And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, Luke 1:76
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, Lamentations 3:25
In one of my Bible study groups I asked what in our lives do we struggle to completely turn over to God. Being all women, it wasn’t surprising that most answered our children. We worry, we fear, we hover, we protect. We lay away at night thinking of their future. We pray continuously for those who aren’t yet saved.
For so many of us, however, that role becomes overwhelming and overbearing. It puts our relationships with our children and maybe even our spouses in peril. The solution? To see God as not only our father but the good father who loves our children even more than we do, which seems impossible. When I finally turned my adult children over to God, I first had to trust Him and know Him. I had to realize how good He is and how much He loves me too.
Now imagine the parents of John the Baptist. His father, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied the enormous responsibility his just born son would be required to put on his shoulders. Both his mother and father seemed to understand the weight of the role in announcing the coming Messiah. A role I don’t think most parents would want for their children. A nice quiet life as a fisherman with a wife who bears him many children – yes, that’s what Elizabeth probably wanted for John.
But no. John became a bit odd. He wore strange clothes and ate bugs. He spoke to anyone who would listen about the Messiah. His message was sometimes confusing and almost heretical. Yet we don’t see in scripture his parents lamenting. They probably did. But I would surmise based on the prophecy and Elizabeth’s faithfulness that they lamented to God.
They lifted their son up to the God Most High for protection and direction. They trusted in His goodness. I’m sure if they were still alive when John sat in his final jail cell they wept. But they also knew their son had been faithful to God and the Messiah had been faithful to him. And as a parent, what more, truly should we ask.
"I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Isaiah 43:6-7
I’ve been thinking alot about babies lately — not because I want another (I’m way past that time!). Yes, the talk of Jesus coming to earth as a baby has been in my mind’s forefront but also my two-year old grandson and six-week old granddaughter had been staying with us for Christmas. Having had two daughters of my own I still find myself fascinated with pregnancy, childbirth, and the ever-changing process of growing up.
Even while I was pregnant years ago, I thought the concept of having a human being inside me was very odd and alien-like. The miracle of life seemed just that, a miracle. While too many people in our societies want to pretend that a life growing inside a woman is not … a life, I remain in awe of how a tiny swimming seed can push its way into a tiny egg and an explosion of life begins. What a wondrous miracle God came up with to continue His creation!
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Psalm 139:13-15
While scientists pride themselves on the basic “how’s” of the creation of life they can never fully answer the “why’s.” Why does the tiny sperm swim up to the egg? Why does it find the egg and push its way through? Why do the cells begin to split? Why do the cells stop making new features of whatever creature they are creating?
My pondering led me to a different question about this glorious, God-given miracle we call human life. When does the mystery of consciousness begin? Any small amount of research will unveil the biases of scientists working in this arena. The idea of God’s creation of consciousness is seen as “make believe” (as written over and over by Dr. Ralph Lewis in his 5 part series in Psychology Today). Yet, even after studying this topic for many years, evolutionary biologists and psychologist can only make conjectures based on theories of animals that lived thousands if not millions of years ago. They reject the one, most simple answer – God’s miraculous work in us.
I did find an article on when the journey to consciousness may begin in babies. Again, however, it is based on the idea of what scientists presume must be in place physically before a human is deemed able to have consciousness.
But when does the magical journey of consciousness begin? Consciousness requires a sophisticated network of highly interconnected components, nerve cells. Its physical substrate, the thalamo-cortical complex that provides consciousness with its highly elaborate content, begins to be in place between the 24th and 28th week of gestation. Roughly two months later synchrony of the electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythm across both cortical hemispheres signals the onset of global neuronal integration. Thus, many of the circuit elements necessary for consciousness are in place by the third trimester.
Christof Koch, When Does Consciousness Arise in Human Babies? Scientific America
Friends, our glorious God, the creator of all things seen and UNSEEN has given humans the gift of consciousness. That, in turn, gifts us with creativity, planning, memory, higher emotions, and more. We can no more truly guess when this gift has been delivered to us than we can know when our souls have entered into our cells. Of course, many evolutionary biologists and atheists don’t believe we have souls either.
