Jesus Knows!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! I might as well say Happy Easter etc; since it might be that long before I have the opportunity to write again. Writing is one of my greatest passions but it isn’t high on the priority list these days so I don’t get to it like I want to. Thankfully, today, everyone slept in, the house was quiet, the coffee was strong and the Spirit was moving! I had been hoping to write a lot over the holidays but unfortunately, time got away from me and the exact message I wanted to send was still ruminating. This morning, as I received a bittersweet text from a friend, the Lord, solidified it right then and there. He is good!

To fill you in: We have had a great deal going in the lives of people that are pretty special to us and it has impacted us significantly. It is easy to turn off the television and walk away from the bad news of the day but unfortunately, real life doesn’t afford us that luxury of detachment. After a while, it begins to weigh on your soul. I told my husband the other day, “only God could look out over the sin sick world we live in and not get completely discouraged.” It is true, we are easily discouraged when it comes to sin, even as believers.

Rewind 12 months. Last year at this time I was right in the middle of teaching the book of Hebrews in our ladies’ bible study. Hebrews, mind you, is not for the faint of heart, and I literally freaked out every month as I worked to study each chapter because the themes are deep and not easily understood. But, the Lord started very early in the series to do some simple but deep work in my soul. Let me explain.

In the first chapter of Hebrews, the author (who I secretly think might be a woman - wouldn’t that be cool?), doesn’t give any opening greetings to the audience, he...or she ;) just jumps right in. The book was addressed, as most books in the New Testament, to people who have just come out of intense persecution, are in the midst of intense persecution or are about to be in the middle of intense persecution. First century believers lived under the gun and they knew once they confessed Jesus as Lord that there was no going back. Their lives would never be the same.

So, in the first chapter, the author jumps right in and begins extolling the riches contained in the character of Christ. He does this to establish the fact of Jesus’ deity. Hebrews 1:4 states, “Having become as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs”. The reality that Jesus is God makes a difference in our lives. Why? Because as God, He is ABLE to do what He says He will do. There is a large theological term for this called, “omnipotence”. Basically, it means “omni - all, potence - power”. Jesus, as God, has all power which makes Him ABLE.

Then in the second chapter, the author shifts gears and begins to talk about Jesus’ humanity. How He became, “for a time, a little lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:9). He does this to establish the fact that Jesus was not only God, but He was also man. The reality that Jesus lived as a man for 33 years makes a difference in our lives. Why? Because in His humanity, He KNOWS.

Let me give you an analogy to drive this home. Labor and delivery are among the most painful experiences in life. I don’t think there is a woman alive who has given birth and been awake for it, that doesn’t agree. When you are in the midst of that kind of pain, aside from drugs, there isn’t a whole lot that helps. During the delivery of my first born I had three people in the room with me: my husband, my Mom and my doctor.

My husband was moral support but he was unable to help or even know what it was like to be in labor. My Mom was moral support but she was also sympathetic because she knew what I was going through. My doctor, a woman and a mother herself, was not only sympathetic but she was able to help. Now, if she had chosen not to intervene but stand in the corner of the room while I screamed my head off, all of her sympathy and ability would have been futile.

Jesus, God the Son, “who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Php. 2:6-7) did so in order that He might sympathize. But if He had chosen to back away from the suffering of the cross, we would still be dead in our sins. At the cross, which began at the cradle, Jesus started His journey to the ultimate intervention. At the cross, Jesus INTERVENES. Through His suffering He enters into ours. Selah.

Ladies, I don’t know what you are experiencing today. I don’t know if it is physical, mental, spiritual or all three. But I do know that Jesus KNOWS. He knows not just because He is God and is omniscient (all-knowing). He knows through the experience of it because He lived it. Betrayed, wrongly accused, “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Is. 53:3), beaten, bruised, tired, tempted, poor, hungry and missing His Father, just like us.

I don’t know about you, but this is comforting to me. God, “who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom 8:32)? When I meditate on this scripture and think on these things: that He KNOWS, IS ABLE and He INTERVENES, it makes my outlook on life one of hope. It makes my suffering a little lighter. “Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Is. 53:4), surely He has!

I hope this brings you comfort too. I pray that this knowledge will fill your soul and meet you right where you are today. Nothing is sweeter to me than to say, “Jesus KNOWS, yes, He does!” Not just for yesterday’s trials or today’s but for every tomorrow after that. He will always KNOW. The Savior is for me, and He is for you! He is ABLE and He INTERVENES! Praise to His glorious name!

The Club I Never Wanted to Be Part of...

“Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else…” (Phil. 1:12-13a)

Prison. The apostle Paul was incarcerated. Did you know that? Yep! Not once, not twice but multiple times. You could say he had a rap sheet. How embarrassing. How humiliating. Yet it doesn’t seem that Paul really cares about his reputation or what other people think. His mindset is totally different. He is gospel-centered.

When I start to think about his circumstances, (some other translations say, “what has happened to me”) I have to fight the urge to see prison as something different from what it is today. Being labeled a criminal had no more prestige then than it does now. As a matter of fact, prison was disgusting and infested. Prison was dark and dank. No electricity. No indoor plumbing, no bunks or 3 meals a day. No one would want to be a prisoner and certainly no one would seemingly be excited about their imprisonment.

Except for the Apostle Paul. He was a strange and polemic, other-worldly kind of fellow. He didn’t put much stock in this life or his circumstances. He even writes about it later on in the book of Philippians (4:11) saying, “whatever circumstances I am in, I have learned to be content.” You might admire him, you might think him odd, but one thing is for sure...we would all like to know his secret.

