M. Karen Brewer photo

Jackie Dark with her Pastor's wife, Shirley Gallamore

     In the book The Hiding Place, Corrie Tin Boom quoted her sister Betsy, who died in a concentration camp, as saying, "Corrie, there is no pit so deep that Jesus is not deeper still." It’s getting harder and harder to be a Christian and will continue to be so as the coming of our Lord grows near. We must remember that no pit is so deep that Jesus is not deeper still. He is sufficient.

     Dr. Spurgeon wrote, "How much do you owe your Lord? Has he ever done anything for you? Has He forgiven your sins? Has he covered you with his robe of righteousness? Has he set your feet on a rock, the rock Christ Jesus? Has He written your name in His Book of Life? Has He given you countless blessings? Has He laid up for you a store of mercy that eye has not seen or ear heard? Do something for Jesus, for He is worthy of your love." I would add, and your devotion.

     How devoted are you to Jesus Christ? Can you really say, from the bottom of your heart, Worthy is the lamb, for everything that I am, for everything He calls me to go through, for every broken heart, for every hurt. He is worthy that I give Him glory and praise. You have a choice to be shaped by the world or to be shaped by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, to be made in the image of Jesus Christ.

     Isn’t that amazing? He gave Himself a ransom for you and for me, and He gives us a choice on how we’re going to live our lives, whether for him or very haphazardly as His child. Misery, true misery is a born-again child of God who lives their own life the way they want to live it. That’s the way the average Christian is living today, not devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ, but doing their own thing and giving God the leftovers. I think - worthy is the Lamb.

     In Romans 2:4, the Word challenges us by saying Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Aren’t you glad He’s longsuffering? I am. That’s a key verse in my life, because I remember when God took us out of baseball for two and a half years and took us to His Bible school. We had the most wonderful two and a half years to live by faith. God got us back in the Word, which we never should have left. Even when we were living our own lives, He was Lord of our lives in spite of our actions. His goodness—and we deserved none of that—led us to repentance.

     God is not going to fail you, and He’s not going to fail me. It’s not that we deserve it, but because He is our loving, all-sufficient God. The goodness of God leads all to repentance, whether we have a little to repent of or a lot to repent of. That’s where we should be led, day after day after day, and we cannot unless we let the Word speak to us every day and walk with God. It will speak, because it is the written Word. Jesus is the living Word.

     Acts 2:23 tells us, Jesus, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God the Father—Every time I read a verse like that, I am almost frozen in faith. Tears just flow, to think that God the Father delivered Jesus up for me, for my sins. He delivered God the Son for me and for you. Nobody else has ever done that for you. The spotless Lamb of God did that for you and for me, and the Father gave us Him. In his foreknowledge, He said, "Oh, those precious ones, they’re lost. They have no hope. Their destination is hell." And the Son came, and He died for you and for me. And we live a life apart from dedication to the One who did that? Shame on us. Shame on us.

     In John 10:15, Jesus said, "I lay down my life for the sheep." I looked at that verse, and I thought, ‘Lord, You laid down Your life for me. How many times have I laid down my life for you?’ And I say that to you. How many times have you laid down your life, your will, the way you think things should be, for Jesus Christ? He laid his life down for you and for me. It’s incumbent upon me to wear his brand. I am Christ’s possession, to lay down my life the way I might want it to work out. Christ is leading, and He knows best and is conforming me. When all is said and done, I will say, ‘Lord, it was perfect.’

     F.B. Myers wrote that the holy life is not an attainment, but an attitude. Holiness is not an acquirement of which we may boast, but it is an openness of the soul toward the Lord Jesus as a window un-shuttered and un-curtained to let light in. The more that we walk like that—with the attitude that, ‘I’m nothing without you, Lord Jesus; in my flesh dwells no good thing’—we let in the light of God’s Word, the light of our Saviour, and let it start transforming us.

     He went on to say that the believer is never independent of Jesus. There is no Christian that didn’t have an independent spirit that had to be broken by the will of God.

     Every moment, we are receiving out of His fullness, and He gives us grace upon grace. Has He not bestowed grace upon grace on your life? Were it not for grace, where would we be?

     He finishes by saying, "We do not receive our qualities and attributes apart from the Lord Jesus." There are a lot of puffed up Christians who think they’re a feather in God’s cap, but we never receive any qualities and attributes apart from Christ Jesus. He imparts them for us to bring Him glory through them. We should be the most amazed that we have them. The glory of God’s assignment and the attributes He gives us should give Him praise, for, in receiving Him, we attain all. All we need is to serve Him as He has ordained for us to serve Him.

     And everyone is different. You may not be special to anybody else on earth, but you are to Jesus. You are special and wonderfully made. Don’t compare yourself with anybody else.

     He teaches us that we may know Him. He indwells that we may be just like Jesus. The more the Holy Spirit takes over my life, the more He indwells, the more I can minister to others. He wants that for all of us, every single one of us.

     There is somebody we’re supposed to be ministering to. I’ve heard our Pastor say a lot lately that maybe somebody just needs a hug. There are more people who need hugs than we can almost hug. This is a tough world, and it’s tougher for Christians now than it has ever been. We were kind of in the majority when I was growing up. Have you noticed we’re not? Our standards have to be visible, but our love must abound. "God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." If a holy God can do that, we can do that. There should be no one on the face of this earth that we don’t show love for.

