Claire's Prayer

Bible scholars have identified over 100 prophecies that were fulfilled that dark Friday when Jesus hung on Calvary.  Imagine that.  One hundred prophecies fulfilled at the cross! Our Abba Father wove a thousand thoughts into every little detail of His Masterpiece. Signpost after signpost pointing the way to Jesus, the corridors of history echoing the Messiah. One of those precious prophecies is one that is so easy to miss, why would we think about the clothes Jesus wore? But this one blows me away, it’s the story of a seamless garment, the one our beautiful Saviour wore!

            John 19:23-24 says this about the seamless garment: “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,’ that the scripture might be fulfilled which says: ‘They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.’” 

            What was so incredibly important about this seamless garment? About this robe that was woven in one piece?

            Going back in time to Exodus 28, we first discover an ornate, seamless robe made especially for the High Priest. A robe woven with great care, not something that anyone else would wear because of the great cost. This robe was worn by the one who would enter the Holy of Holies, on behalf of the children of Israel, and bring offerings to the Great I Am for the sins of His chosen ones.  The priest was taught that he must never tear his clothes, for if he did, he would invalidate his ministry as High Priest. Jesus wore that garment—that precious, seamless robe of the High Priest!

            Have you ever noticed that when Jesus stood on trial before Caiaphas, the High Priest, Caiaphas ripped his garments once he had finished questioning Jesus?! “And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!” (Matthew 26:62-65)  In rage and self-righteousness, he tore his robe and disqualified himself from the priesthood! Why? Caiaphas had been replaced! Replaced by a High Priest who would go to the cross as an offering for the sins of the world! 

            I love how the Father does all things well, right down to the tiniest detail. Christ’s seamless robe was never torn; the soldiers cast lots for this precious garment, and it remained intact for all time! It is the seamless robe of Jesus, our High Priest, who sits at the right hand of God, forever making intercession for us!

‘Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.’  Matthew 21:44

Which would you choose?  The breaking or the crushing?  Honestly speaking I’m not sure that I would want either, but this is the choice given by Jesus to the chief priests and Pharisees.  I’m sure our Saviour’s heart was heavy as he left the temple that day, the knowledge that His words would have fallen on deaf ears discouraging.  

I remember a time in my life when I was broken.  So broken.  Into little pieces.  Not my bones, but my heart.  Dashed upon the rock.  Truly rock bottom, my life shattered into little pieces around me.  Sounds awful doesn’t it.  But I remember what happened next.  Jesus picked me up, took my broken heart and mended it, took the shattered pieces of my life, and put them back together until they were beautiful.  Psalm 40:2 became my song, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.”  From that broken place my Abba Father truly put joy in my heart and for that I am eternally grateful.  Not only did He give me joy but life everlasting, relationship with the King!

You see, Jesus is that stone, our precious cornerstone, the one that we can fall upon, the one that we can go to in humbleness of heart and say, “I can’t do it, LORD, help me, heal me, save me.”  When our hearts are shattered into a million tiny pieces we can fall upon The Rock.

If we head to the concordance, we can see that the word ‘broken’ in Greek means broken!  Or even shattered.  But dig a little deeper, the root word of that broken denotes ‘union, companionship, completeness!’  It speaks of relationship, relationship with the very God we have fallen upon.  When we humble ourselves in that broken place and fall upon Jesus, we come into relationship with the very God who created us!  Perhaps choosing the breaking is not so bad after all.

What about the crushing then?  Being crushed by the rock?  In comparison crushed means ‘ground into powder, scattered in the wind.’  Dissolved into dust and disintegrated to nothingness.  Truly a point of no return.  The crushing fury of God’s judgement coming down with full force, crushing into nothing.  “I think I understand now LORD, I think I’m ready to make my choice.”

We can choose to either fall on the rock and be broken, let Him fill every area of our lives, give our lives to Him, and let Him take those broken pieces and refashion them, remake them into something wonderful.  Something that reflects Christ.  Or we can choose to let the rock fall upon us, the rock of God’s fury, obliterating us to dust.  We can choose life or death. Following Jesus or not following Him. Not wanting to preach gloom and doom or even hellfire and damnation, but not choosing is also making a choice.

