Rizpah Intercessors

An Honor

nancy — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:25:37 +0000

Have you ever looked at your life or an aspect of it and said things like:

Why me?

Why have all these bad things happened to me?

Why isn’t my life easier like other people’s lives?

Why does God call or allow me to suffer so much?

Well I have. I had a very difficult childhood full of abuse. There was verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse and divorce. I grew up and married a very controlling non-Christian man. So life hasn’t gotten much easier. So I do ask God:

“Why me? What did I do that you keep letting me have such a difficult life? I know you have the power to make my life so much easier. So why don’t you? Why didn’t you have a nice Christian man for me that would treat me like someone special? Why did you have such a difficult man for me after I have already had such a difficult childhood?”

Well, not too long ago, I got the answer to my questions. The answer is that He is allowing me to have these experiences because he loves me so much and has big plans for how He is going to use me – through these experiences. The fact that He allows me to suffer for Christ is an honor, not a punishment. He is giving me great privilege and responsibility to do His work here on this planet – to help His children.

After a time of prayer recently (with a lot of asking God to work in my husband to make my life easier and more pleasant) I had an entire conversation appear in my head out of nowhere… well, not exactly out of nowhere…. it must have come, I surmise, from the Holy Spirit. It was in my voice but were not my words… Here is what He was saying to me…

Why do you keep asking why? Do you not know that it is an honor and a privilege to be able to suffer for me? Freddy, you aren’t getting it. Your marriage isn’t a punishment done unto you. It is an honor given to you. It is an honor for you to suffer for Jesus. It is an honor for God to have placed you in the marriage you are in. You get to be the light in your house. It is an honor to be the light in your house. They, your husband and children, will see your light and look for the Source of THE Light. No, this is not a punishment or a sign that God doesn’t love you but it is an honor given to you because God loves you so much.

Do you think that Mary (Jesus’ mother) was always excited for her situation? Do you think she never thought “Why me? Why like this? Why now?” Do you think she didn’t get stares and whispers and gossip when she was unmarried and pregnant? She had no concrete proof that she had not been with a man. For some she was thought a harlot and a liar. Do you think she didn’t think “God, I’m happy to do this for you, but couldn’t you have waited until I was married?” And she was chosen to carry Jesus in her womb and to raise the child: Jesus. What an amazing honor.

So, Freddy, stop saying “Why me?” and say “Thank you” instead.

You see, I have already come to grips with my childhood issues and can even thank Jesus for allowing me to live through them because I do love to help other people and these experiences have helped me to help other women in ways that many others cannot because unless you’ve been there, you can’t fully understand. You can sympathize but you can’t empathize. Sometimes, with some issues, you need to be able to talk to someone who can empathize. I cannot yet thank God for the difficulties in my married life although I know I will someday. He is working on showing me that He is giving me a GREAT honor with giving me these difficulties and then also giving me the grace, patience, strength, and faith to work through them. He has also given me the gifts of exhortation, teaching, wisdom, and mercy to go along with these trials. So, this is why I so openly discuss the difficult situations I have encountered in my life…. God has given me a job to do and I am doing my best to be obedient to Him in doing it. I am helping my brothers and sisters in Christ… his other children.

I am not saying that I am Mary or anything like that. What I am saying is that it is not easy to be called by God to do His Work. It is often very difficult but it is an honor. And if you have such an honor, God chose you because He loves you.

An Honor was written by Freddy Chakhachiro

One Day

nancy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:41:54 +0000

One day there won’t be any more suffering. There won’t be any pain, disease, corruption, abuse, addictions, sin, or sadness.

One day there won’t be any more boys who live in the streets. There won’t be any families where pride and selfishness force young boys to choose an abandoned car to spend the night under over a warm bed. I can’t wait for it! Because I’m struggling to rationalize the picture on our mantles with the stories I hear over and over again about hatred, abandonment, and fear of tomorrow from a 12 year old.

One day you’ll take your son to Boy Scouts, camping, baseball games, or to test drive a car. You’ll probably tell them at 16 that they have a curfew and they’d better not make the mistake of missing it. Moms will get anxious at 18 when they have to pack them up and take them to college. They’ll probably walk into their old rooms and bathe in nostalgia for a few hours.

But I doubt very seriously that Dennis will have that experience from his family. I’m pretty sure that Johnny won’t have a dad who flips open his wallet with puffed out chest telling his co-workers about his son. And little James may never ever raise his hand and tell you what bedtime story was his favorite read by his mom.

