heaven's tree book club

September 16, 2012

Lizards in the Palace

I had never imagined in my life that I would attend a church with less than thirty people and not only that but it would be a church where the average age is about 75. In addition to it being 25-30 people with the average age of being 75, every gathering has a sense of its closure being near. I would never imagine being a part of a dying church. I never felt the calling that this is "my" place but since the beginning five months ago, I knew my dad would have a significant role in serving the Cantonese older population. I have no role in this church and thus know that I am insignificant here. This morning was no different. My dad taught his lesson from Genesis 5 and then service would follow. It has been a while since I have been able to worship. My health condition makes it so that I feel fatigue most of the time and the forty minute sermon spoken mostly in monotone doesn't help. I feel a deep sense of boredom and emptiness each Sunday morning. I never realize how important it is to have friendships in church with people my age until I became part of an aging church. Although there are 25-30 people, I feel alone, invisible, and insignificant.  
"KATHY and I took two of our grandchildren to Marine World some k. time ago. Elijah, who was three at the time, and his cousin Mesha, who was five, were in the hotel room with us, sitting on the bed.
They were watching a National Geographic documentary about reptiles on television. When it was over, Mesha looked at Elijah and said, "Let's play crocodiles and lizards!"
Elijah, although he is younger, is much stronger than Mesha. He said, "Yeah!"
Mesha said, "I am the crocodile and you are the lizard."
"Ok," Elijah said excitedly.
 Suddenly they both stood up on the bed and began to wrestle. Within a minute, Elijah had Mesha pinned down on the mattress.
"You can't do that, Elijah!" Mesha complained. "You are the lizard. I am the crocodile!"
At her protest, he immediately let her up. "What do lizards do?" he asked.
"They lick things with their tongues like this." She demonstrated by licking his cheek.
"Okay" Elijah said submissively.
A few seconds later, she had convinced him to lie down so she could get on top of him."Raaaaw! Raaaaw!" Mesha roared as she struggled to hold him down.
Every time Elijah started to push her off, she would say, "Elijah, you are a lizard. I am a crocodile! You can't do that. You can only use your tongue."
Finally, after about ten minutes, a little voice came out from under Mesha, "Papa, I don't want to play anymore."
This story reminds me so much of the game of life.The devil gives us names that disempower us.We become the lizards who can only use our tongues. He becomes the powerful crocodile. Then we spend our lives playing by his rules because we believe in the wrong name.
The devil is the accuser, and he often uses other people to propagate his alias identities over us. My first stepfather used to call me a "stupid ass" all the time. This resulted in me always feeling dumb, which really hindered my ability to learn. The name became a mental block, which manifested as a difficulty with reading. When I finished high school I only read at a third grade level.
I have met many women who were called "whores" by their fathers, then struggled with immorality their entire lives. Names can be prophetic declarations that define a person's identity. Because people act according to who they believe they are, these lies are ultimately acted out in their behavior.
We respond to our environment according to the way we see ourselves. Words spoken to us become names that we carry in our hearts. These names paint a portrait of us in our imagination and become the lenses through which we view our world. Sticks and stones are breaking our bones, but names are taking away our future!"
This is a very powerful passage from this chapter and I want to take some time reflecting on it. I especially like the illustration the author gives with his two kids. I know very little about animals and since I am sight impaired I actually cannot see how they behave and interact. I like the illustration with Elijah here. He knows he is stronger than his older sister and so pins her down. She being the smarter one says to him lizards can't do that, you are a lizard. So Elijah becomes disempowered and cannot use the strength that God has given him. It is like he is reduced to a small powerless creature when he knows he is so capable of more. I think for many of us, like myself, I feel like the lizard. My brother when I was younger often called me "stupid" and "idiot". So even when I got straight "A"s in schools I still felt like a stupid idiot and got discouraged at so many things I could not do. Even today, I feel really dumb sometimes. Most people would probably never imagine that some who just completed grad school with an "A-" average would feel stupid. Words are not only prophetic, they have the power to build up or to destroy others. LIfe and death is in the power of the tongue as James in his third chapter so vividly illustrates. We cannot be all that God intends when we are broken and beaten up by the verbal abuse that has both been given in the present and in the past. Yes, names take away our future. But, names have the power to speak life and potential. The author looks at Biblical examples of when God changed someones name.
"It is so important that we live by our God-given names and not by names that tie us to bondage. We must break free of all aliases that we have been given by the world. Jacob understood this principle well. In Genesis 32, we find Jacob at a river called "Jabbok," which means "empty and alone." His brother is after him, his wives are always arguing with each other and his father-in-law is mad at him. Like many of us, I'm sure Jacob realized that he was a big part of the problem, but he probably felt powerless to change himself. Jacob was compelled to deceive because, as I mentioned in the last chapter, his name meant "trickster." He was reminded of his shortcomings every time people would call him by his name. We will always act out of who we believe we are: Jacob deceived because his name was deceiver. His behavior eventually created a culture of deception around him, and consequently his wives also became liars and deceivers.
Suddenly, at the lowest part of Jacob's life, he encounters an angel. (You know you're having a tough life when even the angel sent to bless you doesn't like you!) He wrestles with him all night long. The angel mangles him, but Jacob refuses to let the angel go until he blesses him. The angel argues that his shift is over because it is morning and he has to leave. But Jacob persists.
Finally the angel asks him,"What is your name?"
He responds, "My name is Jacob."
The angel continues, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed" (Gen. 32:24-28).
Can you imagine fighting with an angel all night long, getting thrashed, and letting him go just because he called you by a nickname? If you wrestled with an angel for one wish, wouldn't you ask him for a new house, a car, or something of monetary significance? Would you let him go just for a name change? You would if you understood the revelation Jacob had. His new name, "Israel," meant "a prince of God." The name released him into his prophetic destiny. It is no accident that after his name was changed, he became the father of one of the greatest nations in the world.
A prophetic declaration is more than mere words, because it releases grace to accomplish what it says. Names in the Bible were given to people as a prophetic declaration of their identity and actually released the very characteristics of their calling to them. Grace as well as disgrace is released by name-calling. Grace is the "operational power of God." Grace is the God-given ability to become what y7ou couldn't become before you received the declaration. Disgrace also has the power to release curses from the dark side.
In the Book of Genesis, God invited Adam to create with Him by naming the animals. When Adam named the animals he was prophesying their DNA and what they were to become in the world, not just calling them a normal animal name like "Fifi" or "Spot!"
The power of a declared name is also illustrated in the third chapter of Genesis. Here Adam named his wife "Eve." Eve means "mother of the living." She was barren until her name was changed from "Woman" to "Eve."After Adam's prophetic declaration, Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel.
 Once we realize who we are, our behavior changes because we always act out of our "self-understood" identity. Abram had to have a name change to fulfill his call. God prophesied to Abram that he was going to be the father of many nations. Before he could come into his destiny7, his name had to be changed from Abram, which means "exalted father," to Abraham, "the father of a multitude." His name had been limiting his destiny!
When the Lord met me and told me I was a pauper who had become a prince, He was giving me a name change. Once I knew my new name, I had access to the grace 1 needed to begin walking in a new identity."
The success of a Bible teacher is to make a passage or an idea clear and also to make connections we have not thought of before. I have always known there is power in a name, but did not make the connections between the ideas here. Eve became the mother of all the living and did not have children until Adam gave her a name. God changed so many names including Peter and Abraham and Jacob. These men would profoundly be men of influence in the church. Whatever name someone gave us that took away our power, God has the power and authority to change our name to something spectacular. So many of us including me needs a name change from stupid idiot to God's workmanship. I especially like the early comments about Jacob. His name means trickster and that is who he became. He tricked others. God changed his name to be prince of God. What an identity change. From sinner to saint. God had so many more plans for Jacob, as he has with each of us.

