Wayne Jacobsen

Chapter 20: Stand By

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Chapter 20: Stand By

Note: This is the twentieth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. We have already released the first part of this book in print. You can also access the previous chapters here.  If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any of them, you can add your name here.

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I was hoping you would give more practical advice about what we need to do if this age is coming to an end. We can’t just sit around and wait. Don’t we have to do something?
Tyson, a farmer and father in the plains of Iowa

Hi Tyson,

Let’s imagine two warhorses in a pasture. Both are equally strong, but one stands quietly, grazing on the grass at his feet. Every so often, he raises his head and looks around, ensuring all is well. Then, he continues eating. The other stomps his feet on the ground and snorts into the morning air. He’s agitated and nervous, running one way, then another.

Which will be most valuable to his master when he comes for him?

Obviously, the first one. He does not need to bluster because he knows what he is capable of doing. He stands ready for whatever his master might need and does not wear himself out with his fears and insecurities.

My Greek professor in college told me the Greek word for meekness is a word picture of a warhorse at rest. Strong and fearless in battle, he is calm and controlled outside of it. Xenophon, the Greek warrior-philosopher, used that word for warhorses, not referring to their toughness in battle but rather to their standing calmly when they’re not. Meekness is not weakness; it is incredible strength without aggression, arrogance, or anger.

No wonder the meek will inherit the earth. That’s the way Jesus was. Though he held all power in his hands, he was gentle and tender, never having to prove it. I’m sure it took more strength and character to stand before the false accusations of the Pharisees and unjust tortures of Roman guards than to level them all with a legion of angels.

When the Time Comes…

That’s the picture I want you to have, Tyson, as we talk about those alive at the end of days. They will be like warhorses at rest in the company of their Master. They will act when he directs, not lash out in fear or anxiety.

This seems particularly important when Scripture talks about the end of time.  After a series of visions that revealed a broad sweep of the future, right up to the end of the age, Daniel was overwhelmed. “When will these things be?” Daniel asked the angel who had appeared to him, and what was he to do about them?

The angel answered, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked . . .  But as for you, go on your way until the end. You will rest, and then you will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.” Daniel 12:8-13

It’s a constant refrain throughout Scripture—don’t fret about the days to come, especially the last days. There wasn’t anything Daniel could do about it at the time, and he needed to entrust it all to God. Whatever part he had at the end would be revealed to him when the time came.

There’s immense curiosity about end-time prophecies, and many want to understand what they need to do before he comes. They want instructions and provisions well in advance of when they are necessary, I suspect, to reassure themselves. But God doesn’t work that way. It seems our trust is more important to him than any advance strategy. We talked about this in the last chapter—living with enough of Jesus on the inside that we’re free to roll with his leading as life unfolds. That will serve us well now and in the days to come.

Be Ready in the Moment

That’s what Jesus told his followers.  “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.  You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm, you will gain life.” (Luke 21:12-17)

All of that certainly happened to the disciples in the first century. It isn’t always easy for us in the Western world to remember that this is happening today and is likely to grow even more so as the age comes to an end. So, what can we do, according to Jesus?

  1. “Make up your mind not to worry beforehand.” Anxiety is such a part of the human experience, especially when we confront potential difficulties of the unknown. But we can decide not to go down that road and bring ourselves back to confidence in him whenever we feel the tentacles of worry reach out for us. By focusing on him and his power, we can lean out of anxiety into trust.
  2. Don’t be shocked when close friends and relatives betray you. Most humans cannot muster faithfulness to a relationship when their personal expedience is at stake. Now is the time to practice doing so whenever people treat you unfairly or accuse you falsely.
  3. Stand firm in him and what you know to be true against every onslaught of darkness, regardless of what others might say about you. He will protect you, and in doing so, we’ll find his life and joy coursing through our veins.
  4. Let the words you need come to you in the moment. You do not need to practice what you’ll say to defend yourself. He will give you words that will be irresistible and incontrovertible. If we have already planned our answers, we won’t hear his. I know it’s hard, but we’ll be better armed in difficult moments if we trust him to show us the way, rather than scripting our words in advance.

We don’t have to wait until the end of days to develop these spiritual muscles. Practice them now in whatever circumstances or challenges you face today. Since we have no idea what will unfold or what our part in it might be, preparing for specific events is impossible. But we can cultivate a relationship with God strong enough to hold us through anything that comes.

We have a great heritage of previous generations of followers of Jesus who stayed true to him despite persecution and threats. His grace and presence have always proved sufficient for the darkest days. It’s why Paul was singing in a Roman prison after being unjustly beaten, and it opened the door for God’s love to flow to the jailer and his family.

To stand firm means we trust the truth we know about Jesus and his love for us, no matter what our circumstances or emotions may be telling us. We all have those moments where angst tries to displace our trust in God. Returning to what we know to be true by relying on the Holy Spirit will ground us in trust. It means risking everything that God is who he says he is.

We Have to Do Something

When the Egyptian army bore down on the children of Israel with chariots and weapons after letting them go, Moses encouraged the people of Israel. “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:13

How hard was that? They could have panicked and fled for their lives, but the Egyptians would have slaughtered them. Standing still before the approaching army would allow them to participate in God’s plan to free them and demonstrate his greatness in the face of overwhelming odds. That lesson was critical for them if they were going to trust God enough to lead them into the Promised Land.

Scripture often encourages us to stand firm and wait for God to act rather than resorting to our own devices and ingenuity. That’s not easy for many of us, preferring to do what we can see to do, which often makes matters worse. Busyness and activity give us the illusion of productivity and safety, but that’s all. If we trust his love enough to wait until he calls us to act, we will find options we never would have contemplated.

The urge to do something, in the face of threat or fear, is one of the most significant deterrents to our life in Jesus. So many bad decisions happen in that moment between feeling threatened and God revealing his solution. Some of the worst things I have ever done on God’s behalf started with someone saying, “Well, someone has got to do something.” Immediately, that focuses on ability and wisdom, rather than standing firm until God reveals his. Beware the person who preys on that impulse by giving you things to do on God’s behalf instead of waiting for him. Follow Jesus, not your frustrations.

Life at God’s Pace

To help my wife heal from the traumas of her childhood, I’ve had to learn to live at Sara’s pace, which is much slower than my own. While pulling weeds one day in Sara’s garden, I hurriedly reached for a weed that was just out of reach. I didn’t realize that, however, until I lost my balance. Moving my foot to keep from falling, I stepped on a stalk of beautiful irises and crushed it. Knowing how much she loved those flowers, I felt I had crushed something in her.

“You need to slow down.” The words crossed my mind instantly. That’s where God began to teach me that my rapid pace wasn’t helpful to Sara’s freedom. Since then, “Life moves at the speed of Sara” has become part of my vocabulary. It applies to everything I do, from driving to preparing dinner to our conversations. I discovered I actually like living at a slower pace, making me more attuned to what’s happening around me or what others are feeling.

Slowing to her pace also helped me recognize how much I outpace God. I’d already noticed that he seemed to move slower than I would like, and many of my prayers were trying to get God to catch up to my ambitions or hopes. Learning to live at his pace, which is even slower than Sara’s, took some time. Waiting on the Lord isn’t a test of patience; it’s the recognition that we move more rapidly than he does.

When we’re having trouble seeing God or listening to him, maybe it’s because we are rushing ahead of him. Have you noticed he is far slower at doing things than any of us would like? His work is much more deliberate, incubated in love, not fear, in trust, not anxiety. He’s doing real work inside while we try to get him to plaster cosmetic fixes on the outside. Jesus invited us to follow him, which means we must walk a pace behind him. You can’t follow from in front. Then we can do what we see Father doing, just as Jesus did.

That’s why we’re told to be still and know that he is God (Psalm 46:10), and to discover “the unforced rhythms of grace.” (Matthew 11:29 MSG)  Both require us to slow down and enjoy his pace.

In the Meantime…

So, how do we live with the end of the age in mind? Some have encouraged people to sell their goods and move into communities off the grid. I know people who have quit their jobs and gone on an evangelism binge because they think the time is short. But none of these ever bear fruit unless they come at his leading. We don’t know when the end is coming, so don’t make life-altering decisions until it is clear what he’s asking of you.

