Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Thrift Shop Tresaure & Hotel Neighbors


Sometimes the treasure you may find in a thrift store could be something you bring to it rather than something you buy. My friend Melissa and I were on a week’s vacation. We like to rummage through thrift stores for treasures. Upon walking into one thrift store a 20-something young woman greeted us by telling us what was 40% off. She seemed sad and disinterested. I noticed she was pregnant but had no wedding band on.  A few minutes later I started up a conversation with her and learned it was her mother’s shop and she was watching the shop in exchange for living with her.  “But” she said, “I’m moving to Georgia to my boyfriend’s army base. We’re having a baby.”  She looked down at her stomach as she said it. I congratulated her and wished her well.  She thanked me though her voice and her countenance both seemed like she was carrying sadness.  We left the store without having found any treasures.

But as we started to drive away, I knew I had to go back in and talk to her. I just wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to say. The usual rehearsed script seemed so impersonal. “Lord, I’ll open my mouth and you please speak,” I prayed.  She looked up expecting me to be buying something when I walked back in but I told her, “The Lord wouldn’t let me leave until I told you that He wants you to know that He knows you, He knows right where you are, He knows your baby and He is with you.”  At this her entire countenance changed from sad to a big smile as she reached out her hand to take mine. Suddenly she seemed like a different person.  The sadness in her eyes was gone and now they shone with hope and a measure of what I suspect was joyful relief that God had not rejected her. How a few words from the Lord can changes one’s whole perspective. She told me her name is Kate and I left with “God is with you, Kate.”  I don’t know who was more blessed by that little exchange, Kate or me. When you share the Lord with someone like that, it seems He shares His joy with you.  Nothing I could have found in any thrift store could equal the treasure God gave to me by allowing me to be a messenger of hope and love to Kate.

That was only the first of our God-ordained vacation experiences.  Before I tell you the next one, I first need to tell you that when Melissa went to make our reservations for this week’s vacation several months ago, she originally made it for last week but felt uneasy about it and cancelled the reservation, not having God’s peace about it. But then she felt fine about making the reservation for the following week which was this week. When we got here we found that the suite was not what she had been promised. It was smaller and well, just not the more exclusive suite we expected. She tried to change to another apartment, but alas, there were none available. So we settled in, thanking God for it anyway.  It wasn’t long before we began to hear an angry voice from next door and what sounded like an abused child, maybe a little girl of about five, we figured. It sounded like one angry father and then sounds of the child being, shall we say, spanked rather hard and a lot of screaming. It was horrible to hear.  We had decided to stay in that day and prayed through a good bit of the day for the family next door. Finally after what seemed like a rather violent episode the father slammed out of the apartment and left and we could hear the mother trying to soothe the child.  How do you make sense of that to a little one?

The next day it began again. We could not bear to hear this anger all over again. Praying, I had the idea of writing an anonymous letter to the father and slipping it under their door. But when I started to write my own words, they wouldn’t come. It seemed as if the Lord was saying, “Let Me write it.”  The words came to me like prophesy does, like I was taking dictation from the Lord.  We slipped it into a blank 9X12" envelope that hotel info came in and left it at their door addressed “To The Daddy of This Family.” When we came out of our apartment a while later, there was the father in the hallway with not a five year old little girl as we interpreted the voice to indicate, but a two year old adorable blonde little boy holding his father’s hand. A two year old getting that kind of beating!!  Horrifying.  I caught a look at the man’s face - it was a fairly good looking but hardened face, a look as if he himself had seen too much violence in his own life.  Melissa wondered if he left yesterday because he was afraid he would hurt his son more than he already did. I wondered if he'd just recently returned from Iraq or an army duty and was under some PTSD.  What causes a man to be so violent to his little son?

In his hand, he held the letter and the opened envelope. I could not tell if he had read it yet and we nodded hello as strangers. We continued to pray for this family because the father seemed to me as victimized as the little guy – both victimized by violence, the perpetrator as well as the victim.  I wish I could tell you that the screaming stopped completely but it was somewhat quieter next door. One incident began but quickly stopped. Perhaps the letter had its impact.  One letter is not likely to stop a life time of rage, but one word from Yeshua sure can impact a life.  Melissa and I believe God saw to it that we were in this apartment next door to them this week, to pray and to deliver God’s words of hope through the letter.
So when things don’t go as you planned, wait and see what God may have for you to do for Him.  All He needs is a voice or a hand to touch someone’s life with His love. He may have greater plans than you did. 

Would you stop for a moment and pray for Kate, her boyfriend and her baby, and for the family next door for God’s mercy and goodness so that His blessings may permeate their lives. And that in each of their situations, they would learn to let the Lord carry them. 

I’m sharing the letter "to the daddy" with you as I have the sense that someone reading this may find it of value, perhaps to share with someone else. Pass it on, in other words.  Click the comment button below and leave a message if you do to encourage us all.  So here goes: 

To the Daddy in this family,

I know your frustration and your rage, Son.  This child of yours is causing you to replay some of what you experienced in your own life, though you may not remember it or connect with it right now. Your anger is not really against your child but against yourself for not knowing how to control the child.

Punishment never teaches a child to love you. It teaches them to fear you and fear is not the same as loving respect. Isn’t that what you really want, love and respect? Discipline, on the other hand, will model for a child proper behavior, and love and tenderness will bring about a child’s devotion to you as one who is their protector, not someone who does them harm. Perhaps you can recall some of those very feelings.