"Did you notice that some of the text quoted above is an Old Testament verse? Paul is not saying that we don't know what God has prepared for us; he is saying that they (the Old Testament believers) didn't know what God had prepared for them because they were not "new creatures." But we have the mind of Christ because we are born of His Spirit. We think like God.
We still have a free will, and we can still choose to sin. However, as saints it doesn't come easily anymore.There is a river of God that runs through our souls and carries us towards the throne. If we don't paddle we will end up at God's house. We are prone to righteousness. That is why Paul said, "It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20)."

"The righteousness of God comes into our lives by faith. In order for us to believe in something we have to know that there is something to believe in.The entire spirit world operates by faith, not just God's world. For instance, fear is the manifestation that we have faith in the wrong kingdom. When we believe something is going to go wrong, we have given our faith to the enemy. By doing this we have just empowered the one that Jesus disarmed at the Cross. When we believe in God, we empower the Holy Spirit and the angels to bring about His will."
"If we've been taught that after receiving Christ we are still sinners, we will struggle with trying to do the right thing because we have put our faith in our ability to fail instead of His work on the Cross! We can spend the rest of our lives living under the curse of our old name,"sinner," or like Israel, we can receive our new name that has the power to alter our very DNA. We are Saints, holy believers, and Christians, which means we are "little Christs"! When the Father looks at us, He sees the image of the Son He loves."
Prayer:
Father, I love the way this author writes Christ-centered thoughts that encourage and build up our faith. Our name is Christian, we are little Christs. When You see us, You see the Son who You love and we know this for when Christ was baptized and came up out of the water You spoke those words of affirmation to Jesus. At times it is hard to know or feel Your love. I empower the devil by my thoughts of worthlessness and uselessness. Help me to empower the Holy Spirit with great faith. Help me to believe that You are God over the impossible and mighty in power and great in love. I love the thought that there is a river of God that runs through our souls pushing us forward to our heavenily destination. This world is not our home and I have never felt at home here. This season has been very hard. I have felt powerless and forgotten. Remind me I pray of Your love and constant care.