A Look At Exile

Hello all,

I’m thinking about exile. Why? A youth pastor from the area was put in jail because of an accusation by a young girl their family had befriended. She lashed out at him, apparently, because of her advances being ignored. Their church community is in an uproar! How can this happen? Where is the justice? How can she get away with this?

This morning I was reading Jeremiah 29 which holds one of the most loved Scriptures to which many cling when things look bleak: Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future.” (ESV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.(KJV) I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.(MSG) ¹¹For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.(AMP)

We have memorized that Scripture but have we read the preceding verses? God is delivering a message of hope to those He has sent into exile. Did you catch that? Whom HE had sent into exile. How many times do we try to squirm, connive, appeal, manipulate our way out of a situation without even asking, “How did I get here and what am I doing here?”

Why does God send folks into exile? Often we don’t know why. OK. So we can say that He sent some into exile because of their hardness of heart or their rebellion. But can we say that about Daniel? Ezekiel?  John? We may never know why we were sent, but we can know what to do while we are in exile because it is delineated in Scripture.  We are told to make gardens, live in houses, get married, and be productive. We are to flourish in that land to which we were sent as exiles. We are to seek the welfare of that place to which we are saved. That can look like this: ‘do you best on the job;’ ‘be a willing participant in the community;’ ‘get involved in politics and make a difference;’ ‘be a light in the darkness;’ ‘initiate needed programs;’ ‘improve the surroundings.’ Depending on our circumstances our ‘productivity’ will vary. But one thing is the same. When we are sent into exile we’re not to lie on the cot and moan for former days. We’re not to look at old photos and weep. We’re not to bang on the bars and say ‘let me out’. NO! We are to do everything in our power to make that place to which we have been sent a place that is much better than it was before we came. 

We are also told what to guard against in that place of exile. We are told not to buy into their deception. We’re to keep our heads clear, keep the Word utmost, foremost, front, and  center so that we remember where we really belong and that our home is heaven and that we are kingdom people.

It’s not only THEM who can deceive us. The Lord says, “Don’t let YOUR prophets and YOUR diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams that THEY dream for it is a lie that THEY are prophesying to you in My name; I did not send them.” Jer 29:8,9 (ESV) The prophets in Jeremiah 29 were saying ‘Don’t worry. You’ll get out of here soon. It’s not God’s plan for you.’ God said, “That is not me speaking and don’t believe them!” (my interpretation)

I didn’t put it into these words but when I was teaching for TWELVE YEARS at Riverview High School I’d think, “What am I doing here and will I EVER GET OUT OF HERE?” Then one day I heard a message that snapped my neck up straight similar to the neck-snapping I got this morning reading Jeremiah 29.

I was in church at St. Louis Christian Center and the message was given by the (then) first lady Loretta Harvey. She said , “If you are ministering somewhere, you have to LOVE the place you are ministering and you have to LOVE the people to whom you are ministering.” At R______ High School  the morale was SO BAD that I cried after work every day for ten years. The administration was not at all supportive; the teachers were cliquey, and the students hit each other in the faces with locks. I HATED the place and I hated the people. (I never SAID that and I didn’t THINK that, but compared to LOVING IT, I hated it!)  If someone asked me how my job was  I’d go into the long horror story of the week. I continually said things like, “These students don’t want to learn! They are lazy. They won’t keep their heads up off their desk. They want to run the halls. It’s a good day when ____ is absent.  Loretta said those words in ONE INSTANT my entire mindset changed. I was SENT to R_______ High School. I was MINISTERING to those students. I WOULD love R________ High School and I WOULD love those students. And I did! And I do. All it took was one sentence of truth for me to turn my thinking right side out. I had been SENT into exile. I was to be productive. I was to leave it better than I came. I was to love the students, the faculty, the administration. I said I cried every day for ten years. Those words chased out all the lies and the crooning of the false prophets who said, “You need to be someplace else! Get out of there! There are hundreds of places who deserve you! R________ doesn’t deserve you!” Oh I’d bought into it and believed it. But for the next two years I said on the way to work, “Jesus Christ in me is going to R_______ High School today! My students are great learners, excited about education and do their best.” EVERYTHING CHANGED.

