From death to life

Many people have experienced trauma in their lives, and as a result of this trauma, they are trapped in a downward spiral of negative behaviors and thought patterns. When they seek help, they are introduced to the solution that the world offers. This solution is called self-help, and it promotes the idea that you can change yourself if you implement certain actions into your life. The problem with self-help is that it teaches the necessity of changing oneself. God’s Word, however, teaches us that self must die. Gaining victory over the destructive habits that enslave us does not involve making our best effort to gain control over self. In order for victory to be gained, self must cease to exist. “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31).* “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). So what does it mean to die to self? The answer to this question is found in the following two verses. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). The word “crucified,” which is found in both of these verses, is the key to understanding what it means to die to self. Jesus demonstrated the process of dying to self by His death on the cross. There is a specific reason why it was in God’s plan for Jesus to be crucified. Jesus could have died in many ways, and if we were to take our own lives—although I certainly hope not— we could do this in a variety of ways. But it is physically impossible for a person to crucify himself. The process of crucifixion can be accomplished only if a person submits himself to the will of another. The same is true when it comes to our spiritual growth. If we want to die to self, to be crucified with Christ, we must submit our will to the will of God. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Dying to self does not involve trying really hard to force ourselves to do something good or trying really hard to resist doing something bad. In the words of Moris Vendon, “Restrained badness is the worst kind of goodness.” Even if we did manage to make ourselves do good things and restrain ourselves from doing evil things, this external behavior would not change our hearts, because changing the heart is something only God can do. This is why Ellen White made the following statement in Christ’s Object Lessons, found on page 159. “No outward observances can take the place of simple faith and entire renunciation of self. But no man can empty himself of self. We can only consent for Christ to accomplish the work.” Notice that James tells us to resist the devil, not to do battle with the devil. If we try to engage the devil in battle, not only will we be utterly defeated, but we will be fighting a pointless battle, because Jesus has already fought the battle with Satan and won. Christ has rendered the devil powerless. Rather than fighting the devil, we are to resist the devil, to defend ourselves against his attacks, but this can be accomplished only by submitting our will to God. If we submit to God, He will empty us of self, impart to us the mind of Christ, and give us victory over sin. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). When we surrender our hearts to God, the mind of Christ within us will empower us to resist the devil.

It is through the process of submitting to God and receiving the mind of Christ that self is crucified, spiritual life is imparted, and freedom from sin is attained, but in order for this work to be accomplished, death must precede life. In John chapter 12 verse 24 Jesus uses the following analogy to describe what He had to endure in order to redeem humanity and establish His kingdom. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Just as a grain of wheat must die beneath the earth in order to produce more grain, Jesus had to be crucified and buried before He could rise again and expand His kingdom by transforming the lives of all those who would accept His gift of salvation. In the earthly ministry of Christ, death had to precede life, and the same is true with us today. In order to be restored into the likeness of Christ in body, mind, and spirit, we must follow Christ’s example. “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Just as Christ had to die before He could live again, we, too, are to take up our cross and die to self by being crucified with Christ if we want to be resurrected to spiritual life through the power of God’s healing grace. The process of dying to self is a continual process. It involves coming to the foot of the cross on a daily basis, accepting God’s gift of salvation, reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11), and asking God to give us the mind of Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Every day we must choose to lose our life in order to save it. Ellen White explains this concept very clearly in a statement she made in Christ’s Object Lessons, found on page 163. “As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus.”

In 1 John 3:14, John describes what happens when we transition from death to life. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.” As long as self remains alive, we are spiritually dead. There is no love in our hearts, because we abide in death. When we pass from death to life, self dies, we are given spiritual life, and the new heart God gives us causes us to love God and love others. If we choose to walk the road that Jesus walked by allowing God to take us through the process of transitioning from death to life, we will experience God’s complete healing. “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:5-7).

This message of hope is the message that we as Christians must take to those whose wounded lives have entangled them in the snare of sin. Jesus not only died for our sins, but He also died for our suffering. The same Jesus who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities also bore our griefs and our sorrows. He took our pain, as well as our sin, to the cross. “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:16-17). If we were to witness to people who have experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, would it minister to them if we told them that Jesus died for their sins, or would it minister to them if we told them that Jesus died for the pain, the anger, the fear, the shame, and the powerlessness they experienced during the trauma they endured? Not only did Jesus bear our pain to the cross, but He also lived a life of hardship and suffering on Earth and can personally identify with us in every trial we face. If we could choose the course of our lives, how many of us would choose to be born in a barn, grow up in a ghetto, and bear the stigma of being considered an illegitimate child? How many of us would choose to go through the heartache of being slandered, falsely accused, misunderstood, unfairly judged, rejected, abandoned, and betrayed? How many of us would choose to endure the shame and humiliation that results from having our physical boundaries violated? How many of us would choose to endure the physical agony of being tortured, as well as the emotional agony of being separated from God? How many of us would choose to die by means of one of the most cruel and barbaric forms of execution ever invented by man? Jesus endured all of these things when HE lived on Earth. Since we are all born into a sinful world, we all endure things over which we have no control, but Jesus did not have to experience any of the things He experienced while living on Earth. Incredibly, He chose to experience these things. He lived as a man, enduring temptations and trials so that He could identify with us in our temptations and trials. He overcame all of this by relying on His Father’s power so that He could pave the way for us to overcome. Then He died and rose again so that He could set us free from our pain and sin. “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18). “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

