WEDNESDAY'S WORD - STAGES -Sadell Bradley 4/6/2021

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD STAGES 4/6/2021 "The five stages - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance,- are part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one(s) we lost. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. But they are not stops on some linear timeline in grief ."- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross WEDNESDAY 7:00 PM FB LIVE The Warehouse OTR YouTube @warehouseOTR "Life is lived on levels and arrived at in stages." - Edwin Louis Cole. When we hear the word stage, we think of a raised platform on which artists perform. The first definition of STAGE is a point, period, or step in a process or development; a section of a journey or race; a level of a building or structure. We must embrace the truth that things don't always happen all at once. They occur incrementally over a process of time. Whether we talk of birth, maturity, sleep, education, relationships, death, or grief—everything comes in phases. Even our engagement with Christ's forgiveness of sin comes in stages: conviction (the Holy Spirit's revelation of our sin), contrition (our godly sorrow), confession (speaking out our faults), forgiveness and redemption (receiving absolution of guilt by the price of Jesus' blood sacrifice on the Cross); repentance (turning away from sin), receiving justification and sanctification (just as if we'd never sinned and set apart for God's purposes), reconciliation and restoration (friends again with God and each other). Naturally and spiritually, we sometimes want to skip, ignore, or at least fail to appreciate the stage we're in. WHAT STAGE ARE YOU IN? The Children of Israel circled 40 years to cover what should have been an eleven-day journey. Their leader actually chronicled the stages, "1This is the route the Israelites followed as they marched out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2At the LORD’s direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress. These are the stages of their march, identified by the different places where they stopped along the way." (Numbers 33:1-2) The passage goes on to list each stage of their movement starting with the Passover and their Red Sea Exodus from Egypt. Moses wrote about every place they camped and each time they journeyed from place to place. Numbers 33 recalls key events like the time there was no water, and the death of Aaron. The next stage was for Israel to fight their enemies and divide the promised land God told them in Exodus 23:29-30, "I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land." We don't like incremental change, and neither did they. We want things to happen instantaneously and dramatically. Stages require faith, patience, and perseverance. Imperceptible growth means the glory and credit will only go to God because we won't be able to tell how or when He did it. Can you embrace your stage? GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE IN CASE YOU MISSED IT! CLICK HERE TO VIEW