48 Sermon Illustrations on God S Presence

The book of Hebrews explains some of the imagery of the Tabernacle, which the author says accurately portrays the "true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man". This imagery can help us worship God aright.

1. The Work of the Cross.

2. The Laver.

3. The Holy Place.

a. The Lampstand.

b. The Table of Shewbread.

c. The Altar of Incense.

4. The Mercy Seat.

Martin Luther King, Jr., is often called a “prophet” because, like those Old Testament figures, he endeavored to inspire change in an entire nation through moral appeal. All the prophets followed a two-pronged approach.

First, they gave a short-range view of what God requires immediately. This usually consisted of an exhortation to simple acts of faithfulness: Rebuild the temple. Purify your marriages. Destroy your idols.

Second, they also gave a long-range view to answer the people’s deepest questions: How can we believe that God loves us in the face of so much suffering? How can we believe in a just God when the world seems ruled by a sovereignty of evil? The prophets answered such questions by reminding their audience of who God is, and by painting a picture of a future kingdom of righteousness.

Martin Luther King used that same two-pronged approach. His short-range view called for non-violence. King did many things wrong (like many of the “heroes” in Hebrews 11), but one thing he did right. Against all odds, against all instincts of self-preservation, he stayed true to the short view. He did not strike back. Where others called for revenge, he called for love.

King also reminded his people of the long view, that God is in control and the coming of His righteousness will not be long.

The most convincing study on prayer and healing was published in 1988 by cardiologist Dr. Randolph Byrd. A computer assigned 393 patients at the coronary-care unit of San Francisco General Hospital either to a group that was prayed for by prayer groups or to a group that was not remembered in prayer. No one knew which group the patients were in. The prayer groups were simply given the patients’ first names, along with brief descriptions of their medical problems. They were asked to pray each day until the patient was discharged from the hospital – but were given no instructions on how to do it or what to say.

When the study was completed ten months later, the prayed-for patients benefited in several significant areas:

• They were five times LESS likely than the unremembered group to require antibiotics.

• They were 2 times less likely to suffer congestive heart failure.

• They were less likely to suffer cardiac arrest.

If the medical technique being studied had been a new drug or surgical procedure instead of prayer, it would probably have been heralded as a breakthrough. Even hard-boiled skeptics like Dr. William Nolen, who had written a book questioning the validity of faith healing, acknowledged, “If this is a valid study, we doctors ought to be writing on our order sheets, ‘Pray three times a day.’ If it works, it works.” (below not used) But prayer seems to be a blind spot for most scientists. Conclusions by Dossey:

• Prayer can take many forms.

• Love increases the power of prayer.

• Prayers never sleep.

• Prayer is healthful.

• Prayer can be open-ended.

• Prayer means you are not alone.

A patient of Dossey’s was dying. The day before his death, Dossey sat at his bedside with the man’s wife and children. The man knew he had little time left, and he chose his words carefully, speaking in a hoarse whisper. Although he was not a religious person, he revealed to them that recently he had begun to pray.

“What do you pray FOR?” asked Dossey.

“It isn’t ‘for’ anything,” he said thoughtfully. “It simply reminds me that I am not alone.”

Prayer is like that. It is a reminder of our unbounded nature, of the part of us that is infinite in space and time. It is the universe’s affirmation that we are not alone.

[see also #761]

One Christmas Eve the telephone rang in the office of the pastor of the church in Washington, D.C., that President Franklin Roosevelt attended. “Tell me, Reverend,” the voice inquired, “are you holding a Christmas Eve service tonight?” When advised that there would certainly be a service that evening, the caller asked, “And do you expect President Roosevelt to attend your church tonight?”

“That,” explained the pastor patiently, “I can't promise. I'm not sure about the President's plans for this evening. But I can say that we fully expect God to be in our church tonight, and we feel secure in the knowledge that His attendance will attract a reasonably large congregation.”

An elderly gentleman was out walking with his young grandson. “How far are we from home?” he asked the grandson. The boy answered, “Grandpa, I don’t know.” The grandfather asked, “Well, where are you?” Again the boy answered, “I don’t know.” Then the grandfather said good-naturedly, “Sounds to me as if you are lost.” The young boy looked up at his grandfather and said, “Nope, I can’t be lost. I’m with you.” Ultimately, that is the answer to our lostness, too. We can’t be lost if He is with us.

It was early morning, Iraqi time. Crouched in a modified tank, NBC News correspondent David Bloom picked up his phone and played back his messages. One was from Jim Lane, a New York financier and Wilberforce Forum advisory board member. The two were sharing a daily, long-distance devotional time using Oswald Chambers's classic, MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST. Lane read the message for April 5, based on Matthew 25: “Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being can now get through into the very presence of God.”

Moments later, Bloom climbed out of the tank, took a few steps, and collapsed. Soon after, he was ushered into the presence of God.

David's death from a pulmonary embolism devastated his family, friends, colleagues, and millions of TV viewers. At age thirty-nine, David was a rising star at NBC. Viewers looked forward to watching Bloom file his reports while bouncing across the desert on his “Bloom-mobile,” his face streaked with dirt, his hair snapping in the wind. He loved his job, and everyone knew it.

But what most viewers did not know was that David was a committed Christian. David had grown up in a Methodist home. And while he had a strong understanding of the Gospel growing up, it wasn't until two years ago, according to Lane, that Bloom “effectively came to a saving knowledge of Jesus and started a real faith journey.”

Bloom joined the New Canaan Society, a weekly men's fellowship group founded by Lane and my former colleague Eric Metaxas. I met Bloom several times as a guest of that fellowship, and we became friends. I was struck by the sincerity of his Christian faith. He was hungry for knowledge of God and how his faith ought to play out in his life.