     Romans 4:17 says that God gives life to the dead. I wonder how many were in spiritual death after salvation. The road that you chose was unwise. Circumstances seemed to lead you afar from church—and when you get far from church you get far from the Word, and when you get far from the Word, you get far from the Lord. God gives life back to the dead. Where Jesus resides, there’s always life. He wants us to have life more abundantly, and the only way you and I can have life abundantly is in the fullness of Jesus living in and through us. It’s the ultimate abundant life. It’s the only one terrorists can’t take away, hurricanes can’t take away, and the economy going in the dumpsters can’t take away. It’s the life that Jesus gives to the yielded saint.

     Romans 4:25 says, Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification. I hate injustice, but, when it comes to true justice, I deserve hell. Yet He died for you and for me to make us just before the Father.

     Isaiah 53:5 says, But he was wounded for our transgressions. So many times, I’ve said, "Lord, don’t you care that I’m so wounded? Does it not matter to you?" And then I have to go back to the Word. And Jesus says, ‘Jackie, I was wounded for your transgressions, and I did nothing. I chose to be wounded to pay for your transgression, and I was bruised for your iniquity.’ And the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

     When the Lord was taking me in and out of His ‘woodshed’, as I would read the Word of God, I realized that, every time that I chose not to seek His face, not to do it His way, I put another stripe on my Lord Jesus. Every sin that we shall ever commit adds to His burden on Calvary for you and for me. The sin we did today was another blow on our Saviour. We don’t live as if that’s so, but, dear one, that’s eternally so.

     I hear women say, "You just don’t know what I live through. I just have to let it out." Dear one, you don’t have to let it out. You can give it to Jesus and trust Him with the matter. Every time we let words come out of our mouths uncontrolled, we have bruised Him and wounded Him afresh and anew.

     We’re so good at looking at the lost, but we in the family are the worst. We have a lot of work to do before we can obey the Great Commission. If we’re in Christ Jesus, we’re all in the family. We, the family, have to work on us, so that, whenever they see us or wherever they hear us, they will not have a mark against Jesus because of what we said or what we did or how we looked. This is serious business, because the lost are not going to be won if the church of the living God does not die to self, that He might come forth in His fullness. They won’t listen unless they see—and they see it when we’re under fire—that the love of Jesus comes forth. They all want it. They just don’t believe it is.

     Isaiah 53:10 says, It pleased the LORD—God the Father—to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief. Think of a Daddy that would give his life for his children. Or the thought of that daddy bruising his son and putting him to grief for somebody he loved, even. But think—if this is for an enemy, would he do it? No, it’s beyond our reckoning. We must accept how much God loved us, that He would bruise His own Son and put Him to grief.

     I Peter 2:24 says, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. What does that say—that we, being dead to sin? That means that we’re not supposed to live in the flesh anymore. We’re supposed to be dead to that. We live under righteousness. And how do I do that? First, your self has to die, and your self has to die daily and moment by moment by moment. This old flesh will rear up any old time. You don’t have to encourage it. But the Lord says that we, being dead to sin, should – that’s an absolute – live under righteousness. That’s how we should live. Is that what those who are closest to you could say about you—a mark of Jesus having His way in your life?

     So often, I’ve heard preachers preach about John the Beloved and how he felt so loved by the Lord. He was comfortable, as little children are when they know Grandma and Grandpa and Mommy and Daddy love them, and they can cuddle up. It’s my longing to see God’s women realize that He beckons you and beckons me to come close, to cuddle up, and to say, "Lord Jesus, put your arms around me." He says, ‘I’ll hide you. I’ll shelter you." He’s longing for that to be so. If you do not practice that, Satan will have a substitute.

     I don’t believe God ever lets the needs of any child of God to be met, because then we would never come to Him. We would never seek His face. We would never cuddle up and say, "Here I come, Daddy God. I’m getting in your lap. Please put your arms around me. Lord Jesus, would you please rock me tonight. This is a difficult night. There isn’t anybody I can talk to who understands. I can’t even tell you, but you know, because the Holy Spirit tells you." If you do not do that, you will not have the strength to be a soldier of the cross in the tough times. But walk, knowing there is one who loves you completely and that He’s never going to leave you. He’s never going to forsake you. He always listens to you. He doesn’t say, "Well, that’s enough. Dry your eyes." It isn’t that way with God.

     Every life has holes. Some are bigger than others, but every life has those holes. If you don’t let Jesus fill those holes, Satan will get you. Mark it down, he will. He’s much too clever for us. He knows our weaknesses. That’s why your love for Jesus has to increase every single day. The only way to have it increase is to get to know Him intimately.

     You can read, but, until you obey Him and, therefore, learn to trust Him, you won’t know Him. You’re just going to have a lot of knowledge. He’s our forever husband. How will it be with you when you get home to heaven? Is your forever husband going to be a stranger to you, or will you know Him?

     I don’t know what Jesus looks like, but the longer I walk with Him and learn of Him, the more I know what He looks like. Could I paint Him? No. I just know He’s worthy. He’s worthy of praise every moment of every day. He’s worthy. I would love for more sisters in Christ to deem Him so. And we would see tremendous love given to the Saviour, so that people will say, "They’re His disciples. Look how they love one another and how they love the Lord."

This story, originally published in The Christian View magazine, may not be reprinted in part or whole without prior written permission from the author. Photo may not be used without permission from the photographer.