Then SUDDENLY the Lord made it clear that my time was up. I was released and sent to a fabulous school!  God’s time. God’s plan. God’s exile. God’s assignment. God’s orders. God’s release.

Where is your exile? What are your orders? How is your productivity there? You’re in great company. God’s sends His best and His brightest into exile.

Wait Until They're Dying?

I tend to use friendship as my main ministry tool. I am naturally friendly so it is easy for me. I love people and learning details of their lives delights me. This does not work well for evangelism. I don't tend to 'close the sale' so to speak in getting them to the point of accepting Jesus as Savior. I just let Jesus love through me and draw people, hopefully to Himself, through their relationship with me. That seems fine. I don't want to push people. I don't want to disrespect what they believe. I don't want to take them away from their own choices.

However:

Clarence (not his real name) is dying. He is a casual facebook friend, someone I knew on a surface level 40 plus years ago. So my notes to him were friendly. FRIENDLY. But he is dying. Now I am facing the effectiveness of my 'friendship evangelism'.  His belief will not take him to heaven. His belief will not appropriate the blood of Jesus. His belief does not bring him any of the promises of the gospel. His belief is dead. His belief is worthless. His belief is a sham, a mockery, a joke. His belief is laughing in his face as he faces death.

SO NOW! So now I am giving him everything I know. It is like cramming for an exam---but I'm the teacher, not the student!  What kind of a teacher hems and haws about the content of the material and then the week of the exam gives all the content needed----but worse! The day before the exam she puts something out on the computer that she neglected to say to be on the test! Crucial material that MUST be learned and internalized in hours...........or minutes.

So how effective is 'friendship' evangelism. Where does it lead?

Do we really want to wait until they're dying to give them the information they need to pass the test?
And sadder still: there is vibrancy and joy beyond description in living Jesus now!  But because I don't want to offend, intrude, rob, risk I don't share what can change the person's life from dismal to delightful.

Did I really have to wait until he was dying?

Be Risen With Christ!

 Resurrection Day. Jesus Christ has risen! All over the world church bells are tolling the wonderful news! ‘Jesus is Alive! The Tomb is Empty! Come and See!’

           Job 21:32 gives us a different view of the relationship of the body and the tomb:  once there, it stays there!  Once dead, always dead. That’s true even for some people of faith in God.

          I grew up in a wonderful, closely-knit Jewish community. People who study community and family need look no farther than Sinai Temple in Michigan City, Indiana in the 1950’s when I grew up. It was its own village. Funerals were attended by one and all. But at Sinai Temple there was never mention of resurrection. The ‘comforting’ words spoken were that the person lives on in the memory of his loved ones. Dust to dust.

          Not all Jews believe that way. Maimonides, a famous Jewish scholar, considered bodily resurrection from the dead to be one of the 13 principles of Judaism. That conflict of belief about life after death was reflected in Acts 23:8. When Paul was being hassled to the point that he was in danger of serious injury he started a squabble among his accusers about resurrection. Pharisees did believe there was a resurrection, and the Sadducees believed there was not. By bringing up life after death a heated argument ensued between the two sides.  The chief captain was worried that Paul would be torn apart so he had him removed from the room.

          We needn’t take a vote to see if bodily resurrection is a fact. We just look to the Word of God and have the truth. Here are some scriptures to prove that, not only was Jesus Christ raised from the dead, so will we be at His final coming. Jesus said that we will be rewarded for good deeds at the resurrection of the just. (Luke 13:14).  The Greek word for resurrection is anastasis, which literally means stand up again.

          Jesus gives us more detail about the resurrection by telling us when the resurrection will take place. It will take place when the dead are already in the grave. (John 5:28 and 29)  Imagine. Graveyards all over the world, silent, perhaps visited by a few faithful, and then WHOOSH! At the appointed time, dead people will hear the voice of Jesus and will come flying out of their tombs! Some will have resurrection of life (those who have done good) and some the resurrection of death (those who have done bad.)

          Jesus gets a little more personal in discussing the resurrection. “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes me, though he were dead, yet he shall live.” (John 11:25) That takes the guesswork out of what it means to do good or to do bad. It is obvious here that to do good is to believe in Jesus. To do bad is to doubt Him.

