Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sleeping

Matthew 26:40

 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter.


You know this last week (Sept 11th ) , I did a lot of thinking and meditating about the events of 8 years ago. There were many shows recounting the events of that day on television, which led me to thinking about my children. Bryson was only 5 years old, Caysee was barely 8, and Trent was 13. Trent would really be the only one of my children who could actually remember the events of that fateful day.

I thought about that fact. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing and the sense of Evil that day brought. But to Caysee and Bryson, seeing the events on television replayed, do not have the same effect as it did on  me. For one my being an adult and two I saw it live. It affected me so much I hurried to pick up my children from school early that day and  I remember a sense of feeling like I just HAD to get them home, where there is a feeling of safety. I prayed that day for hours it seemed,  I talked to God all day, I prayed for families, I prayed for children, I prayed for people blinded to see truth, I prayed for protection, I prayed and prayed and prayed. Even though at the time, I had not come into “a saving knowledge of Christ” or even what that meant, but there I was, HEAVY under the Spirit of God drawing me to prayer.

Bryson and Jarred were watching the events replayed of that week on television and started asking me questions about the people who did those things.  Going over the time frame with them and telling them about what was happening as they watched and what was about to happen. They were VERY caught up in the moment by moment events and  several times they paused the TV to ask questions. I was very happy for the teachable moments the replay gave me with the kids,

I left the room when the show went off to clean the kitchen and even though we had paused it, discussed it, witnessed the devastation,  prayed for wisdom and discernment, and even added a little bible study to it, the kids jumped up and went to play a video game. 

I thought about how that is similar to what we have done, only it wasn’t immediate, it took a few years for it to happen. We ALL WITNESSED this evil, it shook us, we prayed, we banned together, we filled churches to overflowing…. But sadly, we have fallen back asleep.

The enemy of our souls has flooded our vision with Hollywood Blockbusters that show so much violence and devastation our conscious has become desensitized  and seared to the real evil going on in this world. We rally together for a time when these terrible events happen, but we forget soon afterward. We “personally” go back to sleep unless one of these events hits our own home. Evil prevails when we do nothing. 

I wonder in a way if that was how Jesus felt? HE KNEW what was about to happen just as I did when going over it with the kids, I knew the desperation of that moment, even though the events were not going to change, I still felt compelled to pray, still felt that draw of the Spirit to go into the prayer closet and get alone with God. I wasn’t in that building or on the Cross, but Jesus was!  Real people were! Someone’s children, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, daughters, and sons. They were real happenings not something created by Hollywood.  Personally, in my own home, I am doing spiritual inventory or what I am allowing in my own viewing and those precious children God has given me to steward. I am looking at what I fill up my time with and committing to more prayer.

May Jesus find us keeping watch!




Let’s Pray:

Father, I pray you make our spiritual radar super sensitive to what is allowed in our minds and our children’s  minds. May you make our houses, "houses of prayer”.  Make us sensitive to Your Holy Spirit’s promptings to pray for the state of our county, our leaders, our communities, our churches, and make us One as You are One. Give us wisdom in this new day of evil of how to pray, how to get involved, how to do Your will Lord.
Father, heal us of our indifference and instant gratification ways. Heal our Nation Lord and draw us to keep watch and be ready for Jesus return. In His Name I pray, Amen.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Disconnect.....

Tonight I was having some quiet time, almost everyone in the house is sick, has been sick, or is coming down with something. So it was unusually quiet.... earlier when I got off work, my 16 year old daughter Caysee wanted me to take her to Rue 21 to pick up some leggings to wear under a skirt. We shopped and shared a little girl time looking at clothes together.


I looked around at some of the girls shopping in the store, and Man, did I feel a little old and out of touch. Me, best dressed in school, -- OLD, Out of shape, and Out dated! I looked closer at what these girls were wearing, at 5:15pm... sequins, 5 inch heels, 5 & 6 necklaces, bracelets , and huge earrings. Something you might see in line at 1 AM trying to get into a club in Atlanta! Thankfully, Caysee doesn't like skinny leg jeans, heels, sequined low-cut tops, and tons of necklaces. She's not a high-maintenance type of girl (Thank YOU Jesus!) But she has pretty good values. I started thinking about this precious gift of a daughter the Lord has given to me..... She struggles in academics, she's pretty naive' for a 16yr old, and this little girl LOVES Jesus.

I struck up a conversation with her about clothes in general in the car, and she just blurts out of the blue that a girl in her class is pregnant. A 15yr old girl is pregnant. She tells me that this little girl has a 1yr old baby already and is pregnant again, at 15.


I thought about the clothes these girls were wearing, I thought about the boys looking at the clothes these girls were wearing, and I thought, You know it just was not this hard when I was 15. I was all giggly and butterfly stomach feeling over the POSSIBILITY of getting to sit next to a boy on the bus coming home from an away football game! (I was in the band, and those bus trips were exciting!) But having sex? You know my mother never sat me down and told me what a "gift and treasure" I could give to my husband. Why it was so important to wait until marriage. That God had carved out the man I was to be "the helper" of, the man HE had picked out for me from the foundation of the earth!.... EVEN THOUGH I didn't get that speech, I did get it pounded over me thru religion! (I am the granddaughter of 2 pastors) So I'm not sure if it would have made a difference, but I would like to think it would have. I thought about the long talks I have had with Caysee about the "treasure" she is and the treasure she will be to the man God has picked out for her. I thought about this 15 year old girl who didn't have a mother tell her what a gift she had for her husband. And.... my heart went out to this poor girl who bought the Devil's lie that she could get love and acceptance thru sex, and she gave herself away to the enemy of her soul......


I turned the conversation back to Caysee and asked if she had asked this little girl to come to church, and she said, Mom, she doesn’t go to church. I pressed her and said, Caysee did you ask her?, she said, "Mom, I don't feel right asking her to come to church, I mean, I don't know what to say to her" I said, Caysee, how would you feel if you had messed up, and now, you were pregnant again, she fired back at me, Mom, I wouldn't do that, I know, I said, ok, but you have made mistakes, would you be kind of down? She said yeah.... I said, well the bible says that Jesus is close to the broken hearted, so maybe Jesus wants to use your mouth to be nice to this girl, and tell her about him and that he loves her. She kind of nodded.... but right there, I felt it in my spirit that here was my "teachable moment"! What an awesome gift the Lord gave me with MY daughter, He came in and redeemed that part of my life too....



Father, I pray, just as Jesus prayed, Not that you take Caysee out of this world, but that you guard her from the enemy of her soul! Protect her and give your angels charge over her to protect her in all her ways. She shows such faith in You Jesus. She is an ENORMOUS light in her generation, Father, may she make Your Name Famous and WELL known to everyone within her sphere of influence. Equip me Lord to lead her in the natural "bent" of her own personality and gifts you so lavished on her! Father, thank you for allowing me to see you did not "make" her handicapped, but equipped to fulfill your good works and your purpose for which you created her! May she always dwell in your house and may Your Praises forever be on her tongue! In Jesus Name! Amen!

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