10K in 20 Days

Hello my few and faithful readers!

I may have a small following here, and today I wish I had the ability to influence thousands, but I believe that even the handful of you who read this blog can make a HUGE impact TODAY!

A blog I read, Storing Up Treasures, is running an incredible fundraiser to bring in $10,000 in 20 days to help 26 families in their adoptions!  They are asking that you give just a measley $5 (but I dare you to give more!) to contribute to financing these families as they seek to bring their babies home. 

Today, YOU can make a very real difference in the lives of 26 orphans!  I encourage you to go over there and GIVE with a generous heart!

Help Haiti Live

Several weeks have passed since Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake, yet this nation is still in desperate need of aid.  In addition to our prayers here is another opportunity for you to help Haiti with an upcoming ticketed concert event taking place at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, on February 27th, 2010 to benefit Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund. The event will also be streamed live at HelpHaitiLive.com for those who cannot attend the concert in person.

100% of on-line donations through HelpHaitiLive.com will go to Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund as well as 100% of net proceeds from ticket sales!  “Help Haiti Live” is a production of Shaun Groves and  Synergy Production Group for Compassion International.  Some of the artists who will be performing include:

• Big Kenny
• Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas
• Jars of Clay
• Mat Kearney
• Brandon Heath
• Dave Barnes
• Matt Wertz

Compassion has been assisting children and families in Haiti for over 40 years and have been distributing relief to the Haitians after this disaster with water, food, cooking items, hygiene kits, medical supplies, temporary shelter, blankets and more!  Most importantly though, they have been doing it unashamedly in the name of Jesus Christ, working through local churches and ministries to show the love of God to those in need.  I would encourage you to consider how you can give and partner with Compassion in this benefit concert in order to support their relief efforts in Haiti for months to come!

Also, on a sidenote, I’d like to bring attention to a personal friend of mine, Kristi, who is going down to Haiti to provide medical care to those suffering in Haiti – please check out her blog and consider supporting her financially in this outreach – thanks!

Ways to Help the Haiti Earthquake Victims

Like many others, today we are both grieved by the devastation in Haiti and grateful for God’s provision in our lives as we see how much we have to be thankful for in light of so many people’s great loss.  Also, like many, we are asking “How can I help?” 

First of all, we can PRAY.  Some things to pray for…

1. Provision of food, water, shelter and aid to get to the victims.
2. Anointing and power upon the local churches that they could minister effectively to those in need.
3. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit for healing (physical & emotional), resurrection, and salvations.
4. Provision for Christian crisis relief and aid organizations to be able to get into Haiti and help these victims in the name of Jesus.
5. Comfort, strength, and hope for those who have lost loved ones.
6. Revival – that many would realize their deep need for a Savior and turn from their sin and turn to God.
7. For adoptions of Haitian orphans currently in process to be allowed to go through quickly – see article here.  People in Canada and the United States are speaking up on behalf of these orphans and fighting to make it possible for them to be brought home to their adoptive families.

Secondly, we can GIVE.  A warning before you donate, though, is that there are already people seeking to take advantage of this disaster through Haiti charity scams.  Check out this article for ways to avoid being scammed and how you can ensure you give to trustworthy charities.  Now here are just a few Christian organizations that have come to my attention that I think would be worthy of receiving financial aid right now who are seeking to respond to this crisis in Haiti.  I’m sure there are many more – perhaps you can leave them in the comments if you know of some – but here are ones I would recommend…

Compassion International - Because Compassion International ministers through local churches to meet the needs of that church’s neighbors, and because these church partners are respected aid workers in their communities, Compassion is uniquely positioned to assess and meet the needs of it’s sponsored children quickly. This is an advantage of their church-based model in practice for more than 50 years.  Also, Compassion has been given the highest approval rating by both www.CharityNavigator.com and The American Institute of Philanthropy.  They are a trusted charity who is committed to giving all funds raised in response to the Haiti earthquake  immediately to provide for Compassion-assisted children and families affected by this crisis. Any funds raised in excess will be stewarded by Compassion for additional and future disaster relief efforts. You can provide immediate relief to the Haiti Earthquake victims today.
• $35 helps provide a relief pack filled with enough food and water to sustain a family for one week.
• $70 gift helps care for their needs for two weeks.
• $105 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain two families for two weeks.
• $210 gift helps care for two families’ needs.
• $525 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain 10 families for two weeks.
• $1,050 gift helps care for 10 families’ needs.
• $1,500 helps rebuild a home.
• $2,100 helps supply 20 families with the basics for three weeks.