Now today, when I think about Jesus, I wonder if as He said these words, he was thinking about the choice He too had to make?  Did his thoughts stray to the fact that only in just three days He would be crushed by the rock?  Crushed instead of us, for us!  Taking the punishment, we deserved upon Himself, drinking the cup of God’s wrath.  Today, as I think about Jesus, I know what my choice will be just as I know what His choice was.  Do you know yours? Today, I am thankful that because of Jesus, I can throw myself upon the rock, my Saviour and Redeemer.

 “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” Isaiah 53:10 and 11.

The Two-faced Fig Tree

The story of the fig tree is one that has always fascinated me.  Why would Jesus curse the poor fig tree and cause it to wither and never bear fruit again?  What made Jesus so mad with the fig tree? The power of Jesus’ words is quite breathtaking, that power of life and death in the tongue.  The power to simply speak something into existence or speak it out of existence!  Kind of reminds me of the words mothers around the world say when frustrated, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it,” except Jesus really could!

Let’s take a look at Jesus’ day.  Matthew 28:12-13 says this; “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  Our Saviour entered the temple, a place that should have been one of prayer, and what He saw infuriated him.  Instead of a place where His children gathered to earnestly seek the LORD, a place of true repentance, it had become a gathering place of thieves! 

Jesus saw the very heart of those in the temple which is why He quoted Jeremiah.  “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 7:9-11). The people of God committed atrocious sins believing that the sacrifices gave them permission to act in this way.  Almost as though thinking that we can behave any way we want to during the week, and then run to church on Sunday knowing God will forgive us.  The sacrifices then, just as Christ’s sacrifice now, do not give us permission to sin. (Romans 6:15) Our Saviour could see that the people were using the sacrifice as a way to absolve their guilt even though they had absolutely no intention of ever-changing, of truly repenting.  Oh LORD, let me not be guilty of this!

Let’s get back to our fig tree.“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.  Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.” Mark 11:12-14.  Jesus comes upon a fig tree full of beautiful leaves and being hungry looks to see if it is bearing early fruit.  Upon discovering that there is none, He curses the tree that has given the impression of having fruit but has failed to deliver.  Kind of like those robbers in the temple.

It’s like plastic flowers.  You know the ones, the ones that you stick your nose into and take a deep breath only to discover that they aren’t real.  There will never be any fragrance in these flowers.  They promise a beautiful aroma but don’t deliver.  Disappointing.  That’s how Jesus saw the fig tree, it was disappointing, the leaves had the promise of fruit but there was none.  Anticipation but no fulfillment. 

God’s people have always been called to bear fruit, Jesus himself talks about fruit many times during the New Testament.  “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John 15:16. But in the temple, like the fig tree, all Jesus saw was pomp and circumstance.  On the outside everything looked glorious, there were crowds, celebrations, singing, and all the decorations were spectacular, but it was all for show.  There was no substance, no fruit, no real repentance.

And so, Jesus judged the fig tree as a two-faced fig tree and deemed it not worthy.  Cursing it and causing it to shrivel up.  The two-faced fig tree had pretended to have fruit. 

And so, I must look at my own life, on the outside I can look like a Christian that has it all, super spiritual even, but have I born fruit?  Am I connected to the vine?  Do I reflect the light of Christ?  Is my life one of intimacy with the Savior or do I simply look like I have that life without there being any substance to my claim?  Am I like a robber in the temple, a fake fig tree, or the real deal?  “Make me the real deal,” is my cry today, “make me more like you Jesus, cause me to bear fruit.”

Smell.  That oh-so-important sense can take us back within seconds to our childhood or to a memorable event.  The smell of the first rains on dry and dusty soil brings me straight back to Africa, the smell of a frangipane flower reminds me of my wedding and the flowers in my bouquet.  Often when my husband hugs me, I like to breathe in deeply as the smell of his aftershave makes me feel safe and after 26 years of marriage is one of beautiful familiarity.  But the fragrance of potpourri can make me feel nauseous straight away as it reminds me of my pregnancy when the tiniest whiff made me feel sick! 

