Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

• Luke 22:45

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

• Romans 7:24-8:2

“Then I began to praise God, for I had learned what to do with my sin. I confessed it to the heavenly Father in Jesus’ Name and I claimed His forgiveness. With joy I was able to get up and pray with the twenty young people who had made the important decision to commit their lives to Jesus Christ. It was eleven-thirty when the meeting finally came to a close.
“The next morning, Sunday, I spoke in a beautiful church which was filled with the most prominent people in Havana. As I entered the imposing building I was given a copy of the parish magazine which had been handed to all the other people. In it I read an introductory article about my ministry. It said, ‘Corrie ten Boom is a most popular world evangelist. … She is tireless and completely selfless in her absolute dedication to the cause of the Gospel. …’
“Oh, Lord, I thought, if only these people knew who the real Corrie ten Boom is, they would not have come out this morning to hear me.
‘Tell them,’ the Lord answered immediately.
“By that time I was seated on the platform looking out over the sea of faces before me. ‘But Lord, if I tell them, they will reject me.
“ ‘Can I bless a lie?’ the Lord asked me in my heart. ‘I can only bless the truth. You do want My blessing, don’t you?’
“Then it was time for me to speak. The gracious minister gave a flowery introduction and asked me to come to the pulpit. Before I could give my message, however, I knew what I had to do.
Reading first from the parish paper I then said, ‘Sometimes I get a headache from the heat of the halo that people put around my head. Would you like to know what Corrie ten Boom is really like?’ Then I told them what happened the evening before-how my own sleep had been more important in my eyes than the salvation of young people. ‘That,’ I said, ‘was Corrie ten Boom. What egotism! What selfishness! But the joy is that Corrie ten Boom knew what to do with her sins. When I confessed them to the Father, Jesus Christ washed them in His blood. They are now cast into the deepest sea and a sign is put up that says, NO FISHING ALLOWED. Corrie ten Boom is lazy, selfish, and filled with ego. But Jesus in Corrie ten Boom is just the opposite of all these things.”
“Then I waited. Surely now that the congregation knew what kind of person I was, they would no longer want to hear me. Instead I sensed them all leaning forward, eager to hear what I might say. Instead of rejecting me, they accepted me. Instead of a beautiful church with prominent members and a popular world evangelist, we were all sinners who knew that Jesus died to lift us out of the vicious circle of ego into the light of His love.
“God had blessed the truth!”

• Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord

The previous night, Tante Corrie had actually prayed that no one would come forward for the altar call.  She had a hard time getting to Cuba and she was exhausted.  She wanted to go to bed.

I have had some of those prayers before.  I have said something horribly selfish and as soon as it left my lips, I was reaching to retract that prayer.  It hits you extremely hard when you might, for your own selfish needs, pray against a great work God is doing.  For some sleep?!

But yes, I have done that.

As for Tante Corrie, as the quote says, she prayed for forgiveness and at that moment she had enough energy to pray with those that had come forward.

I go to a church that never has a call to go forward.  None of the people at the front of the church would know what to say if anyone came forward.  Probably with the exception of the pastor.  I know what to say.  I have done that, long ago.  When you are in the Spirit, it is kind of like riding a bicycle.  If you don’t remember, the Holy Spirit will help you.  But Tante Corrie knew.  She was just tired.

Lord, strengthen me.  It makes me feel a little better, knowing that Tante Corrie was human, with human weaknesses.  We read how she went anywhere and talked to anyone, and we feel inferior.  Help us to realize our faults and lay them before You, so that You can wash them as white as snow and make us more capable in doing Your Will on this earth.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.