Singin' in the Rain

By Brenda Black

There's no better place to be on a rainy morning than in the house of God being showered with blessings! Added bonus: God may speak booming words of wisdom. It's happened before. "Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm." (Job 38:1)

All the threats this past weekend for dangerous weather did not seem to hinder the faithful ones who were bound and determined to be in the Lord's House on the Lord's Day. In they came, bearing sunny smiles to brighten a cloudy day. That says a lot about a Christian. It says they want to worship and they care about the body of Christ and those they'll see on Sundays. The desire to be more than a fair weather follower says to the world, “My faith is genuine.”

Oh certainly, there are justifiable reasons to not venture out on a stormy day and the Lord gave us common sense for a reason. But the point is that so many professing Christians let any little thing stop them from enjoying the presence of the Lord and the fellowship of the family of God. How refreshing it is, instead, to come with expectations of meeting God to hear His thundering lessons or feel His soft whisper while we worship. You see, God inhabits the praise of His people! Listen to what happened after the temple of the Lord was completed by Solomon and the Ark was brought to its place.

“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: 'He is good; his love endures forever.' Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.” (2 Chronicles 5:13-14)

Now there's a cloud I'd welcome! Believe it or not, God has the capacity and the desire to dwell among us, live within us, lift us from the cares of the world and bless us just by His magnificent presence.

“Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds – his name is the Lord – and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. When you went out before your people, O God, when you marched through the wasteland, the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, O God, you provided for the poor.” (Psalm 68:4-10)

Blessed are the poor in spirit! For when they are desperate to get to God, even during a torrential rain, the kingdom of heaven awaits! Rain or shine, there's no place I'd rather be than in the Lord's company, surrounded by His family. It's a little taste of heaven here on earth and a reminder of the gleaming city yet to come.

Don't wait till Sunday to draw near to the Lord. But when next weekend rolls around, don't miss the blessing of worshipping with others before a deserving God, rain or shine!

All I Want for Christmas

By Brenda Black

I could write of the Christmas hustle and bustle. I could tell you about traditions or share a nifty recipe just in time to rescue you from the 4-dozen cookie exchange coming up this Saturday. We could think together about miracles and charities and benefactors who fulfill Christmas dreams. This space could be devoted to deep pondering over world religions and the ever changing face of American culture where holiday greetings from store clerks incense seasonal shoppers when they don't hear “Merry Christmas.” Or I could just tell you what I really want for Christmas.

Don't worry. I'm not going to itemize a long list of material what-nots to fill my kitchen or bedroom closet. I don't have room for anything more and, in fact, would do well to purge rather than gather another possession. What I truly desire for Christmas can't be bought online or in a department store. You won't find it on special and it isn't sitting in a warehouse in China.

All I want is for people to see Christ as the Savior of the World, not just at Christmas, but always. I want small country churches to be bursting at the seams because “good, moral country folk” realize their good deeds and manners aren't a sure ticket to heaven. They need a Savior and the church needs saints who are faithful and committed and so in love with Jesus that they want to be there and learn and worship! I want to hear about churches in the city that are teaching the Word, not just gathering for a social hour. I want people everywhere to humble themselves and seek His face and stop pretending like good enough is good enough when they, like me, need grace!

This Christmas, I want young families to feel the urgency of teaching the Scriptures to their precious, priceless children more than appeasing them with temporary packages that quickly lose their attention. I want them to know the pleasures of watching their babies grow up in the safe arms of Jesus, especially in a world more and more filled with hate. I long for them to experience the indescribable joy of seeing faith grow through the help and love of fellow believers who nurture and teach and pray for one another as they come together.

On my list are visions of worship where it doesn't matter what position you take or how loud or old fashion the music. Instead, God takes center stage and we can't help but pour out our adoration! I want to see genuine expressions of gratefulness and submission to a Holy God who deserves nothing less. I want to hear praise, not curses, on the tongues of professing Christians who know the difference!

For Christmas, I want to be carried away by a true revival that sweeps across this land and puts the Light of the World back on His rightful throne! I want to live in such a way, that when that great movement begins undulating from soul to soul, I'll be riding the first wave out!

That's all I want for Christmas because Christ is all that Christmas, or any other day of this life, is about! All I want is for my loving Lord, who humbled himself and came to earth, to be honored and worshiped all year long. And for everyone I know to get it – the best Christmas gift of all.

**If you want this gift, I'd be happy to share it. If you've already received it, I'd love to hear what the Lord means to you and how you plan to share Him with others. You can leave a comment here or visit www.thewordsout-brendablack.com and send me a private message.

What Will It Take to Awaken

By Brenda Black

"Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people," the statement released by the White House read. "That the Iranian authorities would try to force him to renounce that faith violates the religious values they claim to defend, crosses all bounds of decency, and breaches Iran's own international obligations. A decision to impose the death penalty would further demonstrate the Iranian authorities' utter disregard for religious freedom, and highlight Iran's continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens. We call upon the Iranian authorities to release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion."

Nadarkhani is currently the most notorious Christian facing hate-driven persecution, but he is not the only one. Worldwide, brothers and sisters in Christ die for their faith every day! They risk their lives, their families and their homes, yet cling to their convictions. They gather for worship in spite of death threats. They share their faith, knowing it may cost them everything. Four times, Nadarkhani has been pressured to renounce his faith. Four times he defended the cross of Jesus Christ and refused to deny God's saving power in his life.