Like the warhorse at rest, we don’t need to be anxious about the days to come or devise a plan to cope with what might happen. Jesus indicated that those who would be most ready are not those focused on the date, but simply living in his goodness each day. That means loving your spouse and others around you, caring for your family and for others who cross your path, and growing in God’s goodness while encouraging others to do the same.

When you live at rest in God’s goodness, you’ll find the renewal that will keep you ready whenever God has something for you.

  • Actively look for ways to engage others near you—family, co-workers, neighbors. Practice hospitality, generosity, graciousness, and getting to know others, and all the more as the world convulses in the final birth pangs. People will need help with fear and uncertainty. Getting to know them now will make it easier to help them then.
  • Find the rhythm that lets you marinate in his love, recognizing it through your struggles and resting in the growing confidence that he will care for you.
  • Practice learning to listen to his thoughts and nudges in the challenges you face.
  • Let him keep untwisting what sin, the world, and trauma may have done to you. Discover the growing freedom that trust will lead you to experience, and how it will demonstrate his glory to the world around you.
  • Pray for other followers of Jesus that they will not be led astray by those who want to “do something” or are intimidated by others’ voices. Pray they will have the courage to trust what they hear, even if it contradicts the comfort of their friends and family.

Tyson, you don’t need specific instructions on what you should do if this is the end of days. He will show each of us what our part is when the time comes. He is preparing a bride for what is not yet. Now we need to learn to stand by, waiting for his instructions.

So, come sit with Jesus often and gaze with him at world events as the future unfolds. There’s no better place to bring your heart to stillness in the face of the unknown and to ready your heart to respond to him whenever he calls you.

Confident in his wisdom and power, you can be like the warhorse at rest until the time comes. Fearless about what may come, you’ll be quick to respond as redemption reaches its fulfillment.

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

Chapter 20: Stand By Read More »

Chapter 19: Children of the Day 

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Note: This is the nineteenth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. We have already released the first part of this book in print. You can also access the previous chapters here.  If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any of them, you can add your name here.

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How can you write with such conviction about these things when you hold to a point of view a lot of other Christians don’t share? Don’t get me wrong, my heart is in sync with almost everything you’ve written, but I’m always second-guessing myself because I know so few people who see it the way I do. 

Marcellus, basketball coach and father of two in Virginia

Marcellus, 

First, if I had followed the Christian crowd throughout my life, I wouldn’t know Jesus the way I know him today. I didn’t start out to be a nonconformist. In my early days, I could work Christianity as well as anyone, and I so much wanted its affirmation. But the choices I was presented with kept knocking me off that path, either because I couldn’t compromise something I knew to be true or because Jesus invited me in a different direction.

That used to frustrate me. Why couldn’t I fit in like everyone else? It wasn’t because I thought I was wiser; I just could not do otherwise. I love that you second-guess yourself if that doesn’t overwhelm you or dissuade you from following him. Humility, as I wrote about earlier, is a gift, especially when we recognize that we only see in part. I hope this book encourages people like you to follow their heart without the arrogance of thinking they have all the answers. There’s much I don’t see and don’t know, but I try to follow where he leads. 

At the same time, I don’t mind expressing what I see as honestly as I can and entrusting it to the reader to discern what is true. I know many will reject much of this book, but I am not trying to convince people who are locked into Christianity as a religion, but rather to encourage those who seek a more authentic faith in Jesus than what it can sustain.  

Jesus warned us that the broad road leads to destruction; only the narrow path leads to life. I can’t help it if few people want to follow it. Twelve men went into Canaan to spy out the land, but only two thought God big enough to give it to them. No one would face the giant Goliath, except David, the shepherd boy. Jesus miraculously fed five thousand people, who abandoned him the next day when he spoke words they didn’t understand. At the end of his ministry, Paul said that “all in Asia” had deserted him, including some of the New Testament’s key congregations. 

What it takes to embrace genuine life doesn’t seem to sustain crowds. Even Jesus wondered if he would still find faith on the earth when he returned (Luke 18:8). Resisting the darkness to keep our faith in him is challenging for any of us. It is not easy to deviate from the crowd and suffer the judgments of others. Because we mistakenly measure success in this kingdom by crowd size, book sales, or Internet followers, the temptation to distort the life of Jesus for popularity and money is ever-present, and the person succumbing to it can convince himself that God is leading them.  

Whenever the person of Jesus is displaced at the center of our faith so that we follow a program or agenda in his place, we are on a road to disaster. That’s why finding our affirmation in the acclaim of the masses won’t draw us more deeply into him. Following him in whatever he reveals to you is not a matter of thinking you’re better or wiser than others; it is simply being genuine with the light you see. That will serve you well in the days to come. 

 

Children of the Light

Paul warned us that the Day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night, taking many by surprise. “While people are saying, ‘Peace and security,’ destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” (I Thessalonians 5:1-3)

Those are ominous words and have been used to terrify many in Christianity’s relentless strategy to manipulate people’s fears. But Paul didn’t stop there: “But you are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness…. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.” (I Thess 5:4-5, 10-11)

“Live together with him” is such a beautiful phrase. That’s the theme of this book. We get to live with him no matter what comes, and he will take care of us. While we live in a time of great darkness, we don’t belong to it. We are children of the day. Our hope is firmly staked in a kingdom that embraces a reality far beyond this age. 

The kingdom doesn’t come by human strategy and cannot be fulfilled by our religious institutions. Jesus didn’t give his followers an organization to protect, but his Spirit to follow. Yet, on the day he ascended, they were still looking for him to take control of the world on Israel’s behalf. If not now, when? His answer invited them to look in a different direction. “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)

Those preoccupied with prophecies and dates are looking at the wrong horizon—where the sun sets, not where it rises. Children of the day have their eyes fixed on a different dimension where the kingdom of God thrives. Though it hasn’t yet come in its fullness, that is still their primary citizenship, and they are loyal to that kingdom above all else.

Instead of looking for political fulfillment, Jesus told them to wait! And wait they did, until the Spirit came upon them. They learned at the outset that God didn’t need them to bring the kingdom, but only respond when he does. What amazes me about the book of Acts is that nothing happened by their strategic planning or prayer meetings. Filled with the Spirit, they responded to what Jesus was doing around them. That’s what it means to live as children of the light. 

Peter and John weren’t looking to heal a lame beggar at the temple; the opportunity crossed their path, and they were ready to respond. Afterwards, they weren’t tempted to start a supernatural ministry school to train others to repeat what they had done as a new evangelism strategy.  

It wasn’t Peter’s idea to take the Gospel to Gentiles. God set up the circumstances through dreams and visions that Peter willingly followed, even beyond his prejudices. When the Spirit fell on them, Peter recognized that God had incorporated them into his kingdom. Then he had to come back and explain it to his fellow Jews, who were appalled at the story they heard. 

Paul’s journeys did not result from structured itineraries, but from his willingness to follow the Spirit along the way. Everything helped shape that journey, from avoiding persecution to dreams that changed his plans. He even found passage to Rome as a prisoner, falsely accused by the religious leaders in Jerusalem, who had hoped to murder him. 

Jesus wanted his followers to watch him work and respond rather than substitute their ingenuity and planning. They didn’t become champions of the political or religious world. They didn’t fit into either and were persecuted by both. They were lied about, stoned, imprisoned, and martyred, and yet the life of Jesus found a way through it all to reveal himself to the world. 

Children of the light are not perfect people, but sensitive followers of Jesus, with a trust in him stronger than their own perspective.

 

Succumbing to the Night

It isn’t easy to live as children of the light when everything about this world seeks to draw us back into the darkness. It can happen so subtly that we don’t even realize it, until we feel empty and lost. Jesus warned his followers that the end of days would be particularly challenging to keep our hearts embedded in the light. “At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and mislead many. Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:10-12) He added that the very elect would be deceived unless he cut the days short. 

Whenever we abandon love for any other agenda, we are easily deceived by power, just like the Pharisees. They had divided the world into those who were acceptable to God and those who weren’t. They were more concerned about law than life and found it easy to hate those who were not like them. That’s why they didn’t recognize God’s Son when he stood right before them. They got caught up manipulating the politics of the day instead of looking for a city whose builder is God. 