          All the apostles witnessed Jesus’ resurrection; “Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.” (Acts 2:31, 32) “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” (Acts 2:31) “This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” (Acts 2:32)

           But what of our resurrection? “As we died with him on the cross (in terms of our sin nature dying in its power over us) we live with Him in His resurrection.” (Rom 6:5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.  It seemed preposterous to Paul that anyone would doubt our bodily resurrection.

(I Corinthians 15:12)

          Jesus was the first. We are in Him, so it would follow, naturally, that we too are resurrected. “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?”

(1 Cor 15:12)We don’t doubt that we all died into sin through Adam, but so why do we doubt that we have been raised again through Christ. “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (1 Cor 15:21)

          That seems to be our human nature. We are hard on ourselves. We are quick to think of our faults but slow to remember our virtues. It is torture for some of us to speak well of ourselves. As an example, there may be times in conferences where we are asked to list our flaws. We quickly fill the whole paper. But then, when asked to list of merits, we are stumped. We may think, scribble something and then cross it out. Sometimes we have to ask someone else, “Do you see any merits in me at all?” Similarly we can be hard on each other. We may be quick to pick out irritating habits in each other but slow to recognize virtues in each other.

          Did that negativity  slide into the arena of resurrection thinking? We know we’re sinners. But do we know we’ve risen? We know we’re going to die someday. But do we know we’re going to live again some day? We can’t gloss over the resurrection and understand it. Paul told the Philippians that we have to study the resurrection. We have to meditate on it. We have to get comfortable, not only with considering Jesus’ death and resurrection but also ours. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” (Phil 3:10) “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Phil 3:11) “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. “ (Phil 3:12)

          According to Hebrews 6:1 and 2 resurrection isn’t an ‘honors’ subject for the mentally elite. It’s not graduate school. It is entry level thinking. “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

           Resurrection is a foundations course. Often colleges have placement tests in order to know where to place students so that they will succeed.  For those students who have the most difficulty learning the coursework, there are foundations classes. We are expected to get ‘resurrection’ under our belts before we go onto higher spiritual learning.

          Are we talking about after Jesus returns, after the New Heaven and New Earth? Not according to the writer of Hebrews. Heb 11:35 is part of the great faith-challenge section of the Bible where the writer puts ‘in our face’ models of greatness of the faith. Simply put, women received their dead raised to life again! Women’s loved ones were dead. They got up and lived! 

          This Resurrection Season let’s challenge ourselves to think, not only about the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but on the Resurrection of our own lives. What does that mean to live in Resurrection? How would our perception of ourselves change if we no longer thought of ourselves as failures ready to happen but miracles about to break forth? What if we stopped thinking that everything we touch turns to stone, but that everything we touch turns to glory? What if we looked in the mirror and saw, not blemishes, double chins, or ‘bad hair’ but saw Jesus in our eyes? What would happen to our relationships if we knew we extended life? forgiveness of sin? What if we thought His life was in us? That is not blind speculation. That is truth. He is risen, and so are we.

        Resurrection Day! Let's make it a reality!

                                                                         

Strengthen the Weak Joints

Marcy Jones was and is a dear friend. We became serious prayer partners when our boys started kindergarten. We prayed on the phone from 6 to 7 every morning--and sometimes longer. We probably knew each other better than any anyone on earth because prayer creates intimacy.

Marcy knew my weaknesses and I knew hers.  We know that Satan attacks us where we are the weakest. He is a cruel and relenteless bully who doesn't give up picking on our most vulnerable areas.

Marcy gave me the BEST NUGGET of wisdom that I am going to apply today--right now! It had slipped my mind as I have been struggling with an area of weakness that has been bombed, pulverized, shattered by the enemy. Satan is a sniper, a terrorist, and leads batallions of the worst bullies imaginable all aimed at our weakest points.

But Marcy's wisdom gave me hope! Have you ever been hopeless? I have! We are hopeless when we are oppressed and attacked on all sides by the enemy of our souls FORGETTING that we have a defender! a shield!  support!  reinforcement!

So what is this nugget of wisdom? Is it prayer? No. In this case it is not prayer. Is it counseling? No. In this case it is not counseling.

