IN THE DARKEST NIGHT

Sometimes it is difficult to see that God is really at work in the world.  The killing and stealing and destroying ways of the enemy are everywhere present, and it can get pretty dark out there.

           

Rest assured, however, God is at present and He is working all things after the counsel of His good and acceptable and perfect will” (Eph. 1:11; Rom 12:2).  In the Old Testament we learn ,"The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.  The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.  The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever" (Psalm 121: 5-8).

           

Our call in the world in which we live is to see beyond the visible into the way of being lived out by Jesus.  He says to us that God is here, with us, moment-by-moment and day-by-day.  Come what may God is with us.  His grace is sufficient.  He will is perfect.  Our times are in His hands, if we will let them go to Him.

           

Corrie ten Boom, who has better qualifications than I have said this, “In the concentration camp they took all we had, even made us stand naked for hours at a time without rest, but they could not take Jesus from my heart.  Ask Jesus to come into your life.  He will give you riches no man can take away from you.”[1]

           

Even in the darkest night, God is here.

---

[1] Corrie ten Boom, Tramp For the Lord, (Fleming H. Revell: New Jersey, 1974), 48

IN THE HAND OF JESUS

 Jesus told a spiritually hungry man one night, "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8)."  If you want to experience the marvelous wonder of amazing grace join up with Jesus and you will be in for the ride of your life.

If you follow Jesus He will most likely tell you to set your sails according to His will and then the winds of the Spirit of God will take you over and move you forward into places where you will know your life can’t be explained by the natural flow of things, but only by the abiding presence of the God who loves you with an everlasting love.

We serve a God who is the Maker of heaven and earth, who opens and no one closes, who closes and no one opens.  God can’t be contained, explained, or controlled.  He is the God with whom nothing is impossible (Matt. 19:26).    Psalm 145:3 says that God “is most worthy of praise! No one can measure His greatness” (NLT). On top of all this Isaiah 40:28 tells us that God “does not faint or grow weary.”

The winds of God are blowing today.  Let’s set our sails and go wherever God’s “good and acceptable and perfect will” takes us (See. Romans 12:2). 

Remember the Jesus’ movement song of 1970 and these words, “Put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee?”  I think we ought to do it.

                        Put your hand in the hand of the Man

                        Who stilled the water.

Put your hand in the hand of the Man

Who calmed the sea.

No ordinary man, mind you.  Jesus, the Son of God.

The wind is blowing.

THE RIVER IS FLOWING

 His name meant, “God is strong,” and Ezekiel’s ministry as a prophet to God’s people as they lived in exile in the land of Babylon, would drive him time and time again to the God who is strong.

Ezekiel knew that the God who is strong was on the move.  Something was in the works.  God was going to move among His people in such a way that it would take a vision to explain it to Ezekiel.  So, a vision was given

At the altar of worship in the Tabernacle a tiny trickle of water began to flow.  The further from the altar the stronger the flow of water became.  It became ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep, and then so deep Ezekiel said, “It was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded” (Ez. 47:5).

The River became strong, too, strong enough that it pushed back the waters of the Dead Sea so powerfully that fishermen would fish for fresh water fish in the Dead Sea.  The unimaginable would be realized.  It was nothing short of a miracle or at least an act of God’s amazing grace.  Along the river fruit trees would grow and every month of every year the trees would bear the fruit of God, fruit for food and healing.

The river of God was going to push through the parched desert into lifeless waters and, the vision tells us, “everything will live where the river goes” (9).

“Let the river flow. Holy Spirit come. Move in power. Let the river flow.”

I STAND AMAZED

Do you believe in God, so much so that you are ordering your life around the wonder that is God?  Are you captivated by the reality of the Living God? Do you stand in awe as you witness the grace of God day by day?  Are you amazed at what you see when you look into the life of Jesus and seek to grasp just what He is about?

