Posts

Laboring….in the Harvest?

/in /by

Matthew 9:37-38 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Some time around 2002 I was meditating on this passage of Scripture and what the Lord revealed to me astounded me. So much so that I sobbed over the revelation. What would illicit such powerful emotion? In 1998 I had read a book entitled, Surprised by the Spirit, by Dr. Jack Deere. Through it I reasoned that it wasn’t right for me to remain in the denomination believing, and practicing things contrary to traditional expectations. Unbeknownst to me, at the time, the Lord had a different perspective from mine own. Yet I left, with no intentions of returning. Fast forwarding to 2001 I had a recurring dream, three times in a row, in which my Mom was waking me. Following the third, and final time, I simply prayed, Lord if you are trying to tell me something You need to make it clearer than this. And He did. He revealed that my Mom symbolized the denomination that birthed me and He wanted me to return. The revelation shocked, and startled me. After a great deal of prayer Jackie and I made plans to return – which was a miraculous event in and of itself. (I had a reputation for being charismatic) When I returned I kind of kept the things of the Spirit a secret, or some would say, in the closet. In other words I attempted to behave according to traditional expectations. All of this began to shatter when I went on a mini retreat to seek the Lord and He revealed to me the meaning of the aforementioned passage. When reading Scripture context is everything. For years I had missed the context of this passage thus missing the impact of Matthew 9:37-38. The context is revealed in the preceding passage headings beginning in chapter eight: Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy, The Faith of the Centurion, Jesus Heals Many, Jesus Calms the Storm, Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men, Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man, Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman, and Jesus Heals the Blind and the Mute.

Matthew 9:36 is where the full impact of the context reaches a crescendo: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Mt. 9:36) Get this. The Chief Shepherd is in their midst and they are like sheep without a shepherd? How can this be? Jesus’ point isn’t that they don’t have a shepherd. His point is that He sees the need to multiply the shepherding, or in other words the shepherds or laborers. Is there a connection, hebraically, between the two words that would have stood out to the disciples? I decided to google it by typing, Is there a connection between the biblical hebrew words for shepherd, and laborer? Googles answer: Yes, there’s a strong conceptual link in Hebrew, as the root word for “shepherd” (ra’ah – רעה) also means to tend, feed, care for, or be a companion, which connects to the idea of serving or caring for others, though the specific word for “laborer/hired worker” (sakhir – שָׂכִיר) is distinct and often used in contrast to the selfless shepherd, highlighting themes of justice and contrast between paid work and covenant love. 

All the things the Chief Shepherd had done, from the beginning of chapter 8 of Matthew to the end of chapter 9, Jesus expected His little “shepherds” or “sheep dog – laborers” would do. All the things: heal, do miracles, cast out demons, raise the dead, teach, preach, calm storms, etc. ALL means ALL!

Why did I sob that day in 2002? I said to the Lord, Why do you keep showing me these things and I never get to see them happen? Six years later I witnessed the answer to that prayer. The Lord used me to perform a miracle for a Ukrainian woman who could only shuffle and drag her feet using a walker. After four attempts at prayer – she walked without a shuffle, and her daughter folded up that walker, hung it over her shoulder – and mother and daughter walked home rejoicing in God’s goodness. Jesus is looking for laborers, or under-shepherds, like Himself – who do what their Chief Shepherd does. Remember Paul’s words in Galatians? My little children, for whom I am again suffering birth pangs until Christ is completely and permanently formed (molded) within you,…(Gal. 4:19) Remember Ephesians 4:12-13? His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she “labored” giving birth to Jesus in being the handmaiden (bondservant) of the Lord. Paul labored until Christ was fully formed in the Galatians. Jesus is still laboring, for you and I in prayer, until we reach the fullness of sons and daughters of the Most High God; fully participating in His Father’s business. Are you laboring? Is Christ being formed in you? Are you manifesting the Son of God? Are you participating in being a manifest son or daughter of God? Have you answered the call? Are you an answer to Jesus’ prayers? Are you His under-shepherd, sheep dog?