I know what it is to be beaten and mistreated, but out of my own experience – motivated by compassion – I forgave those who abused me.  I also forgave you. That’s why I took the abuse, even leading to death. To forgive! I offer to you not only forgiveness for where you have been less than perfect in your life – or angry without justifiable cause, and I also offer to you a new life, one in which you can become a loving husband and father, a man whom others respect as a role model of kindness, dignity, trust and stable maturity. It will take some time to learn but I will be with you the whole way – if you will come to me, if you will turn all your troubles, and the anger and sadness in your heart over to me. That would be the most manly thing you can do.

One day you will not be as young as you are now.  You will want the love and security of your family around you to treasure you as the father and even the grandfather whom they want to be just like when they are older.  You can become that role model of a life well lived.

I’m here for you whenever you call upon me to teach you how to live such a life.  Whenever you want my forgiveness, it’s here for you, as is my wisdom and my eternal love.  I’m only a spoken  word  away, Son.
                                                                                                                                                 JESUS
                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Friday, November 28, 2014

THE CHOICE TO REJOICE!


Me looking happy.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving day. This was the first time in twenty some years that a number of our kids were elsewhere. Somehow they've grown up enough to make those decisions for themselves. Two of my granddaughters are now married, each with a child, each who were having dinner with his folks. Another decided to go visit his grandfather in another city, and one more is attending college in Israel.  That left us with still of good number of us, including three more grown-up (more or less) grandchildren, my twenty-two year old nephew (who calls me Auntnie - He ran Aunt and Lonnie together as a little guy and it stuck. I love it.) and seven of us adults. One of our "thankfuls" was for FaceTime so we got to visit with those not with for a bit.

Coming from a family of writers, one of my daughters, Ellen Cottrill, read to us as we sat down to dinner a letter she wrote to all of us, more like a story, identifying in a delightful way what each of us has accomplished or experienced in the last year. It was wonderful. Wow, I don't think any of us but Ellen realized how much God has done in each of our lives since last Thanksgiving. So much growth has taken places and so many experiences add up to seeing how blessed we are just to live in such freedom and ability to come and go as we do. A new baby was born, a new business was entered into and is doing well, another went back to school for a career change, something he would not have even thought of a year ago. There were visits to Israel and elsewhere for several of us. Many of us, including myself, would never have imagined some of the changes that have taken place in the past year. We were even surprised to hear it all as Ellen recounted it.

How about you? Have things taken place in your life this past year that you wouldn't have imagined last Thanksgiving? What has happened to you and to those you love since last Thanksgiving? Not all of what happened to us seemed good at the time, like me breaking my hip last August and spending four weeks in rehab (See Lessons From Rehab in this blog below.) I am grateful, I can tell you, not only to walk without pain, but just being able to bend at the hip to put my socks on now that it got colder seems a blessing. Therein is a lesson to never take everything for granted but to be thankful for all things. Even some of the things that have taken place that we wouldn't have wanted to happen have turned out to be blessings after all.  It's that Romans 8:28 thing:  "God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes." Thank you, Lord!

Orthodox Jews tend to bless God for almost everything they do in a little prayer they offer up to Him. It's not a burden, its a way of life. All comes from God. It makes one delightfully cognizant of His presence with us and His blessings in each of our lives to bless Him for what He's given us throughout our days. For instance: "Blessed are you, O Lord, our God who has given us all things to enjoy."   

I would urge you to take stock also of what has happened in your life in the last year.  Even better, do it with some of those you share life with, be they friends or family.  And true, not all of them will be wonderful memories; some may even be painful or sorrowful, but seeing how much can change in a year gives us much hope for how much more can happen in the coming year that we can't even begin to imagine today.  This, of course, is not the start of a new calendar year, but we can make it the start of a year of thankfulness between now and next Thanksgiving. Just setting your mind to being aware of the good stuff in your life and around you sensitizes you to being more aware of them.  When I've asked the Lord to please make me aware of what He is doing and where He is around me, I find I'm actually more aware of His goodness and beauty throughout my day. I love the statement, "Happiness is a choice."  So is a thankful heart.

One of the first verses the Lord ever made me aware of as Him speaking directly to me was this: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I saw rejoice."  I can't tell you I've always obeyed that command. Far from it, but when I remember it and make the CHOICE TO REJOICE, even the atmosphere seems lighter.  Ellen's thanksgiving letter yesterday cataloging how so much has taken place in each of our lives this past year made me realize that I need to stay more aware of what God is doing in other's lives all around me so I can rejoice with them too. But most of all, it is God who is so much at work in our lives to enrich them, to make us more mature and more loving, and to increase our sensitivity to His presence and His leading because often we don't even realize He's doing something significant for and in us, or that it's His doing.  I assume not everyone sees God in all that goes on in their lives  But that doesn't mean He's not behind it all, making good out of it.

So how about thanking Him now for all the good He's going to bring to you and those in your life now by faith. Faith in His goodness opens up the portals of heaven for His goodness to pour down upon us. It isn't about us trying to do something to get God to do something for us; it's about us being one with Him and loving and appreciating that He has chosen to make us His so that we're on our way to being "one" with Him as Yeshua was when He said, "Joy I leave with you. Not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, and don't let it be afraid....I have overcome the world... by faith!"  That's worth a heap of thanks giving, wouldn't you say? 