Crisis Response International – CRI is a non-profit organization that resources, trains and mobilizes volunteers, churches and other organizations to respond to disasters and other  compassion initiatives in the UnitedStates and world-wide.  Their vision is to train an army of end-time, prophetic, mercy missionaries, mobilized in the spirit of night and day prayer, to release great demonstrations of power, reach the harvest in crisis and rebuild cities on the Kingdom of God.  Presently CRI is collaborating efforts with Haitian national churches to bring relief and mobilize volunteers to the area. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring the Love and hope of Jesus Christ into this hurting area. Reports on CNN stated that people were screaming in the streets “Jesus is coming back and they were calling on God for help.”  Check out their site to see how you can help.

God’s Littlest Angels - GLA is an independent, non-denominational ministry founded to care for premature, malnourished, and abandoned children in Haiti. GLA is a faith mission relying on God to provide funding and other needs through churches and donors throughout North America and Europe.  Doctors and clinics refer babies that are in need of intensive nursing care and nutritional support to GLA. The ministry has developed from a Child Survival Center that cares only for premature, malnourished and abandoned infants under 2 years old into an orphanage that facilitates adoptions for children of all ages. Today, the orphanage is a fully functioning nursery with incubators, warming beds, and the capability to provide oxygen, intravenous fluids, and monitoring support for critically ill infants.  While at the same time, providing full-time child care for all of the children.  As I’m sure you realize, they are expecting many more orphans to be coming to them as a result of this disaster and you can help them by donating on their website – just click on the “Donate” button at the top of the right column or donate on their blog by using Earthquake Relief Fund widget in the right column.

Samaritan’s Purse – Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Samaritan’s Purse is responding to the earthquake that devastated Haiti by providing critically needed assistance, including water, temporary shelter, blankets, hygiene kits, medical aid, and other essentials.  You can donate to their relief efforts here.

World Vision - World Vision is a Christian humanitarian charity organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. The millions of people they serve include earthquake and hurricane survivors, abandoned and exploited children, survivors of famine and civil war, refugees, and children and families in communities devastated by AIDS in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Their extensive global infrastructure enables them to respond where the need is greatest, anywhere in the world. World Vision is on the ground rushing emergency supplies to survivors of the Haiti catastrophe. Your gift now will help distribute life-saving relief supplies – including food, clean water, blankets, and tents — to children and families devastated by the earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti.  World Vision has worked in Haiti for 30 years and has some 370 staff in country. Send your gift to help them today.

Compassion International – Dominican Republic Trip

This year, Compassion International decided to take six bloggers to the Dominican Republic to let them see and experience Compassion’s ministry firsthand and then blog about it.  I seriously wish I could’ve gone – I think it would’ve been an amazing and impacting trip, especially since we have a sponsored child, Yasmel, who lives there.  However, I will have to live vicariously through these bloggers as they share about what they see and how their lives are changed as a result.   

I remember when I went to Mexico on my first missions trip and how my heart was wrecked by the sweet children I met in one poverty-stricken neighborhood whose name literally meant “Little Hell”.  I still remember this one beautiful little girl whose name was Aranza, who I held in my arms for as much time as she would let me & how I sang over her about how God loves her, even though she couldn’t understand a word I said.  My prayer is that these bloggers and everyone who hears about their trip in the Dominican Republic will also get wrecked with a heart of true compassion and love for the needy children of the earth.  My prayer is that many children will get sponsored as a result of this outreach and that many lives will be changed for the better! 

If you’re interested in reading the stories from these bloggers, check out Compassion’s “Our Trips” page.  Also, if you’d like to sponsor a child, please visit Compassion’s “Sponsor a Child” page.

