Brown's daily word 1-8-08

Good Morning,
We are experiencing a great heat wave in our area here in New York, with record temperatures yesterday. It felt like Spring, so I walked for four miles on the Rail Trail. It was first time in a long time. It will be another record breaking day today, with temperatures expected to be in the mid-sixties. Thank you Jesus.
One of our church families lost everything in a house fire on Saturday night. Praise the Lord that they all escaped alive and un-injured. When John Wesley was a young boy the church people set the parsonage at Epworth on fire because they did not like their pastor, Samuel Wesley. John Wesley was rescued from the burning parsonage.
I spoke to one of the Bishops of the Church in Orissa, who conveyed that a Hindu mob has set on fire over 1000 houses that belonged to Christians. Many Christians have fled to the hills and the mountains seeking refuge. Many Christians are seeking refuge in some large church buildings, spending time in worship and prayer 24/7. The recent barbaric and senseless persecution of Christians in Orissa by thee militant Hindus has ignited the whole church with a unquenchable zeal for the Lord and to serve Him with obedience and bold
ness. We are planning to go on a short term mission trip to the epicenter of persecution. We are leaving on the June 16, 2008. We will be there through June 30, 2008. Pray for the team. We would love to have you join us. It will be an "adventure of a lifetime.
If you knew your home was going to be destroyed and you only had a minute to escape with your life, and you could only carry one or two other things, what would you leave behind? Can you imagine someone trying to take out their new plasma television, or their collection of 500 cd’s, or their new computer, printer and monitor, or their shoe collection, knowing they only had 35 seconds left to get out?
What if you had a baby grand piano, would you try to get that out? If we tried to take some of these things with us, we would most likely perish in the disaster. Sometimes, for our own health and safety, we must be willing to leave some things behind. There is a freedom in being able to walk away from some of the trappings in our lives.
In Mathew 2 we read about Mary and Joseph, who have probably been married for a about a year or two. Joseph is working as a builder or contractor. He and Mary had not returned to Nazareth after the census. Instead they stayed in Bethlehem. Bethlehem gave them a fresh start in life without the rumors of them having sex before their marriage vows had been completed. They had left behind some of the gossip that would have been floating around in Nazareth. No one in Bethlehem would be saying, "there’s Mary, the girl who lost her mind and said she got pregnant by God."
Life was beginning to look a little more normal for them. Then, out of the blue, some wise men showed up looking for their child, Jesus. Not only that, but these wise men presented them with some very expensive gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It was as if someone had made a huge direct deposit into their checking account. They were delighted and thrilled at this visit and the untold financial blessing.
This may have been just the kind of thing Joseph needed to get his business to soar into high gear. He may have had plans to triple the size of the gift by expanding his business. Who knows what plans Mary may have had for them as a family, but no doubt something would have been swirling through her head. Yet, before their plans could take root, an angel comes to Joseph and said that he needed to get up and take his family to Egypt. Herod was searching for the child to kill him, and it was vital to stay in Egypt until Joseph received the word of the Lord once again that it was okay to come back home.
Joseph and Mary have to decide on the spot what are they going to leave behind. If they could not carry it in their hands or on their donkey, or perhaps in a wagon, it had to stay. They had got a 75 mile journey to take, starting in the dead of night, and they did not know whether the soldiers were already on their way to Bethlehem.
I think they realized that the gifts they had received were the provisions God had made for them to escape this disaster. They probably took the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and fled for their lives to Egypt. All of their plans, dreams, business, friends, and family they left behind out of obedience to the word of the Lord, given by the angel. They found a new freedom in the things they left behind. Had they delayed their obedience, they may have been looking at soldier’s sword entering the body of their child.
We do not always realize it, but there is a flip side to the call to come and follow Jesus. The flip side is that usually something must be left behind. We cannot come and follow Jesus without leaving something behind. What we fail to realize is that there is freedom in leaving things behind, letting go of the goods that weigh us down.
For some of us we have had a great year. We find ourselves happier than we were at this time last year. There were graduations, the birth of children, better jobs, new homes purchased, and new love found. But none of us made it through the year completely unscathed by circumstances. For some it has been a year of sorrow and of pain. We lost friends and family who were very dear to us. Some saw our families began to fall apart. Some found ourselves being sent to jail, while others were coming out of jail. Some found ourselves trapped by sin, paying a cost far greater than we could have imagined it to be. Some of us ran into situations in which we were greatly hurt by someone and found it nearly impossible to forgive. Some of us thought we could do something just once, and walk away from it, only to be enslaved and still will not admit our addiction. Some lost jobs and are still unemployed. Some of us developed attitudes that have hurt us and hurt others. Some do not like the persons we have allowed ourselves to become during 2007.
Jesus looks at us, with our broken dreams and shattered lives, and says to us, "come to me". But, in order to come to Jesus, you have to leave all that other stuff behind. Why do you need to come to Jesus? You need to come because you cannot do this thing called life and death by yourself. Sure you can make plans, but you can’t make them happen. Positive thinking does not stop the calamities and tragedies that come our way. You need an anchor when they hit. You can die on your own, but you can’t control your eternal destiny by yourself, unless you are determined to be cast into hell. Jesus came in order for us to have life, that is, life while we are alive and life when we die. He is calling us to a life of freedom, but most of us insist on being a slave to something else.
The new year, 2008, is here. What do we need to leave behind so that we may fully follow Christ and reach our potential? Is there a spirit of laziness that we have at home or at work that we need to leave behind? Is there an attitude problem we have, a critical spirit, anger problem, or jealousy problem we need to leave behind. Is there a spirit of selfishness,that we need to leave behind? Are we traveling the road to an addiction that we need to leave behind?
What if God sent an angel to you this night and said get up, that thing is seeking to kill you, so run for your spiritual life? What is the thing that the angel would be talking about? Joseph did not wait to get out of the situation. Don’t put it off any longer. End the affair. End the addiction. End the bad attitude. End the relationship. End the spirit of just not caring. End the abuse. Freedom is not found in getting things or people for yourself. Freedom is found in saying yes to the call of Christ upon your life.
You can go into 2008 with a clean conscience. You can go in with the right attitude. You can go in with a positive spirit, saying "yes" to the will of God for your life. You can be a better mother, father, son, or daughter. You can be a better student, worker, or member of the church. You can be a better parent, wife, husband, and friend. Enter into 2008, knowing that the plans God has for your life are far richer and far greater than anything you come up with for yourself.
God planned to take care of Mary and Joseph long before they needed to leave things behind and go to Egypt. The wise men arrived just in time for their escape. God has made provisions for you to be successful wherever he is sending you. It might seem scary at first, but be willing to leave your encumbrances behind and see how the Lord will take care of you. There is a wonderful freedom in the things we leave behind. Jesus gives perfect peace and unspeakable joy.
In Him,
Brown
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