It never looks how we think it should look!

"Faith consumes itself not with questions but with a person, and that person is Jesus.  Simply put, we are asking too many questions that would never be issues were we in His presence.  All fear of the future would leave my young children's faces when they were in my lap.  Climb into His lap and rest in faith."                                                                                Author Michael Wells

 JESUS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
As Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, "most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, 
 'Praise God for the Son of David!  Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Praise God in highest heaven!'  The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
                                                                                                   Matthew 21:8-10 

Jesus went from being praised and honored to upsetting the statuesque of the sellers in the temple.  (Matthew 21:12-17).   It must have been a temptation to stay in the admiration of the people, after-all they were acknowledging that He WAS the "Son of David"!  They knew the Messiah would come from the line of David and by giving Him this title - they were acknowledging His diety.

Jesus stayed obedient to the Father.  He didn't gloat in the glory.  He overturned tables and used a whip to drive them out!

Walking in obedience never looks like how we think it will look.
With Jesus they thought, "Trimumphant King" yet He came as a poor carpenter.
They thought the Messiah would dine with Kings yet he called poor, uneducated fishermen.
They thought the Messiah would overthrow the government, yet the government crucified Him.

David Brainerd (1718-1747) preached among Native American Indians at the age of 24.  He suffered a lot.  His diet was meager and unwholesome, His lodging a log hut, and his bed a bundle of straw spread on boards.  He describes his condition, "I am now quite alone with no friend to take sweet counsel together.  In my weak state of health, I have no bread, nor could I get any.  I am often forced to go ten or fifteen miles in stormy and severe weather for all the bread I eat, and sometimes it is moldy and sour.  I was almost outdone with the extreme fatigue and wet.  Yet, I love to live alone in my own little cottage where I can spend much time in prayer."  

Oh the sweetness of fellowship with Jesus!  When I read this I thought about how nothing is comparable to spending time with Jesus!  Even through cold and near starvation the presence of Jesus was sweet to David.  We need to stop trying to make things look like we think they should look.  I'm sure David never imagined the hard conditions working with the Indians.  He died very young, not four years later.  To the world, his life looks worthless.   Yet, his biography became a source of inspiration and encouragement to many Christians, including missionaries William Carey and Jim Elliot. Even today, his name rings from the earth and I am encouraged by his words. Hundreds of Indians were converted through David's preaching.  In heaven we will get to see the impact his life made on this earth.
 

 

The Oil of Jesus

Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.  You rule with a scepter of justice.  You love justice and hate evil.  Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.                                                    Psalm 45:6-7

Many years ago, a friend of mine broke her back.  She had to be put into a stryker frame twice.  The second time, she didn't think she could endure it because the remembrance of the pain the first time was overwhelming.  Screw were inserted into her temples to hold her frame straight.

Being turned on the Stryker Frame

She asked many people to pray for her before the procedure was to take place.  When the time came she still had fear and just before the doctor began the procedure, Jesus appeared before her eyes.  He had a pitcher full of water or oil and he was pouring it all over her.  Joy overwhelmed her and she began to laugh.  She laughed throughout the whole procedure and never felt any pain.  Today her back is healed and she is whole.

Last year, I had a three day period where oil (in the natural) was spilled in my home.  The first day I was pulling a jar of Olive Oil out of my cupboard when it seemed to jump from my hands and fall onto my tiled flour with a loud crash.  Oil was everywhere, along with the broken glass and it took a long time to clean up.  I thought I'd never pick up all the oil. The next morning, I had a jar of ear-oil next to my bed and the cap was off, the jar fell over and oil spilled all over my night stand.  The third day, I opened a jar of peppers that were soaking in oil and it toppled over and spilled all over my kitchen counter! A friend of mine was staying with me and she said, "The Lord is trying to tell you something!"  At first, I thought it was all such a nuisance but in thinking about it, I realized that it was very unusual that three containers of oil had spilled in my home.  My friend found this scripture from the Song of Solomon and wrote it on my bathroom wall:  "How fragrant is your cologne; your name is like its spreading fragrance."

We felt that the Lord was giving us a new anointing but as I sought the Lord and thought about these things, the vision came back to me of Jesus holding the pitcher of water over my friend and pouring the oil upon her. The Lord kept expanding that picture in my mind.  He highlighted this verse to me from John 16:7 which says, "But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don't the Advocate won't come.  If I do go away, then I will send Him to you."   He showed me that it is HE that sends the Holy Spirit and then He further showed me that He is still sending the Spirit and delights to do so.  Ephesians 5:18 says, "Don't get drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life.  Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts."  "Be filled" is present tense. 