Compassion Focus: Ana Lucia

Last month I told you part of our story of being Compassion sponsors and this month, I’d like to introduce you to another of our Compassion children, Ana Lucia.  I believe it was in 2003 and I was working in a church in Calgary where Compassion advocates came monthly to share about their ministry and give people the opportunity to sponsor a child.  I remember that I was having a time of personal devotions and I was seeking the Lord on areas of my life that He wanted to put His finger on.  For several months, I had been thinking about sponsoring a child, but I kept procrastinating, since I was living on a very limited income and who knows what other excuses I was making.  Well, as I was talking to the Lord, He reminded me of this desire and revealed to me that this was something He wanted me to do and that I was being disobedient by continually putting it off.  I knew that I needed to just take the step of faith and sponsor a child, regardless of my fears or doubts, and trust that God would provide for my needs, even as I provided for the needs of this young boy or girl.

The very next time Compassion came to our church, I went to their table and looked at all the beautiful faces they had displayed and there was one little girl who immediately grabbed my heart.  In that moment, I became the sponsor to Ana Lucia, an adorable 6 year old who lives in Guatemala.  Her family & friends call her Lucy and she has 7 siblings!  She’s also an auntie and has two nieces!  Almost immediately I received my first letter from Ana Lucia with a colorful drawing and she expressed how happy she was to have me as her sponsor.  Since then I have received many more letters and drawings as she would tell me about how much she loved the student center and learning about Jesus, as well as everything she was learning in school.  She would ask me how she could pray for me and would tell us how we could pray for her and her family.  In 2005, her town was impacted by hurricane Stan, which caused landslides and affected their food supplies.  Thankfully she was okay and I was glad to know that our sponsorship was helping to provide for her and her family’s needs after the disaster.  In 2007, we discovered that her mother had even become involved as a youth leader in their church, which was really special to us to know that even her family members were being impacted by the church’s ministry to them.  She is now 10 years old and entering into 5th grade and her letters are filled with her love for Jesus.

Compassion International ministers to over a million children in 25 of the world’s poorest countries through its Child Development Sponsorship Program. With the support of sponsors, Compassion is reaching through the hands of local churches to release children from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty.  Compassion International invented child sponsorship and it has proven to be a successful child development strategy. This ministry hinges upon the relationship between the sponsor and child. That relationship goes both ways. Sponsors correspond with their sponsored children and support Compassion’s ministry to children for $32 (USD)/ $35 (CDN) every month. Sponsors also receive letters from their sponsored children, watching them grow toward physical and spiritual maturity. Sponsorship is a relationship that transforms both sponsors and children.

If you are reading this and you’ve been thinking about sponsoring a child, I encourage you to take that leap of faith and consider sponsoring one of these children, who have been waiting over 6 months for a sponsor.  Every child Compassion ministers to needs a sponsor and at the moment there are thousands who do not have one. These children need words of encouragement and Compassion needs the cost of their care sponsored so that the ministry can continue to expand.  My husband and I don’t even think twice about the money that comes out of our bank account every month – it is worth every penny to see how the lives of 3 amazing children are being changed!  If it means we go without cable television or some of the other luxuries available to us, that is a very small price to pay for the rewards of being a sponsor.

If you already sponsor a child with Compassion, then perhaps you’d like to consider blogging about your own experience and become an advocate for needy children in your own sphere of influence on the internet.  If you don’t have a blog, share your story in the comments here & maybe give a word of encouragement to those who are thinking of sponsoring a child.

Justice for the Poor, the Orphan and the Oppressed

If you’ve been reading my blog over the last year, you’ll recall how God led us to name our firstborn son, Justice, and the special relationship his name has to the issue of the unborn and praying for the ending of abortion.  However, we know that justice is a very vast topic that applies to all who are hurting, broken, needy, afflicted, and lost.  When I was pregnant, I decided to do a Biblical study on justice and I spoke about it at our house of prayer.  As a result, I learned a lot about this issue that is very close to the heart of God.

“The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5)

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” (Psalm 89:14)

“‘…but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:24)

In it’s most basic form, justice is when wrongs things are made right, and I’m sure we can all think of many things in this world that are not as they should be.  But the one aspect I want to talk about today is specifically God’s desire to bring justice to the poor and oppressed of the earth – especially children.