The only thing that self-help has to offer a hurting world is a futile attempt at gaining control over the sinful self, and if the world is not presented with a better alternative, it will plunge deeper and deeper into a hopeless state of decay and ruin. As God watches people desperately trying to gain the mastery over self through their own efforts, He desperately longs to cause them to die to self so that He can give them a new life of joy and freedom. As God’s ambassadors on Earth, we are called to introduce the world to a real and tangible God who not only identifies with them in their pain, but also longs to remove their pain by setting them free. This freedom can be attained only by passing from death to life, and since the process of passing from death to life can be frightening at times, people who are hurting need to be shown that God is someone they can trust because He can relate to the pain they are going through. When they see God for who He really is, when they realize that they are safe with God because HE knows them and identifies with them, they will be ready to move forward by taking up their cross and following after the God they have learned to trust. Rather than trying to maintain control over their lives by attempting to change themselves, they will allow God to take control. The sinful self that they were previously trying to change through their own effort will be crucified with Christ, and they will pass from death to newness of life. This is what freedom is all about, and God is willing to give all of us this miraculous gift of freedom if we let Him.

*All Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version.

Grace Revealed

General Conference president Pastor Ted N. C. Wilson made the following statement during a sermon at the Third International Bible Conference held in Jerusalem.

“At times, there seems to be confusion about justification and sanctification and how they relate to each other and our salvation.  Some promote justification to the exclusion of sanctification and arrive at what has been termed “cheap grace.” Others focus almost exclusively on sanctification and arrive at what has been termed as “perfectionism” or legalistic salvation by works.”

As Seventh-day Adventists we know that God requires obedience to all of His commandments. We also know that justification and sanctification are both the work of Christ alone. In an effort to avoid the extremes of law without grace and grace without law, we sometimes find ourselves on a spiritual tight rope, carefully trying to equally balance grace and obedience without drifting toward either of these extremes. If we saw grace fully revealed in its true light, we would realize that there is no need for a balancing act.

One of the reasons for such a debate as to where the line is drawn between grace and works involves some people who do not understand that grace and obedience are interconnected. They are not two separate components of our spiritual lives that must be reconciled. Grace and obedience are one. In the same sermon, President Wilson also made this statement. “The two great provisions of salvation—justification and sanctification—cannot be separated for they constitute the fullness of Christ, Our Righteousness.” Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 33 and 34 paint a beautiful picture illustrating the unification of justification and sanctification.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”*

As clearly seen in this passage of Scripture, God not only promises to forgive our sins, but also to put His law in our minds and write it on our hearts. When our thoughts are in harmony with God’s law, His law will be acted out in our lives through our words and actions. God’s grace does so much more than forgive our sins and grant us eternal life. God’s grace also heals our wounded hearts, sets us free from the captivity of sin, and causes us to keep all of His commandments. Conviction of sin, repentance, forgiveness of sin, surrender, faith, obedience—they are all gifts from God, bestowed upon us through the power of His grace. As long as we fail to see the oneness of grace and obedience, we will be spiritually off balance. We will either be in danger of becoming legalistic or casting aside God’s law, and our attempt to walk the spiritual tight rope will not prevent us from shifting toward either of these two extremes.

Many claim that being under grace means that keeping the law is no longer necessary, but according to the Bible, being under grace actually means the opposite.

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:12-15).

If God’s grace only forgave our sins and nothing more, what a hopeless state we would be in! God’s Heavenly kingdom will be a perfect world, and if we are not transformed into the likeness of God’s character through the power of His grace, we will not be fit for His kingdom. Heaven would be marred by sin, just as it was in the beginning when Satan fell. Without laws, chaos would result, and “God is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33.) The idea that God would annul His law after Christ’s death and resurrection makes as much sense as the idea that Congress would legalize murder if the president chose to die in the place of a murderer on death row. The fact that someone had to pay the death penalty for sin demonstrates that God’s law is unchangeable. When we are under grace, obedience will actually be more important to us, not less.

The mark of the beast is a perfect example of how grace and obedience are interconnected. When Adventists think of the mark of the beast, they immediately associate it with Sunday worship. It is true that the choice to either observe the seventh day Sabbath or to observe Sunday will be the factor that determines who receives the mark of the beast, but the observance of Sunday rather than the seventh day is actually a symptom of a much deeper problem. There is a passage of Scripture in Revelation chapter 13 that tells us what the mark of the beast represents.

“He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:15-17).

Contrast these verses with Isaiah 41:10. “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” God promises to hold us up by His righteous right hand, but those who receive the mark of the beast receive it on their own right hands and on their foreheads. God offers us His righteousness, but those who receive the mark of the beast choose to rely on their own righteousness. By choosing to keep Sunday holy they are paying homage to a church system that teaches salvation by works. Because those who receive the mark of the beast rely on their own righteousness, their hearts will not be made perfect in love through the power of God’s grace. Instead, they will be controlled by the wicked one and will have no qualms about killing God’s people. Notice Deuteronomy 6 verses 5 through 8.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

Those who choose to worship the beast have His mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, but the people of God have God’s love in their hearts. God’s law is bound to them as a sign on their hands, and His commandments are as frontlets between their eyes. Their thoughts, words, and actions are in harmony with God’s law of love, because they are depending on Christ’s righteousness alone.