On the day he died, Lane says, “David was in a very good place, at peace with himself, his faith, and his family.” That peace was reflected in the last message he would ever send to his wife, Melanie -- one that reveals that, in the middle of a desert battlefield, his own mortality was very much on his mind. Bloom wrote: “When the moment comes in my life when you are talking about my last day, I am determined that you and others will say, 'He was devoted to his wife and children; he was admired; he gave every ounce of his being for those whom he cared most about -- not himself, but God and his family.'“

Yesterday Lane spoke at a memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Speaking before America's most powerful media figures, Lane told a simple story about a man who loved and served Jesus Christ. It was a side of their colleague that many of them had never really known -- a side scarcely mentioned in the voluminous media coverage of his death.

At the end of his April 5 devotional reading, Oswald Chambers writes: “The cross of Christ was a ... sign that our Lord had triumphed ... to save the human race.” I thank God for that triumph in the short life of this ebullient, gifted man, and I pray that his posthumous witness will inspire others to seek out the God he served.

C. S. Lewis once said that Christians never have to say good-bye. So, to my dear brother David, I say simply, au revoir.

FURTHER READING & INFORMATION

“Remembering David Bloom,” MSNBC, 6 April 2003. http://www.msnbc.com/news/896439.asp

“David Bloom, 39, of New York,” MSNBC, 9 April 2003. http://www.msnbc.com/news/896984.asp

Jonathan Alter, “Consummate Pro with a Human Touch,” NEWSWEEK, 6 April 2003. http://www.msnbc.com/news/896739.asp

“NBC Correspondent David Bloom Dies in Iraq,” WASHINGTON POST, 6 April 2003. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41184-2003Apr6.html

NOTE: Referral to websites not produced by Prison Fellowship Ministries, the Wilberforce Forum, and BreakPoint is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.

____________

Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #14959]

Recovery is a spiritual journey. Unfortunately, we are often poorly prepared for the twists and turns this spiritual journey will take. We are rarely prepared for the possibility that we will experience spiritual distress as part of the recovery process.

The struggle to face past pain or to address issues of addiction and codependency leads to an honest examination of all of life. We ask difficult and searching questions about God and about our faith. The spiritual distress that comes from this struggle can be confusing and frightening.

For many of us, our first reaction to times of spiritual distress is to assume that we are spiritual failures. Our faith is defective, we think. Good Christians aren't supposed to get angry at God. We have many ways of shaming ourselves for our spiritual distress.

But spiritual distress is not an indication of spiritual failure. Spiritual distress is more likely to be a sign that God is growing in us a new capacity for relationship with him. Times of distress are often the first steps toward spiritual healing and growth. They are often times when we realize acutely our desire to know and be known by God. When we protest God's absence, we are expressing our deep longing for closeness with God. When God seems silent, we learn again how much we need to hear his voice. When God seems distant, we realize afresh our strong desire to experience his presence. As a result of spiritual distress, our hearts may become better prepared to hear and receive from God. It is often in the furnace of spiritual distress that purity of heart is formed.

Times of spiritual distress are often an indication that healing is taking place deep within us. It should not surprise us that during recovery we uncover some major struggles in our relationship with God. We may be angry with God. We may doubt God. We may question God. We may long for God. All of this is emotionally painful, but it is the real stuff of real relationships. If we hide ourselves from these thoughts and feelings when they surface, we may be running away from some of the most important healing that we can experience - the healing of our relationship with God.

May God grant you courage in times of spiritual distress. May your spirit flourish as you heal in your relationship with God.

LEAVING GOD

A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Job 6:14

At some point during the recovery process we re-examine our most fundamental beliefs. A long process of sorting, examining and questioning takes place. And, in that process, our relationship with God is challenged. It is possible that our relationship with God will deepen and strengthen in the process. But it is also possible that we will find ourselves pulling away from God. We may find ourselves angry with God, or afraid of God, or unable to believe in God at all. This can be a frightening experience. It can feel like the very foundations of life are being shaken.

In times like this, we need many things. But at the top of the list is our need for friends who will accept us even if we turn away from God. We need friends who will not minimize our struggle or discount our feelings. We need people who will not be shocked when we are full of rage at God. We need friends who are able to hear the deep pain behind our words and who know that this, too, is part of our healing. We need people who can see beyond the immediate pain to the healing that can come.

Even when we forsake the fear of God, we need friends who understand, who are committed to us for the long haul, and who plead with God on our behalf.

Sometimes I feel agnostic, Lord,

I just don't know anymore.

Sometimes I want nothing to do with you.

Where were you when I needed you the most?

Sometimes I despair, Lord.

Sometimes I can't seem to hope.

I need friends who will not abandon me, Lord.

I need friends who will be patient and grace-full with

my anger and fear.

I need friends who will stay with me as we wait for you to

show yourself once again.

I need friends, Lord, who will give me courage to hope

again in you.

Send help, Lord.

Amen.

QUESTIONING OURSELVES

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? Psalm 13:1-2

Sometimes our spiritual distress is centered on questions about God. Where is God? Why doesn't God help? At other times our spiritual distress is centered on questions about ourselves. What is wrong with me? How come I'm still struggling this much?

Doubts about ourselves can be profoundly troubling. We wonder if our faith will survive the struggle. We wonder if our faith is strong enough. Often we feel like spiritual failures. The kind of spirituality we have been taught does not envision 'good' Christians as people who wrestle with their thoughts and are sad everyday. We think of 'good' Christians as people who trust God and manage to smile in the midst of any circumstances. When we can't manage to do this, we question and criticize ourselves.

