Jesus, Light of the World (12-1-12)

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Isaiah 60: 19-20

"God has done an incredible thing by introducing us to the Light!  We will never be able to fully comprehend His great love for us, nor how that love and that Light are everlasting.  EVERLASTING!  Our finite minds simply cannot begin to understand the concept of forever.  If we have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep one night, we tend to say that the night lasted 'forever'.  We typically say that about anything that is, for the moment, unpleasant.  Our concept of 'forever' is, at least in part, limited to the negative.

Yet we see today in the Scripture reading that Jesus has been given to us as an everlasting Light.  There is nothing negative at all that can be attached to that!  For every single circumstance that God allows into our lives, for every decision we must make, for every question to which we need an answer, for every problem we have, Jesus is our Light.  He illumines our pathway if our eyes are intending to see His light.  And He will light the way for us forever!

When we take that thought to its most basic level, we can come to no other conclusion but this:  Jesus is the ONLY light we will ever need, both now and forever!  We know that this is true, so why do we seek so many other means of 'light' when life becomes complicated and difficult?  Why do we rely on our own wisdom when pressing decisions must be made?  When we need answers to our questions, why do we hesitate to pray and seek the Word?  By looking to ourselves, or anything other than God, we are telling Him, 'I know You are all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present, but I just don't trust You with this particular issue.'  Whether we like it or not, this is unbelief.  The fact that we so often rely on everything but God might be the very reason verse 20b in today's reading references 'your days of mourning'.

We walk out of the light of Jesus and back into darkness when we blow out His Light that is at work within us.  We snuff out His Light by taking matters into our own hands, trusting our lives, our decisions, and the answers to our our own understanding.  When we do this, our peace is disturbed, and it begins to erode very quickly.  The light in our life diminishes and becomes dark and fearful as 'the sun goes down' in those moments of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

Are you beginning to see why it is so critical that the Light of our life also be the LORD of our life?  God will continue to work throughout our lives for the purpose of bringing us to a place where He is the LORD of everything, and who can and will continually and forever light the pathway for our journey.  Every time we choose to walk in the light of our own making, instead of the the Light of His Son, His light dims and our world darkens.

God is working to bring us to the place of recognizing that we have no need for any other light but His!  Eternal light is not merely reserved for Heaven where there will be no more day or night, no need for sun or moon, because it will be illuminated by the Son.  Eternal Light is also for the here and now, as well.

The prophets of old foretold the coming Light of Messiah, and His Light resides inside of us in ways they could have never understood.  How many more days shall we walk in the light of our own self rule, which is no light at all?  Jesus is the Light of the world!  Having believed in Him, shall we now continue to intentionally snuff the Light out?

Where, in your life, are you currently experiencing darkness?  Surrender the self-will, the self-reliance, or the self-sufficiency as is personally necessary.  Ask the Light to return to that area (or those areas) where you have allowed darkness to take over.  Then keep in mind these words:  "Arise!  Shine!  For your Light has come!  And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!"  (Isaiah 60:1)  You will experience the darkness becoming as the noon!

What Are You Looking At?

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Numbers 13: 25-33

"What are you looking at, My Precious One?  What is it that you see that is making you draw back from the things I am calling you to do?  Do you see that what you are seeing is not what I see?  Your spiritual vision is both blurry and OUT OF FOCUS!

His words to me are like a daggers to my heart.  I long to follow My Lord where He leads me, but I am finding, right now, that my gaze seems to fall, far too often,  on the giants of my life.  While I am sure that God is able to do the "exceedingly abundant works" in and through me, my thoughts are consumed with what a "grasshopper" I am among my perceived giants.  While seeing my giants I am becoming more fully aware that what my weak eyes behold is not at all what God sees.

The Hebrews had the same problem.  It was time to enter into the land that God had promised them, but instead of believing that that land would be good for them as God had told them, and obeying His call to take the land as their own, they came up with their own "brilliant" idea.  Instead of entering in as an army of 603,550 able-bodied warriors (more than 1/2 a million!), as Numbers 1:46 records, the great plan of the people was to send in 12 men . . . 12 men!  Twelve men versus a half-million men with the Ark of the Covenant, the very Presence of God, leading the way!  Their 12 men brought their unbelief back from the Promised Land, but now it was in full bloom.  Though they had seen the great blessings of the land, the only thing that they truly were looking at were the giant men of the land.  Everything else was out of focus, but to them, the giants were the sharp image that was engraved on their unbelieving minds.  And they brought that picture into clear focus for all of the Hebrews.

"Why didn't they believe what I had already told them?  Why did they choose unbelief instead of faith?  They were afraid!  Don't you see that you are doing the same thing?  I have called you to a ministry, and I have shown you what the ministry will be.  Will you now come up with your own plan of attack that comes from a place of fear, a place that forgets or disbelieves Me and all I have let you see?"

