Category Archives: Angels

Shaken,stirred, GOD spills over

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Today’s “close encounter of the God kind” began as I put my gym bag in the car, singing “I stand, I stand in awe of You.” I walked  down the  sidewalk to see the pomegranates splitting open on the neighbor’s tree  when a car pulled up beside me. The tiny elderly lady driver, Lee,  got out and walked around to the sidewalk, then said in surprise,”Oh, you’re not Betty!”

That began a conversation about pomegranates, which Lee hadn’t  seen growing on a tree before. She  didn’t know how to eat them. Showing her the  pips inside one split fruit, we conversed genially about fruit, the house I’m in now and the first owner, the pomegranate seeds I pulverize in shakes I make for his grandson, and her tooth loss from Fosamax she took, as I did for a while, for her osteoporosis.  “Well, amazing God,” I thought instantly, ”Here today is the person YOU want to manifest YOUR glory and love TO and FOR and IN!”

So of course I asked Lee if I could pray for her, and off we went together holding hands before the Throne of God and the Healer Jesus , the SON sun of Righteousness who rose  with healing in His wings,

“But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.” Malachi 4:2 NIV

That sun is the SON of God, Jesus,  Y’shua, the Living Word of God:

He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Psalm 107: 20 KJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God andis in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.  John 1: 1-5, 14-18 NIV

And silly me, I believe it! I believe it so deeply that I know when God’s Holy Spirit  taps me to pour out HIS love and hope and promises and miracles into a heart needing to hear and feel it. I shake inside when these encounters happen, not out of fear, but because the ONE in me is a greater power than my “cracked pot” can contain, and I know it. It’s NEVER me;  it’s always HIM! I don’t ever want to miss an  opportunity for God to be glorified in a life, lavishing His love and miracle power upon someone who may not know it or have felt it before, or for a long time. I may look like an idiot to some people, but the One whose  opinion I value is the  One whose glory and power and love I want to make room for in my “cracked pot.”

Lee then told me excitedly about an encounter she had in the discount store  when she caught her foot on a pallet and  fell. Thestore assistantasked her if she wanted them to call a paramedic,when a large man appeared out of nowhere, told her  he was an EMT, checked her over carefully, lifted her gently to her feet, and then disappeared!

“You know  that was an angel,” I ventured, and she readily agreed.  Oh, God, You ARE working in Lee’s life and want her to KNOW you know her, know her needs, and are  eagerly wanting to help her!

“What if God doesn’t rebuild Lee’s bones and teeth?” I can hear someone asking.

“Well, what if He WANTS to and DOES?!” is my reply. We who call ourselves Believers , who go by the name Christian, ought to be doing more on this Earth than taking up perfectly good, breathable oxygen. Prayer opens doors to miracles.

Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.Outdo yourselves in honoring one another. 11Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.… Romans 12: 9-10 NIV

“And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.”  1 Thessalonians 5: 14-15 RSV

I gave Lee a book of Scripture and encouragement, she pulled a huge box of chocolates out of her trunk for me, we hugged, and as she opened her car door,  she called, “I love you!”

“I love you, too!  And Jesus loves you even more!” I waved and called back. and as she drove away, I closed my eyes and said quietly, “Go for it, God! ‘Go for the  gold,’ Jesus!” I can’t wait to hear what God  does to prove His love, strength, and awesome creative Creator majesty to Lee!

 

Today I’m going  to let you create your own “…BUT…” to pray from this short beginning: Almighty God, my Father in Heaven, Lord and Creator, Savior Jesus, Holy Spirit, Glorious and Mighty One,  I AM a  cracked pot, BUT _______________________________________________________________________________! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!

Strike the Rock

Posted on by • Posted in Angels, attitude, Bible, blessing, Choices, Christian meditation, Christianity, courage, depression, devotion, devotional, Doing good, God, hammer, inspiration, Jesus, Missionaries, perseverance, prayer, Praying, rocks • Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , • Leave a comment

Perseverance. No visible results. Twenty-five years. How long could you endure? When would frustration overtake your faith? And was this a word God intended for me?

Recently I visited the area headquarters for an missions organization sending humanitarian workers to indigenous people in Mexico. Paper banners hung along the walls of a large multi-purpose room. One color indicated New Testament translations completed, one color indicated translations underway, and just a few of a third color targeted languages remaining to have Bible translation underway. Those weren’t just banners; those were life stories, joys, tears, sacrifice, illnesses overcome, dangers faced, loneliness for families far away, children growing up isolated from their home culture and friends and extended families, miracles, healings, minds given the gift of literacy, the good news of Jesus planted in hearts and lives, a chronicle of lives invested over decades to bring hope, vision, humanitarian aid, and God’s word in their own heart language to how many hundreds of thousands of people.

If we were there, doing their work, pushing through, going without, threatened by local shamans and witch doctors, how long would we persevere before we saw “results”? One man asked that after 25 years of his and his wife’s befriending, helping, giving into lives in the village, learning the language and writing book after book of the Bible to give the villagers the hope of Jesus. Though they’d made friends in the village and the people truly appreciated all they had sacrificed and given, twenty-five years passed and not a single person accepted Jesus as Lord. The local witch doctor had over the years threatened the villagers that, if anyone embraced Jesus, he would put a spell of death upon them.

Had all their work been for nothing? I know I’d be asking that question, ready to pack up my family and belongings and head home deep in doubt that God had actually called me to that work. Deep in confusion and nearing despair, one day the man experienced a vivid dream. He was standing in front of a large boulder, and a hammer lay on the ground. An angel walked up to the man and told him, “God wants you to strike the rock.” Obediently the man began hammering away at the hard rock. he hammered, and hammered, and hammered, and hammered. Not a single chip flaked off the rock, not a single crack appeared in the hard, resistant surface. Tired and confused, the man put the hammer down.

Up walked the angel again, this time with a question. “What are you doing?”

The man poured out his exhausted frustration, saying “The rock won’t break!”

Then the angel kindly asked him a pointed question: “What did God tell you to do?”

“Strike the rock,” the man replied.

“God didn’t tell you to break the rock,” the angel explained simply. “He just asked you to strike it.”

Revelation and validation flashed into the weary man’s mind and spirit. He and his wife had done exactly what they were sent to do, regardless of the results they did or didn’t see!

They moved on to a neighboring village, and almost immediately, people began accepting Jesus as their Lord. What in the world was the difference, the couple wondered?  Villagers explained matter-of-factly, “We aren’t under the power of their witch doctor. He can’t put a curse on us!” So many came to Christ that a church was planted in the second village. Not long after, the witch doctor in the neighboring village died, and Christians from the second village came to the of the first and led them to faith in Jesus, planting a church there as well. What truly did all their years of love and labor invested in that first village do? Make the rock ready to crumble at just the right time!

How many of my prayers seem to have gone unheard and unanswered? Is it possible that God has asked me simply to “Strike the rock”?  Are my fervent prayers truly more effective than I know, than I see now?

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8 NIV

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

I’ve thrown my hammer down in exhaustion and frustration more than once, and I know I’ve lost some blessings out of sheer sorrow in not seeing results. What blessing did I miss? What did I give up? How about you? What good are you weary of doing? Um, okay … has anyone seen my hammer?

Rose into cave at Mooney 96

A  “… BUT … “to move: God. I’ve prayed and prayed repeatedly for _______________________________________ and it looks like nothing at al lhas happened, no answer is coming. Show me if I need to simply persevere in “striking the rock” or if it is time to move on, trusting that you will __________________________________ when I keep on doing good in ______________________________. I will let you be God and Lord of the results!