Glory to God For The Me Who Died

This morning I lit a Yartzeit candle and recited the Kahdish prayer which Jewish people do to honor the deceased, though the prayer is really a praise to God.  It was my commitment to the Lord to no longer walk with Him as one who is self-absorbed instead of Yeshua enthralled. It all began when I read on this same day in my journal of last year how I was kvetching and attempting to commit to living as God would have me do, but I see that I was really still trying to fix myself and attempting to do a better job at doing a better job!!  Does anyone relate, or am I the only one?

Well, as it turns out, much of what I was asking God for last year, or at least a goodly number of my prayers in this regard, have been answered and I can see how I am really a (somewhat) different woman than I was last year when I was still victimized by my old nature in trying to get it to act like my new nature.

The reality is we do have two natures within us - God's and Adam's. And the fact is, Adam will never be resurrected into Yeshua. He can't be. He's gotta die! That's all there is to it.  It's really not a fair fight for superiority, is it? I mean the Adam in us and the Almighty who is committed to making us like His Son - He wins, thank God!  And our old nature looses - eventually.  That is to say, the Adam-like nature in us must eventually yield to the Holy Spirit. Actually in Hebrew "Holy Spirit" would read more like "Spirit of (the) holiness."  I like that better. It helps me to remember that the Spirit of God within me, Who helps me with the living of my life in godliness (even in the ordinary things), is in fact "holy!" Some of us are inclined to be a bit too familiar sometimes with the Spirit of God being with and within us so that His presence may seem to blend into the rest of our lives so that we can forget that we're called to live lives in line with the nature and character of God.  Or, again, is it just me?  Either way, me or 'us', allow me to share a Hebrew concept with you that may help anchor your heart in God as a way to live your life.

There is an expression in Hebrew among Jews who are God-inclined that is called Kiddush HaShem.  It basically means holy unto the Lord and is a way of living one's life to the glory of God. Yeshua's entire life was lived in keeping with Kiddush HaShem.  It is a way of living to be conscious that in everything we do, we bring honor to God.  When Yeshua told His disciples that when they pray the first thing on their minds when addressing our Father in heaven, should be, "Hallowed be Thy name" meaning that our relationship with God is best lived when we first commit to Him to bring about honor and glory to His name.  In everything we do, even in how we think, we are most like Yeshua when we are seeking God's 'reputation' not our own.  Yeshua never sought recognition for Himself, but only for His Father.

In his book, Jesus' Gospel: Searching for the Core of Jesus' Message, by Joshua Tilton (Jerusalem Perspective.com) he speaks of Kiddush (Quidush) HaShem as Yeshua's motive, not to make His divinity known in such stories as the paralytic, for one instance, but to call attention to the goodness of God to forgive sins and to restore people. Tilton says that often we misinterpret Yeshua's motive as being one that says, "Look at Me," when His whole life was about making His Father known and to give glory to His name.  There is nothing in Kiddush HaShem that is coercive, Tilton points out, nor an attempt to wrestle people into acting morally or righteously. If it doesn't come from our hearts, its not going to please God anyway.

I heard this past week of a man who has not been walking with the Lord for a long time who now has cancer.  He told his sister that if he came to the Lord now, it would be "fire insurance" meaning to stay out of hell.  But if he was to try and buy that ticket out of hell with a self-seeking motive, he would find himself still outside of heaven's gates.  There is no "fire insurance" policy available from God. He won't be coerced either. Coercion is not part of God's nature in any way.  We come to Him willingly with a genuine heart of repentance and the recognition that we need His mercy and forgiveness. It's the only way.  When we are truly Yeshua's, that will be our experience.  A quest for righteousness and to be at peace with God is not the same as a desperate attempt at eternal self-protection. 

When God created Adam (Adam means human, btw, it wasn't the first male's name though we call him that), He made both humans, Eve included, in His likeness and image. Though they lost that holy likeness when they sinned, we see it again fully manifested in Yeshua.  But God's intention didn't stop there, as we know. Yeshua's total abandonment of self-preservation on our behalf in His work on the cross, restored for those who would come to Him, God's original intention to have a people, a family, formed in His image and likeness. This is now continually being accomplished by re-forming us by His Spirit into the likeness of His Son who lived in complete and loving dependence upon His Father, with the goal of everything He did, said or thought, to be consistent with the goodness, mercy, justice and glory of God. To be Kiddush haShem minded, is to live with this same joyful existence because He will share His joy with you.

That may sound somewhat lofty for us, but as I've seen in reading my journal only from last year on this same day, when we come to the place of letting go of our attempts to "be good" or to "be holy" and instead trust that God is doing a work in us that far exceeds anything we can conceive of, let alone do, we come to resting in Him and in effect, we get out of His way so He can do the work in us.  We call it grace!  Some have misunderstood grace to be the freedom to do what they please and still be "covered by the blood" of Yeshua. Oh, so not so!!  Grace is the God given ability to live a holy life unto Him, not a license to live as He never would have. 

If you will scroll down a few blog articles below or click on it on the right in the list of articles, to the one on "What only God can do" you'll be able to see how that word from the Lord brought me to a place of resting in Him which has led to me lighting the Yartzeit candle today in recognition of the "old me."  Am I entirely like Yeshua now?  Of course not. That won't be complete till we reach heaven or He comes, whichever is first. But leaning on the Spirit of (the) Holiness instead of my own attempts at holiness, has sure brought me a long way into the rest of God He intends to fully bring us into. 
















