Becoming a Functional Atheist?

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." – (Luke 1.26-37)

"Good morning, Mr. Phelps." If you were a fan of the classic TV series (or the more recent Tom Cruise movies), "Mission Impossible," you know those words always began a riveting and exciting adventure. Jim Phelps, the head of the Mission Impossible Force, would listen to a tape, which would start with the words, “your mission, should you choose to accept it…” Mr. Phelps would then listen to a brief outline of this assignment that seemed, well, impossible. Key word – “seemed.” The tape would then self-destruct and Jim Phelps would immediately begin building a team of specialists and concocting this elaborate, perfectly-timed plan to do what couldn't be done. And, yes, every time they did get the seemingly impossible mission accomplished.

That's the conclusion you reached after watching that show for a while. And for them, there was really no such thing as “Mission Impossible.” That's great fantasy stuff. It's a much greater reality when it comes to rescue missions undertaken by the One of whom the Bible says, "For with God, nothing shall be impossible" – (Luke 1.37)

That might be important for you to know right now – because there may be a person in your life that seems beyond His reach, a situation beyond your ability to manage, a struggle or maybe an addiction that’s been too great for you alone to overcome. Maybe you’re involuntarily unemployed and your financial situation seems increasingly impossible – the job prospects are bleaker than ever. Maybe you’ve just been given some really bad news about your health and what you will be dealing with is beyond the reach of modern medical cure and therefore seems just hopeless. Maybe there’s a relationship that just doesn’t seem possible anymore to deal with. Whatever seemingly “mission impossible” you are facing right now you need to know that with God – nothing is impossible… that with God – all things are possible!

The angel Gabriel told Mary that God was planning to do something humanly impossible. All human logic would agree that a virgin cannot possibly give birth to a child. It is simply impossible. Yes, that’s absolutely true, it is humanly impossible! And contrary to a frequently repeated saying, “God will not give you more than you can handle” (where is that in the Bible?!) – He does, in fact, give us more than we, within our own finite, human limitations, alone can handle. And, according to God’s own word – this is exactly what was to happen in the life of Mary and Joseph. That’s why Mary asks a perfectly natural question, “How can this be… since I am a virgin?” I believe Mary’s question was a realization of her own human limitations – not a reflection of a lack of faith in God’s supernatural ability. It probably just seemed crazy that a virgin could have a baby – it is still a crazy notion to many today. But when God speaks of doing the humanly impossible, it is no longer absurd. “For no word from God will ever fail” – (Luke 1.37, NIV 2010) When was the last time God did the impossible in your life? When was the last time God directed you about what He wanted to do and you were scared to death by its scope and magnitude?

You see, God still does the impossible! Too often we acknowledge our belief that God can do whatever He wants, but then we add a safety-escape clause: "But I’m pretty sure God will not do that with me!" In theory, we believe, but in practice, we become functional atheists, believing that maybe God can perform miracles but never expecting a miracle in our own lives. We say we believe – but our behavior often proves otherwise. Quite possibly, we may not even believe God does miracles anymore — that is something solely in the past — and we give some other natural explanation for what only could be God — something for which He should receive the honor, the glory, and the praise. So, has God changed? Is He still the Almighty, Omnipotent Creator?

God wanted to bring salvation to all of humanity. It was critical that Mary not only believed God could perform a miracle but that she also adjusted her life to the awesome miraculous work He planned to do through her. This illustrates the difference between a true follower of Jesus and a moral person – the Divine! The difference between the church and a social club is the reality of the miraculous. Some can imitate the morality of a Christian, but no one can reproduce the miraculous that is part of the new birth experience. Do you believe that nothing is impossible for God?

Now there's another thrilling aspect of how God works found in this first Christmas “Mission Impossible” for the young virgin and her husband to be. That Mary would travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem in her ninth month of pregnancy – probably a four or five day trip – is absolutely amazing. I've listened to people who have traveled the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem by car or bus, not as Joseph and Mary did. Whether they traveled on foot or rode on a donkey — from what I’ve heard it's a tortuous journey through hills and mountains, and it's about 90 long miles of rugged terrain. There's no way you're going to get a loving husband to go with his very pregnant wife on a trip like that on the eve of their baby's birth, right? Wrong!

You see, for 700 years the prophecies of God had promised that Immanuel (God with us) would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7.14) and for almost 500 years, the prophecies also said that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5.2). Little problem: Joseph and Mary are living some 90 miles away in Nazareth. There's apparently no way you'll ever get Mary to Bethlehem when the Messiah in her womb is full-term. But the plan of God says born of a virgin and born in Bethlehem. What God does is absolutely amazing, and may prove to be a very special encouragement for you right now in your present circumstances.

We read in God’s word, "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world ... and everyone went to his town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David" – (Luke 2.1-4).