“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.” (Psalm 82:3 )

“I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.” (Psalm 140:12)

“…learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)

What you may NOT know about our story is that when Justice was only 13 weeks old in the womb, we had planned a trip to the Dominican Republic and were going to visit one of our three Compassion sponsored children, a beautiful 8 year-old girl named Yasmel.  Only, one day before we were supposed to leave, I had complications with the pregnancy that had us worried for Justice’s life and which compelled us to cancel our trip.  Thankfully, as you realize, Justice was safe and I don’t regret taking the precaution to stay home, but my heart has always remained a little sad that we missed the opportunity to meet Yasmel. 

Then, a couple days ago I discovered that Compassion is giving bloggers the chance to be chosen to go on a trip to the Dominican Republic as a way to raise awareness for the needy children of the world that Compassion ministers to.  At first my heart leapt at the thought of possibly going, but I realized that it wouldn’t be possible quite yet, since Justice is still too young – perhaps one day when he is older we’ll get to go.  However, I felt a little silly that I had never thought to use my blog before as a means to be an advocate for these precious children.  What better way to use whatever small influence I may have in the world wide web than to help bring the needs of these oppressed, weak, and often helpless little ones to the attention of someone who might find it in their heart to sponsor them?

Not once in the last 5 years, have Joe or I ever regretted the money we give monthly in order to sponsor our three Compassion kids.  Their pictures are framed in our hallway and are on our fridge and we love the letters we get from them!  These amazing children who have so little, are still caring enough to ask about our needs and pray for us!  If you want to partner with God’s heart for the poor of the earth and His special love for children, as well as His burning desire to bring justice to the earth, then I would encourage you to consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International or Compassion Canada. 

I also hope to bring you more information about Compassion’s ministry over the following months, so stay tuned for news on the needs of poor children across the globe, other ways you can get involved, prayer requests, and more!

Weep With Me?

On Canada Day, I heard the news about Dr. Henry Morgentaler, the “father” of abortion in our nation, being awarded the Order of Canada, the highest honor a Canadian civilian can receive. To say that I was grieved and horrified would be a gross understatement. I had hoped those responsible for making this decision would take note of the poll done at the Globe and Mail which had shown that 92% (over 300,000 votes) of Canadians opposed the idea of him receiving this award, but sadly they did not. They also seem to have forgotten about the poll done by CBC which showed that the top wish of this generation of Canadians was to see abortion ended in our nation. I was then confronted with the question – how should I respond??

A friend of mine mentioned to me in a recent email her desire to “stand in the counsel of the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:18) and to be one who is His friend, who hears what is on His heart and what He is saying. This moved me to go before the Godhead and ask them – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – what is Your counsel for me? I was overwhelmed with so many emotions – mourning, anger, confusion, uncertainty – what was the right way for me to respond to this injustice? There were many options before me – more polls that I could participate in, government officials that I could email or call, ways to spread awareness for this issue and seek to have this decision revoked, etc. I began to ask myself what God’s messengers had done in the scripture and I was reminded of those who stood up to corrupt leadership and spoke boldly against the sin that was taking place in their nations. I thought of the prophets who confronted the spirits of godlessness and rebellion with fiery words straight from God. And then I thought of those who simply prayed…and wept.

I believe that there are those who are called to be a voice before the people, those like Faytene Kryskow of 4MyCanada, who I greatly honor and admire for the ministry she is doing among the politicians and in government circles. I greatly encourage you to write letters to the media, to email and call our nation’s leaders, to make your voice heard on behalf of the unborn who are being murdered daily. This is a completely valid and important way that we as Christians can make a stand for righteousness and holiness and calling the people to return to the Lord. As for me, I may or may not do any of those things, but I am writing this blog post to share with you that last night, as I pictured myself sitting with the Trinity, I heard the Father ask me this question, “Weep with us, Jacquie?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Yes, I will weep with You.

As Joel said, “Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O LORD’.” (2:17) And as Jesus said, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” (Luke 18:7)

So I wept.