Why? Because their families have already chosen something else over them.

Sin is an awful sickness. It’s rooted in pride, born at birth, and extensive in life. And millions have no idea how horrible its effects truly are. Dennis, Johnny, and James’ families sure don’t.

But what if one day something different happens. What if, instead of an abandoned car, there was a bed with plenty of covers and the sweet smell of Downy sheets filling their nostrils? What if there was a mom to read bedtime stories to 2 little boys who previously had no concept of such a thing? What if instead of collecting plastic bags all day for just enough coins to buy a mango, there was a table with more food than they could stuff in their mouths? What if there was a real family where they didn’t have to look out for themselves because someone else was willing to?

One day that will happen…

Actually,… that one day was July 3, 2010.

For one day, 10 young boys were allowed to be boys. They didn’t have to buy food. They didn’t have to sleep outside under newspapers. They didn’t have to worry if someone was going to attack them while they tried to manage a few hours sleep. I was on watch!

Lindy and I were honored to have our boys spend an entire day AND NIGHT with us! They played, ate, laughed, and were free to be boys for this one day. At the end of that day, I gathered them together and told them that we’d love to have them spend the night and travel together to church the next morning. They cheered loudly! They high-fived, and beamed with excitement! I took them upstairs after every one of them got warm baths to show them their beds. We walked in the big “bunk room” and I said, “You will sleep here.” They asked, “How many to a bed?” … My heart jumped into my throat because I knew what was to follow my response. “You each get your own bed tonight.” Their screams of delight melted my heart. Most kids in the world not only know a bed, but they usually have their own. Neither of these were true for my little buddies.

But tonight it was.

As my boys slept, for one day at least, I didn’t have to worry where they were, if they were safe, and if anyone was going to mess with them. And I too, slept very well for one night.

I can’t wait to make that one day a constant reality for 10 boys who are becoming saints. My family works for them so that can be a reality. We are closer than before.

One day an even better reality may happen for them too. And that’s the day that I most long for. It’s the day that they become adopted sons of my Father. And I will wear my tears like an honor badge for them.

Pray for my boys today. Their Father loves them and wants them to come home.

One Day was written by Chris Thompson. He and his wife Lindy are some of the most selfless people I’ve ever met. I hope you will check out their ministry blog: Only Servants and please pray for these precious boys and for Chris and Lindy as they continue to reach out and minister to "the least of these."

Pray What?!?

aubrey — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:44:44 +0000

Early in his account of the life of Christ, Matthew informs us that huge crowds were drawn to Jesus. These crowds were composed of all kinds of folks, many of them desperate due to enormous needs, and they had a profound effect on our Lord. In chapter 9 Matthew writes that when Jesus saw the crowds “he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (v36) Jesus felt bad for them and this feeling of compassion made him want to help them. Because of this compassion Jesus cured the sick and cleansed the lepers and cast out demons and even raised the dead. Far more importantly, Jesus proclaimed to them the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, which contained the remedy for their eternal, spiritual needs.

Matthew reminds us that Jesus was accompanied by trainees - Matthew himself had become one – called disciples. These disciples emerged from the crowd to become true followers of Christ. Their association with Jesus was for a purpose: he was preparing them to do the same sorts of things he was doing. Jesus was doing this because of his compassion for the people. I think it’s important to understand this: that the Twelve Apostles (and later the seventy-two messengers) and all the other disciples were chosen and Jesus invested in them because he felt as he did for the people. If you are a believer (a term I consider interchangeable with follower and disciple) it is because Jesus cares about harassed and helpless people and intends to use you to help them.

Take a look at what Jesus says next, for it is not at all what I would have expected.

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38)

After seeing the people as sheep in need of a shepherd, Jesus changes the metaphor and says that they are like grain ready to be harvested but without enough field hands to do the job. Then he tells his disciples to do something. What does the Lord tell his trainees to do? Go? No, he’ll say that in the next chapter. First, he tells them to PRAY.

Moreover, Jesus doesn’t tell them to pray for what I would have thought. He didn’t tell them to pray for the sheep to come home (sheep won’t come home; they have to be brought). He didn’t tell them to pray for God to have compassion on all those poor souls (He already does). He didn’t tell them to catch the vision and get with the program and get off their sorry rear-ends and go catch some fish or find some sheep or gather some wheat. No, Jesus told them to pray for something that I would think would be completely unnecessary to pray for: “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Wouldn’t the Lord do that anyway? After all, it’s His world. It’s His field. It’s His crop. They’re His sheep. Wouldn’t the owner of the farm send out field hands when the crops are ripe without being asked?