Now the man who appears to be making all this come together is the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus. History tells us that he murdered members of his own family, he actually was a mass murderer, and he instituted emperor worship. He was, in many ways, a monster. And here is Joseph caught up in the great whirlpool of history, appearing to be directed by an imperial decree. But that is an earthly perspective. The apostle Paul gives us the heavenly perspective when he writes, “But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent His Son, born among us of a woman…” – (Galatians 4.4, MSG). Note these Spirit directed words, “the time – set by God… God sent His Son.” It was God calling the shots – not any mere man!

You see it is Caesar Augustus who turns out to be the bit player in this divine drama, the footnote to history. He thinks he's flexing his muscle with this universal census, but this most powerful man on earth is only an unsuspecting instrument in the hands of sovereign, Almighty God — (“The Lord can control a king’s mind as He controls a river [The heart of a king is a canal-stream in the hand of the Lord]; He can ·direct [turn; incline] it as He pleases” – Proverbs 21.1, EXB). And God will get His destiny people to His destiny place to accomplish His destiny purpose, even if He has to move an entire empire to do it!

So, as the Christmas story is still maybe lingering in our hearts and minds, let’s not miss this very powerful statement — that God's missions are not impossible! No, they’re unstoppable – including His plans for you. Plans, as He says in Jeremiah 29.11, “to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." As The Message puts it, “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for” – (Jeremiah 29.11, MSG). Plans for you that the apostle Paul declares, “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears… The One Who chose you can be trusted, and He will do this” – (Philippians 1.6, MSG; 1 Thessalonians 5.24, CEV)

Now it may be that at this very moment there appears to be no way things can turn out right – it really does look to you as just completely, totally impossible! The money simply isn't there, your health just isn't there, the relationship looks impossible (or even being in a relationship seems impossible), the job frustrations are mounting, the mountain isn't moving and it’s getting bigger and bigger, and the answer isn't coming. It looks as if there's no way for things to work out, not enough time for an answer to come – it’s just impossible! Now, the moment of truth — do you really believe “nothing is impossible with God”?

You belong to the same God who, with the stroke of an evil man's pen, moved an empire to place His kids, Joseph and Mary, right where they were supposed to be, for God to do what He had promised hundreds of years earlier. So, yes, there was a difficult process, there was a humanly impossible mission, but God delivered them exactly where they were supposed to be to accomplish exactly what He planned at just the right time – “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us’ ” – (Matthew 1.22-23, NIV) And God will get His plans for you accomplished if He has to move an empire to do it, or use even a godless instrument to do it.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem… of a virgin – the one a definite human impossibility, the other a human improbability at the very least! Don’t forget that getting Him there in the first place was an act of divine orchestration! So relax in the strong arms of the God of Bethlehem and trust the One who entered this world in the flesh through the womb of a young virgin. He will move whatever or whomever He has to move and do whatever He has to do in order to finish what He has started in your life!

Remember, whatever “seemingly” mission impossible you may be facing – “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” – (Mark 10.27, NKJV)

So, your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to trust an all-powerful God Who loves you with a steadfast, enduring, unfailing, perfect, everlasting love, demonstrated most dramatically in the sending of His Son into this world to die for your sins and mine. And then, quite possibly, no matter what is or isn’t going on right now in your life, with Him and by Him and for Him, you will have a peaceful, joyful, Happy New Year!

In a nutshell – in Him,

Web Shepherd 

Punching Holes in the Darkness

Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. The people who walk in darkness

will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. — (Isaiah 9.1-2, NLT)

Treasure Island… Kidnapped… The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde… New Arabian Nights… Prince Otto ... A Child's Garden of Verses – those are just some of the literary classics written by Robert Louis Stevenson. Well he must have had a way with words from the time he was a little boy. Anne Graham Lotz, in her book, “Just Give Me Jesus,” tells of a night in his boyhood when his nanny just couldn't get him to bed. Young Robert just kept staring out the window, oblivious to her talking to him. Finally, she said, "Robert, what in the world are you looking at out there?" As she pulled back the curtain, she realized he was watching the lamplighter making his way down the street, lighting one street lamp after another. Young Robert Louis Stevenson saw something more. He said, "Look at that man! He's punching holes in the darkness!"

Now that is an awesome description of what light does – isn’t it?! Punching holes in the darkness – light has a way of doing that – no matter how small, how dim or how far away. A little light will pierce the darkness.

We like light – don’t we?! We need light to live. If we didn’t have light we would die. There is no life without light. Without the sun’s light – planet earth would not be able to support and sustain life – it would be a cold, dark, dead, barren ball.

Well, we need light physically – and we need light spiritually to live in eternal splendor. Otherwise we are walking in darkness – dying in darkness, really. Our key Scripture text is found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter nine, verse two, which says, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.” That’s a pretty apt description of Christ’s coming into this dark world! Through the sending of His Son – Jesus the Messiah – God punched a hole in this world’s spiritual darkness. This story, His story, blazes with light. The prophet Isaiah speaks of the coming Messiah when foretells, “And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken" – (Isaiah 40.5) Jesus brings into our world the light of the glory of God.

When we turn over to the New Testament, Luke records in his Gospel, chapter 2, verses 8-16, this story of glory and light punching holes in the darkness:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, Who was lying in the manger.