Saturday, November 1, 2014

Carpenter Hands and Silent Tears

    
I present this story to you not as doctrine, or as bible exegesis, but what came out of a personal forty-day wilderness experience during which the Lord eventually came to me and comforted me with what seemed like the “fellowship of His sufferings.” Could He have been fully human and not have dealt with what is so much of our human experience? As I have shared this story with only a few persons it has served to bring healing to some, and it has made Yeshua more real as a Man and as a Person who can relate to what we so often go through. It has, for some also given insight into Him as our promised Bridegroom, whether we are a man or a woman. I can say that I know what strong carpenter hands on your shoulder feels like of a man who is real enough to cry because it is hard to say goodbye, and I know what it is to feel cherished, even though there are great limitations on your friendship. It is out of that, it is my belief, the Holy Spirit gave me this insight.  

While I preferred to keep the story private, I now feel that He would have me share it with those of you who are reading it who will one day be His Bride, to know this of Him now. It is, after all, to whatever extent it may be true, His story to share.
 
~ ~ ~
"Who is forgiven much, loves much,” Yeshua told those listening to Him as they sat in Marta, Miryam and Lazarus’ gathering room. His knowing eyes glanced across each face, staying only for a second longer upon Miryam’s whom He knew would understand more than the rest the truth of those words. Despite being from a well thought of and somewhat prominent family in Bethany, Miryam has lapsed into a life of doing what “nice Jewish girls” didn’t do. She had brought shame to her sister and brother, both older than she, who were grateful their parents were no longer alive to witness it.

But all that changed when this Man who is thought to perhaps be the Messiah, who now sat teaching others in their gathering room, had come to their town. Miryam had overheard His words that day as she made her way through the market place.  She had no intention of listening to a holy man talking about God, even if He had drawn a crowd. But what she did hear caused her to stop and listen, just for a moment. He made it sound as if God was forgiving and not angry with people for not being good enough. She’d never heard words like that before, though it was not just His words, but the kindness in His voice that made her stop to listen - and to watch Him, wondering who He was.

Walking among the people, touching this one, smiling at another, tousling the hair of a child, He seemed not at all like the temple priests who were so aloof and wore their prayer shawls everywhere so everyone would know who they were. He dressed like everyone else, but when He spoke, He didn’t sound like everyone else.  He spoke of turning away from sin, yes, but not to condemn. He was offering a new life of freedom, of being cleansed and being right with God by believing in His goodness and accepting His forgiveness. As she listened, He made the impossible suddenly seem possible. She had already felt so condemned, that there seemed no way out. One bad decision after another, one time of putting her trust in a man who turned out to be untrustworthy led to another, till somehow, here she was, where neither she, and surely not her family, would want her to be.

And then, though she stood on the edge of the crowd, He walked directly toward her and stood before her.  He looked into her eyes as if He knew her, as if He could see all her bad decisions, and as if He could see how hurt she had been and how she had shut off her feelings to keep her heart from being hurt any further. She wanted to run away but she couldn't move.  She hadn't wanted to see these things in herself, but as He looked into her eyes, His kindness poured into her wounded soul and all this was suddenly unveiled to her. Before she could even make sense of any of it, He spoke only a few words to her – “Go and sin no more.”  And at that moment she knew the power of the sin that had held her captive for so long was broken. She suddenly knew that her past was now her past, and not her tomorrow, or even her today.  Before she had time to even formulate words to say thank you, He had moved on through the crowd. But she knew she would never be as she had been, she had just become a new woman.

What Miryam hadn’t realized before was that her brother and this man – His name was Yeshua –  had become friends. Lazarus had welcomed Him into their home before but Miryam had always been elsewhere and had no interest in Lazarus’ religious friends.  But now, when Yeshua came to visit, she was right there, sitting at His feet, listening to every word He had to say. He always spoke about the Kingdom of God, that they no longer had to wait for it, but that it was right there with them and they could live even now in God’s righteousness and blessings.  She couldn’t get enough of what Yeshua was saying. Every word He said brought more cleansing to her heart and enlightenment to her mind. How she soaked up His words, marveling in the joy of her new life of the righteous He offered.

Yeshua continued to come to their house when He seemed to need a rest and wanted times away from the crowds. He would share with them where He’d been and tell them stories of the miracles and of the people He came to know and the lives that were changed. He always seemed so thrilled at each one, as if it was the only miracle that had taken place. 

Miryam knew what many of those people felt, as their lives were made new. She wondered if they felt about Yeshua as she did. Did they love to look into His eyes as she did? Did they live to hear the sound of His voice too? Did they wait for Him to come again when He left their towns? While He never spoke any differently to her than He did to Marta or Lazarus, she continued to have the feeling that somehow there was a special bond between them, that she seemed to understand more of what He was saying than they did. Was it only her imagination that she felt so close to Him?

She certainly understood that those who are forgiven much, love much. But dare she even think that He loved her in return, as a good man loves a woman?  One evening while Marta was busy cleaning up after a meal and Lazarus was out feeding the animals, Yeshua and she took a walk on the roof top where they could see almost into Jerusalem and they talked easily as good friends do. Miryam never felt so completely at ease with anyone like this before, so free of her usual self-consciousness or defensiveness as she was with Him. It all seemed so natural that she didn't even realize it until a day or so later when it surprised her to find that she missed Him, even painfully so, as she recalled their time on the roof. Only once had He offered her His hand to help her up a step and she felt the strength in His Hand as if He was still the carpenter He had been until recently and she wondered how He could be so gentle with such strong hands. 