But wrestling with our thoughts and experiencing sorrow day after day is often a part of the recovery process. It is not a sign of failure to engage in this hard work. It is a sign of courage. And it is a sign that our faith is alive and struggling. People of real faith struggle in life. People of real faith are people who wrestle with thoughts and who feel sorrow in their heart.

Lord, I get so tired of thought-wrestling.

And I am so weary of heart-sorrow.

How long, Lord?

How long does this wrestling and sorrow go on?

Help me, Lord, not to experience this struggle as spiritual failure.

Help me to see this hard work as drawing me closer to you.

Remind me today that you are with me in all of this.

Remind me today that you understand.

Amen.

QUESTIONING GOD

How long, O Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Habakkuk 1:2-3,13

Where were you God? Where were you when I needed you? Didn't you see the violence? The abuse? The injustice? Didn't you care? There are times in recovery when we are full of questions about God. The pain of past trauma can be intensified when we begin to struggle with these hard questions about God.

It is important to acknowledge that these questions about God are not academic questions. No theoretical explanation of the problem of pain will soothe our raging, confused hearts. These are urgent, personal questions about God and about his involvement in our lives. We want to know that he sees and cares and intervenes in our lives. We need him. We need his love. We need his help.

It is an important source of encouragement to know that we are not the first to ask these hard questions. There is clear biblical precedent for asking difficult questions about God. People of faith have always struggled with questions like these. We can take comfort and courage from knowing that the psalmist asked urgent questions similar to our own.

God, I am afraid.

I don't understand.

Violence and abuse happen and you do not stop it.

You seem absent.

You seem uncaring.

I need to know that you see and care.

I am calling to you for help, God.

Please hear me.

Please respond.

Amen.

LONGING FOR GOD

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1

When a young child is separated from her parents, she will protest their absence. She will experience sadness, anxiety, anger and a longing for her parents to return. These intense emotions are not a sign of her failure as a child. Her protest is a clear sign of how important her parents are to her, of how much she misses them, of how much she loves them. At certain developmental stages, it is a sign of emotional health for a child to protest separation. At certain ages a healthy child will protest, will be angry, will be afraid, and will long for the parents return.

If one or both of our parents was in some way absent from our lives during our formative years, it will be easy for us to imagine that God will leave us as well. We may experience silence and distance. And we may find ourselves longing for him.

Just as it is good for a child to protest the absence of a parent, it is good for us to protest when we subjectively experience God's absence. It is good to give voice to our longing for God. It is good to write or pray or talk about our deep need for God's presence and love. We can call out to him. We can protest his absence.

O God, do not be silent.

Do not be distant.

I miss you when you seem so far away.

I long for you to be close.

I long to know that you care about me.

I long for you, God.

Nothing can replace you.

No one can be God but you.

Do not be silent.

Do not be distant.

Come. Speak.

I need you. Amen.

NEEDING REASSURANCE FROM GOD

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Isaiah 40:15-16

We may experience abandonment from a spouse who turns away form us to their addiction of choice. We may experience feeling like we have been rejected by friends. We may struggle with memories of parents who were not compassionate with us. Or memories of parents who 'forgot' us in one way or another.

And so we say to God: "you will abandoned and reject and forget me like all the others!"

Sometimes these experiences are so familiar that we expect them from anyone we want to be close to, including God. It is a terrible fear to live with. It creates deep distress.

God responds to our distress with words of reassurance. We are not always able to take in reassurance that is offered to us. But there are times when it can feel like a drink of cool water to our parched throats.

God says "I am not like all the rest. I will not forget you. Even if your parents forgot you, or your spouse turns away, or your friends leave, I will not forget you. I have tattooed you on the palms of my hand".

I will not forget you.

It may not be easy for us to comprehend, but it is very clear. God says; "I will not forget you."

I need reassurance, Lord.

I want to believe

that you will remember.

But I have been forgotten before.

I know you are not like that.

I know it in my head.

But my heart forgets so easily.

Reassure me, today, Lord

of your unfailing love.

ACKNOWLEDGING GOD

Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. Hosea 6:3

There are days when we feel God's presence. We sense his love. We see his power. But we do not always feel or sense or see. There are times of silence, distance and uncertainty. There are the difficult times of waiting for God to appear. In times like this we may find ourselves both longing for God and fearing that he will come.

The longing comes because in our heart of hearts we know that there is no recovery without his gracious presence. If God does not appear, we are stuck, bound, hopelessly entangled in dysfunction. If God does appear, it will be like the sun rising - we will be able to see the way. It will be like gentle rains which nurture us so that we can grow and thrive.

The fear comes because often we do not see God as one who comes as 'sun' and 'rain' to give life. We are afraid that when God does appear, it will be to punish us, to demand restitution from us, to shame us. Because we have served vengeful and vindictive gods, we fear that it will be the god-of-impossible-expectations who will finally appear.

We do well to follow the urging of this text to 'acknowledge God'. We need daily to examine whom we serve. When we acknowledge the god-of -impossible-expectations, then we will surely fear his appearing. But if we acknowledge the God of the Bible whose coming is to nurture and give life, then we will await his coming like the dawn of a new day.

I acknowledge you, Lord.

You are not the god of impossible-expectations.

You are not the god-who-is-eager-to-punish.

I know what it is like when these other gods come, Lord.

They bring shame, blame and fear.

I do not acknowledge them, Lord.

I acknowledge you.

Come as the dawn of a new day, Lord.

Bring light into my dark days.

Come as gentle rain, Lord,

Cleanse, renew and nurture.

Come, Lord, as the dawn.

Come as the rains.

Water the parched earth of my soul.

Amen.