John’s Gospel tells the Advent story this way:

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it… The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world… The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – (John 1.4-5, 9, 14)

Talk about punching holes in the darkness! Here’s how the Amplified Bible renders John chapter 1, verse 5, “And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it].” The light isn’t just coming from Jesus – The Light is Jesus (read John 8.12; 9.5) and He came into this world, our world, your world, my world – to punch a hole in the darkness. And the light pierces the darkness and overcomes the darkness – every time, all the time! It’s always been that way from the very beginning (Genesis 1.1-3), because God says so.

Now, let’s take a moment to probe this world of darkness…

You know there are people that look great on the outside and even all religious, but they have problems on the inside. It could be true of a marriage, a church, an organization, a leader, or maybe even you.

The Word of God in Matthew 23.25-28 says:

“Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed. Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup, and then the whole cup will be clean… Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders! You are like beautiful mausoleums—full of dead men’s bones, and of foulness and corruption. You try to look like saintly men, but underneath those pious robes of yours are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin.” – (NLT)

We live in a world where external image and outward appearance are everything, don’t we?!. Why, we work on our fitness, our hair, and our wardrobe, making good comments, making good impressions, looking like we have it all together. I look at job resumes frequently and it is amazing how good we can make ourselves look on paper – and then when the interview comes around… well, it’s totally like another person.

Maybe there might be another you… maybe when you're alone and when you're thinking honestly, you can feel that emptiness and hollowness inside. You can't explain it or deny it. Beneath that image you work so hard to maintain and protect you know the darkness and sense the sin. You know the struggle. Like one young woman said, "There's a darkness inside me that scares me." Mickey Mantle said not long before his death, "I filled my emptiness with alcohol." What are you doing or using to fill the darkness in your life?

Jesus said in John 8.12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness." Jesus wants to be invited into that deep inner darkness and emptiness so He can fill it with the light of the glory of His Presence. He said later in Matthew 23, "How often I had longed to gather your children together, but you were not willing."

Jesus has been knocking on the door of your life. It's time to give the emptiness and the darkness to the One who knows all about you. He sees past the image and can forgive that sin. He can cleanse you from the sin and punch holes in that darkness and make you free from it.

Don’t let the darkness bring you to depression, but to the cow stall in Bethlehem where God entered this world of darkness as one of us and then on to the cross where He died knowing the sin inside of you and wanting to set you free. Jesus builds people from the inside out. Open the door of your heart and let The Light in. He will make you strong inside and you can finally have that hollow, dark place in your heart filled.

So, through the sending of His Son, Jesus the Messiah, God is punching a hole in this world’s spiritual darkness – and through us, God wants to continue punching holes in the darkness. God wants to enter your world and punch holes in your darkness so you, in turn, can punch holes in the darkness in the lives of those in the world around you.

Here’s what the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 5.8-14:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
   

"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

Did you catch that? “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light… and Christ will shine on you.”

And Christ will shine on you… and in you and through you.

And what an awesome description of the reason God has placed you where you are! You're not there to shake your head and bemoan how dark it is where you work or go to school or whatever your environment. You're there to punch holes in the darkness! So, how are you doing so far?

Just listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 5.14-16, to those who belong to Him, (He's including you in this) – “You are the light of the world." Think of your personal world and the people in your world. Jesus says you are their light. "A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp or put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its' stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Yeah, we live in a pretty dark world. But it is not a world without light – unless the follower of Jesus, in a situation, fails to punch holes in the darkness by living like Jesus would live there, treating people like Jesus would treat people, and handling situations and temptations as Jesus would handle them. So many of Jesus' followers don't realize who they are – His ambassadors… His personal representative in their personal world.

You punch another hole in the darkness every time you show up with joy instead of gloom on your face, with good things to say instead of griping, every time you stop for someone who's struggling, when you consciously put someone else ahead of you, when you insist on taking the high road when it's tempting to cut corners, every time you weep with someone who's weeping, rejoice with someone who's rejoicing, and reach out to someone who is acting very unlovable.

The folks around you, who are still walking in darkness, probably won't be all that impressed with your do’s and don'ts or all the religious meetings you go to. They need to see meaningful differences in you because Christ is shining in you.

But it isn't enough that they just see that you're different. They need to know why, or they'll never be able to get out of the darkness themselves. They need The Light – they need Jesus. And He put you in their life so they could find out what Jesus did for them by coming into this dark world of sin and dying for them on the cross; so they could find out from someone who's living proof that Jesus is alive and how they, too, can have a life-changing relationship with Him. Have you told them about your Jesus yet? Humanly speaking, you may very well be their best chance of heaven.

I want you to remember – every morning, before your Lord, agree with Him by telling yourself, "I am the light of my world." And then you go out there, showing a harsh and lonely and self-serving world that there's another way to be. Defy the darkness wherever you go. Allow the reality of the Christmas story to live in you all year round – punching holes in the darkness with the brilliant light of Jesus Christ! After all, that’s why He came, and that’s why you and I are still here!

