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27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot. 28 Haran died [k]in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah [l]and Iscah. 30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out [m]together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and [n]settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

We will take a break from Mephibosheth for one day to talk about Lent. As many of you know, today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. The word Lent means to lengthen. It’s a season where God lengthens (stretches) us spiritually. During Lent, at an extravagant level, we allow the Holy Spirit to examine us, and convict us of anything that challenges the Lordship of Christ in our lives. We allow Him to deal with us down to the attitudes of our hearts. During Lent we intentionally fast, expressing our desperate desire to become more like Jesus in our walk. Lent reminds us of how needy we are, and how much we need Him to cleans every part of us so that He, who alone can live the Christian life, can live more freely, and fully through us. In verse 31we are told that instead of making it all the way to Canaan, Terah settled in Haran and died there. The word Haran means “half way.”. This is what Lent is about. It’s about dealing with those things in our lives that would make us settle for half way instead of going all the way into the land of promise where we get to enjoy our full inheritance In Christ. Don’t be afraid to come clean before God in this season, for you won’t find rejection on the other side of owning your stuff. Instead, you will find mercy and forgiveness, healing, and a fresh filling. Lent is to prepare each of us to experience a new personal Easter of resurrection life, overwhelming us in our daily lives. May this Lent issue each of us into a new Chamber closer to the heartbeat of Jesus. Have a great Ash Wednesday, and a Holy Lent.

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2 Samuel 9

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

1 Then David said, “Is there yet [a]anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.” 4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” 7 David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the [b]land of your [c]grandfather Saul; and you shall [d]eat at my table regularly.” 8 Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?”

Let’s talk a little about Mephibosheth. As I mentioned yesterday, he is broken and hiding in a place called Lode-bar. When he was 5 both his father, Jonathan, and his grandfather, Saul, we’re killed at the hands of the Philistines. Mephibosheth was being cared for by a Handmaiden and when she heard that both father, and grandfather had been killed she feared that they would come and kill the child since he would be a possible heir to Israel’s throne, so she took the child and ran. While running, she dropped the young boy and he suffered some kind of spinal injury and was crippled in both feet for the rest of his life. Later in his chapter we are told that he had a son named Micah, but there is no mention of a wife. Obviously life had not been good to Mephiposheth. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to support and raise a young son being that severely handicapped. He likely dealt with a lot of bitterness. Surely he had heard about how close his Dad was to David, and the covenant between them. Why after all these years didn’t he go see David and ask for his covenental rights. He must have been afraid. In verse 7 when he is brought into David’s presence, David encourages him to fear not. What was he afraid of? We can only guess, but I believe his fear was on several levels. For one thing I think he was convinced that David might do him harm if David found him. He was Saul’s descendent, and therefore David might think he could be a threat to the throne. Perhaps also, he simply believed that in light of his own brokeness and messed up life he didn’t qualify for the blessings his father had earned for him. The bottom line is, I believe he knew about the covenant, but couldn’t believe it was for him. He believed the lie that he was disqualified. He simply was too big of a mess. He wasn’t good enough. Sounds like us doesn’t it. We hear about all that’s ours In Christ but we are convinced that God couldn’t love us, because we are too messed up, and haved messed up too many things. All that blessing stuff has to be for those people the Father is proud of, not us. We don’t deserve it. We try to earn it, but we just don’t ever seem to get it quite right. I’ll leave you with this today. Mephibosheth didn’t have to act like a Kings Kid to earn his right to sit at the table and enjoy the Kings presence and provision. He first had to receive his right to sit at the table and enjoy the Kings presence and provision so he could start acting like a Kings Kid. That’s God’s order. We don’t change to get grace, we get grace to change.

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2 Samuel 9

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

1 Then David said, “Is there yet [a]anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.” 4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” 7 David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the [b]land of your [c]grandfather Saul; and you shall [d]eat at my table regularly.” 8 Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?”

