Facts are not truth.

We’re coming to a close on our ministry in Albania, which I will forever remember in so many ways—from rest, to joy, to newness, to love, to weariness, to struggles, to confusion, to many heavy battles. 

 

It’s been a time of growing in intercession, and faith in truth that I don’t yet fully see. Faith that God can and will bring the seeds he plants to fruition, even in ground that looks lifeless. Even if I never get to see the fruit, or even a sprout. 

 

A big word my team and I have all felt separately convicted of: “it’s not about us”. It’s simply an honor to have any part in God’s miraculous work of revival, even if we don’t see what comes of the seeds we’ve laid down. 

 

In my life, as well as on behalf of the friends I’ve made in Albania, I believe one of the most important things I’ve gotten to do here is pray. Not only to ask God for big things that I think would be great, but ultimately, to ask him what he sees, what he wants, what he’s doing, and align my prayers with these things. 

 

James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” 

 

I don’t think this means that the more righteous I am, the more God will listen to me. I think it means the more righteous I truly am, the more my prayer is aligned with God’s truth, love, will, and inherently, power. 

 

I don’t say this to try and call myself such a righteous person, but to say this is what I really hope I’ve been in my prayers here. Not coming from my own wisdom, vision, or desires—but seeking His. 

 

Here in Tirana, our team has invested in and come to care about quite a few people who outwardly show no signs of coming to the Lord. In bringing this to God and seeking his truth over what I would surmise to be reality by what I see, it has been a privilege to cry out in deep places for them in prayer—to stand in a gap of which they’re not even aware, and pray truth over them they don’t even believe exists. To be let into God’s love, and honestly desperation, is what I’ve felt, for lack of better words, to keep them safe, and that they would come to know him. It’s just been so cool to learn more about God’s deep love, and relentless pursuit of all people, in seeking his eyes to see them and their situations instead of relying on my own understanding. Standing in faith of the unseen truth God has revealed, instead of the seen “facts.” 

 

Believing that aligning my words and prayers with His truth, even though it’s unseen and might seem to make such little sense now, is powerful. 

 

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Proverbs 18:21 CSB

 

“For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

Isaiah 55:10-11 CSB

 

Sadly, it’s so much easier said than done to believe in things before they happen. These seeds I’m talking about—the enemy doesn’t let them grow in peace. 

 

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”

John 10:10 CSB

 

The enemy actually points out facts all the time, to try to get us to forfeit our stance in the truth. It’s really tricky. But don’t worry. Jesus gives us an answer 🙂 

 

“…I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”

John 10:10 CSB

 

I know I’m definitely breaking the rules of good blogging, because it’s already getting long. But stick with me 🙂 

 

Please take a real second, and prayerfully read the story of the adulteress who was brought to Jesus in John 8. It has hit me hard recently.

 

“At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground. When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center. When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”]”

John 8:2-11 CSB

 

This is an example of how the enemy tries to get us to focus on facts instead of truth.  

 

But the reality is that the truth prevails, and that is all that matters. 

 

So much about this wrecks me. 

 

“Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

 

Like dang. I just love him so much. What a man. What a thing to do. To be the literal only one in history who actually has any right to throw a stone, and to choose not to. Not only does Jesus not throw a stone, but he proceeds to die on the cross for this very sin, so that this daughter of his can go forth, redeemed and unharmed. Instead of throwing a stone of condemnation, Jesus frees her from condemnation by dying on the cross for her, and sends her forth to live in this freedom. 

 

This is what I’m trying to be. A reflection of my savior. I don’t ever want to be one of the hypocrites chomping at the bit to stone someone, as if I don’t equally deserve it. 

 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:23-24 CSB

 

Why would I do this when I can be like Jesus and extend mercy instead? I want to choose to see the person as he does, and speak the truth, not my opinion.  It’s hard sometimes. We’re all in sin. Speaking the truth over someone doesn’t always mean speaking what you see in them. Speaking what God sees in them can often mean quite the opposite. But that’s all that matters. I want to choose forgiveness, freedom, and redemption in His work on the cross, rather than getting all caught up in the “fact,” and condemnation.

That being said, also exemplified in this story is that we would be condemned if it weren’t for the intervention of Jesus. We have no escape from this condemnation but through him. We need to accept him to receive this freedom. We need to understand this in order to fully grasp what he’s done for us, and his incomprehensible love for us. 

But there‘s an important line here. It’s my job to be honest about the reality of sin, and every person’s desperate need for salvation from it. But if my voice is ever a condemning one, rather than pointing to the fact that Jesus has defeated condemnation, I’ve then fallen short in my own pride,

forgetting that when I was the woman, it wasn’t my well deserved condemnation that was spoken over me, but,

”Neither do I condemn you, go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

 

 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit.”

Romans 8:1-5 CSB

 

The truth is this: this woman’s sins are gone because of Jesus—even though that doesn’t align with the facts of what she’s done. All we have to do is accept the truth that Jesus is the only one who can set us free from our chains; we must give them to him. Jesus is beyond just eternal security. He really is deeply in love with us, and he wants us to love him back. And because of who he is, shown in what he’s done for us, how can we not? I will never not be in awe of the simple gospel, and just how good Jesus Christ is. Ugh :’)

 

“What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.”

Romans 8:31-34 CSB