been speaking that scripture to me. I needed to get my eyes off the people, my kings, and rest in God.  It is natural to want to be loved and accepted, but when I get my eyes off of God, I have made that person an idol.Whatever I do, I must do it unto the Lord.

I bless God that I did not run from these people or question God's goodness. God's nature is good, and even though I don't understand it, He obviously has a greater purpose in my suffering. As I got quiet, I sensed growth in me, but I recognized a deeper need to trust Jesus in people-trust that God is perfecting them and me. I want to shout with Mary:

My soul glorifies the Lord

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has been mindful

of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him,

from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts

Luke 1:46-52

Being Refined,

MJ

Rejection and Fools Gold!

What do you want in a spouse? What do you want in a friend? These questions are not merely rhetorical. I’m sure I sound like a short-order cook, but I am feeling more like an old-time miner. Rejection is like that pan that those old-timers used to sift through the dirty water and debris in order to find the gold nuggets hidden in the river’s bottom.

As I have been dealt some blows, the worth in my relationships have become brilliantly clear to me like gold ore shining in the light of the sun as it beats on the shallow water depths in that miner’s pan. The fool's gold proves to be true to its name. It looks like the real-thing until adversity takes a bite out of the relationship. I hope you can learn from my experiences. So, go back and answer those questions, will you? Now, ask yourself what kind of friend and spouse do you want to become. Interestingly, rejection will get you closer to the person you want to see in the mirror.

I know rejection can be a good teacher. In fact, I have written in my blog about rejection before. Recent events had led me to a deeper revelation: the longer the rejection, the greater the impunity of its effects, the greater the call God has on one’s life. Think about it. Moses spent forty years in the desert after trying to rescue a couple Israelites from destroying each other. He ended up shepherding some gnarly sheep for forty years. All those years were a mere set-up for forty years with the true gnarly sheep, the nation of Israel. He obviously learned his lesson because he often found himself face down before G-d Himself. 

 That’s what people’s rejection can do for you- it can drive you to your knees making you the most-humble man or woman, an awesome intercessor, a friend of God, one who abides in His presence, and sees and carries His glory. YAHOO! Don’t let people drive you away from you’re Abba. Instead, run like crazy to Him and hide the tabernacle of His praise when you find yourself holding onto a piece of fool's gold.

Let’s look at Caleb, whose unceremonious name means dog. That’s got to bite. Pun intended. But he had the last laugh. He was one of two who made it into the Promise Land of the original people who left Egypt (Numbers 14:29-30; 26:64-65; 32:11-12).  Moreover, when God spoke of him, he said that His servant Caleb had a different kind of spirit. It takes a different kind of spirit to believe God when everyone else doubts.

Caleb was a warrior; despite the fact that he was a descendant of Esau, he grabbed a possession with the rest of Israel. He fought bravely claiming, "I am eighty and I am strong as when we first left Egypt." Wow! He took the name dog and rose up with a legacy that few have ever matched. So much for rejection:

"Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD"  (Deuteronomy 1:35-36).

The truth was that Caleb was an intercessor and a buffer for the people; he “quieted the people before Moses," and said, “Let us go up at once, and occupy it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). He resolutely proclaimed “If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us” (Numbers 14:8). In his attempt to motivate the people to go up and possess the land which God had promised (Genesis 17:8), he insisted stirred up the people's wrath to the point that they wanted to kill him (Numbers 14:10). Imagine that! Believing God and exhorting people to believe was worthy of the death penalty. Truly, going back to Egypt was fool's gold, but trusting in God was where they real value lie, and Caleb knew it.  God declared, " But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it" (Numbers 14:24).

Listen friend, when God accepts you, the whole world must shut its mouth like it did before Caleb. What does rejection offer you: resiliency, courage, and undivided devotion to whom and what matters most- you remember those gold nuggets the next time you hear a door shut in your face. I must tell you that I believe that the greatest gift that rejection provides is the ability to love people who have wounded and hurt you and the ability to extend grace because you have received grace and mercy straight from the throne room.

A Fellow-Miner,

MJ
I would like to acknowledge Francine Rivers for her insightful work on the life Caleb and Ginger Garrett for her exhortation on the purpose of rejection.

Lessons to take with you on the road of trouble

 

1.     Recognize God’s hand in the problem.

2.     Recognize that  He is doing something through the problem.

3.     Recognize that what He is doing good for you and others.

4.     Work to multiply the positive benefits of God’s work through the trouble.

5.     Expect a beneficial effect  for the trouble.

•  

Expect Divine Encouragement for Others (Psalm 110 v. 74)-

May those who fear you rejoice when they see me; for I have put my hope in your word.”

Expect Divine Provision in Affliction (Psalm 119v. 50)

Expect Divine Prevention in Affliction (v. 67)

Expect Divine Purpose in Affliction (v. 71)

Expect Divine Providence in Affliction (v. 75)

Expect Divine Protection in Affliction (v. 92)

Expect Definite Prayer in Affliction (vv. 107, 153)