David wanted to bless Jonathan’s descendants because of what Jonathan had done. He wanted to give them what Jonathan earned, and deserved. He wanted to give them all that belonged to Jonathan. This is our grace covenant with God. If you are In Christ then you get what He earned, what He deserved, what belongs to Him. It’s got nothing to do with whether you deserve it or not, but does He, and you are In Him. Ephesians 1:3 says that we have been blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing in the Heavenly Places In Christ. That’s true for every Christian, whether we take advantage of those blessings or not.
When David inquired about whether there was anyone left of the house of Saul, a former servant of Saul’s named Ziba said that there was still a living son of Jonathan who was loving in Lode-bar.
For some reason, Ziba felt led to identify him as “crippled in both feet”, as if to say, yes there is one descendant but he is pretty messed up, and broken and doesn’t have much value. That’s what the devil tells lots of Christians. He tells them that they are so broken God could never use them, and they can never really be an Overcomer in this life. The name Mephibosheth comes from two Hebrew words. One means “Shattered,” and the other means “A Thing of Shame.” What a name; A Shattered Thing of Shame. He had another name, Meribaal, which means “God Contends.” The word Lode-bar means, “Famine.” This broken person is hiding (which we will talk more about tomorrow) in a place of famine. At least God is still contending with him. No matter how broken we are, and no matter how long we’ve been hiding out in a place of spiritual famine God never stops contending with us, and He never stops pursuing us to bring us into the blessings of Christ that Jesus purchased for us. None of us would have ever sought Him if He hadn’t sought us first. Have a great day knowing that if You’ve been pursued by someone so magnificent there must be something extraordinarily wonderful about you.

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2 Samuel 9

David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth

1 Then David said, “Is there yet [a]anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.” 4 So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” 7 David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the [b]land of your [c]grandfather Saul; and you shall [d]eat at my table regularly.” 8 Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?”

I thought we would take a number of days and take a look at this story about David and Mephibosheth. One of the great stories in scripture. We will look at this chapter metaphorically. We will see David as a type of God the Father, Jonathan as a type of Jesus, and Mephibosheth as us, played out in this chapter. Let’s start by getting a little background. David and Jonathan were best friends and they had entered into covenant with each other. Simplified, Covenant means what belongs to me belongs to you, and your friends are my friends, and your enemies are my enemies. This is also true about our offspring for they are In You, and I will treat them as you. They made these pledges to each other. The only condition was that each kept covenant with each other by staying loyal and faithful to each other in their love and friendship. 1Samuel 20:14-17,42; 14 If I am still alive, will you not show me the lovingkindness of the LORD, that I may not die? 15 You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, not even when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD require it at the hands of David’s enemies.” 17 Jonathan made David vow again because of his love for him, because he loved him as he loved his own life, 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’” Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city.The scripture says about the friendship between the two was that they were “one soul” with each other.
This story picks up many years after the covenant was made. Jonathan died at the hands of the Philistines when Mephibosheth was only 5 years old, and in 2 Samuel 9, Mephipbosheth is old enough to have a young son. At this point David remembers the covenant and asks the question, “Is there anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake.” David initiates the pursuit. He wants to bless any descendant of Jonathan’s, for Jonathan’s sake. He wants to bless them because Jonathan earned it, not anything they earned. He wants to give them what Jonathan deserved, what belongs to Jonathan, only because by being Jonathan’s descendant they were In Jonathan. That’s the way of the grace of God. He longs to bless us. He initiates favor. As a matter of fact, we will see that David didn’t just inquire, he pursued the one he wanted to bless. Just think, not only is God not reluctant to bless you, He is pursuing you to show you kindness, all because Jesus earned it. Wow. More tomorrow. Have a great Lord’s day In Christ.

