This morning I pulled out one of my old Bibles, because I was looking for some verses I had been praying over someone a long time ago. In the front, I have blank pages where I often write down things that are very important to me at the time I am using that particular Bible. I ran across the following:
Epitaph ~
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a beautiful child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because I have lived...
This is to succeed!
This must have been a poem I read years ago and decided that this would be such a part of my life, that I would want it read at my funeral. At the time, I'm sure it was an aspiration, something I had not yet acquired, but spoke deeply to my spirit. Today I look at it and realized how much these simple words had become a sort of map or vision as to how I wanted to live my life and be known. Today, I see that much of it is who I now am.
Words... They may seem flippant and easily forgotten. I believe that as a Christian, as a daughter of the creator of the universe, that my words are not only important, but they are powerful. They can change atmospheres, circumstances and lives. When I speak, as the daughter of the king, my words go out into the universe... into the 2nd heaven, and things begin to change. My words carry power and authority.
The above poem was a great things to be speaking over my own life, but how often have I spoken curses... words of destruction over myself and others. If my positive words carry power, then so do my negative words.
I've recently heard that in heaven, there is a courtroom. The "accuser" visits often and presents to God (the judge) every powerfully destructive word I have ever spoken. The judge, being also my father, has given me authority and a free will to use words either as a weapon for good or for destruction. He also stands behind his decision to let me live with the consequence of that power. When I join with the enemy and choose his way over the way of my father,
then I have made a contract that can't easily be broken. I am bound by
that contract.
There is one other person in that courtroom. Jesus stands in as my defense. He offers me an opportunity to break the contract, with the enemy, and then he covers it with his own life... his blood... a sacrifice in payment for the punishment I deserve. The judge accepts this act as "payment in full" and throws the case out of court.
In the above scenario, I have a part to play. I have to boldly go to the throne room. I have to be willing to stand before the judge, my father, knowing that I have chosen someone over him. I have to then ask for forgiveness, break the contract with the enemy, and let Jesus defend me with his own life. This is hard and heartbreaking to do, but in the end... I am free! My father takes nothing from me. I still retain all the power and authority He had originally given me, but now I am sent out to do it differently. I am sent out, once again, to change atmospheres, circumstances and lives... for the better. This is what it is to be a Christian.
