Archive | July 2012

Martha vs Mary–Not Really!

Jul22

Martha and Mary

38 While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what He said. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42 (HCSB)

So, what does this excerpt from Luke have to do with fiery darts?

First of all let’s take a look at Martha and Mary.  Martha busied herself with the many tasks of opening her home to a beloved friend (oh, and who just happened to be the Son of God–no pressure!) Mary, on the other hand, risked the criticism of a very frustrated sister, to sit at Jesus’ feet to listen to what He had to say. (Betcha, she was hanging on His every word!)

Women through the ages have read this biblical account and have related to it in a variety of ways.  Opinions have been expressed as to which sister Jesus approved of more, and often Mary comes out on top.  But everybody knows that we can’t have a world made up of just Mary’s.  Martha’s are a necessary ingredient to maintaining balance BUT we can’t have a world made up of just Martha’s either!  Each has their place; and each must be given the freedom to find it! (in their own Martha and Mary way, I might add!)

So, what’s my point here?

I believe that Jesus was pointing out the fact that both types of devotion to Him are necessary.  But in that moment (and so often in our lives) the Martha’s of this world needed to give the Mary’s in this world the space to go about their tasks in their own way without becoming critical.

Martha’s are good at what they do.  So good in fact, that they genuinely have a hard time believing that Mary’s can do a job better than they can.  So when they see a Mary falling short of perfection (doing it the way a Martha would) then it’s up to them to step in and get the job done right!

ENTER! The Fiery Darts!

Martha and Mary both are prime targets at this point for bookoodles of fiery darts.  Martha’s are convinced their way is best and become a bit insensitive to how they are coming across to their Mary’s.  After all, what is wrong with this Mary she is dealing with?  The job needs to be done, therefore, it needs to be done right.  Why can’t this Mary person be more appreciative of her help.  Can you see Martha’s frustration!  Oh yeah!

Then we have Mary.  Having a hard time trying to figure out where she went wrong!  

Listen, if Mary’s not careful she will begin to focus more on Martha’s criticisms than she should.  When that happens, the fiery darts of low self worth, find a prime target and she will become a fading flower if she focuses more on what Martha thinks of her than of what Jesus thinks of her.  But Mary’s of the world, take heart!   Martha’s are a powerful force but keep this in mind.  You are not in competition with them over Jesus’s favor.  Jesus loves you and accepts you just the way you are (even if the Martha you are dealing with appears not to). You will see that you are a beautiful flower in His garden (that’s a Mary thought if there ever was one), if you will but keep your focus on Him.

Martha’s are an uptight bunch of gals.  They excel at most everything they do.  As a result, they get lots of strokes from all of those who admire their excellence.  The expectations they have from their admirers plus the expectations they have for themselves must be met.  Oh really?  Pride is a deadly fiery dart and Martha’s are so susceptible to it.  Be on your guard, dear Martha’s.  You are not competing with Mary’s for Jesus’s favor, either.  Just take a deep breath and relax.  Give others the opportunity to get the job done in a way different from the way you would and don’t criticize them for being true to themselves!  Remember, you want to encourage them to please Jesus not You!

(Hey, and surprise, surprise, you’ll find there really is more than one way to skin a cat!)

Man Opens His Mouth & God Speaks–Final note!

Jul12

What I would like to share with you next should come straight from Echelon’s blog.  Therefore, I will give you the link for you to go to so you can read for yourself how the event played out.

http://echelon-africablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/life-death-ransom-part-3-4.html

Then after you get all updated, I’d like for you to read Jay’s commentary titled:  The Lion AND the Lamb!  Very insightful!

http://echelon-africablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/lion-and-lamb.html

*    *    *    *

As I reflect upon the darkness that seems to prevail in America at present and ponder the extraordinary events my son and his fellow team members are experiencing in Africa, I leave you with this thought.  The spiritual warfare you have just read about is not limited to that small African village on the other side of the world. We cannot pretend that such events occur only in a land where witchdoctors reside and hold sway over the thoughts of those driven by fear.

Unlike our African brethren who knew mostly darkness, we here in America have the Light all around us. Hundreds of Christian churches exist in every state of the Union.  We can hear the Good News broadcast as often as we care to turn on a tv, listen to a radio, or go online.  If we want to know about Jesus, there is an abundance of ways to secure that information.

So how is it that being in possession of such a great Light, we do not notice more evidence of it’s effectiveness?  It is my strong opinion that we have through fiery dart thinking, among other things, hidden our light under a basket as is illustrated by Matthew 5:15.

When we allow Hollywood’s agenda to have more sway over our thinking than we allow the Bible, when we allow our religious beliefs to be muzzled in the public arena, and when we allow evidence of our rich religious heritage to be erased from our children’s textbooks why should we be surprised that darkness and light is so indistinguishable in our land?  And while the government can’t take our God given rights away from us (unalienable you know), I suppose we (the people) in effect could give those rights away by continuing to hide our Light under that proverbial basket!

In that small African village, the Light is shining brightly, is dispelling the darkness and is expanding God’s kingdom.  A people who have walked in darkness are breaking free to walk in the Light.

If we desire to walk in the Light as our African brethren, then first we must acknowledge the darkness in our own lives and allow the Light of the Gospel  to lead us to repent of that darkness.  Then we must forsake the destructive course our past choices have determined for us and walk the path that will be illuminated for us as we study God’s Word.  I close with an excerpt from Echelon’s blog:

http://echelon-africablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/swallow-your-missiology.html

Everyday new people came to us and told us they wanted to follow him.(Jesus) Then after following him they began proclaiming the Good news to those who have not heard! . . . We simply told them that if they are ready to repent of their old ways and begin to FOLLOW Jesus every day. Then please come to us and we will show you his path. 