Copyright 1991 Dale and Juanita Ryan

Jedné noci jsem mìl zvláštní sen. Šel jsem s Bohem, svým Pánem, po písèitém pobøeží. Pøed oèima mi probíhal film mého života. Byl doprovázen šlépìjemi v písku. Nìkde byly stopy dvou lidí, jinde pouze jedny. To mì udivilo. V tom období života, když jsem nejvíce trpìl starostmi, pocitem selhání nebo strachem – vždy se objevovaly stopy jen jednoho páru nohou. Obrátil jsem se vyèítavì na Boha s otázkou: „Pane, Ty jsi mi slíbil, že vždy pùjdeš se mnou. Já mám jen dùvìøovat. Ale teï vidím, že v dobì mých nejtìžších zkoušek jsem šel sám. Proè jsi tehdy nebyl se mnou, jsem Tì nejvíce potøeboval?“ Na to mi Bùh odpovìdìl: „Právì tam, kde vidíš v písku jen jedny jediné šlépìje, tam jsem tì nesl na svých ramenou.“.

Psalms 68:20 Požehnán buï Panovník, den ze dne za nás nosí bøímì. Bùh je naše spása.

21 Bùh je Bohem, jenž nás zachraòuje. Je to on, Panovník Hospodin, kdo vyvádí z tenat smrti.

I have two brothers with diabetes, so when I came down with some of the same symptoms, my first thought was to have the doctor check me out. "Your blood sugar is fine," she said. "You do not have diabetes." Reading the fine print on some medical publications, however, I discovered the symptoms I've been experiencing are actually the side effects of the medicine my doctor has me taking. Everything is fine.

Charlsie wakes up in the middle of the night anxious. A nameless, faceless fear invades her bedroom threatening to rob her of her peace. She wonders, "If I'm a Christian and the Lord is with me, why do I have this fear? What's wrong with me?" As her pastor, I assure Charlsie that she's just fine, and that there could be a hundred reasons for such anxieties, and that she would do well to shrug it off and go back to sleep.

"I don't feel saved," Robert says. I say, "How does 'saved' feel?" "Aw, preacher, you know what I mean," he says. "No, I don't. Tell me," I say. Robert describes how distant God often feels to him. That's when I tell him the story of Rachel. Rachel is a preschooler, I suppose, and lives with her mom and dad. Her father is a pastor and recognizes a great spiritual lesson when he sees one, so he passed this one on to us.

Recently, Rachel has been awakening in the middle of the night, afraid and crying. Only crawling into bed with her mom and dad soothes her fears. Then, her mom announced to the family that she would be out of town for a few days on a business trip. Her dad could see he needed to take pre-emptive action. "Rachel," he said, "I have an idea. While Mom is away, suppose I sleep in your room on the top bunk bed." She thought it was a great idea.

That night, Rachel went to sleep on time. A couple of hours later, when her dad crawled into the upper berth, she was sleeping soundly, and she slept like that all night. The next morning, her dad congratulated her on a full night's sleep.

"It's because you were in the room with me," she said. "But how did you know I was there?" he asked. "You were asleep when I came in and you never woke up the whole night."

Rachel said, "Because you said you would be there."

Of all the promises our Lord has given us, nothing means as much as his promise to be with us. Nothing banishes fears or inspires courage so instantly as the knowledge that the Lord is by our side.

In the Old Testament days, whenever God called someone to serve him, they began putting up excuses: I'm too old, too young, can't speak, that sort of thing. Invariably, God's response was the same each time: "I will be with you." God thought the fact that he was near should take care of all fears of the enemy and doubts about ourselves. David said, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

In the New Testament, we see a change of tone. Instead of the Lord specifically promising each individual he calls that he will be with us, he gives to all disciples a blanket promise: "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." Mark 3 tells us Jesus chose 12 apostles "to be with him." And maybe best of all is Hebrews 13:5-6: "'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,' so that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my Helper and I will not be afraid.'"

We may have to learn what Rachel already knows: to take the Father at his word. You will not often feel him near for the simple reason that God's Spirit is not detectable by the human senses, no more than our eyes can see him or our hands can touch him. Believe that he is here, and go forward accordingly.

When the apostle Paul was facing a second trial before Caesar, he knew it could be the end of the line. Yet, as he reminisces in 2 Timothy 4, he went forward with confidence. The first time he appeared before Caesar, all the other disciples had abandoned him and he went alone. "Nevertheless, the Lord stood with me," Paul said, "and strengthened me." Why? "So that through me the gentiles might hear the gospel." Think of the congregation Paul had that day -- all the dignitaries of Rome, from Nero on down.

It reminds us of the promise of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 10, preparing the disciples for the time when they would be tried in courts and beaten in synagogues, brought before kings and governors "as a testimony to them and to the gentiles." When that happens, Jesus said, "Do not worry about what you are to say. The Holy Spirit will give you what you are to say." He would be there and he would be on duty.

So, did Paul feel the Lord's presence that day? We're not told. I guarantee he felt a lot of things -- like hostility from the bleachers where the Roman officials sat in judgment and hatred and ugliness from the crowd. Did he feel the Lord's nearness? There are two answers: 1) We do not know and 2) This is not about feelings. It's about the Lord keeping his promises and our believing him.

Try this. The next time you feel estranged from the Lord, give him thanks that he is near. Ask him to remove any sin that separates you from him (Isaiah 59:2 comes to mind) and reaffirm your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, go to this little three-word prayer: "Thank you, Jesus." Say it over and over: "Thank you, Jesus." I promise you the last thing on earth the evil one wants is you praising the Lord. Let anxiety and worry jump-start your thanks to the Lord Jesus. Watch how an indescribable peace settles in.

Fear, always remember, is "False Evidence Appearing Real." Faith? "Forsaking All, I Take Him."

_________________

McKeever is pastor of First Baptist Church, Kenner, Louisiana.

