Mother’s come in all shapes, sizes and ages. Some of us had young mothers, some had older mothers. Some of us had petite mom’s some had larger moms. Regardless of the age or size of our Mom’s, I know something all Mom’s have in common. When push comes to shove, when the gates of hell open up, when the world falls apart, there is nothing stronger than a mother’s love for her children. Sorry Dad’s. You don’t come close.
A mother’s love for her children is one of the strongest forces in this world. I believe it is so strong because it is chiseled directly from the heart of God!
What makes God’s Love so powerful, and what makes a mother’s love so powerful, is a special bond!
A Mother bonds with her child through countless hours, countless feedings. This is her baby, her child. God’s love is so powerful because of His relationship to those He loves. God had a special relationship with His people, the Jews. It was a covenant relationship. It made the Jews special, beloved to Him. His love for them was different than His love for the gentiles because of that Covenant Relationship. Through Jesus Christ, we have a New Covenant Relationship with God. We are born again and become children of God. We enter into a new and special relationship with God. He has a special Love for His children. Just as a Mother has a special love for her own children, so does God have a special love with His children.
The Power of Love is because of the Relationship!
Just like you don’t pull on superman’s cape, your don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old lone ranger and you don’t mess around with a Mom and her children.
Fremont, CA (KPIX) – A Fremont, California woman is recovering from severe injuries to her arms after a pit bull terrier attacked her in her own garage, forcing her to stash her baby in a garbage can for protection. Thirty-two-year-old Angela Silva received 50 staples and countless stitches as a result of Tuesday’s attack. Silva says her neighbor’s dog wandered into her open garage and lunged at her and her four-month-old son.After she put the child in a plastic garbage bin, the 80-pound pit bull terrier, “Swisher”, continued pursuing the baby and knocked over the bin as Silva fought the animal off with her arms. Two men across the street eventually came to her aid and chased away the dog.
“My flesh was flying off of my arms,” she says. “I just don’t think that I would have been able to stand up any longer.”
Mighty Pharaoh tried to kill the Jewish babies.
The Jewish Mom’s were so tough they were having the babies one day and out working in the field the next, their babies hidden away. One Mom was bold enough to make a basket of reeds and then waterproof it, and then put her baby Moses in it to float downstream. Mom’s do amazing things because of their love for their children.
I believe that Jeremiah 9:23-24 gives us insight into what makes a mother’s love so powerful. These verses reveal what makes the heart of God happy, what He delights in. He delights when three things are at work on earth, and I believe God uses a Mother’s love to accomplish these three things:
Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NASB) Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.
This morning we need to understand these three things that God Delights in, and once we understand these, we can better understand the power of a Mother’s Love. But first, let me ask you a couple of questions that this verse brings up…
What Do You Boast About?
“let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me”
You may be smart, you may have wealth, but God says that doesn’t matter. If you are going to boast in anything, boast in knowing and understanding God. That requires growing relationship with Him. That requires an intimacy with God such that any time you pick up His Word you are immediately overwhelmed with a flash from God!
Like the TV series Chuck, who has the Intersect in his brain. Whenever he sees someone or something that is in the Super Spy data base, he flashes on it and all this information comes to his mind. He always gets overwhelmed for just a bit when he “flashes” on the information.
Do you have that kind of relationship with God? Do you boast to your friends that you have such a special relationship?
I know that our world has become so infected with sin that homes and families are fractured and tormented. Not everyone has a wonderful mom who loved them and nurtured them. Our Mom’s may be flawed in several ways, but there is always something you can boast in about your mom. It may be her cooking, her crafts, her drive, her protection, her prayers, her drive. Dig deep and find something to boast in about your Mom. Boast about her to your children, and even your grandchildren. Honor her. She gave you life.
We honor God because He gave us life. If we are to boast, boast in God, in that you know Him and understand Him.
What Are You Accomplishing With Your Life?
“I am the Lord who exercises (āśâ)”. āśâ actually means “to do”, “to make”, “to accomplish.” God is very focused. He is committed to working and accomplishing three things. But let me say this word of advice. God is rather picky about who he works with, who He accomplishes for. He only works these three things on behalf of those He has a relationship with.
Moms are amazing. Most of the time they are like Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter, but should one of their children cry out at night, or get in trouble, out comes the Supermom Cape and suddenly she is Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look, up in the air, it’s a bird, no it’s a plane, no its SUPER MOM!