Marta, meanwhile, was still not sure she trusted the newness in Miryam. After all, she still wasn’t much help with the chores around the house. Since their parents were gone, Marta had taken charge of running the house. She did have a gift of hospitality and loved cooking for people. Her meals were as elaborate as any in Bethany.  Lazarus had a way of inviting people in on a regular basis even on the spur of the moment and Marta enjoyed whipping up a meal to feed them. But it would have been helpful if Miryam had contributed to her share of the work.

One day, when Yeshua and His disciples were there for lunch, and many others had crowded into the room to hear Him, there was Miryam right there sitting on the floor in front of Yeshua again listening intently to what He had to say while Marta was in the kitchen, intent upon making an elaborate meal for their guests. But feeling somewhat tired, Marta was also annoyed that her sister wasn’t helping her.  She even felt annoyed with Yeshua for not noticing how hard she was working to prepare a meal for Him and all those guests who were His followers, after all, not hers that she was feeding. While Miryam and Lazarus and the others listened and laughed and enjoyed the discussion, Martha had been distracted with much cooking and serving. But suddenly her feelings got the best of her and coming out of the kitchen area she waited only briefly for a lapse in His conversation to say, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Tell her to come and help me.” She was sure if He told her to help, especially in front of all those people, Miryam would certainly have to do so.

Suddenly the room got very quiet as everyone turned and looked at her. She had the distinct feeling that she had just said something entirely inappropriate. Yeshua smiled warmly, however, and said to her, “Marta, Marta, you are worried and troubled about many things.  Only one thing is really needed, and Miryam has chosen that good part. What you’re cooking will be eaten and will be gone, but that which Miryam is hearing will become part of her life and destiny, and will not be taken away from her.” 

Marta would have felt ashamed except for the acceptance in His tone of voice and His smile toward her.  It was at that moment that she realized she really was troubled about many things and they really only did need one or a few things to eat, fruit with bread and cheese maybe, and not a four course meal.  For the first time Marta realized that what He had to say was far more important than what she fed Him and His friends.  She vowed that the next time Yeshua came to their home, she would prepare a simple meal and like her sister and brother, pay much more attention to His teachings.

But the next time didn’t come. They heard from others where He had been and of some of the miracles that were taking place. News travels fast throughout Judea as people traveled from one area to another.  It was months since they’d seen Him, and during that time Lazarus had taken sick. Both his sisters had nursed him and fed him and done what one does to help someone get well. They had even called in the local doctor but no matter what they did, Lazarus was not getting any better. There was only one thing to do, send for Yeshua. Surely He would come and pray for Lazarus and he would be well like all the others Yeshua had healed. So they sent a messenger to find Him and to tell him of Lazarus' dire illness. It was not hard to locate Him, no matter the distance, as there was so much talk about Him and people tended to know where He was from the stories. And so the messenger found Him and told Yeshua that the one whom He loved, His dear friend, was quite sick and asked Him to come as soon as He could.

Marta and Miryam were sure He would come immediately after they dispatched the messenger. But He didn’t. Days went by. Lazarus grew sicker and weaker and finally, he breathed his last and Lazarus was gone. And Yeshua had not come. Their grief was inconsolable. They had gone through the ritual burial procedures and had laid Lazarus’ body in the family tomb. Now the house was again filled with people, but this time for the week of shiva, the time of mourning. Four days had gone by when one of Yeshua disciples came with the message that He was just outside of town, waiting to see them. Marta as head of the household had received the message and slipped out the door and ran to where He was waiting. The moment she saw Him, Marta couldn’t help but feel somewhat angry with Yeshua. Where had He been all this time? He could have saved Lazarus, she was sure of that.  “Lord,” she said, “if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Wouldn’t God answer His prayers no matter what He prayed, she thought, and then said, “But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

Yeshua’s next words did not make her feel any better.  “Your brother will rise again,” He said. She already knew that. “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day,” she said. But how does that help her grief now, she thought. That’s then, this is now and he’s still dead now. But Yeshua immediately interrupted her thoughts as He said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Marta, do you believe this?” Marta wasn’t sure what the meaning of His words were. She was still too filled with sorrow to understand what He was saying. He seemed to be saying Lazarus should never have died because he believed in his friend Yeshua, even believed He was the Messiah.  How could Yeshua say Lazarus would never die when he died! What He was saying didn’t make any sense, even though she too believed He was the Messiah, just as Lazarus had.  Not knowing what else to say, she said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” But what good was all this talk about resurrection, she thought, when Lazarus was still dead.

He didn't respond to her statement, but asked her to send Miryam to Him. She went back to the house and whispered to Miryam that the Master was asking for her. Immediately Miryam dashed out the door and ran to where He waited.  Many of the people in the house followed her thinking she was going to the grave site to mourn. Breathlessly coming upon Him after her run to Him, still wrapped in grief, she was sure that had He been there, this would all have turned out differently. Why hadn't He come? She looked into His eyes, those eyes she knew so well, trying to read what she was seeing in them.  Barely able to speak in more than a whisper, she implored, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died,” before she collapsed at His feet.