I wept for the lost destinies of aborted babies. I wept for the soul of Dr. Henry Morgentalar. I wept for the leaders of our nation. I wept for the grief in my Father’s heart. I wept for the brokenness of those women who are suffering from regret and physical pain from their abortions. I wept for the sinful condition of Canada. And I asked Him to spare us and to show mercy. Forgive our sin and heal our land. Relent from Your anger and bring us back to You.

As I cried, I received a fresh revelation of my God – from eternity past, He chose to be known as a loving Father, and this is one of the reasons why His heart is so intricately interwoven with these precious babies who have been lost. He is a Father who loves children, who created each and every one with tender affection, and who had dreams in His heart for them. He weeps for what could have been, and so I wept with Him. I also saw Jesus, the Son, who is always interceding for us, asking the Father with meekness, love and passion to end abortion in Canada, and so I wept with Him too. And then I saw the Holy Spirit, the One who helps us to pray when we don’t know what to pray, the One who also intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express, and I wept with Him also. Seeing this picture of the Trinity – the tender Father who desires to see abortion ended in my nation, the loving Son who gave His life for the sins of the world, and the Holy Spirit who collects the very tears I was crying – it caused my heart to swell with love for Him all over again. He is truly beautiful and good and He will make things right again. As we cry, He will bring justice. As we weep, He will shift things in the heavenlies. As we pray, He will listen and answer.

As I later shared this with my husband, he asked me the question, “Have you wept like a virgin yet?” He was referring to the verse in Joel 1:8 which says, “Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth.” Joel was saying that the judgment coming was so severe that they would mourn like a bride who lost her husband on their wedding day. The tragedies are comparable, for we weep for the unborn who never had the chance to live, just like the bride who never had the chance to enjoy the love of her husband. I know I haven’t wept yet with that level of mourning, and yet if this is what is required, then I ask again for the grace to weep.

Whatever you do, I encourage you to stand in the counsel of the Lord. Ask Him how He would have you respond and then be obedient. Whether your voice is heard before the courts of man or before the courts of heaven – it matters.

Here are some links that will give you direction on what you can do practically:

• Cast your vote in online polls & read the article submitted by Faytene Kryskow
• Call or email government officials
• Write a letter to your local media
• Join the Facebook group

Also, if you haven’t already, you might be interested in reading my series “Weep Between the Porch and the Altar“.

Weep Between the Porch and the Altar – Part 3

Welcome to the third and final part of this series! I would encourage you to read Part 1 and Part 2 to get the background and setup for this concluding piece. However, to briefly recap…

In Parts 1 & 2, we are introduced to the verse in Matthew 23 where Jesus says to the Pharisees, “upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” I then go on to explain the differences in opinion on which Zechariah Jesus is referring to and my reasoning behind choosing the Zechariah found in 2 Chronicles 24 who we find was stoned in the temple court. We then linked this with the verse in Joel 2 where the prophet sends forth a call to the priests to “weep between the temple porch and the altar” – the exact same location as Zechariah’s brutal murder. We see the strong connection between the sins of our forefathers and the need of the present generation to acknowledge, repent for, and turn from these sins.

For the Pharisees that Jesus was talking to, they honored the prophets of old whom their forefathers had killed, believing they would have acted differently had they lived in those times, not recognizing the darkness of their own hearts and the spirit of murder within them which would lead them to crucify Jesus. Yet Jesus promised them that they would be proven guilty and that the state of their hearts would be exposed as he sent them prophets and teachers whom they would persecute and kill, thus filling up the measure of the sin of their forefathers. This would seal their judgment for eternity and would occur in response to the cries coming from the blood of every righteous person slain. So how does this apply to us today?

I have found it quite significant that recently a billboard advertising campaign has been launched across Canada that is bringing attention to the issue of abortion in our nation, asking the question, “Have we gone too far?” AbortionInCanada.ca is putting this issue in front of our eyes, reminding us that we cannot ignore this injustice in our land, for currently the unborn have no protection from being aborted right up into the 9th month of gestation! According to AbortionInCanada.ca, “more than three million unborn babies have died from abortion since 1969, when abortion was first decriminalized in Canada”with the annual average being somewhere around 100,000 abortions. On Wikipedia’s article for Abortion in the United States, they quote the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as saying “there were 854,122 legal induced abortions in the US in 2003″. The Bound4Life website says that in the USA “an estimated 48 million babies have been aborted since 1973. Approximately 24% of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion”.