There is no such thing as cheap grace. The so-called grace that claims to make void the law of God is not grace at all. There is only one kind of grace. It is the free grace that overflows from the loving heart of God, the grace that not only justifies us, but sanctifies us, completely restoring us into the likeness of God’s character. When this grace is in control of our lives, there will be no spiritual tight rope to walk, no balancing act. There will be no confusion or debate, because there is no dividing line between grace and obedience. Obedience to God’s commandments will come naturally to us, and there will be no fear of extremes, because our motives will be pure. We will not be taking care of our own interests, focusing only on how we may enter Heaven. Instead, our motives will be actuated by love for God and love for others. Glorifying God’s name and leading others to the foot of the cross will be our mission. We will gladly keep all of God’s commandments, not in order to be saved, but because we already are saved. This is what it means to be under grace, and as the simple yet profound gift of God’s grace is more clearly revealed to us, we will understand why we will be studying the subject of grace throughout all eternity.

*All Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version.

Stand in the gap

By Stephanie Dawn As Christians, prayer is one of the necessary components in our spiritual journey. Prayer keeps us spiritually alive, and it opens the door for God to do miracles in our lives as well as in the lives of those for whom we pray. Unfortunately, we often make reference to prayer without fully understanding its significance. Sometimes prayer chains can become a form of gossip, and sometimes when someone comes to us with a problem that makes us uncomfortable, we respond by saying, “I’ll pray for you,” as a means of dodging a conversation that pulls us out of our comfort zone. If we really understood the role that we as God’s people are called to play on this earth and how deeply prayer is involved in this role, we would not treat prayer so casually.

After God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He led them to Mount Sinai. As they camped in the wilderness near the mountain, God gave Moses a message for His people. “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6). During Bible times, only the descendants of Aaron were permitted to serve as priests in the temple, but the Israelites were also to be a kingdom of priests. God has given this same role to His people today. “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation1:5-6). After God liberated the children of Israel from their Egyptian taskmasters, He gave them the privilege of being a kingdom of priests, provided that they keep His commandments. The experience of the Israelites symbolizes the experience of Christians today. When we accept God’s gift of salvation, He sets us free from the enslavement of sin, and if we live in obedience to God’s law, we, too, will have the privilege of being a kingdom of priests.

So what does it mean to be a kingdom of priests? The prayer of Daniel provides an answer to this question. Daniel was not a priest, yet he interceded on behalf of Israel, fasting and confessing his sins as well as the sins of his people. Notice how Daniel communicated with God in his prayer. “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You” (Daniel 9:4-7). Like all of humanity, Daniel was born with a sinful nature, but he did not rebel against God. He did not live the wicked life that most of the children of Israel lived before their captivity in Babylon. Unlike most of Israel, he did not turn away from God, yet he identified himself with the sins of his people, and by praying in this manner he interceded on their behalf. In verses 16 through 19 Daniel concluded his prayer by acknowledging the fact that he and his people had no righteousness in themselves. They were not worthy to come before God, but Daniel threw himself and his people upon God’s mercy. Daniel was clearly aware of the great controversy and the fact that God’s name is at stake, and he appealed to God to answer his prayer based upon this fact. “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” In verses 20 through 23 of the same chapter we are told that Daniel’s prayer was answered even before he had finished praying. In fact, as soon as Daniel started praying, God commanded Gabriel to go to Daniel and explain to him the 70 week prophecy.

During Bible times, the priests interceded on behalf of the people by offering animal sacrifices, which symbolized Christ’s gift of salvation to the world. As God’s kingdom of priests today, we intercede on behalf of others, not by offering animal sacrifices, but by lifting them up in prayer. Just like Daniel, we come humbly yet confidently before God, acknowledging our unrighteousness and falling upon God’s mercy. When praying for those who have not accepted Christ or have wandered away from Him, we plead for God to pardon them and to take whatever steps are necessary to bring them to Him. Just as the high priest was the only one permitted to enter the Most Holy Place in the temple, Jesus as high priest is the only one who can stand in the Father’s presence and intercede on our behalf, but we have a lesser priesthood to perform, the act of interceding on behalf of others through earnest and persistent prayer.

The experience of Moses is a powerful illustration of the result of intercessory prayer. When Moses was communing with God on the mountain, God informed Moses that the children of Israel had made a golden calf and were worshipping it. Then God said to Moses, “Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation” (Exodus 32:10). God does not have a violent, impulsive temper. He did not need Moses to restrain Him from carrying out an act of uncontrolled rage. If God had truly wanted to destroy His people, He could have done so in an instant without consulting Moses, and He would not have needed Moses to leave His presence in order to accomplish His purpose. When God told Moses to let Him alone so that He could destroy Israel, He was testing Moses to see how he would respond. He was giving Moses an opportunity to intercede on behalf of Israel, and Moses immediately seized upon this opportunity by quoting God’s own words back to Him and referring to the fact that God’s character would be viewed in a negative light if He destroyed Israel. “LORD,” Moses pleaded, “why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever’” (Exodus 32:11-13). Because Moses took advantage of the opportunity God had given him to intercede on behalf of Israel, God did not destroy His people.