Anointing oil was very important in Israel, and very expensive. Many oils were more costly than diamonds and were a sign of great wealth. Each King and Priest was anointed prior to their taking office, the aroma advancing before them so that everyone would know – the King, the King is coming! Now when the new King was anointed, they didn’t just drip a drop on his forehead, no – this could be as much as a pint of fragrant perfume! Let’s take a quick look at a story back in the Old Testament, an occasion of celebration, great joy, the anointing of the future King of Israel, King Solomon – “So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon mount King David’s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.” 1 Kings 1:38-40. This was quite the party, the people of Israel rejoiced so much that the ground literally shook! Zadok the priest took that anointing oil and poured it over Solomon, the smell would have been strong, radiating out through the crowd.

Fast forward to the week before Jesus’ death on the cross. Palm Sunday, also known as the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. “The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” John 12:12-15. Incredible similarity!

But where was the fragrance? Where was the anointing oil with the Kingly aroma that would have told the crowd surrounding Him that Jesus was the King of Israel?

For that answer, we need to go back to the night before! Once again Jesus was at Martha’s house dining with Lazarus and many of his other friends. “Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” John 12:3. How I love Mary, always doing something unexpected, her love for Jesus always on display! Mary took a pound – that’s nearly two cups of extremely expensive oil and washed Jesus’ feet with it, using her beautiful hair as a rag! An astonishing display of devotion. 1 Corinthians 11:15 says this; “And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy?” A woman’s hair is her glory. Mary, in an act of absolute humility, laid her self-worth at Jesus’ feet, tenderly using her hair to clean away the dust and dirt from the day. Her actions saying, “I give you everything, all of me, from my finances to my self-worth, my identity, my dignity, every tiny little piece of myself.” “And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” Not too surprising when you consider the amount of oil Mary poured out.

And so, our sweet Mary, fulfilled that part of the story. Perhaps the part of the story where the fragrance of Christ began, the fragrance of the King of Kings and LORD of Lords. The fragrance of the Great I Am, YHWH. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem the deep fragrance of spikenard went before Him, almost like the dot on the i or the cross on a t. This is the King of Israel. In the final week before the cross everywhere Jesus went, He would have carried the fragrance of the King with him, it would have said to the Roman soldier, “I Am the King of Kings,” to Herod and Pilate, “I Am the King of Kings,” to all those who mocked Him, beat Him and put Him to death, “I AM the King of Israel!”

“Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them,  “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” – Matthew 20:18-19

The very beginning of a life-changing journey, a difficult journey, one that was no surprise to Jesus or even His disciples. The 14-mile journey from Jericho to Jerusalem was not long but it was the beginning of a walk that would change the world. As they hiked south to Jerusalem I would imagine that Passover was on the minds of the disciples, feasts, and visits with old friends. I wonder what was on Jesus’ mind? Was it the betrayal of a friend, the savage beating of a whip laced with iron, or the cruellest death upon that cross?

Sometimes staring at a future painful event for too long can be more distressing than the event itself. When my little girl, Hannah, told me she wanted to move back to Canada, I was devastated. The time leading up to her leaving caused me huge anxiety. An ocean of tears was cried, this was something I never imagined happening. To live apart from my baby girl was not something I had ever considered. My eyes still well up at the reality today. A trivial example in the light of the journey set before my Saviour.

I am more than sure that this final journey to Jerusalem was at the forefront of our Saviour’s mind, and I’m sure caused him much anguish. He was fully human just as He was fully God.

But look at that last line; “On the third day, He WILL be raised to life” Like the thrust of a spear into the enemy’s heart. Jesus began His journey with God’s promise upon His lips! ‘On the third day, I will be raised to life again! This was not something Jesus had control of, He trusted His Father, He trusted the promise. As Jesus turned to Jerusalem He declared the promise of God over His life!

God’s Word tells us, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) But take heart, I have overcome the world! We can all agree with ‘in this world, you will have trouble.’ That is a given. But Jesus has overcome the world.

I know that many of you are on a hard journey, your future may seem uncertain, and anxiety over coming events may threaten to overwhelm you. Life’s journeys are uncertain. Jesus knows. He understands. He’s been there. He sees you. Accepts you. Loves you.

When I look backwards at my own tough journeys, how much easier would they have been if I had stepped into them with God’s promises on my lips instead of my own tangled words? If I had drawn the sword of God’s Word and declared His truth, let His peace settle in my heart, would anxiety and anguish be held at bay?

Jesus’ declaration, His trust in His Heavenly Father carried our precious Saviour through His hardest days, to His appointed time and through the other side. God’s Word took Him to that place of rejoicing, of overcoming, to that glorious place where the angels announced, “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” (Matt 28:6) Exactly as Jesus declared, I will rise again. Just as our Father had promised.