Is it possible that the same thing Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for is occurring today in North America? How many prophets, teachers, evangelists, worship leaders (or to sum it all up – prophetic messengers of all types) have been sent to us by the Lord to preach the message of Joel 2, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning”? And how many of these messengers have been killed before they even saw the light of the sun or said one word? How many millions of aborted babies and aborted destinies are crying out for justice, even as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground, and are testifying against us in our perceived innocence? How can our generation think we are any different than our forefathers who condoned slavery and persecuted and killed out of racist hatred, when at our core we are just the same – maybe even worse – for on our hands is the blood of countless babies?

But if their blood is crying out for God’s just judgment to come to our land, what is our hope? Can we escape or lessen the judgment that is surely coming? Can we appeal to the heart of Jesus that longs to gather us under his wings, if only we were willing? As he said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37) Can we touch the heart of God who declares Himself to be “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and [who] relents from sending calamity”? (Joel 2:13) I believe we can.

The message of Joel is for us today – both the church and unbelievers are being called to return to the Lord with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping, and mourning, to rend our hearts, to gather in solemn assemblies, consecrating and purifying our hearts (Joel 2:12-16). Yet we as the church are called specifically, as priests (for we are a “royal priesthood” – 1 Peter 2:9), to weep and mourn in the place of identifying with the sins of the shedding of innocent blood. Between the temple porch and the altar, where a prophetic messenger was slain, the priests were to cry out to God, “Spare your people!” (Joel 2:17) In the same way that Nehemiah wept, mourned and fasted on behalf of Israel, confessing the sins of his forefathers, his own generation and himself personally, appealing to God for mercy, we can stand in the breach between our nation and God’s wrath (Psalm 106:23).

While we may or may not be able to go directly to the location of the abortion clinics, we can go there in the spirit and operate in this priestly function, interceding for our nation and taking a stand for life. We can ask the Lord to give us the spirit of travail and to impact our hearts with this burden, that we would be able to weep and mourn with the heart of Jesus over these lost lives and destinies. For “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26). Even as Nehemiah was praying before the Lord day and night, this is the kind of response Jesus is looking for to the injustice in our land, for he said in Luke 18:7, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?”

Some of you may have a feeling or know that this is something you are called to do full-time, to be a priest that ministers before the Lord in the temple – or in more modern-day terms, to function as an intercessory missionary in a house of prayer. This is just one of the ways God is raising up the prayer movement across the globe, but regardless of whether you are being called to this kind of role in a full-time capacity, we all have a responsibility to pray and be willing to be a voice on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. A simple way to start is to make the Bound4Life Covenant to Pray, Vote, and Obey.

1. PRAY – There is a simple 22-word prayer you can pray whenever the Lord brings this topic to your remembrance, or whenever you see the LIFE bracelet, should you choose to get one. The prayer goes like this: “Jesus, I plead Your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to [your nation]“.
2. VOTE – Covenant to vote for candidates that are actively pro-life. We cannot pray for abortion to end and promote those who support it.
3. OBEY – Covenant to obey God as He leads you into works of compassion and justice. We must always be willing to be the answer to our own prayers.

For me, this has become very personal lately, being pregnant with my first child, whom we have chosen to name Justice (you can read the story of how we chose this name here). It feels so real and there is such a conviction in my heart that this little one could be one of these prophetic messengers that the Lord is sending to my nation to call the people to return to Him. This has put such a resolve and a fight within my spirit to pray for the protection of the unborn from the spirit of this age that would seek to “kill, steal and destroy” (John 10:10) these precious lives. So will you join with me? Will you weep between the porch and the altar?

(For more resources on the issue of LIFE and ideas on how you can get involved through prayer in the courts of heaven or through action in the courts of the earth, check out some of the sites in the LIFE category on my Links page.

Weep Between the Porch and the Altar – Part 2

If you haven’t already, I would recommend first reading Part 1 of this series, but to briefly recap, in Matthew 23 Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and their false belief of their own innocence in regards to the slaying of the prophets of old. He then prophesied judgment, saying that they would persecute and kill the messengers he was going to send them, as a way of filling up the measure of their forefathers’ sin “and so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” (verse 35).

