HIGHER GROUND

I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Sometimes I get complacent and comfortable in my life and walk with the Lord.  The American lifestyle makes that so easy.  This song by Johnson Oatman, Jr. (circa 1898) reminds me that I am not here on this earth to “just get by” or “hold on until the Lord comes”.  I am here to fulfill God’s will and be a delight to Him.  How can I do that if I am just dong enough to get by?  I always cry out to God for His help when I am going through a trial but what about when life is full of good times and complacency?

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Lately I have been almost overwhelmed with the evil happening in the world.  Wars, killings, hate crimes, and natural disasters fill the news broadcasts every day.  If I pondered these things over and over I would tend to feel the hopelessness of it all but God has ordained that I not dwell there.  I turn to praise and singing when faced with so much evil and I join other believers in regular worship and praise (Hebrews 10:25).

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Have you ever heard the phrase “He’s so heavenly-minded that he’s no earthly good”?  I think that when we ARE heavenly-minded we can do the most earthly good!  I have found that when I focus on, trust in, rely on my Heavenly Father throughout the day then He gives me the words and actions that are in His will to reach out to those around me.  While I reach out I still hold His promises in my heart that He will return for me some day and take me to that final “higher ground” to live forever in His Presence.

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Are you looking for relief from the troubles of this world?  Are you longing for peace in all the turmoil?  Are you looking for higher ground?  Turn to your Heavenly Father and He will lift you there even while you are still on the earth.

“For who is God except the Lord? Or who is the Rock save our God, The God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect?  He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high places.”  -Psalm 18:31-33 AMP

FAT TUESDAY

When I was a teenager our family lived in Algiers which is a suburb of New Orleans.  My father served as a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy on the naval base there towards the end of his naval career.  Every year in the spring the city has a big celebration.  I remember going to see parades, watching brightly decorated floats go by with costumed people throwing out necklaces of beads, plastic gold and silver coins, and pieces of candy to everyone around.  It was such fun to grab as many of these items as I could.  This was my happy memory of Mardi Gras (or “Fat Tuesday” in English).

Years later I gained valuable insight into the reality of just what Fat Tuesday was really like.  As a student in Mission School our outreach team spent just under a week in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras of 1998.  A church in Algiers graciously housed our team in their Sunday School rooms and chapel for those days and nights since they were not holding any of their regular scheduled church services.  I remember asking why they were not holding any services and the pastor stated that during Mardi Gras most of the members went to visit families in other parts of the country because they did not want to be in the city when it was full of so much evil.  It causes one to wonder though, what would have happened if they instead had stayed and went to prayer during those two weeks? 

We were excited to get across the river and check it all out so we rode the ferry across the muddy red Mississippi and entered the French Quarter.  Even at 10 am there were hundreds of tourists and groups coming in and out of shops and jazz bars.  Many of them were already quite drunk and staggered out of one bar to the next.  My parents were quite careful to protect me from this side of Fat Tuesday so I was surprised to say the least.  We were carrying tracts titled “Are You Lost?” that had a map of the French Quarter and downtown New Orleans on the inside and a message about how Jesus can help one find their way spiritually on the back page.  The local Youth With A Mission base made up the tracts and found that because of the map inside people did not throw them away when handed one.  It was a great witnessing tool.

Around noon the local members of Youth With A Mission base team brought a casket accompanied by a small jazz band playing light-hearted jazz to Jackson Square (in the center of the French Quarter) and then they set the casket against a tree, opened it and displayed the body inside.  The band continued to play until quite a crowd had gathered then one of the mission team members, dressed in preacher’s clothes (circa 1800’s), started preaching for the funeral.  He started talking about what the man in the casket was like and when he stated, “He was a good man.”  The man in the casket opened one eye and shouted, “No I wasn’t”.  The funeral continued with the man in the casket countering everything the preacher said.  At first the crowd, when they got over the shock that the man was not really dead, would laugh at the banter between the preacher and the man in the casket but after a while the crowd grew silent.  This is when the preacher turned to the crowd and told them that if the man had really been dead it would have been too late to change or make amends for the bad things he had done in his life but the preacher then encouraged the crowd that it was not too late for them.  Many people gave their lives over to Jesus when the preacher invited them to do so.

Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me. –Psalm 23:4 AMP

Our team went back to the French Quarter in the evening but found it nearly impossible to share the Lord because almost everyone we met was drunk.  Other things we observed that evening were people brutally fighting, urinating or defecating in the street, and getting naked and having sex on open balconies.

These things were my adult memories of Mardi Gras.  The “magic” of the Mardi Gras of my youth was gone but the memory of people choosing to believe in Jesus in the midst of all the drunkenness and other debauchery made the trip worthwhile.  The one thing that still stands out in my mind though is the minister of that church telling me that the church members left the city during this time.  They obviously hated the evil running rampant during the weeks of Fat Tuesday so they fled it.  I admired the local Youth With a Mission team members who stayed, prayed and were daily witnesses of the Lord in the midst of all that evil.

“You, my children, who belong to God have already defeated this spirit, because the one who lives in you is far stronger than the anti-Christ in the world. The agents of the anti-christ are children of the world, they speak the world’s language and the world, of course, pays attention to what they say. We are God’s children and only the man who knows God hears our message; what we say means nothing to the man who is not himself a child of God. This gives us a ready means of distinguishing the true from the false.” -1 John 4:4-6 PHILLIPS

In less than two weeks another season associated with evil approaches.  It has the fun elements of dressing in elaborate costumes and getting candy like I enjoyed when I was a child watching the Mardi Gras floats pass by, but it also has its unseen evil side as well.  Many Christians I know do not believe in celebrating Halloween.  They leave their porch light off and do not answer the door, watching TV instead and trying to ignore the festivities.  I used to be one of them.  This year I choose to not be like the Christians that fled New Orleans for those two weeks in the spring.  This Halloween I choose to be a person who goes to prayer and battle wickedness where it counts, in the spiritual realm.  Will you join me?

The reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it rests satisfied; he cannot be visited with [actual] evil. –Proverbs 19:23 AMP

“…The King of Israel, even the Lord [Himself], is in the midst of you; [and after He has come to you] you shall not experience or fear evil any more...” –Zephaniah 3:15b AMP