My heart is full. There's always things happening around me and life doesn't stop. :)
We've begun a new Bible study called "To Live is Christ" by Beth Moore. We're into the 3rd week now and again, it's amazing how God has used Beth to write such indepth Bible studies that dig right down deep into His Word and draw us closer to Him.....if we let Him. She doesn't waste any time getting right to the heart issues and challenging us to keep our hearts tender and allow God to change the things that need to be changed. Whether it's our thought patterns or traditional way of thinking or prejudices that we've developed over the years.....as we journey together with God, He needs our hearts to be kept tender so that we'll have a teachable spirit and be willing to admit when there's something we need to change about ourselves or the way we think or do things.
Well my heart was extremely tender this morning....just building up from the beginning of the week. As I've been asking God to lead me down the road that I think He's leading me on, well, it's an adventure to say the least, but I never know what's around the corner. As I allow Him to change some of my thought patterns and prejudices of my own, it's been emotional at times. I have not enjoyed seeing pieces of myself in the lives of the Pharisees of Jesus' day, or the life of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus, or Simon Peter who denied Jesus just before his death. Some of the characteristics that they've had, I've had myself. Whooooh! Keep me tender Lord, keep me teachable, let me be willing to change the heart issues I need to change.
But today, this week, was different. My heart broke...again. Back in Fall when my Bible study groups were journeying through Nurture by Lisa Bevere, she spoke about God giving her a wail. I was not completely sure what a wail was...I had been moved by certain circumstances or testimonies or people....but had I ever experienced a wail? hmmmm..... Well it wasn't long after that study, that I got to find out what a wail was. I wrote about it in this blog post at this link
http://lisas-pics.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-does-it-mean-to-wail.html The wail that God had given me was for the young girls trapped on the streets of our city being commercially and sexually exploited. Young girls that are trapped in a horrendous lifestyle that they did not choose of their own free will. My heart also cries out for the kids that are trapped on our streets, or are in homes that are extremely abusive, dominated by addictions. These kids have to grow up much faster than they should and are often the parent to the other kids around them. Every now and then, circumstances have happened around me where the cry just rises up and the wail comes out with full force. At this point I need to allow myself just to weep, to weep over the hurting, the lost, the broken and the helpless. I need to let my anger and hatred at the devil and the horrible evil that entangles so many who are kept trapped in lives of defeat and betrayal....be poured out at the feet of Jesus. So I wept on Friday.
What's wrong with these pictures? What's wrong with the man who stops an 8 year old child on the street and offers her $50 to take a ride with him? What's wrong with a father who feels he needs to show his teenage daughter how much he loves her and how love should really be by having sex with her and stealing her purity?? What's wrong with a business man arriving at our airport and asking the cab driver to drive him down to the 'kiddie stroll'? For those of you who haven't heard of this term, it's the phrase used for the area of town that young girls can be picked up. Did you know that Saskatoon is known internationally as a hot spot for teens that are prostituted? What is wrong with this picture?? What is wrong with a man who goes in search of young girls who dislike their parents and want independance or like to dress sexy (which is often the fashion nowadays) and lures them in to coming with him and trafficking her into the sex trade? What is wrong with the youth pastor who has a "relationship" with a 13 year old girl in his youth group (in other words lusts after her or rapes her) and years later is still having a "relationship" with her and is now convinced that it's the right thing to do to leave his wife and 3 kids to marry this young woman who is more than 20 years younger than him?? What is wrong with a man who wants to meet people and goes to a bar and sleeps with the first girl that is interested in him? That's how you meet someone and get to know them??? by immediately having sex with them?? What is wrong with the people that take photos of women in sexual poses, print them in magazines and make millions of dollars exploiting these women as toys for men rather than something to be treasured, cherished and treated with honor and dignity? What is wrong with the man who tells a girl that if she loves him she will do this for him?What is wrong with the man who "kidnaps" a young girl, takes her to a breaking house and ties her down
to a bed, injects her with drugs for a week and by the end of the week has turned her into an addict who is willing to do anything for him in order to get the next fix....including prostituting her body over and over again to make money for him?? What is wrong with the middle aged and senior men who demand this type of entertainment? And very sad to say, what is wrong with the evangelical church men that are looking for this twisted type of entertainment as well. What is wrong with the pastor who has been married for many years and decides he married the wrong person and runs off with his church secretary who is young enough to be his daughter? What is wrong with a mother who chooses to take part in sexual activities with her teenage son's friends? What is wrong with the man who believes that just because he paid the money that he has the "rights" to do what he wants sexually to an 11 year old girl?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?? So yes, I wept today because every single one of these situations are actually happening on our streets and in our churches. I wept today and poured it all out at the feet of my Lord.
So, I'll tell you what's wrong. The dominions of darkness have gotten into the lives and minds of those people and have twisted their thinking and entangled their lives so severely that it's led to actions that are completely against what God has designed his children to be. What's wrong is that these people have strayed so completely far away from God, from His Will and His Word that their mind and heart have been betrayed into thinking that what they're doing is right. What is wrong is that the most beautiful act of loving intimacy that God had created between man and woman within the context of marriage has been twisted, exploited, and made into the most ugliest, lustful, shameful and used action of sexual sin on this planet. What's wrong is that the Devil knows his time here on this earth is short and he's working harder and harder at stealing, destroying and killing the lives of the people that God has created. What is wrong is that the moral and spiritual walls have been broken down and the enemy is running rampant throughout the lives of those around us. Satan isn't just out to make your day bad, he wants nothing more than to destroy your life, to kill you!! And he will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. These are just a few of the many things that are wrong...I'm sure there are many more. It's not an easy thing to figure out and to fix.....but what really is wrong is that people are too convinced that they can live their life without God.
Where's the hope?? I'll tell you where the hope is. "My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest name, but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, ALL other ground is sinking sand."
Don't you see my friend? The walls are broken down. The spiritual walls are broken down and God needs courageous warriors in Him to stand up and fight against the evil and to start rebuilding the walls. Don't you see? Jesus is the only answer. When will the world realize that we need Jesus?? He is the only one who can save, He is the only one who can give us an eternal life out of a life of hell, He is the only one who can forgive the worst of sinners, and He is the only one who can set the captives free!!
But God needs His people to hate what He hates, to weep over what He weeps over and to stand against the things that are wrong with this picture. God just needs a few warriors to start the battle. God gave me a verse this morning just as my girls were leaving for school. Each day is a battle against the enemy you know and I knew I had to send the girls off with a verse and this is the verse God gave me:
"Let's go out...perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!” Here in 1 Samuel 14, Jonathan is talking to his armor bearer when the two of them were outside the Philistine army's camp. It was just the two of them and Jonathan felt the Lord wanting him to stand up to them and fight....even if it was just the two of them. They killed 20 Philistine soldiers right then and the rest of the army was so afraid that they scattered. All Jonathan did was believe that the Lord could win the battle against his enemies and he took action. Does God not want the same from us? Does he not want us to stand up and fight the battle, only if there are a few courageous ones who will stand with us at first? If there are a few that would stand up to ruffle the feathers of a few, would the rest scatter in fear knowing that our battle will be victorious? You see, Nothing can hinder the Lord. He has already gone out before us. He is leading His warriors. Who will stand with Him? Who will go? Who has the courage to say "Send me Lord, I will go."
And as I continue in the journey of finding out what the Apostle Paul meant when he said "To Live is Christ......and to die is gain" - I know that God will show me and others where He is leading us and what He wants us to do is to completely, fully, wholeheartedly, unashamedly, and unfearfully.....live for Him....and to be obedient and to be willing to follow where He leads.