Today if this is you. If your road is hard and the journey forbidding, if your future seems uncertain and anxiety overwhelms – what is God saying to you? What are His promises to you? Open up God’s Word, His Holy Bible filled with holy promises and find the ones that you can cling to, the ones that you can take as a sword and thrust into the very heart of the enemy, the ones that you can declare with eyes of faith, God’s promises on your lips.

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16

God is love. He cannot help always loving because that is who He is. God can only love you because He is love. He loves you every day; not only on days He feels like it or on days that you please Him. His nature, character, personality is love.
God loves you.
He feels affection toward you.
God is especially fond of you.
He loves you dearly.
He is well pleased with you.

He is well pleased with me? Yes! Because He made you. He formed you. He perfected you. He knows you. Deeply. Inside and out. He is pleased with you. That’s what ‘agape’ means.

Do you believe God loves you? Like that? So deeply. Can you even begin to comprehend the width, length, depth, and height of His love? It is a love that surpasses knowledge. I don’t think we need to comprehend it, even try to understand it.
We just need to accept it.
Believe it.
Abide in it.
Wallow in it.
Just settle in and let it splash all over you.
Coating you.
Covering you.
Protecting you.
Redeeming you.
Saving you.
Healing you.

Wallow a little. Abide a little. Indulge in His plentiful supply. Devote yourself entirely to His love. Abide in God’s love and let God abide in you. Remember, God loves you because He is love. He cannot help but love you.

As I considered December, I could sense that extraordinary moment, as if an orchestral symphony was beginning an incredible crescendo.  The hint that something was about to explode in magnificence and splendor.  The cherry on top of the cake, the final flourish, the knowledge that something epic was about to happen – and it does!  “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) Christmas, the crowning achievement of a year filled to the brim with miracles.  The creator becomes the created!

Mary understood the miracle of that very first Christmas. She knew the astonishing significance of this one, grace-filled, day. Luke 1:46 tells us, “And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” From the moment the angel appeared to Mary she began to magnify the Lord, she rejoiced in her God and Savior. Words of praise and adoration spilled from her lips, Mary did not magnify the Lord merely in her thoughts but with her voice! Loud and full of rejoicing!

I remember as a child being fascinated with the microscope at my father’s office. My Dad would take a tiny ant and place it under the glass, and I would jam my eye against the eyepiece.  Suddenly I could see every detail and every hair on that little ant’s leg, its alien-like eyes looking back at me. I’d gasp with wonder, it was incredible! Magnified!  You see, the more you magnify your Savior the greater He becomes, and the greater He becomes the more you magnify Him! Of course, we cannot make our wonderful, mighty God any greater than He already is or even begin to imagine His actual greatness, but when we magnify our Lord, make known His marvelous deeds, proclaim His abundant goodness then He becomes greater in our eyes. He becomes elevated in the eyes of those around us who hear our proclamation! Faith grows bigger and hope shines brighter.

This December let’s magnify the Lord together, proclaim His abundant goodness and shout His great name in an epic crescendo of praise! Let’s bring our gift of worship to the King of Kings, the Savior of the world, and make His deeds known among the people!  Let’s join with the angels in shouting, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 8:14)

Magnifying our Savior with you,

I’m on a journey, a quest if you will, where I begin to see the world, people, through rose-tinted glasses. An adventure to always see the beautiful things. If you know me well you will know the sarcasm on my tongue that contains a good peppering of cynicism. Far too often, I come to a conclusion about someone and their actions much too quickly and without giving them the benefit of the doubt.

“Time for change.” I hear the LORD say, “Time to teach an old dog new tricks!”

I remember walking through Mamelodi Township in South Africa. My eyes took in the awful poverty. Houses that were mere shacks made from scraps of iron or wood. Children with no shoes on their feet, covered in the red soil of Africa. And the garbage, piles of garbage everywhere, absolutely everywhere. My heart ached.

But as we walked through the township, I noticed a gorgeous Morning Glory plant climbing a rusty, barbed wire fence. Dozens of deep purple flowers shouting in the sun, “look at me, look at me, I am beautiful!” And it was, glorious, the shiny purple of the petals radiating loveliness under the clear blue sky.