In Exodus chapter 34 we read that God gave Moses the privilege of seeing His glory. During this beautiful experience, God described His character to Moses by saying, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7). This statement is crucial to keep in mind when reading about another opportunity for Moses to intercede on behalf of Israel, found in Numbers chapter 14.

The children of Israel were on the border of Canaan, but the negative report given by ten of the twelve spies who were sent to investigate the land filled the people’s hearts with unbelief. This unbelief soon turned into rage, and a riot broke out. Then God said to Moses, “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they” (Numbers 14:11-12). Once again God gave Moses the opportunity to intercede, and once again Moses used this opportunity. He pointed out to God that by destroying Israel His character would be misunderstood. He said, “Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, LORD, are among these people; that You, LORD, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness’” (Numbers 14:13-16). Moses had not forgotten what God had said about Himself on the day that God had revealed His glory to Moses, and now, as Moses once again pleaded for the children of Israel, he quoted some of God’s own words back to Him. “And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ‘The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’ Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now” (Numbers 14:17-19). Once again God answered Moses’ plea. He gave Moses the reassuring response, “I have pardoned, according to your word” (Numbers 14:20). Because of their unbelief, God would not permit the people to enter Canaan, but the intercessory prayer of Moses prompted God to pardon them and not to destroy them. We should never underestimate the power of intercessory prayer, especially when we quote Scripture and claim God’s promises in our prayers.

To stop praying for others is a very serious fault. In fact, according to the Bible, it is a sin. “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way” (1 Samuel 12:23). We can never afford to take prayer for granted. As the sins of Israel multiplied, God bore long with them. He sent prophet after prophet to them in an effort to warn them of their danger and to urge them to return to Him, but they stubbornly refused to listen. Gladly would God have answered the prayer of any one of His people if they had only confessed their sins and interceded on Israel’s behalf! “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezekiel 22:30). Tragically, there came a point at which it was too late to pray for Israel. In Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 1, God made this sobering statement concerning the children of Israel. “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.” In Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 16 God said to Jeremiah, “Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.” We have only a window of time during which we can intercede on behalf of others, and that window of time is different for each person. We have no way of knowing when the window of opportunity for each person will close. This is why it is so crucial that we pray without ceasing for those whom God has placed upon our hearts. If we neglect our duty to pray for these people, many of them will pass beyond the point of being reached by the Holy Spirit, and it will be too late.

On the other hand, incredible miracles will take place in the lives of many lost souls if we persist in praying for them. We can all gather hope from the story of Stephen. As Stephen was being stoned to death, his dying words were an intercessory prayer on behalf of those who were murdering him. “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60). Stephen’s prayer was not in vain. Present at his stoning was a young man named Saul. One look at Saul’s life might have led many of the Christians who knew him to conclude that he was a lost cause, but God saw what no one else could see. Saul went from being a hater and persecutor of the church to being one of the greatest Evangelists of his day, carrying the Gospel far and wide and leading many to the feet of Jesus. Only in Heaven will Stephen learn of the amazing result of his intercessory prayer as seen through the conversion of Saul. What joy Stephen will feel when he talks to Saul in Heaven and hears Saul’s testimony for the first time! If we persist in earnest intercession on behalf of others, refusing to stop praying until our prayers are answered, we, too, will feel this same unutterable joy when we are united with those we have prayed for in the Heavenly kingdom.

Vision through blindness

In this world a first impression is extremely important. It is one of the main determining factors for everything from developing relationships to getting jobs. We often determine whether or not we like someone when we first meet that person, but first impressions can often be wrong. There are many situations in which we need to rely on our first impressions of people in order to make wise decisions, but if first impressions are our only guides, we will miss out on many meaningful relationships. Former President Abraham Lincoln understood this when he said, “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” If God based His decision regarding the fate of humanity on the things that are easily seen on the surface, we would all be lost, but because of His infinite love and mercy, He looks beyond what is seen on the surface and into our hearts. Isaiah chapter 42 contains one of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus:

Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. . . . I the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. (Isaiah 42:1-3, 6-7)

These two passages of Scripture are very straightforward, but later on in the chapter God says something that may sound strange. “Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind but My servant, Or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, And blind as the LORD’s servant? Seeing many things, but you do not observe; Opening the ears, but he does not hear.” (Isaiah 42:18-20) We generally consider blindness and deafness to be negative things. I have been totally blind since birth. I remember one day in high school when a fellow student questioned me about my blindness by asking, “Have you been…that way…all your life?” She could not bring herself to utter the word blind in casual conversation. Jesus warns us against spiritual blindness. “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” (Revelation 3:17-18).

So why is Jesus, the one who confronts us because of our spiritual blindness and opens the eyes of the blind, referred to by God as being blind and deaf? Jesus answers this question in John chapter 8 verses 15 and 16 when He says to the Pharisees, “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.” The Pharisees judged according to the flesh. They drew conclusions about the people around them based on what they saw and heard. When they brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery, they saw a hopeless sinner deserving of death, but Jesus saw a wounded soul, a bruised reed, a broken heart in need of His love and forgiveness. By turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to what others perceived on the surface, He was able to see what they did not see. Because Jesus sees what we do not see, His judgment is always true. There is a form of blindness that God wants us to possess. It is the kind of blindness that He possesses. When Jesus was on the earth, this blindness enabled Him to look at those who were looked down upon by society and see so much more than everyone else saw. While society only saw their sins, Jesus saw what they could become through the power of His grace.