Here is the nugget of wisdom. Don't be deceived at how simple it seems. The Gospel is simple! In fact Jesus says that unless we become as little children we just won't 'get it'. He said that He uses the simple (concepts, ideas, nuggets) to confound the wise (the erudite, the pompous, the pontificators, the prideful.)

Take a look: we have a weak area--a joint, a bone, an artery--that is easy broken or infected--damaged to the point where it will affect or destroy the entire body if left untreated.  Satan knows that. He sends every form of attack to that weak area to the point that we are left feeling exhausted, defenseless, hopeless.

What is Satan's goal? Is it to kill us? No. Is it to cripple us? No. Is it to hospitalize us? Improverish us? No! No! No!  We know saints who have died martyrs' deaths and have inspired millions. Joni Erickson Tata, crippled and in a wheelchair, gives hope to everyone who hears her. Hospitalize? No! It was in the hospital that Neil led nurses to the Lord in South Africa. Impoverish? No! The shining faces of the destitute in India bring us to our knees. 

So? Satan's goal is to keep us from depending on God...from trusting Him..from falling at the feet of Jesus.....from knowing He is able to keep us. Satan wants our allegiance pulled away from God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and he knows right where to aim! He aims at our weakness.

And what is our hope? our bolsterer? our strengthener? our victory?

Marcy told me:

Identify your weakest area and strengthen it by applying the Word of God to it. When we do that regularly--like medicine, like exercise, like physical therapy we will become stronger in that area than in any other. It will simply CEASE TO BE A TARGET for the enemy because he won't see our weakness.


How has this brought light to your own situation?

Be the Hands that Lift Her

For years I have prayed for one person who seems to be blocked in on all sides by disbelief. It as if there is a plot to keep her penned in so that she cannot reach out and accept the love God has for her. Our church is entering into a season of reading prayers every day to be in one accord,  growing in fellowship with God and strengthening the inner man.

Today in my own prayer  time I came across some portions of Scripture and some phrases from a book that leapt off the page as a prayer for the one who cannot believe.  I am calling the prayer: BE THE HANDS THAT LIFT HER.

Here is the prayer. You may choose to add the name of the person for whom you are praying, print it up, and read it daily.

Father, please hear _____________________'s cry. Never hide Your face from her. Answer her speedily when she calls. Thoughts taunt her. Let her know that You are enthroned forever. Lord, arise! Have pity on her. Favor her. This is the appointed time for her salvation. Build her up, Lord. Appear in Your glory. Set her free so that she can declare Your name. (1) I am wrestling in prayer for _____________ so she may stand firm in all the things of God.(2) I wrestle in prayer combatting the enemy on her behalf, praying for Your will in her life and for her ultimate victory. I intercede for her:  motivated by love, empowered by the Holy Spirit and accomplished in the name of Jesus. I share her burden. I fight for her freedom and inner healing. I am a warrior raised up in battle on her behalf. (3)

Below are the sources but I have broadly adapted them for my purposes.

(1)  from Psalm 102
(2   Colossians 4:12
(3)  Wounded by Terry Wardle

The Danger of The Hard Heart (and how to soften it)

THE DANGER OF A HARDENED HEART (and how to soften it!)

A Bible Study  Written for Women with a Vision by Cheryl Skid

Psalm 95: 8-11

“Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness

When your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”

Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” 

Taking a look at ourselves

Can you pinpoint a specific time when you wanted to—or maybe you did—shake your fist at God saying, “OK God! If you’re really there then why____________________________________________________________”

Can you look back at your life and say, “Yes, at that time I knew God was there; in fact if it weren’t for God I would have ________________________________________”

Were there, or are there times in your life where you seemed to have no  rest in your spirit….constantly anxious, on edge, worried, never at peace?_________________________________________________________ Did you journal during that time? __________What was/is going on? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Were there, are there, times that you seem to be at odds with everyone—someone’s always mad, feelings are constantly being hurt, the least little thing provokes a major blow up? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Let’s look at Language

Here are some words from our text. I’ve gone back to the original language to give us a better understanding of the passage.

Loathed          קןט   (koot) some versions say grieve, but the big, huge, fat Hebrew dictionary that I have says loathe or to be disgusted with. Can’t get much plainer than that!