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12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

I’ve always loved these verses from 1Tim.6. So many Christians have been robbed of just the wonder of what it means to be a Christian. It seems that many, are just holding on to life instead of taking hold of life, and celebrating the life that we have In Christ. As believers, we don’t just have life in this fallen world, we have eternal life. Eternal life is not about duration, though it does last forever and will never quit getting better everyday, but it’s about a kind of life.Don’t wait to enjoy it when you die. It’s a Today Life to be enjoyed now. It’s a life described by John as life that’s more abundant. Again, John in 17:3 says its a life of enjoying the intimate and experiential presence of Jesus everyday that lasts forever. Just think, you get to face today knowing Jesus as your love and your very life. You are His treasure, and He is the treasure that lives in the vessel of your humanity. What could be more exciting. All that He is, and all that He has, for all that you need every moment, and in every situation. No longer living as a victim, in fear and self pity, but attacking life as the container of the Victorious One who shares His more than conquering life with us. Don’t be a survivor, instead be an overcomer In Christ. Don’t just endure the day like the lost around you who are just trying to squeeze everything they can out of this fallen world. Be one who Takes Hold of the transcendent Eternal Life that is our privilege to live here and forever. Have a great day In Christ, abandoned to His abundance.

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Isa 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

I was thinking about this verse yesterday and how much hoped it offered. To be ransomed is to be set free. To be set free is personal revival. I think every time we take the opportunity to genuinely repent and surrender in a new place there is new freedom, and refreshed revival. Luke 8 says, “blessed are those who weep (over their sin) for they shall laugh.” Awesome word. Those who live in the sheer wonder of a repentant, and surrendered life experience everlasting joy, not occasional joy, upon their heads. Sounds fun doesn’t it. Most of the times our heads in this fallen world are not in a good place. Just think, everlasting joy on your head. This verse also say that if you have gladness and joy, sorrow and sighing will flee away. What a great approach to inner healing, instead of constantly digging around to find what is wrong, just come into a place where you are overtaken by joy and gladness. When you do, sorrow and sighing can’t hang around. It’s hard to remember all the yuk when you are partying on the inside. Have a great day On Christ.

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Deliver me out of the sadness
Deliver me from all the madness
Deliver me courage to guide me
Deliver me Your strength inside me

CHORUS:
All of my life
I’ve been in hiding
Wishing there was someone just like You
Now that You’re here
Now that I’ve found You
I know that You’re the One to pull me through

Deliver me loving and caring
Deliver me giving and sharing
Deliver me this cross that I’m bearing

Oh, deliver me

Jesus, Jesus how I trust You
How I’ve proved You o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus
Deliver me
Come and pull me through
Come pull me through

This a song that came from a movie. I’m not sure the name, and Sarah Brighten did this on the soundtrack. David Crowder, a great Christian worship leader redid it, and these are the words. This word is for the 15th, but I’m writing it on Valentines day. I was thinking tonight about those of you who might be particularly lonely on valentines day because you’ve lost someone, or have been abandoned by someone. This song has always meant so much to me because the chorus so expresses my heart about my relationship with Jesus. God has been so good to me by giving me an awesome family, but the ultimate love of my life is Jesus. I’ve shared my story about how He found me in such brokenness and loneliness. I feared that I would be alone all of my life. I was so insecure, and had such a shattered self image that I was hiding away in fear, wishing someone would come along and rescue me from my deep loneliness. I had dreamed and fantasized about what kind of person that might be and then Jesus came along and rescued me and delivered me with His furious and relentless love. I never knew I could be loved like that. His overwhelming love gave me such a sense of worth and value, and His presence became so real that the loneliness became a distant memory and a constant reminder of how awesome He is. His joy over me is still so liberating. I finally became someone’s valentine. Someone so special and so satisfying that I felt such sorrow for those who didn’t have a Beloved like my Beloved. “I am my Beloved’s and He is mine,” and His banner over me is love. Amazing, and still is today. The life of the Shulamite is such an amazing adventure, and to think, if you are a believer you get to live that life. Even though this is a day late, Happy Valentine to all of you whose Beloved is Jesus. All of my life I’d been in hiding, wishing there was someone just like you (Jesus) now that you’re here now that I’ve found you, I know that you’re the one to pull me through. Finding Him is the greatest moment of my life. Have a great day being His beloved.

