Be Careful What You Pray For

...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that
I may attain to the resurrection of the dead.

Not that I have already attained it or have already become perfect, but I
press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of
by Christ Jesus.

Bretheren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one
thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus. ~Philippians 3:10-14

I found myself sitting in my husbands office tonight after doing a task on his computer. I looked over and noticed a chalk drawing on his wall that I had drawn sometime this last year during a worship and prayer gathering at our church. The memories of that time of intense prayer came rushing back. I can remember everything about that evening: the worship, the music, the prayers, the people...and the message God put on my heart that I quickly put to paper canvas as best as I could.

On this drawing there are the 3 crosses on calvary. The flow of blood from Christ's cross flows through time to the altar where I drew a crude rendition of myself being placed upon the altar and a flame surrounding me. On the altar is written the verse Romans 12:1-2..."I urge you therefore, bretheren, by the mercies of God to offer yourself as living sacrifices, which is holy and acceptable to God. This is your reasonable form of service. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what God's will is, that which is good, acceptable and perfect." There on the altar is a person, with hands lifted in worship, and a song flowing from their heart...completely consumed in the fire of the Lord...a living sacrifice. On one side of the drawing it reads, "Create in me a clean heart, Oh Lord, my God, and renew a right spirit within me." On the other side, by the crosses at calvary, it reads, "Oh that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings."

As I looked upon the drawing I had to fight back a smile of recognition...could it be?? Could all the trials and tribulations of late be an answer to a prayer I prayed long ago? Did I really dare to pray that I would truly know Christ better by the power of His resurrection and the FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS? Yes...I did.

Now, this is not to say that God causes all the bad stuff to happen, but there is a tried and true promise that God will cause all things to work together for good to them that love Him and are called according to His purposes. If there is anything that allows a Christian to experience the resurrection power of Christ, it is to see Jesus actively intervene in the midst of our daily circumstances. True believers KNOW an encounter with the resurrected Christ!

This whole year has been an encounter with the resurrected Christ for our family. This year has brought about the most EXTREME changes in our life in 14 years of marriage. Had we not known these changes were being directed by Jesus Himself it could have been a very ugly family dispute! But the peace of God reigns because an encounter withthe resurrected Christ is UNmistakable!

I remember in that time of intimate prayer earlier this year that I called out to God to know Him more intimately--to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. I asked God to break my heart over issues that break His heart. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief! I guess I did not realize that God would really do it!

This has been an interesting year of entering into the grief of friends who were grieving alone. I told God a long time ago that if there was ever a purpose in the grief I have endured personally that He allow me in time to be able to comfort those who grieve, just as He himself comforted me. We have recently had friends struggle in their marriages, lose children to death, we watched a friends church get torn in two when the pastor milked the church finances dry then left the congregation in devestation and debt as he abandoned the church and took several staff members with him. We have had missionary friends face some situations that they have called just to talk to us and have us pray with them....we entered into their sufferings. There were times that we really had to step back and just wonder over all the painful situations...it is not as though they sprang up overnight--they have always been there, but somehow I have been keenly more in tuned with things and situations that are heartbreaking for me. Could it really be that God has answered that prayer to break my heart with the things that break His heart?

I do not regret praying that prayer. But I have to giggle when I think of the old addage...be careful what you pray for, you just might get it!

There is one thing I can tell you for certain...there is nothing like feeling the pain of God's broken heart over a matter that drives you back to His arms faster than anything! In retrospect, looking back over these various situations personally, and with friends, I can see that there has been an intimacy built with God. There is a place of complete dependency on HIS intervention in these matters because there is very little we can do in the natural but pray for and listen to our friends...just be there for them...often.

There is a time for everything under heaven:
a time to laugh and a time to cry
a time to rejoice and a time to mourn
a time to live and a time to die
a time for war and a time for peace

a time for joy in the Lord...and a time to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings....

Seeing all the wonders that previous prayer has wrought, I think I will be praying next to have a season of boundless love and unending JOY in the Lord!!!