Jesus is telling His trainees that there is something they must know about God. GOD WILL DO WHAT HE PLANS TO DO, WANTS TO DO, INTENDS TO DO, HAS SAID HE WILL DO WHEN WE PRAY FOR HIM TO DO IT!

Jesus has already implied as much earlier in Matthew. In what has come to be called the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says to pray like this:

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” (6:10-11).

Isn’t God’s kingdom going to come? Both the Old and New Testaments make it clear that it certainly will. Won’t God’s will ultimately be done? After all, He is sovereign and omnipotent and irresistible. Will not our Father in heaven, who feeds the birds and clothes the grass, give us daily bread? Of course He will. Nonetheless, Jesus says to ask.

Take a look at Matthew 7:9-11

“Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Won’t God give good things without being asked? Sure He does. Jesus exorcised the demoniacs at the end of chapter 8 and forgave the paraplegic at the beginning of chapter 9 without being asked. Nevertheless, Jesus says to ask.

Three observations:

1. The harvest is plentiful. There is no lack of wheat to be reaped, of lost sheep to be found, of lost souls that will be saved. The Lord of the Harvest will see to that.

2. If you are a Christian, it is because God wants to train and employ you in this great work, a labor that begins with prayer. It is not merely that you be “saved”.

3. In this passage, where the needs and opportunities alike are so great, Jesus tells us to pray not for souls or even strength (we may be told to pray for these elsewhere) but for the Lord to send (literally, “thrust out”) laborers into his harvest.

God help me to know and do these things. AAJ

Mama’s Gone - Tribute to Pat Johnson

nancy — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:51:30 +0000

“Mama’s gone.”

At 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning Joe called to tell me that my dear friend Pat was now free from pain and in the arms of her savior, Jesus Christ. We talked a few minutes and prayed together. When I went back to bed I lay there and thought of six precious years spent with a mighty prayer warrior; the countless hours laboring together every Tuesday morning interceding for our children. Tears flowed as I thought of the blessing of knowing Pat and the realization that for now, our time of sharing had come to an end.

My practice at night is to meditate on Scripture; to pick a verse and to pull it apart in my mind word for word – but it was Joe’s words that flowed through my thought processes. There was sweetness and meaning in those simple words, “Mama’s gone.”

“Mama.” This was likely Joe’s name for Pat from the beginning and he carried it throughout his life when referring to his wonderful mother. I’ll bet that when Joe first said “Mama” that Pat’s heart leapt with joy and she called her closest friends to tell them – “Joe called me Mama today!”

Mama is more than a name. It evokes a warm remembrance of Pat, the woman who covered Joe – literally – within her own body. Mama is the one who cared for all of Joe’s needs and had to learn how to release him – oh the covering and protection continued as she covered Joe with her prayers and pleaded with her Heavenly Father to protect her son.

“Is.” Mama “is” more than she’s ever been. I’ve been with three loved ones as their bodies died. Mixed with grief is the relief in knowing that they are now more alive than they’ve ever been. Pat left her body and “is.”

“Gone.” That’s the hard part. There’s no denying that Pat’s body died and that she is no longer there. She is gone from us – for a time. I’ll miss her voice and her quick wit. Pat could interject humor and in a moment have a table full of crying women laughing. But she also knew when to cry with us. Most of all I’ll miss her “mother’s heart” that she had for each of our children. Pat listened. Pat cared. Pat prayed. Pat fought with us and for us. And now Pat is gone. But to where?

When I was little, my dad was a contractor. On his project table would be the blueprint for the house he was building. I remember looking at the orderly lines but had no idea what any of it meant or how that could possibly be one of the houses I’d seen Daddy build. To me it was just a mass of blue lines jutting "every which a way" and I knew that somehow Daddy would make a lovely house from it.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

Pat is gone to the Father. Father, Abba, Papa - has a plan for Pat. Some of the lines on the blueprint don’t make any sense to me. The hard lines that I witnessed were Randy’s death and her leukemia.

There is a very special line in the blueprint of Pat’s life that stands for RIZPAH. How immeasurably blessed the RIZPAH sisters are that we were drawn into the framework of Pat’s life.

