"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of GOD, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." Romans 12:1
Dear Friends,
Happy 4th of July to you and your dear family! I want to thank you for your prayers for me these past few weeks and my family and ask you to please continue...I start my antibiotic again tomorrow and sure would appreciate you remembering us diligently the next seven days. I am definitely feeling better in some ways, but the antibiotic certainly took it's toll on me last time. I sure appreciate your prayers for me. I want to praise the LORD for HIS goodness always, and HIS protection. This past Sunday as Hannah Beth, along with our dear friends the Radcliffe's and others from our church were attending an airshow, a microburst of wind came up. Hannah Beth and her friends took shelter under the wings of a small airplane, while the guys stood in front of the girls to protect them from the wind and rain. I am so proud of you guys for protecting the girls...good job guys, for laying down your lives for the girls. Twelve people were injured, and one young man who was 5 years old was taken home to be with the LORD. He and his folks are customers of ours at our restaurant and they are members of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Please remember this dear family in your prayers.
In less than two weeks, Hannah Beth will be heading to California to help our friend's, the Baker's, with their 8 month old and two year old sons. Their Daddy, John, had to leave shortly after his youngest son was born to serve in Iraq with the U.S. Marines. How grateful we are to the Baker's for the sacrifices they have made these past several months, so that we can continue to enjoy our freedom's here in the United States of America. We have several young men from our church serving in the military and how grateful we are for Hudson who is serving in Iraq, for Nathan Haynes, and Alan and Chad Christian. All of these young men have left their homes and families at various times to go and train intensely and put themselves in harm's way to defend our freedoms. As we celebrate our nation's birthday tomorrow with family and friends, I wanted to remind myself, and my kids of the sacrifices that others have paid for our freedoms, and that our forefather's meant for this day to be commemorated as a Day of Deliverance by GOD ALMIGHTY.
John Adams in America's GOD and Country wrote the following words, July 3rd, 1776, a day after the wording of the Declaration of Independence had been approved in the Continental Congress. With prophetic insight, declaring the importance of that day he wrote:
" I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to GOD ALMIGHTY. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever.
You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see that the end is worth more than all the means; that posterity will triumph in that day's transactions, even though we [may regret] it, which I trust in GOD we shall not."
He wrote these words to his dear wife Abigail, knowing that there would be a tremendous cost to the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the colonists and he was right. Quoting America's GOD and Country it states: " The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence paid a tremendous price for our freedoms: 5 were arrested by the British as traitors, 12 had their homes looted and burned by the enemy, 17 lost their fortunes, 2 lost sons in the continental Army and 9 fought and died during the Revolutionary War."
There was a tremendous price that was paid for the freedoms that we are so privileged to enjoy, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable rights,that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Freedom always cost a tremendous price, whether it's from the King of England, from a tyrannical dictator in Iraq, or from sin which has everlasting consequences.
A few years ago, the kids and I read a book about a man named John G. Paton who obeyed the call of CHRIST to go and preach in the New Hebrides islands to those savages so that they might be freed from their sins. These 30 mountainous islands were inhabited by "heathens of the worst sort-violent, man-eating savages." Paton arrived in 1858, where twenty years earlier, the first missionaries to the island, John Williams and James Harris were clubbed to death as soon as they got off the ship. Paton's own trials as a missionary were incredible. But through the most severest of hardship he responded as a true CHRISTian. Quoting Doug Phillips, he said that John Paton dealt with "superstition, with savagery, and with heart wrenching sorrow, ever-persevering with a Job-like trust in the sovereign will of GOD. With valor he faced circumstances difficult for modern American CHRISTians to comprehend. Not only did he lose his wife and son within months of his arrival, but he actually had to guard their graves for days to prevent the natives from exhuming their bodies and eating them." Missionary Patriarch -The True Story of John G. Paton
John G. Paton wrote in his autobiography:
"The ever-merciful LORD sustained me to lay the precious dust of my beloved ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the end of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite breaking heart, had to take the principal share! I built the grave round and round with coral blacks, and covered the top with beautiful white coral, broken small as gravel; and that spot became my sacred and much-frequented shrine during all the following months and years when I labored on for the salvation of these savage Islanders amidst difficulties, dangers, and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the LORD and is won for CHRIST, men in after-days will find the memory of that spot still green-where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that land for GOD in which I had "buried my dead" with faith and hope. But for JESUS, and the fellowship HE vouchsafed me there, I must have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave."
As I reflect on these words from John G. Paton, I am reminded of a quote I read in Springs in the Valley" a few weeks ago that said," Are you not willing to endure scars in order to liberate souls?" I am so convicted as I think of the "softness" of my own efforts to reach out to others, and ask myself what scars have I endured that souls have been liberated for CHRIST? These signers of the Declaration of Independence knew that there would be a price to pay for their declared independence from England. John G. Paton knew their would be a price to pay if GOD was to use him to liberate the souls of men, women and children in the New Hebrides Islands...and he did with the soil watered by the blood of his wife and son.
In the June 29th reading of Streams in the Desert I was reminded once again of the price I must be willing to pay that souls may come to know CHRIST: "The reason so many fail in this experience of divine healing is because they expect to have it all without a struggle, and when the conflict comes and the battle wages long, they become discouraged and surrender. Then these words which were fuel to heart, "GOD has nothing worth having that is easy. There are no cheap goods in the heavenly market. Our redemption cost all that GOD had to give and everything worth having is expensive. Hard places are the very school of faith and character and if we are to rise over mere human strength and prove the power of life divine in these mortal bodies, it must be through a process of conflict that may well be called the "birth travail of a new life."