We already see false prophets leading God’s people astray, putting their hope in a political leader who advances their desires. Even though he is the moral opposite of Jesus Christ, those prophets have anointed him as the political savior of Christianity, and by doing so, their love for God and others has grown cold. Those who follow them are playing in the realm of human power and have lost sight of the day. 

They still give lip service to Jesus despite losing touch with his nature and love. They are so preoccupied with the quest for power to fulfill their ambitions or seven-mountain mandate, thinking the eternal kingdom can come by coercion, manipulation, and arrogance. And don’t think the same dynamics aren’t at work in the political left. This is not a contest between liberal and conservative, but between darkness and light. This is not about what policies you prefer, but the fear and anger that an elite class manipulates to gain power over a nation. 

The majority Christian view has almost always been on the wrong side of historical crossroads—from crusades and inquisitions to colonial conquest and slavery to racism and Apartheid, even to Hitler’s rise in Nazi Germany. Whenever Christianity aligned itself with the power of empire, it was seduced into tactics of the night, forsaking the priorities of God’s kingdom. There was a day when you could engage the democratic process without compromising participation in Jesus’s kingdom, but that’s nearly impossible today. The amount of money, lies, and anger that are part of our process on both sides negates the love of Christ. 

That’s why many feel they just don’t fit in anymore—not to the religious environment they grew up in or the political party they championed at a younger age. Over the last thirty years, Jesus has been calling his bride back to himself, raising up followers who can see through the illusion of Christianity as a human-built religion made up of doctrines and regulations that emptied the cross of its power. 

Sadly, some of those have gone on to try to recreate their own systems promising a more authentic experience and have been found wanting. But others have spent time in the wilderness of faith, looking for the truth and community that only Jesus can provide. That has taken many of them out of the institutions in which their faith was nurtured so that it could grow. They have been scorned and mocked, the quality of their faith questioned because they no longer conformed to the expectations of their family and friends. 

In the process, however, they have reconnected to Jesus as a real presence. Their faith sent roots deep into God’s character and nature. Trusting in his love for them, they know how Father’s love holds them in the storm and how his presence and wisdom can guide them through anything. They have become children of the day without the fear or anger that others can manipulate.

 

Simeon and Anna

Children of the day were like Simeon and Anna when Jesus first came—two elderly people who hoped they would see the Messiah before death. Sure enough, in the temple courts, they saw an infant barely a month old and recognized in him the salvation of Israel. They saw in that baby a reality that more educated minds couldn’t recognize in a thirty-something man who had been healing and teaching throughout Israel.  

They were tuned into a reality others could not see. Many in Israel were so focused on overthrowing Rome and claiming their country back that they missed him when he came with a greater redemption than political change could accomplish. They were not ready to embrace the infant at the temple, or the itinerant preacher who spoke wisdom they could not manipulate for their ends. 

In the last days, people like Simeon and Anna will wait patiently for a promise against all hope. They will see the signs leading to his return. They will see him standing at the door, ready to fulfill in his own humanity what God had in mind from the Creation of the world. The darkness of those days won’t overwhelm them because their eyes are fixed on a brighter light. 

The final chapter of redemption’s story is about to be written. This is a contest for the soul of the universe, pitting love and light against selfishness and darkness. Some live oblivious to this conflict, while others are discerningly aware. 

In preparation for those days, he is calling a people who will bear his glory in the world. They will be known for their love and for upholding God’s justice in treating others with graciousness and compassion.

 

Comfortable in Uncertainty

The greatest joy of finding security in the presence of Jesus is that people no longer seek it from worldly circumstances. Confident in his love and care, they realize he can guide them through anything. Their comfort is set to his presence, not their desired outcomes. 

Years ago, I began to meet people who were comfortable with uncertainty. I was intrigued because it seemed so foreign to me. My Type-A personality was more inclined to manipulate my circumstances, or more honestly, trying to enlist God to do so, for whatever I desired. It just so rarely worked because God was not invested in my agenda. Living that way was exhausting, borrowing anxiety from future events that never happened and for which there was no provision.

I was intrigued by those who could take each day as it came. They didn’t have a lot of resources in earthly terms, but didn’t seem to need them. They were confident that God would give them what they needed when the time came. They learned to hold their fears of the future in suspicion because they could rarely foresee accurately what was to come. Never panicking, never manipulating, and never fearful, they walk with a growing trust in the Father. 

Through crisis and tragedy, they had learned that God was faithful to provide for them each day whatever they needed.  Worrying about the future became unnecessary. They came to see that God’s grace, like his provision, is served up in daily doses. We can be so distracted by our imagined future that we miss how he wants to guide us today. 

These were the people I wanted to be near, for they were at peace in times of extremity, able to listen and respond to Jesus’s leading. Also, they reflected his character invitingly, being people of compassion, integrity, and gentleness. Being with them constantly refreshed me and made me long to learn how to trust God like they did.

All the while, Jesus kept inviting me to find fulfillment in his desires and purpose instead of mine. That also came through moments of extremity and frustration when he provided answers I would never have contemplated. My anxieties began to whither, and with them came the exhaustion of serving them. 

Children of the light are comfortable in uncertainty because their confidence is in the nature and character of Jesus, not their circumstances. How do you learn to live this way? It won’t come from a book; it will come from interacting with him through your anxieties, scheming, and struggles. As you learn how unhelpful it is to try to control the outcomes of your own life, you’ll discover a better life awaits. 

Slowly, a growing trust in Father’s love will push aside the need to have circumstances turn out the way you prefer. Instead of being frustrated about what he isn’t doing, you’ll watch him care for you through times of struggle and pain in ways you’d never have imagined. On the day you realize he knows best about everything in your life, you’ll find yourself comfortable in the uncertainties of life.

That will allow Jesus’s character to find a home in you. Without the anxieties of what may come, you’ll be more present in the moment with his compassion and kindness toward others. Then you’ll not only live in that light, but you will become the light for others to see the glory of God’s goodness. 

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

Chapter 19: Children of the Day  Read More »

When Systems Come Crashing Down

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Ian Campbell invited me to join him on his Insight Incorporated podcast, and the finished product dropped yesterday. It is called Love, Rest, and Play with God, but he also covered a wide range of topics and current events in my journey.

Here’s an excerpt from the podcast:

Our insecurities are like our fears; they will draw us into systems that promise to protect us in a false safety mechanism instead of finding our certainty in God. I don’t know what tomorrow holds. When people ask me what my plan is for this year, I don’t know yet. It’s going to be the same as this morning. I woke up to follow Jesus, and I’ll wake up tomorrow and follow him, and whether it’s through cancer or other difficulties going on, I’m going to live with God and trust that he has a way to navigate me through the things that happen.

So, I’m not a sitting duck for any system to be my God for me. The religious systems we created are very idolatrous in the sense that we teach people to put their trust in them, instead of finding our certainty in his love and care for us.  No matter what happens, he will be big enough to guide me through it and hold me up in it. That’s what we need because the days are growing darker, and there’s no telling where the next ten years will lead us.  Believers who have confidence in God will do just fine, but those who put their confidence in political or religious systems will be lost when those systems come crashing down.

This is a good time for us to find our security and certainty in him.

You can watch the video on YouTube:

Or listen to the audio on Apple Podcasts.

They are also offering a coupon for discounts on books ordered from Lifestream, if you’d like to take advantage of that.

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Wayne’s newest book is designed to help the bride of Christ find her confidence in him, regardless of what may come, especially if we live at the end of the age.  Order Part 1 of It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

When Systems Come Crashing Down Read More »

Chapter 18: Holding God’s Pain 

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Note: This is the eighteenth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. We have already released the first part of this book in print. You can also access the previous chapters here.  If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any of them, you can add your name here.

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As I have read the previous letters, I can’t help but wonder what God is thinking as he views the atrocities of human history. Is he angry at the wars we wage, or the power the wealthy hold over the poor? Can we even know what he feels?
— Ivanna, wife and mother who also operates a bakery in Ukraine

Ivanna, 

I’m so sorry for what has happened over the past three years in your country. The uncertainty, devastation, and bloodshed must weigh heavily on your heart. You are in my prayers.