Yeshua had seen the grief in her eyes; He could feel her pain. Did He want to comfort her? Did He suddenly know the of excruciating anguish and sorrow she would feel when she would learn that He too was dead, and that He had been so cruelly tortured and crucified? Even though He knew He would be raised from the dead three days later, was the thought of the unbearable pain His own death would bring to her a cause for great anguish within Him at what she would experience? Was He Himself overcome with wanting to spare her even more grief than she was feeling now? Did He want to take her in His arms and comfort her, not just for today but everyday? If He did, He knew He could not.  As Yeshua saw her weeping, He groaned within His own spirit, being deeply troubled. But He did not, He could not, reach for her to lift her out of her pain. Instead, just for a moment, did He lay His hand upon her shoulder to try and calm her?  And did the groaning in His spirit come with the thought of how hard it was to leave, as silent tears fell from His eyes? [1] 

The best way to turn this around was to do what He had come to do, to raise Lazarus from the dead.  He said to those who were gathered around them, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” And that He did. Seeing their joy became joy to Him as well. He hoped they would remember the hope in Lazarus' resurrection when it came time for His own death. His Father’s timing of this day couldn’t have been more fitting, for soon, He too would be dead and laid in a tomb for a time.

What did Yeshua and the two sisters and Lazarus talk about that night as they sat once again in their house, this time over a simple meal?  They were what appears to be His closest friends for He spent much time in their company. Is it possible that He told them, or even just told Miryam on a walk on the roof, of what was to come in order to prepare her?  Did He decide to explain to them, or to her, what must take place so they would be able to endure it? Because a short time later, just prior to His last Passover here on earth, an event took place that would lead one to think that Miryam, if both of the recorded events involved Miryam, knew of His immanent death. It may have also been that not everyone recognized Miryam’s change of life and still saw her as she had been.

Yeshua and His disciples were in Bethany again, this time in their neighbor’s house, that of Simon who may have been a Pharisee whom Yeshua had healed of Leprosy.  While they were reclining at dinner that night, Miryam came in having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.  Seemingly unaware of anyone but Yeshua, she came to Him, then broke the flask and poured its contents on His head releasing the aroma of the oils throughout the house. Then kneeling by His feet she poured the rest of the oils on His feet and then began to wipe them with her hair, weeping as she did so. The room was filled with shock at such a sensuous act while the fragrance of the oil filled the house. 

At first no one said anything, but it soon became evidently that there were some who were indignant among them, Judas most of all who was the first to speak, saying with much judgement in his voice, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? It might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.”  His words were abruptly interrupted with a flash of anger from Yeshua whose voice roared with His own indignation as He firmly articulated, “Let her alone!” The expression on His face made it clear that He was angry, not with her, but with Judas for his attitude toward her. “Why do you trouble her? She has done a good thing unto Me. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial,”

Burial? Did He say burial? No one in the room seemingly knew what He was talking about, except for her. She knew and she was expressing her love and her overwhelming grief the only way she knew how. The room fell absolutely silent except for her soft sobs.  Looking first at her for a moment, then gazing around the room,  His voice perhaps a bit raspy with the emotion of the moment, He said,  “Assuredly, wherever this good news is preached throughout the whole world, what this woman has done for Me will also be told as a memorial to her.”

There was nothing He could give her in this world, but He did what He could to protect her at that moment, and to protect her reputation for all time to come. He would make what she had done unto Him known throughout the world. He would give her the greatest place He could by letting the world know, everyone who would come to know the Gospels, that He honored her and cherished her and what she had done for Him. No longer would she ever be regarded as a sinful woman, but He who would soon be known as King and Resurrected Lord, created a memorial to her that would last as long as His word, and His word is forever. 

~ ~ ~

Epilog:  We are not told what became of Miryam, though perhaps she was "the other Mary" (Matthew 27:61). The next thing we read is that Judas went to the chief priests and sold Yeshua out to them for His capture.  One wonders if Yeshua’s roaring rebuke at Judas wasn’t the trigger that caused him to want to vindicate himself by turning Yeshua over to them.  Was he entirely indignant that Yeshua actually rebuked him in front of all those people in favor of a woman, even this woman? Was he so humiliated that he decided to retaliate? One wonders.




[1] The word “wept” in Greek indicates silent tears.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

IS THERE A WARNING IN THIS DREAM?



After every storm there's always rainbow.
Before I go any further, I want to say that despite whatever storms we may go through, even if we don't see it visually, God has promised us a rainbow. Sometimes they are above the clouds, like this one, so that we have to see it with our spiritual eyes, but it's always there.  

Having prefaced this article with that thought, it is still with some reluctance that I write to tell you of a dream I had. This is not the kind of things I'm prone to think up or be preoccupied with. I have tried not to share it, but at this point, even if there’s no validity to the dream I’m about to tell you, I feel it would be irresponsible not to - just in case.  I apologize for this being so long (I thought of making it two articles but wanted to be sure both parts are read). The second part of the article is very real. And that part is, I believe, indeed a warning even if it doesn’t apply to everyone. 

Part 1:  Sometime in 2010 I had the dream. I almost never remember my dreams but this one has stayed with me repeatedly.   It troubled me when I had it and I had the sense that it was not for me personally but was possibly a warning for others to be made aware of as well, if indeed it proves to come about as I had dreamed.  I shared it with a few wise and godly men who agreed it might be a warning from God.  One of them, knowing I’m a writer, suggested I write a book, somewhat like Joel Rosenberg writes, a kind of prophetic fiction (Rosenberg  writes  his fiction books and then they tend to come true). But I don’t write fiction and it would take a tremendous amount of research to write such a book.  So I did nothing with it till now.

