Friday, March 05, 2010

Dancing with Jesus 3-5-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I lift up Your name and lift up my heart in the communion of prayer. … “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let Him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17-18). My friend Ann’s wheelchair is finally empty today. Her hard-fought, long-fought battle with the symptoms of multiple sclerosis is finally won. Her dream of rising up to dance with Jesus is finally fulfilled. The victory of her healing came in the resurrection that she’s living now and forever in the glory of Your Presence. Until the moment of her last breath on this side of heaven, she kept trusting You, entrusting herself to You, seeking her healing but seeking You even more. And in amazing, spiritual stories of Your tender mercies and abiding Presence that I’ll leave for her husband and family to tell in their way and in their time, You made Yourself so real in the final, sacred days of her time on earth, so embraced in love. Ann knew her healing might not come on this side of heaven. She knew the Kingdom of God has invaded earth through the Presence and Spirit of Christ, but that the fullness of that Kingdom will not yet be fully manifested until Christ returns again. She knew her part was to believe, to pray, to agree with God’s Word, revealing God’s will. She would not bow down to the sickness, infirmity, and disease that sought to take her faith and her life. She would not bow down to death. She kept looking to You, worshipping You, bowing to You alone, walking with her family and friends in the grace and the faith You gave her every day. Death had no victory; death had no sting. “When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be finally fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). The Author and Finisher of Life and Faith delivered her out of the grip of death and into the arms of our Father, who’s embracing her now and forever in the fullness of His love. There are no wheelchairs in heaven. And in heaven there is no death, but only life—life lived more abundantly than we could ever ask or imagine. So in the faith that Ann and Mike lived out before us all, never bowing to anything less than the fullness of the Word of God, she no longer has to walk by faith, for her faith has now become sight. We celebrate for her in heaven, even as we mourn the loss of her here on earth. And we take great delight in knowing Ann is now finally healed, whole, and fully free. In the glory of heaven, she’s dancing with Jesus. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please join me in covering the family of Ann & Mike Troutman in your prayers through this time of both celebration and mourning, tears and joy. God bless you. Subscribe for free by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502