I don’t think it is far-fetched to say that Paul didn’t want to be in prison. He really would have been strange if he had enjoyed being locked up. But, he knew that God was providentially using his circumstances to further the gospel, so he rejoiced...and he wasn’t ashamed. He goes on later in chapter one to say this very thing. Although his circumstances might be less than favorable to the world, he knows that Christ will be exalted.

You know, there are clubs in life that we all become part of through our circumstances that we would never have chosen to join. Paul, through this set of circumstances was now part of the “I’ve been in prison before” club. Although he was wrongfully accused, convicted or not, being arrested and imprisoned carries its own stigma. Yet, he is quick to say that now, everyone knows about it. He is his own PR agent. He isn’t waiting for word to get out about him. He’s beating them to the punch. How humbling...

We are going through something in our family right now that is securing our membership in a club we never wanted to be part of. I’m sure there are many of you that can relate. You are now part of something that was never part of your original plan. This isn’t a club with bragging rights and the membership isn’t exclusive. We often find ourselves inducted as members in 2 ways: we are nominated or we sign up. Let me explain.

There are circumstances in our lives that are out of our control; things that happen to us, just like Paul. For example: the death of a loved one (a child, a spouse, a parent), an uncontested divorce, suicide of a family member or close friend, our spouse commits adultery, a tragic accident that leaves someone very different than before, infertility, depression, addiction, job loss, betrayal, miscarriage, a fatal diagnosis, rape, sexual abuse, incarceration of people we love, to name a few.

Then there are circumstances in our lives that are in our control but have spun out of control: our own addiction, we commit adultery, having an abortion, sexual immorality before marriage. Maybe we were the instigator in a divorce. Maybe we have been incarcerated. We struggle with: lust, anger, jealousy, envy, bitterness, hatred, betrayal, stealing, lying, eating disorders or same sex attraction, to name a few.

And often times, these circumstances lead to imprisonment. This was certainly the situation in Paul’s case. His circumstances led to bondage, although for him it was literal, for many of us, it is figurative but it is no more stifling than if we had real chains on our hands and feet. All of a sudden we are members in a club that we never wanted to belong to, labels and all. Hello, my name is...and I am grief-stricken, divorced, addicted, a victim of (fill in the blank).

We allow our circumstances to make us victims rather than victors. One sure way you can know you are still victimized by something is whether you are still keeping it hidden. Satan wants nothing more than to shame us into secrecy. He doesn’t want us sharing with others because he wants all of us to suffer in silence. He wants us to be bound to the club but our membership to be anonymous.

Ladies, there is freedom in Christ, freedom from the bondage of sin and the bondage of circumstances. Paul was in prison! What a shameful, disgusting existence! And the news about his imprisonment was spreading. It was getting out and people began to wag their tongues about it, hoping to increase his shame, hoping to increase the weight of his chains.

But what does Paul do? He is telling his own story! He is telling his own misfortune and he is excited that what has happened to him has turned out for the progress of the gospel! What a shock to his opponents! What a blow to the enemy! He rejoices that his misfortune has brought attention to the gospel and that others are becoming more bold in sharing their own faith (1:14).

So, what if Paul had kept silent? What if he had been embarrassed over his imprisonment? What if he had shooshed people and told them to “keep quiet” for fear of being more exposed? Who can say? But one thing is for sure, God used it to strengthen the faith of fellow believers and further the gospel to an otherwise, lost and dying world (1:12-18).

Beloved, each and every circumstance is divinely orchestrated by God in our lives. Some of our circumstances come through no fault of our own and some come as a result of consequences from our sin. God has dominion over it all. No, God is not the author of our sin but our sin is not hidden from Him. And praise God he uses our sin for His greater glory...if we let Him. When we begin to see that opening our mouths about our circumstances not only frees us but turns out for the further progress of the gospel, we are taking back the territory that the enemy has claimed. We are no longer tossed to and fro by the guilt and shame of sin or our circumstances.

We each have a story. There is no one else quite like us. No one who shares the specific set of gifts, talents or circumstances that make us who we are, that define us. You are unique. So, I implore you to USE your circumstances to minister to others who are in the same situation. If you are a victim of adultery or if you are an adulterer, tell your story! If you are divorced by your choice or not by your choice, tell your story! If you have a child that is not walking with the Lord, that is incarcerated, that has struggled with addiction of any kind, tell your story! If you have dealt with depression, sexual immorality or abortion, tell your story!

If Jesus has set you free, led you through or daily sustains you in your struggles, don’t be quiet! We need transparency in order to stand together and strive together against our opponent. He is strong and daily, hourly, he takes us down. We bob and we weave and we stumble and he is formidable...but he is not invincible. Paul closes his thoughts in chapter one of Philippians with this, ” (you be) in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me” (Phil. 1:28-30)

Suffering is part of the human condition. Sometimes we suffer and don’t know why. Other times we suffer at our own hand. But the bottom line is...we all suffer. The greater grace is when we hand that suffering over to Jesus and then allow Him to use it for the furtherance of the gospel.

Indeed, there are many clubs that I don’t want to be part of but my membership is already secured. I have been nominated for some and others I have signed up for but it doesn’t change my feelings about being a member. I wish it had turned out differently. But then, I look back at Paul and in my spirit, I begin to say along with him, “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:18-20 NIV). This is my prayer for you: Press on beloved. Press on!