Whose Side Are You On? Satan’s Sorrow or Your Savior’s Spirit?
Introduction
Looking for fresh waters when loss spoiled your voyage? Getting out of grief is not mapped out by emotional work or earthly methods. These routines will ruin your portage when reason is left to guide. Carnal nature longs to be led on familiar routes, taught by senses. Beware of their ruts, ruining God’s view of hopeful horizons. Be not void of Spirit and truth, nor stay in bogs of unbelief. These stagnant waters will strangle your dreams. Leave Satan’s sea of carnality and allow Jesus to send you His comforter. It’s time to meet your Savior on the other side of grief.
And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. Matthew 14:22
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. Matthew 14:24-25
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4
If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:16-17
Intelligence: The Problematic Periscope
Carnality starts up the engine of sin. It signals intelligence to peer through its own periscope of possibilities. The mind searches the map to find a land of peace and is quite satisfied with the optional passages. Sailing into obvious solutions, the fallen mind launches a boatload of ideas. However, after chasing new endorphins through economic channels, exercise classes, entertainment and even Christian music, contentment continues to escape.
Does this sound like you? If so, sorrow will seep into your LiveWell and suffocate joy and optimism. Questioning begins. Where did I go wrong? The conversation with your soul isn’t getting anywhere. Your endless setbacks take their bow before you decide to begin again.
Thankfully, sorrow does its gentle work in leading you to your Bible. Sweeping through Scripture, your misery finds a match. History throws time overboard as ancient grief paddles to your shore. King David’s pen describes your pain and has written out the perfect prayer.
Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. Psalm 69:1-3
No audible sound, earthquake to shake or trumpet to sound, only thick silence stuffs your ears. Hungry for God, you read more and misery slowly lessens. Soft music settles into your heart. It is none other than God’s voice. Singing notes of grace, His song skips sorrow’s rock into the sea. It sinks into the deep abyss, back to Satan’s abode. Heavenly vision bursts forth as your heaviness dissipates like a cloud unto the cross.
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Zephaniah 3:17
Pure love is lifted high and pounded into wood. Echoing in your ears, the Son of God cries, It is finished. Absorbing your pain, the Spirit leads you to the familiar tomb. Overcome with emotion, your mind runs with exhilarating speed. Panting rapidly, you peer into the door. Knowing Jesus lingers not in a dead man’s tomb, his folded linens send no alarm. It was the angel’s posture which took you by surprise.
And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. Mark 15:46
And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linens clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. John 20:5-7
Before the angel mouth opens, you study him like a painting. He isn’t tidying the tomb or texting. Positioned at the right side, the young man sits. A swift message banners through your brain. The Spirit breaks the barrier of unbelief.
And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. Mark 16:5-6
Barrier of Unbelief
The tomb’s walls have kept truth hidden for some souls. Fallen minds try to figure out facts. Their theological investigations prove ignorant without the Spirit’s power. Teachers and preachers walk away from the grave, unchanged. Therefore, lacking revelation, leaders can’t feed their sheep a full meal.
It was their reason which ruined your dough. Intelligence is unable to interpret the Spirit, so it wraps doctrine over Holy inspiration. Carnal thinking cancels Christ’s power. Therefore, truth is portioned and morsels of grace sprinkle the plates, leaving God’s sheep to starve. Scattering into the wilderness and out of green pastures, miserable lambs are left to labor, eating sorrow dough bread.
Sadness is then permitted to burrow holes into the Sheep’s hearts. Bearing unnecessary burdens, they wander into strange lands, looking for Christ Jesus. Entering numerous church doors, the sheep leave disheartened, void of hearing God call their name. Visiting dead bones in temples made by men, the sheep weep. So this is why you return to the tomb, to hear the angel’s message.
The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance turned into mourning. Lamentations 5:15
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. Isaiah 43:1
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27
Time to Return to the Tomb
It is time to see why the angel sat in the tomb. Fine details deliver divine meanings. Perhaps he postured on purpose. Always pointing to the Lord, the young man’s body language speaks.
Did not Jesus sit down at the right hand of the Father, once the work of redemption was complete? Sitting exemplifies rest and the right position demonstrates power. A perfect example for sheep who follow the good Shepherd.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. Mark 16:19
Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Exodus 15:6
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Continued: Touring the Tomb
May our tour of the tomb continue. Please don’t step out of the sepulcher’s message quite yet. Before your head becomes the only container of this insight, ensure the power of the risen Lord, His promised comforter, has claim to the residence in your heart.
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Luke 24:49
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:16-17
Don’t miss the Spirit’s power, ready to send joy into your barren, beat up heart. Your Savior shattered the spirit of sorrow, housed in Satan’s sepulchers. Now, exit this funeral site, for Jesus is not here. Join Him on the Comforter’s side.
The Funeral Dirge is Done
The funeral is over. Listen no more to ministers letting mourning out of tomb and into their teaching. Oh dear soul drowning in sorrow, is not the Spirit the sustenance of joy? Return to the only Shepherd who has labored to give you rest from your sorrow. Sit down in God’s pastures. Cease eating men’s crumbs and receive the bread of life nourished in everlasting joy.
And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve. Isaiah 14:3
My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. Jeremiah 50:6
Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead. Bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. Ezekiel 24:23
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine dressers. But ye shall be named the Priest of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering, and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my GOd: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Isaiah 61:3-11
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. John 10:14
I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the LORD GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. Ezekiel 34:14-16
Conclusion
Grief be gone! A storm within the soul cries out. The senses scream, Oh, loss! You have control over me. Your Savior calls, Come, receive my comfort. When steering through the sea of sorrow, which side will your senses settle? Your choice is based in either the carnal mind or the mind of Christ.
For to be carnally minded is death: but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6
If you are saved by grace, enlightenment needs to lead. Why? Tortured and slain, an innocent lamb served your death sentence. With the book of judgment closed, your sin is blotted out while your name remains in the Book of Life. The page has turned over to peace. So what does this mean when grief is over writing this truth?
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Revelation 20:12
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2
Carnality must quit looking into the tomb where mourning and sorrow are buried. Seeking dead bones will rattle your soul with depression. Remove yourself from those dry places, kicking dust into your eyes. The devil delights in distraction. False teachers blindfold faith from recognizing the risen Christ. Once removed from the assembly of lies, love fills the holes in your heart. However, with truth in place, mockers will follow the trail.
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. Luke 11:24
I sat not in the seat of the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast fill me with indignation. Jeremiah 15:17
As Christ puts a bridle on your senses, certain thorns will place you on a pedestal of scorn. Their rational minds can’t comprehend the God who wipes away your tears, replaces loss with peace and exchanges sorrow for joy. Human understanding is puzzled when Jesus accompanies your hardship.
We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. Psalm 79:4
Accusing you of uncaring when Christ’s compassion has taken your pain and stating you appear aloof when the truth set you free from mourning. Standing on the other side of grief with the Comforter, the world won’t receive the healing way. For the Savior doesn’t follow the step work of grief when He already walked to the cross with burdens they still think to bear.
The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: and for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 33:11