For about the last two months the dream seems to be on my mind more often.  It kept going through my mind to put it on my blog. Still I have been reluctant to do so –  after all, it was just a dream, and, frankly, I didn’t really want to add to the cacophony of alarmist suppositions out there, not that there aren’t some real issues gnawing at our attention. This week there have been initial cases of Ebola now in the United States.  It seems to be time to share the dream. I will also share some of what I seemed to be given to understand as the dream unfolded though  I do not know what the first part (the next paragraph) represented except that somehow we survived something very threatening.     

As the dream began, I was in a room with two other women who were terrified of what was taking place outside the room. Somehow it was surrounded by, or in the midst of a great storm, perhaps a social storm, a war or police action. The room was being blown as if in a hurricane,  and I could see things going past the windows as we hurled along though we were pretty shut in.  I was trying to keep their focus on the Lord, though it was hard for all of us. Somehow we made it through and were surprised to have survived it, but things were different after it than before. 

What happened next took place in the basement of the Seminary which I attended which told me that it was somehow connected with spiritual issues and/or with the cooperation of the organized church somehow. It was at night. I was trying to get to my room on an upper level where I “dwelt.” I expected the classrooms to be empty at night, but I found there were classes going on, as if it was a regular seminary or college taking place. I knew that the seminary had rented the space to these people to have a whole other school on the same premises so both occupied it during one full day.

Interpretation:  That this took place in the basement was that it was hidden or of a lower spiritual nature.  I sensed both. My seminary did have apartments on the upper level. This told me I was attempting to ‘dwell’ in a higher place (spiritually) than all that was going on, as in “dwelling  in the Lord.”  That it took place at night indicates spiritual darkness. The seminary, which is, of course, a graduate school for training pastors, seemed to be unaware that these people had a whole other school of thought than what is biblical.  Nor were the seminarians who were supposedly Christians at all discerning of the spiritual condition of these other people so as to be wise enough or spiritually strong enough to disassociate from them. 

The people there were all dark, as in almost black, (this was not racial but spiritual) and had no expressions on their faces, as if they had no spiritual life in them, though they were all alive physically. One young man, big and somewhat unappealing looked out at me from his classroom (I was not in the classroom but in the hallway) with no expression on his face. He appeared to be entirely dull of countenance. These people didn’t seem to have any light of the Lord or otherwise in them, though they were not evil.

I  then understood this was really not a school but they were involved with the making of a vaccine that was supposed to protect everyone from a lethal flu or virus, but somehow I knew the epidemic wasn't real. It was a way of controlling the population. 

At this point I do not remember the dream exactly but what has stayed with me is that I was made aware that this was setting the stage for future mandatory “health” measures, specifically a vaccine that would be given to the entire population of America for the “well-being” of all against some perceived (engineered or contrived) threat. When you took the vaccine you would be given a mark on your hand or wrist. Those who refused the vaccine would be considered a threat to the well being of the society and would, among other things, not be permitted in stores or public places as they would be potential contaminators of the disease. My sense was that those without the mark would suffer being treated as traitors to society and rendered as outcasts. 

Interpretation:  It appears those without indication of having had the vaccine would not be permitted to “buy or sell.”  (See Revelation 13:17). 

I then came to understand that because of side effects from the vaccine which apparently affected everyone quite negatively, drugs would be administered to the population en masse in order that people could continue to function after the vaccines did their damage. Only they would not be functioning normally and would be controlled by the drugs which would make them dependent on the drugs and would have the effect of changing personalities, and subduing most otherwise active people. So then we would have an entirely drug dependent and controlled national population.  It reminds one of “Big Brother” [i] watching over the people.   

Need I say that this should be avoided at all costs, should it ever actually happen, by those of us who are the Lord's as it is all a sign of the anti-Christ in his attempt to control the world.  We are of those about whom the bible says will we not succumb to those controls because they are viewed as worship of the anti-Christ.  We can see from the meaning of pharmakeia that it would be a form of false religion which is relying on and putting your trust in someone or something other than God Himself to provide a (false) sense of peace, joy or well-being.  Those who will "worship the beast" (the anti-Christ and/or his ways) are ",...all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world....This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people"  (Revelation 13:8, 10b). It would be a time to remember that there is always a rainbow after a storm, in this case, an eternal rainbow! 


Part 2:  As I have pondered this dream before the Lord, I keep asking is there really a warning in this dream?  I have seen other things that could possibly have to do with the dream. We are being programmed through the media to thinking we are a disease-infested society for which only drugs are the answer. Many of life’s normal problems are being considered as diseases  – now even heartburn is a disease. Drugs are the only cure, which don’t really cure, they manage the disease, meaning that continuing to take the drug is often built in.  I have observed that even on family-type channels, at times every third or so commercial is for drugs. Even with the sometimes life threatening contra-indications mentioned, people are so used to taking potentially lethal drugs that the warnings mean little. We are being brainwashed into thinking that drugs are the way to health, peace, joy and well-being, all of which Yeshua promised us, by the way. 

There are precedents of vaccines causing serious mental problems as well as physical.  Our own army has used vaccines on our troops that have led to serious mental issues including suicides. See Endnote [ii] below for more on this.  