If we look at life simply as a compilation of mechanical-like parts joined together (somehow for some reason) to create a two-legged creature that can speak, then we ignore all the beautiful intricacies of our human existence. The nuances of love, of sadness, of joy, of peace, of fear, and of reverence.
Our Christian faith is not ignorant of the “how” we are knitted together. We can accept all the biological facts of our human bodies. We just have the key to why it all works. A God to whom we give all glory for being the greatest scientist and creator for all time.
For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name. 16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
Isaiah 51:15-16
When we picture warcraft during the United States Revolution we typically envision lines of soldiers from each side marching toward each other. Here’s a description by the American Battlefield Trust:
“Under normal circumstances, 18th century combat entailed that two armies march toward one another, shoulder to shoulder, and usually in ranks of about three men deep. When the opposing sides were within range, orders were given to halt, present arms, to fire, and then to reload.
After several volleys, one side gained the upper hand, and they would begin to close the distance with the enemy, bayonets lowered. This typically culminated in a full out charge at close quarters; sabers, bayonets, and rifle butts were used to sweep the enemy from the field and claim victory.”
And how did one side get the “upper hand?” The lines would break down either by death, injury or desertion. The battle would be won or lost based on who could hold their line the longest.
We Christians have been in a similar battle since the time of Christ. We link arms in communion and espouse the greatness of God to unbelievers. We are tasked, by God, to go out into our communities and battle against evil through our works, our testimony, and our telling of the Good News of the gospel.
However, from my, albeit, limited experience so many of us have chosen to desert our place on the battlefield. I live in a very liberal state within the United States. Church and Christians are not valued members of many communities. In fact, we are frequently described as racist, hateful, bigots because of our adherence to the teachings in the Bible. And that, I believe causes us to shirk our duties as soldiers for God.
I know too many people who feel uncomfortable sharing the Word of God. Some are afraid to even mention their faith in the course of conversations at work. And yet, it is this responsibility that Jesus gives us. We are not called to be closet Christians, afraid of what to say, how to say it and when to say it. God himself promises to put the right words in our mouth at the right time. We just need to be willing to do the one thing that we are called to do – obey Him.
My BSGs did a study on The Armor of God (Ephesians 6). What stood out to me is the preparation we are admonished to complete before taking up the final Word of God.
Therefore, put on the full armor
of God, so that when the day of
evil comes, you may be able to
stand your ground, and after you
have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of
truth buckled around your waist,
with the breastplate of righteousness
in place, and with your feet
fitted with the readiness that
comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up
the shield of faith, with which you
can extinguish all the flaming arrows
of the evil one. Take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God.Ephesians 6:13-17
Once we have studied and learned the character and promises of God we need to pray to have Him send us out into the world and speak His words. Each morning when we rise, we should ask God to place someone in front of us that day to whom He needs to say something. And be watchful and ready for that moment. He will give you the words to speak.
Do not merely listen to the word,
and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.James 1:22
A few years ago, I held on to that promise of God’s words when my daughter and I were in a great battle. We were pushing and pulling constantly. She was off at college and her faith was growing by leaps and bounds thanks to the organization Athletes in Action. But each time we would talk it would end in a fight or tears. I finally prayed to God to give me His words to bring this battle to an end.
The mother-daughter battle is a timeless one.
One day as we talked, the Holy Spirit gave me these words to say, “I’m so glad your faith is growing. I can see that you have learned how to give a lot of grace and forgiveness to your friends and teammates. I know that I fail you frequently in trying to not hold on too tight to you. What I’m asking for is some of that same grace and forgiveness.”
God’s words, spoken through me, began our path toward reconciliation. I just needed to stop trying to speak my thoughts and my desires and instead let God do the heavy lifting.
God needs us to fill our spot on the battlefield line. He can give us all the tools we need – including the right words to say. We just need to show up and hold the line.
Join me starting January 11 for my next series! Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help create a vision of you! The words we speak and think and pray have a great impact on our life. We will embark on a journey of praying changes into our lives. New Year’s resolutions have nothing on what God can accomplish when we ask for miracles to transform us!
emboldened.net 