What a different world this would be if we all had the vision that comes through blindness! As my mind wanders back through time, I remember situations during which this kind of vision would have changed my relationships with certain people had I possessed it. As I recount these stories, I will change the names of the people in them for the sake of privacy, but the lessons I have learned will forever remain the same.

From the sixth grade through the eighth grade I attended a small school that was run by the Adventist church that my family attended. It was during that time when a little boy named Tommy came to our school. He was probably about five years younger than me. He was intelligent, but he was very different from the other kids. It was hard to put a finger on exactly how he was different, but the way he communicated indicated that he struggled in his social interactions with others. One morning during worship, one of the teachers asked us if we had any prayer requests, and Tommy raised his hand and said something that was totally unrelated to the subject at hand. I confess that I was not always patient with him. There were times when I was nice to him, but not on a consistent basis. One day he was accused of doing something that he claimed he did not do. The teachers came to the conclusion that he was guilty, and I vividly remember his angry tears as he adamantly claimed his innocence. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether or not he was guilty, but when I remember his anguish as he pleaded his case, I am left to wonder if he really had done anything wrong. All of this took place shortly before lunch and recess. When the time for recess came and the kids and teachers went outside, there was a brief moment when Tommy and I were alone in the classroom. Poor little Tommy asked a question that no child should ever have to ask. “Why me?” You would have thought that seeing Tommy in such emotional pain would’ve forever changed the way I treated him, but tragically, later on, I joked about the incident with other kids. If I could relive this experience with the vision that comes through blindness, I would not only be patient with Tommy, but I would be a source of comfort, encouragement, and support to him. I would befriend him, not some of the time, but all of the time.

Around the same time there was a yearly camp for visually impaired children that I attended a few times. There was a girl named Cindy who also attended the camp, and she was developmentally disabled. Because of her developmental disability, I was uncomfortable in her presence. She had a negative attitude and was not enjoyable to be around. I never once heard her laugh, and I wonder, in fact, if she even smiled. I’ve heard it said that a smile isn’t just something you see; it’s something you hear as well. I never heard a smile in her voice. The first time I met her, she and I shared a room with two other girls. The radio was on, and Cindy did not like the music that was playing. She said, “I never grew up listening to that junk!” Close to the end of one of the camp sessions, one of the teachers who organized the camp asked us if we wanted to have the camp next year, and Cindy responded by saying, “No way!” When I later asked Cindy why she did not want to have the camp next year, she answered, “All the kids tease me.” The memory of her words has never left me. If I could relive this experience with the vision that comes through blindness, I would reach out to her and get to know her. I would try to make her laugh. In response to her complaint about the music on the radio, I would ask her what music she liked. Maybe I would discover that we had similar music interests. Perhaps underneath all of that negativity I would find a person that I would enjoy being friends with.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I became acquainted with a student named Jack who was not liked by the other students. I remember once hearing a girl say to him, “You’re not someone; you’re something!” Jack apparently came to the conclusion that negative attention was better than no attention, and he acted like an annoying little brother. One day, on a whim, I decided to reach out to him. I said, “Hi, Jack. How are you?” I will never forget the transformation that resulted from a simple question. The annoying little brother persona immediately fell away, and Jack emerged. He and I began to talk, and I discovered that he was a nice kid. I was just getting to know Jack, when, tragically, one night Jack and two of his siblings were killed in a house fire. Jack’s death was painful for me, but it was even more painful for the kids who had mistreated him. If I could relive that experience with the vision that comes through blindness, I would not wait to reach out to Jack. I would start getting to know him immediately. Perhaps if I had done this when I had the chance, I would’ve discovered a good friend.

What I learned from these experiences is that the time we have with others on this earth is short. We have a window of opportunity to reach out to those whom God has placed in our path, and when this window is closed, we may not get another chance. May we all pray that God will give us the vision that comes through blindness! It is this vision that will enable us to see others as God sees them. This vision will cause us to look upon others with compassion, and through our words and actions they will see what God is really like. They will not only hear the Gospel, but they will see the Gospel, and many will be led to the feet of Jesus.

God's court room: who's on trial?

One of the most misunderstood concepts among Christians today is the concept of the judgment. For thousands of years it has been Satan’s intent to misrepresent the character of God, and to a very large extent he has succeeded. Satan will do anything he can to prevent people from grasping the depth and scope of God’s grace, and one of the ways he has accomplished this is to mislead them concerning the truth of the judgment. If he can lead people to an erroneous conclusion about the judgment, he knows that he can cause them to fear God rather than love Him. NO relationship can thrive when it is based on fear, and if Satan can succeed in causing people to be afraid of God, it is his hope that these people will ultimately turn away from God and influence others to do the same. The reason that we are so confused about the judgment is because Satan has led us to believe that the judgment is about us. Being self centered by nature, we tend to look out for our own interests. As long as we are focused on ourselves, our only concern will be escaping the judgment and getting to Heaven. When God empties us of self and fills us with His love, our concern will be for the glorification of God’s holy name and for the salvation of others. We will feel no fear of the judgment, because we will be filled with the love of Christ, which casts out fear (1 John 4:18). As long as Satan can convince us that the judgment is about us, his true intentions will be hidden. We will live in a mode of selfishness, caring only about our own salvation, and our relationship with God will not mature. Satan knows that if we could see the big picture, we would discover that the judgment is really about God’s reputation, and Satan’s efforts to malign God’s character would be clearly seen. All of the accusations that Satan has made about God would be proven false, and the fear that we had of the judgment would be replaced with love for God.