Maybe the questions are too dramatic.  Maybe not.  I just know that the song writer speaks for me when he said, “

I stand amazed in the presence

Of Jesus the Nazarene

And I wonder how He could love me,

A sinner condemned, unclean.

How marvelous, how wonderful

And my song shall ever be.

How marvelous, how wonderful

Is my Savior's love for me.[1]

Sometimes God just surprises me and leaves me reeling in wonder as I try to get my head around how good He has been. 

I am learning, though I am a slow learner, to trust God’s grace and to let God be God.  Still, sometimes it all comes crashing down on me so forcefully that I am left speechless, and able only to quote the words of Mr. Newton, “Amazing Grace! How Sweet the sound!”

“I stand amazed…and I wonder.”  Who would have thought it that God should get Himself involved in my life, and stake His claims on me?  It certainly caught me off guard and today, after a whole lot of years walking with Jesus I still say, “I stand amazed.” 

---

[1] “My Savior’s Love,” by Charles H. Gabriel, 1905

YOU CAN TRUST GOD'S HEART

God is with His people in every valley of deep darkness they face.  He is faithful and present.  Psalm 46 speaks volumes, “God is our refuge and strength, 
a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride” (vs. 1-3).

What are you facing in your life just now? You are not alone.  The good word in Isaiah 41:10 is, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

A wonderful song speaks to us when we walk through difficult times.

When your pathway looks dim,

And you just can’t see Him.

When you don’t understand,

When you can’t see His plan,

When you can’t trace His hand,

Trust His heart.[1] 

God is good, always and forever.  Take to your heart the words of Isaiah 40:31, “Those who wait for the Lord
will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

---

[1] “Trust His Heart,” Words and Music by Eddie Carswell and Babbie Mason

THE CLOCK IS TICKING

 2013 is here.  The clock is ticking and the future is unfolding before us.  There is no reason to face the new year with anything less that the reality that Jesus is Lord.  As He has been He will be.  Our lives and times are in His care.          

Entering the new year confident of God’s amazing grace is a grace in and of itself.  Now is a good time to look upward to God, knowing that He is here and at work in wonderful ways in the world.

In the Bible we learn that God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11).  In Romans 12:2 we learn that God’s will is “good and acceptable and perfect.”  God’s will can’t be improved on.  Therefore, everyday we ought to pray the prayer Jesus taught us, “Thy will be done” (Matt. 6:10).  If God is working all things after the counsel of His will and His will is good and acceptable and perfect, then let’s open up our hearts to all the possibilities of God.            

In Jesus we can’t go wrong.  If we make a mistake, God will be there to lead and guide and direct. Face each day with a confidence born of God.  He is for His people.  He will never leave them or forsake them.  Come what may, good or bad, Jesus is Lord.  Our lives are in His hands.           

When you don’t know how to pray just pray, “Thy will be done.”  You can’t go wrong there.

WANTED: GRACE GIVERS

As the apostle Peter was saying his goodbyes to the Elders of the church at Ephesus he spoke of how he "did not shrink from disclosing to [them] the whole purpose of God" (Acts 20:27).  Truth is, he had poured out his heart for God and had done all he knew to do to lift up Christ. 

     

At the conclusion of his farewell address he told them something he said Jesus had said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).  It was a truth to which Paul had committed himself and by which he had conducted his life as a missionary for God.

     

Giving is a way of being in the world.  It is the way of Jesus, the One who came not to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28).  It is the way of being the Church in a world steeped in selfishness and materialism.  We are never more like God than when we give. 

     

Jesus said, "Freely you received; freely give" (Matthew 10:8).  He also said, "For God so loved the world that He gave…" (John 3:16).  He gave the ultimate offering; Jesus, God's response to the deepest need of the human heart."

     

Anne Frank wrote, "No one has ever become poor by giving." I think she was right.  Let's be known for our lives of giving, lives patterned after Jesus.

