"While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Matthew 12:46-50 ESV)
After a radical visitation and the birth of Jesus, escaping to Egypt as a refugee, returning to Nazareth, and living an ordinary life for thirty years, the ministry of Jesus began. A great revival of signs and wonders swept the land! Mary's life changed dramatically, and her prophetic destiny emerged after decades of obscurity. Jesus started bringing home a bunch of crusty fishermen to dinner. Then Mary went to a wedding and watched Him turn water into wine. In the blink of an eye, everywhere Jesus went, He had a huge crowd following Him. Demons fled from Him, blind eyes were opened, and the incurable were cured. Revival is breaking out everywhere!
Then, one day while Jesus was "speaking to the people," Mary "and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him" (Matthew 12:47 ESV). But Jesus "replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" (Matthew 12:48 ESV)
Mary had to have been baffled by Jesus' response. She had been riding the wave of His celebrity and the esteem as His Mother and thought she deserved and was entitled to some of her own. After all, she had lived thirty years in obscurity in a secret history of protecting her child, bearing the shame and stigma of His birth, and having to sacrifice her home and family. It is hard not to desire position, glory, and people to revere our name. But to Jesus, it doesn't matter. The greatest enemy we have is ourselves. God wants those who are only concerned with the fame of His name. Mary had to relinquish all rights over her Son while watching the prophetic promises spoken over her finally be fulfilled. She had much to die for, even the reputation of being His mother.
God wants to use those who will bear the mark of the Cross and relinquish their lives for His life. Every day we are to pick up the Cross and be willing at any moment for Jesus to put to death those things in our life that are hindering greater intimacy with Him. Dying to self is the hardest thing we can ever do. However, when Jesus puts something in our life to death, He replaces it with the power of the resurrection!
Mary was in a season of blessing as the Holy Spirit was sweeping through the land by the touch of her son. However, God was asking her to decrease so that He could increase. The prophetic cycles carry us through a journey of increase and decrease. The most challenging time to grow in humility is in seasons of great visibility and prosperity. Suffering often protects us from self-promotion and pride. It is hard to remain humble when there are times of great blessing and increase and then give up control, relinquishing your rights, dying to your reputation, and just following Jesus.
The Dark Night of the Soul
"…but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19:25 ESV)
As the name and fame of Jesus spread through the land, those in control of political and religious power were beyond anger and wanted Him permanently out of the way. As the pressure and persecution increased, the disciples fled to save their lives as Jesus was led to the Cross.
We find Mary kneeling in the shadow of the Cross, weeping, screaming in anguish as her firstborn Son hung naked and bloody and as His body was being torn and beaten, crying out in Messianic prophetic fulfillment, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Psalm 22:1)
I can only imagine the pain and anguish Mary was going through and crying out to herself, 'Why God, why have you forsaken Him? Why have you forsaken me? He was supposed to deliver all of us. He was our salvation, and now He's gone. If you really loved us, why would you allow this?'
Mary was powerless to intervene as her son, and her prophetic promises were dying. She had no revelation of the resurrection to come. After waiting for thirty-three years, everything was dying - it looked like a complete and utter failure. Jesus was in the prime of His life and in the midst of a tremendous revival. But now He is dying on the Cross - and so is Mary - to her ambitions and dreams. She was in a crisis of faith, devastated, and feeling abandoned and betrayed by God. She couldn't see the raging demonic battle between Jesus and the hoards of Hell and then mightily taking hold of the keys of death and Hell by the power of His shed blood and conquer the sting of death (Revelation1:5,18).
The Work of the Cross in Your Life
The Cross is being worked in our lives daily, sometimes even through other people's choices. When Jesus chose to go to the Cross, Mary was also compelled to be there. If we want to experience the power of the resurrection and supernatural anointing of the Holy Spirit every day in our life, everything must die at the Cross: our relationships, ministry, agendas, reputation, finances, etc.. and allow God to strip us bare for all to see. No one dies gracefully.
We want to believe the Lord will rescue us at the last minute from the pain of broken relationships, shattered dreams, the health challenges of a loved one, or a wayward child. Still, God's plan often is to crucify us so we can die to ourselves and be raised in the power of the Holy Spirit! There is a high price for the anointing.
God uses all the bad experiences of life to purify you into becoming a greater reflection of His image and likeness, refined like gold in a furnace. The challenge through those times is to honestly believe that He is not the author of pain and suffering. He wants the best for you because He is good all the time. If you want to experience the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders, you need to be identified with the daily sufferings of the Cross.
