To See, or Not To See, (that is the question)

       It’s 5:30 am and I’m already at work.  Of course, I work in the same place I live, for I am the butler of an important man.  My first duty is to prepare for when my employer wakes up.  I set out his clothing, open the newspaper on his table, begin cooking his breakfast, and squeeze the orange juice.  As I leave the house in the cool morning dawn to prepare for the day, I feel uncomfortable, but I’m not sure why.  Most days I walk the same path, but this time I gaze upward and what I see terrifies me.

       There is a vast army surrounding our town!  We weren’t at war yesterday when I went to bed!  What has happened?  There is equipment out there that is aimed to kill us.  What did we do?  I begin to panic and run into the house to tell my employer.  In my haste I stumble over the words to tell him and he finally understands the predicament we are in, but instead of being frightened or anxious, he is very calm.  I do not understand how he can be that way since he now sees what I am seeing.  “What do we do?” I cry.

         He reaches out his hand to squeeze my shoulder and says, “Don’t be afraid, it will be okay.  We have more men on our side than that.”  What does he mean?  There are no friendly soldiers here.  None of our troops are armed and ready to defend us in battle for they are all in other cities.  All I see is the vast number of enemy soldiers ready to kill.  My employer knows I am fearful, so he prays for me, not that I be protected, but that I would see!  See what, for I surely see the enemy waiting to destroy.  This time when I look up, I see another vast army around us, and they appear to be on fire but not consumed!  They are ready to fight for us.

       My employer prays for the enemy to be blinded (by delusion) and we lead them to the capital as PoW’s.  Once there, he prays for them to see, and they do...  I guess what I learned from today is that we see only natural things from our natural eyes, but there is another kingdom we do not see with our natural eyes but our ‘spiritual eyes’, and that sight is only given by Jehovah God, our Creator.  My employer Elisha knew this and that is why he was at peace when I was not.  Perhaps I can change so that I remain at peace. 

(*the real story)

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       We are all guilty of looking out the window of life at trials and tribulations with our natural eyes because that is what we are used to.  We see large mountains looming ahead for us to traverse, vast enemies surrounding us, arrows aimed at our hearts, the world crashing down around us, etc.  But what is God seeing?  He sees a mountain path that He helps us up, an army of angels to defend us, His shield to protect us, and us, upheld and protected in the palm of His hand.  Perspective.  Just like Elisha’s servant, I think we need to start seeing more from God’s perspective than our own.  Just my opinion.

*Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.  2Kn. 6:14-20

Twenty Four Years

       I remember the day my fiancé told everyone at church that I’d accepted his proposal.  All of a sudden fear came over me and I wanted to bolt.  Seriously, I thought, I’ve never even been with any person other than family for even 24 hours, how would I possibly survive a lifetime.  We were married in 1988 on a warm summer day outside in one of our favorite places- Point Pelee National Park.  It didn’t go exactly as planned, but none of that mattered because I was marrying the man I loved.

Hubby when I hadn't given him any grey hair yet!

       This August will be our 24^th anniversary, and I didn’t know if we’d make it 24 hours!  But here we are.  My husband knows me ‘warts and all’ and he still loves me.  I know him ‘warts and all’, but what I didn’t expect on that day I said, “I do” is that I would love him more everyday because the love would continue to grow.  We’ve been through a lot together, good and bad, and I can’t imagine a man who could put up with me as well as he has! J J J

       It was the same with the Lord and me 29 years ago.  We were ‘married’ in a private ‘ceremony’ in the middle of a packed arena, and my life was never the same.  My love for Him grew everyday, for about the first six months, then times of backsliding came in.  Still, over the years it amazed me how the love could continue to grow as I got to know Him more.  The Lord’s love has been complete from the beginning, and what a comfort it is to know deep down inside that He loves me dearly- it makes life worth living.

       The Lord knows me better than my best friend, my husband and my family put together.  He also knows the thoughts (Ps. 94:11) I don’t share with anyone.  He sees all my ‘warts’ (Ps. 33:13) and still loves me.  Even in the times I was so angry at Him for not answering my prayers the way I wanted, He never abandoned me (Dt. 31:8).  In fact, every now and then I wonder why He ever put up with me, and then I recall His great love for me (Rom. 8:38,39).  Who am I to deserve that kind of love?  “…What is man, that thou art mindful of him?...”  (Heb. 2:6)

       And the love keeps growing, daily as I sit in His presence and take the time to get to know (Jer. 31:34) Him better (Col. 1:10).  Who knew?  There is no way I would have understood this kind of relationship when I first knew Him.  My ideas on our relationship were still too immature back then, but now I realize what a precious gift it is to be in an amazing relationship with an awesome God.  There is no better life.

Precious Lord, thank You for being with me everyday, and for loving me.  Thank You for guiding my steps to a deeper understanding of Who You are to me.

I love You!

The Trees that Would Not Be

        My grandparents who lived on the right side of us grew fruit trees, and we were able to enjoy the ‘fruits’ of their labour.  One year my mom decided to try and grow a couple of fruit trees.  (We’ll say they were nectarines because I can’t really remember.)  As a child I was excited that we’d be able to enjoy this awesome fruit, but very disappointed to find out the tree wouldn’t be mature enough to provide fruit the very first year.

       We watched the tree grow that first year, and the next year I was ready for that juicy fruit to arrive…  but it didn’t.  By the next year, we knew something was wrong and we wouldn’t be getting any fruit, but my parents didn’t know why.  Were the trees bad to start with?  Had we done something wrong?  No one figured it out, and eventually, when the trees stopped growing well, so we cut them down.

       The Bible says a lot about fruit, likening it to characteristics such as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Gal 5:23).  In my opinion, the reason we prefer this verse on fruit is because most of us can say we already have many of these traits in some portion, so it doesn’t hold us as accountable as other verses do:

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:  Mt. 3:8

Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance [let your lives prove your change of heart]  Mt. 3:8 Amp

 (believers)…that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.  Acts 26:20

       My family learned that good trees produce good fruit.  If a fruit tree cannot bear fruit, it isn’t useful for its intended purpose.  So, in our lives, changed hearts should produce changed lives.  Fruit is the evidence/ result of what the tree is, it does not strain to produce, but it naturally occurs.  Works of repentance do not save, but they are the evidence of a change of heart/ inner change.  As believers, the fruit should be a natural outcome of our new status in Christ Jesus.  If it is a strain for us to produce fruit, perhaps we should question whether or not a real change has occurred.  In other words, our change should naturally produce holy lives/ living:

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  Rom. 6:22

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)  Eph. 5:9

For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.  1Th. 4:7

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  2Cor. 7:1

       Holiness is not a topic we hear about so much anymore.  Is it because holiness convicts us of the lifestyles that we live?  Are we living good, righteous and honest lives?  Are we watching and listening only to things that are good, righteous and honest?  Are we speaking only things that ate good, righteous and honest?  If not, then how can we say we are bearing fruit?  God says, “…be ye holy; for I am holy” (1Pt. 1:16).  He didn’t say- only in the ways you wanna be!

       These days we replace holiness with serving: visiting nursing homes, missions trips to build homes in needy countries, and other charity work.  Holiness is also replaced by: retreats on how to be better Christians (are they working?), parents or spouses, activities in team building and co-operation, and our one hour and fifteen minute Sunday services.  We even practice our fruit of the Spirit at church baseball games, multi-denominational fellowships and such… but still, no mention of holiness and the fruits of a truly repentant heart (one that turns away from a life of sin).  Jesus returns for His church soon.  Will we be ready?

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.  

          Eph. 5:26,27