Her work here has and will reap eternal benefits. Two of my sons are counted in the harvest of Pat’s labors. Pat’s life hasn’t ended here, it continues in the lives of those she’s touched. Father’s plans for her continue throughout eternity. Mama “is” with Him. NHJ

Our Rizpah

nancy — Sat, 08 May 2010 17:13:18 +0000

Mama was an intercessor extraordinaire. Early in the morning she sought the Lord. She exuded confidence in an all powerful, all knowing, compassionate God. Her first reaction to every crisis was to pray. Cosmic battles were fought and won on her knees as she called out to the Lord of heaven and earth. Through her prayers, miraculous, divine interventions took place.

Mother’s Day - 2005 - Mama with her eight children.

I think it’s safe to say that the majority of her prayers centered on her family. Mama labored faithfully in intercession for us against the enemy while, at the same time, pleading to the Father for our salvation. She was our Rizpah. NHJ

Sara Carolyn MacNeill Hartman

June 13, 1923 - June 29, 2005

GORGEOUS

aubrey — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 23:28:44 +0000

Yesterday while playing tennis with Pete, he remarked that Jesus must have been so striking in person that the stuff he said and the things he required made perfect sense. In other words, if a person actually saw Jesus he was so impressed with him that a command like the one given in Matthew 10 - to go on an assignment of undisclosed duration to an undisclosed location for the purpose of disclosing the proximity of the kingdom of heaven, to go without making any reservations at any lodging establishment, to take no possessions at all (no cash, no credit card, no cell phone, no change of clothes, not even a change of underwear!), and to go like sheep among wolves, expecting the most violent opposition – would be completely reasonable!

The truth is, Jesus was and is a polarizing person. You either love him or hate him, are devoted to him or despise him. (If you think you can take him or leave him, it is only because you’ve never met him. No one who ever met the Jesus of the Gospels came away indifferent.) Those who know Jesus find him either irresistibly attractive or utterly repulsive.

As followers of Christ, our job is simply to make Jesus known; to proclaim Jesus as clearly as possible, not some watered-down or sugarcoated version made palatable to 21^st century tastes. Our mission is to present the incredibly beautiful and astonishing Jesus of the Bible. The problem is, even after all these years of reading about Jesus in the Scriptures and following him, I still see him through a glass, darkly. My vision of Christ is like that of a man reflected in a very poor mirror: not especially good. (Ancient mirrors – the “glass” Paul is looking at in 1 Corinthians 13:12 - were just polished metal; try looking at your wife’s reflection in a silver platter to see what Paul means.) I have some pretty good clues about what Jesus is like, and like the pieces of a puzzle I have spent years trying to put them together, to continually refine my view of Jesus. But I know that I have a very imperfect, inadequate view of the Lord.

And yet, the image I have, distorted and imperfect as it is, is still that of the PERFECT PERSON. (I did not say the Perfect Man, because Jesus is a man but so much more.) Jesus is the Gorgeous Godman. Gorgeous is a word I would normally reserve to describe a female, and few of them at that. But I have heard the ladies say of a man, maybe a male model or a movie star, “That’s a gorgeous man.” Jesus is the Gorgeous Godman. He is a man’s man: masculine, fearless, tough, smart, loyal. He is a woman’s man: sensitive, caring, loving, understanding, dependable. He is God’s man: spiritual, sinless, glorious, divine.

And most importantly of all, Jesus is man’s God: God incarnate, the invisible made visible, God in human flesh, the fullness of God in a human being. Jesus is the Gorgeous Godman.

Is it any wonder that those who saw him and received him were never the same, were eternally changed? When you see Jesus as He really is, it all makes perfect sense. AAJ

Big Deal

aubrey — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:34:47 +0000

When I meet someone who is clearly an important person, whether due to his or her extraordinary position or abilities or influence, I think of that person as a “big” person, a big man or woman. You know what I mean by that: an individual large not in physical size but in significance. There’s a Greek word that the New Testament uses for such a person: hikanos, which is sometimes translated “worthy”.

In modern parlance, it describes someone who is a “big deal”.

Matthew, in his Gospel account, introduces two such souls: one a prophet the other a soldier, one a Jew the other a Gentile.

THE PROPHET: John the Baptist. You know that he was a very big deal. He was and is famous in his own right; the first prophet to appear in 400 years and the herald of the long-awaited Messiah, John was a great man. Jesus Himself declared him the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.