Larry King was once asked whom he would interview if he could choose any person across time. He quickly responded, “Jesus Christ” and noted that he would ask if Jesus was indeed virgin born. “For to me,” explained King, “that would order all of history.” Likewise, renowned agnostic philosopher Bertrand Russell was once asked what he would say if he found himself standing in front of God. Russell immediately answered that he would assert, “You did not give us enough evidence.”

Truly, many of us have entertained similar scenarios. What would I say to God if I stood face to face with Him? For many, that image brings to mind an emotionally charged encounter, a chance to voice confusion, disappointment, or anger with premeditated words. For others it is a moment worth envisioning, even if they imagine it to be a moment far beyond words. Still for others, it is above all, a moment that just seems far away.

Now consider another scenario illustrated by a day in the life of G.K. Chesterton. Standing on a London street corner, Chesterton was once approached by a newspaper reporter who inquired, “Sir, I understand that you recently became a Christian. May I ask you one question?” “Certainly,” replied Chesterton. “If the risen Christ suddenly appeared at this very moment and stood behind you, what would you do?” Chesterton looked the reporter squarely in the eye and said, “He is.”

I would love to have seen the look on the reporters face at that reply — maybe he thought it to be a non-answer, maybe he looked behind him. In any case, the Christian teaching of Divine Presence is peculiar — largely rejected, neglected, or distorted into something it isn't. Naïve and sentimental forms of pantheism grow increasing popular, but in seeing all things divine, divinity itself is expelled from the world entirely. The omnipresence of God is quite the contrary. It means, as Chesterton noted, that God in His incorruptible glory is right here, right now, a Presence we can ignore but not evade. It means that at no other point in time or place can God be nearer to you than He is now. King David once asked of God, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Which means, that the moment of “reckoning” need not be something we perceive to be far away. The moment of standing before God with our questions, disappointments, pains and joys is right now, closer than we realize. The question then becomes, do you really want to see God? For those who have recognized this longing, Christ himself has much to say.

In his celebrated Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) And while the phrase “pure in heart” means as Soren Kierkegaard stated, “To will one thing,” that is, to wholly and sincerely pursue God alone, it also means more. The Greek word for “pure” depicts a clearing of muddied waters, a ridding of all that pollutes. To be pure in heart is to be free from guilt and sin, to be free from what is false. It is to approach God, as C.S. Lewis says, with the prayer which precedes all prayers: “May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou I speak to.” [1]

Dear friend, God is near! In seeking and in seeing His face more fully, may we proclaim with all the wonder and fear of Jacob, “Surely God was in this place and I knew it not.” (Genesis 28:16-17)

____________

1. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1964), 82.

____________

Copyright © 2003 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

In 1952 philosopher Mortimer Adler coedited a fifty-five volume series for Encyclopedia Britannica titled “The Great Books of the Western World.” Overseeing a staff of 90, the editors created a diverse index of topics containing selections from many of the finest thinkers in the history of Western Civilization. Upon completion, Adler was asked why the work included more pages under the subject of God than any other topic. He replied matter-of-factly, “Because more consequences for life and action follow from the affirmation or denial of God than from any other basic question.”

What we do with the subject of God is a far-reaching choice, defining life, informing death, shaping everything. The man who lives as though there is no God lives quite differently than the man who lives confidently that there is a God. It is a subject of consequence because it reaches everything and everyone; whether mindfully or indifferently a decision is made.

Through avenues of every emotion known to humankind, the Psalms call us to discover that God not only exists, but that He is present and can be found. In victory and defeat, illness and poverty, health and prosperity, the psalmist maintains that it is God who gives all of life with meaning, that He alone answers the deepest and darkest questions of life.

Calling to the multitudes, crossing lines of status and race, the psalmist pleads for reason regarding a subject that concerns all. Like Adler, the psalmist makes it clear that he is communicating topics of consequence. “Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world... I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle” (49:1,4). The riddle he brings to the attention of all who will hear is a riddle forever before humanity. It is a riddle to which all must diligently attend but many wholeheartedly ignore. Fittingly, the Hebrew word for “riddle” has also been translated “dark saying” or “difficult question.”

Writes the psalmist, “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him — the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough — that he should live on forever and not see decay. For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others” (49:10).

We go about life as if we know what we are doing, but what is the purpose of it all? Some accumulate wealth, others remain in poverty, some live well and others live wickedly, but all are destined for the grave. The one who claims there is no God in life, so claims emptiness in death. But then is life also empty? Again we return to the riddle of the psalmist: What, then, is the point of it all?

Solving the riddles of life and death, like religion and politics at a social gathering, mean, for many, changing the subject. As Woody Allen once quipped, “It's not that I am afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens.” But that our lives are fleeting awakens a sense of urgency, a sense of inquiry. That life is fleeting, though inarguably full of meaning, is a hint that there is more, a humbling reminder that we live our days in the sight of the Ancient of Days.

Even so, for the Christian death remains something of a mystery. For we know that death is the result of sin, that it is the work of Satan, and the last great door through which we must walk. Yet we know also that the one who loses his life will save it, that through death God has declared over our ransom, “It is finished,” and that it is by becoming like Christ in his death that life is at work in us. Writes C.S. Lewis, “Of all men, we hope most of death; yet nothing will reconcile us to... its 'unnaturalness.’ We know that we were not made for it; we know how it crept into our destiny as an intruder; and we know Who has defeated it.” In the riddle of life and death the psalmist expounds this certainty: “But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself” (49:15).

As the Psalm instructs, the ransom for a life is costly. Neither wealth nor wisdom can save. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. He was delivered over to death for our sins; he was raised to life for our justification. For those who love him, neither death nor life can separate us from the love that paid our ransom. Let us therefore walk determinedly in his forgiveness, trusting Christ even to the point of death, knowing that he has promised the crown of life. There is no decision more far-reaching.