Of course, we can’t speak definitively about what God thinks or feels. His ways are much higher than ours; his perspective is beyond our finite view. He does not see death as an end. However, we get glimpses of his thoughts because he makes himself known to his people. I sense things about him when I pray for people or events. They are momentary glimpses, to be sure, but there would be no communion if there were no exchange of heart and mind. 

Honestly, I don’t sense much anger in him, which is shocking for someone who grew up with terrifying stories about an angry God. When we’re victimized, anger rises quickly, and we want God to share it. But when Jesus lived among us, we didn’t see him angry or seeking vengeance. What we see is love, and in that love, sorrow and grief for what we suffer and for those who refuse him. He didn’t come to bring condemnation but forgiveness and salvation. Maybe we misunderstood those Old Testament stories after all. 

His redemption is not powered by anger but love, meriting our trust, not our fear. This may be most critical for last-day believers. I want to share with you a personal encounter that has profoundly impacted me, and the doors it has opened in deepening my walk with God, and having more compassion for those who are lost in the darkness is profound. But before I do, let me remind you of that moment Jesus sought to share his anguish with his closest friends. 

 

Watch with Me 

The night before he died on the cross, Jesus was “consumed with sorrow.” He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to sort things out with his Father and invited three of his disciples to share that intimate moment. His pain was immense, distressed enough that his sweat became like drops of blood. What did he hope to gain by having them there, or what would it give them? 

Perhaps it’s as simple as Jesus did not want to be alone, and their presence would comfort him? Could he also have wanted to show them something about his heart? We don’t really know because they slept through it, unable to watch with him even for an hour. 

He warned them to “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” They couldn’t stay awake long enough and fell into temptation that night, abandoning their friend in his hour of need. Surely, they didn’t realize what was going on that night, and perhaps their slumber was a way to dissociate from the disconcerting talk of his leaving them.  

The redemption of the world hung in the balance, and to accomplish it, Jesus had to choose to endure the most horrific torments of unjust humanity. He was distressed at the prospect and hoped there might be another way to redeem humanity. And yet, he settled it in his heart with, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Jesus did escape temptation that night, but I can’t help wondering what it would have been like for the disciples to share that moment with Jesus. Was sorrow and grief his alone to bear, or was there something for them to learn inside his suffering?

 

“Now You’re Ready to Hold My Pain”

Honestly, I would never have considered experiencing God’s pain except for an engagement I had with him over two years ago. I woke up early one morning for a medical appointment. As I got dressed, I felt deep sorrow and grief, which was strange since I hadn’t gone to bed that way. 

The previous three years had been brutal. My wife encountered a previously unknown childhood trauma, only to be told by her therapist that she must be married to an abusive husband. She left me when I was out of town, and it took us weeks to sort through the lies and find our way back to each other. Also, I had lost a meaningful, lifelong relationship when some in my extended family spread lies about me. 

Even though those situations had been mostly resolved by that morning, all the emotions were back. On my drive, I wanted to sort that out with God. I found myself praying, “Last year I lost every family relationship I valued to lies about me.” Tears streamed down my face as I relived it. And wanting to bring God into that pain, I added, “And you allowed it to happen.” As soon as I said it, I knew I was putting blame in the wrong place. 

So, I repeated my pain again, this time adding, “And you watched it happen.”  That was true enough, but again, not fair to him. He hadn’t watched as some dispassionate observer.

One last time I prayed, “Last year I lost every family relationship I valued to lies about me, and you were with me in it.” There it was! He had been with me through it all to bring healing where he could and guide me where others weren’t open to it. Into my pain seeped his love and even joy that I had not been alone. 

After reveling in the sanctity of that reality, a strange thought ran through my head. Now you are ready to hold some of my pain. It seemed like God whispering to me, but I had no idea what it meant. What pain did he have, and why did he want me to hold it? Then, a second thought explained the first. I lost every relationship I value to lies about me. 

It took a moment for that to sink in. From the serpent’s lie in Eden, down through history to those who reject him today because they don’t know who he is, God has been the victim of the worst lies. Thinking of what God has suffered by human unfaithfulness, I began to weep again, overwhelmed with a sorrow greater than my own. I know I only got a small taste of his pain that morning, but I find him inviting me there often.  

 

The Fellowship of His Suffering

When Paul referred to the fellowship of his suffering in Philippians 3, I have always taken it to mean that Jesus comforts us inside our pain. He understands what we go through because he has experienced more pain than we ever could. Shared suffering lets us know him at a depth we would miss otherwise.

However, I never noted that it’s his suffering we fellowship in, not just our own. I skipped over that part since his pain was already past. What would he suffer now? My conception of God is that he exists in victory and dwells in peace and beauty. We hope to join him there someday. If the state of the world pained him, wouldn’t he just fix it?

Since that morning, I’ve learned that the world’s brokenness touches the Godhead deeply. Jesus didn’t just suffer during his week of passion. It wasn’t just Gethsemane, his trial, or the cross, but also at Lazarus’ tomb for the grief of his friends. Earlier, he had looked at the crowds with compassion and saw many who were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” The writer of Hebrews told us he often offered loud cries and tears to God. (Hebrews 5:7) 

As our empathetic high priest, he holds humanity with intense love even as many reject him. How could he not suffer, not just then but now? This broken creation offers up constant tragedy, war, abuse, oppression, disease, and lies that devastate people he loves. Wouldn’t that touch God more deeply than it touches us?

My greatest tears have been shed not for myself but for the pain or loss of people I love. What is worse, our own suffering or that of our children? That morning, I discovered the agony inside of God for the lostness of his Creation. It was not pain for his loss but for ours. He holds us in his heart, quite aware of our suffering, and it powers his desire to bring redemption in the most devastating circumstances. I have come to view the world through that lens. 

 

Holding God’s Pain 

In Chapter 11, I wrote about how learning to gaze with God changed my prayer life. I no longer found myself trying to convince him to do what I wanted, but to help me see the events in my life and the world through his eyes. Knowing a small measure of his loss in the broken creation has brought me closer to him. As I gaze with God at world events, I find greater freedom from my self-preoccupation, which allows me to find a deeper place in his heart. 

How do I hold pain with God? I sit with him, gazing at the circumstance that concerns me, contemplating it from his perspective. I wait until I have a sense what he feels in that. Sometimes, it takes days or weeks, as I wait for him to show me.

As I get a glimpse of that, I reflect on the emotion or insight he brings. It has shaped my prayers in interesting ways. I don’t try to fix his pain or offer my ideas for a way out. I hold my heart alongside his and see what comes. I reflect on his power and wisdom as I remind myself that everything is in his hands. That helps me look beyond the pain to hear the refrain of his love seeping through. He is not alarmed or disturbed because his plan is unfolding. He’s the Redeemer in this story and will prevail overall.

This may not be for everyone. Indeed, don’t start here. Until you’ve tasted deeply of his love for you in your own anguish and learned to trust him, trying to imagine God’s pain will only draw you into despair. Let him share your pain before you look to share his. He’ll invite you in when you are ready, but I suspect I’m not the only one who has tasted this. 

I find it curious that Jesus didn’t need a lot of people to do this. He only asked three of his disciples. I wish at least one of them had stayed with him through it. It’s a tender moment to be in fellowship with his suffering and to know his heart for lost people. Sharing that is a deep place of intimacy. I am intrigued and excited at what might lie down this road for me and others who feel a similar call. 

 

How It Has Changed Me

Why would he want any of us to watch with him in this season of redemptive history? 

I’m honestly not sure what it does for him. It may simply be what friendship does; it holds each other’s pain as well as their joy. The pain I felt when my wife was gone is my teacher here. What I felt for her then and now puts me in touch with what God feels for the brokenness in his creation. It has changed me in a variety of ways. 

First, I see world events differently. A few decades ago, my world was conveniently divided into a home team and an away team. God loves those who acknowledge him. I could pray with passion for God to alleviate their suffering. God hates the away team, and we can pray down his vengeance on them, which gave me false comfort in my anger and helplessness. Dividing the world that way made it simpler to route my grief and fear in times of tragedy. 