I ask you, how can you light the path for others when you don’t have enough light to walk your own path? 

Man opens his mouth and God speaks! Part 2

Jul8

What my son and his team were experiencing was peculiar to say the least.  But the detail that my mind couldn’t get away from was how God displayed His power by taking command of Jay’s voice and speaking through him to Moses.  In my world such evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power is rare.  I remember thinking, “LORD, what’s it like to experience such a display of Your power?”  I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Jay to be used of God in such a manner.

Here in America we are not accustomed to such behavior so the likelihood of experiencing what my son had encountered was hardly possible.  I mean we are too sophisticated, too civilized for such things to take place–right?

 (Sound like fiery dart reasoning to you?)

Then I opened my devotional readings and  I came across a verse that caused me to pause and reflect.  The particular verse is not important to this post but suffice it to say it was important to something I was going through at the time.  A questioning thought came to my mind:

“What if God was speaking to me though this verse?”

The next image that appeared in my mind was rather peculiar.  (Oh, I’ve heard that word before.)  It was an image of Jesus putting His arm around me and gently saying,

“My daughter, if you will accept this verse as a word from Me, then you will know what it feels like to hear Me speak!”

 My next thoughts can only be described as fiery darts.  

“Oh, that’s just a coincidence that you read that verse when you did.  Besides, how could you possibly know those words were from God?  Those are just words.  Anyway, they do not really apply to your situation!”

Sound like fiery darts to you?  Sure did to me!  So I put up my shield of faith, embraced those words and drew encouragement from them.  I accepted those words of comfort from God and acknowledged the power of the Holy Spirit in giving them to me.

You see, when you think about it, the same God that performed such a glorious rescue of the woman who attempted suicide is the same God who spoke to me in those verses.  He is not more powerful in Africa than He is here in America.  The same evil who convinced the woman that she had no choice other than suicide is the same evil who tried to plant those fiery darts in my mind to discount God speaking to me through those verses.  The same powerful God that spoke through my friend, Jay, is the same God who spoke to me through those verses I read during my devotion time. It is the same God and the same devil at work in both areas.

The distinction between good and evil may be more clearly defined in the situation which I described there in that small African village. But when you consider how long the darkness has prevailed there, it’s no wonder the Light comes in such power.  The people there aren’t use to the Light and when it comes it’s pretty hard not to recognize it.

Are we too use to the Light here in America?  Do we take it for granted?  Have we diminished its brilliance in our lives by the casual attitude we have towards the Light?  If this continues, expect our ability in distinguishing the difference between the darkness and the Light to be equally diminished.

(Oh, you’ve noticed that already!)

So, I’ve made a choice to value the Light that I’ve been given and stop taking it for granted.  I’ve decided to be more diligent in studying God’s Word so that I will less likely be deceived by the darkness.  When God speaks to me through His Word, I’m going to sit up and take notice.

(And surely avoid the temptation to think it’s nothing but a coincidence!)  

Who knows, someday I may open my mouth and hear God speak!

Some pretty amazing things have happened in that small African village since the Light has exposed the darkness there.  I’ll share that in my 3rd and last post on this subject!

Man opens his mouth and God speaks!

Jul2

Recently I have had the most incredible experience.

 It started actually in a land far away–in Africa!

PART ONE

It was to be a routine drive into the nearby town to run a few errands for my son and a couple of volunteers from the US.  Along the way, they were flagged down by man who urged them to call the police for a lady of the village had hung herself.

When my son and the two volunteers arrived on the scene they found the woman still hanging from the tree with a makeshift rope about her neck.  She was still clinging to life, albeit ever so weakly.  The 3 rescuerers gently removed the rope and carried the woman to their truck.  Next stop–the clinic in the nearby town where my son was to be running those errands.

The woman was treated and survived!  My son and his friends then carried the woman to the base camp so she could properly be cared for.  Eventually, she was able to fill them in on what had led to her desperate act.

A few years earlier the woman had borrowed some money from a wealthy man in her village so that she could care for a sick relative.  Sadly, the relative died and the woman had been unable to repay the debt.  The man told the woman that she could use her land to repay some of the debt.  He then began farming her land a little every year.  Yet, this year he began plowing under the woman’s subsistence garden and claimed the land as his own.  Knowing that without this garden she would starve to death, she figured it would be better to die quickly than to slowly starve.

My son and his fellow team member, Jay, then traveled to the man’s home in an attempt to pay the woman’s debt with interest.  The greedy man wanted nothing to do with that solution.  His plan was to get the land (for it would mean more money for him).  Jay reminded the man that the woman would die if this man took her land.  His response was cold and calloused for he cared not what happened to the woman.

Finally, when nothing was resolved, the man said it would be handled in the traditional way.  Which entailed calling the witch doctor, making a sacrifice and calling down a curse that would cause the woman, her two sons, and Jay to die.

Witch Doctor

At that point, Jay told the man of greed, “I don’t think you want to go that route because you would surely lose!   You could call all of the witch doctors in the land and if Gods people were praying they could not hurt a hair on our heads!”

Following this bold statement, Jay became God’s mouth and these words were spoken, “Everything you see here in your presence will be gone within 6 months and you will be destitute having nothing to your name.  You will acknowledge that God is the only true god  as everything that you touch will fail until you repent and acknowledge your evil ways.”

*   *   *

What does this story have to do with fiery darts?

Plenty!

My next blog post will reveal the specifics!