Resurrection
"When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"" (Luke 24:31-34 ESV)
After the torrent of tears and anguish over the Cross, Mary jumped up and down with ecstatic joy, crying out with laughter, 'He's alive! He's risen!'
It is out of death that eternal life comes! Her worldview limited Mary's prophetic promises. She saw Jesus as King of the Jews over the little nation of Israel during her life. In reality, He was King of kings and Lord of lords for all people and all time.
"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death" (Philippians 3:10 BSB)
Do you want to understand the power of the resurrection in your life daily? It is not some supernatural force given to you to ‘zap’ people and knock them over. The "power" of the resurrection isn't a ‘thing’ or some ‘force;’ it is love!
It was love that exploded Jesus out of the tomb! It was love that sent Jesus into the world! Listen!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 ESV)
God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us. It is His love that holds the universe together, and that will remain when everything else passes away.
It's far easier for many to understand the power of the resurrection as a kind of physical might or an explosive force such as dynamite. Many want that kind of power in their lives because they want to defeat their problems. They want the ability to blow away those things that trouble them.
When you realize that the power of the resurrection is love and not some 'thing' you can use like a tool, you have a predicament of learning how to appropriate it. It's a lot easier to destroy things than it is to love.
Loving is the most complicated task of all, and you can't do it on your own. You can't even love Jesus on your own. You must ask Him to give you the love to love Him back!
Of all the 613 laws in the Old Testament, Jesus narrowed them down to just two. When asked by a Pharisee, "Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38).
It is easy for us in the natural realm to understand the difference between right and wrong, such as a traffic sign, when it is clearly marked before us. We drive down the street, and when we see a stop sign, we stop because it says to stop! If a line is drawn in front of us that we are not supposed to cross, we don't! Those are things we can do because they are clearly defined. When God says we must love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, we have a real predicament because we don't have clearly defined signs.
Jesus then gave the second Law:
"Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:38-40 ESV)
He is saying that loving your neighbor as yourself is the same as loving Him with everything within you!
Now comes the real test: How are you supposed to love your neighbor when you can't stand yourself? You may live in defeat. You may even hate yourself. Many go to 12-Step programs three days a week and help make psychotherapists rich by trying to deal with the garbage inside of them. Yet they don't deal with the real problems inside because they can't handle the reality of who is to blame. Their lives stay miserable. They see themselves as useless.
You can't love your neighbor if you don't know how to love yourself. You can only learn to love yourself and God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength by giving up and giving in to your Creator. You must say to Jesus, "I can't love You on my own. I'm asking You to give me the love I need so I can love You back." When you do that, you die to yourself because you suddenly realize that nothing within you, apart from Jesus, can get you to the place you need to be.
When you came to faith in Jesus, you received all the blessings in Him. You won't receive them one day in the future once some self-assumed place of 'real holiness' is reached. They are yours NOW because you have already received them in that twinkling of an eye when you first called upon Jesus to forgive your sins and become the Lord of your life. You will find nothing outside of Jesus that has any eternal value - absolutely nothing.
The Day of Pentecost
The new Dispensation of grace began on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on those present, and the Church was set ablaze. They received the gifts of tongues and the courage to be radical and passionate lovers of Jesus. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was, and still is, a ministry of multiplication, intimacy, and partnership. When the Holy Spirit moves through you, it's not just for your benefit but to bring conviction, salvation, healing, and deliverance to suffering humanity.
It wasn't easy for Mary and the early Church. Martyrdom and persecution scattered them, resulting in the Gospel's spread to other nations. Mary's journey on Earth continued with revival and seasons of tremendous warfare that were used to mature her for God and others. She was a carrier of God's glory. Are you willing to be a carrier to bring the fire of God to your family, neighborhood, Church, and workplace? Are you willing to birth revival as Mary did?
Join me in this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I embrace your Cross! Father, search me and help me to nail everything – even that which You have promised me – to the Cross and to let You do whatever You have to do to make me nothing less than Your reflection. I want all of you, so take all of me. Thank You that You resurrect our promises so much bigger than anything we could ever imagine. Thank You that when the seed falls to the ground and dies, You spring forth a harvest of righteousness and peace. You shatter our expectations with Your goodness. I love you, Jesus! Amen
