Author: LizG

Matthew 21:21-22 MSG But Jesus was matter of fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”

Observation

The word to remember here is “believing” which raises the question – how much do we pray for that we don’t really expect to happen?  We are great askers, often with a long list of what we think we need or what we have determined needs to happen to set the world or our part of it right side up.  Honestly, how often do we throw out a quick prayer just to satisfy the Christian protocol without really embracing the possibility of our prayer requests coming to pass?  Have we missed the step of “if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God”?  Have our prayers become like the Pharisees – ritual, duty, what is expected of the more spiritual of us?  

What we really need to do is to return to that first lovely moment when we received the grace provided by Jesus at salvation, the grace and overwhelming power that we experienced when we sincerely repented upon sinning again, the moment we embraced that kingdom life without any doubt that almighty God loves us enough to die for us.  When praying, we need to remember He is in charge, He is where the power comes from, and recognize that believing is the only contribution we really make to it all.  One man, one fig tree, one mountain, one world – Jesus did it all because He clearly understood all of this.

Impact on Me

When I neglect the Word and time with the Lord, I can be deceived into relying on my own strength and ability to accomplish, to comfort, to encourage.  When I do, I am in a very weak operating position.  I find that I can drift into formulaic praying for things that I don’t really expect to happen.  Sometimes this is because I haven’t seen any results before and don’t expect any results now.  Sometimes I don’t believe what I am praying for is possible.  Sometimes I am just impatient to see the results I want and foolishly think I can do something to make them happen.

Did I get there because I based God’s faithfulness and power to accomplish those results on whether He gave me that instant gratification – seeing God jump to conform to my expectations, my timetable?  Do I think He should adopt my plan over His because I think His plan is taking too long and we should use my shortcut?  Isn’t this the short-sightedness of ends justifying the means – like the devil’s offer in Matthew 4 to give the kingdoms of the world to Jesus if Jesus would just bow down and worship him?  “Bypass all the suffering, Jesus.  Here is a great shortcut to the end You want.” 

I want to always pray expecting God to show up and move but at the same time be willing to patiently wait on and trust His means.  How can I forget that my life is a journey of faith and submission to Jesus – a journey on which the challenges I face train and shape me in faith so I will be what I am called to be and do what I am called to do?   How do I get to the place that I believe I can change anything, much less “triumph over huge obstacles”, without depending on the Holy Spirit’s power working in and through me?  Until I am confident enough to believe and completely submit to God’s will, timing and ways when I pray, I am working at cross purposes to Him and should not expect to see results!   No shortcuts accepted, Mr. Devil!

Prayer

Lord God, all-wise, all powerful, all-knowing, gracious God, keep my on the journey that will conform me to Your ways and not the ways of this world.  Like Jesus, may I trust in what You have planned and set in motion regardless of whether I understand the reasoning or circumstances behind it.  May I always honor You in my prayers by expecting You to hear and answer appropriately – in Your will, in Your time, in Your way – producing eternal benefit even when my eyes don’t see it.  In Jesus’ name I pray.

Isaiah  30:12-14  (MSG) Therefore, The Holy of Israel says this:  “Because you scorn this Message, preferring to live by injustice and shape your lives on lies, this perverse way of life will be like a towering, badly built wall that slowly, slowly tilts and shifts, and then one day, without warning, collapses — smashed to bits like a piece of pottery, smashed beyond recognition or repair, useless, a pile of debris to be swept up and thrown in the trash.” 

Observation

People like you and me make up every society in every nation of every time in history.  We can forget that they are people with families, hopes, dreams and challenges whether in 1000 BC or 2000 AD.  There are and have always been people who live in a way that pleases God and others who seek only to please and profit themselves at the cost of others (“live by injustice and shape your lives on lies”).  Because we have a perspective limited by mere decades of life, we can wonder why God does not move more quickly to execute justice.  Sometimes it seems in our lifetime that the wall is not tilting and shifting because the movement is imperceptible to us in our short lifespan.  We want Him to do so according to our time schedule – NOW.  We want to see results!

“…then one day, without warning, [the wall] collapses —   smashed to bits like a piece of pottery, smashed beyond recognition or repair, useless, a pile of debris to be swept up and thrown in the trash.”   I take note of the “without warning”.  Even when we look back, we lack the experience of being there, living in that society and under those conditions.  We are removed from and unaware of the deplorable condition of society that led up to the wall collapses that have come over the millennia, such as the revivals that completely turned a society right side up, the revolutions that have overthrown unjust rulers, and the social reforms that have succeeded against entrenched power/traditions.  There is no way to explain with words the history leading up to those powerful events; you must live them.   Perhaps, now we are beginning to see the wall tilt.