THE SOLDIER: A Roman centurion in Capernaum. A man who enjoyed both political standing and financial means, he was, according to the local Jewish leaders, a man who loved the nation of Israel and had personally paid for their synagogue. They considered him a “worthy” man, a big deal, and Jesus Himself would declare that this centurion had the most extraordinary faith. (See Luke 7:3-5)

Matthew says that these men had something in common. As big as they were, neither thought of himself that way. In fact, they both said the same thing about themselves, using the word hikanos. John said of Jesus, “I am not big enough to carry His sandals.” (4:16) The centurion said to Jesus, “I am not big enough for You to enter my house.” (8:8) Were these great men just being modest, or did they know something about Jesus that the rest of us do not?

John said that he was not big enough to carry Jesus’ sandals; in Mark 1:7 he said he wasn’t big enough to even untie them! How big is Jesus if the colossal (spiritually speaking) John the Baptist was not big enough to untie His shoes, much less lug them around? We sometimes talk of a person who has very “big shoes”, shoes too big for another person to fill. Jesus’ shoes are so big because He is so big. The centurion said that he was not big enough for Jesus to enter his house. It wasn’t that Jesus wasn’t welcome. It was just that Jesus was far too tall and His shoulders way too broad (spiritually speaking) for the Lord to get through the door frame or fit under his roof!

You see, both of these men knew their place because they knew Jesus’ place; they knew their size because they knew Jesus’ size.

The cure to pride is humility, and the secret to humility is Jesus. A person may be 7 feet tall and weigh 300 pounds; he may be worth a billion dollars and win a Nobel prize; he may even be elected President of the greatest nation on the earth because people think him such a big deal. But if a man or woman ever sees Jesus – I mean really sees Jesus like John the Baptist and the Roman centurion – he will know Who the big deal is; he will know Who is truly Worthy. AAJ

Mamonas

aubrey — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:10:29 +0000

Recently I met someone, a gentleman who just may be the most impressive individual I’ve ever come across. He is strikingly handsome, tall and well-proportioned, his posture erect, his bearing athletic. Though obviously a man of some years, I cannot guess his age as he still has a full head of hair and exudes vitality. I was especially stuck by his clear and penetrating eye; when he looked at me it was as though he knew me, almost as though he could read my thoughts. His suit was tailored, his shoes brilliantly polished and made of the finest leather. We met because he called and asked me to lunch. His voice was so persuasive that I found myself immediately agreeing, and when I suggested an inexpensive deli nearby, he insisted on treating me to lunch in the Regency Room at the Hotel Roanoke. When I arrived, he was already there in the lobby, where he greeted me warmly and with a firm handshake. He introduced himself as Mamonas.

As you might guess, Mamonas is not originally from these parts. His family is an ancient and well-respected one from the Middle East, but he has lived in this part of the world for many years. His English was flawless with just a hint of a delightful and mysterious accent, his manners impeccable. After just a few moments of casual conversation, I knew that he was extremely well-educated. (In the course of our conversation he let it slip that he had degrees from several Ivy League schools.) To use a word that is long out of vogue but which came to mind repeatedly as we dined, he was charming. I was impressed, to say the least, and not a little flattered that such a man had invited me to lunch, and yet I did not feel intimidated as he put me so perfectly at ease. Mamonas was quite generous. Not only did he pick up the tab, refusing to allow me even to leave the tip, but when he learned that my favorite thing about the Regency Room is their spectacular chocolate chip cookies, he insisted on sending me home with a tin of the treats!

At length he came to the point of the meeting: Mamonas indicated that he wanted me to go to work for him. He is an extremely wealthy man – a billionaire, it turns out, the richest man in Virginia – and has a number of businesses all across the globe. He said he had heard a lot of good things about me and that I was just the sort of fellow he was looking for. He told me that if I would accept his offer, the work would be quite rewarding. He would make me a wealthy man; I would never want for anything again. I would be set for life. My wife and I could travel the world – only first class, of course – and I would be able to retire in just a few years. (“Though,” he said, “most of his employees never do retire.”) After a couple of hours, he departed in his black Mercedes S-class, his driver picking him up at the front of the hotel. I don’t mind telling you I found the entire episode exciting, even thrilling; I was mesmerized. The whole thing seemed like a no-brainer. I could hardly wait to get home and tell Nancy.

