Revelation changes expectations

It has always puzzled me that the disciples were so unprepared for Jesus’ resurrection. No one seemed to foresee it. It wasn’t as if Jesus had not told them on various occasions what would happen but somehow the truth just hadn’t sunk in.

No one was waiting at the tomb in anticipation of Jesus walking out alive. The disciples were hiding away in Jerusalem and even the women who did visit the tomb went to prepare a dead body with no expectation of a risen Lord. In fact when they did see Jesus, they could hardly believe it and when they told the disciples they thought it was just nonsense (Luke 24: 11). Only Peter and John actually went to the tomb.

Cleopas and Simon on the road to Emmaus could not make sense of what had happened either and even when Jesus walked with them and explained the Scriptures they did not realise they were talking with Jesus till ‘their eyes were opened and they recognised him’ Luke 24: 31. In fact when they hurried back to Jerusalem to tell the others and Jesus appeared in the room they thought he was a ghost. Even when Jesus showed them his scarred hands and feet and he ate some fish, they were still not convinced.  It was not until ‘he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures’ (Luke 24: 45) that they got it.

They needed revelation – their minds opened to what had been prophesied and what they had been told. The disciples had seen Jesus crucified, they had seen his body taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb so their experience said he was dead. They therefore did not expect resurrection even though they had been told about it. Even when the evidence was presented to them, they still could not believe it till Jesus himself opened their hearts and eyes to what the Scriptures said.

We too need this revelation because, like the disciples, our past experiences can shape our expectations. However when we do not live by our experiences but by what the Bible says, we can live victoriously even in the midst of the most difficult times. With revelation of God bringing life to the Scriptures we no longer expect the defeat and failure of past experiences but we live in the expectation of God’s goodness, kindness, love, mercy and grace.

The Bible no longer becomes theoretical but an amazing book full of the endless possibilities of what God can and wants to do in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Our expectations change when we believe and act on what the Bible says.

The disciples certainly had very wrong expectations of Jesus’ resurrection but under the revelation of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, they turned from frightened men and women into world changers and powerful ministers of the Gospel.

If we let our future expectations be based on our past experiences not on the Word, we will always be disappointed which can lead to frustration and even cynicism. Instead we need the Holy Spirit to open our minds to the wonders of what God is doing so with an expectation of God’s goodness we will see great and wonderful things.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1: 20

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2 Peter 1: 4

Jesus is the Son of God

On the terrible day that Jesus was crucified on the cross, it must have tested the faith of all his disciples and followers to the core. Despite Jesus telling them several times that this was exactly what was going to happen, the reality of it just hadn't sunk in.

Why was Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah being crucified like the common criminals that hung on his left and right? Surely if he was the Son of God the angels would come and rescue him or why did he not just come down from the cross like his mockers suggested?

How terrible to not just witness Jesus' crucifixion but to have to listen to the taunts and scorn being heaped upon him by the religious leaders and passersby.

Many believers must have turned away from Jesus that day. Their faith was tested and they gave in to doubt and unbelief. By the day of Pentecost there was only 120 believers left praying. Where was everyone else? Jesus had spent three years miraculously ministering to every hopeless situation and circumstance, teaching thousands about their loving heavenly Father yet at the sight of Jesus on the cross, most abandoned him.

Even when darkness covered the earth. Even when Jesus cried out in a loud voice as he gave up his spirit which was impossible for a dying man suffocating  on a cross. Even when the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom, no one expected anything more from the Son of God. That was it - all over. 

The brave Joseph of Arimathea just wanted to give him the best burial possible in his own brand new tomb. It took courage to go to Pilate to ask for the body. Having buried him he sealed the tomb to make sure no one got in and desecrated it. The faithful women wanted to make sure his body was properly embalmed either that day or after the Sabbath. Even the guards were only placed to make sure the sealed tomb could not be broken into because the religious leaders did not want the disciples faking a resurrection.

No criminal crucifixion though, no sealed tomb, no guards, no disbelieving disciples or followers could stop Jesus rising in triumph from the dead because Jesus is the Son of God. What God has purposed will happen. Jesus overcame sin and death and made a way for everyone born on the planet to come and know their loving heavenly Father and Creator - just as planned. 