“Hail, the heav’n-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by, Born that men no more may die,

Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn king!”

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you” – (Isaiah 60.1-2)

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. – (2 Corinthians 4.6, NIV)

In a nutshell – a very Merry Christmas to you and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year – in Him,

Web Shepherd

Seeing from Believing

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen… For we live by believing and not by seeing. – (2 Corinthians 4.18a; 5.7, NLT)

In the blockbuster film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Harrison Ford plays Dr. “Indiana” Jones, a daring, adventurous archeologist who travels the world in search of historic treasures. In the third movie in the series, Indiana and his father (played by Sean Connery) are searching for the Holy Grail, the cup reputed to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper.

Indiana's father is shot just at the end of their quest. With his father quickly dying, Indiana's search for the Grail takes on new intensity and urgency, because legend has it that the cup is said to bring healing to those who drink from it. With his father groaning in the background, Indiana walks ahead, following an ancient book that gives clues to guide him through a maze of death-defying obstacles to the place where the Grail is hidden. Through the gauntlet Indy comes to the brink of a chasm deeper than the eye can see and there is no visible way for him to cross the chasm. Indiana is faced with the impossible. All he sees is the sheer cliff’s edge and the vast gulf beneath him. Then, as he studies his guidebook, his face relaxes in realization, and he exclaims, "It's a leap of faith."

With his father whispering, "You must believe, boy, you must believe," Indiana looks straight ahead, gathers his courage, and believing the book, slowly raises one foot into the empty air in front of him. With a thud, his foot lands on solid ground. We next see Indiana standing on a narrow rock bridge which appears in front of him and is deceptively carved to match the exact outline of the ravine beneath it. Overcome with relief, he quickly crosses the chasm, discovers and retrieves the Grail on the other side, and is ultimately able to save his father from certain death with a drink from the cup.

It may be that right now you are facing what seems like real life impossibilities – and it appears to you that there is no visible way to get through your circumstances. Maybe today, as you read this Footnotes, you’re at your own cliff’s edge and your problems seem so deep that you can’t see the bottom or so great there is no way to cross the chasm directly in front of you. Perhaps you’re surrounded by seemingly overwhelming odds… you may feel trapped, maybe even hopelessly doomed.  It could be that you’ve been trying really hard, doing the best you can but now you’re running out of resources, out of options, running out of ideas, and there is so much at stake but no bridge appearing to get you over your troubled waters.

Today, our heavenly Father is saying to you and me that there is a way over, a way through to safety… to security, to fullness of life. And He’s speaking to each one of us, “You must believe, boy, you must believe.” That’s in essence what God tells us in our key Scripture text, found in 2 Corinthians 4.18a and 5.7: “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen… For we live by believing and not by seeing” – (NLT)

First, God’s Word says here to stop focusing on “the troubles we can see now.” Now our Lord isn’t saying to ignore your problems or pretend they don’t exist or just wish them away. However, dwelling on your troubles… obsessing and worrying about your problems is not the way to your Holy Grail. God says, “Instead, fix your gaze on the eternal… for we live by believing and not by seeing.” Because that’s the way through – He’s the way through! Jesus declares that, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God… Everything is possible for one who believes… For what is impossible with man is possible with God... I can promise you this: If you had faith no larger than a mustard seed, you could tell this mountain to move from here to there. And it would. Everything would be possible for you.” – (Mark 10.27; 9.23; Luke 18.27; Matthew 17.20, NLT)

Second, God promises hope when we apply this Scripture – “we live by believing… not by seeing.” Did you catch that? “We live by believing.” “We live!” God’s promise to you and me is that there is life above and beyond our present circumstances, and that life is experienced “by believing.” Now what is it that we need to believe so that we are no longer “under the circumstances”? We simply need to believe God and what He says in His book, the Bible. This is how we get through our maze of obstacles… how we get over the great chasms we all will face in this world. This is how fullness of life is really experienced and how we can get through anything, no matter what, no matter how great the challenge or difficulty may seem. You see, God has infinite resources – God Himself is our infinite resource – and we tap into Him with all that He is and all that He has for us by believing Him. And by believing the One Who created 125 billion galaxies and counting, we begin seeing ourselves, our present circumstances, our past, our future, from His eternal perspective: “There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever” and “He shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness He has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus” – (2 Corinthians 4.18, MSG; Ephesians 2.7, JBP; read also 2 Corinthians 4.7-11; 4.16-5.7)

Now there’s one great chasm every one of us shares in common, and that’s the massive gulf created between us and a holy God because of our sin — “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of [literally, lack] God’s glorious standard” – (Romans 3.23, NLT) But God makes a way even over that insurmountable canyon – all through believing His Son: “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.  For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood” – (Romans 3.24-25, NLT) Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me… I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me… ” (John 14.1, 6, AMP)

Jesus is the Way through to the Father… He’s the Way through your circumstances… the only Way through to the things that last forever – things that maybe you cannot see right now with the natural eye. Again, there so much more than meets the eye, when we believe God (cf. 2 Kings 6.8-22; Hebrews 12.18-24). “Heal my heart and make it clean… Open up my eyes to the things unseen.”[*]