__________

Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

Because of my strong connection to Native Americans, I was especially interested in a story author Leonard Sweet told in a book of his. It's about a rite of passage that one tribe had for its boys when they turned 13. On that birthday a warrior blindfolded the boy and took him several miles from camp. The warrior then took off the blindfold and left this young teenager in this dark, dense forest. Now the young man was expected to stay there for the night and fend for himself. When it got dark, it got really dark. The trees were so dense he couldn't see the moon or the stars. Oh, but he could sure hear: those eerie sounds of the wind, the howls of the wild animals nearby, the rustling of the leaves that sounded like an approaching enemy. For most boys it was a night without sleep. And then the dawn began to break, and the young man could then see the forest as it really was - the flowers blooming, the majestic trees swaying in the wind, the wildlife scurrying around for food - and then the biggest surprise of all: the boy would see an imposing male figure standing in the woods only a few yards away. He'd be startled at first until he recognized the man. Unbeknownst to this frightened young warrior, his father had been there the whole time, ready to protect his son against anything that might harm him.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Unseen, Unbeatable Security.”

A father who's there, even if you're unaware of his presence and his protection. A father who can defend you against anything that comes against you. That's security, and in an increasingly dangerous and unpredictable world, security's hard to come by. With all the unsettling possibilities on the road ahead of you - medically, financially, relationally, even the end of your life whenever it comes. A strong protector who will never leave you is something worth hoping for, worth searching for.

Well, there is such a Father. He created you. And His heart's desire is for you to have an intimate love-relationship with Him - a love you can never lose. Listen to His promise to those who belong to Him in Isaiah 43:1-3. “...this is what the Lord says ... 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned ... For I am the Lord, your God...'“ Now if the Lord is your God, you have that iron-clad security from here through every dark and lonely stretch of your life, and all the way to eternity.

But without an act of God, we can't belong to Him. In the words of Ephesians 2:12, we are without God and without hope in this world. We're without God because we've basically turned our back on Him so we could do with our life what we wanted to do. Which means we're infected with sin, which God can't touch and heaven can't allow. But because of His great love for you, God launched a resuce mission on your behalf. He sent his son Jesus to, as the Bible says, carry “our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus was cut off from God so you would never have to be. And now He makes that awesome promise to anyone who will put their total trust in Him to rescue them from their sin: “Never will I leave you,” he said, “never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Isn't it time you surrendered the controls of your life and turned them over to the One who should have been in charge of them all along? Aren't you ready for some unloseable security, the kind only a heavenly father could give to you - one who gave His son for you. Then tell him that. “God I've lived long enough without you in my heart. I'm putting all my trust in what Jesus did for me on the cross and I'm giving me to you

No more fear of abandonment. No more fear of the unknown. No matter how dark, no matter how lonely, you will have a Father watching over you who has promised He will never leave you. For all the days of your life, for all eternity, you'll be safe.

________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

Frank Laubach wrote of how, in his personal experiment of moment-by-moment submission to the will of God, the fine texture of his work and life experience was transformed. In January of 1930 he began to cultivate the habit of turning his mind to Christ for one second out of every minute.

After only four weeks he reported, “I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before. I need something, and turn round to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be sure, but there is God working along with me.”

From a lonely missionary post in the Philippines, God raised Frank Laubach to the status of Christian world statesman and spokesman for Christ. He founded the World Literacy Crusade, still in operation today, and without any political appointment he was influential on United States foreign policy in the post-World War II years. But he was forever and foremost Christ's man, and always knew that his brilliant ideas and incredible energy and effectiveness conscious interface with God.

=====================

From http://www.mrrena.com/lau.shtml by Eric Knickerbocker

FRANK LAUBACH (1884–1970)

In 1915 Frank Laubach went with his wife to the Philippine Islands as a missionary. After founding churches on the island of Mindanao, he established and became dean of Union College in Manila. In 1930 he returned to Mindanao to work with the Mohammedan Moros who regarded the Christian Filipinos as their enemies. Laubach, however, went with a heart filled with the presence of God and sought only to live among them, not trying to coerce them into Christianity, but living each moment with a sense of God’s presence.

It is estimated that through his educational efforts he was responsible for teaching one-half of the ninety thousand people in that area to read and write. More than that, he has brought thousands of people to a richer experience of God. The following reading comes from the letters he wrote during his Mindanao days.

Excerpts from LETTERS BY A MODERN MYSTIC:

1. OPEN WINDOWS

January 3, 1930

To be able to look backward and say, “This, THIS has been the finest year of any life” — that is glorious! But anticipation! To be able to look ahead and say, “The present year can and will be better!” — that is more glorious! I have done nothing but open windows — God has done the rest. There has been a succession of marvelous experiences of the friendship of God. I resolved that I would succeed better this year with my experiment of filling every minute full of the thought of God than I succeeded last year. And I added another resolve — to be as wide open toward people and their need as I am toward God. Windows open outward as well as upward. Windows open ESPECIALLY downward where people need the most!

2. SUBMISSION: THE FIRST AND LAST DUTY

January 20, 1930

Submission is the first and last duty of man. That is exactly what I have been needing in my Christian life. Two years ago a profound dissatisfaction led me to begin trying to line up my actions with the will of God about every fifteen minutes or every half hour. Other people to whom I confessed this intention said it was impossible. I judge from what I have said that few people are trying even that. But this year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, “What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?”