- Diaper Changes: 7,300 by baby’s 2nd birthday
- Diaper Changing Speed: Moms take 2 minutes, 5 seconds (adds up to 3 40-hour work weeks each year!) , vs. 1 minute, 36 seconds for dads
- Giving Attention: Preschooler requires mom’s attention once every 4 minutes or 210 times / day
- Taking Care: Preschooler moms spend 2.7 hrs / day on primary childcare, vs. 1.2 hours for dads
- Chores: Women average 2.2 hrs / day, vs. 1.3 hrs / day for men
- Laundry: 88% is done by moms, totaling 330 loads of laundry & 5,300 articles of clothing each year
- Least Favorite Chore: Vacuuming the stairs
- Most Kids: Mrs. Vassilyev of Russia gave birth to 69 children between 1725 and 1765
- Oldest Mom: Rosanna Dalla Corte gave birth to a baby boy when she was 63 years old in Italy in 1994
- Heaviest Newborn: Signora Carmelina Fedele gave birth to a 22 lb 8 oz boy in Italy in 1955
I know at the end of a busy week, even a busy day, most Mom’s don’t feel too Super, but you are! You accomplish so much! Your influence is incalculable.
Mom’s, know and understand that God is Super Too. There is one Major difference. Most Moms’ will admit that they don’t see themselves as Super. Very few Mom’s have ever potty trained their child on the first try. There were trials and failures. But God does not try and fail. He does not experiment on which food is best, or what reward works when trying to potty train a toddler. He is El Elyon, God Omnipotent who Reigns from on High. He is the God of Accomplishment! He is a God who is intimately and actively involved in your lives, and he will accomplish what He sets out to do. And in accomplishing His will for your life, He is guided by three things in which God Delights! And I suggest, Moms, that you are the hand of God, being used by Him to accomplish these three things….
God is a God of ACCOMPLISHMENT. He Accomplishes hesed, mishpat and sedaqa.
God Delights in Mishpāt (JUSTICE)
Justice is the best word we use to translate mishpat
The basic meaning of this word is “to establish the heavenly norm or pattern on earth.” Normally this concept is applied to society, i.e., the bringing of society into the right order or arrangement. In this sense it is translated “justice.”
But in three passages its meaning is applied to a building. In Exodus 26:30; 1 Kings 6:38; and Ezekiel 42:11 this word is used in reference to the design of the tabernacle, the temple of Solomon, and the future temple prophesied by Ezekiel, respectively. Significantly, in all these passages it refers to the design or arrangement of God’s dwelling place.
The word translated judgment means the establishment of justice
God has a Kingdom in His heart, a kingdom of justice, of order, a kingdom that is at work in heaven and his desire is for it to be so on earth.
The Tabernacle was an earthly type of the Justice that God seeks on the earth.
When His Son came to earth, He did what was necessary to empower this justice on earth. One day He will claim this inheritance and establish God’s Justice on earth. Until that day, we as His children, have an earthly tabernacle in which the Holy Spirit dwells. God can establish His justice in our lives. His Son can reign in our hearts and everywhere our foot trods. Mishpāṭ, as justice, i.e. rightness rooted in God’s character, ought to be an attribute of man in general and of judicial process among them (Psalm 106:37).
Aaron wore the Breastplate of Mishpat. And so should Mothers
The breastplate worn by the high priest is called a “breastplate of judgment” (Exodus 28:15, 29-30), not from any alleged revelation given by the stones Urim and Thummim but because the breastplate covered Aaron’s heart and “they shall be upon Aaron’s heart when he goeth in before the Lord and Aaron shall bear the judgment (mishpāṭ) of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually.”
(Exo 28:30) And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.
What Aaron was concerned with before God was Israel’s justification, i.e. judicial sentence (see above) of guiltiness. We need more Mom’s who carry God’s Justice in their heart, and carry their children in prayer before our God who delights in mishpat.
Mom’s Communicate God’s Desire for Mishpat to their Children.
A.Proper Behavior.
Montevious Lewis
Mom Give Public Punishment to Save Son from Life of Crime
A 12 year-old boy who bullied a fellow classmate and stole his iPod will have to cut the grass this summer at his school. That’s the punishment his school doled out. His mother had something else in mind. Believing that her son, Montavious Lewis, needed something more severe to get the message through, Bertreice Dixon decided that an afternoon at a busy intersection spent ringing a bell and wearing a sandwich board bearing his transgressions would be more effective. The get-up also included a plastic hat with the letter “D,” for dumb, a description of his actions, she says. According to Dixon, Montavious was trying to be “tough in front of his friends” and she says she is trying to save him from going “down a road where [he’s] gonna end up in prison or dead.” She insists that it is love that motivates her: “This right here is showing him how much I love him, and hopefully he’ll take it into consideration and don’t do it again.””Kelly Dudzik, Fox16 News, June 1, 2008;
Mom’s have an instinctive idea of the way God want’s His world to be ordered. They have an amazing opportunity to impress their children with our Creator’s Justice. The way He wants to Order our behavior in this world. When you go before Holy God in prayer for your children and grandchildren, you ask God to work His Order His Justice in their Life.