I just don’t believe any of it anymore. Love taught me how misguided I was. God’s heart breaks for the whole of humanity, for those who know him and those who don’t. Today, he holds the same grief for the Palestinian mom mourning her child as he does for the Jewish mom grieving hers. That doesn’t discount the horrible evil people bring into the world, but it does change the way I pray both for victims and victimizers. I’ve been invited to a different kingdom where love defines our responses, not vengeance or righteous indignation. Just how did we think Jesus would tell us to love our enemies and think God gets to hate his?

Second, I don’t want to add any more pain to the planet. I am more mindful in my engagements with people to treat them fairly, lovingly, and honor my relationship with them. I also want to live generously toward those in pain to help relieve my Father’s anguish on their behalf.

Third, I’ve discovered how these moments with him expose the deeper places in my heart. Solomon said, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:3) We all crave times of joy, but it is sorrow and grief that allow us to drill down to the deepest places where we discover what is most important. 

Fourth, I read Scripture differently, seeing an anguished Godhead rather than an angry one. While we may want to lash out and blame others for our suffering, Jesus is not inclined to do so. As I read the Old Testament prophets now, I see anguish for the wayward, not anger. This is the power of the laments. It is not just our pain being held there but his too. And at the same time, we see his capacity to spread redemption in the world amid human suffering.  

Fifth, it has changed my heart for the lost. Now, loving my enemies becomes possible because I see them as those convulsing in pain for living outside of God’s reality. Truly, they do not know what they do to others as they compensate for their loneliness and believe the lies of darkness. 

 

Ecstasy and Agony 

Ivanna, lest you think holding some of God’s pain leads to a despairing life, I assure you it does not. Remember, God not only grieves for humanity, but he is also the most joyful presence in the universe. Jesus said he wanted his joy to be in us so our joy could be complete. 

Because of him, I now know that agony and ecstasy can co-exist in the same space. I once thought they were mutually exclusive. Times of pain overwhelmed everything else and drove out my joy until they ended. Now, I can hold my pain before him and at the same time look for his joy to be there as well. I have learned that from watching him. As much as he feels the brokenness of humanity, he also delights in the redemption he brings to it. 

One friend said, “It seems he wants us to hold in our hearts the agony of the world and the victory of the cross simultaneously.” I love that. That may not make much sense until you experience it, but once you do, you can find contentment in whatever situation you are in.  

Jesus’s friends couldn’t hold his pain on the eve of his crucifixion, but we can today.  Over the past two years, it has transformed my thinking—how I view others and how to find the redemption story in the unfolding realities of our ever-darkening world. It saves me from giving in to anger and vengeance and finding a place for love to thrive in my prayers and heart.

As the earth moves relentlessly towards its inevitable conclusion in Christ, we can partner with him by holding his pain and praying to advance his purpose in current events. If I don’t see what he sees, I’m only left to offer up fruitless requests for my comfort or agenda in the gathering darkness. 

The people who will be most helpful at the end of days are those who know both his agony and his ecstasy.

 

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

Chapter 18: Holding God’s Pain  Read More »

When God Is Silent

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I probably get the question in various forms two or three times per month. “Why is God silent?”

I understand, having had that same question in my younger years. I cried out in excruciating pain to hear anything from God and felt like I was all alone in the universe. Why is he sometimes silent, especially when we’re most desperate to hear him? Even the Psalmist complains about how long God will hold his silence.

All that angst, however, is sorely misplaced. Just because we can’t hear him doesn’t mean he is silent, and if you think he is, that will become self-fulfilling. Over the last few decades of learning to live loved, I have concluded that he is never quiet, and Jesus seemed to say the same thing when he said his Father is always working (John 5:17).

When he seems silent, it’s because our perception is off. He’s speaking; it’s just that we’re not tuned to the frequency he’s using. Something about how we view our circumstances is making it difficult for us to recognize him.

Last week, I was conversing with a friend. We were talking about the mob mentality that can form among a group of Christians when they give themselves to an agenda to change the world that doesn’t include his love. “I have been on the road they are on. And I have met that god and it bears no resemblance to Jesus.”

Having received an email yesterday about God’s silence, I saw a connection with my friend’s words. If we look for the voice of the religious god in our crisis, that god will be silent. That’s a good thing; he would come with blame and condemnation. When we look for the fairy godmother to fix all our frustrations, that god will be silent because she doesn’t exist. Instead of believing the true God is silent, re-tune your heart to him.

How do you do that? Remember how much you are loved, and let your heart go to him. In his love, surrender to whatever God might have in mind for you. Trying to force God to give you your desired outcome or to meet your expectations will limit your ability to hear him. Find that place of rest and trust where you can seek him with an open heart. And if you’re having trouble finding that place, invite a loving and wise friend alongside. Getting a perspective outside of your emotions can make all the difference.

When you find that place of trusting surrender, you’ll be able to hear what he’s been saying to you all along.

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Kicking Self-Righteousness out of the Park

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I was invited back to appear on a podcast in the UK entitled Off-Grid Christianity. Host Martin Purnell explores Christianity beyond the typical Sunday morning institutions. He has a probing mind and drills down into the last two years of my journey since I was first on his podcast in 2023.

Here’s their blurb about this episode:

Wayne is a returning guest from episode 30, which was released two years ago and my last question to him was where he thought he would be going in the next couple of years? What will Wayne say about his wife Sarah’s terrible trauma that was shared in episode 30? What health issues has he had to deal with? What does ‘I surrender all’ mean to Wayne? Why has the word Righteousness been used in most English translated bibles when others use a different word? What is Just and Justice? What about the only commandment that Jesus gave us? If you thought Episode 30 was challenging and yet absorbing, wait till you hear this brand new episode. Wayne doesn’t pull any punches but again shares in love.

You can listen to it here. 

When Martin sent me the link for the current podcast, he mentioned that he’d already shared the podcast with a friend of his before it was posted. His friend responded this way:

Wayne’s world is a great place to be. Excellent podcast. Lots to think about. Really interesting about justice/righteousness and his views on sin and surrendering all. So realistic and kicks all the self-righteous stuff out of the park.

I’m glad that’s what he got out of it.  I wasn’t intending to kick self-righteousness anywhere, though I know it can be a real problem. To follow our theme about righteousness and justice, however, it’s interesting to note there is no such thing as self-justice because self-justice is no justice at all, and I suspect that’s also true of righteousness.

 

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If you don’t have your copy of Wayne’s newest book, you can order it from Amazon on Kindle or in paperback. The ebook is only $4.99, and the paperback is $7.99. It is called It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age.  You can find out more here.

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Chapter 17: Embracing God in Your Pain

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Note: This is the seventeenth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. We have already released the first part of this book in print. Or you can access the previous chapters here.  If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any, you can add your name here.

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To be an evangelical in rural France is to be a minority of minorities. Even my family has ostracized me. You talk about God using our troubles to transform us, but I don’t see how he does that. I’ve spent my entire life avoiding pain, asking God to end it when it comes, and being angry when he doesn’t. How can I come to appreciate God at work in my suffering?

—Jean-Paul, a young father living in the Loire Valley in France

Dear Jean-Paul,

You ask a critically important question. It has taken most of my life to discover how to embrace God in my suffering. Like many, I grew up with the silly notion that God would protect me from pain. I could quote Scriptures that seemed to suggest it, except for persecution, of course. And, since I live in America, that isn’t supposed to happen.

So, whenever I felt in pain, I would ask God to take it away. Rarely did he, which led me to doubt his love, the quality of my faith, or whether the Bible was true. Even the culture was enamored with the question of suffering. How could a loving God create a world with so much pain?

He didn’t, of course. The suffering in our world does not come from him but from the chaos of a creation out of sync with its Creator and the weakness of humanity with arrogance, greed, and selfishness. Calamities happen, people will take advantage of you; sickness, disease, and injury are a constant threat, and daily needs can overrun you. Looking back, I am amazed at how I missed all the Scriptures about how God works in incredible ways through suffering and that those who walk by faith will often find more trouble because they’re walking against the ways of the world.