I like being able to step back and look at the big picture from time to time...in the midst of all the recent trials and tribulations God has opened my eyes and allowed me to see the enemy and know how to battle in those situations...and He has also drawn me near to His heart through the fellowship of His sufferings and He has broken my heart with the things that break His heart. The big picture is beautiful...I know I am not alone. I know He has intimately touched my heart with His heart. And as emotionally painful as it can be sometimes, the intimacy with God is immeasurable and I wouldn't trade this experience with my Father for anything in the world.

Now I am praying for His fullness of JOY!!

Dawn

The Body of Christ: A State of the Union Address

(Content taken from the lecture series this week with Jack Frost from Shiloh Ministries, notes from Adam McCain’s Real Christianity Class, and the 2004 Barna Report)

Every year George Barna surveys the American Christian Churches to keep a “physical check up” on the church. The 2004 Barna report shows the body of Christ in a critical condition.

Consider the following from his survey of American Christians:

90% of Americans marry.

51% of CHRISTIAN marriages end in divorce (this is the first time the Christian divorce rate exceeded the secular world’s divorce rate.)

70% of people admit to having cheated on their spouse

30% of male protestant ministers have had a sexual relationship with someone other than their wife while active in their ministry.

1 in 3 relationships (both teenage and adult relationships) are abusive

Of 1000 subscribing members of the magazine Christianity Today:

45% of the single readers surveyed were currently
involved in sexually inappropriate behavior

30% of the married readers were currently having
extra-marital intercourse.

A recent study showed that young girls would prefer to have cancer, be sexually assaulted and raped rather than be overweight

50 million Christian people rely solely upon the internet to provide ALL of their faith based experiences

80% of the 20’s age group quit going to church

only 16% of American Christians are being discipled for spiritual growth or attend weekly meetings; whether it be small groups or corporate worship services

1/3 of Christian parents surveyed said if they had it to do over again, they would NOT have children

53% of parents resent the inconvenience their children have caused them and their having to make personal sacrifices for the children

70% of the students at a top seminary in the USA report to being on antidepressants.

98% of pastors do not pray with their spouses

75% of pastor’s kids are diagnosed as “clinically depressed” and seeking professional counseling


The yearly “check up” for the church revealed some serious health issues.

Pastor Jack Frost from Shiloh Ministries (http://www.shilohplace.org) spoke to the issue by saying that walking with God is not about what we do but about RELATIONSHIP. So often we exchange true life giving relationship with the Father for one of legalism.

He gave his testimony about becoming a new believer and going straight to Bible College. He had experienced a radical salvation and deliverance from drugs when he received Christ. He had a dynamic encounter with the living God that radically saved his life. Upon arriving to Bible College he began to excel because he was a very driven personality and excellence was his goal. Immediately he began take the instructions and make them weightier than they needed to be. The school requested the students read three chapters a day, so he committed to reading 10 chapters a day. The school suggested 1 hour a day in prayer, so he committed to 5 hours a day in prayer…and eventually the tools that were initially meant to build discipline and relationship became a heavy yoke that he could no longer bear and maintain…so condemnation set it. He describes himself as someone who gained his total identity in his academic excellence and achievements…a story I personally know all too well. It has been 9 years since my college graduation and God told me from the day of graduation, when I received my degree, that I was not to frame it or display it in any way…and to this day I still have never been given that release. My degree sits in a folder on my bookshelf between two parenting books. God made a real issue with me that I need to find my identity in HIM and in the testimony HE has given me…not in my accomplishments.

On Tuesday Pastor Jack spoke about the necessity of “crossing the bar” and the importance of having a testimony of our own. We cannot overcome on the testimony of others…but the Word tells us that we can overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of OUR testimony. It is in relationship that we build a testimony of God working in and through us. We have no authority to speak on matters until we have our own testimony of Christ in our lives. The personal testimony of our relationship with God brings authority, the ability to influence and to bear witness. Many people have a relationship with God based on knowledge and truth, but lack intimacy with God.