So many of us go through our days, make our choices, plan our schedule, set our agenda, plot our course, and we give it our very best – but there’s a problem. If we are walking through our daily life based on what looks best or what feels best, based on what we can see – we’re operating according to our own finite human senses. We can’t see the long-range consequences of the choice(s) we’re making today – right now. We don’t see things from an eternal view or perspective… we don’t see from God’s vantage point. But the Spirit of God can — and does! God sees the beginning from the end (Isaiah 46.9-10)

Often, we can't see what choice is best for us and would fit best into God's plans for us, but the Spirit does. We can't see where the resources will come from or the people, but the Holy Spirit can and does. Frequently, in the midst of our circumstances, we can’t see the right path forward, but the Holy Spirit knows. The Holy Spirit of God has come to dwell inside your personality to train you and teach you, guide you, direct you, lead you, prompt you, convict you, nudge, enable and empower you on to the right place at the right time in today's schedule. Jesus promised His followers, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever — The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.” – (John 14.16-17, AMP) So our job is to learn to follow the Spirit’s leadership and recognize His inner pushes and pulls, tugs and nudges, urgings and promptings, and to respond to Him by believing and obeying Him.

A friend of mine says, “Big God, little problems – little God, big problems.” The more you know God for Who He really is, the more you can believe and trust Him… and the greater your confidence will be in Him… and the deeper and stronger your faith in Him will grow. You will find yourself believing Him more and more, like the words from an old hymn, “I know the Lord will find a way for me!”

The first disciples had Jesus there and He said, "Follow me." And it was easy, because He was right there physically, and they could see Him. Well, you can do it today if you are a Jesus-follower because you have His Spirit inside saying, "Come this way." If you’re a believer, don't just pray in the morning and then go run off for the day with your pre-set course and then check back at bedtime. You need the security, the adventure of following the Spirit's leading all day long. After all, you can walk but you can't really see without believing and trusting the Word of God and the Spirit of God to shepherd you through anything and everything.

“I say this to you: Let the Holy Spirit lead you in each step. Then you will not please your sinful old selves… If the Holy Spirit is living in us, let us be led by Him in all things” – (Galatians 5.16, 25, NLV)

“Yes, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid of anything, because You are with me. You have a walking stick with which to guide and one with which to help. These comfort me” – (Psalm 23.4, NLV)

“The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see” – (Hebrews 11.1-3, MSG)

In a nutshell – in Him,

Web Shepherd

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[*] From the song Hosanna, lyrics by Brooke Fraser.

Seeing in 4-D

“I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw." — (Proverbs 24.32)

When I was a kid someone came up with a new idea for entertainment — no, not offering dinosaur rides, or an afternoon at the Coliseum in Rome to watch the gladiator games. No - it was called 3-D movies! If you're old enough to remember this I hope you're enjoying your senior citizen discounts. You see you'd go to the theater and they'd hand you these glasses that looked like cereal box prize cardboard sunglasses and you'd settle in to enjoy the 3-D (three dimensional) picture show. But not for long - especially if it was at Disney World’s “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” 3-D show. You see, at one point in the show there were rats that would start running towards the screen and then right out of the screen, through the aisles and under your seats, practically into your face! And they had other special effects to enhance the terror – like air blowing against your legs, arms and face to make it seem like the rats were actually rushing close by. A lady sitting next to me at the show, a total stranger, was so scared that she dug her long, razor sharp fingernails deep into my arm and drew blood – which made the experience even more vivid for me (at first I thought it was one of the rats biting me!).

Of course, if you took those glasses off it was just a flat old screen again and a flat pack of rats – but everything on the screen was now out of focus and fuzzy. However, when you had those glasses on, you saw things that you otherwise would miss!

Now, sometimes people will ask me, "Where do you get the ideas for the analogies you use when you are teaching or writing?" Well, our key Scripture text for these Footnotes is part of the answer, Proverbs 24.32,   “I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw." Here old King Solomon, what a wise man he was, says, "I go out looking for lessons in the things I see. I apply my heart to the things that I see around me all day." You see, he has got his special lenses on to see the hand of God in everyday stuff. There's an old hymn you may remember, “I am His, and He is Mine" where the second verse says, "Heaven above is deeper blue, earth below a deeper green, there's a brightness in each hue, Christ-less eyes have never seen."[i]

If you know God as your Father, because you put your trust in Jesus as Savior, this is your “I am His, and He is Mine!” He's working all around you all the time, every day, and you can see Him, you can learn from Him, if you put your glasses on each new day — your 4-D (four dimension) glasses to see that God-dimension that is working all around us.

