Listening in faith and trust

For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, 

we will share in all that belongs to Christ.  (Hebrews 3:14 NLT)

Let’s focus on the story of King Jesus’s birth - the Christmas story.  For many of us, this is a story we’ve heard year after year after year and it’s pretty familiar to us.  We sing many songs during the Christmas season about the angels' message to the shepherds and can lose some of the amazement in the original story.  

Although God spoke regularly to his people in the Old Testament, especially through the prophets, between the time we now call the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament" were 400 years of silence.  The Israelites lived for 400 years without a message from the Lord.  So when God "suddenly" starts speaking to people in our Christmas story, we have to realize how surprising this must have been to them.  And, then, we must consider the messages that were given to the people!!

The first angel visitation in the Christmas stories in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 was when the archangel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, an elderly priest.  The angel’s message that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a baby in their old age, was met with doubt and disbelief. Truthfully, if you were old and childless, would you have responded any differently?  

 

The second message Gabriel carried was to a teen girl named Mary, engaged to be married, but still living with her parents. Gabriel’s greeting was, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  Depending on the translation, it says Mary was “startled,” “troubled,” or “perplexed.”  I think I’d be, too, if an angel showed up to talk with me.  I’d probably doubt what I was seeing and hearing. Gabriel follows by saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”  

 

Then Gabriel tells Mary she will have a baby who will be the Savior of her people.  Mary’s response is HOW this can happen if she’s an unmarried virgin? Gabriel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.”  

 

Ok, so let’s pause a moment in this story.  Imagine you’re a maybe 14 or 15 year old Jewish girl, living with your parents in Roman Empire-occupied Judah, just going about your normal life.  Suddenly, an angel shows up to give you a message that you are “favored” and, therefore, will have a baby - without having a husband first.  This seems like a bit of a stretch from the reality you would have known.  Unmarried girls don’t just have babies without husbands - in that culture adultery is a sin punishable by death.  

 

So, Mary has a choice: to listen to the voice of her culture or to listen to the voice of the angel.  To doubt or believe the angel’s message.  What response should she give to this messenger of the Lord?

 

Again, if you have heard this story, you know that Mary’s answer was simple and direct.  She said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  She listened to and believed the spoken Word of God that Gabriel brought.  She had faith in the angel’s message.  And she responded with trust in her God.  

She believed - she had faith - and she trusted.  

 

These are strengths that I expect each of us hope to have in our relationship with God. 

Word of God,

Thank you for speaking to us through your Word, Holy Spirit, dreams, visions, prophecies, and so many other avenues. Thank you that even when a message seems surprising, it never goes against your Word and your ways.  Help us to have the deep faith and trust of people like Mary and Joseph so that we know and believe what you tell us to do.  And give us great wisdom and courage to face the realities of this life.  Remind us that you goodness and your loving-kindness last forever and are poured out on your children as they seek you.  Strengthen our relationships with you so we honor you with all we are and receive all you have to give us.  In Christ's name we pray, Amen. 

"Jesus answered, “This is the work of God: that you believe 

[adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One whom He has sent.” 

(John 6:29 AMP)

"Immediately the father of the boy cried out [with a desperate, piercing cry], saying, 

“I do believe; help [me overcome] my unbelief.” 

(Mark 9:24 AMP)

