27 Million Voices

I want to do something.

This week four campus ministry groups plus imput from the three most secular groups on campus held a human trafficking awareness week. 4 days of training, praying, information tables, and an open forum will conclude tonight with a presentation by, Mindy, a woman who works with World Hope in Cambodia.

The sheer volume of information I have taken in this week about modern day slavery is completely overwhelming. An estimated 27 million people in slavery around the world... 80% are women... 50% are children... 70% are in some type of sexual slavery...it is happening in my backyard...200 women bussed into South Dakota for sexual servitude for hunters during pheasant season (Opener is tomorrow)... the mall of America is the #1 recruitment spot for human trafficking in the US... women held in cages to be selected by customers for sex...children as young as 5 or 6 kidnapped and forced into being soldiers... people told they must work for nothing to pay off a "debt"

This is the tip of the iceberg. I am exhausted physically and emotionally from the whole experience, but when I look into the heart of Jesus, I know one thing...

I can't claim ignorance...

I hear their voices...

I am not the bearer of the weight of this problem, but I know the call of my Lord: to act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with my God. Jesus is the true Redeemer of those who are enslaved physically and spiritually.

I want to go to Asia, to be an agent of His redemption. But I'll start right now...

From Nehemiah to the Moravians

The power of prayer...I can talk about it. I say that I believe in the power. I have read about the theolgy and know the scriptures about prayer. The real school of prayer comes in doing. Facedown, praying until the Spirit really gets you praying, getting carpet fibers up your nose (Thanks for this image Jo), begging before the throne of grace.

There are two examples of pray warriors that I have been asking God would mold me into.

First is Nehemiah. The man was in the court of the king as cupbearer. He hears of the remnant his brothers of Israel in Jerusalem being exploited and attacked. Nehemiah is devastated. The first throne room floor he hits is not that of the king of Persia, but he weeps before God.

The source I used, said that about 4 months spanned the gap between when Nehemiah first heard about Jerusalem and when the King inquired of Nehemiah what was bothering him. In that time, Nehemiah was constantly burdened in prayer for Israel. Four months... I have prayer ADD and often find it impossible to sustain prayer for a topic for more than 2 minutes.

The beauty of God is that HE delights to answer Nehemiah's prayer. God moves in the heart if the king to be favorable toward Nehemiah and Jerusalem, not only granting that Nehemiah may return to Jerusalem to see the wall around the city rebuilt, but also granted all the supplies needed as well as safe transport there.

The prayers of Nehemiah do not end there. He listens and watches to God's vision as he surveys the walls around Jerusalem. Then Nehemiah, follows the voice of God, his King, as he rallies the remnant to rebuild, even amid the distractions and threats of Tobiah, Sanballat, and Gesham. Leading the people to rebuild the wall in record time, while most of the time they were working with one hand and ready for battle with a sword or spear in the other.

I cannot tell you powerful this last image sticks in my mind these days. Praying, obeying in building the Kingdom, and fighting in battle spurred on by petitioning and listening to the voice of God.

Lately, it is incredible how subtle the distractions have been. How deceptive the lies have been to prevent me from walking forward in freedom. Prayer must be constant or I hesitate or stall out. There is only ONE VOICE for me to listen to and obey even when other voices seem wise.

The second picture of prayer comes from more recent (if you can call it that) history. It is the example of the Moravian Church. Which is the birth of the 24-7 prayer movement

The Moravians saw God move. Someone was before the throne of God every hour of every day for over 100 years. This is a picture of giving God no rest. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. Isaiah 62:6b-7

And it was in and through this people on their knees that God moved mightily. They were transformed by prayer. They saw people coming to know Jesus and they sent many missionaries around the world with the gospel.

This is my heart cry for the church. To be transformed and moved by God as they seek Him in prayer. A book I was reading states over and over again that without people grounded in prayer and constantly seeking God, nothing we do can ever be successful, because without prayer we leave God out of the equation. Without the power of God, teaching and preaching has not the vision of God and the gospel falls on deaf ears.

Where does prayerlessness and weak praying come from? Pride. We fail to see in every moment our desperate condition apart from the redeeming and saving grace of Jesus. We put our trust in something other than Jesus.

I have no brilliant words to offer. My Spirit is somewhere in a state of desperation and rejoicing. Please, body of Christ join me facedown. Let us seek the face of the One who sacrificed all, to make a pathway to the Father.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice...My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ~ John 10:4, 27-29

A group of friends and I were studying this week the topic of God as Shepherd. As we were discussing, it was hitting all of us how much we really are like sheep and how desperately we need a Shepherd.

See, sheep are really dumb. They are the second stupidest domesticated animal on the planet...behind humans. Sheep will freak out and run head first into a fence, and then freak out more. They are so dumb, that they won't stop to think that they could back up, and instead keep running into the fence. They need a shepherd to turn their head, so they can escape this prison of their own creation.

Shepherds also would break the leg of a sheep who had a tendency to wander off, and then carry that sheep over their shoulders, while the leg healed. It was in that time as well that a sheep would really learn their shepherd's voice.