B.Proper Lifestyle
RIGHT IS TAUGHT
In the 1950s a psychologist, Stanton Samenow, and a psychiatrist, Samuel Yochelson, sharing the conventional wisdom that crime is caused by environment, set out to prove their point. They began a 17 year study involving thousands of hours of clinical testing of 250 inmates here in the District of Columbia. To their astonishment, they discovered that the cause of crime cannot be traced to environment, poverty, or oppression. Instead, crime is the result of individuals making, as they put it, wrong moral choices.
In their 1977 work The Criminal Personality, they concluded that the answer to crime is a “conversion of the wrong-doer to a more responsible lifestyle.” In 1987, Harvard professors James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein came to similar conclusions in their book Crime and Human Nature. They determined that the cause of crime is a lack of proper moral training among young people during the morally formative years, particularly ages one to six. Christianity Today, August 16, 1993, p. 30.
Mom’s must teach God’s mishpat to them when they are young. Proper behavior is not a byproduct of environment, but the result of conscious choices made because of proper teaching in mishpat.
C.Proper Relationship
Mom’s can stand in the gap for their children to cloth them in robe of righteousness.
In prophetic Vision, God’s Mishpat came to be expressed by the Nature of the Robe worn. Isaiah 61:10 is a good illustration of this.
(Isa 61:10) 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.
Only those who are in Right Relationship with God will enjoy God’s Mishpat. There must be a relationship with Him, and that relationship means your life has changed, you wear a Robe of Salvation. God has dealt justly with your Sin through the cross of Christ, You are now clothed with His Justice, New Garments. New Relationship. Born AGAIN!
God Delights in tsedaqa (righteousness)
We use Righteousness to translate this word. The difference between mishpat and tsedaqa is that mishpat begins in the external and transforms the internal. God’s justice becomes ingrained in our character. Tsedaqa begins in the internal and transforms the external. The justice of God in our heart becomes righteousness that transforms our lives and our environment. It is inner righteousness righteousness that prevails and causes us to outwardly triump!
- Translated – Righteousness
- It Is Right Behavior And Attitudes Based Upon A Right Relationship
- Because Of Tsedaqa One Is Delivered And Triumphs
- Conquering Righteousness In Action
“ṣedāqâ implies relationship. A man is righteous when he meets certain claims which another has on him in virtue of relationship”. It is that which “triumphs and prospers” deliverance, salvation or triumph — ṣedāqâ (reaches, relates, rewards– delivers, saves and causes to triumph) The word describes the attitude and actions God had and expected His people to maintain. He is unequivocally righteous;
More than ever Moms, our children need a Right Relationship with God. They need the Righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ, from giving their lives to Him. This world is getting sicker and sicker, and our children are under attack. Can you believe what England is telling parents? Will the US be far behind?
English Government encourages parents to NOT teach right and wrong Sex behavior
Parents should not teach their children the difference between right and wrong when it comes to sexual relationships, according to a new Government advice leaflet. By Lucy Cockcroft Last Updated: 3:29PM GMT 22 Feb 2009
Instead, a light and informal discussion is recommended, where moral values are not touched upon. The purpose of this approach, according to the leaflet, is to encourage openness and honesty. However, critics say that without suitable guidance, children will be left vulnerable when they are faced with making decisions about how to conduct a sexual relationship. The leaflet advises: “Discussing your values with your teenagers will help them to form their own. Remember, though, that trying to convince them of what’s right and wrong may discourage them from being open.” It suggests parents could use the lives of celebrities as a way of introducing the topic and says they should choose informal moments, such as when watching TV, rather than sitting teenagers down for a “big talk”.
