Subject: Thought for the Day/Epic Ministries Still Life in the Root Psalm 118:17,18 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. 18 The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death. NKJV Many years ago, before cell phones and the Internet, I experienced a personal failure that altered the landscape of the rest of my natural life. During that season the majority of my friends and co-laborers in the ministry turned against me in a lethal onslaught of judgmental and slanderous words. Feeling completely betrayed and abandoned I reached out to four men I counted as some of my most respected friends in the ministry. As I poured out my heart to each of these men acknowledging my failure, I was confident one of them would choose to walk with me through a season of repentance, renewal and restoration. Astoundingly one by one they each turned me away like a leprous beggar being refused entrance to the city. The rejection, though painful, paled in comparison to what transpired next. ‘God can never use you again in the ministry’ were the crushing words they hurled down upon my already deeply wounded and overburdened soul. Grief stricken and consumed with shame I succumbed to their words paying no attention to that still small voice in my heart which kept repeating over and over, ‘I promised I would never leave you or forsake you’. Even though that was a long time ago, there is still a great risk in sharing any season of failure with a widespread audience. However, it’s crucial each of you understand some of what I have been through so that you can find hope and confidence in the WORD I am about to speak over many of you who are still in bondage to the shame of your long forgiven past failures. By the grace of God what the enemy meant for harm in my life God has turned and is now using for my good and His glory. I know what it’s like to be spiritually paralyzed by the echoes of the unmerciful and judgmental words others have spoken over you. I know what it’s like to feel totally abandoned and betrayed by those you love. I know what it’s like to be dry docked by the Lord while having to endure every area of your life being publicly scraped and sanded by the Holy Spirit. Even though the process is severe, it is never too severe. Eventually I came to understand it’s God’s mercy and love that disciplined me so severely. Had He not momentarily pulled me aside for necessary repairs I would have certainly sunk in the midst of the next great storm in my life being forever lost at sea. All the devastation that came into my life so many years ago has long been repaired and I have been sailing safely through life’s storms since. I have walked through many dark days and experienced many sleepless nights, but through it all God has never left my side and never threatened to revoke His purpose, plan and will for my life. On the contrary He has commissioned and anointed me to speak a Word from heaven over each of you who are still imprisoned on the pallet of your past failures. I proclaim in the name of Jesus that ‘Today is the day of your FREEDOM! YOU WILL LIVE AND NOT DIE, and YOU WILL AGAIN DECLARE THE WORKS OF THE LORD!’ AMEN!!! Micah 7:8 Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. NASB Soon after the Lord set me free from the shame and condemnation of my aforementioned failure an elderly pastor in East Texas requested an audience with me. Within moments after we began speaking he made it known he, too, had suffered a failure in his past that caused men he trusted to speak the same deadly words over his life and future. He then fixed his gaze on me and in a spirit of hopeless regret said, ‘Jerry, because you and I have failed the Lord we will never be all God intended us to be’. My heart broke for this old pastor as I listened to the rest of his story wherein I learned he had lived in bondage to these lies for more than forty years. My focus at that point was to see all the years the locust had eaten in this old preacher’s life restored for the glory of God. I can tell you what I heard and witnessed in that old preacher that day was not the result of being severely disciplined by the Lord. On the contrary it was the crafty handiwork of the thief of hell who had come to steal, kill and destroy his life, and mine. I fixed my gaze on his eyes and began pouring out my heart to him sharing the glorious TRUTHS that had just days earlier set me free. I reminded him that God knew us both before we were formed in the womb, and that it was impossible for our momentary failure to take God by surprise. With undeniable truths I expounded to Him how God saw our failure before it ever happened, yet still called, created, chose, consecrated, bought and anointed us to do His will and pleasure in the earth. I reminded him of the power of the blood of Jesus and that NO SIN IS GREATER THAN HIM. I pleaded with him to lay hold of the TRUTH that if we confess our sins, HE is FAITHFUL and will FORGIVE US OUR SINS and cleanse us from ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! I agreed with him there are always consequences for our sin, and those consequences can be severe. However, NO SIN that has been confessed and covered by the blood of Jesus still has the power to alter the plan, purpose and will of God for our lives. For a moment I could see a glimmer of hope as the old preacher nodded in approval. But then, it was gone and he left still enslaved to the lies that had taken him prisoner so many years earlier. Reflecting back on those times I remember one specific day that forever freed me of any lingering condemnation from that time in my life. It was nearly twenty years ago and Donna and I had just purchased a small home in LaPorte, Texas. One early spring day I headed out to the back yard to begin removing an eye sore left by the previous owner. Directly in the center of the back yard was the massive stump of an Arizona Ash tree. Its size and ugliness dominated everything else in the yard. As I approached the stump I noticed six newly sprouted sapling shoots emerging out of the otherwise dead looking stump. This made the whole thing look even more strange and grotesque. As I reached down to cut away the saplings I was unexpectedly interrupted with the thought, ‘Do not harm the tree’. This startled me at first, but upon looking at the hideous stump again I chuckled thinking how ridiculous this thought was. Extending the loppers to resume my task I was again interrupted by the same thought, but this time it was even more adamant. ‘Do not harm the tree’. At this point I stepped back taking a moment to ask the Lord if He was indeed speaking to me. What I heard in my heart from the Lord changed my future forever, and I believe will change many of your lives forever, too. Here is what I heard from the Lord on that day, and what He would say to you today: My son, look carefully at the stump. What you see are the ugly remains of what was once a glorious existence, but now is gone. Men are looking at you today focusing only at the stump of what was once glorious in your life, but now is gone. Just as you were determined to remove this stump seeing only the ugly remains, so they too are laboring to eliminate you from their midst seeking to rid themselves of the ugliness they see. Now look at the six saplings. These are evidence THERE IS STILL LIFE IN THE ROOT! You and others see only the ugliness of what is dead, but I see the beauty and potential of what is ALIVE! Do not harm the tree! Instead, I want you to focus on what is alive, not what is dead. In the days ahead your responsibility is to nurture and protect these six saplings and see what glorious things will come forth from them. As you nurture and protect these saplings so I will nurture and protect you and cause your days ahead to be six times greater than all your days behind. I fell to the ground weeping overwhelmed by the mercy and goodness of God. For the next four years I faithfully nurtured and cared for those six saplings watching them supernaturally grow into a spectacular tree that became the center piece of the back yard and the neighborhood. Each sapling mysteriously began intertwining with the others creating an unusually remarkable and beautiful living tapestry. As I stood by that tree for the last time I was again overwhelmed by the presence of God as I noticed there was no longer any remaining evidence of the once hideous stump. Those six saplings had grown to the point all the ugliness of the dead stump had been overtaken by the newly formed intertwined trunk of the new growth. In that moment I understood that God never focused His gaze on my failure and ensuing ugliness, but rather lovingly looked upon the beauty that would come forth from all that was still alive in my heart. Has sin left you with only an ugly stump of what once was beautiful and glorious in your life? God wants you to know there is STILL LIFE IN THE ROOT! Do not attempt to remove the stump in your own power. God will cause His life to overwhelm your failure and create a beautiful and glorious new centerpiece out of your life for all to see. What others have proclaimed as ugly, God will raise up to be six times more beautiful in the days to come in Jesus’ name.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 16:14:07 +0000
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