Paul
complained that “no one” came to his defense/support (Jesus did) 2 Timothy
4:16. God complained that he looked on the earth and there was no intercessor
for man so he sent one (Isaiah 59:16). Moses interceded/prayed for the
children of Israel. What is an intercessor? It’s a person who
stands in the gap for another. It can be through prayer and/or
encouragement.
At my first defense, no one came to my
support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the
Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message
might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. 2 Timothy 4:16-17
I
see these two attitudes its called the victims and those who interrogate.
There are sheep and there are wolves. It’s the number of people that jump down
the victims cases and I’ve done it too. When my daughter was shot in the
face in a drive by shooting at a gas station, her friend was in the gas
station buying a coke and cigarettes. Some gang was shooting up the gas station,
and she looked up, a bullet came through her back windshield of her car, and it grazed her
ear and landed in her cheek. That was in 2005. This private
investigator man came over and interrogated her and he made her feel like the
instigator of the crime. Same thing that happens when anyone’s daughter
is kidnapped –the parents become on the list of possible suspects.
Job’s friends were the interrogators.
It's
a lot of pressure, but when I went through a divorce, I realized that if
I crumble than my five kids would basically fall and crumble too. The
Lord showed me how that I want to go to heaven most of the time and be with my
husband, but I considered if my husband was here in a wheelchair that I would
be happy. So he just reminded me that even though I'm in a wheelchair
emotionally for five years that my children appreciate that I am still here!
It’s a “common” temptation for those of us widows with grown
children. My mother had a very difficult time after over fifty years of
marriage in losing my father. I don’t see it as often with widows with
young children.
No temptation has seized you except what
is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so
that you can stand up under it. 1 Cor. 10:13
My
sister became Ruth to my mother when she lost her husband. It was tough
for my sister and my mother that I still had a husband and my sister’s second
husband had Alzheimer’s when he passed away. My sister had more in common
with my mother in spousal loss, and she was 12 years older than I
am. She passed away about five years after her second husband died, same with my mother.
I’ve
had several relatives in the past that have this rather martyr attitude in
life. It goes back to that man lying by the pool, and he says that
someone beats him to the punch bowl in getting dipped in the pool.
Who knows “if” an angel really stirred up the water or not. Here the guy
had the son of God (Jesus) standing right before him and what did he say, “No
one will put me in the pool.” So Jesus asks the man a question, “Would
you be made whole.”
When Jesus saw him lying there and
learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him,
"Do you want to get well?" Sir," the invalid replied, "I
have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am
trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus
said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was
cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5:6-8
Yes
God I would like to be made whole, I just can’t seem to find my way to the
freaking healing pool or punch bowl! AND I don’t see where the body of Christ
has ever been helpful because they are my interrogators rather than picking me
up to help me get in the pool! Obviously, Lord I need to call a lawyer!
Who
is our defense attorney?
My little children, these things write I
unto you, that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 1 John 2:1
And I will ask the Father, and he will
give you another Counselor to be with you forever—John 14:16
For there is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5
God
is our defender or defense attorney. When I became a Christian, I stood
up to give my testimony at my sister’s Baptist Church and they told me that my
sister and them had been praying for me. Right then I heard the Lord say,
“They stood in the gap for you and interceded that is why you are a believer
today.”
I
miss my husband’s prayer power, and I ask Jesus many times to pray through me to
others or to pray for me, I need his strength like Paul needed strength in the
absence of a prayer partner. Jesus is the best prayer partner one
can have. When I was a young Christian I had an illness and I started
travailing one day in weeping and groanings before God (Romans 8:26). I had
a prophesy at church that my high priest had made intercession for me. I
went and had the elders of the church lay hands on me, and I was healed of that
sickness. That is Jesus primary role now is he lives to intercede
for us.
For we do not have a high priest who is
unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted
in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Hebrews 4:15
Therefore he is able to save completely
those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for
them. Hebrews 7:25
A father to the fatherless, a
defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5
For your Maker is your husband--the Lord
Almighty is his name--the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer (Defender);
he is called the God of all the earth. Isaiah 54:5
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