Mom’s know that God requires boundaries for our lives. They instinctively teach their children the Law of God.While every Mother loves their child, there are expectations, boundaries that Mom’s expect their children to abide by. A picture of this is in the following illustration:
Rufus Jones lost a son of eleven years who was all the world to him. He wrote many years later about the experience, concluding with this luminous parable of how his own heart was opened to God’s love:
“When my sorrow was at its most acute I was walking along a great city highway, when suddenly I saw a little child come out of a great gate, which swung to and fastened behind her. She wanted to go to her home behind the gate, but it would not open. She pounded in vain with her little fist. She rattled the gate. The she wailed as though her heart would break. The cry brought the mother. She caught the child in her arms and kissed away the tears. ‘Didn’t you know I would come? It’s all right now.’ All of a sudden I saw with my spirit that there was love behind my shut gate.”
A child may rebel and shut them off from a mother’s love. Just as we rebel and shut ourself from God’s love. But Mom’s let their children know that no matter how rebellious they are, Love will always be behind the gate. Mom will always be there to open the gate once the prodigal child comes home. Christ will always be there with arms outstretched. Our children need to know that they are never shut out from God’s Righteousness and Love. Jesus Christ is the one who opens the gate to our lives and allows us free access to our Holy God.
No matter the sin, our children need to grow up knowing that God delights in tsedaqa, and that He actively desires for the Righteousness of Christ to be ours. Mom’s you can teach your children that no matter how dark the road gets, there is a Righteousness that is available to them in Jesus Christ. It is a Righteousness that will deliver them from sin!
God Delights in Hesed (Lovingkindness):
- Translated – Loving-kindness, mercy, steadfast love
- Active Force – doing, showing, keeping based on loyalty to a relationship
- Three Integral Components:
- Strength
- Steadfastness
- Love
- The Active force of God whereby he actively seeks to come to the aid of those whom He has established a relationship. He displays His strength in showing mercy and loving kindness in a steadfast way. His love and mercy never fail because it is impossible for God to be weakened to the point of failure.
It is often used in reference to God’s specific, concrete acts of redemption in fulfillment of His promise. An example appears in Isa. 55:3: “… And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” There are three elements of God’s hesed. Take one away and His hesed is not complete. God shows hesed in His “strength,” in His “steadfastness,” and in His “love.”
In Hesed we find God’s Strength, Love and Steadfast Loyalty on Active and Continual Display. It is a Mother’s steadfast love for her children that best accomplishes God’s hesed on earth.
God Abounds in Hesed
God’s Hesed (loving-kindness) is offered to His people, who need redemption from sin, enemies, and troubles. A recurrent refrain describing God’s nature is “abounding in ḥesed”
We find a beautiful portrait of God’s Hesed in the relationship of Ruth and Naomi.
In Ruth 1:16-17, we see Naomi, an Israelite widow, decided to return to Israel after the death of her two sons in the land of Moab. Ruth, her widowed daughter-in-law, planned to go with her, even though Naomi warned her that there could be no expectation of marriage and children, but rather the bleak prospect of poverty. Still Ruth refused to leave Naomi.
Uttering one of the most moving pleas of hesed in the entire Bible, Ruth said, “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The L ord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” With that the two widows went back to Bethlehem.
Ruth’s hesed to Naomi resulted in God’s hesed to her, even though she was a Moabitess.
Boaz, married the young Ruth, and they gave birth to Obed, and Naomi served as the nurse. Referring to the child, the people of Bethlehem told Naomi, “And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him” (Ruth 4:15).
Ruth demonstrated hesed to Naomi and her God. Because of the relationship, she found the hesed of Boaz and God himself. Our Savior, is descended from Obed, the child of Ruth and Boaz. Obed was the grandfather of David, the great shepherd king of Israel. Ruth is one of only three women named in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1.
The extraordinary efforts of mothers and fathers to save their children are unforgettable.
Beichuan: The young woman buried beneath debris looked as if she performing an ancient ritual. The palms of her hands were placed flat on the ground and she was bent over. A rescuer cried out to her, but there was no reply. The rescue team was about to move on and look for more survivors, when the team captain returned to have one more look. He found a baby under her body. “A baby is still alive!” he said. The three- or four-month-old old baby was wrapped in a quilt. Uninjured, the baby was sleeping quietly. His sweet, chubby face brought some comfort to those around him at the disaster site. Holding the baby up, a mobile phone was revealed. On the phone’s screen, a text message read: “Dear baby, if you survive, please remember that I love you forever.” The rescuers, hardened by the horrors of the disaster zone, could not help crying.
