Hello friends,
I'm trying something a little different that I hope will become a weekly feature. Let me know what you think!
Is it just me, or does there seem to be an epidemic of believers -- especially those of us who are awake to the times and watchful -- just feeling spent? We’re exhausted and worn out and there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight other than Jesus coming to get us, and many of us are wondering how much longer it will be, and how much worse things are going to get.
Just trying to keep up with the news and the rapidly increasing birth pangs are enough to leave us discouraged and so very tired. But a lot of people -- some dear friends included -- are really under a lot of pressure right now. Pressure that seems relentless and never-ending.
Interestingly, the Greek word for pressure is thlipsis -- the same word for tribulation.
Although it’s still winter, it’s time for those in the homesteading and farming communities to start thinking about starting seeds to give their gardens and crops a head start come spring. So, while this analogy may have been used so often that it’s a little trite and cliche, let’s go with it, because I’ve got seeds on the brain, and it’s a good analogy for what I want to communicate.
Seeds are nothing but potential. They contain everything they need to produce a mature plant that bears fruit. But in order to do that, they have to be buried in the dark, subjected to pressure and heat, and die. As the seed dies, the plant grows, as long as it’s nurtured with water and nutrients and the right amount of light.
Sometimes, God puts us in a dark place where we’re under a lot of pressure, so much so that it feels like we’re suffocating and dying. But in those situations, he also nurtures us, watering us with his Spirit and nourishing us with the bread and light of his word, provided we stay in the word through those dark times. And if we let it, those dark times and all of that pressure helps us die to ourselves a little more, so that we can grow more into who He intends for us to become.
The more we die to self, the stronger we’ll grow -- in faith, in sanctification and holiness, in wisdom -- and the more fruit we’ll produce.
I’ve been through plenty of these dark seasons. I’ve felt like I was suffocating. But I’ve learned that the best thing I can do in these seasons is surrender and lean into them, drawing closer to God, holding onto His word and His promises as a lifeline as I ask him to use this hard season to shape me and grow me into who He wants me to be. To open my eyes to the lessons He’s endeavoring to teach me. And I’ve learned to be thankful for these periods that help me shed a little more of my worldly self and grow up to be a little more like Him.
Growth is hard. It’s painful. It’s anything but comfortable. But at the end of it is the beauty of a full-grown, flowering plant and a bountiful harvest of fruit.
Time is short, friends. I think a lot of us are under heat and pressure because we don’t have decades ahead of us to work out our sanctification. God needs to crank things up a notch to help us grow up and get ready for the work He has assigned for us in His future Kingdom.
Because if you think Heaven is an eternal retirement plan, you need to think again. We’re going to judge angels, and we’re going to rule and reign with Christ. We’re going to have BIG responsibilities in Eternity -- that is, provided we’re faithful servants and not wicked and lazy ones -- and this life is our boot camp to prepare us for our Heavenly service.
It seems like some of us have been assigned to Navy Seal training, but maybe that’s because God has bigger plans for us.
So lean into the hard, seeking Him for refreshment and strength. He won’t ask you to go through anything that he doesn’t already know how he’ll sustain you through. He’s with you. Lean on Him, and let Him do His work to grow you up into who He wants you to be.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. -- 2 Corinthians 4:17
ADDENDUM: Between writing this and posting it, I remembered something that my husband and I discuss from time to time. Several years ago, we both started praying that God would do whatever it takes to refine us and qualify us for the total inheritance package that’s on offer for eternity (side note: I don’t recommend praying that prayer unless you’re prepared to endure a lot of pain, because He will definitely answer it).
I’m not telling you that to seem oh-so-spiritual. You can click through to this note to see how very far I’ve still got to go. I’m also not seeking sympathy when I tell you that we’ve both endured a lot of hard and ugly stuff since we were very little.
I linked to an interview with Vicky Joy Anderson below, and her testimony really resonates with me. She and I have a lot in common beyond suffering from sleep paralysis. Like her, I asked Jesus to be my savior when I was too young to even remember, and “re-upped” a couple of times as I got older and understood the full significance. But despite being plunged into serious spiritual warfare almost immediately when I was still practically a baby, there’s never been a time in my life when I didn’t know that Jesus held me in His hands.
But I’ve also struggled with why He allowed those hard and ugly things to happen to me. Looking back, I can see His hand of protection on my life, but also so many things He chose not to protect me from.
My husband and I have speculated that perhaps, at least in part, the Lord up in the ever-present eternal NOW heard our grown-up prayers and applied them to our whole lives, not just from the point we started praying them. That those hard things were allowed for our refining from a young age, to teach us to rely on Him, and maybe to get us to a place where we would have the courage and strength to pray those prayers in the first place.
Just something to think about.
I hope this week’s message encourages you. While I didn’t get time to work on it this week, I’m hoping to send out my review of Earthquake Resurrection next week.
In the meantime, here are some things I’ve been studying or that have grabbed my interest this week:
I loved this interview with Vicky Joy Anderson, author of They Only Come Out at Night. As a former chronic sleep paralysis sufferer, she gave me a lot to think about in that vein (I really need to get her book). But I was also intrigued by the discussion of “threshold covenants” toward the end, and how that relates to the Passover, communion, and our betrothal to Christ.
That led to me looking up this book, which is free at archive.org and is now near the top of my TBR list: The Threshold Covenant by H. Clay Trumbull
This four-part interview with Dr. Michael Heiser is a great primer (or refresher, if you need one) on the Divine Council view of scripture.
And speaking of Dr. Heiser, here’s an older lecture he gave on the Gnostic gospels and why they were never taken seriously by the early Church and never actually in the running for being included in the canon.
That lecture includes some good background on how we got the canon, which I went looking for after this note kind of blew up. I was amazed at the pushback I got from progressive Christians, and it really highlighted the ignorance of Church history and how the canon developed. Which are things I plan to cover here at some point.
I’m working my way through 1 Enoch again, paying special attention to the Book of Parables. This section contains the prophecy that was quoted in Jude and alluded to in 1 Thessalonians, and it’s also where Jesus’ title The Son of Man comes from.
ICYMI, I wrote a post discussing the Biblical view of ghosts and the afterlife over at Through a Glass, Darkly.
Finally, I really enjoyed this episode of Camp Hermon about how the ancients thought about the cosmology of the world.
That's all for this week. See you next time!
Love,
Jean