If you've been sort of moping around lately it's probably because you've lost the perspective that David said made each day joyful. Psalm 118.24, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Now, who made this day what it is? You go, "Oh, my boss, man, my family made this day, my mate, my bills, my health, my 'to-do' list makes this day what it is." Sorry! You're stuck in the boredom of a three-dimensional world. This is the day that the Lord has made, so you do what I recently learned one married couple calls "going on a God-hunt every day” — looking for the Lord in the events of your day, the conversations of your day, the traffic jams, the delays, the surprises, the people, the chores.

Moses saw the Lord in a desert bush! Balaam heard God's voice through his donkey! Levi met Jesus in the middle of a work day in his office! That's where praise comes from, in the middle of the crummiest day. You're not looking at just your circumstances, you're looking for your Lord at work, in your phone call, in an accident that was avoided, in a word of encouragement, there's the Lord in that little child, there He is speaking through that powerful storm, in the geese going by overhead, through the tiger lilies growing wild along the road, through some unanticipated help in your life, through the presence of a friend. You find yourself thanking God often throughout the day, and you lose the complaining.

Too many times we have our God confined in our theology and our beliefs and our church buildings ― the religious compartment of our life. Too often we cannot see (perceive) God at work because the eyes of our hearts are closed to Him and we don’t even expect to see Him outside our little religious box we want to confine Him to in our minds.

The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:

Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” ― (Matthew 13.10-17, NIV)

We miss out on so much because we have “God in a box.”[ii] Job said it this way ― “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. When He passes me, I cannot see Him.” – (Job 9.10-11) But when you put on your 4-D glasses you start to walk with your God throughout your day, you see His fingerprints on things you never saw them on before, and God becomes real to you!

As the words of the song say so well, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see You… to see You high and lifted up, shining in the light of Your glory, pour out Your power and love, as we sing ‘Holy, holy, holy!’”[iii] God wants to show Himself to you in all kinds of real stuff in your day ― but just like I experienced, in that movie theater at Disney World, the view will look pretty flat and fuzzy unless you put your 4-D God-hunting glasses on. However, if you’re seeing in 4-D, the scenery of even the drabbest day comes to life because you can perceive that your awesome God is all over it – and through His Spirit you can begin to see what is really real!

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” – (Ephesians 1.17-19a)

In a nutshell – in Him,

Wes Shepherd 

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[i] Lyrics by George W. Ro­bin­son, 1876.

[ii] God in a Box, http://skitguys.com/videos/item/god-in-a-box.

[iii] Lyrics and music by Paul Baloche, 2000.

Clearing Things Up to See God

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. – (Matthew 5.8, NIV)

I just returned home from two long weekends away, the first was at an awesome men’s retreat in Western Maryland and a second at our family’s camp in the “wilds” of Pennsylvania for a wonderful time with my parents and one of my children. It is amazing what you can hear and see and experience when you clear away all the man-made noise pollution, all the man-made concrete and steel, and the man-made light pollution… all kinds of birds and wildlife, flowers and trees, and an incredible clear night sky dense with thousands and thousands of shining stars (and a few shooting stars too!).

Now sometimes our lives get polluted by things that impair our ability to see clearly, maybe impede our ability to see God and others clearly. It’s like wearing eye-glasses. You may start noticing clouds developing between you and what you are trying to read – strange little spots may obstruct your view. Usually it is a simple matter of cleaning the lenses. When you hold the glasses up to a bright light you can see the source of the fog and the fuzziness… the lenses are smudged and spotted with dirt.

You may be at a point in your life right now where you really need to be able to see clearly - to see God, that is. You've got important decisions to make, and you really want to be able to figure out God's leading; to see where God is going so you can follow Him into His will for you. You don't want to make a mistake on this. But maybe you're having a hard time seeing God right now. It could be time to clear things out – clear things up — clean things up.

In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described the kind of people who would be able to see God, which you may really need right now. If you're having a hard time figuring out what God wants, seeing where He's going in your life, these words of Jesus may help you improve your vision — and change your view of things, maybe change the way you see everything. He simply says in our key Scripture text, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." That's Matthew 5.8, one of the “beatitudes.” If you can't see God, you're going to wander around confused and unsure, and pretty much your whole life will be off course. And if you're not pure in your heart, you won't see God clearly. There's dirt on your lenses and the pollution is distorting your vision – leaving you spiritually visually impaired and disoriented. You've got some cleaning to do.

You may be doing all kinds of good things to get God's guidance; you're reading His Word, you're praying for His direction, and you're seeking godly counsel. But if there's something impure that you are holding in your heart, it will block your view. The Psalmist declares, “The Lord will not hear me if I hold on to sin in my heart” (Psalm 66.18, NLV). That may be why no answer has seemed to come. God is waiting for you to clean up what isn't pure.

Notice, this ability and promise of seeing God comes from being pure in heart — “the pure in heart… will see God.” Being pure in heart means where the stuff deep down inside is that no one can see but God. The bitterness and the unforgiveness that you may be harboring, the mind that keeps wandering into lustful fantasies, the pride that's been growing in your heart, the compromises in your integrity, in your truthfulness, or that idol in your heart that your holding on to and that's been drawing you slowly away from your first love — Jesus.