Baby survives on dead mother’s breast Dujiangyan: Another three-month baby was discovered yesterday still suckling to her dead mother’s breast. When rescuers reached the infant, she breathed heavily while still sucking her dead mother’s nipple, completely unaware of the chaos around. Her soft, pink face was a strong contrast to her mother’s dust-covered breasts. “We lifted the baby very carefully. But as soon as we pulled her away from her mother’s breasts, the baby began to cry,” said Gong Jin, a doctor from Guangzhou who volunteered in Dujiangyan. “It is heartbreaking to imagine how a dying mother still tried to breast-feed her baby.” You can tell from the way the mother was positioned that she tried to protect her baby from being hurt. “Maybe she put her nipple into the baby’s lips at the last minute of her life.”
- A Mother’s concerns are felt by her children, and those concerns and undying love do make a huge difference in children’s lives because:
- A Mother’s love can heal a child miraculously when there is no hope medically!
- A Mother’s love does open a child’s heart so the child is able to see the lower-energy that comes with harmful choices!
- A Mother’s love sometimes is the only thing that opens a child’s heart so they can see themselves as a young person deserving self-respect.
- A Mother’s Love “fixes” stuff that NO ONE else can fix!
Mother’s, you are touching your children with the very heart of God. Your love for your children has been chiseled from His very heart.
- “As a mother, my job is to take care of the possible and trust God with the impossible.”
- “Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares for a world she will not see.”
- “A mother . . . fills a place so great that there isn’t an angel in heaven who wouldn’t be glad to give a bushel of diamonds to come down here and take her place.”
Mom’s Love is Powerful
In 1866 an illiterate river thief by the name of Jerry McAuley was converted while serving a term in Sing Sing. Later he established Jerry McAuley ‘s Water Street Mission.
Jerry McAuley’s Mission was just one of those dingy little mission halls such as one often passes in the poorer parts of New York. But read Reverend S. Irenaeus Prince’s account of what happened when the founder of this humble mission died :
I was to conduct the funeral and went early to complete the arrangements. As I turned down from Fifth Avenue through Thirty-Fourth Street, I saw a vast multitude standing in the sunshine, filling the streets and the square in front of the tabernacle. Astonished at the spectacle, and wondering why they did not go in and take seats in the church, I soon found that the house was packed with people so that it was impossible for me to get within the door. Proclamation was made that the clergy who were to officiate were on the outside and a passage was made for them to enter in. What could be more impressive and expressive of the estimate set upon the man and his work ? There is no other Christian worker in the City who would have called out these uncounted thousands in a last tribute of love and honor of his memory. There are many instances of men being instantly healed of the disease of drunkenness in Jerry McAuley’s Mission, and of beastly characters being entirely transformed. From the standpoint of material science there was absolutely no hope for many of these men. From the physiological point of view their bodies were hopelessly impaired, from the psychological point of view their mental capacity had deteriorated to the zero point and their will power had been long destroyed. Yet some of these men, men who had committed all sorts of crimes, who had lived in the lowest phases of drunken degradation for many years, were enabled through the present day outworkings of this Mighty Power to live exemplary lives, to become useful and honored citizens.
Mothers all, give me your undivided attention. Some of the worst characters among the men who were transformed in Jerry McAuley’s Mission did not, from our limited human point of view, deserve to be transformed at all. Some of them went forward to the mercy seat, not for the prayers of the mission workers, as they pretended, but simply in hope of getting a meal or an old pair of shoes. Some of them freely admitted this afterwards. Mr. C. S. Hadley, author of Jerry McAidey’s Water Street Mission, who was converted in the old Water Street Mission and an active worker there for many years, says that these men were converted because they had praying mothers.
The Power of a Mother’s Prayer
Mr. Hadley says, in effect: ‘*MANY MEN COME IN HERE AND GO AWAY UNTOUCHED. IT IS VERY HARD TO CONVERT A MAN WHO DID NOT HAVE A PRAYING MOTHER.”
This is a very significant statement because, underlying it, we discover an important principle, a silent, invisible, working principle of this Mighty Power. That is, prayer is cumulative. EVERY real prayer IS RECORDED SOMEWHERE EVEN THOUGH AT THE TIME OF ITS UTTERANCE THERE WAS NOTHING TO INDICATE THAT IT HAD ANY EFFECT WHATEVER. Many things besides this statement of Mr. Hadley indicate this.
Mothers, isn’t it wonderful, unbelievable almost, that the prayers of these men’s mothers could not be erased; that all the evil, corroding powers of hell on earth could not destroy these prayers, so eternally were they etched in the invisible scroll of Life which records each answered petition to God?
Mother did everything she could think of for that boy. He was so cute when he was little and she loved him so I All through the day her heart was made glad by her boy’s glad play; she had such a time keeping him dry and warm and fairly clean and out of mischief and out of trouble, but this she did not mind at all. Yes, and she prayed for him too. Father would have thought it all nonsense, so she never said a word to him about it.
