Hi all,
One
of the blessings of having an adult son who is mentally 4 years old but
loves Jesus, is that Chris is as much aware of the Lord in his life and
his future in heaven as he is the natural world. Chris' best friend in
the group home is Frankie, the daughter of a missionary couple who have
chosen to continue their missionary work in Africa, and as a result only
see Frankie a couple of times each year.
Barb
is a brunette like Frankie's mom, and about the same size. As a result,
when Barb and I pick up or drop off Chris, or go to the group home for
planning meetings or to bring new clothes or bath supplies for Chris,
Frankie latches on to Barb with long hugs - I mean easily 2 or 3 minutes
long, clinging to Barb, often with tears in her eyes, (and Barb's) as
Frankie longs for her mother. It's hard on Barb too as she knows she is
merely a surrogate figure of her mom, and is powerless to
help Frankie's sorrowful longing.
Many
times we've been there when Chris will roll up in his
wheelchair, gently grab and hold Frankie's hand, and say tenderly yet
with certainty, "It's OK Frankie, Jesus is with us, it's OK Frankie,
Jesus is here." At those words Frankie shakes her head in agreement as
it lies on Barb's shoulder, and draws back, drying her eyes. Chris'
words having the affect of bringing Frankie out of her grief, back to
being aware of His presence in her life.
Jairus and beyond
When
Jesus told Jairus, 'Don't be put to flight in fear, but just
believe', His words had the same affect on Jairus as Chris' words do on
Frankie. It shakes the focus away from the fear and tragedy in their
lives and redirects their attention to the higher but invisible truth of
faith and peace.
Faith
is our response to a personal and internal revelation. Noah received a
revelation a flood was coming, his response was to build a boat - faith
being the response to revelation. Moses received revelation to go to
Egypt, his response of going was faith.
Faith is unseen
so we must purposely redirect our attention to the revelation and peace
down in our spirits when confronted in the natural with circumstances
screaming fear.
So Jairus had to be redirected to focus on his original revelation and faith that arose out of
that
revelation, that if Jesus came and laid hands on her, his daughter
would be OK. We have to be willing to forsake fear in favor of the
revelation of peace, and then back that up with disciplined thoughts
that refuse to entertain the possibilities fear presents. That's one
reason Jesus allowed no one to follow them and pushed the unbelieving
mourners out the door. He wanted Jairus focused on faith and peace, not
fear.
A
revelation from the Father is grace - He didn't have to show us that
thing, speak to us, nor give us that peace assuring us all will be OK -
He does these things because He is good. Our response is faith.
Example #2, Walking on water
Jesus
walking on water is recorded in 3 of the 4 gospels, and each records a
different perspective of the same event: Matthew 14: 22-32; Mark
6:45-52; John 6: 19-21.
Most
translations try to help Gentile readers by providing a watered down
translation where Jewish terms are used. Here is a prime example. Most
Bibles translate the conversation between Jesus and Peter something like
this as Jesus approaches the boat: "Take courage; It is I; don't be
afraid". Then Peter replies, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to
you on the water."
Jesus actually said, "Take courage! I AM! Stop being afraid!" And Peter responds, "Lord, if you are, command me to come to you on the water!"
I
AM is the name of the One who spoke to Moses from the burning bush in
Exodus 3:14, so when Jesus told the men He was I AM, the One who spoke
to Moses, Peter challenged Him to prove it. "Lord, if you are, command
me to come to you on the water!" Immediately of course, Jesus extended
the invitation. (For more on I AM, listen to my series 'I AM; Who Jesus Is and Where He Came From)
Fear is met by revelation
Jesus
issued the same command of 'fear not, meaning 'Don't be put to flight'
here as He did to Jairus. This time however instead of fighting fear by
recalling earlier faith and promises, fear is met by proof that Jesus is
I AM.
This
is the point of this second example - another way to keep emotions in
control, to not be put to flight in fear, is to allow the fact Jesus is
God to dominate your situation - He is in control even with the wind and
waves roiling all around - you can still walk on the water as long as
you keep Him in view and the truth He is I AM in the forefront of your
mind. Take a
step back and realize Who you have, and Who is in control.
When
Peter forgot Who he was dealing with and got distracted by the storm,
he began to sink. Even then, once refocused, Jesus extended His hand to
pull him up and they both walked on the water back to the boat.
You
can do the same - keep in mind Jesus is God. So what if the storm
rages, walk out on the water in the middle of the storm - you are safe
when moved by revelation of who Jesus is, and what He has commanded you
to do - don't walk on water of your own initiative (presumption), but if
extended an invitation, walk on!
Lost child
Peter
was afraid when he focused on the storm, thus fear is also revelation,
but it is a revelation of circumstances in the natural realm of present
or future doom. Fear can also bring a spirit that attaches itself to
circumstances. For instance, when our youngest son Brian was about 5
years old, he went missing after a church service. There is room for
natural fear when a child goes missing, but there is more room for I AM.
I
was the pastor of a church in SE Colorado, and we were renting an old
grocery store at the time. With everybody gone from the building and our
son still missing, we searched all over the building and outside,
calling his name over and over again.
Fear
set in - Barb as you can imagine was panic-stricken. She looked to me
for direction, and I in turn switched my attention from the very fearful
circumstances to my spirit, and there I found peace. I told her, "He is
OK, and we'll find him, but I don't know where he is." Imaginations of
him being abducted and abused or killed started to swirl in our minds,
but we put them down, taking all our mental strength to stay focused on
the peace in our spirits.
We had to get Chris and Jason home
He
wasn't around the surrounding streets or neighbors, so we went home. It
was SO hard leaving the church building not knowing where our 5 year
old was. I had to redirect Barb away from 'scared mom' mode to the peace
in her spirit, and it calmed her down considerably....still, we had to
consider 'what do we do now?' and involving the police - yet we had such
peace.
About
10 minutes after arriving home the phone rang. Brian, and his buddy
about his age, thinking he would play a trick on mom and dad, decided to
crawl into the back of his buddy's family van and go home with them.
They
had all arrived home and had gone inside, leaving Brian in a hot van
for several minutes before his little friend told his parents Brian was
in the van, which led to the phone call.
Were
it not for the peace in our spirits that we made ourselves listen to
and made our emotions submit to that peace, we would have been
overwrought with fear that whole time. If we were so inclined, a spirit
of fear could have attached itself to the natural fear, and tormented us
even after Brian was discovered to be fine.
That
spirit would have had us play it over and over in our minds, and being
fear, is all about the future and would have painted a picture in our
minds of future abductions with tragic results. It could have tormented
us years in the future with thoughts about the other boys and images of
future kidnappings and such. We never let it get to that, meeting
natural fear with the supernatural peace in our spirits, and letting
that dominate our emotions.
I think Brian still remembers the 'talking to' he got once we picked him up from our friends.
It
all ties back to meeting circumstances of fear with the faith of a
child, as Chris does; It's OK, Jesus is with us. Jesus is here.
More next week, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
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