3. FEELING GOD IN EACH MOVEMENT

January 26, 1930

For the past few days I have been experimenting in a more complete surrender than ever before. I am taking by deliberate act of will, enough time from each hour to give God much thought. Yesterday and today I have made a new adventure, which is not easy to express. I am feeling God in each movement, by an act of will — willing that He shall direct these fingers that now strike this typewriter — willing that He shall pour through my steps as I walk — willing that He shall direct my words as I speak, and my very jaws as I eat!

You will object to this intense introspection. Do not try it, unless you feel unsatisfied with your own relationship with God, but at least allow me to realize all the leadership of God I can. I am disgusted with the pettiness and futility of my unled self. If the way out is not more perfect slavery to God, then what is the way out? I am trying to be utterly free from everybody, free from my own self, but completely enslaved to the will of God every moment of this day.

4. MOMENT BY MOMENT

We used to sing a song in the church in Benton which I liked, but which I never really practiced until now. It runs:

Moment by moment, I’m kept in His love;

Moment by moment I’ve life from above;

Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;

Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

It is exactly that “moment by moment,” every waking moment, surrender, responsiveness, obedience, sensitiveness, pliability, “lost in His love,” that I now have the mind-bent to explore with all my might. It means two burning passions: First, to be like Jesus. Second, to respond to God as a violin responds to the bow of the master. Open your soul and entertain the glory of God and after a while that glory will be reflected in the world about you and in the very clouds above your head.

5. ONLY ONE THING NOW

January 29, 1930

I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in the little things is what astonishes me. I seem to have to make sure of only one thing now, and every other thing “takes care of itself,” or I prefer to say what is more true, God takes care of all the rest. My part is to LIVE IN THIS HOUR IN CONTINUOUS INNER CONVERSATION WITH GOD AND IN PERFECT RESPONSIVENESS TO HIS WILL. TO MAKE THIS HOUR GLORIOUSLY RICH. This seems to be all I need to think about.

6. UNDISCOVERED CONTINENTS OF SPIRITUAL LIVING

March 1, 1930

The sense of being led by an unseen hand which takes mine while another hand reaches ahead and prepares the way, grows upon me daily. I do not need to strain at all to find opportunity. Perhaps a man who has been an ordained minister since 1914 ought to be ashamed to confess that he never felt the joy of hourly, minute by minute — now what shall I call it? — more than surrender.

It is a will act. I compel my mind to open out toward God. I wait and listen with determined sensitiveness. I fix my attention there, and sometimes it requires a long time early in the morning to attain that mental state. I determine not to get out of bed until that mind set, that concentration upon God, is settled. It also requires determination to keep it there. After a while, perhaps, it will become a habit, and the sense of effort will grow less. But why do I harp on this inner experience? Because I feel convinced that for me and for you who read there lie ahead undiscovered continents of spiritual living compared with which we are infants in arms.

But how “practical” is this for the average man? It seems now to me that yonder plowman could be like Calixto Sanidad, when he was a lonesome and mistreated plowboy, “with my eyes on the furrow, and my hands on the lines, but my thoughts on God.” The millions at looms and lathes could make the hours glorious. Some hour spent by some night watchman might be the most glorious ever lived on earth.

7. HOW INFINITELY RICHER

March 15, 1930

Every waking moment of the week I have been looking toward Him, with perhaps the exception of an hour or two. How infinitely richer this direct first hand grasping of God Himself is, than the old method which I used and recommended for years, the endless reading of devotional books. Almost it seems to me now that the very Bible cannot be read as a substitute for meeting God soul to soul and face to face.

8. CAN IT BE DONE?

March 23, 1930

We can keep two things in mind at once. Indeed we cannot keep one thing in mind more than half a second. Mind is a flowing something. It oscillates. Concentration is merely the continuous return to the same problem from a million angles. So my problem is this: Can I bring God back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind as an after image, shall always be one of the elements in every concept and precept? I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question.

I do not invite anybody else to follow this arduous path. I wish many might. We need to know, for example, Can a laboring man successfully attain this continuous surrender to God? Can a man working at a machine pray for people all day long, and at the same time do His task efficiently? Can a mother wash dishes, care for the babies, continuously talking to God?

If you are like myself, this has been a pretty strong diet. So I will put something simpler and more attainable: “Any hour of any day may be made perfect by merely choosing. It is perfect if one looks to God that entire hour, waiting for His leadership all through the hour and trying hard to do every tiny thing exactly as God wishes it done.”

9. DIFFICULTY AND FAILURE

April 19, 1930

If this record of a soul [SIC] struggle to find God is to be complete it must not omit the story of difficulty and failure. I have not succeeded very well so far. This week, for example, has not been one of the finest in my life, but I resolve not to give up the effort. Yet strain does not seem to do good. At this moment I feel something “let go” inside, and lo, God is here! It is a heart melting “here-ness,” a lovely whispering of father to child, and the reason I did not have it before was because I failed to let go.

10. LETTING GOD CONTROL

April 22, 1930

This morning I started out fresh, by finding a rich experience of God in the sunrise. Then I tried to let Him control my hands while I was shaving and dressing and eating breakfast. Now I am trying to let God control my hands as I pound the typewriter keys. There is nothing that we can do excepting to throw ourselves open to God. There is, there must be, so much more in Him than He can give us. It ought to be tremendously helpful to be able to acquire the habit of reaching out strongly after God’s thoughts, and to ask, “God, what have you to put into my mind now if only I can be large enough?” That waiting, eager attitude ought to give God the chance He needs.

Oh, this thing of keeping in constant touch with God, making Him the object of my thought and the companion of my conversations, is the most amazing thing I ever ran across. IT IS WORKING. I cannot do it even half a day — not yet, but I believe I shall be doing it some day for the entire day. It is a matter of acquiring a new habit of thought. Now I LIKE God’s presence so much that when for a half hour or so He slips out of mind — as He does many times a day, I feel as though I had deserted Him, and as though I had lost something very precious in my life.