Wrestling With Christ

/in /by

In the days of the Roman Emperor Nero, there lived and served him a band of soldiers known as the “Emperor’s Wrestlers.” Fine, stalwart men they were, picked from the best and the bravest of the land, recruited from the great athletes of the Roman amphitheater. In the great amphitheater they upheld the arms of the emperor against all challengers. Before each contest they stood before the emperor’s throne. Then through the courts of Rome rang the cry: “We, the wrestlers, wrestling for thee, O Emperor, to win for thee the victory and from thee, the victor’s crown.” When the great Roman army was sent to fight in Gaul, no soldiers were braver or more loyal than this band of wrestlers led by their centurion Vespasian. But news reached Nero that many Roman soldiers had accepted the Christian faith. Therefore, this decree was dispatched to the centurion Vespasian; “If there be any among your soldiers who cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die!” The decree was received in the dead of winter. The soldiers were camped on the shore of a frozen inland lake. It was with sinking heart that Vespasian, the centurion, read the emperor’s message. Vespasian called the soldiers together and asked: “Are there any among you who cling to the faith of the Christian? If so, let him step forward!” Forty wrestlers instantly stepped forward two paces, respectfully saluted, and stood at attention. Vespasian paused. He had not expected so many, nor such select ones. “Until sundown I shall await your answer,” said Vespasian. Sundown came. Again the question was asked. Again the forty wrestlers stepped forward. Vespasian pleaded with them long and earnestly without prevailing upon a single man to deny his Lord. Finally he said, “The decree of the emperor must be obeyed, but I am not willing that your comrades should shed your blood. I order you to march out upon the lake of ice, and I shall leave you there to the mercy of the elements.” The forty wrestlers were stripped and then, falling into columns of four, marched toward the center of the lake of ice. As they marched they broke into the chant of the arena: “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!” Through the night Vespasian stood by his campfire and watched. As he waited through the long night, there came to him fainter and fainter the wrestlers’ song. As morning drew near one figure, overcome by exposure, crept quietly toward the fire; in the extremity of his suffering he had renounced his Lord. Faintly but clearly from the darkness came the song: “Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!” Vespasian looked at the figure drawing close to the fire. Perhaps he saw eternal light shining there toward the center of the lake. Who can say? But off came his helmet and clothing, and he sprang upon the ice, crying, “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!”

As we have been praying, fasting, and seeking to join Jesus outside the camp, we must become aware that to meet Jesus outside the camp will eventually take us to the Garden. Luke 22:44 And being in an agony [of mind], He prayed [all the] more earnestly and intently, and His sweat became like great clots of blood dropping down upon the ground. Jesus, the greatest wrestler of all time, led the way for all us to follow Him in wrestling with God in prayer. Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them. And Hebrews 5:7 states: In the days of His flesh [Jesus] offered up definite, special petitions [for that which He not only wanted but needed] and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was [always] able to save Him [out] from death, and He was heard because of His reverence toward God [His godly fear, His piety, in that He shrank from the horrors of separation from the bright presence of the Father].

As Jesus wrestled in prayer He repeatedly went to check on His Disciples – only to find them asleep. In one of the most convicting Scriptures Jesus says to His Disciples, “…are you asleep? Have you not the strength to keep awake and watch [with Me for] one hour? Keep awake and watch and pray [constantly], that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:37-38) For most churches times of prayer are the least attended meeting on the church calendar. Yet, churches, and Christians desiring to be “on fire” for Jesus, will only catch fire, as they draw nearer to the Burning Man – Jesus. Cemeteries are filled with those who find themselves in the icy cold grip of death. A.W. Tozer said: The greatest conformists in the world today are those who sleep out in the community cemetery. They do not bother anyone. They just lie there, and it is perfectly all right for them to do so. You can predict what everyone will do in a cemetery from the deceased right down to the people who attend a funeral there. Nobody expects anything out of those buried in the cemetery. But the church is not a cemetery.

As we seek Jesus outside the camp we must be willing to crawl out on the ice in prayer, and wrestle with Jesus past the dictates, and confines of the cemetery of our culture, and in our churches. You, and I, will only catch fire as we meet Jesus in the Garden, and wrestle towards His Victory. It’s time for us to awaken from our spiritual winter, and catch Fire with Jesus’ Passion. You, and I, have been snowed under, and frozen over long enough. The Life of Jesus calls us to shake off the frost, and ice through fiery, passionate, prayer. We must desire to draw near to the Holy Spirit Flame of the Burning Man – Jesus.

Have you prayed so hard that you have begun to sweat drops of blood? The fiery passion of Jesus calls for us to wrestle past the ice, and into a fiery faith that sweats in prayer, and bleeds less in the heat of the battle.