WORDS THAT WOUND

By Shirley Wiggins and  Hallie Gipson

 Spoken words that wound…they strike us hard – they wound us internally.

 On the outside, the tears coming from our eyes look like water, but they are tears of heart-blood.

If you have experienced the wounding of words that hit like blows to the face, you know those blows strike deep into the heart, as if making an imprint in the soul and spirit.

A physical body, when beaten, bears outward evidence of the trauma inflicted upon it, whether bruises or gaping gashes.  We know how to treat these external injuries and when to seek medical attention.

 When words wound us, they wound deeply and invisibly.  The anguish inflicted upon the bruised heart will not go away without appropriate attention.

Where do we take this internal wounding?  Who can understand this pain and bring healing wholeness to our lives?

We must take our wounded hearts, minds and souls to the One who created us.  He is also the One who suffered indescribable anguish for us, both physically and emotionally.

To become healthy and whole, we must allow our hearts and minds to be exposed to the Light of God for He is the One who breathed the first breath of life into the first human.  He knows us as no one else knows us – better than we even know ourselves.

 Because He knows exactly how we feel in our wounded hearts, and how we think in our minds, and the depth of the resulting effect on our bodies and souls, He alone knows what is needed for our healing.

 His desire is that we be healed and made whole in body, mind, and soul, for this is His plan and purpose for us.

       

No matter the source of our hurts, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Source for healing:  spiritual, emotional, physical – the Great Physician is the Specialist in every area.

 “The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He delivers those who are discouraged.” Psalm 34:18 (New English Translation NET).

“Praise the Lord … He heals the brokenhearted, and bandages their wounds.”   Psalm 147:3 (NET).

 He loves us as no one else loves us.  How could He love like this, since it was for us that He suffered?

Jesus suffered horribly and awfully in His body until He died, hanging on a cross of shame, exposed to the jeers and mocking taunts of the crowds demanding his death.

 He suffered emotionally in His mind and in His heart and in His soul -- for us.  For each and every one of us, He suffered an indescribable anguish we cannot comprehend. Even as He hung on the cross waiting to die, wounded for our transgressions, these words were a portion of Jesus’ prayers to His Father on that day:

 “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23: 34 (NKJV).

 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him.  And by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every- one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. … He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.”  Isaiah 54: 5-7,9b (NKJV).

 Sinful disobedience came through deception into the Garden of Eden by one woman and one man, whose sins are described as “failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness.”

We know that we each have, in our own individual and unique ways, continued to perpetrate the sin of disobedience to God’s Word and His ways.

 And, the wounded can also be the offender who severely wounds another:

“The words were stinging and seemed to be coming from another’s mouth –

but it was my mouth that was uttering hurtful and bitter words that were unfounded!

Why would I do that?!

 The issue is mine, but I’ve passed it on, trying to make someone else responsible for working it out for me. I have been telling myself that the issue is settled, but the recent argument revealed the lack of truth in that wishful thinking.

My sin is against God, my heavenly Father, and lies in the things not utterly surrendered into His hands that have the potential to enslave and control me – when I least expect it.

 My sin is also against the one I argued with – hurtful, bitter words that lingered in the air long after I had spoken them.  The wounded one bears the burden of the ‘wound’ and the offender, the regret of causing it.

What heaviness of heart, mind, and spirit this conflict of emotions has brought into our lives!”

 Words, once spoken, cannot be taken back.

 “Where there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.”  Proverbs 10:19.

 Words are wonderful, opening the doors of communication.

 But “words are powerful; take them seriously.  Words can be your salvation.  Words can also be your damnation.”  See Matthew 12:34-37 (The Message).

 Our careless and heedless ways have led to great distress for us as individuals, nations, and peoples.  And, still:

 “In all their affliction He was afflicted…”  Isaiah 63:9a.

 There is One who understands and who has provided for the healing of the whole world.  He is the one who suffered the penalty of all sin for all mankind.¹

 The sinless Son of Man: 

"He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.  He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him.  Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”  Isaiah 53:2b -4 (NKJV).

 “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.  When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.  He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.  By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.”  Isaiah 53:10,11.

 Each of us has felt the pain of the wounding words aimed at us by others, and, no doubt, we each have been guilty of being the one who shot the arrow of harmful words into the heart of another, quite probably one whom we loved dearly.

Each one of us requires the forgiveness of God, the heavenly Father by the blood of Jesus Christ, and each one of is to put away all unwholesome words from our mouths.

