Tag: Jesus

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Is change really possible?

 potter Yesterday, I launched a 12 week fall Bible study at my church.  About 20 women gathered and there was much excitement as we opened chapter 1 and began to unearth the gems contained there.  I am glad to be studying with these women and eager to consider the essential role of the Holy Spirit in spreading the good news about Jesus. Luke is so precise–such a researcher–and committed historian.  He records the events that allow us to observe people  being changed from the inside out!  When thinking about that change I remembered these thoughtful words:

“Is it really possible to change?…The word “really” is the issue.  In many people’s minds, change must be nearly complete–at least dramatic–or it doesn’t count…If efforts to restore a drab marriage lead only to a flicker of warmth, then perhaps it hasn’t really changed…Evangelicals sometimes expect too much or, to put it more precisely, we look for a kind of change that God hasn’t promised…We manage to interpret biblical teaching to support our longing for perfection. 

As a result, we measure our progress by standards we will never meet until heaven…We therefore claim God’s power as the guarantee of total change from pressure to peace, from disappointment to joy–and then live with an intolerable burden that either crushes us with despair or requires us to pretend we are better than we are.  The idea that peace and joy might merely support us during times of struggle and sorrow rather than eliminate those times is not appealing. 

 We want to do away with the necessary pain of living in a disappointing world as imperfect people. We insist on experiencing neither pain nor failure, so when the inevitable happens, it becomes reason for discouragement. But there are unnecessary problems that develop when we insist that necessary pain be eliminated…If we were convinced that the trauma of learning to trust God would really change us, we might be willing to endure it.  But real change is available now; it’s just not the kind of change we want. We insist that the real change that heaven will bring (an end to all pain) be ours today.  That insistence is the problem that we must overcome if real change that’s possible now is to occur.” ((Larry Crabb, Inside Out, NavPress, 1988, 203-205))

O Father, you are the Potter; I am the clay–it has never occurred to me before that my desire to change–my hopes for moral renovation might be rushing your timetable–or that it springs from a root of pride that wants to look better in other’s eyes right now!  I sense, that through Acts you will teach me to want the change you want to do in me!  What an adventure it is to live under the molding influence of your Spirit.  Amen

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Spurgeon on Empty Boats

August 29 Morning
“Have mercy upon me, O God”
Psalm 51:1images When one of God’s choice servants, William Carey was suffering from a dangerous illness, the inquiry was made, “If this sickness should prove fatal, what passage would you select as the text for your funeral sermon?” He replied, “Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is unworthy to have anything said about him; but if a funeral sermon must be preached, let it be from the words, ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions’.” In the same spirit of humility he directed in his will that the following inscription and nothing more should be cut on his gravestone:

WILLIAM CAREY, BORN AUGUST 17th, 1761: DIED-
“A wretched, poor, and helpless worm
On Thy kind arms I fall.”

Only on the footing of free grace can the most experienced and most honored of the saints approach their God. The best of men are conscious above all others that they are men at best. Empty boats float high, but heavily laden vessels are low in the water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry for mercy upon their unprofitableness. We need the Lord to have mercy upon our good works, our prayers, our preachings, our offerings, and our living sacrifices. The blood was not only sprinkled on the doorposts of Israel’s houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar, because as sin intrudes upon our holiest things, the blood of Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement. If mercy is needed to be exercised towards our duties, what shall be said of our sins? How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, restore our backslidings, and make our broken bones rejoice!

From Morning & Evening by Charles Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg (Crossway, 2003)

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The Way, the Truth and the Life

329The-Way-The-Truth-The-Life“As he neared the end, our Lord could speak of little else than the Father. (John 14:1-11)  Heaven was his Father’s house, where a prepared mansion awaits each of us, perfectly adapted to the peculiarities of our temperament.  God prepares a mansion for those  who believe in Christ, and he asks in return that we shall prepare our hearts as guest chambers for him to dwell in.  The yearning of the heart of man was truly set forth by Philip in his request to see the Father; but never before had it dawned upon human intelligence that the divine can find its supreme revelation in the simplicities and commonplaces of human existence.  While Philip was waiting for the Father to be shown in lightning and thunder and the splendor of Sinai, he missed the daily unfolding of the life with which he dwelt in daily contact.  To see Jesus was to see the Father.  Nothing could more certainly prove the need of the Holy Spirit, by whom alone we can know the Lord.”  ((F.B. Meyer, Devotional Commentary, p. 472))

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Who “owns” your suffering?

