Going Up to Lay It Down

By Brenda Black

In case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of talk of God these days: Debate over His existence, creative license with His infallible Word, curiosity over His home in heaven. There are people irate about losing their God-given rights and folks who would hatefully blaspheme the Holy One without another thought. Why so divided, why so volatile? Quite frankly, the reason is because there is nothing new under the sun.

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When Christ walked the earth, the battles were the same. Power, prestige, tradition, land, money, and a man's reputation. The Pharisees rebuked Jesus for speaking the truth and fulfilling the prophesies they held most sacred because they were blinded by their self-importance. The Romans got nervous over crowds of commoners who might cause an uprising and challenge their dominance. At stake for both was control of the people.

Look at the subject matter of a thought-provoking movie “God's Not Dead” currently creating a stir. A professor of philosophy demands his humanistic authority and declares himself god of the classroom. Then search the news for updates from way out West and down South

, where landowners are in a showdown with the government over the right to free speech, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! Ponder the following thoughts extracted from a pompous online post: “Secularism is advancing, despite your attempts to stop it. The world is becoming safer, more peaceful, better educated, and kinder, despite your attempts to stop this advance.”

Wow! What kind of a rock does a person live under who thinks the world is “safer, more peaceful, better educated and kinder”?

People have not changed. The powerful wield their way over the perceived powerless. The arrogant demand their superiority...until the down-trodden have had enough. Then there is an uprising.

And that is precisely why Jesus came – to create an UPrising.

"Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 'We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life' (Matthew 20:17-19)!"

He knew what lay ahead and yet He went up...up to Jerusalem, up to criticism, up to humiliation, up to crucifixion...and laid His body down for our sin. This sacrificial act flung open the door for division.

“'I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed (Luke 12:49-50)!'” Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit fire that cannot come until He departs and He symbolically speaks of His death as a “baptism” of sorts. The Christ already knows what His act of great love will do. It will make possible the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men. It will also force each one to make a choice, to take a stand.

“'Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division (vs. 51).'”

Of course, the message of the gospel is God's love and mercy. But not everyone receives this good news that would bind us all together in blissful unity. There are many who will not receive it; moreover oppose it vehemently. The division Jesus speaks about is the result of their free will, not His causing havoc.

Still, He went up. He Laid His life down for those who would believe and those who would plot for His cruel elimination. Then He conquered death and hate and injustice by throwing off the grave's chains and living again!

Good Friday is a day to remember the beginning of an eternal UPrising. It's a time to decide whether you're willing to lay it down and stand up. And Resurrection Sunday...well it's just that. A day to look UP and believe in the One Who laid it down and then rose UP!

Awakened by New Sounds

By Brenda Black

It's odd what I've gotten used to and take for granted. Say, the song of a familiar bird outside my window. At home it's the loud call of the Cardinal in a string of clear “purdy, purdy, purdy,” often speeding up and ending in a slow trill. The cattle low and the horse nickers when I step out the door, alerting me to morning chores. When I'm walking my Missouri gravel, the Western Meadowlark gurgles out flute-like notes to help quicken my steps. What's more odd is the absence of those familiar sights and sounds or the substitution with strange new ones in foreign surroundings.

I was distracted by the call of a bird I had never heard while standing near an open window in Wisconsin. Instead of singing a pretty tune, it sounded more like a squeaky porch swing whose chain was in need of a greasing. "Kar-r-r-r-o-o-o" "Kar-r-r-r-o-o-o" "Kar-r-r-r-o-o-o". So loud was the call, I was certain this curious avian was on the porch, in that swing! But like the coyotes deceptive cry at home, the Sandhill Crane was only as near as binoculars could ascertain. What struck me most was my immediate awareness of this new and strange noise.

New surroundings tend to sharpen alertness. New sounds prick curiosity. New subjects demand our focus. And I am no longer talking about birds. Just how cognizant are we of the world around us? How thankful and curious are we; how purposeful in discovering the source behind something new we've heard?

This world is changing, and not necessarily for the good. A glance through the headlines on any given day this past week made me think I was waking up in a strange America – a foreign and frightening new world. Because the stories told harrowing tales of government overreach and the ill-gotten power grab of elected officials, my senses were heightened, my curiosity maximized, my focus targeted. How can people be so blind and deaf? Are we not a searching people any longer, demanding truth, justice and God's holy way? Like the song of a familiar bird, the luxuries of beloved familiarity like prayer and God's Word may one day be plucked away if we don't take a long, hard look at what's lurking in the near distance.

