Jesus’ name

Straight Stick Theology

/ Jana / 3 Comments

DL Moody has this beautiful quote: The best way to prove if a stick is crooked is not to argue about it, but to lie a straight stick alongside it.

For example. You hear, “I am a worthless piece of sh–.”  “I am ugly.””I am alone, no one loves me.” They sound familiar and perhaps even convincing. And we waste time to debate and argue with ourselves or anyone else hearing any of these lies.

But if you take a bent stick and lay it next to a straight stick, you can clearly see which is which.  In the spiritual, try laying any lie next to the truth.

“I am a worthless piece of sh–, in Jesus’ name.”
“I am ugly, in Jesus’ name.”
“I am alone, no one loves me, in Jesus name.”

It just doesn’t work. You can’t do it. They don’t fit, can’t fit, will never lay side by side as straight sticks. In Jesus’ name, you can’t be worthless, because He died for you just to prove your worth. In Jesus’ name, you can’t be ugly because He has called you “all beautiful My
darling. ” And He never lies. In Jesus’ name, you can’t say you are alone and unloved because Jesus is the One Who promised to never leave you or forsake you.

Try this at home. Test your thoughts. Examine your heart. Let the peace of Christ rule in your head, heart and home. (Colossians 3:15) There is power in His name. He is the branch that all life is measured by.

Lord, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Ps 19:14)
Amen.

Ready, Set, Zim!

/ Jana / Leave a comment

We had our first meeting for Zimbabwe last night and I am FIRED UP.

After hearing stories from others who had already gone and are going again, and after watching a video of the needs, I was undone. Because of AIDS, there are two groups of people: old people and and children – from infants to teens. So few parents, no leadership, no hugs, no training. Here is a country starving to death in more ways than one: spiritually, economically, socially, physically.

An old folks home where the patients don’t even have matching shoes.
Homes where grandfathers and uncles want 12, 13, 14 year old girls to prostitute so they can eat.

What do you do with that?

Salem is 12. I hear those stories and I look at her. I try to think of how bad life would have to get for me to be willing lay her in the arms of a stranger for money.  How could I get to the place of desperation that I would do that to my own flesh and blood?

Here is a place where babies are abandoned on the road. Some kind soul brings them to the hospital but once they get there, what next? There is no family to hold or soothe. The orphanages are full. There is no room in the inn.

What do you do with that?

Then there are pockets of whites who have been so hurt and betrayed by the government seizure of their land and livelihood, and they are so bound up by religious legalism that they are shut down, paranoid, lost.

What do you do with that?

You pour forth the name of Jesus like ointment.

What they need, what we need, is the supernatural.  It hit me last night as I was listening. Perhaps, we have been deceived. What do we bank on? When there is no government program to turn to, no store to buy from, no money to withdraw from the bank, we need something beyond our own control, something “altogether other.” These people far away, are like us.  We need the REALITY of God to interrupt the reality of our lives.  It is easy to watch videos of Haiti, and Zim, and other places of devastation and think, “What can I do?”  and I would say more than you can possibly imagine. Pour forth the name of Jesus. Pray that they would prosper spiritually, economically, socially, physically. Pray that the teams have all they need to go so they can speak hope, life and truth to a desperate people in desperate times.

What will you do with that?

Here is video clip if you would like see first hand what God is up to.  My Cry for Zimbabwe

Remember, if you want to be part of this work you can do so here.