Jack also spoke to the issue of giving the enemy territory in our lives by leaving open doors due to sin and darkness that we keep hold of in our own lives. He said the enemy traffics in the night to steal our inheritance. He said darkness is a moral state where we hide things and keep secrets…giving the enemy a foothold. He went on to say that we can be forgiven and still not be cleansed if we harbor darkness in our heart. He referred to the passage that says “Do not let the light that is in you be in darkness…walk in the light as He is in the light and so have fellowship one with another.” He spoke of the importance of bringing our hidden secrets and sin into the light…confess your sins one to another and be healed. It is in revealing the dark secrets and hidden things that will bring freedom and allow one to be freed from strongholds. Things hidden keep you enslaved. If you choose to remain in darkness, this is the inheritance you will leave to your children and future generations.

A point he made concerning sexual sin is that, for many, once it has been forgiven, there is such a nature about sexual sin that it will cling to you like a garment of shame and many a believer, though forgiven, cannot walk in freedom due to the guilt and condemnation they feel towards themselves. Looking at the statistics from the “check up of the church” sexual sin is a very pervasive sin that is keeping people completely bound and tormented.

Pastor Jack said that we could learn to conquer these sin issues if we could understand the battle between Spirit VS Flesh, Grace VS Law, and Blessing VS Cursing. We don’t have to jump through hoops and perform a “dog and pony show” for God to gain his love and approval. He loved us while we were yet sinners. We have to learn to find a way to receive His love as He intends for us to experience His love. Pastor Jack said there was a huge danger when we have come to a place that we have no anticipation or expectation of love and affection from God or the people we love…that is when we begin to live in isolation. In isolation the enemy can cut you off from fellow believers and battle you in your mind with vain imaginations. You must overcome these dangerous thoughts with the truth of God’s word…”I have loved you with a loving kindness, I have loved you with an everlasting love”. We are loved, but it is hard for many to receive that love, or believe that love because we have believed a lie and placed ourselves in isolation and have grown to have no expectation or anticipation that people will love, accept or approve of us. We must transform the attitude of our heart to receive His love rather than walk in shame and condemnation.

He went on to describe 4 types of darkness:

1. Attitudinal sins: competition, envy, jealousy, selfishness
2. Another’s darkness can invade your life. Unresolved conflicts can lead to manipulation and control.
3. Love and criticism cannot co-exist. Unresolved conflict puts you in bondage.
4. Our masks, walls, cover-ups and pretenses: light reveals and darkness hides. Darkness is never stagnant. The sin of “hiddenness” is hypocrisy.

We must reveal our darkness to be fully healed and walk in the light. Things hidden will keep the church enslaved to sin…there is no victory in hiding our sins, but there is great freedom in bringing the darkness into the light.

There is a place of “Divine Immunity” where we can come into the presence of God and just receive the Father’s love—no strings attached. There is a realm of oppression that many Christians cannot seem to break free from. One of Pastor Jack’s examples was from the Sermon on the Mount. If we are angry with our brother we are guilty…unresolved conflict. He said it is possible to be right in correct judgment in what we are angry about towards our brother…but when we do that we have agreed with the accuser of the brethren and removed ourselves from the place of divine immunity. Rather, when we find ourselves in unresolved conflict with a brother we need to follow a Matthew 18 principle and make a peaceful resolution if at all possible.

It takes no spiritual maturity to see fault in another. It takes maturity to be able to say “forgive them for they know not what they do” and hold no ill feeling toward the person. If you leave unresolved conflict in relationships it is as if you have given Satan a legal copy of a key to your home, your church, or anything you have of value—for his own personal use.

Looking at the Barna report, clearly there are sin issues in the church that must continue to be dealt with in local churches on personal levels with much love and grace. Another question to consider is have we gotten so bad at handling personal relationships with God and our fellow believers that we have made ourselves sick?

A recent scientific study proved that if you are not touched at least 12 times per day in a healthy way that illness physically sets in within the human body. Illnesses that were followed in this study included heart disease, arthritis, skin conditions and many more. The physical body literally withers in health with the lack of the human touch. This study was also used to verify and confirm a previous study done on newborns that showed a 90% infant mortality rate among newborns in an orphanage that were only tended to in terms of being given nutrition and changing of diapers. Otherwise the babies were left in their cribs with no human interaction. 90% of the babies in the study died. The other 10% who survived were followed for 5 years and those children developed severe anti-social behaviors, attachment disorders and the doctors had said they believed these children would be a menace to society until their death.