Father forgive us when we lose faith in the face of difficulties that seem overwhelming. Help us to persevere and trust you because you are the Christ, the Son of the living God and nothing is impossible for you. Amen.

God of the miraculous

One of the advantages of taking a topic when reading the Bible rather than reading through a Gospel or another book is that incredible themes start to lift off the pages.

One thing I have been reminded of recently is that God is the God of truly outstanding, amazing miracles. Not just that but when God is about to do something significant, it is always accompanied by the miraculous.

 Noah built an ark in the desert for 120 years and God brought the water to float it. Abraham and Sarah were not just old but ‘as good as dead’ (Hebrews 11: 12) yet their one son (born to Sarah aged 90) birthed the whole of the Jewish race

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Moses, an 80 year old no-hoper, was so insecure that he argued with God 5 times about his inability to fulfil his calling. Yet he ended up leading a motley group of slaves out from one of the most powerful military nations in the world at that time. In the process he performed outstanding miracles including the parting of the Red Sea which led to the complete overthrow of the military might of Egypt. God miraculously provided water from a rock for approx 2 million people and fed these people morning and evening for 40 years.

They entered their Promised Land when God again parted the waters, this time of the swollen, flooded River Jordan. The Israelites then took the first fortified city they came across – not by military might – but by walking round the walls every day for 7 days and the walls collapsed.

And so it goes on; curses turned into blessings (Numbers 24: 10 - 11), shepherd boys becoming kings (Psalm 78: 70 - 71), mighty armies overthrown by the power of praise (II Chronicles 20: 22) and many more until we come to most incredible miracle of all; God himself giving up all his glory, majesty and power to become a tiny baby born of a virgin. This happened in an insignificant town, not in a palace and not even in a home but outside with the animals.

The Christmas story is full of miracles – miracle babies born to elderly parents like Zechariah and Elizabeth, a virgin birth, the glorious heavenly host revealed to humble shepherds and Gentile magi travelling miles to follow a star to worship a king that his own people did not even acknowledge.

He continually reveals himself today as a miracle working God.

Sometimes I think our God is just too small. We struggle to believe that the God who parted the Red Sea will come in and make a way for us where there appears to be no way. We battle to realise that the God who fed two million people every day for 40 years will provide for us and that the man who raised Jairus’ daughter and Dorcas (to name just two) will breathe life into our hopeless looking, dead situations.

Or that the same God who inspired 5000 people to be saved in one day can save our family and friends.  Or that the God who forgave Zacchaeus and the woman caught in adultery will forgive our sins. Or that the God who healed Naaman the leper will heal our eczema and so on.

Our faith is so small and yet our God is so big.

Let’s ask God to forgive us for our unbelief and help us stir up again the gift of faith that he has given each one of us so that we can come to our miracle working God and be amazed at the things he wants to do in and through our lives.  

Trusting God in the bad times

One of the hardest things I think we are called to do as Christians is to accept the place that God has put us in with grace and trust especially when it is the last thing we would ever want. It may be a place of great trial and difficulty and we do not feel we have done anything to ‘deserve’ it but this is where we find ourselves.

There is an incredible clip on YouTube of a young mother dying from cancer explaining how she is managing to cope in this heart breaking situation.  Four months later she died leaving two small children.

This is some of what she said: People ask me why is God taking me away when a murderer gets to live a long life? There is an implicit assumption in this that I am a good person – I deserve better.  I am not a good person.  I do not deserve better.  As it says in Romans 3: 23 we have all done wrong things.

I have railed against not being able to do what I want.  It is frustrating and I get angry but the root of this is unbelief. What I am saying is I do not believe this is right for me.  God you do not know what you are doing. If you do know then you are not good or you are not in control. I don’t want this.  God you are not being fair because you are not giving me what I want. This is what our hearts say when faced with circumstances we do not like but God is good. He is in control. He is fair.

When I try and make him into a God who serves me – I sin. Our natural bent is to sin and that is our greatest problem.

I am so challenged by this.  I am not in the circumstances of this young mother but I have been in circumstances I do not like. I may rail against God and what is happening. I too get angry and frustrated but this will not help me or those around me.