Mother didn’t know how to pray very well ; she had a secret fear of God ; then, too, there were the doubts which would creep in. Often she would be so tired at night that she would not try to pray at all. In fact it was only when the boy was sick, or after she had heard a particularly inspiring sermon, that she prayed. Even when she did pray there was often this fear of God in her heart ; but nevertheless, as best she could, she prayed.
When the boy began to go wrong Mother fairly agonized in prayer. Her poor, torn heart was now filled with doubt and fears; yes, and there was her wounded pride, too. Sometimes when she tried to pray she would find herself getting angry at the boy. Still, because it was her instinct, and because she did so love her boy, she continued her anguished petitions.
There were, of course, the times when she felt her soul flooded with peace, when she could pray on and on looking in blind faith to God and pouring out her mother’s loving, selfless heart for her boy. At such times she knew that her prayers were answered. But still the boy kept going from bad to worse. He would do better for a while, but it didn’t last long. Finally he married a splendid girl and spoiled her life too.
Father did all he could for the boy. Time after time he paid up all his debts; twice he started him in business. They sent the boy to the Keeley Institute and to expensive sanitariums. But it seemed that the forces of evil always prevailed. They erased, apparently, all the good there was in the boy. He got so he would make solemn promises to his mother, although knowing full well that he would break them. He did things that covered the family with shame and yet did not appear to care that it hurt Mother. Finally he left town under a cloud and was never heard from again.
Time went on and the boy became a greyheaded, besotted old sinner. The forces of evil had corroded his life until no one would have dreamed that he had had a praying mother. Yes, everything good had been erased from that man’s life — EVERYTHING EXCEPT THOSE ANSWERED PRAYERS OF MOTHER.
Mother had long since passed on to the Great Beyond ; but, etched so deeply into the scroll of his life that all the evil powers of hell on earth could not erase them, there still remained her answered petitions. Thus it was that the boy went into the mission hall that night and sat down with a lot of other drunken loafers. Finally he went forward and knelt at the mercy seat and there, with the selfless, loving prayer of faith being poured out for him by the mission workers, he contacted with God — IN AN INSTANT LIKE A GREAT FLASH OF LIGHTNING, ALL THE MUCK WAS SWEPT OUT OF HIS LIFE AND HE STOOD THERE CLEAN AND STRONG. And it was because mother had prayed.
MOM’s, never is a greater miracle than this is performed, than when your child, your grandchild is born again through Jesus Christ.
Miracles like this are happening all around us, all over the world. There is hope for this world because the miracle working power of Jesus Christ is still happening. The Love of Mom’s is still touching the hearts of their children. The prayers of every Mom are still at work even though they may be departed.
Mom’s take hold of this Mighty Power. Purpose to pray fervently for your children, your grandchildren. Never give up on the Power of Jesus Christ to transform lives.
Continue to seek after God, continue to show His Lovingkindness, His Justice, His Righteousness to those in your care. Your Love is chiseled from the very heart of God, therefore it is the most powerful force on this planet!
You yourself can use this Mighty Power. You can build the foundations of your little ones’ lives; Mother, you have this power and you must use it. It is into your hands, not man’s, that God has placed the destinies of the nations.
FATHER, THOU ART LOVE. THOU ART IN THE INSTINCT WHICH LEADS THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD TO THE PUREST WATER AND TO THE MOST NUTRITIOUS GRASSES. THOU ART IN THE INTELLIGENCE WHICH ENABLES MAN TO USE EACH GOOD THING FOR THE GOOD PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT WAS INTENDED. AND THOU DOST MANIFEST THY LOVING POWER IN THE LIFE OF THIS THY LITTLE ONE. THOU WILT ALWAYS BE HIS GUIDANCE IN SELECTION, WHEREBY HE SHALL TAKE UNTO HIMSELF THAT WHICH IS GOOD.”
Joshua is the book of Inheritance for Israel. Even though the message involves events that happened 3000 years ago, there are lessons for us in our modern 21st Century Christian Walk. Throughout the ages God has always had an inheritance for His Son in view.Psalms 2:8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 
Joshua himself represents the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God rested upon Joshua because Moses had laid hands on him. That anointing was with the inheritance in view. Why is the Holy Spirit Necessary to Claim Your Inheritance? Because it is not gained by Your Might! As God explains in Deuteronomy 1:38 “Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Acknowledging his leadership, the people said: “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.” Joshua 1:16.
