I heard a singer named Ricardo Sanchez tell the story of a severe spinal injury to his son which he learned of while he had just deplaned at an airport. When his wife told him that the medical staff had told her that she needed to prepare for the worst, that he was not likely to survive, he sank to his knees before God, right there in the airport. With all those passing by just looking at the strange sight of a man on his face before God, he prayed. Though the news he had gotten was that the injury to his son was the same type that paralyzed the actor Christopher Reeve, and he was given no outward reason to hope, he heard the voice of the Spirit whisper to him, "It's not over." For 4 hours, he remained right where he was, praying, while his son was in surgery. In the 5th hour, his wife called him, and said that the surgical team could not account for why they had been able to repair the damage, but they had. With every voice screaming "It's over," the still, small voice of Christ whispered to his heart, "It's not over."
There is a greater truth here than what we might see on the surface. What happened for Sanchez's son is not a guarantee that you and I can expect the Father to respond to us in the same way when we find ourselves in hell's hallway. He is sovereign and His ways past all understanding, but we are guaranteed the power of His risen life there....if we'll receive it. The door we seek may not be the one we want, and may not lead to what we hoped for, but it will be His door, and His way, and He will, as He promised, bring eternal good for us, and great glory for Himself if we will go through it.
Sanchez said something that needs to be passed on to all who will hear. He said that in the hallway, we always cry out "Why?" He then made the picture of the letter Y with his hands, and said that the crook of that letter formed a valley, which is where we would find ourselves, in the valley. If we continue to demand to know why, we will remain in that valley, that hallway, trapped, but, and he moved his hands to illustrate, if we will extend our hands upward, in wholehearted worship, even in the valley, the hallway, we will then understand what it is to be lifted out of the pit of miry clay, even the darkest pit and most paralyzing clay.
All of us at some point will come to the hallway, with seemingly no way out. Will we insist on asking Him why, or will we worship? We can do this, even in the hallway of hell. The next door is always found if we will dare to look up.....to Him.
Blessings,
Pastor O
There is a greater truth here than what we might see on the surface. What happened for Sanchez's son is not a guarantee that you and I can expect the Father to respond to us in the same way when we find ourselves in hell's hallway. He is sovereign and His ways past all understanding, but we are guaranteed the power of His risen life there....if we'll receive it. The door we seek may not be the one we want, and may not lead to what we hoped for, but it will be His door, and His way, and He will, as He promised, bring eternal good for us, and great glory for Himself if we will go through it.
Sanchez said something that needs to be passed on to all who will hear. He said that in the hallway, we always cry out "Why?" He then made the picture of the letter Y with his hands, and said that the crook of that letter formed a valley, which is where we would find ourselves, in the valley. If we continue to demand to know why, we will remain in that valley, that hallway, trapped, but, and he moved his hands to illustrate, if we will extend our hands upward, in wholehearted worship, even in the valley, the hallway, we will then understand what it is to be lifted out of the pit of miry clay, even the darkest pit and most paralyzing clay.
All of us at some point will come to the hallway, with seemingly no way out. Will we insist on asking Him why, or will we worship? We can do this, even in the hallway of hell. The next door is always found if we will dare to look up.....to Him.
Blessings,
Pastor O
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