God sees that junk inside and He's saying, "I have so much I want to show you, so much of Myself I want to share with you, so much I have prepared for you, but I can't show it to you until you get rid of what's coming between us."

Could it be that you haven't been able to figure out God's leading and direction because of dirt and pollution that's been accumulating on your spiritual lenses — that's your heart. Isn't it time you dealt with what the real problem is? That would be the impurity in your heart.

Now sometimes things build up and become so polluted from impurities that we need help identifying the exact source and nature of the problem in order to get to the real “heart of the matter” and clear things up. King David prayed, “Who can discern his lapses and errors? Clear me from hidden [and unconscious] faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless, and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer.” – (Psalm 19.12-14, AMP)

The Holy Spirit’s sword, His word, will expose the impurities in our heart that keep us from seeing clearly — “The Word that God speaks is alive and active; it cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword: it strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet, to the innermost intimacies of a man’s being: it exposes the very thoughts and motives of a man’s heart. No creature has any cover from the sight of God; everything lies naked and exposed before the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do” – (Hebrews 4.12-13, JBP) The bright light of God’s Word shining on our hearts (lenses) with laser-like precision will reveal the smudges, spots and stains from sin that keep us from seeing God.

Once you acknowledge the impurities and “come clean” by bringing your spiritual lenses to Jesus and, with a repentant heart, confess your sin to Him… once you are what Jesus calls one of "the pure in heart"… you'll be amazed how finally you’re able to see God, see more clearly His answers that you need, see things that were never before possible or even imaginable.

So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water. – (Hebrews 10.22, GNT)

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as He is pure. – (1 John 3.2-3, NLT)

Since before time began no one has ever imagined, no ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you Who works for those who wait for Him. You meet those who happily do what is right, who keep a good memory of the way you work. But how angry you’ve been with us! We’ve sinned and kept at it so long! Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved? We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags. We dry up like autumn leaves—sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind. No one prays to you or makes the effort to reach out to you because you’ve turned away from us, left us to stew in our sins. – (Isaiah 64.4-7, MSG)

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin…  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness – (1 John 1.7, 9).

Create in me a pure heart, O God – (Psalm 51.10a)

In a nutshell – in Him,

Web Shepherd

Powering Up for Life

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. – (2 Peter 1.3-4)

There’s was some kind of a winter weather watch in effect for my area (northeast of Baltimore, Maryland) this past week – rain, sleet, freezing rain, ice — and mostly lots of snow. I was really hoping for the snow! Well, the weather situation here wasn’t like the major snowstorms that swept through the Midwest. We had a light dusting of snow followed pretty much by lots of rain and wind.

Hearing the news about the wintry weather approaching caused me to take inventory again the other day regarding what would happen if there was a loss of power to my residence because of inclement conditions. We have a fireplace with plenty of firewood stockpiled. Candles… lots of candles and lots of matches. There’s some food in the pantry and bottled water and juices. We’ve got all kinds of camping gear which includes a Coleman stove and lights – all of which would come in handy in an emergency. We even have one of those radios that can be powered by electricity, battery – and it has a hand-crank generator with an emergency light. You just turn the little crank and it manages to generate enough juice to power the radio and light for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time.

Now, that mini-generator is fine for the limited demands of the radio and the small light bulb. But should a major winter storm event occur and there’s a serious power-outage, you and I both know that I could not run my whole residence on that little hand-crank generator! Not the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, garbage disposal, washer and dryer, hot water heater, microwave, coffee maker, computer, lighting, and heat. No way! That puny supply could not handle all the demands – actually, not any of the demands. Seems silly that I would even entertain trying to support all those energy needs with a little hand crank generator designed for a small radio and light bulb, doesn’t it?!

Isn’t it amazing how we try to meet the demands of our life with what amounts to a little hand crank generator? Why, we’re browning out, blacking out, wearing out, burning out, because we’re not plugged into a much bigger power source – an unlimited, infinite power supply! That power is promised to all Jesus’ followers in our key Scripture text found in 2 Peter 1.3-4, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness….”

Our tendency is to trust in hand-crank power – the power of human effort, human planning, committees, money, good ideas, connections, experts, experience, education, promotion, politics, the list goes on. But human generators cannot meet all the demands of our complex lives in this complex world. The apostle Paul calls such human efforts “foolish”! “Are you so foolish [How can you be so stupid]? You began ·your life in Christ by [by; or through] the Spirit. Now are you trying to ·make it complete [finish; or be perfected] by ·your own power [human effort; the flesh]?” – (Galatians 3.3, EXB) We need the kind of voltage that only God can generate in and through us by faith in His Son – Jesus Christ. And we plug into that high voltage through prayer, God’s word, fellowship with other followers of Jesus and reliance on the indwelling Spirit.

Now we are people of action and are inclined to feel we’re not doing enough (or anything, really) when we study and meditate on God’s word and pray. And we are an independent people – relying on our own human resources and abilities to meet the demands of daily living. We seem to tap into our Lord as a last resort – sort of like a back-up generator in case of an emergency when all else fails. It is evident by the way we say, “Well, I guess all I can do is trust God’s promises and pray.” What?!