“You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those  who hear.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk – indeed all malice.  Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.”  Ephesians 4:29-32 (NET).

Holy Father,

             “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

             be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

                                                                                                                                    Psalm 19:14

 

 

¹ To be a child of God, you must first have a relationship with Christ. 

 John 3:16 says:

            “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, you are invited to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin.   If you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9.)    If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone, and go to church!

 

WILLING TO BE DIFFERENT

FLEEING FROM THE SIN OF BLENDING IN.....

By Shirley Wiggins

The sin of blending in….¹  Could this be the answer to my desperate discomfort on so many Sunday mornings in worship service?

I berate myself for my clothes, hair, make-up, shoes:  my overall appearance.  I haven’t found one thing to suit me, so far.  I feel like I stand out like a sore – bleeding! – thumb. 

This is more than being displeased with my outfit on a particular morning.  I am so acutely aware of feeling “different” that I cannot shift my focus from me to my Lord and Savior –the reason for my being in church on each Sunday morning.  But, is He the reason for my attendance? 

Really?  Then, why am I more focused on ‘me’ than on Him?!

And my discomfort – is it because I am not like everyone else; or, perhaps that I am too much like the world? 

The root of my discomfort may be that I am not like the “me” I secretly want to be:  I want to be “different.”  I am in the process of coming to grips with an aging body. And, I want to be a “better” person in every way – now.  I want my physical age to line up with the maturing me I should be spiritually, I think to myself, momentarily forgetting that transformation is a spiritual process, not an immediate attainment.   

Yet, perhaps even this is not really the reason for my discomfort, and certainly it is not that I am more spiritual than the people around me.  I am not.  I cannot hold a candle among these saints for faithfulness and genuineness.

So, what is the reason for my desperate discomfort?  I need my Father to answer that for me.  Clearly show me what that is all about, and help me to repent of my sin.

Perhaps my sin is the sin of blending in – with the world.  “The world” in this context means the unbelieving world, the world which has rejected God and Jesus and the Truth of the Bible.

Am I actually not willing to be different from the world?  I have to admit this is a very real possibility.

Have I believed a lie and thus compromised the Truth of God’s word and just what the fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ means for and to all people?

With repentant heart, I have to admit that on occasion I have, in a sense, done that very thing.  Not out loud and on purpose perhaps, but by remaining silent and inactive when the world denies His very existence.  When the world symbolically arises all around me and clamors for His death once again:  demanding that He (and His Name) be expelled and exiled from this nation and all other nations in every sense of the word.

I recognize, and repent of my sin of secretly blending in… silently with the world, when I refuse to be different – vastly, glaringly with the unbelieving world.

My place and presence is in the church building fellowshipping with the body of Christ and adding my voice to the worshiping and praising of the God of my salvation.  For I am a member of the body of Christ – He is truly my Savior and I am truly His born-again child of God.

So, what is my problem?

My problem is perhaps the same as your problem:  the age-old war against sin –  the spiritual battle that rages on in the world as Satan seeks to outdo God, to fight, lie, cheat, steal, and kill to prove he can be god himself, and that he can do God’s job better than God Himself.

The only problem with that line of thought is that it is based in the lie that the devil fathered, and he has fallen into his own snare and trap by believing his own lie!

Isn’t that astounding?!  That one could actually tell a lie and end up believing it oneself?!  That is amazing to me!

And, yet, I fall for those lies when I give in to deceptive thoughts in my own mind – when I fail to fight the lie with the antidote:  the Truth of God and His Word:

 His written Word, The Holy Bible, and

His living Word, Jesus Christ, and

 His revealer of Truth,  the Holy Spirit.

I have all these resources, and yet, to my dismay, I find that I have fallen for another of the lies.  The good news is that my Father’s Holy Spirit comes faithfully to me bringing truth to me again, dispelling the lie – again.

What an awesome truth of mercy and grace is the love of God, who pours out His love in the hearts of His people by His Holy Spirit, who gained this access for us into the new and living way by the death of Jesus Christ, and His subsequent resurrection and ascension back into heaven!

And, what an awesome gift He left here for those of us still stuck in this world without His bodily presence:  His own Holy Spirit who actually dwells within the bodies of believers!

What a powerful and amazingly accessible antidote to deception!  And, yet, sobering thought:  how many people are still living in the snare of deception – the web of lies spun by the Adversary? 

An apt name for the devil, Satan himself:  Adversary, for he opposes and fights against God and His people every day in every way.

