In Loving Memory
July 28, 2002 - July 27, 2008
Blaine Michael Brandon
(singing with Mama Christie and Papaw Jim)
This message "Truth in Trying Times"
was delivered at Victory Christian Center / August 3, 2008
We all live in a fallen world, and all of us will in many different ways be affected by evil.
By knowing the Word of God and understanding His character we can find hope and endurance
to persevere during those times when the evils of this life try to overcome us.
Last Sunday began as usual. I woke, prayed, got dressed, and went to church to be with those
of like faith and worship the Lord. During the service a call came and a few minutes later
we received the news that, a little five year old boy, a member of our church family,
had gone home to be with the Lord. He had been very ill for over a year and a half
and our church family had prayed prayers of agreement, they had fasted and prayed,
supplicated and prayed, searched out the Word like never before and stood in faith
in all areas that they could possibly understand to.
However... Blaine Michael Brandon has now met Jesus face to face,
and is continuing his eternal destiny away from us. July 27, 2008 .
That night I couldn't sleep, so I quietly went out to pray. Why? Because there are times
when you must read His Wordor just pray so that "OTHER" thoughts...
"OTHER" ways of questioning and thinking don't enter in to your thinking on a matter.
I was avoiding "temptation". I was trying my hardest to shut that part of my brain down
that kept questioning… questioning... I said to myself, "Take all those thoughts captive...
cast out all imaginations...least you fall into temptation, doubting or questioning God in this matter.
Get it together Brenda!"
But my spirit COULDN'T or should I say WOULDN'T rest!!!
So at 2:00 a.m. there I sat at the breakfast table, just staring… I took out the Bible,
and wiping the tears from my face I prayed, "O.K. Lord... I know that there IS something
here in Your Wordthat will suffice me in this matter.
It is Your will that I have understanding. HELP ME to understand better."
I personally knew that this situation had everything to do with God's will,
however I had people asking me,"What about the part where God tells us to call for the elders
of the church, to anoint the child and pray the prayer of faith?
What about those prayers of agreement that we all stood together in fasting and praying?
What about laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover?"
And when little 5 year old Blaine moved forward in his eternal walk with the Lord,
the children of my household began to ask , "WHY? WHY? WHY?"
With all my explanations I could see that they weren't comforted by any explanations I gave to them.
I felt empty!
This is what kept me up! There was a stirring inside of me that had to know!
The Holy Spirit was right there and led me to Luke 22. I began to read the RED LETTERS,
over and over and then, suddenly… the light went on… "IT TOOK".
There it was! Right before my eyes... right before my heart... something I had never seen before...
and it gave solace to my aching heart.
I want to share this with all of you, and pray to the Father that it also helps you.
Get your Bible and turn to Luke 22. There are a few scriptures there I want to share with you.
You all know them very well and I'm sure have read them several times.
Luke 22: 42-43 ... An angel appeared to Him (Jesus) from heaven to strengthen Him...
"Not My will, but Your’s be done."
The consequences of "God's eternal will" can be hard and most difficult for us to understand.
Right here you can read that in this time of prayer to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane,
it was even HARD for Jesus!
Jesus, having had the Passover, was fully aware that the end was at hand.
This was a sure mark of the beginning of the end. Jesus spoke to His friends
and told them to “PRAY” that they enter not into temptation. Sometimes the most important
reason we are praying is simply to keep ourselves from entering into doubting and questioning
when things don’t turn out the way we think they should. God knows what’s going to happen!
Jesus knew that the inevitable was ahead and He knew that temptation,
frustration and confusion were just around the corner.
But... knowing that God's will would be hard... Jesus began to PRAY MORE EARNESTLY
even in His AGONY of knowing (vs.44). Jesus, with His level of understanding and perception
of spiritual things could clearly see what was coming. His sweat became like GREAT drops of blood.
He continued to pray earnestly!
You see… in dyer situations, it is only by “earnest PRAYER” that we become fortified
and prepared to take on the challenge of the temptation that awaits us.
I know that as we all watched little Blaine Michael Brandon become weaker and weaker,
we all began to pray more earnestly! In (vs.43) it says that an angel appeared from heaven
to "strengthen” Jesus as He prayed. We have the Holy Spirit who helps us also when we pray.
Sometimes, we are praying, just like Jesus was, and it is almost AGONY to continue in that prayer
and say, "Not my will, but THY will be done in this situation." WHY?
Because right in the midst of our praying, just as Jesus was doing, we realize...
we have an "inner-knowing" that tells us... God's will is going to be DIFFERENT
than what "our will" would like for the outcome to be.