“All I can do is go to the Throne Room from which over 125 billion (and counting) galaxies are governed and believe the promises of the One Who made it all and talk to the One runs it all”? That’s all?! Are you kidding me?! Wow!

You see, that’s what Peter is telling us in these two key Scripture verses - as a child of the living God, you have everything you need, “divine power” – to live a godly, holy and abundant life (2 Peter 1.3-11). Peter states emphatically that, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” His divine power… we need to appreciate what that means and the difference that makes:

“When God exercises His power it is effortlessly. It is no more difficult for Him to create a universe than for Him to make it rain. Since He has at His command all the power in the universe, the Lord God Omnipotent can do anything as easily as any­thing else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside of Himself for a renewal of strength. All the power required to do all that He wills to do lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being.”[1]

He is, after all, The Great I Am! [2]

You see, your intelligence, your education, or your family background (your hand-cranking) does not determine the holiness and fruitfulness of your life. Jesus said, “Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” – (John 15.4-5) Our constant hand-cranking will never sufficiently empower us to live fruitful, godly lives nor will our human wills provide us with the inner strength to say “No!” in the face of every temptation and nor can our own willpower enable us to “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires”, no matter how determined we are! – (Titus 2.11-14; 2 Peter 1.4)

But, everything you need to live a victorious, joyful, and abundant life is found in Almighty God the Spirit Who resides within you: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, Who lives in you… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” – (Romans 8.9-11; Galatians 5.22-23).

And according to Peter, each Jesus-follower, by faith, has access to these qualities: goodness, knowledge of God, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love – “He has given us His very great and precious promises” – (2 Peter 1.4) But it is of no use to have promised all the high voltage power that you will ever need available to you 24 by 7 if you do not know it is yours and then plug into it! Likewise, it is of no benefit to have everything necessary to become like Christ if you do not claim it, but instead go on hand-cranking your little generator day-by-day.

If we continue to lack self-control when God has made it available, we rob ourselves and those around us. If God is willing to instill brotherly kindness into our behavior, but we never display it, people will suffer needlessly as a result.

The key to all that God has made available to us is our faith in Him and His all-sufficiency. This is what Peter is getting at when he says, “through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.” We must believe that God, by His grace, wants to build these qualities into our lives. In the Gospels, Jesus related to people according to their faith (see Matthew 8.13; 9.29; 15.28). He rewarded genuine faith by granting salvation and healing. If He met unbelief, He did not reward it (Mark 6.5-6).

Take some time to review the qualities that Peter said God wants to instill in you (2 Peter 3.1-11). Ask the Lord to show you where you are lacking, praying to Him to work those qualities into your character, so that you will be more like Christ. And, by the way, we're not just talking about some casual, occasional prayer, “in a pinch” kind-of-a-deal. This is prayer that is fervent and relentless, never ceases until we reach full maturity, complete perfection in Christ.

So are you leading the people around you to make God’s promises and prayer their first resort; their primary power sources of getting things done? Are you modeling a lifestyle that says “God’s word – His promises, and prayer is power” to your family and friends? Do you rely on God’s precious and very great promises as your source of hope and strength – or do you go on hand-cranking your way through the storms of life? Do you pray with people about issues or do you just talk about them?

Seriously following Jesus in this world requires more than the usual “natural” resources… physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc. … it can be like Clark Griswold’s bazillion Christmas lights, in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, draining down the power grid. Why resort to a puny little hand-crank generator when you’ve got access to “His divine power... [giving us] everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness”? Remember, “He has given us His very great and precious promises!” So, with that, whatever is in God’s forecast for your life – you’ll have more than enough of His power to deal with whatever comes your way, if you stay plugged in to Him – “striving with all the superhuman energy which He so mightily enkindles and works within… using Christ’s [His] great strength that works so powerfully… because His amazing power and energy surge within” you and me (Colossians 1.29, AMP, EXB, VOICE)

Now to Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. – (Ephesians 3.20-21)

In a nutshell – in Him,

Web Shepherd

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[1] A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 73. New York: Harper & Row, 1961.

[2] Exodus 3.14-15. “I AM that I AM” (Hebrew: אהיה אשר אהיה, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh) is one English translation of the response God used in the Bible when Moses asked for His name (Exodus 3.14). It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah. Hayah means "existed" or "was" in Hebrew; "ehyeh" is the first person singular present/future form. Ehyeh asher ehyeh is generally interpreted to mean I am that I am (King James Bible and others), yet, as indicated, is most literally translated as "I-shall-be that I-shall-be."

The word Ehyeh is used a total of 43 places in the Old Testament, where it is usually translated as "I will be" -- as is the case for its first occurrence, in Exodus 3.12 -- or "I shall be," as is the case for its final occurrence in Zechariah 8.8. It stems from the Hebrew conception of monotheism that God exists by Himself, the uncreated Creator Who does not depend on anything or anyone; therefore I AM WHO I AM.