God does the very same thing as our Shepherd. At times He will have to turn our heads to keep us from continuing our insistent head-banging. And He will also use our circumstances, where we are wounded and need to be carried to teach us His voice.

Between reading in Ezekial 34 and John 10, and listening to the stories from Ryan whose family raises sheep, the metaphor became a very real scenario. The Holy Spirit was doing some serious work in me.

I am a sheep. A particularly dumb one. I have been freaking out because of circumstances. I have a form of muscular dystrophy that my doctors have not yet been able to identify. I am losing strength and more so in the last few months than before. I am losing the ability to do things that I love, and I have been left wondering how long I would be able to pursue a career in physical education.

In the last couple of weeks, God has been coming to turn my head away from ramming the fence of being a victim of my circumstances. He has also seemed to have broken my leg, so He can carry me in this path and so I can learn intimately the intonations of His voice. To be reminded that, the Shepherd of my soul has laid down His live so that I might have eternal life. It is ill-deserved grace.

He has called me to be still and rest. Believe me, even wounded, I am dumb enough to want to run back to the fence. I'm learning His gentle and kind voice, and it is giving me courage to check into options I would have never pursued without His coaxing. I am waiting to hear back from a professor who has done research on physical education teachers with disabilities, and I am praying and waiting on whether to go after a couple other possibilities.

Yes, my Shepherd is good and kind. And I need Him desperately!

"I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice...I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing...And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD." ~ Ezekial 34:15-16, 25-26, 30-31.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.~ Isaiah 40:11

One Voice

There are two ways to live. My way or God's way. They both produce results, but what results do I want?

I was visiting at another local church than where I regularly attend, because a friend of mine was getting baptised. It was beautiful. I was in charge of taking pictures. I was so excited I was shaking.

Back to why I was writing this post. God spoke clearly to me through His servant who pastors that church. He made a point that those who follow Christ will not face life the same way, the same normal, as the rest of the world. The sermon reached into my heart where seeds had already been planted.

Quite honestly, I have been living scared. I have forgotten, in my desire to control my circumstances, to live in Christ. The power to walk through this unknown valley comes through asking for and receiving from the Holy Spirit. I am not sure what God is up to. There are so many voices telling me to do this or that so that things will work out the way I want. But as I sat there this morning, and I pushed mute button on those other voices and listened to the still small Voice, the assurance that He is with me through the grieving, the fatigue, the seemingly lost moments, and the unknown future poured over me, as my spirit surrendered once again.

Besides, after watching this, it is hard to forget for what Jesus died. That is One Voice I need to listen to.

Breaking the Cycle

There is nothing quite so suffocating as hopelessness. It comes from a cycle of thinking that there is no solution to the problem. Okay, I have a problem. And even if the solution is to rest and praise God. Okay. It means that God is still Lord. He is still at work. I can't see the answer yet. But I know God.

I thank God for a friend, who challenged me to stop focusing on the problem and seek a solution without predicting the outcome. I know the love of Christ. So by faith, I will have a couple of conversations and pray knowing that God is in control of the outcome. In that, there is hope.

Through the Cracks 2

Back in the spring I wrote this post about how Jesus shines through the cracks of the broken vessel I am.

After this summer, I'll that I have been pretty self-focused and I have been trying to hide the cracks instead of letting Jesus be glorified. I could say that what has been on my mind is justified. Circumstances have been confusing and some just down right hard.

"psst...your weaknesses are showing..."

Thanks Satan. I realize that. You don't have remind me. I do that well enough myself.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

The weight of accusation has been heavy, but I don't want to give Satan more credit than he deserves. I want to praise my God, with hands lifted high. To be transparent about my weaknesses, not to focus on my problems, but to share the grace of Jesus with more and more people.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

It can be difficult to not give up hope. I am looking at a degenerative muscle disease, that is taking away the skills and abilities to do things I have always enjoyed and been good at, the things I trained for. There is no cure, only management of symptoms.

Yep...I could lose hope. Or I can praise God, because I look forward to the day, when I see Him and all things, including this body, are made new. I don't know what He has planned for me in this life. But I want be more concerned with the kingdom and glory of Jesus than my comfort or circumstances. I trust Him because I know that He loves me.

But God demonstrates His love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He has always had my good in mind. So I will not cease to say,

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord

I am His and He is Mine

Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heav’n above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as I now know, I am His, and He is mine.
Since I know, as I now know, I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.
O to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine

The lyrics to this hymn written by George Wade Robinson were used in a book I was reading and I was so moved. I am now looking for a recording to download.

This song is just too perfect for where God has me and what He is teaching me. The apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians and says that it is his prayer that they may know the full dimensions of God's love and that it is in that they would be made more holy and God would be most glorified.

If experiencing and knowing God's love is what glorifying to Him, why am I running away from Him? Why am I running away from the intimacy that would mature and complete me?

Reality is that I am far mor self-centered than Christ centered. So as Paul prayed, now I pray.