I have chosen to relate this to the story of the priest Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24 who is described as having been murdered “in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple” (verse 21), but as I mentioned in Part 1, it could also be referring to the prophet Zechariah, although we have no record of him being killed in this manner.

After reading this passage in Matthew 23, I was immediately reminded of Joel’s prophecy in chapter 2 verse 17, which says…

Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”

To me there appears to be an obvious connection between this verse and our story of Zechariah, as Joel is calling for the priests to weep “between the temple porch and the altar”, which is the exact same location of Zechariah’s slaying. Now, depending on which view you take on when the book of Joel was written, as well as which Zechariah you believe Jesus was referring to, this can affect how we interpret this passage and connect the dots. Again, as I mentioned in Part 1, I have chosen to take the standpoint that Joel was writing just prior to the Babylonian invasion, which puts him between the two different Zechariahs.

Now, regardless of which of the 4 viewpoints you take of when Joel was written (from the early 9th century BC to the same period as Zechariah the prophet), if we were to go with the view that Jesus was referring to the prophet Zechariah, then it’s possible that Zechariah would have been familiar with Joel’s writings. Also, as was mentioned in Matthew Henry’s commentary, if he was taking sanctuary in the court of the priests from his persecutors, he could have been in the very act of intercession, “weep[ing] between the temple porch and the altar”, crying out for mercy upon Jerusalem just before he was murdered. This is powerful imagery if you were to preach on martyrdom and praying even for your enemies as Jesus did on the cross or as Stephen did while he was being stoned. However, there are a lot of “ifs” in this scenario that don’t make for a very strong connection in this way.

If we take the story of the priest Zechariah from 2 Chronicles 24 who was stoned in the temple court, then again, regardless of the 4 viewpoints of when Joel was written, Joel’s prophecy would have probably come after Zechariah’s murder. In this case, there is a strong reason to believe that this call to intercession was closely linked to the need for repentance for the sins of their forefathers. It seems very symbolic and significant that the Lord would call the priests to weep and mourn and cry out for mercy in the exact location that a brutal act of injustice occurred. This also ties in with what Jesus had against the Pharisees – they were able to acknowledge the sins of their forefathers in slaying the prophets, but they could not identify with them or realize that this same darkness was in their own hearts and acknowledge their need for repentance. Nehemiah was a great example of someone who was able to see the sins of his father, his nation and himself personally, praying…

…let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. (Nehemiah 1:6)

The Pharisees however, perceived themselves to be innocent of the blood on their forefathers’ hands, blind to the fact that they were about to crucify the very son of God and many of his followers and apostles. In fact, Jesus would ensure that they would be proven guilty and that the state of their hearts would be exposed by his promise to send them prophets and teachers whom they would persecute and kill, thus filling up the measure of the sin of their forefathers. This would seal their judgment for eternity and would occur in response to the cries coming from the blood of every righteous person slain. In Genesis 4:10, the Lord says to Cain regarding the murder of his brother Abel, “Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground”, and Zechariah, as he lay dying, cried out, “May the Lord see this and call you to account” (2 Chronicles 24:22). This is not unlike the prayer in Revelation 6:9-10 of those who had been murdered because of the Word of God, who called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

So how does this apply to us? The answer to that question is coming in Part 3…

Weep Between the Porch and the Altar – Part 1

Recently I have been reading the book of Zechariah, which is a fascinating book, to say the least. Zechariah had some pretty intense visionary experiences and insight into the end of the age, as well as a unique glimpse into the jealousy of God for Israel. On a completely different note however, I became especially intrigued when I stumbled across a verse in Matthew 23 that appeared to reference this Old Testament prophet. In verse 35, Jesus is coming to the end of a rather harsh rebuke to the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and their false belief of their own innocence in regards to the slaying of the prophets of old. He proceeds to dispense judgment by prophesying that they will persecute and kill the messengers he is going to send them, as a way of filling up the measure of their forefathers’ sin, saying “and so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.”