The Nation of Israel was redeemed when they were brought forth from Egypt. Their redemption was necessary to bring them into their inheritance. Redemption is a far, far greater thing than we have ever imagined. Redemption is only the beginning of salvation. When we speak about salvation we are really thinking of people coming to the Lord. We ask them if they are saved, and many Christians will say: ‘I was saved so many years ago.’ So salvation is just a matter of coming to the Lord Jesus, being saved from our sins and receiving the gift of eternal life. But if you look into the New Testament you will see that there are three tenses of salvation. “We were saved”, which is the past tense; “we are being saved”, and that is the present tense; “we shall be saved”, and that is the future tense.
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews calls it the “so great salvation” (2:3). The Lord Jesus said to the first members of the new Israel: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). He also said that the Kingdom of heaven shall be taken away from the old Israel and given to the new (Matthew 21:43). So the inheritance is the Kingdom! Our Redemption Gives us the Power to become the Sons of God. We have an inheritance that is incorruptible, reserved for us in heaven.
But remember, heaven is not in view here. The inheritance of Jesus is the main focus of the Bible. That inheritance involves a Kingdom for the Son of God. Our inheritance involves our reigning with Jesus Christ. He will reign in the Millennium. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:24-25 (NKJV) “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. and after he defeats everyone, He will turn the Kingdom over to His Father.
There will still be the nations even in the new heaven and earth. There will still be the Kingdom of God. There will still be people living outside the city. 
Hebrews 11:8-10 (NKJV) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Unprofitable Servant Matthew 25:28-34 (NKJV) Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
THE CHILDREN IN THE WILDERNESS:
Before we are ready to claim our inheritance, God wants us to go through the wilderness. He wants us to be overcomers.
We must discover what is in our heart.
B. The Wilderness Experience is a Crucible of Character.
The wilderness is a dry barren place, where you cannot see anything, or feel anything; where if your only resources were in your senses you are at an utter end. It is a barren place of utter dependence upon God, and there is nothing else to depend upon. God wants us to realize He alone is able to bring us into our inheritance. He says: “I am your inheritance” (Num. 18:20). “The Lord is my portion” (Ps. 119:57). “The Almighty will be thy treasure, and precious silver unto thee” (Job 22:24,25 A.R.V.). In Christ we have all that, “For all things are yours… the world, life and death, or things present or things to come, all are yours and ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:25). God uses the wilderness times in our life to show us that He can be our life, and that we must depend upon Him for everything. This is the very essence of our Inheritance, an utter separation from everything unto God.
You are in an appointed place, separated unto God. There is not to be the slightest imprint of Egypt (the world) in the wilderness. “not a hoof to be left behind” There had to be “three days’ journey into the wilderness” (Ex. 8:27). The Separation allows God to be our Completeness, our Fullness. There is to be nothing else we desire. 
There is no getting out of it, you are imprisoned, given wholly to God and for Him, He is to be the sole object of your affection and desires. God shut Israel into the wilderness and there was no way out; Pharaoh saw that, see what he says about it: “Pharaoh will say… they are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in” (Ex. 8:27). The Wilderness Shuts us in. Satan thinks it is a good thing to isolate Christians, to cause wilderness experiences. But God is the one who is actually doing the shutting in.
That is God’s Way. He imprisons us, making us see ourselves as we are. We are powerless, we are totally dependent, we cannot run away. We must depend upon His Power, or we die. You may be in the midst of fiery trials, impossible circumstances. Night and day you here Satan saying QUIT QUIT. Yet for some reason you know you cannot. Our flesh wants freedom, but God wants to bring us to the place where there is no more strength, no more self-reliance, no more flesh. He is holding you, He is with you in the wilderness. He is showing you His power sometimes moment by moment. You will be freed from the wilderness proclaiming God did it. God held you in the wilderness so that you might learn to depend upon Him. The Lord sovereignly held the children of Israel in the wilderness, while the testing and training was going on, preparing for the inheritance. And He is holding you while He does the same, you are the prisoner of the Lord, hedged in unto His Divine completeness; the Lord is sovereignly holding and getting us through, the credit is not ours, but His, it is all Grace.
We Overcome, Simply by our Faith in HIM! Numbers 13:30 (ESV) But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Numbers 14:1 (ESV) Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 7-8: And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
See what Jesus had to say to the seven churches. The Key Word He Used is OVERCOME!
Jesus has already won the battle. He has already paved the way to our inheritance. We must simply not be sluggish, but resolve to follow Him in the power of the Holy Spirit to go in and possess the land-our inheritance!