But I have made it my practice since my youth to make no major decision, not even a no-brainer like this one, without first praying about it.

Not long after Mamonas and driven off and the scent of his cologne was out of my nostrils and the soothing sound of his voice was out of my ears, I began to realize that my subconscious (or was it my spirit?) had picked up on a few little things of which I had up to then been unaware: little incongruities and inconsistencies. I mentioned that Mamonas was very generous with me, not even allowing me to leave the tip; but I’m not sure he left one, either. As courteous as he was toward me, he was often curt with our server, impatient and impersonal. And as intelligent and penetrating as his eye was, once or twice I thought I espied a look that I can only describe as mean, as though he somehow resented my eating the meal he had insisted on buying me! No, I think I would better describe his look as stingy: what the ancients called the “evil eye.”

My disquiet growing, I decided to discreetly investigate my prospective employer. He had let slip the names of one or two of his businesses, so I decided to interview a few of his current employees. I was shocked at what I discovered. To his credit, I could discern no discrimination in his hiring practices: he employed people of every age and gender, race and religion, education and orientation. Many of his people were obviously well-paid, living in fine homes, driving luxury automobiles, wearing high-end clothes and eating in the best restaurants; but at least an equal number lived in poorer neighborhoods and I found a few in public housing, living on food stamps. Ultimately, I could find only one common denominator: they were all perfectly miserable, down to the last man. No matter how well-paid or under-paid, all those who worked for Mamonas were dissatisfied, unhappy, wretched. And as I delved deeper to find out why, I learned that they were not employees at all, but slaves! Mamonas owned them, body and soul. Some he treated better than others, but none he treated well. And I saw in all of them that same sorry, scary look I glimpsed in Mamonas, what can only be described as the “evil eye.” They were all quite hopeless.

If you have not yet been approached by Mamonas, be assured you shall be. Know that for all his imposing appearance and impressive speech, he is a perfect phony.

Flee him like you would a harlot and resist him as you would the devil. If he gets his hands around your heart, he will destroy you, body and soul.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mamonas.” – Jesus in Matthew 6:24

[Notes: In the Greek, the word translated “serve” actually means “to be the slave of” and “master” refers to a “slave-owner”. You will be either the slave of Theos (God) or “Mamonas”. Mamonas is a Aramaic word used only by Jesus in the New Testament that is often translated “money”, but actually refers to any form of wealth or resources. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (abridged), p552, indicates that it probably derives from an Aramaic root meaning “that in which one trusts.” For more on the “evil eye”, read the immediately preceding verses 22 &23.] AAJ

I’ve Got a Secret

aubrey — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:25:04 +0000

Do you have any secrets? I don’t mean of the bad sort, the kind that you’re ashamed of and would hate to get out. I mean something that, when it comes to mind, makes you feel warm inside, makes you smile. I mean a good secret.

Some things need to stay secret. Rizpah prayer groups have the motto, “What happens in Rizpah stays in Rizpah.” The ladies who meet for prayer are honest and transparent and vulnerable with one another, and need to know that what they share with their prayer partners will be kept in confidence. Sometimes my wife will say to me, “I can’t say anything about that,” and I know that’s because her information comes from her Rizpah group. That means Nancy has some secrets that she shares with others but not with me. That doesn’t bother me; in fact, I appreciate it. I’m glad she can keep a confidence and I’m glad she’s got friends she can have secrets with – as long as they’re of the good variety.

Nancy and I have our own secrets, things that we share with each other and no one else. Sometimes one of us will say to the other, “I want to tell you something but you can’t tell anyone.” Such secrets are good; it’s good to have a spouse with who you can share secrets. A good secret (and the ability to keep it) implies a least a couple of things:

1. Intimacy - Only close friends and lovers share secrets.

2. Trust - The more private or sensitive a matter is, the more trustworthy I must consider you before I’m willing to share it.

God loves a good secret. Moses said that “the secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29).

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of our Father who is “in secret” and who “sees in secret.” As much as I love and trust my wife, there are some things that God intends to be kept secret just between the two of us, Him and me. (And remember, I’m talking about good secrets, not bad ones. The bad ones, the things about which I am most ashamed, I certainly confide to Him alone.)