And, yet, the battle is not ours in the most fundamental way.  God, our Father, has never left us alone – not for one single moment.  He is with us still.  After His death and resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven telling the believers it was advantageously essential that He return to heaven, but that His Father would send a Helper just like Him to remain with the believers in the world to aid and comfort and guide and protect us until Jesus Himself returns to gather His own safely home to heaven. (See John 14 – 17.)

Will you be in that number whom Jesus will come for and take back to heaven, our prepared place of eternal abode?  I will.  I am completely ashamed of my weaknesses, but I am reminded by godly people that my weaknesses are no match for God’s strength in Jesus Christ.  God actually proves His strength through weaknesses.  (Precious study by Priscilla Shirer:  ‘Gideon.’)

How amazing is that?!  No matter how weak I (or you) may be (physically or spiritually) on any given day, the grace of Jesus is sufficient for me (and you), for His strength is made perfect through our weaknesses.  (2 Corinthians 12:9.)

Let’s break from the sin of blending in with the world, and dare to be different!  Let us be women (and men, and boys and girls) of faith in Jesus Christ! 

Let us destroy the idols of deception that sneak into our minds and try to work their way into our hearts – demolish them by the power of God’s word, the Holy Bible, and His Holy Spirit.   God’s Word is to be read and meditated upon daily if we are to be strengthened by Him.

Let us stand up to the voices of the world, declaring our faith in and allegiance to the God of the Bible and to His Savior who died and rose again for our victory:  Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God!

The one man – Adam’s –  disobedient sinful act, at the offer of the adversary made to the woman, Eve, who fell for the lie, allowed sin entry into the world.  And the One Man – Jesus’ – obedient sinless act, provided for mankind’s rescue from the power of sin and death².

 “For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive (God’s) overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness (putting them into right standing with Himself) reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”  “Well then, as one man’s trespass [one man’s false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so One Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.”  “For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).” …   “So that just as sin has reigned in death, so grace (God’s unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.”  Romans 5:17-19, 21 (Amplified Bible).

The Son of Man– the One who dared to be different by refusing to blend in with the world around Him - put rescue and redemption within our reach. (2)

 He is our example:   “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.  ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats.  Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.  He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by His wounds you have been healed.’ For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  1 Peter 2: 21-25 (NIV 2011).

He is our model, as is the apostle Paul, and many others who’ve lived by the commands of God in Jesus:    “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.  And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  Only let us live up to what we have already attained.  Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.  For I have told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  …  But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”    Philippians 3:15-18, 20-21  (NIV 2011).

 

 

 

 

¹“Fleeing from the sin of blending in…”  I read these words in an email devotional I received , from the book Tozer on Christian Leadership by A.W. Tozer, compiled by Ron Eggert.

²To be a child of God, you must first have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  John 3:16 says:

            “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, I encourage you to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Him to cleanse you of that sin. As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9) If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone!  And go to Church!

 

 

HAS GOD GONE OUT OF BUSINESS?

By Shirley Wiggins

Is God listening?  Does He listen to us when we are in trouble?  Is God aware of life in this new age?  Does God even care what happens to people in the world today? 

This is written from a woman’s perspective, but it is about life issues, and life applies to all people, without exclusions, and there are no age limits.

Life issues are emotional in nature.  No way around it.  Life affects us all and its effects are evident.

Recently, while browsing through an old journal, I found a list of some things I felt God was teaching me about life and about being a woman with a variety of roles in life:  wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. 

After reading my thoughts, would you consider leaving a comment to share some of your observations about life lessons?  Is God your God?  Is God listening to you?

 I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might,
    I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.

^2-6 I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord;
    my life was an open wound that wouldn’t heal.
When friends said, “Everything will turn out all right,”
    I didn’t believe a word they said.
I remember God—and shake my head.
    I bow my head—then wring my hands.
I’m awake all night—not a wink of sleep;
    I can’t even say what’s bothering me.
I go over the days one by one,
    I ponder the years gone by.
I strum my lute all through the night,
    wondering how to get my life together.
^7-10 Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?
    Will he never smile again?
Is his love worn threadbare?
    Has his salvation promise burned out?
Has God forgotten his manners?
    Has he angrily stalked off and left us?
“Just my luck,” I said. “The High God goes out of business just the moment I need him.”  
    Psalm 77  The Message (MSG)   Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

I could identify with the life issues described by the psalmist as translated in The Message version of the Bible.  As you read it, let your mind remember times you also may have experienced some of these emotions. 

