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Posts tagged ‘Jesus’

The Fiercest Battle

     There are some battles you cannot fight alone.  It is 5 a.m. when I am awakened by thunder in the distance and feel a deep burden to go boldly before The Throne.  Our dear friends, and my spiritual mentor, will today stand face to face with their greatest enemy.  By the world’s standards, they will stand alone.  A banking Goliath is coming after everything they own.  Unsatisfied with his previous buffet of their businesses, the giant now wants to devour their very home and all means by which they are able to make a living.  Their lawyers have quit.  Sometimes, the fire gets turned up seven times hotter and those close to the flames scatter.  Other times, those who could and probably should be helping have been turned back from the very battle they trained to fight.  It’s not their fault.  This round belongs to the Lord.  And so I pray.  I pray for mercy.  I pray for intervention, for favor for them, and I pray for the federal court judge.  I ask the Holy Spirit to intervene in prayer for them.  I ask Jesus to defend them.  And I believe.  I believe they will be rescued.  I believe they will be saved.  I believe the best way for God to be glorified is when Goliath, like Nebuchadnezzar, sees the 4th man in the fire.

Gideon’s army was not reduced so he would suffer blame and shame on the day of battle; God stood in Gideon’s defense and designated him a Mighty Warrior.  

King Jehoshaphat faced an attack from the Moabites and Ammonites.  The King pleaded for help and was told through a  prophet, that the battle was not his, but God’s.  As Jehoshaphat’s army began to sing and praise, “Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever,” their enemies were defeated. 

I know my friend is praising him. She sings praise songs when most people couldn’t speak. She’s a witness to others, fixing her eyes on the Lord and crying out on their behalf.  Scriptures fall easily from her tongue.  She rightly divides God’s word and is always wearing her armor.  

We are waging a war of our own, up against the greatest foe we have ever faced in our family.  I wake to a warning, a reminder that by earthly standards we have no weapons to fight.  But I suit up just the same, trusting in truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Sword of the Spirit, and prayer.

And so I pray. 

I pray for our friend’s enemies…not because I want to…because I am supposed to. 

Obedience is not optional.

I cannot fail my friend.  I cannot fall back asleep and pretend it doesn’t matter. She is always there for me, interceding on my behalf when our problems seem to pale in comparison to hers.  But she knows we’re not up against the powers of this world and, with that perspective, she prays. 

And then we wait.

We watch and we wait, and we surrender.

We pray for our own enemies…not because we want to…because we have to. 

And just when it seems the ship will still go down and all will be lost, we draw closer and cling tighter.

Days still turn into weeks and weeks turn to months.  The wait surpasses any we have ever encountered.  But, despite the length of time it will take…the rescue will come quickly.

It arrives as a treasure hidden in darkness.  Long before we knew how desperately we would need help…help had been hidden…set aside…to someday save us.

I knew the day, but not the time.  His goodness, so overwhelming in its immediacy, felt physically fatiguing…his power causing us to tremble in his presence.

Word came that our friends were also rescued.  At the midnight hour on July 4th, they got word. Favored and set free!! Not by the Judge, but by the bloodthirsty bankers…formidable foes caving under the crushing weight of The Rock on which we all depend…forever changed by what had to happen. 

They are glad it happened.

We are glad it happened.

Daily he sustained us.

We watched and we waited.  We worried and we relinquished.  We laughed and we cried. We prayed and we pleaded. 

He never left us.

We are different now.

Can’t go back. Don’t want to go back. Never want to forget all that he said, all that he did, and all that we learned.

It is a deep well from which both families will be able to draw.

He is who he says he is.  And by surrendering to his will, we found the way!  

You will too!

“And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches.  I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.” 

 Isaiah 45:3

As God would have it, my friend and our families ended the year together, celebrating her daughter’s wedding.  There was a grand and glorious feast with music, laughter, dancing, and, of course, much PRAISE!

We look forward to a new year, new blessings, and new possibilities.

 

 

© Copyright 2019, KeziahCarrie.  All Rights Reserved

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Faith, Home, Hope, Inspirational, Obedience, Truth

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Did They Drop the Nails?


The old Catholic convent smelled like smoke as we walked toward the flickering glow of small candles illuminating TVCthe altar.  Everyone had been handed a nail and most of us knew what we would be asked to do before the night was over.  It’s an annual tradition, a ritual of sorts, and a precious opportunity that only comes around on Good Friday.  Sometimes I think I would rather not go.  I came up with any number of excuses that sounded legitimate this year.  But just when I thought I had made up my mind to do something else, I felt drawn to go. 

            Our friends wanted to go with us this year and the desire to share this sacred moment with them was leading us back on the path that was now lit by tiny votive candles. 

            It was supposed to be a silent service.  But we, as a society, find it so hard to sit still, so hard to unplug, so hard to quit whispering messages to the person next to us.   When the auditorium was almost full and we had just begun to settle in and try to still our thoughts, a cell phone began to ring in the row in front of us.  The man’s wife gave him that scolding look only a wife can give a husband.   He struggled to turn it off as it rang and rang and rang.  About five minutes later, her phone began to ring and there was no stopping the laughter that came from all those around them.

          Then the ping, ping, ping of nails hitting the floor seemed just as distracting, at first.  But then I started to wonder, did they drop the nails?  Nails EdgeDid the men who crucified Jesus drop any of the nails?  Were their hands shaking in anger?  Were they shaking in fear?  How must it have felt to place that sharp point on His most perfect and innocent flesh and then raise the hammer, make contact with the head of the nail and drive it into those loving, giving, accepting, amazing, most beautiful hands?

          Our choir sang in Latin with an English translation on the large video screen.  It was amazing.  We silently read the last seven sayings of our Lord and Savior before He willingly gave up His spirit.  Tears were flowing throughout the darkened church as we each stood and walked toward the old wooden cross.  There, just beyond the altar, we each nailed our sins to the cross.  It is always the hammering that makes it almost unbearable.  Our son said he imagined the sound to be steady beats from a drum as he tried to contain his emotions while stepping forward to accept his part in the process.  No matter how many times you have heard hammering, you have not heard it like this.  It feels like the floor is moving, with our hearts pounding, and our hands shaking.  No matter how many times you participate, it feels much the same.  My sin, my shame, my fears, my failures, held Him there on that cross.

          Oh the sweet relief of communion.  The hammering finally subsided.  We ate the bread of life and drank from the fruit of the vine and it was over.  It was finished.  It was done.  He is alive.  Resurrected in all His glory and sitting at the right hand of our God.  Our debt PAID IN FULL!  Our lives begin again.  We are renewed.

          As we walk toward our cars, our friend says she has never gotten more out of an Easter service in her entire life.  We smile.  I joke that no matter how it made us feel, I will walk right out that door and sin again.  They double-check to make sure I’m not planning to sin anytime soon.  And I’m not.  But I know I will, probably even before the night is over.  He knows I will.  He knows me.  But He came to save me.  And He will save you too.   He can even save the men who crucified Him.  Did they believe in Him before their wretched job was over?  Did the earthquake, the sun going dark, the dividing curtain of the Temple ripping apart, convince them that He was and is in fact the Son of God?  Did they have extra nails?  Did they drop the nails?

Nails Edge

And Jesus said to the thief on the cross, the one who believed in him at the last-minute,the one who had sinned up until that very moment,

 “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

© Copyright 2013, KeziahCarrie.  All Rights Reserved

Category:

Christianity, Enlightenment, Faith, Hope, Inspirational, Spiritual, Truth, Women

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