Are you aware of Iatrogenic diseases? This means physician or medically induced consequences to treatment or advice.  See Endnote [iii] for more in-depth info but here are some specifics:   

Deaths from accidental poisoning by drugs and other medicines climbed from 851 to nearly 2,100. Of those, outpatient deaths increased from under 200 to just under 1,500. This was in 1993. Since, it has continued to increased.   


CNN reported that:  Drug Reactions Kill an Estimated 100,000 a Year. 

Adverse reactions to prescription and over-the-counter medicines kill more than 100,000 Americans and seriously injure an additional 2.1 million each year, researchers say.
Such reactions -- which do not include prescribing errors or drug abuse -- rank at least sixth among causes of death in the United States, behind heart disease, cancer, lung disease, strokes and accidents, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report was based on an analysis of existing studies.  "Serious adverse drug reactions are frequent ... more so than generally recognized," the researchers said.


Drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2011. Among people 25 to 64 years old, drug overdose caused more deaths than motor vehicle traffic crashes.

Drug overdose death rates have been rising steadily since 1992 with a 118% increase from 1999 to 2011 alone.

In 2011, drug misuse and abuse caused about 2.5 million Emergency Department (ED) visits. Of these, more than 1.4 million ED visits were related to pharmaceuticals (medicines).

  Between 2004 and 2005, an estimated 71,000 children (18 or younger) were seen in EDs each year because of medication overdose (excluding self-harm, abuse and recreational drug use).

  Among children under age 6, pharmaceuticals account for about 40% of all exposures reported to poison centers.

  In 2011, 33,071 (80%) of the 41,340 drug overdose deaths in the United States were unintentional,

Are we programmed to accept drugs as a way of life, as a means of solutions to problems, physical, mental and otherwise?   It would appear that drugs are even a form of entertainment among certain groups of people.  It may be that the dream is a warning of the drug use which is clearly a national threat. Even if some Big Brother or social intent is not deliberately programming us to control us, the devil is. 

To go back to my often mentioned belief that God will have a people who are wholly dependent upon Him only for whom Yeshua will return, keep in mind that drugs and medicine are pharmaceuticals, in Greek  pharmakeía .  The word appears in the Bible in numerous places. According to Strong’s Bible Concordance, the word means, “to administer drugs… It is drug-related sorcery, like the practice of magical-arts, and often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it.”  (See Exodus 7:11 & 22; 8:18; Isaiah 47:9; Galatians 5:20; and Rev. 18:23.)

Yes, there are times when medicines are helpful to us, but we must use them with discernment, wisdom and only when necessary, if at all. One report stated that doctors have written enough pain medications in one year for every house in America to have a bottle of prescription pain meds. Are we really in that much pain?  People have always endured pain. I wonder, are we really missing some endurance in our character that we dive for the pills the minute there’s the hint of a headache.  I realize there are some with significant ongoing pain and thank God there is relief. But the statistics above tell us there’s more going on than just avoiding endurable pain. 

I’ll sneak in a personal testimony here. I recently fell and broke my hip – oh my, was that ever painful beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.   When I first arrived in the hospital – in a great deal of pain, mind you, they gave me morphine – oh, gosh, I hated it. It may have taken an edge off but wow, did I hate the feeling that came with it. I refused to take it after that. I asked for an Ibuprofen and endured the pain, with God’s help. They couldn’t believe I’d make that choice.

After the surgery they gave me Oxycontin for the post-op pain which I can tell you was considerable. Aside from burns, bone pain is the worst kind of pain, I’m told. I believe it. I took what they gave me, still groggy from anesthesia. That was just as bad. I can’t believe people take these things for fun. I can see why the bible calls them pharmakeia.  They are kind of mind altering and do interfere with one’s consciousness.  An old Yiddish expression my mother often said comes to mind: Nisht fah mere:  Not for me!  I confess that I did rely on a good number of Ibuprofens, but not the hard stuff. I apparently was a minority of one in the rehab where I lived for a month as I recuperated. Drugs were a way of life there.  

I tell you this only to say that what I’m telling you about the drugs isn’t a piece of idealistic advice I’m giving without having suffered somewhat without them. But I can tell you that God will enable us to get through most of whatever we need to without them. [There are exceptions and I am not saying by any means to stop your meds without wise medical counsel where necessary. Diabetics and those with blood pressure and other serious issues, for instance, should not just stop taking their meds. You are not who I'm speaking to.]  

Even so, should we not rather put our dependence upon our God who is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) who told Israel “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you(Exodus 15:26). 

Are we not Yeshua’s whom “God anointed…with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38)?  There we have the Lord’s healing in the Tenach and in the Brit Hadashah (the OT and the NT). I could quote so many more examples of God’s healing His people. I’m sure you could too.

I find it interesting that we call ourselves “Believers”  - well then, is it not time that we actually believe what we believe?!   Yeshua left His followers with these words:  And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17, 18).

We can pray for one another to be healed!  Let’s begin to pray that God will anoint and empower His people so that we can be fully dependent upon Him and no longer subscribe to the devil’s alternative to God’s healing power. I have the feeling God will be more than happy to meet us there.  Amen? 




[i] Big Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is the enigmatic dictator of a totalitarian state wherein the ruling Party wields total power for its own sake over the inhabitants.





[iii] For information on iatrogenic diseases go to:  http://www.yourmedicaldetective.com/public/335.cfm.  Google: Iatrogenic Disease for additional information.