Again, His painful questions penetrate my heart at just the place that my fear resides.  As I contemplate what He is saying to me, I am beginning to see with His eyes my own fear of the unknown, what my "entering in" is to look like, what the exact plan is to be when I cross into the borders, and the deadly "what if I fail?".   These are my giants that are holding me back, the biggest one being  my need to know the blueprint of His plan.  This is fear cloaked in control.

I don't know where this quote came from, but it has been taped to my bathroom mirror for several years now.  It has ministered to me on several occasions, especially during my book-writing days, but this morning it is an empowered banner that beckons me back to faith. His call to me is to step away from my own unbelief, to fall on my knees, and surrender all my "plans" and all my "giants"  to Him in faith that He will accomplish what He has said He will do.  I pray it is as much of a  blessing to you today as it is to me.

"Never give up on anything God has told you to believe for; never quit doing anything He has clearly shown you to do.  Your diligence will pay off with a blessing from God."

"Now, go My Precious One, and see what I see.  Focus on that!  'For I know the plans I have for you . . . plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope!'"  (Jeremiah 29:11)

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 21

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 Day 21:  The Father of the Mute Boy (Mark 9: 14-29)

Jesus, Peter, James and John were returning to the other disciples.  After having been on the mountain together where Jesus was trans-figured before them.  It was very clear as they approached the disciples that something was up.  A crowd surrounded the disciples, and they were in a heated argument with some of the scribes.  As they came near, the crowd took a new interest in Jesus, and they ran to greet him.

Quickly a man began to describe what had just happened.  He had brought his son for healing from a demon that possessed him.  When put on the spot, the disciples had not been able to heal the mute boy who foamed at the mouth, ground his teeth, and was being slammed to the ground.  His convulsions proved to be too difficult for them.  “If You can do something, have pity on us!” the man pleaded.

“If You can?  All things are possible for him who believes,” Jesus answered him.

“I want to believe,” the man thought.  “But do I really believe?”  For what seemed like hours, he wrestled with this question within himself.  He felt an inner convulsion of his heart and mind that could have equaled the physical convulsion of his son.  But in the midst of the turmoil, a light went on.  “I believe this Man can help my son, and the problems I have with unbelief, He can help me with as well,” the man rejoiced.  In a loud voice he proclaimed for all to hear, “I DO believe; help my unbelief!”

With a look of compassion and understanding, Jesus smiled at the man.  Turning to the son, He commanded the spirit to come out and never return.  Jesus raised the boy up from the ground; the crowd dispersed, and Jesus and his disciples went home.  When asked why they couldn’t drive out the spirit, Jesus’ only reply was, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

Do you believe in the power of prayer?  Do you pray about everything?  In what areas do you struggle with unbelief?  Are you praying about them?  Does your lack of prayer point to your unbelief?  Do you ever pray this prayer, "I do believe; help my unbelief"?

God's Warnings--Ex. 11

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My Precious One, how easy it is to ignore My warnings, when the one I am warning is you.  How equally easy it is to know of My warnings to another and judge their lack of response.  This morning as you read the passage concerning Pharaoh's final warning, it was easy for you to read it with the mind set that it was foolish for Pharaoh to ignore My 7 warnings and My 9 plagues.  Yet, that is exactly what you do when you know the behavior I desire from you, and you choose instead to ignore what you know that I have clearly asked of you.

Pharaoh could easily ignore My warnings and plagues because, with each time that he followed his own heart, his heart became hardened a bit more.  As he scoffed at the warning, not believing Me at all, it got easier to repeat the wrong response.  By the time I reached the tenth and final plague, his heart was so hard and unbelieving that he thought nothing of what Moses had said to him by prophecy.  He did not count the cost at all for his willful, stubborn disobedience.  His hard heart had already cost him much, but he was willing to overlook it, believing that, in the end, he would prevail over Me.  When Moses told him of the death that would be coming to all the firstborn of the Egypt, Pharaoh never considered that if Moses was speaking the truth (as he had 9 previous times), that he himself would lose his own firstborn.  Because his unbelief prevailed, all of Egypt went into deep sorrow and mourning when they witnessed the devastation that the Angel of Death delivered.

My Precious One, how many warnings from Me will you continue to ignore, believing that no real harm will come to you. Ignoring My warnings, those things that I have clearly laid out for you in My Word, leads to sinful disobedience.   And do you not know that your lack of concern for your disobedience reveals your true heart?  Your disobedience, at its core, is unbelief in Me, the One you say is your Lord.