So why didn’t I hear more teachings on how to suffer graciously or find what God is doing through it? It seems we would rather hope for a quick miracle and deal with the frustration of it not happening than embrace suffering. Some of the most painful conversations I have are with people who genuinely believe that if God loved them, he would ensure that nothing bad could happen to them that he wouldn’t immediately fix.

So, thanks for your question, Jean-Paul. Let me take a stab at helping you transit pain in a way that brings God’s goodness out of it. Finding God’s love at the extremity of human suffering is a sacred gift. Here are the thoughts that help me when troubles come.

 

Invite God Along

I know that seems simple, but it’s easy to push God out of our suffering and try to handle it with our own strength. We do that in several ways. The most common is to blame him. Whether you think he orchestrated or just allowed it won’t matter. How do you run to someone for aid and comfort when you think they’re the source of your pain? He certainly isn’t, but many think he is. However, he can walk us through it, even utilizing it to do a deep work within. 

Another way we push him aside is to try to ignore our pain. Denial and overcompensating with coping mechanisms will crowd him out as well. Embrace the pain you’re in and invite him into it. This is where the children of the New Creation can shine brightest. When you find redemption in the difficulties of this world and demonstrate what it is to be his beloved child through it, the world is yours.

Finally, we push him away by only thinking that our circumstances will be resolved through healing or miraculous provision. Many people mistakenly set their perception of God’s love based on how he answers their prayers or resolves their circumstances.

That’s not to say we won’t rant and question him when we are surprised by pain but don’t expect many answers there. When we treat God as our adversary, hearing him say, “I’m sorry you’re going through this,” is nearly impossible. And knowing he’s empathetic to our struggle allows us to lean into his care and listen to his heart. So, hopefully, when trouble hits, we can find a way to settle into his love and invite him inside our pain. The fellowship of suffering is deep and intimate.

Embracing God at moments of extremity always involves surrender, laying down my fears and accusations, and being determined to find out how he loves me through this. Whether it is a marriage breaking up, grief, cancer diagnosis, betrayal of a friend or family, or needs bigger than my resources, I find a place of surrender to him. “If possible, take this cup from me, but if not, I choose to trust you through it” is where I best recognize him.

It allows my heart to stay open to a miracle should he desire it but, at the same time, honor the pain that has entered my life. When God is no longer your adversary or even the reluctant Father who won’t give you what you want, you’ll realize that no matter how dark things get, he is working for you. From his experience, Jesus knows the pain that life can deal out and how it is to find his Father in it. When you do that, you’ll begin to see his way through it and the fruit he is developing in you.

He can show you if you suffer from reaping something you have sown. If you suffer because of your arrogance, indulgence, and selfishness, he will still be with you, leading you to repentance, humility, and further freedom. However, undeserved suffering opens doors into the depths of God’s heart. That’s why Peter warned the early Christians to take care to ensure they don’t deserve what they suffer. Hardship caused by the sin or injustice of others opens a greater pathway to God’s heart.

 

Embrace Hardship as Discipline 

One of the things that helps me face suffering comes from Hebrews. “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children.” (Hebrews 12:7) If you think of that as chastisement, you’ll miss the point entirely. He’s not referring to an angry father punishing you because of his disappointment; this is a loving Father who uses the brokenness of this world to teach us the discipline of his ways.

Every trouble we encounter is a training ground to deepen our walk with him. God recycles everything, even the injustice of others, as a tool to draw us more deeply into his way of thinking. What you go through today prepares you for what may yet come down the road. We always hope our current moment of suffering is our last, but life in a broken world will continue to throw difficulties at you, and all the more as we come to the end of the age.

Those of us raised in more comfortable circumstances usually have a real aversion to pain. We’ll do anything to avoid it. And our only approach when it comes, is to seek immediate relief, even trying to enlist God’s help to do that. None of this prepares us to manage our pain redemptively.

Paul had a different approach. Listen to how he negotiated the horrible things that befell him: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Cor 4:8-10) Paul drew a fantastic distinction between what could happen to him and what Jesus could do with it on the inside. 

Hardship offers us a doorway to transformation as well as a doorway to anger and bitterness. If we can embrace whatever suffering comes our way and, more significantly, embrace God inside of it, we’ll find the door to life. The writer of Hebrews adds this, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of justice and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)

A friend from South Africa and I recently discussed how love cannot be learned as a technique without being experienced. He added, “But we can learn how to lean deeper into love, accept suffering as the training ground to diminish the ego, and so learn how to let love flow out even to those who hate us and those who spitefully use us.”

That is a powerful way to live. None of us like to have our ego diminished, but that is how we learn to love in this world. Even Jesus learned obedience amid loud cries and tears through the things that he suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8) How important would it be for us to learn the same way? Don’t waste your pain; let it change you, leaving you more surrendered to the God who loves you more than anyone else ever has or ever will.

If you want his glory to be revealed in you, learn to embrace hardship rather than run from it. “Rejoice; inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12–13)

 

Ask Answerable Questions 

The first question we are prone to ask in times of trouble is, “Why?” Why me? Why didn’t God protect me from this? I have discovered that ‘why’ questions almost always lead down a darker road of grief and doubt. In my experience, they are usually impossible to answer because our finite perspective is too limited for a satisfyingly logical answer.

I used to challenge God with those questions before I learned to live in his love. “Why are you doing this to me?” “Why won’t you give me a miracle to take it away?” I have even prayed vengeance on those who have caused my anguish and, by doing so, lost sight of love. Thus, for all my whining, I never got a helpful answer.

I discovered a few years ago that I had stopped asking such questions without realizing it. Two decades ago, I was talking to a friend who wanted me to explain why God allowed his wife to leave him. It was then I recognized how long it had been since I raised that kind of question with God, and it felt awkward. That’s when I realized my questions had changed from why to where or how. “Where are you in this pain?” “How are you making your love available to me here?”  “How do you want me to navigate this trial?”

Answers to those questions seep into my heart over time. I switched to those questions because they were more answerable. They allowed me to grasp his love and wisdom rather than seeking some contrived justification unbefitting his character.

 

Stay Inside the Day

We add to our suffering whenever we get too far ahead of ourselves. Pain is best managed one day at a time. Rather than worrying about how long it will last, it is far better to ask, “Do I have what I need to get through today?” That’s all we are promised. Grace is meted out in daily portions. Jesus explicitly warned us not to worry about tomorrow, for today has enough challenges of its own. (Matthew 6:34)

When I was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra and the cancer that caused it, I was shocked. I had no idea this was coming. As my doctors charted out my next few months, including back surgery and a lifetime of chemotherapy, it was too overwhelming to consider. I intentionally decided to take on this challenge one day at a time. What do I need to get through this day?

Did I pray to be healed?  Who wouldn’t if you believe he does such things?  But I did not put all my hope in a miracle I couldn’t guarantee. So, I would talk to Jesus about healing, but I would look for his leading to walk through each day of this. I certainly was not going to try and earn it.

That meant I would do whatever I saw to do each day. Sara and I made decisions about our medical options, and when that became back surgery, I did what I could each day to manage the pain and keep looking to him. I left my questions in trust with Jesus, and I knew he would answer them when I needed them.

Also, staying inside the day allowed me to look for his presence, joy, and beauty each day. If I wait for joy until a miracle, medicine, or endurance has its work, I’ll be worn out with sorrow. Each day, find something that brightens your heart by getting out into nature or gazing at it through your window or video. Listen to music that calms you. Talk to people who inspire you.

 

Don’t Go It Alone 

None of us were meant to bear our struggles alone. Invite your community along for the ride as a source of encouragement and wisdom. This is not posting your need on Facebook or submitting a prayer request to the congregation’s website or bulletin. Invite three or four people to walk through the crisis with you.

Ideally, these relationships are already close. You have offered them the same presence during their struggles that you now ask of them. You know they will talk to Jesus about you and allow him to put Scriptures or other encouragements on their heart. Hopefully, you will check in with each other every few days.

With my recent cancer diagnosis, I had three friends located in three different countries who I knew were suffering from this same disease. Their empathy and information were a calming influence as my own journey unfolded.