The fact that God keeps a written record of the life of every person who has lived on the earth demonstrates that the judgment is not about us. God knows all things. He does not need to rely on written records in order to remember past events. There are Bible verses that reveal the reason for the written records. In 1 Corinthians 6 verses 2 and 3 we are told that we will judge the world as well as angels. In Revelation 20 verses 4 through 6 we are told that judgment will be committed to us during the one thousand year period in Heaven before the second resurrection. Why will judgment be committed to us when there is an all knowing righteous judge who rules the universe? In Ezekiel 20 verses 35 and 36 we find the answer to this question. “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord God.” God was speaking to rebellious Israel in these two verses, but His words are just as applicable today. God’s character has not changed, and these two verses paint a beautiful picture of the wonderful God we serve. God is all powerful and can do no wrong. He is at liberty to do whatever He wishes, and He owes no one an explanation for the things He does. Yet, incredibly, He not only wants to dialogue with us, but He also wants to plead His case with us face to face!

Satan has spent thousands of years slandering God. The evil character that Satan possesses he accuses God of possessing. He is constantly watching God’s every move and listening to His every word, looking for ways that he can twist God’s words and paint His actions in a false light. In everything God says and does, His purpose is to show all created beings the true nature of His character, and the way He deals with fallen humanity will prove once and for all that God is loving and fair and that Satan’s accusations are false. David understood this truth when he wrote, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). There is a trial taking place that extends across the universe, and the blameless king of the universe is the defendant. As God writes the written records, He is continually gathering evidence to support His case, and as He determines the eternal destiny of every human being, His decisions are being observed by the inhabitants of the universe. God is on trial in His own court room. The inhabitants of our world are also on trial, but our trial is simply the evidence presented in a much bigger trial that spans far beyond our little planet. Our world is not able to see the big picture that the rest of the universe sees, and when we get to Heaven and reign with Christ for a thousand years, we will be full of questions. Jesus will permit us to read through the written records of the wicked, and we will unite with Him in judging them and determining the sentence for each lost soul. He will plead His case with us face to face, and we will discover what the unfallen beings have already discovered, that God is compassionate and just.

There is a line in a well known song that illustrates the misunderstanding in the Christian world concerning the judgment. It says, “ON that day when we will pay for all the deeds we have done, good and bad they’ll all be had to see by everyone.” Such an idea would strike terror in the heart of anyone who believed that such a thing would take place during the judgment, and, truth be told, this is the kind of treatment we deserve. But Christ has provided a way of escape from judgment for all who will accept it. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24). God gives this promise to every sinner who comes to Him in repentance. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). If God truly intended for all those whom He has forgiven and cleansed from sin to publicly give an account of all of their sins in the judgment, then this promise would be meaningless and Christ’s blood would have been shed in vain.

The investigative judgment is now taking place. Every person who has professed to be a follower of Christ is having his or her case examined in Heaven. Each person’s thoughts, motives, words, and actions have been diligently recorded in writing, and each person’s written record is being carefully reviewed. “I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire; A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9-10). “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17). When the names of all those who have been forgiven and set free from sin come up in the Heavenly investigation, Jesus pleads His blood on their behalf, and it is recorded in the books of Heaven that they are pardoned. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). The doctrine of the investigative judgment is a precious truth that has been imparted to us as Seventh-day Adventists. If we shared this doctrine with the world, it would bring hope to many wounded hearts, because they would realize that the Gospel is clearly portrayed within the judgment.

The eternal destiny of each person will be determined by the books which contain all of the names and the deeds of every person who has lived on the earth. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). This fact does not contradict the Gospel; it enhances it. In Matthew 12 verses 33 through 37 Jesus paints a picture of the harmony that exists between God’s grace and His law within the context of the judgment. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” When fruit is bad, the fruit itself is not the source of the problem. It is the tree that causes the fruit to be bad. The fruit is simply the end result of the development of a bad tree. The same is true with our words and actions. The external behavior is the end result, or the fruit, of what lies in the heart. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3-5). When we accept God’s grace, God not only declares us righteous, but He makes us righteous. He heals our wounded hearts, sets us free from the destructive patterns that enslave us, and empowers us to walk in perfect obedience to His commandments. We keep God’s commandments, not in order to be saved, but because we have already been saved. In fact, when we are under grace, obedience will be more important to us, not less. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14). The reason that our eternal destinies will be determined by the deeds written in the books is because our thoughts, motives, words and actions demonstrate whether or not we are under grace. When Jesus warns us that men will have to give account in the judgment for every idle word they speak, He is making us aware of the fact that every thing we think, say and do is being written down in Heaven. Nothing is taken lightly by God. Nothing escapes His attention. Those who refuse to repent and turn away from their sins will be held accountable for their sins by God in the day of judgment, not because their bad deeds out number their good deeds, but because their wickedness reveals the fact that their hearts have not been transformed by God’s grace. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we come to God with a contrite heart, He accepts Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, and we are declared righteous. Then He imparts to us the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit, and through the sanctification process we are made righteous. This is the complete Gospel, and all who accept and live this Gospel will inherit eternal life and will not enter into judgment with the wicked.