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Jeremiah 15:18-19
18 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you—
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [a]My spokesman.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7, 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in [b]any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are [c]ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

The Jeremiah passage says that if we seek the Lord and extract the precious from the worthless, we will become His spokesman. During those dark those places, if we instead of giving into despair and depression we extract those holy treasures that Jesus has for us not only will we grow in likeness to Him and love for Him, we will also have precious things to give away to others. In those dark times we discover, at new depths, His great merciful and compassionate heart for us. We also discover new depths of His great grace to sustain us in our hours of desperation, and His ability to heal and restore our broken hearts. That grace and mercy discovered, becomes anointed ministry that we can give away. In other words according to the 2 Corinthians passage, what we have received for our help and healing we are able to share and give to others with absolute conviction, because of our own testimony. The word “comfort” is the Greek word “Paraclete” which is the word for Holy Spirit. In our pain, the Holy spirit comes and empowers us to keep going and He heals us. From that healed place the Lord will bring hurting people into your life so hat you can give The Holy Spirit to them. This is how true anointed ministry comes. This is the School of Christ. Anointing doesn’t come from education, though I’m not against education. What you’ve memorized doesn’t change my life, but what you’ve experienced of the Holy Spirit that has transformed you does change my life. As I’ve grown older and I look back at all those time in this fallen world that I have experienced life transformational encounters with Christ, I realize that my history has really become HIS-STORY. That story is our ministry. Have a great day In Christ living HIS-STORY.

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Jeremiah 15:18-19
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

18 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you—
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [a]My spokesman.

I keep posting this verse as we talk about walking through dark times because I think it has so much to say. To extract something involves a little work. Convinced of His goodness and wisdom, we press in to the heart of God during dark times knowing that there are precious things to be extracted there. A great Christian once said that we only advance through adversity. When you go through dark places ask the Lord to not change the situation until He has done all the things He wants to do in you. I’ve done that a number of times in my walk with Jesus. It was always a little scary because my flesh just wanted the pain to go away, but I always found that those days that He fed me and sustained me with the most precious words that proceeded from His mouth were the most transforming days of my life. That’s what He said about the Israelites when He led them through the wilderness. Deuteronomy 8 says that he taught them in the wilderness to live by the words that proceed from the mouth of God. He was preparing them for there place of purpose and destiny. In those dark hours I discovered so much about Him and myself. I realized again how much I need Him and how much He loves me. I learned about the lesser lobes i had so grown to count on. His heart is so tender toward us when we seek Him with our broken hearts, and we come into a new place of being set apart for His affection and His Heavenly purposes. This fallen world becomes so distant and His beauty becomes so much of our reality. We live in a fallen world and He will not spare us from all pain, but He will liberate us through our losses. Love is the great game changer. When you are lovesick you live liberated, caught up into transcendent affections that somehow set you apart from what’s going on around you. Gloriously, when we suffer loss we find Him tender and strong in ways that are transformational. We fall in love with Jesus again, but each time more profoundly as we discover we are created for Him and for His affections. As we grow in love sickness with Jesus, we too become set apart, otherworldly, for there is no love like being loved by Him and loving Him back. Well, we will talk about this a little more tomorrow. Have a great day In Christ our Beloved.

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Jeremiah 15:18-19
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

18 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you—
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [a]My spokesman.