In Revelation we see the exciting climax and conclusion of what Joshua begins. Rev 1:5-6 gives credit to our Savior who has made us to be a Kingdom and Priests in order to serve his God and Father. In verse 7 it proclaims that He is coming in the clouds and everyone shall see Him. All the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him. Why will they mourn? They will mourn because that which is precious to them will be taken away. The kings and the rich merchants mourned at the fall of Babylon, because they are no longer rich. Rev 18:14 says “all your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.”
In the Book of Revelation we find the God Wars Revealed. There is a War going on for the Inheritance of Jesus Christ.
Revelations is the book of Restoration of the Inheritance that God promised His Son.
John weeps and weeps, for it seems that no one is worthy. But then John beholds a lamb, look as if it had been slain. The lamb comes and takes the scroll, and then a new song is sung:
The Lamb that was slain is the one who made the inheritance possible. In dying, to purchase the inheritance, He also purchased men and women for God. He purchased them to be a kingdom and priests to serve God, and to reign with Him on earth. The Lamb is Jesus Christ. He has purchased with His blood a permanent inheritance. That permanent inheritance is this world, the nations, all who will believe, and the heavens around us. It is all His, and because our bodily purchase seals the deal, we are joint-heirs. His victory is not complete until this mortality puts on immortality. We cannot share the inheritance until our total redemption is realized.
Satan is vigorously opposed to any inheritance for the Son. He comes to KILL STEAL AND DESTROY as John 10 says. In fact, the parable in Matthew 21:38 bears this out. The wicked husbandmen (vinedressers) had stoned the servants, and seeing the coming of the Son of the landowner said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ Satan doesn’t want Christ receiving any of His inheritance. Satan wants to ROB Christ of His inheritance, and He wants to get Christians to help him do that. He already got Israel to rob God of His inheritance:
Joshua was to lead the people into a land flowing with milk and honey-fruitful land. The Jews failed to deliver, Satan had his way, so the Kingdom was given to another group, the church, to bear fruit, the fruit of the spirit. It is all about the inheritance. Now this Inheritance has been the Supreme Purpose of God from the very beginning. Redeeming Man was important, but this inheritance for His Son was more important. The redemption was a benfit of achieving the inheritance.
The importance of our Life and our faithfulness to Jesus in securing this inheritance is underscored in Revelation 21:7 but let’s start at verse one:
The Church has to be brought into that inheritance for which it has been eternally predestined by God; and the Spirit came – in type in Joshua, in reality in Acts – for that one purpose. And this is going to be a conflict which will not end, until the Lamb has overcome in finality.
This inheritance governs everything in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament; all that is in the Old Testament and in the New Testament is governed by the inheritance. It is the inheritance that justifies and explains redemption. That was true in the redemption of Israel from Egypt, and it is true regarding the redemption of the Church from this world.
We have an inheritance to gain in the New Heaven and Earth. We have an inheritance when we reign with Christ during the millennium. What does all this have to do with the Book of Joshua? I’m glad you asked. Joshua is the book of INHERITANCE. It is the book that will reveal to us how to live the Christian Life so that we can overcome, so that we can engage in the God Wars and not be overcome by the wicked One. Joshua is the book in which we learn our lessons on how to engage in the God Wars to claim our inheritance.
Take time to face the whole thing. Lay a sound foundation, so that you will be able to say, when the difficulties come afterward, and the enemy comes in like a flood: ‘Yes, but I counted the cost! I knew what I was getting into. I am not where I am because of an impulse, an emotional appeal. Mine is a soundly considered position; I know why I am where I am.’ It is very important, before you engage in the Battle for Our Inheritance, that you pause for three days before you make your advance. Now, that need not be taken literally; but it does represent a state of the heart, a facing of things with God, a reckoning of the Cost of Following Him.
And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’ ” So Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:3
A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “ Aw Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!”
Do you want to see the real Jesus Christ? Do you want to know the Son of God? Do you desire as Paul Prayed in Ephesians…
IN OUR TEXT
In our text
IN OUR TEXT
This is where most pretend followers fail. Like Judas, like Demas. Paul tells us we IDENTIFY with the Cross. Paul tells us that the Cross must be central in our life, It must be the core belief in our Walk with Jesus Christ. If we are to See Jesus on a Daily Basis, we must take up the cross DAILY, without complaint, without regret.
But Jesus adds something else, that only the Son of God can say. He says, “Follow Me”.
Her first day of Sunday school the teacher walked in
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE JESUS?
Loving the Word with the MudPreacher 