God admonishes us to take the judgment very seriously, but He does not intend for us to continually live in fear, desperately trying to obey God in order to escape the judgment. Obedience based on fear is not true obedience, for without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). In order for us to live free from fear of the judgment we must first recognize that “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). We must also come to the realization that without Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5). If we see our helpless condition, fall upon God’s grace, and continue to abide in Christ, God will perfect our characters and fit us for Heaven. We will have nothing to fear.

Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and he accuses us before God day and night (Revelation 12:10). When Satan leads us into sin, he then accuses us before God. Satan claims that he has the right to claim us as his subjects because we have broken God’s law, but when Christ pleads His blood on our behalf, Satan’s arguments are silenced. We may be facing the best prosecuting attorney there is, but the defense attorney representing us is even greater in power. “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” (1 John 3:20). Our defense attorney knows what it feels like to stand trial, and we are safe in His hands. “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17). We can have boldness in the day of judgment, because our defense attorney is also our judge, and our judge has already served our sentence.

The strength of weakness

We live in a society that promotes self-sufficiency. We are taught to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. When we struggle to overcome bad habits, the world tells us that we can change ourselves if we simply incorporate certain actions into our lives. Tragically, this message of self-reliance has crept into the Gospel message, under the guise of “God helps those who help themselves.” If we look closely at the way Jesus describes the kingdom of Heaven, we will discover that it is Christ’s intent to turn our society’s views upside down and inside out. There are priceless gems to be discovered in the analogies that Christ uses to describe the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus does not compare His kingdom to a palace that is constructed of the most precious stones and built to withstand the test of time and decay. He does not compare His kingdom to a majestic ship that glides effortlessly over the ocean waves, withstanding every storm it passes through. Incredibly, Jesus compares His kingdom to a tiny mustard seed, barely visible and easily swept away by the smallest gust of wind. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (New King James, Matthew 13:31-32). In this simple, yet profound, statement Christ directly challenges the self-sufficient mentality of society. Notice how the mustard tree begins as a tiny seed and grows into a tree. Also notice how God describes the righteous person in Psalm 1 verse 3 “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not whither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” There’s a specific reason why God uses these illustrations. When a tiny, fragile seed is planted, it is entirely dependent upon the nourishment that God provides for its growth, and when it grows into a strong, majestic tree, it is every bit as dependent upon God for its existence as when it was a seed. In like manner, when we accept Christ and experience the new birth, we are like a tiny seed, entirely dependent on God for spiritual growth. As we grow into mature Christians, reflecting God’s character more and more fully, we are every bit as dependent upon God for our spiritual growth as we were when we first accepted Christ. We can do nothing of ourselves, and when we finally realize this fact and surrender completely to God, spiritual growth will take place.

Through this parable Jesus is also trying to teach us the necessity of patience and perseverance. We live in a very fast paced society that prides itself in finding ways to get things done more quickly and easily, but in our effort to make life more convenient, we’ve lost sight of the concept of delayed gratification. We can’t even handle it when our computers take two minutes to load a webpage! One of Satan’s master deceptions is to lead us to view our spiritual lives in this fast paced manner and to forget that the sanctification process is indeed a process. Satan is very aware of our faults; he is ever ready to bring them to the forefront of our minds. Satan would like nothing better than for us to try and exercise enough will power to correct our bad habits as quickly as possible, because he knows that this method is the surest way to defeat. When we fail, Satan attempts to lead us into discouragement by telling us that our situation is hopeless and that we will never grow spiritually. His goal is to make us feel so discouraged that we will give up on God entirely. But all the will power in the world will not change us. Even if we do succeed in resisting the temptation to do something wrong, or in forcing ourselves to do something right, these outward accomplishments will not change our hearts, because changing the heart is something only God can do. In our effort to correct our bad habits, we focus on the behavior, rather than the root of the behavior. Satan leads us to work from the outside in, while God, on the other hand, works from the inside out. God’s work of sanctification does not begin with external behavior; it begins in the heart. Just as the mustard seed is hidden in the earth, God begins His transforming work in the secret chambers of our hearts, unseen by the human eye. The mustard seed does not initially appear to be growing. No one can see the changes that the seed is undergoing in the heart of the earth. Likewise, it may initially seem to us that we are not growing spiritually. We are still keenly aware of our weaknesses, and we still find ourselves yielding to temptation from time to time. However, if we surrender our lives to Christ and choose to depend totally on Him rather than ourselves, we can trust ourselves to His care. Every gardener knows the necessity of patience and persistence. As the gardener continues caring for the seed, signs of growth become evident. The seed begins to sprout, and leaves begin to emerge. Jesus is the master gardener, and if we persevere in submitting our lives to Him and staying connected with Him, signs of spiritual growth will soon become evident to us, as well as to those around us. We will notice our thoughts, feelings, interests, and desires changing. We will find ourselves responding to people and situations differently. Just as the mustard seed grows into a great tree and becomes a place for birds to dwell, we will grow into strong, mature Christians, fully reflecting Christ’s character, and those who are hurting will come to us for love and support.