Any woman who has had a baby knows why labor is called labor...it is hard and difficult and painful, but yet this is the path that GOD uses to bring new life into the world. When you and I share CHRIST with those who don't know HIM should we expect any less than a difficult "birth travail" in order to bring new life into the world?
GOD is allowing me to walk in a difficult place as I reach out to someone for CHRIST. Even before I read these words I had likened this process to being in labor, and trying to birth a new baby. These words that I read earlier in the week, and today as I read about John G. Paton, have encouraged me not to give up and grow weary, but remember that GOD has nothing worth having that is easy...especially the souls of men, women, and children that HE purchased with the precious blood of HIS only SON. Our redemption, our freedom from our sins and the punishment of hell, cost all that GOD had to give. "Everything worth having is expensive", including the souls of those HE has called me to be a vessel of HIS love.
What price am I willing to pay that others might be liberated from their sin?...Our LORD JESUS CHRIST paid the ultimate price on Calvary for our freedom from sins when HE laid down HIS life willingly for you and me. HE calls you and me to follow "in HIS steps" and to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice that others might be led to a saving knowledge of our dear Lamb of GOD. Sometimes that may be a literal dying in our bodies, such as our servicemen, and missionaries down through the ages have sacrificed, but often, it is a daily dying to ourselves in our own wishes, desires, and interests that the life of CHRIST might be manifest in us. 1 Peter 2:21-24 says: "To this you were called, because CHRIST suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in HIS steps. HE committed no sin, and no deceit was found in HIS mouth. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, he made no threats. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed."
How thankful I am for our LORD JESUS CHRIST who paid the price on the cross of CALVARY to liberate us from our sins, make us heirs of GOD, and bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies(Ephesians 1:3) How thankful I am for men like John G. Paton who was willing to leave his family and comfortable life, and everything familiar to him to be obedient to the call of GOD even at great personal cost, that others might be liberated from their sins. I shared with you a few weeks ago a definition of love that I learned as a young CHRISTian: Love is an act of the will that builds up another person, even at great personal cost even when there is no response in return. That is the kind of love that CHRIST loves us with...unconditional, at great personal cost to HIMSELF, even when we were yet sinners, HE died for us. "Greater love hath no one than this that HE lay down HIS life for HIS friends." John 15:13. There is no way we can love like CHRIST, with no response in return, without HIM giving pouring HIS love through us as we abide in HIM. How thankful I am to our Founding Fathers and others who fought for our Independence from England. GOD gave them the courage to sacrifice their lives, and their fortunes that we might be able to enjoy the freedoms we have today, the freedom to worship GOD, the right to bear arms, the right to own property... How thankful I am for those young men and women who are willing to endure scars like John and Ashleigh Baker who have been apart for several months in order to liberate souls and defend our freedoms. LORD JESUS, how I ask you for the courage to help me to be willing to endure scars that others might come to know you as their LORD and SAVIOR and be set free from the bondage of their sin.
Below is a song that Ray Boltz wrote about Senator Jeremiah Denton after he was held prisoner in a prison camp during the Vietnam War. I used this back in August but felt led to share it again. At the time he was captured, Jeremiah Denton was already married with several young children at home. When he was finally released after seven and a half years and put on a plane full of other POW's bound for freedom, the plane stopped at Clark Field in the Philippines. Emaciated, and unsteady in his gait from the years of torture, he uttered these words when he stepped off the plane: " We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our commander-in-chief and to our nation for this day…God Bless America."
President Ronald Reagan later said this about him at his State of the Union Address January 26, 1982:
"We don't have to turn to our history books for heroes. They are all around us. One who sits among you here tonight epitomized that heroism at the end of the longest imprisonment ever inflicted on men of our armed forces. Who can ever forget that night when we waited for television to bring us the scene of that first plane landing at Clark field in the Philippines-bringing our POW's home. The plane door opened and Jeremiah Denton came slowly down the ramp. He caught sight of our flag, saluted, and said, "God bless America, " then thanked us for bringing him home."
An Honor To Serve
He was just a young man
When he first heard the call
Come and join in the battle
Come and give us your all
And he rose up to follow
Leaving all else behind
And he joined in this song
When he reached the front lines
CHORUS:
It's an honor to serve
To join in the fight
To lift up my voice
And to lay down my life
Giving glory to God
Seeking none in return
It's an honor an honor to serve
Now the day he was captured
They locked him in chains
And though weeks turned to years
Still his faith stayed the same
As his body was broken
His dark hair turned gray
But each night in his cell
He would stand up and say
CHORUS
Now one day the war finally came to an end
And he spoke with his heart as he stood with his men
*Spoken...
"We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances.
We are profoundly grateful to our commander-in-chief and to our nation for this day…God Bless America"
As they lifted the flag at the front of the crowd
I watched him stand up and bring his hand to his brow
Oh Lord help me remember what true honor means
And no matter the cost to stand up and sing
Dear LORD JESUS CHRIST, how I thank YOU for freeing me from my sins, by laying down YOUR life for me on the cross of Calvary. You were beaten beyond recognition, it says in Isaiah, spit upon, mocked, Your flesh was torn to pieces by pieces of sharp metal in the whip. My JESUS, it is an honor to serve you under difficult circumstances, for You left YOUR home in glory and suffered and died for me. When I am discouraged in my fight to liberate souls for you, help me to stand up and sing, "It's an honor to serve, to join in the fight, to lift up my voice, to lay down my life, giving glory to GOD seeking none in return, it's an honor and honor to serve." When I loose my focus that I am in a war, draw me back to YOU and help me to serve YOU with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.
With all HIS love,
mitzi
"Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of CHRIST JESUS. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. " 2 Timothy 2:3-4
To hear "An Honor to Serve" and watch an inspiring video about those who have paid the price for our freedom click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMIEgsV8QQg
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