Protracted suffering or a chronic condition can provide a unique challenge here. Ensure you are not just using your friends as targets of grumbling or complaining. You can be honest about that too but don’t stay there. People who want to be alongside you will be exhausted by hopeless complaints or only praying for a miracle that is not coming. You are looking for a conversation about how God navigates your heart through it, so there is hope and encouragement. That may not be an easy road to find, but community will make it far easier than going it alone.

 

Look for Ways to Be Redemptive

Just because you are in need doesn’t mean you have to focus all your attention on yourself. Pain is easier to negotiate when you can find ways to bless others.

Every day, I’m reminded how much Sara discovering her trauma has reshaped the trajectory of both of our lives into such an incredibly beautiful space. It has been excruciatingly painful, but I love the fresh air here, clearer perspective, and greater trust in Jesus through uncertainty. And her ability to encourage others in similar struggles helps her navigate her own.

When I see how holding my pain encourages others to navigate their own, my heart rejoices, and my endurance is enhanced. As you discover his goodness during dark days, look for ways to share it with others. Here’s where suffering does its most beautiful work. When we are less focused on ourselves, the load becomes easier to bear. And having traversed deep waters, you’ll be able to stand with those who face them as well.

When you suffer injustice from others, you’ll never want to do it to anyone else. When you are lied about or betrayed by someone you love and don’t grow bitter, you’ll never want to do it to anyone else. When you’ve suffered heartbreak, disease, or grief, you’ll have more empathy to offer others and wisdom as well.

 

Don’t Forget the Glory to Come

In the verse preceding Paul’s statement about the Creation longing for the children of God to be revealed, which is the theme verse of this book, he wrote,  “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

Suffering in Christ always gives way to glory. That’s why it’s worth it, Jean-Paul, to embrace Jesus in our pain and suffering. Not only can he get you through it, but he will leave you a better person in its wake. While we can often see how that bears fruit in this life, we don’t yet know how that will reveal his glory in the ages to come.

But I suspect it most certainly will.

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback.

Chapter 17: Embracing God in Your Pain Read More »

What Others Are Saying about It’s Time

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I hope this means my new book hasn’t gone to the dogs already. People have been sending pictures as well as comments, so if you haven’t ordered a copy yet here’s what others are saying about my new book, It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age.

“Thank you for your latest book, It’s Time. I can’t think of anyone else I would choose to write such a book! I will be sharing it liberally and recommending it wholeheartedly.” Tom in Texas

“Every chapter has brought comfort and encouragement to my heart!”  Mary in Missouri

“Your new book is so perfectly apropos for this moment. I am reading it slowly, meditatively, and prayerfully.”  Mark in Oregon

“My wife rarely reads any Christian literature, but as soon as your book arrived, she picked it up and expressed how happy she was to read it after reading the first few pages.  I am savouring each chapter, and it is an excellent read. It is so refreshing to read something that doesn’t try to line up all the dates and prophetic ducks.” Len in Canada

“I want you to know how much I am enjoying it and how my spirit is resonating with your words. They paint such a beautiful picture of Jesus’ love for his bride and his purposes at the end of the age.  Thank you for publishing this book.” Kim on Instagram

Thanks to those who have already written to me about this book. I appreciate your thoughts. If you don’t have your copy, you can order it from Amazon on Kindle or in paperback. The ebook is only $4.99, and the paperback is $7.99.

What Others Are Saying about It’s Time Read More »

It’s Time Part 1 Is Now Available in Book Form

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Tomorrow is the official release date for my newest book, but it is already available on Kindle  or in print from Amazon. We are still in the process of getting it released by other e-book providers.

This book is close to my heart and timely enough to publish the first part while I’m still working on the second part. For Kindle purchasers, Part 2 will automatically download into your e-reader when I complete it and we add it. Sorry, but we cannot do this with the print version.

Here’s the back cover copy if you’re not familiar with this book from my blogs about it:

What if we’re currently living within a decade of Jesus’s return?

Followers of Jesus have awaited that day since Jesus ascended into the clouds forty days after his Resurrection. Having offered his salvation, he promised to return to redeem the Creation itself.

Whether he comes in the next 10 years or 150 years, there will be a generation of Christ followers tasked with bearing witness to his light through the perilous times that precede his coming. They will need

  • A love stronger than their self-interest.
  • A light greater than the lies of darkness.
  • A resilient faith that is only strengthened in adverse circumstances and
  • Undeniable hope in a future of God’s choosing rather than the pursuit of individual plans.

And if that will serve us well in those days, wouldn’t it be worth living that way today?

This book is a bit out of the ordinary for me, but I am writing it with the sense that God wanted me to share this. It truly is time for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed on the earth. Paul said that creation yearns for it, and so do I. The book is 126 pages long, and I hope it will invite people to consider their lives and journey in light of his return, whenever that might be.

Order the Print version ($7.99)

Order the Kindle version ($4.99)

And if you’ve already been reading the chapters on my blog and want to offer a review at Amazon, that is always helpful to others finding it.

It’s Time Part 1 Is Now Available in Book Form Read More »

Chapter 13: Riding the Wind

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Note: This is the thirteenth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. Once complete, I’ll combine them into a book. You can access the previous chapters here.  If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any, you can add your name here.

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My life is a disaster. If it’s not car repair bills, it’s sick children or someone gossiping about me at work. Why does life have to be so difficult, especially since my husband passed away? I try to get God to fix things, so my life is smoother, but fail at it. What am I doing wrong?

Charmaine, 32-year-old accountant and single mom in Atlanta, GA

Dear Charmaine,

I’m so sorry your life feels so complicated; you are a single mom doing extraordinary things with your two delightful children. I’m sure you miss their dad every day. Sometimes life is like whack-a-mole, one thing after another. Honestly, however, feeling in control isn’t always the blessing it promises to be.

The most control I’ve ever had was walking onto a football field under the Friday night lights as the head official of a high school football game. That was one of the ways I paid for my university expenses. For the next two and half hours, my word was law. Every decision I made would be final as two teams battled each other. The coaches could yell all they wanted, but all the power was mine, and I loved it. 

When you’re young, everyone else makes decisions for you—parents, teachers, coaches, employers, and older people. Part of the maturing process is to take increasing control over your own choices. In adulthood, depending on whether you’re an entrepreneur or an employee, a homeowner or a renter, chairperson or committee member, people seek out as much power as they can muster. Most divorces are not caused by disagreements over finances, sexual frequency, or other “irreconcilable differences”, but control. Who gets to make the decisions? 

If growing to adulthood is about gaining control, I’ve learned that growing through adulthood is about letting go of the power you’ve gained for a greater good. Better opportunities present themselves when we are not manipulating others or trying to control every circumstance. A maturing marriage will learn to share power so that neither feels like the victim of the other.

So, Charmaine, you’re not doing anything wrong. Life in a broken world will confront us with a host of challenges. Riding the wind of the Spirit is not only about discerning his voice but also about surrendering to our circumstances, knowing he’s at work in them, too. To stay in control, you have to grip tightly and always be on guard; to flow with your circumstances only takes a submissive heart and a listening ear. 

The calamities that befall us now can help shape us to live at the end of the age when our challenges will be beyond us all. You won’t be able to insure, buy, or pray your way out of them. We are already seeing major catastrophes that destroy lives and cost billions to pay for recovery. The things that need to happen to bring redemption’s story to its conclusion are not the things we would choose for ourselves. The only question is how will we live in light of them.

 

Power Isn’t All It’s Cracked up to Be

Those who have learned to give up control and entrust themselves to God’s care and keeping will be able to thrive in the difficult days to come.  

In Revelation, John saw an innumerable multitude in white robes coming out of the tribulation, and one of the elders told him, “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  (Revelation 7:17)

Out of much suffering and struggle through the darkest pages of human history, they will arrive in the final Kingdom provided for and comforted, never to suffer again. To survive those days, they will need resilient trust in God that can take them through the darkest of circumstances, still leaning into his care and voice, especially when it disappoints their most ardent expectations.