Too often our default position as Christians is that God is good and therefore only good things should happen to us as his children. When bad things happen, it must be because we have sinned or because the devil is attacking us. This may be true or we may be in this place just because that s where God has us at this time.

Trusting God in these times is the answer; believing that God is good, he does know best and he has a bigger picture and purpose that he is working out in our lives. He has not forgotten or abandoned us but is holding us securely in his hand despite all our emotions that tell us otherwise.  We can and must trust him.

Keeping our faith

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11: 39 – 40

Hebrews 11 is the wonderful chapter about the Old Testament men and women of faith from righteous Abel through to the prophets. Many of them triumphed in their faith yet others suffered terribly facing persecution, imprisonment and even martyrdom. Yet the chapter concludes by saying that none of these wonderful saints of old, though commended for their faith, received what was promised; the fulfillment of their faith found in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. 

I find this fact very inspiring that they never gave up but died still believing that what God had said was true. Their faith was not in vain because though they did not see it, God brought about what he had promised. Now, these men and women of faith will be joining with us who have come to faith through Jesus Christ and together we will be made perfect.

Like these saints of old, we too may not see those things we are believing for but we must not give in to disappointment, doubt and unbelief.  These will rob us of our faith.  The object of our faith may be personal; the salvation of a loved one or work colleague or for our healing or it may be that we are believing God for a mighty revival in our nation or anticipating the return of Jesus Christ.

We may see any of these events or we may not but we must maintain our faith, trusting that what God has said will be fulfilled whether we see it or not. Alan Vincent (one of my heroes of the faith) says that for years his grandmother prayed for him yet she never saw him saved. However she never lost faith and took her ‘faith cheque’ to heaven and cashed it there. Her grandson was not just saved but became ‘a faith-filled, devil destroying warrior for a grandson.’

I don’t know about you but I can become very disappointed when I do not see the things I am believing God for. However today I want to rise up in fresh faith, shake off  my disappointment and declare before God that whether or not I see my loved ones saved, revival in UK or whatever, I will not let go and slide into doubt and unbelief but I will trust that what God has said will be accomplished .

Lord Jesus, today I raise my eyes afresh to you and ask that you will forgive me for doubting you and letting disappointment and unbelief creep into my life. Please will you strengthen me afresh today so that whether I see the things I am praying and trusting you for, or whether I do not, I will still be found in faith in Christ Jesus? Amen. 

Pleasing God

Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11: 6

I want to please God.  However this is not because I am fearful of displeasing Him. I’m not. If we are worried about displeasing God, it is usually because we fear punishment when we get things wrong but God is not going to punish us even if we are disobedient.  All the punishment for our sin was taken by Jesus on the cross. We do not have to fear it any longer. 

For sure - disobedience hampers our relationship with God but it does not terminate it even temporarily.  God does not want us to walk in sin and he will do all he can to help us repent and ask for forgiveness but not because he is waiting to punish us but because sin is harmful to us and our relationship with him.

Despite all their shortcomings, the only time Jesus even rebuked the disciples was after he had risen from the dead and then it was ‘for their lack of faith and stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen’ (Mark 16: 14). The next reported words though were ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.’ In order for them to do this effectively they needed to believe that he had risen from the dead. Their unbelief was stopping this happening.

Unbelief is the greatest hindrance to a powerful, effective Kingdom life because it robs us of faith.  Faith pleases God so to walk with God by faith, we must let God do whatever is necessary to root out unbelief in our lives. 

 Unbelief makes God measure up to our experience and understanding.  If I can reason and understand all that God is doing, he is very small indeed. I am resolved that I will not let my Christian life depend on my experience but on what the Word of God says. If my experience does not measure up then it has to change not the Word of God. If I pray for the sick and they are not healed, then I must persevere till they are, not give up.

Years ago we were not seeing the breakthrough in our finances that we believed the Word of God promises us. We took our wallets, cheque book, cards, bank statements and prayed over them breaking the hold of lack, insufficiency and debt in our lives and calling forth the promised blessings of God. There was not an instantaneous break through but there was a change and we gradually started to prosper. We made our experience line up with the Word of God not vice versa.

I know I have hardly started to experience even a tiny fraction of some of the things in the Bible but I must persevere till I do. I must resist the temptation to give up when it becomes hard and instead carry on till I get the victory. 

I want to please God and so I must walk by faith.

It doesn't work

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.  Acts 9: 39 – 40

Doubt and unbelief are our greatest opponents in our Christian walk because they directly oppose our faith. When Peter was asked to go to Tabitha’s house because she had died, the first thing he encountered was all the widows standing around mourning her death and showing him all the wonderful clothing that Tabitha had made. She was known for ‘always doing good and helping the poor’. The widows were mourning the loss of this wonderful woman.

The first thing Peter did was send the widows out of the room because they had no expectation of resurrection. This got the unbelief out and then he prayed and let faith arise. Then he was able to raise Tabitha from the dead. The mourning widows with no faith would have been no help.

Reinhard Bonnke likes to have the first few rows of people at his crusades and meetings full of faith filled people. People with doubt and unbelief in their hearts can hinder the move of salvation and the miraculous. 

One of our biggest problems can be the ‘It doesn’t work’ thinking. The devil would love us to believe that our prayers and actions are ineffectual and that nothing has happened. Nothing could be further from the truth. Steve Backlund says, ‘As people of faith, we believe that our past prayers, declarations, godly choices and prophetic acts are working powerfully and effectively in the unseen realm’.

There are times when I think my prayers are not working and then suddenly God graciously shows me how effective my prayers have been. My personal journey now is to pray for the sick. Sometimes they are healed and sometimes nothing seems to happen but I am determined to persevere and pray for them on every opportunity that God gives me. I want to see more people helald in Jesus' name.

Don’t let doubt and unbelief steal from you the joy of moving in faith to see loved ones saved,  people healed, lives transformed, provision flow into needy areas and so on. Root out ‘it hasn’t worked’ from your life and let faith arise afresh today in your heart.

The Passover Sabbath

We do not know much about the Passover Sabbath (the Saturday) of that Easter week but we can glean something of what was happening from the Gospels. As evening drew near on Friday, Joseph of Arimethea went to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body and Pilate granted it to him. Joseph took the body wrapped it in linen and placed it in a new tomb near to the site of the crucifixion. He then rolled a big stone in front of the tomb and went home. Some of the ladies watched all of this before also going home (Matthew 27: 57 – 61).

The Sabbath started at dusk on Friday and ran till dusk on Saturday. For 24 hours they all rested as commanded by the law. (Luke 23: 56). No one had any anticipation of Jesus’ rising from the dead. For all the disciples and the ladies this must have been a terrible day. If you have lost anyone dear to you for the first few days you can feel devastated. But for the disciples this was Jesus, the Messiah, that had been crucified like a common criminal and yet he had done nothing wrong.

Added to their intense grief must have been extreme bewilderment and anger especially aimed at the chief priests and leaders of the Jewish people. We know they were behind locked doors, fearful of the Jews (John 20: 19). I expect they had great difficulty eating anything on that Sabbath and the one word running round and round in their minds must have been ‘Why?’ Why did he die, why did he allow them to kill him, why had it happened? Why? Why? Why?  I wondered if anyone mentioned that Jesus had said he would be raised from the dead. There was certainly no expectation from anyone when the ladies went to anoint the bodies with spices on the first day of the week. All the disciples struggled to believe he had been raised even when they were told it by eye witnesses.

There was however one rather surprising group who remembered that Jesus had said he would be raised from the dead on the third day. In Matthew 27: 62 we read, the next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate, ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while he was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ The only people who remembered what Jesus had said he would rise on the third day were the very people who had arranged to have him crucified. Now they were determined to make sure he stayed dead and no one could steal his body from the tomb and say he had risen.

It is amazing that the religious leaders went to Pilate on the Sabbath – it was prohibited by the law to do any work on the Sabbath and this must surely be classified as work, but they were so worried about a possible resurrection – real or fake – that they persuaded Pilate to seal and put a guard on the tomb. Again they missed the point that if someone is really raised from the dead, a stone over the door of the tomb – sealed or not – will not be an obstacle to the miracle.

The disciples were people just like you and me and yet they did not remember or recognise what God was doing even when he had clearly told them before hand what would happen. In the same way we may have forgotten or not understood some things that God has said to us in the past. Today let us encourage ourselves by re-visiting personal or church prophecies or Scriptures that we may have forgotten or have not yet come to pass. Let us ask God to open our eyes to what he is doing and bring fresh revelation to us to day so we will be ready and prepared for anything that may come in the days ahead.

Caleb - a man with a different spirit

 When God told Moses to ‘send some men to explore the land of Canaan which I am giving to the Israelites’ Number 13:1 the idea was for the men to scout out and explore the land.  It was not up to them to decide whether or not the land could be taken.  God had promised them the land, all they had to do was take it. 

The trouble was they looked at the land, which they freely admitted was a good land flowing with milk and honey and then looked at their own abilities and decided it couldn’t be done.  The problems were too big.  They were not looking to God and his promise.  At the deepest level it was a terrible presumption because they were saying that they knew better than God. It was also a deep unbelief that the God who had performed an amazing array of miracles from the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of manna and quail could not take them into the land.  They did not believe God could bring them into the land he had promised. 

Caleb however was a man with a different spirit who followed God whole heartedly (Numbers 14:24).  When the 10 spies brought their bad report and tried to turn the whole community away from God’s promise, Caleb spoke up and assured everyone that ‘we can certainly do it’ (Numbers 13:30).  Caleb knew that if God, who had delivered them from the Egyptians, the mightiest nation in the region, had promised it then they could do it.  He was looking to God.  Like Abraham, he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (Romans 4: 20 – 21)

Caleb did not have a ‘who am I?’ mentality.  He had a ‘look at God’ attitude and he had no doubt that God was mighty and could and would do it. 

When God asks us to do something we must not look at ourselves and our abilities and resources. This leads us to re-define God’s plan to fit our abilities instead of re-aligning ourselves to fit God’s plan.  To do that is unbelief and presumption that we know better than God. Instead let us remember what Paul said to the Philippians.  ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ Philippians 4:13 (NKJV). This is not presumption, this is an assurance in the God who holds all things in his hands and who will guide us into his plans and purposes as we trust him.

Keeping a soft heart

Yesterday we saw how God wants to give us a soft heart of flesh, responsive to him. Hard stubborn hearts of stone are closed to God and the things he is doing.

A good example of this is that after Jesus was raised from the dead he came to the disciples who were struggling to believe he had been resurrected and ‘he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen’ Mark 16: 14. Before his crucifixion, Jesus had told the disciples many times that he would be put to death but that on the third day he would rise from the dead.  Now some of their own friends told them they had seen the risen Lord but still they refused to believe. The disciples had stubbornly hardened their hearts to the truth and Jesus rebuked them for this.

There will often be things we do not understand about God.  Let’s face it if we understood God completely he wouldn’t be God.  However stubbornly refusing to believe something may be of God is unbelief and unbelief is the killer of faith.  It is faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6) and he hates unbelief because it robs the believer of what he is doing. 

All down the centuries God has been doing amazing things that may not be in the Bible but that does not mean they are not God inspired.  Today things such as gold teeth, gold dust, jewels appearing and cent coins sticking to walls are all happening increasingly but none of them are in the Bible.  Stubbornly refusing to believe they are of God means we may miss out on a blessing and the wonder of God being God. 

All the stories of God’s miraculous workings seem unbelievable whether it is feeding 5000 men plus women and children with 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish or Jesus walking on the water or calming the storm.  If we only believe what we can see and understand God becomes rather small not Almighty.

On the other hand we must not be gullible and believe everything that is happening is of God but nor do we need to fear that which we cannot understand.  Instead we need to turn to the Bible and let the Holy Spirit help us understand or assure us of His workings. We may need to look at principles such as ‘God only gives good gifts to his children’ to help us rather than specific examples.

Let us seek to not only let the Holy Spirit give us a new heart of flesh but to maintain it by trusting him to help us when things seem unbelievable.  Let us guard our hearts against unbelief and keep an open, trusting attitude to our Father who loves us so much.