It was almost as though my eyes were suddenly opened. I could see beyond the povery, beyond the trash. Roosters with their gleaming black and orange feathers endlessly raking the red dirt. The sweet smile of the young lady who mischieviously posed as I took my camera out, children laughing as they chased a ball made from scraps of material. The wonder of watching a lady with huge bags of what must have been mealie meal balanced on her head – so sure footed as she dodged the holes in the dirt road!

I heard the LORD say, “Sometimes you have to look for it and look hard, open your eyes! Be attentive. What is your focus on – the garbage or the goodness? I see beauty in everything, especially in you! This is why the world is so beautiful outside. I couldn’t create ugliness because that’s not who I AM on the inside. It is the same with you, when you allow your beauty to shine through, become more beautiful on the inside then you will see the beautiful. As you let me mold and shape your character, take on my righteousness, you will see the beauty around you. Hiding in the cracks or cascading in the open. It will. be there, your perspective will have changed, your focius will no longer be on the ugliness or the critical, but on the beautiful.”

And so began my quest, my crusade to become that person with the glass half full, not half empty. Heck, with a glass that overflows with the beauty, the goodness of people, the every day surprises, flowers in the garbage and in the cracks of the rocks.

Are rose-tinted glasses really the ideal way to look at the world? Especially a world that is in as big a mess as our one is. I truly do believe the answer to that is yes. It is looking at someone or something, life, in an unduly idealistic, optimistic, sentimental or wistful perspective. Many may shout – “but that’s not real life!” But what about the Father, did He not look at me through rose-tinted glasses? If He hadn’t, all He would have seen was the garbage, the mess, the red dirt that caked my whole body, the poverty of my soul. But my Father saw potential, he knew the clay could become a beautiful pot, the piece of coal a diamond, the empty canvas a work of art. He looked at me optimistically, seeing past my sin, to the glimmer of beauty hidden in the shadows! He saw me through the blood of Jesus as a spotless bride! Should we not then strive to see others the same way, seeing potential, optimistically seeking beauty. I know it’s there!

Today I heard a saying, it made me catch my breath, another piece of the puzzle. Another step in my quest. “Judge every person with the scales weighted in their favour.” – Rabbi Joshua ben Perahiah. In other words, give everyone the benefit of the doubt, see the good in others. As my Father had so recently pointed out, open your eyes, see from a new perspective.

This is an old rabbinical saying, centuries old. Picture for a moment one of those old scales, like the scales of justice. You’re at the market on a hot day buying fresh produce from the farmers. The old, sun wrinkled farmer adds your grapes to the scale “one pound, you say?” The scale hits one pound and balances beautifully but the farmer adds yet another bunch because he’s kind. The scales tip in your favour, bagging them up he only charges you for a pound. “Judge every person with the scales weighted in their favour!”

The words Jesus spoke parallel that too: Matthew 7:1-2, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure your use, it will be measured back to you.” And so our question is left hanging in the air; what measure will you use when dealing with your neighbour? Will you let the scales tip in their favour – giving them the benefit of the doubt? Will you take the time to look beyond the shadows? What about that politician, can you do that with him too?! Ouch! I don’t know if I can LORD, but I can try!

Yesterday I saw a study in The Journal of Happiness Studies! Yes really, there is such a thing – I was surprised too! In a study of 707 people around the world, they looked at hostile attributional styles and benign attributional styles. In social situations, for instance, your friend doesn’t meet you for that lunch date, they don’t even call to cancel. How you react to that situation can greatly impact your happiness. Those that immediately decide that the other person was being malicious, are a lot less happy than those who gave the benefit of the doubt. The researchers suggest that giving people the benefit of the doubt will greatly improve your relationships as well as increase your sense of well-being!

It was as though I heard the LORD whisper to me, “This is part of your quest, part of the path to seeing others as I see them. Part of seeing the beautiful.”

You see, if there is ugliness in my heart I can’t see the beautiful. If there is condemnation, I will only see the garbage, piles and piles of it. But when I begin to train my eye, I begin to see beyond the shadows – to the flowers in the cracks. My view of the world changes, one beautiful person at a time.

Will you come with me? Come on my quest to change the world? To see God’s creation in glorious living colour, to see beyond the garbage, to see every person the way their Father sees them. A daily life of seeing miracles in the mundane!