Those who do will have to let go of the need to control their circumstances and rely on the guidance of Jesus through their fears. We dare not be like the three-year-old toddler who cries when he doesn’t get what he wants instead of learning the ways of his parents, which would be for his own good. Besides, the people who fight for control are rarely pleasant people to be around. They are like that three-year-old, serving their own needs at the expense of everyone else around them and fraught with frustration and anger. 

In my younger days, when I still fought for control, I mistakenly believed prayer was the ultimate weapon for gaining it. You can’t do better than enlisting God’s power to get what we think we need or thwart anyone trying to derail you. I would quote Bible verses about God’s ability to do anything and pray endlessly for what I wanted. It doesn’t take long to realize that prayer is not for meeting our control needs when our unanswered requests start piling up.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4) David knew that God rarely wants to do away with the valley but to walk with us through it. The time and energy we waste attempting to use prayer to leverage control of our lives is astounding. I’ve known people to pray in mortuary freezers for multiple weeks, just certain God is going to raise their loved one from the dead. Can God do such things?  Of course he can, but our attempts to get him to do it at our whim will waste time and energy that would be better put toward learning to lay down our lives in love. 

We live in the chaos of an ever-darkening world, and calamity falls on the just and the unjust. We cannot wish it away or even pray it away, but we can come to rest in our circumstances as we ask Jesus to help us navigate them. 

 

The Great Illusion

I found it much easier to give up control when I realized it was only an illusion, and what drove me to seek control was my lack of trust in my Father’s work. No matter what dangers you can mitigate by whatever power you gain, you can’t get them all. Who would have thought four months ago that I would need back surgery and, barring healing, have to navigate cancer for the rest of my life? 

As powerful as I felt walking onto that football field, I was still at the mercy of the weather and the cooperation of the players and coaches. In recent weeks, there have been many people in Los Angeles whose futures have been decimated by the wind and wildfires that destroyed their homes and neighborhoods. No amount of planning or power could stop what had happened. Yes, you can manipulate some circumstances and people, but not all of them, and trying to do so is not how we follow Jesus.

The desire for control is mainly driven by fear, fear we’re not enough, fear that we’ll have to suffer, and fear that God won’t take care of us. If fear is the opposite of love, as I said in the last chapter, then we would instead go where love leads us and not where fear does. You cannot love someone you are trying to control, even if you convince yourself you’re only looking for their best interests. 

It isn’t easy to give up our fears, but that is where love can help us most. Whatever I fear, I need only ask, “What is it about your love, Father, that I don’t understand, and if I did, I would not be afraid. Ultimately, giving up control, or our illusion of control, is about finding freedom from our fears inside his love. 

Without giving Sara all the power over the future of our marriage when her trauma exploded, I would not be inside her healing today. Or, If I had tried to take back my position with the institutional power I had when my co-pastor betrayed me, many people would have gotten hurt, and I wouldn’t have come to know the truth about God’s love that I know today. That’s why community is rare in religious settings because people often fight over power instead of loving each other.   

But let me be extra careful with those of you who have significant, unresolved trauma in your past. You’ll know because you’re afraid of every potential threat. Your amygdala lights up and triggers responses to try to take back control of the situation, even when there is no need to. Asking people like that to give up control is like asking a bird not to sing. You’ll never be able to give up control until you first let Jesus process your trauma with you. Until Jesus disarms the fears that drive your need to control others, you won’t be able to let go of the control you think you need.  

 

Jesus’s Passion

The best example of someone giving up control is Jesus himself. That might have been what his gut-wrenching prayers did in Gethsemane that night. He had to let go of his desire to control the situation coming at him and be at rest enough to follow God’s heart through his anguish for the next day. Remember, Jesus had the power to stop it all at any point. 

Giving up the desire to control what we can has to begin with the same kind of honest, raw, and submissive prayer Jesus offered in the Garden. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) He was honest about his reluctance to follow God through all the suffering that lay ahead for him, though he was never deterred from the result. He wanted to find another way to our redemption, but in the end surrendered to the way it had to be. 

That’s the reason Jesus told us to deny ourselves. He wasn’t encouraging an ascetic lifestyle of self-denial but warning us that if our foremost desire is to have what we want we’ll get caught up in the mistaken notion that our business is the Father’s business. When we are no longer resisting our circumstances, it is easier to discern God’s will in them. 

That night Jesus gave himself over to the disciple who would betray him to the others, who would flee from him to the religious leaders, who would lie about him to Pilate, who would make him a pawn in his political games, and to the soldiers who would beat him and then execute him. Choosing not to resist any of it, he found a Father big enough to hold him through it. 

There’s something strangely liberating about not having to resist the painful circumstances that befall us. Trying to change our circumstances when God is at work in them will frustrate us with questions about how hard or how often we need to pray. Letting God walk you through dark circumstances allows all of his goodness to be in play, and when it serves him to change them, he can let us know.  

Sometimes the greatest act of love is to stop fighting, surrender to your circumstance, and see what God wants to do. Persevering in prayer is something Scripture encourages us to do, but not when our desires conflict with his. The time and energy we waste trying to change our circumstances when he is not in it would be better used to grow our trust.

 

Navigating Without Control 

In learning to give up control, I have found these ideas helpful. Perhaps they will be so for you as well.  

1.  Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Jesus could have called a legion of angels to avoid going to the cross. Imagine if he had! When we live by control, we always do what we can to get our way and miss so much that God wants to do in the things we resist. This is where we need to be led by his Spirit rather than by our fears and doubts.

2.   Just because God can doesn’t mean he will. Prayer needs to focus on God’s activity far more than our desires. Jesus only did the things he saw his Father doing.

3.  Don’t make it about yourself. Self-centric thinking is a death-knell to being available to the work of the Spirit. My friend Luis had a dream one night with Jesus and him talking on a park bench. Jesus asked him if he knew why Jonah did what he did. Thinking for a moment, Luis responded that his fear of the Assyrians listening to him and repenting was more than he could bear. He wanted them destroyed, so he ran. 

Then Luis realized he was talking to Jesus, so he asked why Jonah did what he did. What Jesus said next in the dream is the best commentary I’ve ever heard on the book of Jonah, and it is in five words: “He made it about himself.”

Just hearing those words gives me chills. How often have I made it about myself and shaped my prayers and efforts around that? Luis and I stood at a wedding not long after watching the family drama around who would do what at the wedding. Tempers were flaring, and tension was rising. We just sat back and watched. They were making it about themselves when the bride and groom were all that mattered. 

4.  How can I not make it about myself?  Follow what love brings, not fear. It’s hard, I know. Love whispers to us; fear has a megaphone and blasts its agenda in both ears. Quiet yourself in his love and follow that.   

5.  Ask yourself, what is God saying/doing in this? Is there a higher redemptive purpose here than my comfort or getting my way?  My rule of thumb is this: when I don’t know, I surrender to my circumstances, looking for God to give me the wisdom and courage to face them. In other words, he doesn’t have to show me my need to submit to them because that’s my default. If he wants to change them, he can show me that, too.

6. If you’ve resisted some circumstances through effort or prayer, and they persist, then you know God is using them. When I was first diagnosed with cancer, Jesus and I spoke about it often. I’d love for him to heal it without medicine, but despite my prayers and those of hundreds of others, it hasn’t happened. So, I stopped trying to get God to heal me and asked him how he wanted me to walk through the difficult process doctors are using to put it in remission. I use my strength there rather than constantly second-guessing how I should pray.  

Letting go of the need to control is not to become a victim of circumstance. It’s quite the opposite; riding the winds of circumstance is how we find victory over them and watch God work in them for his glory. 

 

Out of Weakness… Strength 

Paul tried to get Jesus to stop a messenger from Satan who harassed him and his ministry. He begged for it to be taken away three times but with no success. Then Jesus told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

So, Paul concludes, “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” That’s someone riding the wind of circumstances instead of being conflicted by them. 

The secret to following Jesus comes by recognizing he works out of our weakness more than our strengths. His strength comes in the midst of the things we beg him to remove. But it is in those times when we are beyond our limit that he appears to do his greatest work in us. 

The more we resist our circumstances, the more they own us and the less focused we will be on what God is doing in them.

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