That might sound like an odd question. I admit that before today, I rarely have thought of my suffering as anyone else’s but mine.  I pull it around me like a wooly shawl and wallow, wallow, wallow–pretty sure that nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen!  Today, as I pondered afresh the implications of  2 Corinthians 1, I felt as though God had switched on a big “ah-ha” light bulb concerning the topic of who owns my suffering. In verses 3-11 Paul writes:

images Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.  Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers,  of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.  He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 2:3-11)

It is comforting that Paul doesn’t want me to remain ignorant on this topic!  His words teach me that:

  • Suffering is not an aberration of nature to be avoided at all costs, it is part of God’s intentional plan. The plan’s purpose is twofold: first, so that I can be engaged with the personal touch of God, a treasured aspect of His character — His comfort.
  • Without suffering, I would miss this experience of God; after all, we don’t need comfort if we aren’t hurting.
  • The second part of the plan’s purpose is to wean me from self-reliance and grow me in God dependence.
  • The pattern for understanding my suffering comes from understanding the purposeful suffering of Christ that ended triumphantly in the resurrection.
  • The comfort that I receive from God is not intended to end in a cul-de-sac in my life but is meant to be shared–poured out in the lives of others who are suffering.

The new thought today came from the phrase, “as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings”. That verse suggests that suffering as a Christian is not a solitary experience.  Our unity with Christ is so total that our suffering is described as being shared and as belonging to Christ.

“Perhaps it is easier to recognize that our blessings belong to the Lord than it is to recognize that he owns our suffering.  If you watch someone suffer, you will see that we tend to treat suffering as something that belongs to us, something we can respond to as we please.  We tend to turn in on ourselves.  Our world shrinks to the size of our pain.  We want little more than release, and we tend to be irritable and demanding.

It does not take long to learn that suffering brings you power.  As you cry in pain, people run to help you.  They offer you physical comfort, say nice things, and release you from our duties…A whole host of self-absorbed temptations greet us when we treat suffering as something that belongs to us.  This passage reminds us that our suffering belongs to the Lord.  It is an instrument of his purpose in us and for others.  The way we suffer must put Christ on center stage.  The Redeemer owns our disappointment and fear. He owns our physical and spiritual pain.  He owns those crushing past experiences.  He owns our rejections and aloneness.  He owns our dashed expectations and broken dreams.  It all belongs to him for his purpose.  When we feel like dying, he calls us to a greater death.  He calls us to die to our suffering so that we may live for him.

This is not a call to some creepy form of Christian stoicism.  It is a call to bring the full range of our suffering to Him.  We are to weep loudly and mourn fully before him, knowing that true comfort can only be found at his feet.  We are to place our mourning in his hands to be used for his purposes in our lives and the lives of others. And it is a promise of comfort from the God who is the source of it all.”  ((Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, p. 153-4))

Today, I am grateful to be in a family where suffering is not wasted but is purposefully directed toward receiving and giving comfort!  What a relief to be freed from owning my suffering–what a privilege to know it is shared with the Lord Jesus.

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For Behold, I Bring you Good News of a Great Joy

December 27, 2003

Dear Friend,

In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,

like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions. (Deuteronomy 32:10-11)

DSC00994 To be the apple of God’s eye is an astounding thought isn’t it?  How confident we can be when we know that His love treasures us in the way that these verses describe.  I think these children here must be the apple of God’s eye!