Could you do it? Would you do it? Christians who live in the “land of the free and the home of the brave” cave under far less duress. Why, we won't say God bless you if somebody sneezes for fear it's not politically correct. Employers at certain retail stores will forbid staff to wish customers Merry Christmas in the days ahead lest some shopper complains. And choose to go to church on Sunday morning? Half of those who profess Christianity won't darken the doors. Not because there is threat to life and limb. Inconvenience or indifference is usually the excuse non-persecuted believers use, as humorously depicted in the following announcement:

To make it possible for everyone to attend church this Sunday, we are going to have a special "No Excuse Sunday": Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, "Sunday is my only day to sleep in." There will be a special section with lounge chairs for those who feel that our pews are too hard. Eye drops will be available for those with tired eyes from watching TV late Saturday night. We will have steel helmets for those who say, "The roof would cave in if I ever came to church." Blankets will be furnished for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who say it is too hot. Scorecards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present. Relatives and friends will be in attendance for those who can't go to church and cook dinner, too. We will distribute "Stamp Out Stewardship" buttons for those that feel the church is always asking for money. One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature. Doctors and nurses will be in attendance for those who plan to be sick on Sunday. The sanctuary will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who never have seen the church without them. We will provide hearing aids for those who can't hear the preacher and cotton wool for those who think he's too loud! Hope to see you there!

The ludicrous hoops the church must jump through to awaken its slumbering body is truly insane! People are dying to know Jesus across this planet and walk for miles to hear the Word preached! People are dying to defend their faith and smuggle the Word in scraps of paper past guarded borders to impart the Truth! People are dying while sharing the message of the cross with hungry, searching souls and count it all loss except for knowing Christ! And we can't get our behinds out of bed into a padded pew for a couple of hours once a week to just let God know we give a hoot! We won't leave our comfortable homes, get in our climate-controlled cars and enter a chapel to worship the One who made every stick and brick and every tire and tank and every steeple and stained glass window possible in our safe, little neighborhoods.

What will it take to awaken our souls? Must we be faced with death that we might express devotion. Though my heart aches for those who endure such abuse for the cause of Christ, I have to wonder if they aren't far and ahead more blessed and more fulfilled than me on any given day I live. For they are closer to God in their trial than I will ever be in tranquility. They are in the company of the saints and martyrs like Stephen, who “full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55)

Lord, forgive our complacency. Forgive our selfish, misplaced priorities. God help us to risk it all for Your sake and fall before You in worship! May we care enough to gather and praise, to go and tell, to never deny you no matter the risk. God save us from ourselves and awaken our souls.

A good place to wake up is in the Lord's house. Don't wait until your freedom to worship is threatened. Worship now!

Huck Finn Apologetics

By Brenda Black

“Well, I got a good going-over in the morning, from old Miss Watson, on account of my clothes; but the widow she didn't scold, but only cleaned off the grease and clay and looked so sorry that I thought I would behave a while if I could. Then Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn't so. I tried it. Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warn't any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn't make it work. By-and-by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me why, and I couldn't make it out no way.

“I set down, one time, back in the woods, and had a long think about it. I says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don't Deacon Winn get back the money he lost on pork? Why can't the widow get back her silver snuff-box that was stole? Why can't Miss Watson fat up? No, says I to myself, there ain't nothing in it. I went and told the widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by prayin' for it was 'spiritual gifts.' This was too many for me, but she told me what she meant – I must help other people, and do everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself. This was including Miss Watson, as I took it. I went out in the woods and turned it over in my mind a long time, but I couldn't see no advantage about it – except for the other people – so at last I reckoned I wouldn't worry about it any more, but just let it go.” (from the
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1961)

Contemporary dialects may have changed, but attitudes remain much the same among those searching for truth. Infernal selfishness continues to rant: If it doesn't benefit me directly and get me what I want, when I want it, then I want nothing to do with it. It saddens me like it did the widow who took Huck in and clothed him and loved him in spite of his sins. The selfish motives of modern man and the total disregard for all that the Lord has done reveals a spiritual ignorance that's lingered for decades.

Huck feared spooks and spirits, but did not fear the living God. His resolve to “just let it go” seems to be the same problem today among many folk, both young and naïve and old and worldly. An attitude of indifference excuses accountability for the present. But a day of reckoning is drawing near and like Huck contemplated, there is either the devil to pay or glory and grace.

There's no time like the here and now to define such providential destiny. While Huck scrambled for meaning in life through the questionable wisdom of others, he would have had a far greater understanding of God's loving plan if he had discovered the whole truth. Instead, he settled for hodge-podged tidbits of legalism, spirituality and tradition mixed with a dab of hell fire and brimstone and tempered with harps and angel choirs singing.

No wonder the world is confused when it comes to truth. We all, at times, have derived our own definitions based often on ignorance and well-intending, but ill-informed tutors. Don't just take my paltry explanations. Look it up for yourself right in the source if you want to know the real plan of God. It's clearly shared in the Holy Scriptures and these days you can get it written in languages and dialects that cover the globe. No longer are the Hucks of the world able to “just let it go.” We all have access to the very throne of God through the Word of God and have opportunity to worship the living God in Christian churches on every corner!

But are those outside of Christ hungry enough, curious enough, in need enough to seek truth for Truth's sake? Maybe the fear of not having the freedom to seek Christ will awaken that hunger. That same selfish drive that keeps us from serving others, may be the very thing that drives us to our knees! If a day dawned in this country when Americans were told they could not proclaim the Christ nor enter a house of worship, I believe we wouldn't “just let it go.” I believe we would see churches swell with a renewed commitment by those who have grown Mississippi River lazy and see people clamoring like the rolling river for the right to pray and worship!

I pray it doesn't take that kind of oppression for people to wake up and embrace truth and freedom found in Jesus. For “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,.” Jesus told those who believed. (John 8:31b-32)

Those who hunger for the teaching and hold to it can right now be released from the entrapment of ignorance. They can be set free from a prison of confusion. Right now, today – they can escape the enslavement of selfishness, and live free in Christ. And that, folks, is Huck Finn Apologetics.