I don’t recall ever yelling out to God and certainly not at the top of my lungs.  I may have wanted to do that on occasion.  But I think fear would have prevented even the consideration of “yelling” with reference to God.  I would have been pretty convinced that if there were any yelling to be done, it should be Him yelling at me!

Even after the passing of many years, I continue to experience some of the same life issues that I did as a younger woman, but with a significant difference – a valuable and costly learning is slowly but surely taking place:  the certain knowledge that God is my God, and I am His child, and I know that He is aware of me, He cares about me, He is listening to me, and more importantly, He is trustworthy.

He has proven Himself faithful to me so many times and in so many ways over the course of my life that I know for sure that “the High God” has not “gone out of business!”

Like many others, I too, have spent some sleepless nights shaking my head and wringing my hands, feeling destitute of hope.

While Psalm 77:7-10 has expressed my anguish, verses 10-15 have been my continuing assurance:

“Once again I’ll go over what God has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders; I’ll ponder all the things You’ve accomplished, and give a long, loving look at your acts.

O God! Your way is holy!  No god is great like God! You’re the God who makes things happen; you showed everyone what you can do— You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble, rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.”

My comfort came, and still comes, in the fact that God is still God and He is good.  He is a proven in my life.  I now have a history with Him that attests to the truth that, just as in years past when ”He pulled His people out of the worst kinds of trouble” and “rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph,” so He pulls me and my family out of the worst kinds of trouble, and rescues us.

My anguish and my assurance find an anchor in the truth and reliability of God in His Word:   

"If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God, “I’ll get you out of any trouble.
I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times; I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.  I’ll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!”  Psalm 91:14-16  The Message (MSG

“We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.”  Hebrews 6:18-20  The Message (MSG)

This has been my answer:   every time we have relied on the Lord, He has rescued us.  His constant presence and provision and protection is still at work in our lives, as individuals and as a family.  

“Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” ¹² So the Lord ^[a]routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.”  2 Chronicles 14:11-12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

As a result, this has become my life’s aim in every situation and circumstance:

“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  The Message (MSG)

 Life’s lessons help God’s people learn how to live in relationship with Him and others.  Certain principles are worth learning in life, and specific examples are to be found in the pages of the Bible from the lives of people in both the Old Testament and New Testament times. 

In my own life too, I reflect on the life lessons worth learning, as a woman:

------- a  wife,  dearly loved,  learns  love, happiness, submission to God, and every range of emotion from excitement to contentment;

-------a mother learns compassion, kindness, patience, and gentleness, bravery in the face of fears as she cares for babies and children, nurturing them to the courage and bravery they will need for the rest of their lives.  She learns to hold onto hope and release (slowly, yet surely) her protective grip on her children;

-------a mother-in-law learns love, humility, patience, kindness, forbearance, the yielding of a stubborn will, a releasing of her own personal ambitions and plans for her children; she learns to hold onto hope… still learning to release her stubborn grip on the control of her loved ones’ lives;

--------a grandmother learns the thrill of unconditional love from her grandchildren, and also the  close but separated relationships:  there are parents between she and her grandchild, and she learns to respect their authority, still learning to release her tight grip on her expectations for her family’s  lives.

A woman learns to entrust ‘her’ family into God’s strong, secure and certain grip on her God-given family.  And, at long last, we will all learn how to begin to “free-float,” “resting in Jesus,” as we learn to give God all the glory, and EVERYTHING else!

“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”    1 Corinthians 1:26-31 The Message (MSG)

May we all learn how to march in the band of Christ’s followers, blowing the trumpet to sound the call to come and worship the Mighty God, the Creator who yearns to be the Father to all who will come to Him through His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.¹

May we all come together in praise to our God, who listens to our prayers and continues to lead His own people with a mighty hand of power and love.  Let us acknowledge His right to rule in His sovereignty: 

^16-19 Ocean saw you in action, God, saw you and trembled with fear; Deep Ocean was scared to death.  Clouds belched buckets of rain, Sky exploded with thunder, your arrows flashing this way and that. From Whirlwind came your thundering voice, Lightning exposed the world, Earth reeled and rocked. You strode right through Ocean, walked straight through roaring Ocean, but nobody saw you come or go. ²⁰ Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron, You led your people like a flock of sheep.  Psalm 77:16-20 The Message

 

 

 

 

¹  Have you run to God for your very life?  To be a child of God, you must first have a relationship with Jesus Christ.   John 3:16 says:

            “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, I encourage you to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin. As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9) If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone, and go to church!