I believe that when the oil was spilling in my house, Jesus was telling me, "Come to me everyday for a fresh splash of oil!  I am in heaven with my pitcher full and I'm always ready to pour out more and more on you.  Come and let me pour on you and drink freely."  We can ask again and again and He delights to pour the oil upon us!

Psalm 133:2 is a beautiful picture of how he wants the oil to saturate us.  "For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron's head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe."

May we be dripping with the oil of the Holy Spirit.  It has no cost, it is completely free!  "Is anyone thirsty?  Come and drink-- even if you have no money!  Come, take your choice of wine or milk--it's all free!  Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?  Why pay for food that does you no good?"  Isaiah 55: 1-2

JESUS & HIS COUSIN JOHN

The story of Jesus and John the Baptist is so amazing to me.  They were cousins!  Did they play together as young boys?  Most cousins that I know are really close - almost closer than brothers and sisters because they are related yet not close enough for the fights that siblings have.  I am sure that whether they saw a lot of each other or a little, that they loved one another.

John not only prophesied of Jesus but he was also a prophet to the nations.  He spoke God's truth and told  Herod (the ruler of Galilee) that he shouldn't marry his brother's former wife.  As most of us know, this made the new wife angry and when her daughter danced for Herod, she so pleased him that he told her he would give her whatever she wanted, even up to half of his kingdom.  Her mother told her to ask for the head of John on a platter.  The King was dismayed but he granted their wish and John was beheaded.

When John was put in prison he had some very low moments.  I used to think that he was a saint from beginning to end but we find him asking the question, "Is Jesus really the Messiah or should we look for another?"  (Luke 7:19). In other word, John was asking, "Why am I in prison?  Why aren't you using your power to get me out if you are the Messiah?"  His words sound almost like a taunt to Jesus.  He is disillusioned, disappointed and distraught.  We can only imagine what the prison was like.

Jesus response to John's disciples, (who had asked the question for John) was, "Go back and tell John what you've seen and heard - the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.  And tell him: God blesses those who do not run away because of me."  (Luke 7:22-23).

Hidden in Jesus words is a promise, "Those who aren't offended by me are BLESSED".  Yet I look at John's life and I think, "How was he blessed?  He was in prison!  He was beheaded!" 

I believe that once John heard the words of Jesus, he repented of his doubt.  He may have repented with tears and as he did, I believe that peace came down and flooded his soul.  He was restored to right relationship with His heavenly Father.  He now had supernatural strength to face what was just ahead.  I wonder if he may have seen visions of his heavenly home to come.  His heart may have been flooded with joy.  I believe the Father held him in his arms when he was beheaded and escorted him lovingly to his new home.

Herod was tortured by his deed and believed that John came back in the form of Jesus.  I think it is interesting to note that Jesus had nothing to do with the Kings and rulers of this world (other than during his trial and crucifixion).  Here He was, the one true King and he went to fishermen and prostitutes. 

John's disciples went and told Jesus that John was dead.  Even though Jesus may have known this was going to happen, he still had all the emotions of a man.  I believe that this news impacted him greatly.  He loved John.  I'm sure He would have loved to have used his power to free him from prison but Jesus only did what the Father told him to do - John 5:19.  Now his friend, his cousin, the man he loved was dead.  When Jesus heard the news He immediately went away to be alone.  (Matthew 14:13).  But the crowds followed him, over 5000 of them and He chose to serve them rather than go into "me" time.  He healed them; He fed them; and He loved them.  That same night He sent them all home and insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake.  (Matthew 14:22).  Finally, He was alone.  Oh the mixture of emotion He was have had!  As a man - he'd just lost one of his best friends and that man had doubted him, been hurt by him and then beheaded!

I wonder if Jesus was able to speak to John - now in paradise?  Or did Jesus see him in glory?  Did John smile at Jesus and say, "I'm so sorry I misunderstood you!  The pain was all worth it!  I love you Jesus, my King and my Lord!"

Did Jesus weep alone - experiencing for us the sorrow of loss and rejection?  The bible says that He understands everything that we go through.  Did Jesus have moments of confusion and doubt?

I believe that in the final moments of Jesus night time prayer and struggles, He came away refreshed and victorious!  He had prayed till 2:30 or 3:00am as the bible records in Matthew 14:25 that it was at 3am that Jesus came towards the boat where His disciples were afraid and caught in a strong storm.  Maybe He was so HIGH and so FILLED with the glory of God and so blessed to "SEE" John in glory that in His joy he walked on water to the disciples in the boat!  I imagine His sweetness and his heart saying to his friends, "Don't be afraid!  I'm here!"