Now, to start off, I’m going to take a rather scholastic approach to this subject in this first blog entry with some research information to help set the foundation for the more applicable content that I will write about in the subsequent entries. Ready? Here we go!

At first it seems obvious that Jesus is referring to the prophet Zechariah who in his book, in the first verse, is identified as the “son of Berekiah”. Logically, this also makes sense for Jesus to start his account of shed blood with the first murder of Abel and end with one of the last of the prophets recorded in the Old Testament. And although there is no record of Zechariah being murdered, here is a possibility mentioned in Matthew Henry’s Commentary…

Perhaps what Zechariah spoke in his prophesying concerning Christ of his being sold, his being wounded in the house of his friends, and the shepherd being smitten, was verified in the prophet himself, and so he became a type of Christ. Probably, being assaulted by his persecutors, he took sanctuary in the court of the priests (and some think he was himself a priest), and so was slain between the porch and the altar.

Alternatively, some find Jesus’ reference to be obviously connected to the story of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, found in 2 Chronicles 24. According to Matthew Henry, the name Jehoiada is very similar to the name Berekiah and it was common for Jewish men to be referred to by more than one name. The clincher however, is that there is a clear account of this Zechariah being murdered “in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple” (vs. 21), or as Jesus said, “between the temple and the altar”.

So which Zechariah is it? I don’t know – and I don’t think anyone can prove either case conclusively. For the sake of this particular series, I will mostly refer to the priest Zechariah, son of Jehoiada in 2 Chronicles 24, but may reference the prophet Zechariah as well, just for argument’s sake.

The next scripture I want to introduce is found in Joel 2:17, which says…

Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ “

I think you can already see where I’m going with this, noting the obvious connection this verse has with our story of Zechariah, as Joel is calling for the priests to weep “between the temple porch and the altar”, which is the exact same location of Zechariah’s slaying. However, before we can go there, I want to examine yet another dilemma we encounter as to the differing opinions on the timing of Joel’s writing…

1. 9th century BC- During the time when Joash was too young to govern and the priest Jehoiada did so in his place (2 Kings 11; 2 Chronicles 23-24). One of the reasons for this argument being the focus on the elders and priests as being the leaders Joel appeals to, instead of a king. This also happens to be the same period as our priest Zechariah.
2. 8th century BC- Roughly contemporary with Amos who prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah (also called Azariah) of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel (Amos 7:10; 2 Kings 14-15). This school of thought is due to Joel’s placement in the Bible and some similarities in language used by Joel and Amos.
3. 7th-6th century BC – Roughly around Josiah’s reign (2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35). Since Joel prophesies only to Judah and Jerusalem, it implies a timing after Israel was no longer a political kingdom (722 BC). This school of thought would argue that Joel’s references to the temple are because it was written before the temple was destroyed by the Babylonian invasion in 586 BC. Many of Joel’s references to the “day of the Lord” and the warnings of a great army also point to the coming destruction of Jerusalem at this time.
4. 6th-4th century BC – Roughly contemporary with the prophet Zechariah. This opinion uses the same argument of the lack of mention of a monarchy, since Judah had no king after the exile. This opinion believes that the references to the temple are actually the second temple which was rebuilt around 515 BC.

Now, I read many different articles on the dating of Joel and nobody seemed to agree with each other. Everybody has their reasons for believing one of the theories above. I found it particularly interesting that two of the opinions line up with both of our Zechariahs, yet ironically I have chosen to go with neither of these, and will be writing from the point of view of the third theory, which places Joel’s writings just prior to the Babylonian invasion – the view that is used in Mike Bickle’s Studies in Joel as well as David Malick’s article (see sources below).

So, I realize this was a lot of facts and possibly uninteresting information, but I wanted there to be an understanding of where I am coming from and the research and reasoning behind my particular point of view for the next parts of this series. Stay tuned!!

Read Part 2
Read Part 3

Sources:
Matthew Henry’s Commentary – Zechariah 1, Matthew 23
Bible.org – An Introduction to the Book of Joel – by David Malick
Hosea, Joel and Amos – by Bruce C. Birch (pg. 126)
Studies in Joel- by Mike Bickle (pg. 4)
Wikipedia – Book of Joel

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