 

BY DEATH WE LIVE

By Shirley Wiggins

Does it make you a bit sad to see the spring and summer seasons come to their end and have all those beautiful flowering blooms fade away and die?

Even though I love fall’s bright and beautiful leaves and colors just as much, I must admit I miss the beautiful sights, scents, and smells of spring and summer. 

Winter brings its own beauty, of course, but as the colors change and green vegetation is covered over with the frosts of ‘death’ to the blooms, everything changes and we look for the beauty that may be a bit harder to find.

Death is like that, isn’t it?  It changes everything about life.  Mrs. Cowman’s Streams in the Desert¹  devotional carries that theme in the words of one whom she credits only as “Beecher.”

Beecher tells the story of some beautiful summer asters in the garden and how the goodbye was made as their season ended and they perished.

Then to Beecher’s great delight it was later found that for every aster that had disappeared in winter’s death “fifty plants had been planted.”

He said in picture-sketching words that all the winter “frosts and surly winds” caught his flowers, slew them, casting them to the ground and having trod upon them with “snowy feet” left them as if to say:  “This is the end of you.”  But come the next spring “there were for every root, fifty witnesses to rise up and say, “By death we live.”

With his beautiful words, Beecher said that the same is true in God’s kingdom.  By the death of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, “came everlasting life.”  By Christ’s cruel death on the cross and his subsequent three-day burial in the sepulcher, and then resurrection day came “the throne and the palace of the Eternal God.  By overthrow came victory.”

“Do not be afraid to suffer.   Do not be afraid to be overthrown.”  “It is by being cast down and not destroyed; it is by being shaken to pieces, and the pieces torn to shreds, that [we, men and women] become [men and women] of might…”

He warned that those who “yield to the appearance of things, and go with the world, have their quick blossoming, their momentary prosperity and then their end, which is an end forever.”

But those who know God through the gruesome death and glorious resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, will spend eternity alive forevermore in fellowship with God and Christ, the Lamb! 
All because Jesus Christ died, so that whosoever will choose Him may live.
The Bible teaches throughout its pages that though there is only one way to God, and that way is through Jesus Christ, that as many as will receive Him by believing on His name, to them God will give the right to become His children through what many refer to as “the second birth.” 

John 1:1-18 tells us of the deity of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, calling Jesus “the Light.”

“The true Light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.  He came to that which was His own but His own did not receive Him.  Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. … No one has  ever seen God, but the One and Only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known.”  John 1:9-14,18 (NIV 2011).

John 3:1-21 gives us Jesus’ teaching to Nicodemus about being born again:

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council, who desired to find out more about Jesus because it was evident to him that Jesus was more than just a good teacher.

Jesus startled him with this astounding statement in verse 3:  “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

Can’t you just imagine the bewilderment on Nicodemus’ face as he asked, “How can someone be born when they are old?  Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (v.4)

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. “ (verses 5-8).

Nicodemus asks for more, verse 9:  “How can this be?”

Verses 11-21, Jesus said:  “Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.  I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.  For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s One and Only Son.  This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Are you, dear friend, as glad as I am that we do not have to explain the unexplainable in order to believe?  I am so grateful that God doesn’t require our total understanding; although, He does call for our obedient commitment to believe what He tells us.

Remember how Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus, received the astounding news from the angel Gabriel that she was highly favored and the Lord was with her and she would be the one to give birth to the Son of the Most High?    When she asked for more information about how that could be since she was an unmarried virgin, the angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. …” 

Mary’s beautiful response was, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.”     See Luke 1:26-38 (NIV 2011).

May we say, as she did:  “Lord, I am Your servant, may Your word be fulfilled in me.”    Amen.

 

 

 

¹Streams in the Desert Compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman; ©1965 Cowman Publications, Inc.; pages 294-295.  

 

BEHIND THE BARRIERS

By Shirley Wiggins

Just like the majestic cedars in my back yard, barriers in a relationship can grow up so high and in between so thick that seeing what is behind them becomes impossible without making the conscious effort to do so.

We planted the cedars when they were only waist-high and with plenty of space left between them for growth.  We could see between them and over them.  That is no longer possible as they are now around 25 feet high and so tightly grown together that only tiny gaps in the undergrowth allow for the slightest glimpse at the grass on the ground behind them.

To see what’s behind them now requires one of two things.  Either take a walk around them which will put us on someone else’s property, or a drive-by in the car on the street behind us to catch a fleeting glimpse as we drive slowly by the property behind us.