Yesterday I prayer walked in Wedding and the Holy Spirit led me to this cross.  It was looming in the air all golden and beautiful.  I walked in the gates, transfixed and then realized that I was in a cemetary.  A nice man, the Gardner asked if I needed help and I told him that I was just walking.   He told me that it was a French cemetery and that a famous French man was buried there. He walked me over to his grave.  There was a museum about this man but it was all in German.  From what I could gather, he was instrumental in planning and structuring the city of Berlin.  I prayed that the golden cross would shine out of that place and spark thoughts of what Jesus did for us.

COME AWAY MY BELOVED

Come away with Me.

We will leap on the mountains and we will walk on the wall.

My heart's desire is that you long for ME more than you long for travel and new places;

That you long for ME more than cherries and red wine;

That your heart would skip a beat when you think of Me;

and that all your desires, all your longing would be ME.

Seek ME and not excitement.

Tell me you love ME and not things of this world.

Gaze into my eyes.

KNOW ME EACH DAY.

Let me reveal myself to you each day.

Are you living to know Me or living for the excitement I bring?

Live to know Me.

Live to love Me.

I am your Beloved.

I am your Creator.

I am your desire.

I am your Suitor.

I am your everything.

I AM.

I've been thinking a lot about Hebrews 12:2-3 which says, (Living Translation) "Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame.  Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne.  Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people, then you won't become weary and give up."

I even wrote a bog recently about Jesus giving up the glories of heaven to come to earth, which must have felt like a prison to Him after the vastness and purity of heaven.

I just read the following quotes which go right along with some of the thoughts I've been thinking.  They are both from "The Vision and the Vow" by Pete Greig.

Charles Spurgeon, the great British preacher, said of Christ:  "His glory was that He laid aside His glory, and the glory of the Church is when she lays aside Her respectability and Her dignity and counts it to Her glory to gather together the outcasts."    Cited in Philip Yancey's Rumors of Another World p.198.

Your attitude should be the same as the Church, who
being in very nature Christ's beloved
did not consider her call to rule and reign
as a thing to be grasped
but became a simple nobody
indistinguishable from the poor
utterly human
nothing special.
And being found in appearance as a loser
she continued to choose downward mobility
to the ultimate dead-end 
of anonymity, failure, and even martyrdom.
Therefore
God swapped her overalls, covered in blood, mud and grime,
for the most beautiful bridal gown of all time.
He placed a ring upon her calloused finger
and gave her His name - the one about all others-
that when she walks down the aisle,
her crimson dress as white as snow,
her bridal procession should number thousands upon thousands 
from every tribe and tongue
their hearts overflowing with joy
as the trumpet sounds 
and the wedding feast begins
forever.

Beusselstr. Prayer Walk

Prayer Walk

I am amazed at how the Holy Spirit has led me on my prayer walks.  Last week He gave me the idea to go to a different station each day on the Ring-Bahn (which is the train that does a circle around Berlin) and pray for an hour while walking the streets.  Today was the day for Beussel Str. and after some amazing times of walking around beautiful parks on my other prayer days I wondered if there could be any beauty at Beussel Str.  This station is where we normally catch  a bus for the airport.  The road is busy with traffic and I was thinking that I did not want to walk in the direction of the airport.  However, as I came out of the station, there was an unmistakable voice that said, “Turn right” and so I did.  I wondered why I was led in this direction but decided that I was to pray for all the commuters that possibly travel that route every day. I prayed that angels would be in their cars and (or) that the people would realize that angels are around protecting them.  I prayed for an awareness of their Father God and that they would be seized with the knowledge that there is a God and that He loves them.

Then I saw a sign that said, “Gedenkstatte Plotzensee” and although I didn’t know what Gedenkstatte meant, “See” means lake in German and I thought the Holy Spirit was leading me another lake and so I followed the signs.  I was disappointed when I finally got to the Gedenkstatte Plotzensee (means Memorial Center) because it obviously was NOT the See but looked like a huge factory!  There were no cars or people in sight and it was a little scary.  Then I came to an entrance gate with a Visitor Welcome sign with hours posted and so I walked in and found myself all alone in a huge courtyard.  In front of me was a big wall with the words written on it, “Den Opfern Der Hitlerdiktatur Der Jahre 1933-1945” – (The Victims of the Nazi Dictatorship – The years 1933-1945).

What a shock to see “Hitler” written on a wall in Berlin as Germans have done their best to rid themselves of any remembrance of him.  I walked further on and entered into a room that had pictures and information in German and English and I learned that the place had been a prison built in 1868-1879.  So, the Holy Spirit had led me to a former prison!  I was amazed and knew it was no accident that I was there.