How many people have fallen into sin that they are afraid to bring into the open for fear of condemnation? How many people are living in a personal isolation believing the lie that they are unlovable? I don’t have the answers…and I could only venture to guess that, looking at the Barna report, these are some questions that need to be asked and answered on a personal level within our sphere of influence with our Christian friends. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring GOOD NEWS!! There is HOPE. There is FREEDOM. And there is NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST. It is time we love –truly love one another, and bring our darkness into the light so that we may BE HEALED. And according to the study on human touch…we could likely HUG our way to wellness as a body of Christ that ministers hands on with people by developing relationships and friendships that go beyond the walls of the church.

Dawn

Open My Eyes that I May See

Then Elisha prayed: "O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see." So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

The battle has been raging everywhere I have turned in the last month. It seems conflict is everywhere. Brad’s vision (eye sight) is failing quickly. A misdiagnosis in my medical history is leaving a not so promising future physically. Finances are tense. There is conflict at church. Everywhere I look...there is conflict. And if all I could see were these circumstances through my natural eyes, I would just throw in the towel and quit…but I know that there is one mediator between God and man…and Jesus is standing in the gap and interceding for every situation.

I knew going into the 40 days of fasting and prayer with my fellow students at CFNI that this would not be “a walk in the park” because there is a real enemy that seeks to destroy us. But the strength that keeps me going is that “greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world.” I know I have a faithful intercessor standing night and day before my Father in Heaven…and He prays unfailing prayers.

If I could only see these situations as they are in the natural, with no hope of knowing there is divine intervention already dispatched, I would be devastated beyond repair. I know by faith that the victory is already won…but as a battle weary soldier in the field I am asking God, in His mercy, to OPEN MY EYES THAT I MAY SEE the heavenly armies that are already warring along side of us. The angels that are holding our arms up when our arms fail in strength. I know this by faith…but oh that I could really see. I am ready to be scared out of my wits by an angel that says “fear not!” Give me spiritual eyes to see the Heavenly provision, the armies that are surrounding us and conquering the enemy’s camp.

I long to really hear the Heavenly shofar sound that calls the army to war! I sense the Holy Spirit strengthen me…for where two or more agree in prayer, Christ is in the midst. I know that one of us can put a thousand to flight and two of us can send legions fleeing. I know the enemy is already a defeated foe. I know the angels are ministering spirits sent to minister to those who will inherit salvation….I know….and I believe….and in my weakness I JUST WANT TO SEE what I know for a fact is more real than the air I breathe.

I am warring with all that is within me. I am standing on the infallible Word of God. The enemy is a LIAR! We will not accept his report. Brad will not lose his vision… his physical vision or his spiritual vision. I am healed by the blood of Jesus. I will not live the rest of my life with chronic pain. The body of Christ will walk in unity.

I will continue to walk in faith…and with a song in my heart…I can almost hear it now….

The enemy has been defeated
Death couldn’t hold you down
We’re going to lift our voice in victory
We’re going to make Your praises loud

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
Shout unto God with a voice of praise
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
We lift Your name up!!
We lift Your name up!!

Brad led this song in worship a few weeks ago at our church…and I just wept. To know what struggles many of our church families are going through…the discouragement many are experiencing right now….and to hear us all making a bold declaration by faith as an entire congregation…it did my heart good! It made me realize all the more that we serve a God that is so much greater than our mere circumstances. Even if I did not “feel” like the enemy had been defeated at the beginning of the song…I knew beyond all doubt by the END of the song…and so did our church body!!

So we will continue to fight the fight…and pray that God will mercifully open our eyes that we may see the true reality of what we are going through, and see the armies of God that surround us in this light and momentary affliction... in comparison to the awesome realities of eternity.

Dawn