Meribah         מר'בה            quarrel, strife, contention

massah)           מסה              melt down! Frighten, discourage,

Rest                 מנוחה  (menukhah)   resting place, repose, sanctuary, quiet,     ease

Let’s look at other places in the Bible

What’s this talk about  Meribah and Massah?  Let’s read Exodus 17: 2-7.

In simple words, what happened? (I’m going to suggest something that some people may argue about. I suggest you get a copy of an easy-to-read Bible along with whatever you usually read and can’t understand. The New Living Translation is one that just makes the hard words easy. It unravels difficult passages so that at least you can wrap your brain around them) ___________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What kind of environment were the people in before Moses led them out of Egypt?   

 Let’s read Ex 1:8-14 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So they had a life that was horrible. They were slaves, treated like beasts, forced to build the huge cities of Egypt with the pyramids and monuments one brick at a time—and they had to make the bricks!  They were beaten, not fed well, and tormented because of hatred. So what happened? Moses led the people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and ended up in the Wilderness. The people were mad as wet hens at Moses because they were thirsty and there was no water. Moses listened to God, did what it took to get the folks water and then threw up his hands to God because of the stubborn, rebellious HUGE GROUP of grumblers he spent every day trying to lead.

Ex 17:2 says that ONCE MORE the people grumbled—so this was not an isolated incident.  So why did God get mad? What do you think? They weren’t mad at God. They were mad at Moses, so why did God take it personally? ___________________________________________________________________

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                                                 Meaning for Today

  

Consider the actions and attitudes of the people that were angering God.  Describe them. _______________________________________________________

Moses was the chosen leader. Chosen. As in elected? ________________

No? Chosen by God? ____ Do you remember when that happened? What was the situation when God tapped Moses and gave him this daunting task of schlepping this ungrateful group of former exhausted, worn out, hungry, hopeless people out of Egypt? ___________________ Read Exodus 3. It was  a long time from the bush to the desert. Moses never asked for that leadership position. He even fought it. So for people to argue against Moses ‘ leadership they were really doing what? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Take a Look Inside

There are many ways in which our hearts can get hard and all are painful. We may feel unjustly treated, embarrassed, unappreciated.  We may have been passed up at work, humiliated in front of a crowd of people. Prayers may have seemed to be unanswered. Mega-disasters may be sweeping the world. And we allow our heart to be hard.

But today’s lesson is on ONE hardening agent: disrespect and grumbling against God-ordained leadership.

Check yourself. Is it you? If so, how can we soften our hearts? How quickly are we able to repent? Once we repent how fast does God forgive?  Let’s look at 1 John 1:9 and 10.  We confess our sins AND He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from that ugly ME inside us that knows better. He not only wraps His arms around us but He cleanses that ugly place in our hearts. Watch out! Look at 10. Are you saying, ‘Not me! I’m fine! Nothing wrong me me!’  Well that is exactly what IS wrong with you!  NO ONE IS EXEMPT. We are all under leadership that God has ordained and a sure way to keep our hearts soft and yielded is to recognize that it was God who set him or her in authority over us! 

Let God Search Your Heart

And write your prayer here: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box

Maddy was surprised every time she turned the handle of the Jack in the Box to hear the ‘thwack!’ and ‘boing!’  Up would pop the little clown. Maddy would squeal in delight then push the clown down.  He always needed an extra push. Mommy was right beside her waiting, knowing that soon Maddy would need her help. Mommy let Maddy know that she was a big girl able to do things that big girls did. But sometimes Maddy’s little hands were not quite able to push the clown back in the box. It was much easier to turn the handle until he sprang forward. Putting him back was much harder.

 As Maddie grew up she discovered that if She pushed a little too hard in life she often got an  unpleasant surprise.  but Mom was always there. Whether it was  in the same room, another room, or  another town., mom  was always there waiting…waiting…waiting for the nudge, the knock on the door, the email, or the phone call.  “Mom. Do you have a minute?” Mom always had time to help Maddie push the unpleasant, unplanned mess back in the box. Maddie realized as time went by that she couldn’t push and push and push in life and avoid getting those unpleasant pop ups. Yet she didn’t want to walk through life so fearful that she didn’t push at all. She chose to know that no matter what, she had a cushion to safeguard her. She had a mother.