A Letter to Our Children

My stepson, Nathan, whom I met when he was just eighteen (not long after his father had died), has said on numerous occasions that he has never met anyone who acts like Christ as much as I do. I do not mean this as a boast, but as a fact. I have worked hard to follow Jesus and do as He commanded. Jesus said, as you'll recall, “If you love me, follow my commands.” These commands are in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and they consist mainly of forgiving others, not judging, loving your enemies, and more.

Before I explain to you how the world works and what Jesus does through us to overcome it, let me share an additional little miracle that occurred to me a few months ago. Another book of mine, The Opening Window is filled with wonderful miracles from God, but this one occurred after that book was written. I've since come to call the experience a “sky card,” and often take a moment to thank God for the sky card, when I am feeling discouraged.

When I take our dirty clothes to the laundromat, as the clothes are in the washers (or the dryers), I frequently go out to my car and pray. This particular morning I noticed the many clouds in the sky and felt a stirring in my soul. Then I glanced out my side window, toward the top where a particular cloud suddenly had a square sliced off the edge of it. I began to witness a cloud formation appearing within that cut out area. At first I saw a Z. I may be slightly dyslexic and I wasn't totally sure it was a Z, so I remember looking down from the formation and drawing a Z with my finger in the air. Yes, it was a Z! The Z faded and a heart (like a Valentine heart) appeared. When that faded, a cross appeared. Then the clouds began to, once again, be stirred by the winds of the world and took on normal shapes.

What did “Z” mean? Was it Zarley? Was it me? Then came a heart. That usually means love or loves. The sentence so far was, “Zarley loves.” Then came a cross. Zarley loves the cross. I continued pondering. Zarley loves Christianity. Or was it Zarley loves Christ? In my heart, that last one was it. I saw no reason to relate this mystical experience with anyone because it would entail boasting, but I did share it with my wife as well as a few close friends in a class I was teaching of The Opening Window. But now, in this book, God has seen fit for me to relate it because, you see, it glorifies God in that IF our children (and the rest of us for that matter) detect some credibility here in this chapter, because of the “sky card” I got, then they may be encouraged to actually take seriously what most of my writing and Jesus' teachings say. What I've been doing for Christ has been working. The “sky card” is stating a fact. Zarley loves Christ. And Christ said, if you love me, you will follow my commands. So, I state my credentials as a matter of fact. Please allow me to share with you how the world works so that you may have a happy and fulfilling life, doing the Lord's work in this world, before you are taken into eternity to dwell with Him forever. I've stated the truth below in as compact a manner as I could. I will follow it with further explanations.

How the World Works

1. The other people in the world give us a reflection of ourselves in which it is revealed our infestations, or dark spots of the soul. If they didn't do this, we would never see them and would travel through this world, blind to our burdens, blind to our deepest needs, unable to see anything about ourselves that we could lift up to Jesus and have Him heal. This is part one. Without humbleness, however, we will be unable to release our burdens in prayer so humbleness and the truth that we serve an awesome God, must be in the mix.

2. True forgiveness (not worldly forgiveness—or forgiveness which is insincere or conditional) relieves us of OUR burdens and allows Jesus to heal us. In other words, forgiveness is not for anyone but ourselves, but do not underestimate to what extent we can help Jesus attain His goal of drawing ALL men to Christ. True forgiveness opens the door to our healing which opens many other doors to other people's healing as well.

3. Once this is accomplished, one forgiveness at a time with those whom God has placed in our lives, we become Christ-like and He can use us to do His work. As we escalate quiet prayer time to the top of our "to do" list, and learn to pray without ceasing while meandering through the world's maze, we will learn to hear the Holy Spirit who will direct our path and tell us what to say and when to say it, as well as when to be quiet. Our frantic worldly goals of correcting everyone will be gone. We will completely understand that only the Holy Spirit corrects others from the inside out. If we are called to lend our assistance, He will tell us what to do or say and He will not lay judgment on our hearts, as we do His will.

That's it. There is no more. We've made it amazingly complicated and awkward. We have made up rules upon rules and then found we could not follow them and felt guilty and walked away from them, never realizing that God already had a plan setup. This plan consists of a way in which our deepest healing needs could be met. It was in forgiving other people. Over simplification you say? No. This one step can be quite hard since the world runs in a completely opposite manner. In the world, we must always defend ourselves against others because they can't be trusted, we must always beware of wearing our hearts on our sleeves because people will tear them to shreds. We must always try to correct others and as other people come at us with their weapons, we must get them before they get us. Wait. Stop. Hold it. Put the brakes on. Does it need to be this way?

No, it doesn't. Mean people, irritating people, annoying people, deeply troubling people are all calling for love, they are not calling for revenge, or avoidance or resentment, they are calling for love. Why? Forgiveness is an act of love. What does forgiveness do? It heals us, which is our primary concern but it also provides a spiritual manna from heaven, for someone who has been deprived for one reason or another. This manna is love. When they receive the love you owe them (because your own healing lies in it) they will have what they need, as well: Love. They may not respond instantly to your show of love and forgiveness, but that is not your concern. You scatter the seeds of love, God nurtures the love in others, and eventually love blooms into many wonderful miracles as God's children are drawn to Christ.

Remember, God places the exact person you need in your life at a particular time to heal you. Jesus asks us to do unto others as we would have them do unto ourselves. He asks us to love our enemies and do good to those who do wrong to us. He asks us to pray for those who persecute us. The reason God asks us to take such a different approach to these irritants in our lives is because this approach heals us and makes us more into His image. Of course, if we don't look at people as calling for love, we will inevitably curse them, fight them, try to avoid them, hate them, and more. This perpetuates problems and wraps the chains of this carnal and fallen world tighter around everyone. This restricts Christ in doing His work.

Now, children, we must make a decision. We must decide which approach we are going to take as we live out our lives in this world. Have I given you enough information to make the right decision? Do you need more time? If you should fail to make the right decision, God will not stop giving you tests and you will still have to decide which way you are going to handle the people who are challenges. One day, my prayer is, that everyone will receive a “sky card” from God that says, “You love Christ.” Whether this happens to you or not, do not forsake Jesus, do not state, by your actions, that you don't care very much for Him or His teachings. Remember, He cares for you always. Indeed, God sent Him into this world so that, by His death on the cross, we should have everlasting life and complete remission of our sins (and remission of the sins of others as we use our sight as God intended and quit judging others.) Follow Jesus all the way home to heaven and begin fulfilling your purpose NOW!   

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