It feels like that sometimes, that our wound is incurable. It seems that it’s never going to go away. Everybody tells us it is but, it feels like it never will. There are just those things that we carry in the deep recesses of our heart that no one really understands. People mean well, but often their council seems like simple noise that can’t relate to our fears and sorrow. We even find ourselves like in verse 18 angry at God, for after all He could have kept this dark place away. Its ok, God is a Big Boy and He can take it. He is not keeping score. He just wants to love on you and heal you. That’s a very lonely place, and in those times we need to hear from someone who can speak into the depths of our souls words of life and resurrection. This is a simple word for today. The Lord said in verse 19 to seek Him. you might say, “listen Brother, I’m too shattered to pray, read, etc.” Again, God understands who you are. He created those amazingly glorious and complicated emotions of yours. If you are able, then get with Him and ask Him to help you extract the precious from the worthless in this situation. If you aren’t there yet, just ask Him to help you stand (emotionally) enough just to seek Him. He will honor that desire for He longs your presence. It ravishes His heart. When those dead things in us hear the Voice of Christ, they come alive as He breathes the breath of life in us through His words. He will heal and reveal Himself to, and in you, as your very life. God has given us all kinds of awesome stuff, especially relationships, but it is in those time when Jesus is all we’ve got, that we discover He is all we need. Its not that we don’t need people and the the things of this life, but it’s just that we find that on a totally different level He is our all in all. More tomorrow. Have a great day In Christ, in Whose presence is fullness of joy.

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3 “I will give you the [a]treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

18 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you—
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [a]My spokesman.

Psalm 97
1 The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

I added this extra verse from Psalm 97 because it says that even when clouds and thick darkness surround Him, He still reigns. He is still on the throne, reigning when there are clouds and thick darkness everywhere. When things are dark it often feels very confusing and scary, as if everything is out of control and in painful chaos. The truth is, that when we find ourself in a worthless place we need to start our journey from the perspective that as bad as it may hurt, and as dark as it may be, the one who gave His life for us is still reigning over all, including the details of your lives. I have a very simple systematic theology. It has three tenants. HEAVEN RULES, GOD LOVES, JESUS ROCKS. That’s it. God is Big, God is Good, and Jesus is Bad to the Bone. It’s really important that you settle those first two long before you get into crises. If not, you will find your self in the midst of your pain putting God on trial and questioning His goodness. If you already have those first two settled then you begin your journey out of pain and fear knowing that He reigns, and that the one who is in control of your life is good and doing good because He loves you so fiercely and unconditionally. Oh yeah, about the third great truth of my sophisticated systematic theology:) you can absolutely know that in this dark place the One who Rocks will so draw you in that He will more than abundantly replace all your loss with Himself. Paul actually said to this fallen world, “Bring it on” because I’m willing to suffer the loss of all things that I may gain Christ. Now that’s an attitude that scares the pants off the devil. Look, loss is awful, but again Paul said that even in his time of sorrowing, he was always rejoicing. How can that be? I believe because he knew that the many treasures that come out of darkness, especially the treasure of Union with Christ, far exceed the losses. More about this next time. Have a great day In Christ celebrating the One Who Reigns even when there are clouds and thick darkness.

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Isaiah 45:3 “I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

Jeremiah15:18-19 Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you—
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become My spokesman.

In a lot of ways these two verses separate those who live consistently free and those who don’t. It is easy to walk in the Spirit, and to live by faith when there is no pain, and no disappointments. People who live a truly, “Life on the Highest Plane” kind of life are those who have learned to find Christ in the most difficult and painful places. We live in a fallen world, and as a result, painful things happen. We have no control over that. If we can’t see goodness in these places and find Christ there, we will live a large portion of our lives in despair, depression, or bitterness. All of those hard places represent opportunity; an opportunity for the enemy of our souls to kill, steal, and destroy, or an opportunity for us to discover hidden treasures imbedded in the darkness that can transform our lives and identify the ministries Christ has called us to. As I have shared, through my own mental illness (mental illness is a genuine dark place) that I discovered the most precious things I have ever learned. In that seemingly worthless place called mental illness I was able to extract precious treasures that changed my life forever. That was 36 years ago, and those treasures that were extracted form that horrible place still direct and dominate my every thought and action. I wouldn’t trade that dark place for anything. I can say with David, “Surely the lines have fallen to me in beautiful places.” if you are in a dark place that just seems to have no obvious value then hopefully I will be able to help you extract the precious from that worthless, and discover the treasures that are hidden in the darkness. Have a great day In Christ knowing that even the darkness serves you.