What are the things that God wants to be “our little secrets”? In Matthew 6:1-18 Jesus mentions three things:

deeds of mercy - giving, but not just financial or charitable giving; the Greek word ellemosyne involves much more than just giving money

prayer - Jesus talks about where to pray and what to say

fasting

Here is what I think Jesus is saying. “When you do something good, something righteous, don’t draw attention to it. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That act of mercy is a secret you and your Father now share. When you pray, shut the door; that prayer is a secret you and your Father now share. When you fast, try not to look like it; that fast is a secret you and your Father now share.”

It seems that our Father loves these kinds of little secrets and wants to have them, a great many of them, with every one of His children. In this age of Facebook and other forms of social media, many seem to want to share everything, to have “secrets” with all their Facebook “friends” - with the result that they are no longer real secrets or real friends. Good secrets can be part of a healthy relationship with another person, and godly secrets are definitely part of a healthy relationship with the Lord. Don’t surrender to the temptation to turn your spiritual life into a Facebook page. Keep some secrets for just you and the Lord.

AAJ

Soul Food

aubrey — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:00:38 +0000

Hunger is a good thing. Here in America, food is in such abundant supply that most of us rarely if ever really get hungry. If I come home at the end of the day and say, “I’m starving. What’s for dinner?” my wife knows not to take my words too seriously. Often, especially during the holiday season when feasting is the order of the day, I’m more apt to respond to the offer of food, “I guess I could eat something.” Hunger is good, not because without it we wouldn’t eat (I’m evidence to the contrary), but because a hungry man enjoys and appreciates food far more than a man who is not.

If hunger is a good thing, spiritual hunger is an excellent thing.

One of the things Job said to his critics was this: “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” (23:12)

Jeremiah wrote, “Your words were found, and I ate them….” (15:16)

And of course the Lord Jesus, who really was starving at the time, answered Satan’s suggestion to turn stones into bread with, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)

Some people wake up with an appetite; they wake up hungry.

I don’t. But I do wake up with a spiritual appetite. When I was a young person, like most young people I liked to sleep in as long as possible. But as I age (and hopefully mature spiritually), I find myself rising earlier because I wake up hungry. What gets me out of bed in the morning is my spiritual appetite.

Hunger can be specific. When that happens we call it a craving. Expectant mothers are notorious for their curious cravings. A person may crave an orange, a piece of bread, a steak, chocolate or even a pickle. (A pregnant woman might even want a chocolate pickle!) A specific hunger may be my body’s way of telling me that it needs a certain kind of food, a particular sort of nutrition. Just as there are a variety of foods in the natural realm, so it is also in the world of the spirit.

Sometimes, I crave Comfort Food. I hunger for the devotional comfort of the Psalms. At other times I have a taste for what I call Brain Food - the practical insights and wisdom of books like Proverbs & Ecclesiastes. Often I long for the strong theological meat of the Torah in the Old Testament and the Epistles in the New: Solid Food that, like protein, sticks to my ribs. I have even been known to enjoy Baby Food, the milk of the Word - food processed by another person and spoon fed to me in the form of a lesson, a sermon or a devotional. (I once knew a man who ate baby food every morning. His quiet time consisted of reading a short devotional. This man was a successful CEO, but like a child, he began his day by eating what someone else had chewed on and digested.) If all you eat is baby food, how will you ever grow up to be a man? Sometimes, but probably not as often as I should, I crave Health Food - the not-very-good-tasting-but-good-for-me words of the Prophets; the broccoli, carrots and peas of the Scripture feast. And sometimes, not usually in the morning but sometime during the day, I like the boost of energy Snack Food can give me. (The trouble is, many Christians try to live on snack food: a verse here, a sweet little promise there. They never seem to sit down at the table and eat a full meal. I knew a teenage who carried his lunch to school, and though his mother kept the refrigerator and pantry stocked with nutritious fare, he usually carried nothing but snack foods: maybe three bags of chips and a sweet drink!) People who try to live on snack food usually end up with heart trouble.

But the older I get, the more I find I crave the words of Jesus Himself, the Whole Food of the Gospels. In the last few years I think I may have spent more time with Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John than in all my previous years put together. I wish someone had told me when I was young that it is impossible to spend too much time in the Gospels. It is not for nothing that we are called “Christians,” and if I am going to know anything about the Word of God, it ought to be the words and works of the Lord Jesus.

I’m not much on New Year’s resolutions. But let me challenge you to eat more this year.

God has provided a veritable banquet, the table spread every morning with exactly what you will need for the challenges of that day: daily bread. Arise and eat, for it is all SOUL FOOD.

AAJ