Immanuel

Immanuel.  It means, “God with us.”  Names are meaningful!  Your name is meaningful—it’s how God sees you.  It identifies you.  

So what does it mean when we call Jesus, “God with us.”   We know he came from heaven to earth. He was miraculously born of a virgin. He slipped off his throne and entered a dark world as a baby to bring light and salvation.  

But I think it means something more personal.  He came to redeem us for sure.  And when we invite him in, he lives in us. He walks with us. He carries our burdens. He shows us how to walk through this valley of the shadow of death.  

We may be overwhelmed with hurt—he’s there.  He cares.  We may be despondent—he brings light and hope.  He never leaves.  We may not be able to see the future—he knows the way.  He’ll lead us.  We may be drowning in debt—he’s our source.  He’ll provide.  We may be sick and worried—he’s our healer.  He anoints us with oil.  We may be broken—he’s our restorer.  He will touch our hearts and renew our minds.  We may be overwhelmed with fear—he’s our peace.  He will fight for us. 

Immanuel is kind of like “I AM.”  It’s all-consuming, all-inclusive, all-embracing.  It’s everything.  What do you need?   He’s that. Will his answers to your every question come in a neat and tidy package?   No.  Absolutely not.  Because he wants you to KNOW HIM!   He wants you to press into him. He wants you to learn about his name, his character, his identity.  We’ll never know the depth of who he is—because he’s God.  And this good and gracious God may allow you to walk down difficult paths so he can move in and be Immanuel—God with us. He wants to reside in you, walk with you, and meet all your needs.  He wants to teach you that he’s enough.  He wants to fill you with his love.  And when you know all of that?  You are consumed with knowing—knowing he is enough. He’s all you need and all you want.  He is Immanuel…God with us.

Faithful Anna

Imagine being me, Mary, a teenaged girl who was about to be married—and suddenly found to be pregnant.  It all sounded so amazing when the angel appeared to me and told me I’d been chosen by God to be the mother of His son.  I mean it WAS amazing.  But I never imagined the consequences it would bring. 

First, I almost lost my beloved.  If the angel hadn’t come to him and told him the truth, he would have put me away.  Secondly, I lost my reputation.  There was horrible gossip and speculation by everyone in my community.  The worst was by the older women who assumed they knew the truth.  I’d been known as the pure young woman whom most of these older women wanted their sons or grandsons to marry.  And now I was the black stain of our small town.  They assumed I’d given up my purity.  

It was all so confusing.  Chosen, but ostracized.  Blessed, but ridiculed.  So the sign posts God placed along my path became treasures I stored in my heart.  My cousin, Elizabeth, was the first sign post.  The baby in her womb leaped when she saw me.  She knew instantly I’d been chosen by God to be the mother of His son.  Another was when the angels appeared to the shepherds and they came to worship him.  And then Simeon…recognizing Jesus as God’s son.  

But…Anna.  Anna was so redemptive for me.  Here was an older woman who held no accusations, no assumptions, and no judgment.  It was obvious she spent her time in prayer and fasting.  Even though she was energetic for someone her age, there was a gentleness that radiated from the inside out. She knew.  She knew Jesus was the redemption of mankind.  But she knew what I needed as a woman and as the mother of this precious gift.  And she gave it—as an older woman to a younger woman:  the KNOWING.  And then she whooped and hollered and shouted the news to everyone around, “Thank you, God!!   Our redemption has come!” 

Redemption comes from God. But I learned that day that he can choose to use an older, godly, prayerful, prophetic, faithful woman as His funnel.

Lord, Master, Boss

You know…we use these words so often (Lord, Master) about Jesus that they’ve lost their meaning.  Let me tell you what I found as I looked up these words in the Greek.  They are words used for a superintendent or overseer.  Someone who has command over others.  Someone who can say, “Come!” and that person to whom they’re speaking is obligated to “come.”   The Lord or Master has authority over others.  

To understand it a little better, an equivalent modern word we might use is “boss.”  That might change our perspective a little bit.  If our boss tells us to do a certain job and we refuse to do it, we would be considered insubordinate.  We might be fired.  

We’ve been told we’re going to heaven when “we ask Jesus to come into our hearts.”  But what Jesus taught us is that we are to make him Lord.  Boss.  We now serve and obey him.  He does come into our hearts when we recognize we’re sinners, repent, and turn to Jesus.  But it doesn’t stop there.  We’re now ambassadors of Jesus.  He’s the King.  We don’t get to make decisions on our own or do whatever we want to do—and we’re certainly not to live in sin.  In fact, if we’re not bothered (convicted) by our sin, we probably don’t belong to him.  He corrects those he loves.  We now obey our Boss. We are to submit to him.  We represent HIM.  We do whatever he tells us to do—we’re to obey his commands.  

Don’t stop at salvation. We’re compelled to follow Jesus closely; be his disciples.  We’re to look like him and do what he does.  We must obey.  He’s the Boss.

The Yoke

“Are you burdened?  Overwhelmed?  Weighed down?   Come to Me.  Let me put this 15 pound contraption on you!”