The first step is to know the Truth. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11) You won't recognize the deceitful tactics of the enemy if you aren't certain of the promises from the Heavenly Father. You can't hone in on danger or discern need for caution if you have no standard.

Next, cling to the cross. This is the true redemptive act of Christ because we all need the Savior and there is no other way. Don't listen to the lie that there are many ways to righteousness. The Gospel does not change. “Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” (John 14:6) “As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:9) A Christian song once played frequently says it this way: “Keep me near the cross, Near the cross, May I never stray so far, That I cannot see, What flowed down for me, At the foot of the cross.”

Be steadfast and devoted no matter the call outside your window. “So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.” (Deuteronomy 5:32) “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Ps. 51:10) “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38)

Sometimes we need a wake up call, the song of a different bird that heightens our awareness and causes us to stop and listen intently to what's truly being said. Don't take the familiar for granted or one day you may wake up without its pleasure and instead be listening to the screeching sounds of freedom silenced in a foreign land. That's an odd place in which I'd rather not find myself.

Hot Potato Prayer

Hot Potato Prayer
By Brenda Black

As the banter over national prayer heats up in the count down to next Thursday, I am reminded of the children's game “Hot Potato.” Everyone wants to briefly hold the prayer tater-topic, then quickly toss it to someone else for fear they might get burned. And maybe they have a right to regard public opinion on such a hefty matter as risky. After all, the innocent parlor game developed in the 1880's began not with a safe potato, but a lit candle; and players chanted a strange little saying:

“Jack's alive, and likely to live. If he dies in your hand, you've a forfeit to give. The one in whose hand the light expires has to pay the forfeit.”

A heavy concept for frivolous entertainment, but a perfect picture of the high cost of throwing the one, true God out of our affairs and the solemn consequence for such arrogant behavior. If an extinguished candle flame rendered payment, how much more the repercussion for snuffing out the Light of the World. Prayer is not a game. Neither is it a legal issue; it is an ethical and moral responsibility. Prayer is a matter of life and death. It has been key to the success of this nation since its inception and is more relevant and essential than ever before in history. And those who want to ban it, condemn it or de-emphasize it's importance will bear the shame of squelching God's blessing the U.S. of A. There will be a price to pay if we do not humbly seek the Almighty's will and mercy.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln knew the necessity of beseeching God. He offered a three-tier solution for a divided nation. His complete package called on citizens to not just offer lip service. He didn't suggest that they pray as an afterthought. He intended that every person commit their mind, body and soul to the task. His penitent words and pleading voice are just as relevant today as during the Civil War.

“Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and...”

Wait- stop right there! The Senate of the U.S. “devoutly recognizes the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations”? And so did their forerunners who framed the Constitution! Let's read on:

“Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;...”

Duty to God, humble sorrow, genuine repentance, mercy, pardon, truth, Holy Scriptures, the blessings of God – these words backed by a Senate and proclaimed by the President. Yes, sir! This is no generic, pluralistic, politically correct or politically corrupt media stunt. This is a heartfelt plea for forgiveness from the only One able to deliver.

“...We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us...”

How much farther has America advanced in more than a century? And how much farther we have descended from the God who deserves honor and glory for the great things He hath done. “David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, 'Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.'” (1 Chronicles 29:10-13)

Lincoln knew as King David, in whom we should place our confidence.

“It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power. To confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

“Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

“All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace...” 1

The hot topic from nearly 150 years ago is sizzling once again. The difference – Lincoln appealed to people who believed in praying to the One, True God and our country was healed. In 2010, God is still God but we must acknowledge that He is still head of our states. If we don't handle this potato carefully, we could get burned terribly.

“God's alive, and likely to live. If he dies in your hand, you've a forfeit to give. The one in whose hand the light expires has to pay the forfeit.”

Check out Jim Daly's (Focus on the Family) comments concerning prayer at http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/jim_daly/2010/04/a_day_of_prayer_for_judicial_common_sense.html


1. (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=69891)