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Spitfire
Member



Joined: 2004/8/3
Posts: 633


 Rez Man

Further Musings of a Mad White Woman:



[i]"Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk[/i](I love this word, folk) [i]of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thiry and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."[/i]John 5:2-8

What are the requirements of Rez Man? Maybe I've been continuing to lay on this rock slab when the stone has already been rolled away...Maybe, just maybe, I could just get up and walk out of this tomb.

Maybe, the problem isn't that I have no one to help me.

Maybe I've prayed the same prayer over and over again thousands of times with no answer because I'm praying the wrong prayer.

Maybe I just need to RISE, TAKE UP MY BED, AND WALK.

 2006/11/30 6:00Profile
death2self
Member



Joined: 2006/9/28
Posts: 192
Washington DC area

 Re: Rez Man

There were several times that Jesus asked a person this question "What do you want me to do for you?" This was the question Jesus asked of blind Bartimaeus.

I'm not suggesting this is true of you but it could be something to take to the prayer closet...


_________________
Ed Pugh

 2006/11/30 7:02Profile
Spitfire
Member



Joined: 2004/8/3
Posts: 633


 Re:

Hey death2! You alright! I think I shall take your advice. Bless you. Dian.

 2006/11/30 7:13Profile
roadsign
Member



Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re: death......... Life

Hi, Dian, It is such a warm blessing to see what God is doing in your life. Your words are so refreshing to my soul.

By the way, I wanted to send you a “Congratulations” on you last post – about the “Rite of Passage”, but I’ll say it here: “Congratulations! Is this not the rite of passage that leads to abundant Life, to the resurrection life, to eternal life?

“The gate is narrow and few find it….. “ Why?

Jesus said, “Unless the kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it DIES, it produces many seeds…. “ Jn. 12:24

There is nothing we fear more than dying, nothing we avoid more. But it is not physical death that scares us most, it is the daily death - of our own sense of life, meaning, dignity, accomplishment, success, ability to manage ourselves etc. Yet: “The man who loves this life WILL lose it, while the man who hates his life in this word will keep it.”

I have discovered that we can’t bury ourselves any more than we can crucify ourselves. (If we were in charge of our own deaths, we’d arrange for a comfortable “coffin” with frilly soft pillows) Others do it for us. Circumstances do it. It can be excruciating, ruthless, undignified, humiliating. We even find ourselves like King Neb in the book of Daniel - “eating grass”. We discover that we aren’t a “good” Christian, after all.

Quote:
Maybe, the problem isn't that I have no one to help me.

Maybe I've prayed the same prayer over and over again thousands of times with no answer because I'm praying the wrong prayer.

Maybe I just need to RISE, TAKE UP MY BED, AND WALK.



Yes, Jesus is the one who calls out: “Rise….” He comes along in just the right time and sets us free from OUR own debilitating mindsets. We just stay there on the ground until we realize that we don’t need the “old man” to keep us functioning, it is HIS life bursting forth within us.

This can feel even more scary than the old way of living – it is so different, so unpredictable, so unfamiliar. I think we may resist the new way because we would prefer what we are familiar with over something totally foreign to us. The grave clothes give us some security.

There is much to be said in this testimony - as it relates to the revival burden. How many of us realize that when we plead for revival, we are also praying into our own death. Death must precedes the new Life. And we can’t expect it of others without walking through it ourselves.

And death looks and feels very, very messy! Do we shirk it, or do we embrace it?


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Diane

 2006/11/30 7:20Profile
Spitfire
Member



Joined: 2004/8/3
Posts: 633


 Re:

Quote:
Death must precedes the new Life. And we can’t expect it of others without walking through it ourselves



For if we do..."Woe upon you hypocites! for you go to all lengths to make one convert, and then turn him into twice the son of hell you are yourselves."

God help us! We have sons of hell teaching people in churches how to avoid the Cross and still be a Christian, therefore we have churches full of stuffed saints. You could blow the whole place up and have nothing but a cloud of feathers. Lord, have mercy on us and corner us with your great love. And thanks. Amen.

 2006/11/30 12:24Profile
roadsign
Member



Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re: Rise up, dear sister!

Dian, While I was reading in Isaiah this morning, I thought about you. Here are some words to a nation - to Abraham's descendents of faith - that includes you and me today.

" Awake, awake, O Zion,
clothe yourself with strength.
Put on your garments of splendor,
O Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.

Shake off your dust;
rise up,
sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion. Is. 52:1,2


When God has granted us healing and new Life, we are called (in no uncertain terms) to walk in it. We do not have to stay in Egypt any longer!


_________________
Diane

 2006/12/1 8:25Profile









 Re: Rez Man

Dian,

Diane said

Quote:
How many of us realize that when we plead for revival, we are also praying into our own death.

Indeed, and yet, how many of us who have been desperate for a move of God in our lives, have cared about the consequences..... Did not we all [i]willingly[/i] say to God 'whatever it takes..... DO IT!' ???



This reminds me immediately (again), of the excellent post by philologos in another thread..... For those who did not read it, who may understand something more than has been put into words in this thread, here it is:


'Christ spoke of his death as a baptism. Into what was he baptized? As a 'sin offering' He certainly bore in his body our sins. This is the figure of the scapegoat. Lev 14

But there is a darker picture in John 3:14-16 where Christ used the figure of an uplifted snake. Baptism has the effect of united the baptized into the element into which he is baptized.

“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,”
(Rom 6:5 NKJV)

This 'uniting with' in the consequence of the 'baptism into death' of verse 3.

[b]He was baptized into what we had become. He was united with it so that the judgement that came upon Him came upon it. Once and for all. He was baptized into 'our death' and we must be baptized into His. He was united by baptism to what we were and we are united by baptism (not water) to what he is.[/b]

He became Sin and the judgement that was wreaked upon Him was wreaked upon Sin. Not 'sins'; they had to be forgiven but Sin cannot be forgiven it must be executed.'


Dian,

Hard to believe tho it is, you are living through coming into the GOOD of this death, which you have already experienced in the Spirit.

Amen to your resurrection, now! :-D


Romans 6
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: [b]that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, [u]even so we also should walk in newness of life[/b][/u].

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:

6 [u]Knowing [b]this[/b][/u], that our old man [b]is[/b] crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that [i][b]henceforth[/b][/i] we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.


I know you will have a genuine testimony of how worth every shred of agony this has been, and will be able to comfort and encourage many who shall follow your example of commitment to Christ.

 2006/12/1 9:19
ChrisJD
Member



Joined: 2006/2/11
Posts: 2895
Philadelphia PA

 Re:

Quote:
He was baptized into what we had become.



Wanted to draw this out. I think it speaks.


_________________
Christopher Joel Dandrow

 2006/12/1 18:28Profile





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