We cry, and there is an ache that comes from a place so deep it’s a supernatural cry.
It’s a cry of AGONY! It is a cry of "knowing" the reality of our flesh fighting
with the ultimate "will" of God for that outcome.
We trust God… We love God… We know that God knows best…
We KNOW that God will have His way…
Oh, but the AGONY! Even Jesus experienced this SAME AGONY in that Garden as He prayed.
"Not My will, but Thy will".
Very often, right in the middle… right in the midst of our praying... that reality of our weakness
and His "Sovereignty" hits us square between the eyes and we have to really allow our "faith"
to kick into high gear or we won't get through the "INEVITABLE WILL OF GOD".
Jesus asked the disciples, "Why are you sleeping?" Rather... I just prayed to the Father and ...
It's inevitable that God's going to have "SOVEREIGNTY" in this matter of the cross.
You need to rise and "PRAY" lest you enter into the temptation of questioning God’s perfect will.
Right here... as I continued to read and "see" … I realized that the same thing that had kept me
up in prayer was one of the same things that had kept Jesus up in prayer.
This wasn’t just for me, but also for those questioning friends and those children in my
household that didn’t have understanding.
For Jesus, it was just for Himself… but also for His disciples!
He knew they were going to have trouble understanding!
If Jesus was in such AGONY, sweating great drops of blood over knowing GOD'S WILL
for His situation, then He also knew perfectly well that it was going to be even harder
for these "men" when the reality of God's will really sunk in.
Jesus was going to die! Jesus was going to die!
You can read on through the Gospels and see how upset and confused and fearful
this made many of these "followers" of Jesus. Yes we are talking about “believers here!”
They fell headlong into temptation and began to fight the spiritual battle carnally
without instruction from the Master. But He had warned them…
PRAY least you enter into temptation.
Some of those brokenhearted disciples even denied their association with Jesus,
doubting the power that they had been walking in and “Who” they had been walking with.
To them… this looked like failure. This did not look like victory!
Everything had been working so wonderfully and now “THIS”.
Are we so different? “NO!”
There will be times when during even our praying and fasting and supplicating and agreeing
and travailing, for God to answer the prayer of our heart-cry... the moment comes…
when right in the center of your spirit… His Spirit speaks to you… and you realize…
that His "SOVEREIGN" answer is going to result in an outcome that is very different
that what you were praying for. YET... "NOT MY WILL, but THY WILL BE DONE".
He sees our suffering… the tearing at our heart… His will HURTS so bad that He has to send
angels from heaven to comfort and strengthen us, just as He did for Jesus, and we feel as though
our tears are as great agonizing drops of blood because they are coming from a place so deep within…
that it pains us to the core of our existance... "Not my will but THY will be done".
I continued to pray and read… and the Holy Spirit backed me up to the passage in Luke 22:37…
where Jesus says, "For there are things written in heaven concerning Me that must be accomplished."
"For the things concerning Me DO HAVE AN END". And here, it meant an end
to those things that He had to do here on earth at the cross.
Pre-destined, Pre-ordained and nothing... not even His AGONIZING tears
could change the outcome of what had been ordained by God.
There WILL BE "things" concerning our lives that must be accomplished here on this earth
that "DO" have an end... HERE ON EARTH. Call it our "pre-destination before the foundations
of the earth story of our life. Our days "MUST" be "FULFILLED" according to God's will.
God has purposes and seasons and perfect timing ACCORDING to HIS WILL
for each and every person here on this earth.
I thank God for His perfect will. I thank God for comforting me and showing me that even Jesus,
my HERO and KING had a difficult, AGONIZING moment with the reality of God's perfect will.
If Jesus can do it... we can do it. He is our strength... He is our hope of glory in all situations
that God has pre-ordained for us. I thank God for knowing better how to mold and shape me
by "His will" and not by my own understanding.
This battle at Gethsemane was won on the knees of Jesus. Without the victory at Gethsemane
there may never have been a Calvary . Calvary ’s victory and the pre-destined will of God
was won and sealed on that night in Gethsemane .
Many of our battles will be fought and won this same way.
In this same pattern that Jesus has given to us.
On our knees, least we enter into temptation.
In those places of agony and pain and high emotional ebb and tide, we can find peace and solace
for our grief and fears… on our knees before God, just as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In the face of adversity and suffering… when we feel like we’re loosing the battle…
the way back up and out of it will come by prayer.
“Not our will Oh LORD… but THY WILL BE DONE”.
Thank You and God Bless You.
Brenda Schaunaman "BE"
IF YOU NEED PRAYER PLEASE E-MAIL
injesusname@suddenlink.net
