John 14:16-20 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, 17 the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world does not see Me any more. But you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. 20 At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Reading the gospels I find myself considering and identifying with the very human experiences and emotions of the Apostles, especially as the pace and intensity of the events of their lives with Yeshua were unprecedented. I have to wonder if the pace and intensity of the days of our lives can compete with theirs. Witnessing His miracles, His authoritative and concise way of teaching, His inevitable rejection, torture and crucifixion, His astounding exuberant resurrection, and eventual returning flight to Heaven from whence He came…all this must have had a rather relentless effect upon those who walked in any way closely with Him. Would it be fair to compare our present day scientific and technical accomplishments, political gymnastics, information explosion, pandemics, media magic, and the plethora of personal events, encounters and challenges, with their apostolic roller coaster ride?
Pop yourself into the sandals of an Israelite follower of Messiah, having tracked with Him through the dust of ancient Jerusalem and watched Him float up into the clouds after having commanded you to hold tight for ten days. “Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high”, He said. After all that went before, now, what did that mean? Of course they soon found out when the Holy Spirit arrived and gave them another experience to chew on…Tongues of fire! And an unprecedented power to communicate God’s word with tremendous conviction.
Are you feeling at all lost or bewildered lately? A little unhinged? Overwhelmed by the pace, quantity and quality of new and unexpected experiences? There are others like you, living now, today, and back then too in the old days of Biblical history. Our God has never spared humanity from the trepidatious and unexpected adventure of life in a fallen world. But one thing He has insured us with….Himself… His Holy Spirit, His real Presence. The Lord’s desire to know and be known, His opportunity for personal intimacy has now arrived for all humankind to enjoy in the very context of uncertainty, intensity, danger, and challenge.
If you are bewildered, bemused, battered, or confused, feeling lost in the frantic flow, wondering where to go; if you’re recovering from a loss, fearing a boss, or just being tossed by real circumstances beyond your control; if you’re losing the helm. on the verge of overwhelm, or simply squirming in some mud puddle, muddled and befuddled…remember the apostles and their ups and downs. It will sober and encourage you to reconsider what they went through with Yeshua. But even more encouraging will be when you reconnect with His present day power, your own personal deposit of His Holy Spirit. He can get you successfully through anything!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]One of my favorite ministers of the Gospel is D.L. Moody. He tells a story about having heard Pastor Henry Varley once say that, “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”
The Lord is quoted in this scripture in Matthew and it contains an important principle which I think we sometimes tend to overlook. Many believe and even teach that if someone acquires much material prosperity, then God has surely given them favor, and that if someone is undergoing extreme trial, it must be because they have sinned or that they lack faith. But the Lord says that the sun rises and the rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous alike. A life of good circumstances does not necessarily mean that God is with us. And likewise, a life of trial and suffering does not mean that God is not with us!
The African Impala (an African antelope) are amazing creatures that can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance greater than 30 feet. Yet Impalas can be kept in a zoo inside an enclosure with a simple 3 foot wall. Why? Impalas will not jump if they can’t see where their feet will land. Do we have something in common with these antelopes? Able to take great leaps of faith, but refusing to do it unless we can see where we’ll land?
An aging king woke up one day to the realization that should he drop dead, there would be no male in the royal family to take his place. He was the last male in the royal family in a culture where only a male could succeed to the throne – and he was aging. He decided that if he could not give birth to a male, he would adopt a son who then could take his place but he insisted that such an adopted son must be extraordinary in every sense of the word. So he launched a competition in his kingdom, open to all boys, no matter what their background. Ten boys made it to the very top.
For centuries in Ethiopia, there have lived a people we now know as the Falashas. They kept all sorts of Biblical traditions and call themselves Beta Yisrael (House of Israel). As experts began to study the matter, it became clear that these were descendants of the Jewish people who came to Africa in ancient times and intermarried. Unbeknownst to many, a percentage of them became believers in Jesus over the years. Jesus (or Yeshua, as they called Him) became a part of their identity as Jewish people. Many Falashan Jews worshipped Jesus as their Messiah and continued to practice Jewish tradition.
So often in our walks with the Lord, we become focused on what we can see, what we can hear and what we can sense in the physical realm. Like that young man, we focus on the enemy’s attacks around and about us. At times we can get so focused on our physical circumstances that we forget that the Lord has already provided for us the victory!
Why is it that some believers seem to go much deeper in their walk with God than others? I believe it has to do with a desire to pursue God and not to stop until they feel His very presence in their lives. These believers decide not to settle for anything less than a growing, vibrant relationship with God, and God honors that desire for those who seek it.