2013-02-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I wrote about deliverance, one of the many blessings that comes from faith in the One and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Our faith is now further strengthened by belief in His Son, Jesus Christ, the One Who died on the cross so that we could enjoy eternal forgiveness for our sins and salvation [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. God is our Strong Tower, and that is one of the many perks of a covenant relationship with Him.
A true story that I read in one of Kay Arthur’s books, touched me deeply. It is the story of Jozeca (then age 29) and her husband, Jakob (then 64), who were imprisoned by the Nazi’s during WW II. A rotund, young Yugoslavian man who spoke Slovenian and had defected to the Nazi police was very full of his own self-importance. He wore a brass swastika on his uniform. He grinned at Jozeca and then announced, “We’ve come to shoot all the old people, who are of no use any longer.” Jozeca inwardly gasped, trying to hide her dread. Her beloved husband, Jakob was her senior by 35 years at age 64. “O God have mercy,” she thought to herself. The Nazi asked, “What good are men over 60, eh, Frau?” with arrogance and rhetorically. “We’ll take care of you; such a rip plum needs plucking. Don’t you agree?” he added, laughing and walking away, his fat sides wobbling. Jozeca began praying loudly after that, and other imprisoned women joined in with her. She prayed for deliverance until she fell asleep. In the wee hours of the morning, the obese Nazi policeman entered Jozeca’s cell, and she remained motionless in the face of his efforts to reach out and grab her. Each time he did this he recoiled as if burned, issuing epithets of frustration. The odors of perspiration, tears, human excrement, and the fish they had eaten the day before lingered in this place. The Nazi pulled out his Luger and pointed it at Jozeca’s temple. “Now will you come, Frau?” he said to her. He pressed the gun to her head, then suddenly recoiled as though singed by fire. “Devil!” he cursed. Jozeca’s eyes narrowed as she kept them on the Nazi; “Jesus,” she repeated several times. “Tomorrow, you will be shot!” he responded and left. Jozeca prayed in thanks to the Lord, and begged Him not to let this threat be carried out. She prayed for her husband and her son too, that they should be saved from this fate. God answered her prayer and during the month she was at the prison, no one, not even the over 60 year olds, was shot.
When we think of the deliverance our Lord gives us, how can we not repeat PS 32: 7? “You are my Hiding Place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” How can we not think of the story of Paul and Silas in jail in Philippi from AC 16: 16-40? They were cast in prison after Paul exorcised an evil spirit in a slave girl who had enabled her to predict the future and thus, make money for her owner. While chained and in prison, Paul, Silas, and their fellow prisoners were praying and singing hymns to the Lord. Around midnight an earthquake happened, and their chains broke, and the doors of the prison swung open. The jailer, thinking his prisoners had escaped, called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. Then, he asked, “ What must I do to be saved?” He was told, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” The magistrates decided to release them, and they went immediately to the house of the jailer where the latter and his family were baptized. Then, they went to the home of Lydia, a seller of purple, whom they had baptized before their imprisonment, where they met with other believers and encouraged them. This story too is one of supernatural deliverance at the hand of the Divine One.
There are plenty of stories in mankind’s history of deliverance, and we’ll look at more of them in the next message. However, it is necessary for us to look at some take-away questions to ask ourselves from the two shared here. It was good for me, a member of a Jewish family that was torn apart in its past by the loss of members in the Holocaust to be exposed to a true story of one that was not. Now that I am a Messianic Jew, I sometimes think to ask what might have happened to my relatives had they believed in the Lord Jesus? While that question won’t be answered while I’m still on earth, I hope it will be when I’m in heaven. From a historical point of view, we know that it was the Holocaust that focused attention on the need for the Jewish people to be returned to a homeland-Israel. It was on May 14, 1948 that Chaim Weitzman became the first modern president of the newly reformed country called Israel. Another question we might ask: 1) Do we really personally understand the full extent of God’s power? AMOS 4: 13, “You, My Father, are the One Who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man. You are the One Who turns the dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth-the Lord God Almighty is Your name!” 2) Have we seen God’s righteous use of His power in our own lives? His churches? While none of us knows till the moment it is tested, 3) just how much courage has He given us in our faith in Him? These are questions that are worth our time in meditation.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come together after considering these cases of deliverance to ask You for a deeper understanding of the faith You have given us. You have told us in COL 3: 10 that each day You are renewing us in Your image, so that we might have a greater knowledge of You. That is the kind of knowledge that will lead us to move forward in the sanctification process, that process of maturing in our faith. This intimate and dynamic covenant relationship we have with You involves our cooperation, our willingness to be teachable, and our obedience to You. We acknowledge that and our need to consider our responsibilities to that relationship as a first priority in our lives. When we do that, our other human relationships are deeply blessed, and we can be of greater service to You. RO 12: 1 is on our human radar. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is the spiritual act of worship.” You, Dearest Abba, are the One and only God we worship. We ask PS 119: 17, “Deal bountifully with Your servant, so that I may live and observe Your word.” Also, we know that if we are teachable, then it is You Who have made us so. IS 50: 4, “The Sovereign Lord has give me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.” Let us learn from Your word and our history, that You will reveal Yourself in our daily lives. Let us never forget, 2 CH 16: 9, that “Your eyes range throughout the earth to strengthen those who are fully committed to You.” For this wonderful and loving covenant relationship we have with You, deliverance from the wages of sin is, by far, not the only blessing You give us. We thank and praise You forever, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Our Strong Tower protects us in so many ways. He gives us endurance over time that we never knew we had. In my own life, I have lived with the consequences that arose from a very emotionally dysfunctional family, and still He has given me strong faith in His Son and the opportunity to serve Him in ministry. Next week, we’ll look at a story from long ago during the Roman empire of deliverance and endurance that makes my own story look like a walk in the park. Our Strong Tower is here for each of us, and for that we can be eternally grateful. God’s love for us, His righteous use of His power, the blessings of making His will our own are available to us all. These things are part and parcel of being in a covenant relationship with our Lord. PS 103: 13, “The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.” PS 107: 43, “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” The words in these two verses are not false or empty; they are realities of our covenant relationship with Him. He stands with us, over us, protective or us-as our Strong Tower. PS 37: 23-24, “The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of our lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for He holds them by the hand.” Imagine our Strong Tower Who cares about every detail of our lives! How can we not take comfort in that? We must close today with this prayer: PS 33: 22, “Yes, Lord, let Your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in you alone.” We can depend on the Lord knowing all the while, He deserves our eternal thanks and praise!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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