It was massive in it’s day with 62 acres and housed 1200 prisoners.  When Hitler came to power, conditions at the prison became much harsher and many were killed for retribution or simply because they were “inferior elements.”  The saddest case I read about was a young man only about 22 years old who had said to his mother and her friend, “Hitler is a mad man.”  The mother’s friend turned him in and he was murdered at this prison.

 There is still a high wall that surrounds the acreage and I read that while much of the prison was destroyed in the war, the property is now a prison home for Juvenile Delinquents.  While I was walking around I could hear shouts and yells of many boys.  I longed to see them or visit them.  There was barbed wire on top of the brick walls which gave an eerie feeling and down the road many signs saying not to enter into those grounds.

I knew without doubt that the Holy Spirit had directed my steps to this former prison to pray.  I sat on a bench and asked the Holy Spirit, “What should I pray?” and I felt that He wanted me to walk around the complex and proclaim forgiveness.  As I began my walk around praying out loud, “Mercy & Forgiveness” I felt like I’d been slugged in the stomach – such an oppression came over me.  I almost felt sick but I kept on and prayed out loud, “He who the Son sets free is free indeed!”

After this I wanted to see if I could get a peek into the Juvenile Grounds but found you couldn’t get near.  I found myself walking alongside some Berlin Garden houses that are prevalent all over Germany.  I felt led to walk into the complex where there was a sign welcoming visitors to “our tiny garden”.  After the harshness, starkness and coldness of the prison this was a fresh breeze of joy for me.  The gardens were all unique and beautiful in their own way.  I thought about the fact that each garden was a picture of humans.  Some of the gardens were immaculate; some were stuffed with plants; some were clean and some messy yet they all had a personal touch.  They were all unique and that is how I think the Father views us: beautiful as flowers yet unique and special.  I had fun praying in the gardens and before I knew it over an hour had passed and I still had to walk all the way back to the train station.  The day had been well worth the time.  Walking and praying with Jesus is always an adventure!

Typical Garden plot with small structure

More on Germany's little garden plots.  I found this info at http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/2011/11/08/berlins-community-gardens/

 These are Germany’s allotment gardens, which are something like U.S. community gardens, super-sized. Though we like to think of urban agriculture and local foods as some sort of newfangled revolutionary things, Kleingartenkolonies have been around for a long time. The concept originated in the 19th Century, when the German government, instead of handing out welfare, granted land to poor folks to garden so that they could provide for themselves. The gardens were also intended to reconnect kids with nature, which was certainly an idea before its time.
Over the decades, the number of allotment gardens grew; when the city ran out of empty land, it bought more, with help from the federal government. After World War II, people actually lived on their plots, which may explain why so many of the current structures look more like little houses than potting sheds.
Today, there are more than 800 Gartenkolonies in Berlin, alone.

Be imitators of Christ!

JESUS learned OBEDIENCE from the things He suffered.   Hebrews 5:8

So, we too learn to obey our Papa through suffering.  

If we hang in there and stay obedient, then we learn that JOY comes in the morning and that all we suffered was for the glory of God.

Bend down Oh Lord and hear my prayer;  

Answer me for I need your help; 

Protect me, for I am devoted to you; 

SAVE me for I serve you and trust you.

Be merciful O God, for I am calling on you constantly.  

Give me happiness O Lord, for my life depends on you.

O Lord You are so good, so ready to forgive - 

so full of unfailing love,for all who ask your aid.

                                                    Psalm 86

A couple of months ago, I listened to an amazing testimony about a man (Dan Bauman) who was imprisoned in Iraq for his faith.  He was held in prison for 11 weeks with the threat of death over his head.  He really thought he would die and he was prepared to go straight into the arms of Jesus.  Thankfully, he was miraculously set free and through his testimony many prison guards and the Judge came to know Jesus.  After, I heard his testimony, I was reading Philippians 2:7 which says:

"When the time came, Jesus set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!"  Message Bible

It hit me that for Jesus to come down and live on earth, it must have felt  confining; small; dirty; lonely; and constricting compared to heaven.  Perhaps similar to how prison felt to Dan Bauman or anyone who has experienced being locked up.  I don't believe that we can even begin to imagine the scope; immensity; purity and beauty of heaven.  Jesus was already reigning there and still He chose to come down to this earth.  Yet (vs. 8) He didn't claim special privileges.  Instead, He lived a selfless, obedient life, and then died a selfless, obedient death.  The worst kind of death as well, a crucifixion!  

The bible says that we are to be "imitator's of God" (Ephesians 5:1).  Say "Yes" to whatever God asks of you and keep the door of your heart open to Him.