One of my favorite quotations goes like this: “Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow” (Alice Mackenzie Swaim). Many of us think that in order to be strong we have to be like that towering oak, but the mighty tree is much more likely to be uprooted during a tempest than is the delicate flower. We all experience trials in our lives, and many of us are told that these trials will make us stronger. God’s definition of strength is the opposite of the world’s definition of strength. “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). As the mustard seed grows from a plant into a tree, it is continually hammered by the blazing sun and the pouring rain, both of which are necessary for its growth. In like manner, God allows trials to come into our lives that He knows will bring about spiritual growth. God does not intend for these trials to make us spiritually self-sufficient or to make us strong according to the world’s standard. It is His desire that through these trials we will see our weakness and become totally dependent upon Him. When we see our helpless state and fall broken upon His grace, then, through Christ, we will become strong. True strength lies in this dependence.

It is absolutely crucial that we learn the lesson of the mustard seed and apply it to our lives, especially as the time of the end approaches. If we think that we have to change ourselves, or, even more dangerously, if we think we are capable of changing ourselves, we will not see our need of God, and when the end time crisis suddenly comes upon us, we will fall. Peter’s experience is both a warning and an encouragement to us. Even though Peter had walked with Jesus for three and a half years and listened to His teachings, he didn’t understand his own powerlessness or what it meant to be strong through Christ. Peter believed that he had to be strong, and he was certain that he was strong enough to remain loyal to Jesus even to death. In fact, Peter was so confident in his own strength that he thought he could outdo his fellow disciples. He emphatically told Jesus, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble” (Matthew 26:33). Ironically, of all the disciples who remained loyal to Jesus, the one who thought he could outdo them all fell the hardest. Not only did he curse and vehemently deny knowing Jesus three times in His presence, but also he completely forgot that Jesus had predicted this very event. Jesus’ prediction did not come to Peter’s mind until he denied Jesus the third time and heard the rooster crow. Peter’s failure was not the end of his story. The very same man who was afraid to acknowledge knowing Jesus in the presence of a group of servants became one of the boldest preachers of the Gospel—proclaiming the good news to thousands of people, defending the name of Jesus in the presence of the greatest religious leaders of his day, and even becoming a martyr for Christ.

What brought about this remarkable transformation? Peter discovered the strength that lies in weakness. Never in Peter’s wildest dreams did he imagine denying his Lord, and when he did the unthinkable, he was devastated. It was through his failure that Peter discovered his own weakness, and he came, broken and repentant, to his heavenly father. When he finally learned the necessity of depending entirely upon God, he was ready to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that God had been waiting to bestow upon him, and God miraculously turned Peter’s devastating failure into an incredible blessing.

The work that God did in Peter’s heart is the work that He longs to do in every heart. In fact, God’s purpose in permitting a time of trouble to come upon the world is to accomplish this work in His last day people. In Daniel chapter 12 verse 10 we are told, “many shall be purified, made white, and refined.” The seventh verse of the same chapter tells us what the result of this refining process will be. We are told that “when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.” God will have an end time people who fully reflect His character, but this will be accomplished only when the power of God’s holy people has been completely shattered—that is, when they finally realize how utterly powerless they are and choose to rely on God’s power alone. When God’s people finally get out of His way, there is no limit to what God can do in their lives. Through their weakness, God’s people will become strong, and no storm will be too powerful for them to endure.

Do you feel as if your life is out of control? Have you repeatedly tried to overcome the destructive habits that enslave you, only to be met with failure? Do you feel as if you simply are not strong enough to make it on your own? Then take heart! You are in the perfect place for God to do a mighty work in your life. It is when we come to Him in our greatest weakness that He provides His greatest strength. Come to Him, wounded and broken as you are. Thank Him for sending His son to pay the price for your sin and to set you free. Accept the healing gift of God’s grace for yourself, and ask God to give you the mind of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a request that God will never deny. God, in His infinite love and mercy, can never resist the wounded cry of a contrite soul in need of His grace. When the mind of Christ is imparted to you through the Holy Spirit, you will gain the victory over sin. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His god pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Let God be the master gardener of your heart. He longs to turn you into a beautiful tree, deeply rooted in His love. Even when the process seems long and painful, do not give up hope. No matter how far you have come on your spiritual journey, you will continue to feel your need of Christ. Even those who will fully reflect Christ’s character at the time of the end will not feel as though they have attained perfection. In fact, as you draw closer to God and gain greater glimpses of His perfect character, the more clearly you will see your own imperfections. Every person has a unique conversion experience. Some people give their hearts to Christ in the privacy of their bedrooms, while other people take a stand for Christ in front of a large crowd. There are those who experience immediate deliverance from addictions, while others experience freedom over a period of time. No conversion experience leads to instant spiritual maturity. Every person must go through a garden-like experience. Keep your eyes upon Christ. Do not compare your experience with the experiences of other Christians around you. You are a unique and precious flower in God’s garden of life, and He will mold your character through the process that He knows is best for you. Through your weakness you will become strong in Christ, and “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:6).