My husband reflected on how fast it seems they’ve grown so high and that only last year we could still see over their tops to the rooftops of the houses on the street behind us. Now they provide a barrier that keeps out sound and sight.

Barriers between people can grow like that – imperceptibly:  “extremely slight, gradual, or subtle.”  Imperceptible differences in relationship can seep in:  “not perceptible by a sense or by the mind - <a slight difference in hue between the two glasses that’s imperceptible unless they’re placed side by side.>”

Unless one symbolically places in our memories side-by-side what a relationship used to be and compare it with what it is at the moment, we may not realize a shift has taken place.

Some people will, perhaps, never notice the difference in their relationships at all.  Some will only notice when the relationship has grown so strained and uncomfortable it seems not worth the effort to stay in contact with the other person.

Some people, however, will take notice before the barrier has grown so tall and thick, but will spend so much time and effort analyzing the possible reasons for the “Why?” behind the troubling change,  that they never take the walk around to the other side to see for themselves what’s taking place behind the barrier. 

Perhaps they prefer not to intrude, not to go into the other person’s ‘space,’ their own personal, private property.

Others will possibly get out the car and drive slowly past the backside of the barrier, hungry just for a look at the loved one’s private property, grieving over the lost connection with absolutely no idea of how to get close enough to regain the full fellowship.

Years can go by and the desired invitation to come in and fellowship together may never come.  Year after year, the longed-for invitation never comes, and year by year, the barrier grows higher and thicker and harder to penetrate.

We have a new Lantana plant growing in my favorite pot on our patio.  This year, same as last year, the beautiful pot has been placed carefully in the center of a decorative wrought-iron garden stake in the ground at the edge of the patio.

Recently, I sat outside early one morning, sipping hot coffee, and enjoying the beautiful sights and sounds of nature.  I happened to notice that the Lantana pot was off-center.  When I asked my husband if he had perhaps moved the stake while edging the lawn, he assured me he had not moved it.  After he walked down to the patio to take a look, he said the pot was actually still in its place and not off-center at all.  I just happened to be looking at it from an angle that made it look off-center.

When we try to assess relationships, with or without barriers, our “angle” must be precise.  An “angle” is defined in the dictionary as “the precise viewpoint from which something is observed or considered.  The thesaurus says “angle” is “a certain way in which something appears or may be regarded.”

The way we look at or think about aspects of our relationships with other people can color the way we see the situation and the person, if our angle isn’t centered – anchored – in prayer.

Our emotions can cause the “hue” of our view to be altered based on our feelings and not necessarily the facts.  We know that ‘barriers’ are simply something that obstructs, “something immaterial that impedes or separates…”

The sooner we sense a barrier in any relationship and act to learn more about it, the easier it may be to prevent a chasm that can separate loved ones.

Misunderstandings can grow into barriers.  If we ignore them, or pretend they don’t matter, sometimes they can grow as imperceptibly as the 25-foot cedars until the relationship is so strained, we might be tempted to let it die rather than nurture it by doing the hard and uncomfortable and inconvenient things that will cause it to bloom again into the beautiful part of life that God intended from the beginning.

God designed families and there are no other relationships more important on this earth.  The only relationship that should take precedence over family is that of one’s own personal relationship with God the Creator who also desires to be God, our Father.

He designed salvation to be the Way back into His own family, after sin erected its barrier between God and people.  God sent His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to rescue people and restore us to full fellowship with Him, to tear down the barrier of sin that separates people from the God who created them for that uninterrupted fellowship with Himself.¹

He is the Source we turn to first when we realize that barriers have come up between ourselves and our loved ones, allowing disunity to come between us and another person.  We rely upon the Comforter, Counselor, and Friend that God left on earth after Jesus’ ascension back into heaven:  His Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit then guides us and guards us as we prayerfully seek reconciliation with alienated loved ones.  We never give up on relationship with others because God never gives up on relationship with us.

Family matters to God because He designed family.  (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:20-24.)    

God desires to be Father to every person.  We love Him only because He first loved us. 

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God is manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  1 John 4:7-11

“Jesus said …, ‘You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”  Matthew 22:37-40 (NKJV).

God desires unity in His family of believers, and also in our human family relationships.  We never give up on Love! 

May we all be blessed with the unity of love in our hearts and in our families. 

 

 

 

 

¹For adoption into God’s Family, you must first have a relationship with Christ. 

John 3:16 says:“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, I encourage you to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin. As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9) If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone!