Mary

How did Mary treat the vision that God had given her?

First, the vision was confirmed by God, then by herself. Then it was confirmed by Elizabeth. She was able to stay with Elizabeth for 3 months, with people that believed in her and her call. I believe that fortification was necessary for the pain she would experience when she returned home.

In Equip Mozambique, how can we become a household of Zechariah and Elizabeth? How can we become a place that people pregnant with vision and purpose are safe, encouraged, and ministered to? I need to talk about this with the staff and I need to make sure they understand that we need to be welcoming and inviting.

Earlier in the chapter we see that Elizabeth had her own miracle. She had been faithful for many years, she was older, and married to a priest. Her miracle and vision was lesser, but still she rejoiced with Mary. This is a key factor in becoming a place where visions can mature and be born - lack of envy. We have to be okay if someone else’s vision is larger than ours, if their calling is larger or if they are more talented. 

 

Be Strong and Courageous

 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9

I love these verses. The whole chapter has so many exhortations on being strong and courageous. God says it like 4-5 times. Was it because Joshua needed to hear it? Was it because Joshua was coming up on trying times? I find it interesting that these were the words God chose to give to Joshua… Not strategy advice, not planning, not leadership tips or information on who was spinning in Joshua’s camp… He was primarily concerned about Joshua’s heart.

I find the same thing in Philippians 4:6-7; pray, then God will give you peace. It says nothing about your prayers being answered. It just talked about the peace of God that transcends understanding.

How am I approaching God in the moment? In what areas am I focused on the specific situation and he is more interested in the heart?

God, give me your eyes; eyes that see the armies of heaven as more really than the difficulties I see in the physical. Give me the ability to discern the real from the fake, the urgent, as the non-eternal.

God, help me to walk in a way that shows that my heart and soul are more important than my daily struggles and situations. Lord keep me above the noise; help me to walk in strength and courageousness. Help me to show your power and strength. Let my life be a testimony to your power and ability to rescue your sons and daughters.

Trusting in Man

 

This is what the Lord days: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord” -Jeremiah 17:5

So, this is a bit awkward. I am steeped in a culture that trusts in man as naturally as breathing, and there is a curse over that lifestyle. It is so hard for us to trust in God, compared to the Mozambicans for instance.

“Who draws strength from mere flesh” - Wow, yeah… Most advice people give you when you are in trouble can be placed here. And it is so easy to fall into this trap.

I liken it to playing with Alizah… I throw her up in the air and she loves it; she screams and laughs and wants to do it again. But there is a point where it’s too high and she’s no longer confident that she is safe. She has no idea what is dangerous and what is safety but at some undetermined point, her joy and excitement turns to fear. The space between “Higher, higher!” and “Too high, too high” is razor thin.

Unfortunately, I see myself like that. I am always asking God to do more, go further, give me more opportunities but then at some point my situation can turn from excitement to shear panic. Just as with my daughter, this panic has nothing to do with how secure I am or not, but there is a point where I stop focusing on the greatness of God and start focusing on the greatness of the task or obstacle in front of me.

God, help me to trust in you. When things get tough, let me turn to you. I choose to turn to you.

Righteousness

 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. -Romans 15:13

I love looking at scripture from a contractual perspective; it’s not a way I often think, but I believe it’s really helpful to find out exactly what my role is and what God’s is. As you trust in him - this prayer of Paul’s is actually conditional: May God do ____ as you do _____. What prayers am I praying for others that should be conditional? In Mozambique, everyone is always praying and talking about blessing, but blessing isn’t always good for the soul.

Again here, trust is a choice: a choice (our role) that leads to a change in our emotions (God’s job). That sounds pretty good… After all, I can’t fill myself with joy or peace, but I can choose to trust!

So that you... There is a reason Paul is praying this. He is trying to take his people from here to there; showing them the life that they should be living. A life overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We see this consistently in our lives. It’s not a hope that is an emotion or a fleeting experience. Through the years of living with the Lord and seeing his heart and his capacity, we constantly live with hope in our circumstances and in the circumstances of those around us; a hope that most people are sorely lacking. It consistently surprises me how much more hope I have for someone else’s life than they have for their own…

Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness. -Genesis 15:6

Righteousness - right standing with God. In an era before that was even technically possible, and before anyone had written books of testimonies from following the Lord, Abram believed. No wonder he was called the father of the faithful!

Interesting aside… Most of the time we talk about righteousness, it’s from the perspective of a lack of sin in our lives. But if you look at the biblical references, less than half are about that; many more are about your actions to others, your mercy, or compassion. Joseph was a righteous man, so he didn’t want to stone Mary as was his right. True fasting is letting justice flow and paying your workers fairly. Righteousness is the presence of attitudes and actions, not just the absence of bad ones.

Righteousness isn’t just related to our relationship to ourselves (sin), or to others (good deeds), but also to our relationship with God. Believing him is credited as righteousness.

 

 

Daniel's Trust

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. When Daniel was lifted from the den, no would was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. -Daniel 6:23

I can’t imagine a situation more urgent than being in a den of hungry lions. Just knowing there are lions close is enough to strike fear into most people. Now I really wish there was more detail to this story. Was the trust Daniel had trust that God would protect him from the king, so he continued praying? Was it trust even while he was being thrown into the Lion’s den? Was he afraid then?

For me these are particularly important things to think about because, while I am quite good at trusting in God for the long-term planning aspects of ministry and making decisions that are full of faith, honestly, I can be rubbish at living them out daily. The Vineyard motto of “do it afraid” applies quite well to me. Was Daniel absolutely stalwart through the entire experience? As he was standing on the brink of the pit, was he absolutely full of faith, or did he hesitate like I do, doing the right thing but not necessarily knowing if God will rescue you?

There are deep parallels to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… they said “Even if God doesn’t save us, we will never bow to you.” Their faith drove them to do what was right, regardless of what would happen to them. They didn’t have faith God would save them from the fire but had faith nonetheless. I can definitely identify with this kind of faith. Was that Daniel’s attitude as well?

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. -John 14:1

Such a weird verse… Jesus is standing in front of his disciples saying this and explaining that they already believe in God, so he’s clearly not talking about the belief we normally think of. Rather, I think he’s talking about believing that Jesus will do what he says he will do and that his words are trustworthy. Yes, I believe in God. No, that doesn’t mean that I believe his words to me are true about my circumstance or about me.

God, help me to believe in you. Help me to believe your words about me, my situation, and the people around me.