As I read Matthew 11:28-30 yesterday, this is the way it hit me!   It had to sound like that to the early listeners, too.  

A yoke was a carved wooden piece that harnessed two oxen together so they’d work together side-by-side.  Jesus was telling the people—US!—to come and yoke up with him.  It’s a choice.  

You have to:

Submit

Commit

Admit

Submit to Jesus.  

You have to humble yourself and confess you need him and are willing to walk his way and at his pace.  You have to give up your frenzy.  You have to let go of your will.  

Commit to a yoke.  A yoke comes across your shoulders and fastens around your neck.  It’s a commitment—because once it’s on, your locked in.  You’ve weighed the options and know if you keep going your way, you’ll be exhausted and wasted.  But…if you commit to being yoked with Jesus, he’ll carry the heavier weight and he’ll teach you his way.   His way is slower, unhurried, focused, humble, gentle, restful.  Don’t you want that?   You have to commit.  

You have to admit you can’t do it alone and you have a need to walk with the Savior.  While this sounds easy, it’s the hardest part.  Our flesh wants to scream, “I CAN DO IT MYSELF!!!!”  We want to prove—willfully—that we’ve got this.  We think our way is best.  But when we can finally admit that our way is getting us nowhere and that we’re exhausted with the process…there’s hope.  

When you yoke yourself with Jesus, it’s perfectly carved and fitted so that Jesus carries the heavier burden.  It’s not that he wants to strap pounds of weight on you…he just wants you to stay CONNECTED to him so you don’t run off and exhaust yourself.  He wants you to slow down and learn how to do this the right way.  He wants you to rest.  He wants you to focus. He wants you listening to him and learning from him.  

Will you commit to being locked in with him?  Yes, it will slow you down.  But if you’ll let it, it will teach you everything you need to know about life.  It will bring REST. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

A Pregnant Simeon

Simeon was pregnant longer than Mary.  God had birthed a promise in his heart and he’d been waiting for the fulfillment of that promise.  He was waiting on the Messiah.  

Jamie Shuck asked our youth last night “How are you waiting?” He used the story of Simeon.  As I’ve thought on his lesson, I’d ask, “ARE you waiting?”  There’s another arrival of the Messiah pending!   Are you waiting?  Watching?  Expecting?

I believe Simeon was chosen for this particular promise because he was a just, righteous, devout, and watchful man.  God promised him he would see the Messiah before he died.  And ONE DAY…the Spirit of God told him to get to the temple.  Mary & Joseph entered the temple that day with baby Jesus to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice for his birth.  That’s when Simeon saw the Messiah.  The same God who’d given him the promise quickened his spirit to recognize Who he was seeing.  And Simeon took the child and blessed him.  He blessed his parents and prepared them for things to come.  And I’m sure that moment reverberated in their spirits as long as they lived.  It was a sign post that this was all true.  This was God’s Son—the Messiah.  

Simeon had been promised he’d see the Messiah before he died.  I wonder if he’d gotten sick with a fatal disease?   It would be just like Satan to do that to create doubt about God’s promise.  We don’t know. But God kept that promise alive in Simeon’s heart.  After all, Simeon’s name means, “harkening.”  He waited well by listening to the voice of the Spirit.

Undone

I was undone.  We were worshiping and singing about the King.  I’d been meditating on Luke 12:32 for two days, “For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”   What did that actually mean?   Jesus had just told the disciples not to worry about what they ate or what they wore.  He’d said if they’d seek first the kingdom of God, all these things would be added to them.  And then he said their Father would DELIGHT to give them (and us) His kingdom.  

Can you imagine being a billionaire and having a son who kept messing up—and telling him you’d DELIGHT giving him everything you’d worked hard for?   That’s why I was undone.  I am that son.  Why oh why would God entrust His kingdom to me?  Why would He DELIGHT to give it to me?   Doesn’t He know I am unworthy, untrustworthy?  

I rose to my feet and wiped the tears streaming from my face.  If God delights to give His kingdom to me, I want to take this gift and duty and handle it responsibly.  I want to be trustworthy.  I want to please my King and bring back more than He gave me.  I want to be a diligent ambassador.   

And that makes me worship Him all the more.

Make Room

When Jesus got to the little girl who’d died, there was a crowd of people. People were playing flutes and mourning and wailing.  Jesus told the people to “make room”—that the girl wasn’t dead, but sleeping.  The people’s response?  They ridiculed Jesus!  These were professional mourners.   They knew what a dead person looked like.  And this girl was dead.  

I believe Jesus fully intended to perform a miracle in front of these people.  He only told them to “make room.”   Or, “Move over so I can get to the girl and raise her from the dead.”  But at the moment of their unbelief (and ridicule), he had them removed from the room.  Only those who believed were allowed to stay and see this miracle performed.  And Jesus raised this little girl from the dead!!

Where would you be—inside or outside of that room?  It’s imperative in these days that we walk closely with people who are full of faith.  We should also give others the opportunity to “make room” and see a miracle.  But if they ridicule?   They’ll miss the whole thing.  

The more time you spend with Jesus…the more you’re in his Word…the more faith you’ll have.  

Stay.   See the miracle.