lost.

end abortion.



Silent Siege
9-11.30a
State Courthouse [Kamehameha Statue]



bound4LIFE




xo


Reading: The Breaker Anointing, Barbara Yoder
Listening: spontaneous worship from Hope Community Church

Nehemiah pt 1: Yours, Mine, and Ours

Am I my brother's keeper?

Yes, you are. Sorry to break your streak of self-consumption. Well, no, I'm not sorry. After all, with commands to "love our neighbors as ourselves" or to "carry each other's burdens" and similar verses of being a body - it ought to be apparent that we ARE our brother's keepers.

We live in such a conceited society, though. Everything's supposed to cater to "me" and if "I am unhappy, I will make the situation cater to me, otherwise, I will leave and detach myself. Indefinitely." (A rambled topic). Minds like these can get consumed with waiting for God or the church make us feel better about ourselves and make our lives easier.

We can easily forget that we are in a body - it is a support system. And we do not simply call it that so they may support us, but that we may support others. Too often, when we see obstacles and a whole lot of mess, our tendency is to run. Who in their right mind runs towards the problem?

But David ran towards Goliath. Only because he knew Who sent him.

In the time that Nehemiah was a cupbearer to a king of another country, the Israelites went into captivity in Babylon. In time they returned to their desolate city - walls, defenses, and hope destroyed. Hearing of this, Nehemiah wept with empathy.

...I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you...
-Nehemiah 1:6

He wasn't remotely a part of the issue, save the fact that he too is an Israelite! But God pressed upon his heart a heaviness for the people, who he repented for.
Yes, he took the responsibility of repenting for his forefathers, and himself.

How often have I been guilty of leaving a fellow sister or brother to deal with their own punishment? "Well, they made that mistake, let God deal with them." When was the last time my heart broke for someone else? Where I stepped in the gap and said, "No, LORD, withhold Your judgment - show Your mercy!"

I am not saying that suddenly, we need to become the Savior and take responsibility for everything - I am saying that our hearts need to be opened. Our peripheral vision needs to be opened. We need to ask God what is on HIS heart, so we know who we need to stand in the gap for.


---

Part of the reason I decided to talk about this is because it's distressing to know that people prophesy judgment on this "wicked generation" - as if, they want this nation to be destroyed for its immorality. "Look at how immoral they are! God should strike them dead!" I despise that mentality so much!

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
-Ezekiel 18.23

This is still in the Old Covenant too! We are in the New Covenant that says nothing separates us from His love. Why should we profess curses and judgment on people, or why should we cast the first stone? Why are we so concerned about our own spiritual fulfillment, then get offended at a world that lives contrary to the Word - simply because no one has told them differently?

It's not common for people to run towards trouble. But by whose standards? It's time we start interceding - repenting for these people who Jesus Himself said, "Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they are doing."


If you take light of darkness - surprise surprise - all you have is... darkness.

We know the Truth. We carry the Light.



xo


Reading: Song Yet Sung by James McBride
Listening: Rise Up by Rita Springer
Watching: Eyes and Wings Conference at The Lighthouse Church, Mammoth Lakes, CA

public image

Matthew 1:19. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

I am no Biblical scholar. We already know this.
But I cannot help but wonder what was running through the mind of Joseph, fully human, fully susceptible to temptation, fully capable to give into it. I could not help but wonder if Joseph really intended to 'escape' this situation through divorce. After all, people know him to be a righteous man! Would it not appear that Mary, severed from a commitment to Joseph, perhaps slept with another man? Could it be possible that Joseph would have rather the public condemn Mary alone, and not Mary and him? Look at it - they're not married and she's pregnant. So, to the public eye, either he and Mary screwed up, or just Mary screwed up.

Matthew 24:27-28. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean! In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Too often we fall for the cop-out. To take the route of washing our tombs to hold to an image of righteousness but not knowing or experiencing it because of the dead bones within us. And yet we cannot link this directly to Joseph because:

Although Joseph's reasoning, 'he didn't want to expose her,' sounds like, 'Yes, I care for you, but I care for me even more,' we have to give him credit for caring for her in the first place. And even more credit because we know that he does not divorce her, that he remains by her side. Joseph stepped into the realm of faith - where he had to obey the command of the LORD, regardless of what he felt in the natural, regardless of his internal desires. They were surrendered for a holy cause. He chose righteousness before God versus righteousness before man - despite the repercussions of communal disgrace.

He proved a faithfulness, not just to God, but to his beloved.

Ephesians 5:25-29. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy... Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church.

And this very well saved the emotional weight the young Mary could have experienced having to bear and rear a child on her own. It's an honest righteousness that Joseph has, that even though the opportunity to exit was before him, he chose obedience. It's proof of character, of life.

Could we say the same of our own lives? That despite our reputations, we can dismiss it in order to help bring a Savior to the world?