Impact on Me

As I look around at the culture that surrounds me, I often feel like a foreigner in a strange land.  And, then I realize that I am!  In Christ, I am a citizen of Heaven, an ambassador and missionary on mission to this Earth.  If I begin to feel intimidated by the seeming height, size and strength of the walls of ungodliness set to block the truth I am sent to share, I pray that I will be reminded that these are “towering, badly built wall[s]” that can fall as quickly and completely as the walls of Jericho did when the Hebrews just obeyed the directions of their God – even when it did not seem to make sense.

In those times of doubt, I want to remember that I have experienced miracles that cannot be explained with words – miracles of provision, healing and restoration.  There is nothing that compares to being in the midst of the power of God working, impacting your situation, making possible what is impossible, demonstrating that His eyes and attention are on you, filling you with a joy and peace that is immeasurable.  These kinds of experiences fill me with hope for the next impossible challenge.    They also cause me to recognize that it is not what talents, abilities, resources, experience, training or status I bring to the table that matter; it is only my faith, my willingness to be used and my obedience to His instructions that matter.  His success does not depend on me, but mine entirely depends on Him.

Prayer

Lord, God Almighty, Everlasting, Ever Faithful, may I never forget Who You are and will be in and through me when I just obey.  I may look at the walls that stand between the deceived and Your truth as walls that must tilt and collapse, “smashed to bits like a piece, smashed beyond recognition, a pile of debris to be swept up and thrown in the trash.”  Remind me always that Your time frame is based on Your eternal strategic perspective, not mine.  May I never lose hope in Your faithfulness and the fulfillment of Your Word when the time is right and most profitable to Your Kingdom purposes.  Romans 15:13 (JBP) “May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in your faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your whole life and outlook may be radiant with hope.”.  Let me know that the wall will fall when You are ready.  In Jesus’ name, I   pray.

On What’s in My Temple

1 Kings 6:23-29 [MSG] “Then he made two cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, from olivewood. Each was fifteen feet tall. The outstretched wings of the cherubim (they were identical in size and shape) measured another fifteen feet. He placed the two cherubim, their wings spread, in the Inner Sanctuary. The combined wingspread stretched the width of the room, the wing of one cherub touched one wall, the wing of the other the other wall, and the wings touched in the middle. The cherubim were gold-plated. He then carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and flower blossoms on all the walls of both the Inner and the Main Sanctuary.”

Observation

Why are cherubim always portrayed as little naked baby angels?  Here they are very definitely portrayed as the strong silent types (“gigantic angel-like figures”) who guard the very presence of God.  Their images are carved all over the inside walls of the Temple.  Very few people could even enter into the sanctuary (the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies) to see these carvings, so this was not a reminder to the general public.  Who needed to be reminded of what Heaven affords in provision, protection and power?  The priests who served. 

In addition to the cherubim, there are the palm trees – symbols of victory, the conquering King (the palm branches of the triumphal entry in John 12 and Revelation 7).  I think also of the wonder and relief that a palm would bring to a wanderer in the desert as the promise of an oasis with water, dates for food, rescue, rest, restoration, relief from the dry, parched journey.  

What of the flower blossoms?  They are beautiful, fleeting, striking, promising seed – spending themselves for the reproduction and generation of more plants, more flowers, more seeds in the future, symbols of hope and redemption.  

Why was all of this on the inside where the general public could not see it?  Because they were not yet redeemed.  Hebrews 9:6-15 This Tabernacle and its sacrifices were a temporary fix, a shadow of the relationship God wants to restore. This Tabernacle, the Temples, and now us as His temple are so reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, that place where God walked and talked with His people, the place He intends to restore to us all in Christ.

Impact on Me

The Word tells us that we are not only a holy people and God’s priests, but also the temple of God’s Spirit.  In Christ, we can enter into the Holy of Holies. I have to ask myself what is engraved on the walls inside me?   Do I look like this Tabernacle on the inside?

When Jesus enters this temple, does He find me offering sacrifices of praise, prayer, obedience, and commitment?  Does He hear my heart and soul declaring that God is my protection, my hope, my victory, my redeemer, my resource, my Lord Whom I obey gladly even to the point of being broken and spilled out for His will and purpose?  Is the presence of God in my Holy of Holies guarded by fiery, fierce cherubim who strike fear in the heart of any enemy that would dare to approach?  Is my service to God coated with gold from top to bottom?

With the help of His Holy Spirit, I am being remodeled, reconstructed, restored to look like His Heaven on the inside so that people who don’t yet know Him will meet Him in me.

Prayer

Lord, I want to serve you with clean hands and a pure heart, a holy temple in which You find the sacrifices You count worthy to praise and worship You.  May my tabernacle of Your Holy Spirit also look like Heaven on the inside, full of Your presence, power and anointing. May my altars always be smoking with that sweet savor of Your presence, Your wisdom, Your redemption, Your grace so that others will come to know You because they are drawn to that fragrance and meet You in me.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.