Christmas was different but it was a “good” different.  In many ways, it was  more like Christmas than any I’ve ever experienced.  So, while it was not familiar, it was deeply meaningful. The mamas and the children were wowed and their reactions made my Christmas!  Christmas morning,  I arrived at the dining hall to put on the turkey.  I took your recipe book with me to show the cooks who had never roasted a turkey how to manage this new treat.  I was so thankful that I had packed that treasure.  DSC00997 I prepared the dining hall for worship, and then had a sweet time of prayer with the other ROS.  We were so glad that our friends from Wakiso Central Baptist were coming to the village to lead us in worship.  Pastor Fred planned not only to preach but to bring a choir to make the services very special.  They were 37 minutes late (my old time conscious self was keeping track) and the children were becoming a little squirmy.  I decided that we should begin, so I followed the African custom of opening worship with a praise and thanksgiving time. How glad I was that the group was late!  It gave space to two our mamas who were eager to stand and proclaim that this Christmas they had something that they didn’t last year.  DSC00995They spoke not only of the blessing of having a job and a reliable salary but of having a call and a sense of purpose in their lives. It was a deeply emotional time and one that ministered to my heart so much.  I found myself longing for this personal sharing to be part of our worship times back home. With time still available, Mama Jenipher then shared a song that she says strengthens her soul called “Stand by me Jesus”.  God was already moving in our midst when our friends from Central Baptist arrived. The Junior Choir sang 3 wonderful, spirited songs which captured the children’s attention.  Pastor Fred delivered a sermon that asked and answered this question:  “Here in Uganda where there is serious illness, poverty, death, war and pestilence, what is there to be merry about?”  He led us in considering that in the midst of all that is difficult –the difficulty is swallowed up in the blessing of knowing and being known by Christ–the Light of the World. I was fed once again on the miracle of the Light breaking into the darkness and the darkness not being able to overcome it. It was a great morning of worship! DSC00998

Afterwards, we had a huge buffet with roast beef, turkey, Kaloo (hamburger and millet flour), Matoke (a banana type staple), white sweet potatoes, green beans, chapati (thick tortillas), jello, macaroni and cheese and soda.  The children ate until they were sick and the mamas mounded food on their plates like field hands. Jenipher’s family knew that she was spending the day with Mzungus and so they told her not to forget Nehemiah 8:10!  I had to go home and look it up and was astounded that they knew it!  That verse says,  “go and enjoy choice foods and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is sacred to our Lord.  For the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Isn’t it interesting that we well-fed westerners only remember the last part of that verse?  Hungry people see great hope in the first part!

One of our little boys named Jovan could not get over the privilege of being allowed to get up from the table and get anything he wanted off the buffet line.  He is a stocky little guy who will win your heart in a minute.  Jovan04May (WinCE) Today, he ate and ate.  DSC00889 (Small) Finally, Teopista told him he must stop or he would be sick.  With his most determined face and firm command of preschool English he responded, “For me, I want more!”  When he said “more” it sounded like “Mow-wah”.  Casey and I have rolled with laughter over that moment.  Now whenever we want something, we say, “For me, I want more!”

I broke the normal schedule and announced that we were going to nap until we woke up rather than making everyone wake at 2:30 for a snack time.  They were thrilled.  We took pictures of our friends piling into one truck and heading back to Wakiso for their next worship service.  I thought it would be a great idea to get all the children in one shot–that was a hoot–it took 5 tries to get one with all of them sort of facing forward!16kidsMerryChristmas (Small)

I too came home and napped and then got up and made some rough curtains for Casey’s room out of material that Christine Miller had left here in our home.  When we cleaned out cottage #5, Stu offered me the treadle machine that had been stored there.

Sarah gave Mom a phone card and she called on Christmas Eve which was sweet–she was so proud of herself for being able to dial all those numbers and then to have success in being able to reach us.  God graced the call and it was not interrupted or ended abruptly as sometimes happens with international calls.  She cried some and my heart was very heavy with homesickness then.  Jane, that is enough to get a flavor of what happened here on Christmas.  I am anxious to hear of your time.

There are sixteen children in Uganda who now know that Christmas is “Happy Birthday, Jesus” and that he was born to Mary and Joseph and that shepherds and wise men came to worship this glorious little King.  I pray God will use those meager beginnings to grow the heart of worship in them.  I feel as though I neglected my own family to make Christmas for these here–but they insist that they do not interpret this Christmas as loss but as gain.  We opened the gifts you sent during a 15 minute window that I had before returning to the dining hall to do the next thing.  I am so grateful for those gifts my friend, you have fed our souls and satisfied our need for the rustle of tissue paper–Casey was thrilled and Mike spent the time I was napping watching the race tape!  James is becoming a little sullen with us all and I pray that that is just his way of expressing uneasiness about returning to school.  I pray that God will make this releasing easy on both our hearts. He did say, “It doesn’t feel like Christmas” and wished that it didn’t have to be celebrated so early in the morning!