February 21, 2021 Prayer - Turnaround

God of the Turnaround,

Praise to the Lord for your glory and strength, your holiness and your majesty.  You are unchangeable, unshakable, unstoppable, God Alone.  We praise you for your Voice which is thundering, powerful, and moving upon this earth.  Thank you for the strength and peace you give to your children who hear your Voice and follow your Way, Truth, and Life.  Thank you that you hear the prayers of your people, that no prayer goes unnoticed as it comes before your Throne of Glory.  In this day and age it can seem like you are silent in the midst of the demonic chaos that has been unleashed on this world.  It may seem like you do nothing to avenge the wickedness, corruption, and evil that has been poured out in this nation.  But you are on your throne in good times and bad and we believe you - we trust you - to guard us and to guide us; help our unbelief and our mistrust.  Today we pray for you to pour out your goodness upon multiplied millions of your Children who seek to honor and serve you with their lives.  And we pray for the judgement of wickedness in this world to take place.  We pray for breakthroughs for which your People have waited decades to now occur.  We pray for you to cleanse and remove from power anyone and everyone at any level of government whose ideas, thoughts, and plans are not in total and strict alignment with yours.  We pray that your Spirit's Power would pull out the iniquitous roots that have tried to strangle righteousness in this land.  We know that you set into place governments and give righteous laws, but you despise the political spirit and the ambition, lust for power, greed, and desire to change this nation away from her God-ordained plans.  We pray against the spiritual forces of wickedness that lust after wealth, power, and perversion, that deceive and twist communication.  We pray you would break the demonic chains of humanism, secularism, and pluralism that have bound our minds for generations.  Free us from these forces of idolatry, we pray in Jesus's name. Without your supernatural intervention, these evil roots will not be eliminated.  But we believe that the power of the wicked will be broken because you, King Jesus, are arising.  May our prayers release your Spirit to do in a day what human methods, ideas, thinking, and religion can't do in decades.  We pray you pour out on this generation your omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. May Love and Justice will be seen simultaneously, and may repentance be complete. By your Spirit you have begun these processes. Now we pray for a complete and total turnaround in this nation, in Jesus's name!

"Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;

Worship the Lord in the beauty and majesty of His holiness [as the creator and source of holiness].

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;

The God of glory thunders;

The Lord is over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful;

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people;

The Lord will bless His people with peace." (Psalm 29:1-4, 11 AMP)

"Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6 AMP)
"Then the eighth angel with a golden incense burner came and took his place at the incense altar. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer up, consisting of the prayers of God’s holy people, upon the golden altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the holy ones billowed up before God from the hand of the angel." (Rev. 8:3-4 TPT)
"Immediately the father of the boy cried out [with a desperate, piercing cry], saying, “I do believe; help [me overcome] my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24 AMP)
"For the Lord is our judge,    the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king;
    it is he who will save us." (Isaiah 33:22 NIV)

“May everyone who knows Your mercy keep putting their trust in You, for they can count on You for help no matter what. O Lord, You will never, no never, neglect those who come to You.” (Psalm 9:10 TPT)

"Better the little that the righteous have

    than the wealth of many wicked;
17 for the power of the wicked will be broken,
    but the Lord upholds the righteous." (Psalm 37:16-17 NIV)

You are not a God, created by human hands
You are not a God, dependent on any mortal man
You are not a God, in need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You are not a God, created by human hands
You are not a God, dependent on any mortal man
You are not a God, in need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You are God alone from before time began
You were on Your throne
You are God alone and right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
And you are God alone

Unchangeable, unshakable, unstoppable
That's what You are
Unchangeable, unshakable, unstoppable
That's what You are

"You Are God Alone (Not a God)" 
by Billy and Cindy Foote

• (c) 2004 Billy Foote Music
• Integrity's Hosanna! Music

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOargNFiDd4&list=RDZOargNFiDd4&start_radio=1 

(some material from: https://www.givehim15.com/post/january-29-2021)

February 5, 2021 Prayer - Beauty-Making

Beauty-Making God,

Thank you, Jesus, for the invitation you have extended to each of us to follow you.  Thank you that we can know you as Lord and Savior and serve in your Kingdom.  Your Love, Kindness, and Faithfulness have caused Holy Spirit to drawn us into relationship with you and we thank you for that gift of Grace.  Thank you that we can accept you as Master and Teacher, the One who disciples us.  God, sometimes (more than we want to admit), we find ourselves with the father of the sick boy, agreeing that "I believe, help me overcome my unbelief."  We are followers of yours - overcome the parts of our flesh that are not following. We trust you - help us to trust you fully.  We have some courage - help us to have more of your courage and holy boldness.  We follow you, with sometimes stumbling steps, knowing that you will make us "fishers of men."  But sometimes the process of "making" is long, difficult, and even painful.  You created us in your image, but the brokenness, pressures, trials, and wickedness of this world can break down the Beauty of who you created us to be.  You have made everything - each one of us - beautiful in our time, so give us the courage to call to you to restore that Beauty.   Give us courage to allow you to work within our hearts, minds, and souls to be renewed.  Make us fully devoted disciples, men and women of full faith, courage, trust, boldness, and beauty, who have eternity set in our hearts.  We ask all of this in Jesus's name, Amen. 

"Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk], and I will make you fishers of men.'” (Matthew 4:19 AMP)

"Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”" (Mark 9:24 NIV)

"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27 NIV)

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)