Disobedience is its own form of unbelief.  When you disobey Me you are telling Me that you believe in your own, sinful heart's desires more than you believe in My ability to provide a way of escape for you.  Did you notice that every one of  My 7 warnings to Pharaoh included a way a repentance for him, a way for him to turn around and heed My warning?  You see, I desire to bring you to repentance, too.  Pharaoh never took Me up on it.  Will you?

I AM . . . The God of the Impossible--Ex. 6

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I purposed to use My servant Moses long before he became My servant.  My plan included 40 years in Egypt, followed by 40 years in Midian, but even that would not completely prepare him to be My servant in the  impossible ministry assignment that I was calling him to.  Between his 40 years in Midian and his Egypt assignment, Moses would have many questions and moments of unbelief.  The fear of Pharaoh and of what I was asking him to do, would cause him to want to run away from his calling.  It was in those "in between days" that I would teach Moses what it meant to be a servant.

Can you hear it in his questioning and unbelieving words?  This is what he said to Me:

• "Who am I to do this?"  (Ex. 3:11)
  
•  "What if my brothers ask who told me to come set them free?"  (Ex. 3:13)
  
•  "What if they will not listen to me?"   (Ex. 4:1)
  
• "What if I can't speak the words out?  You know I am slow of speech and slow of tongue!"   (Ex. 4:10)
  
• "Don't send me; send someone else!"  (Ex. 4:13)
  
• "Why did you bring harm to Your own people, and why have you sent me to help them?  I knew I wouldn't be able to do this.  I told You I wouldn't!"  (Ex. 5:22)
• "My people have not listened to me, so why do You think Pharaoh will?"  (Ex. 6:12)
• "I am not a good spokesperson.  My lips are unskilled.  Pharaoh will not listen to me . . . EVER!"   (Ex. 6:30)

Moses really only had one problem to overcome--his unbelief in Me!  Moses looked at Pharaoh, and then he looked at himself and his people, and he considered the task I gave him to be impossible.  And he was right!   His unbelief, and the  discouragement he felt when he did what I told him, to no avail, clearly show Me what I see over and over again when giving these difficult assignments to My children--that they are more impressed and have more clearly in their sights the problem, not Me.    You see, Moses looked a Pharaoh and was more impressed with what Pharaoh could do than what I could do.  Moses was not even glancing in My direction; he only saw the problem, Pharaoh.

When I give an impossible assignment, it is to teach one thing--that I Am the God of the impossible and that I am to be  trusted, Me alone.  I am utterly faithful to bring about what I say I will do.  It is up to My servants to put their faith in Me, not in  themselves and what they can do on their own.  They must even put the responses of their family and friends aside, and listen only to Me.  It is up to My servants to look to Me alone, not to the circumstances that I have allowed, for in doing so, they will experience fear instead of having complete trust  in Me.

Do you see that you have done this same thing?  I have given you an assignment that is bigger than you, bigger than your ability, bigger than the "helpful tips" others can give you.  But it is not bigger than Me!  Your trust and faith in Me has been growing over the years, but this assignment before you is to help you learn that you need ME!  I want to strip you of your self-reliance and self-sufficiency.  For My plan to be accomplished, you must surrender yourself to Me.  If you do not, then you are tying My hands, and My plan will fail.  I am waiting for your full surrender.

Fully Following God's Word

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God told Moses to speak to rock, and it would produce water for the thirsty Israelites. Out of frustration and anger at this rebellious, unbelieving people, Moses did not speak to the rock, but struck it instead--TWICE! His personal unbelief and prideful attitude brought him a consequence that he may have thought he was immune to--God would not allow him to lead His people into the Promised Land. (From Spiritual Healing Facebook fan page 2-19-11)

So often we think that our disobedience is just a small thing. We tend to believe that it is not important to God at all, because He loves us and has already forgiven our sins. But we can see from the example of Moses, that God is very interested in our full obedience.

When the Israelites first left Egypt they were thirsty. Moses cried out to God to help His people. God clearly told Moses to strike the rock with his rod, and water would come forth, and it did! But some 38 years later, when this same company needed water, Moses, who was thoroughly fed up with their rebellious, unbelieving hearts, walked in his own flesh and angrily yelled at those he was leading.

After God had told him to "speak to the rock," Moses took his rod of authority and hit the rock instead. To compound his wrong choice, he hit it then a second time. No one could blame Moses for how frustrated he had become in these 38 years of wandering with this obstinate group. But even if we can relate to his frustration, he had not one excuse for disobeying God.

How lightly do you take your own disobedience? Does it drive you to repentance? Do you consider yourself "immune" to consequences because you are one of God's children? God wants you to fully follow His every command, to repent when you do not, and to walk again in the ways that He has set before you. If we continue to walk in disobedience, which in the end is unbelief, we will never experience the peace and rest of the Promised Land, right here on earth.