GOD HAS COME TO US

"The people who walk in darkness will see a great light" (Is. 9:2), so said the prophet. One might think he was speaking to twenty-first century USA when he proclaimed these words.  Actually he addressed them to a culture that existed seven hundred years before Christ.  It's just that even though the calendar is always moving forward, the human heart has stayed pretty much the same.

           

The preacher was right when he said, "There is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  Darkness is still darkness whether it is surrounding ancient Israel or modern America.  People refuse God now as they refused Him then, and brokenness of the human heart is the one consistency that seems never to change with time.

           

There is no way adequately to express the joy of knowing that a great light has come to penetrate the darkness and to bring hope and healing and comfort into the human story.  God has come to us in Jesus, bringing to us love, acceptance, forgiveness, understanding, and peace.  Those who personally know Jesus will affirm this great promise.  It is available to everybody, though.

           

In the darkness there is a light, the very light of God.  Jesus.  Immanuel.  God with us.  "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4).  "Wonderful Counselor…Mighty God…Eternal Father… Prince of Peace" (Is. 9:6).  "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).             

           

Embrace the Light, Enjoy the joy, and pass the Good News on to others.   "The times, they are a changing" (Bob Dylan).

     

MESSIAH BRINGS PEACE

 Wherever we look in the world there seems to be violence and unrest, wars and rumors of war, and maiming and killing. Things are not well in the world.  Many people are calling for peace, working for peace, and negotiating for peace, but peace remains elusive and far away.

None of this is new to the world, mind you.  It's been the history of our species dating as far back as Cain and Abel.  The only difference these days seems to be with how quickly communication is let loose and how massively destructive are the current weapons of warfare.

So it is that when God spoke His life into human history He became the "prince of peace" (Isaiah 9:6).  His Church became the people of peace, and His kingdom spread throughout the planet as the reign of peace.  When God's people are reflecting their God and the will of God is being realized, there is peace.

The prophet Isaiah described a coming time when "the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together (Is. 11:6).  This is a description of peace, and it seems so foreign to reality that it is almost unimaginable.  Yet, in a people where the Prince of peace is Lord this unimaginable peace becomes the modus operandi.

We don't see it worldwide just yet, and there is much work yet to do, but the true Church of Jesus should already be modeling the peace of God which passes understanding. In His Church race, color, socio-economic status, educational level, background or roots fall away, and swords and spears are melted down and restructured to be tools of community instead of weapons of war.

In Jesus we are already beginning to see the truth of God, "They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea" (Is. 11:9).  We're not there yet, but there is a place and there is a people where the dream is beginning to be realized.

"The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood" (John 1:14, Msg).

GOD COMES TO US

Off in the distance, maybe closer than we think, we hear a voice calling, "Clear the way for the Lord" (Malachi 3:1).  Immediately we know God is up to something, something big--big enough to clear the desert for the building of a highway, big enough to lift up valleys and to make rough ground plain, and to turn rugged terrain into a broad valley.  This is big BIG.

           

This is so big that God Himself is going to show up.  He "will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him" (Isaiah 40:10).  He is going to show up in power and authority.  This isn't big.  This is huge.

           

And when He gets here He will be "Like a shepherd," [and] He will tend to His flock.  Did we read that correctly?  That doesn't sound so huge.  That sounds simple and ordinary.  Where are the power and authority and dynamite and flash and fireworks?  There aren't any.

           

At least it looks like there aren't any.  This "Lord" and "Shepherd" doesn't need fireworks to make His point.  He simply comes among the folks and manifests His life.  "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood" (John 1:14 Msg).  Are you kidding me?  That's it?  Yes, that is it.

           

And, it is a big IT.  It is God the Maker of heaven and earth entering into His creation and doing so in the power and authority and gentleness of the God who loves and cares and embraces. 

           

This is huge.  This is eternity huge.  God comes to us, not to write us off but to include us in.  He comes to reveal His glory--to us.  Who would have thought it?  Only God Himself.