I enjoyed pondering verse 17 of our Psalm today, it says, “when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” — Psalm 17:15.  May it be so for both of us today dear one–I cannot describe all the ways I miss you right now.

Rejoicing in our Savior’s birth,
lissa

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God of Encouragement

image “I have always noticed that when God has purposes of blessing for some soul, the demon of discouragement, who is one of Satan’s most useful servants, is sure to come and whisper all sorts of sorrowful, depressing, miserable thoughts.  He drops these thoughts about, sometimes in one heart and sometimes in another.  If they take root and grow into feelings and words and deeds, he knows that a great deal has been done to hinder what our God intends to do.  Do not forget that discouragement is always from beneath; encouragement is always from above;  God is the God of Encouragement.” ((Amy Carmichael, Edges of His Ways, August 20th, p. 154))

“You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them,

and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed,

in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.”  (Psalm 10:17-18)

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,

so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among

yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Romans 15:4-6)

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O Sing to the Lord a New Song

October 19, 2003

Good morning friend.  Today I am staying on site with Cottage #1 while the others have been transported to church.  There has been a new willingness from the staff to assist in transporting children and mamas to “morning prayers”—we can be changed–praise God.  We all have surrendered much to get here and yet are still quick to draw lines and raise boundaries over which we will not yield– DSC00318 as though to say, “This is as far as I am willing to go.”  The curious thing is that we think we are choosing the good when we say that–it is the pathway to some new misery!

This morning I will go down to the gazebo and pray with the children and share the story of Jonah and Auntie Janet and I will sing as many hymns as we can.  She loves to sing and we trust as the children mill around and play that their spirits are absorbing profound truths of the faith.   Robert One day as Robert and I walked hand in hand to the dining hall he began singing with such fervor “Great is Thy Faithfulness“.   It melted my heart to hear that precious African accent and wonderful pitch remember and sing that song with such gusto.  What do you think God will do with a boy with such a heart?

Mike made it to the Post Office yesterday and they had a note in our box that said there was a package waiting to be picked up.  Of course when he went to the package pick up spot it was closed.  We will have to paDSC00326y some shillings (about 50 cents worth)to the Post Office because they have been kind enough to hold the box!  Things are so different here–every service performed is seen as an opportunity to raise revenue–since there is almost no taxation on individuals it makes sense to recoup business expenses this way. I will let you know about the package after Mike retrieves it tomorrow.

DSC00575 I trust that you are worshipping well to day–I listened to Jeff’s sermon on Jesus as Physician for our souls and was wowed by the boldness of that Word.  How would we be blessed if we believed the sufficiency of our God?

I am grateful for these hours alone in the house–drinking coffee–listening to praise songs and eating toast with cranberry jam.  Talk about refreshment of soul–this is it!  I do not miss things much at all–but privacy and being alone at times is a longing that about knocks me down.  As with the leaves there in Asheville–I did not know the magnificence of alone time when I had it in abundance!  I savor this like the finest treat…it is.  I join the psalmist and “Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.”
Love to you,
lissa

October 21, 2003

Dear Girlfriend,

DSC01331 Today the housemothers and I will be discussing the 6th chapter of John–I’ll be re-teaching the lessons that I learned from you in that passage years ago about whether we want Jesus as Bread King or as He is –the King of the Universe.  Tomorrow we head out to Jinja and our boxes are supposed to arrive and be delivered by the time of our return Friday.

It cost another $500 to get those things through the customs maze–they open each box and if you have too many towels or sheets, or new things they charge you as though you are a business bringing in things to sell.

We are being helped so much by a Ugandan agent who will usher our things through and try to advocate for us.     Jane–I wish you could have seen Casey’s face as she opened the box from you yesterday.  She was as thrilled as could be and immediately rushed next door to share her good fortune with the Coiner girls.  Lisa immediately requested to borrow “A Knight’s Tale” and Casey allowed her to have first viewing.  She loved the bracelet –it looks so much like Casey and she had it on going to school this morning.

For me–I soaked off the red mud in a bath and climbed into bed on my heating pad with a book and don’t remember waking or wincing with joint pain last night!  Thank you,thank you my friend!

I pray that we both will grow more and more like David who had learned to despise sin in himself and in those around him. He longed for holiness–he was longing for heaven!  I hope your eyes rest on the faithful in this second day of ACTP.

Love to you,
lissa