*

Through years of defending the Gospel of Jesus Christ across the world, at times in hostile environments, Ravi Zacharias has drawn much comfort from an essay written by English writer F.W. Boreham. The essay is titled “The Candle and the Bird,” and in it, Boreham proposes that God’s presence is more like a bird than it is a candle. When a candle is extinguished, the light goes out. But when a bird is driven away, it only leaves to sing its song on another branch. With this metaphor in mind, Boreham traces the mighty moving of God throughout history and leaves his readers with the sacred reminder that God is near to those who call on Him.

Today, China is one of the many places where we can hear the stirring song of God at work within a nation crying out to Him. After fifty years of repression and suffering, the Chinese church is thriving. In an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY, international director of Asia Outreach, David Wang, called “growth” too tame a word. When asked what the greatest challenge is for the church in China today, another pastor replied with a smile beaming across his face, “Too many believers.”(1)

What is it about the rumors of God’s glory steadily humming throughout land and time that stirs and comforts the soul? As the name of Christ is vehemently silenced in various settings, the sounds of God at work remind us that we have a reason to sing even in the darkness. THE LIGHT IS NOT OVERCOME. The Spirit of God can be driven away but He will not be rendered ineffective.

Thus, we find God moving amidst the persecuted church of China, among hearts and nations throughout history; we see his hand in unlikely places and the message being preached to the ends of the earth. We see that God has a plan weaving throughout nations and individuals, history and the present. We hear whispering of a purpose and a hope that embraces not only the possibilities of the present but also the sufferings of the past and the expectations of the future. We see astounding evidence for the Christian hope in the whole story; a story, in the words of the psalmist, reviving the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the eyes, enduring forever (Psalm 19).

In a world where most people live as if they have to achieve the final fulfillment and satisfaction of their human lives before they die, the Christian message sounds as bold today as it did to those who first heard it. Yet all around us is the murmuring that there is something different about this good teacher; He speaks as one with authority. And his influence echoes a promise that has not been forsaken: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Since the beginning of time, the beautiful sounds of God at work can be heard unto the ends of the earth. May his song also rise from our lives until it is the cry the prophet heralds: Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: HALLELUJAH! FOR OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY REIGNS. The kingdom of God is near.

________

1. David Neff, “Chinese Puzzle,” Christianity Today (7 March 2003), www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/003/21.9.html.

________

Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

The question was recently posed to me, “Can one really feel God’s presence?” The person asking had had experiences in which he believed that he HAD felt the presence of God. But what troubled him was the recognition that people from other faiths, or no faith at all, could have similar subjective experiences that felt just as real to them.

This is not an easy question to answer. I believe that God’s presence can be experienced. The writer of Hebrews invites us, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (10:22). But if I hang my assurance of the reality and goodness of God on the experience of his presence, the consequences for my faith will be radical, and possibly fatal. If feelings are the basis for my faith, and one day I wake up and I do not experience Jesus, but instead experience Gautama Buddha or Joseph Smith, would I then convert to Buddhism or Mormonism?

The question about feeling God’s presence brought to mind the story of Darlene Deibler Rose. Rose was a young American missionary to the jungles of New Guinea who survived four years of captivity in Japanese prison camps during World War II. When Rose tells her story, she describes how a powerful sense of God’s loving presence sustained her through beatings, horrible illnesses, the cruelties of her captors, and the death of her husband.

Although I marveled at Rose’s amazing endurance, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could endure as she had. I have not felt God’s presence in the unmistakably palpable way that she did. But towards the end of the story of her imprisonment, Rose relates an experience that brings the answer to this question into focus. At the time, she was in solitary confinement and severely malnourished. In spite of her outward difficulties, she had continued to feel inner peace. Then, she writes,

Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, I felt enveloped in a spiritual vacuum. “Lord, where have You gone? Why have You withdrawn Your presence from me? O Father...” -- in panic I jumped to my feet, my heart frantically searching for a hidden sin, for a careless thought, for any reason why my Lord should have withdrawn his presence from me. My prayers, my expressions of worship, seemed to go no higher than the ceiling; there seemed to be no sounding board. I prayed for forgiveness, for the Holy Spirit to search my heart. To none of my petitions was there any apparent response.

Rose spent the night crying out to God, searching for a reason for why He had withdrawn her ability to feel his presence. When no answer came, she prayed:

Lord, I believe all that the Bible says. I do walk by faith and not by sight. I do not need to FEEL You near, because your Word says You will never leave me nor forsake me. Lord, I confirm my faith; I believe. The words of Hebrews 11:1 welled up, unbeckoned, to fill my mind: ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN.’ ...Evidence not seen -- that was what I put my trust in -- not in feelings or moments of ecstasy, but in the unchanging Person of Jesus Christ.... In a measure I felt that I understood what Job meant when he declared, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him’ (13:15). Job knew that he could trust God, because Job knew the character of the One in Whom he had put his trust. It was faith stripped of feelings, faith without trappings.(1)

I believe that we can feel God’s presence, and that we should eagerly seek it. But we cannot base our faith on a foundation of emotional experience. If we base our faith on feelings, when the feelings go, the faith will flee. FAITH IS BEING SURE OF WHAT WE HOPE FOR AND CERTAIN OF WHAT WE DO NOT SEE. Faith is also being sure of what we do not FEEL. If a commitment to Christ assured us that we would always feel his presence, faith would not be required of us.

The story of Darlene Deibler Rose testifies to the reality of the Holy Spirit -- the Comforter, who will never leave us nor forsake us -- as powerfully as any story I have encountered. But Rose was wise enough to know that her faith could not rest on that experience. When the darkness descended, she kept walking, until she had passed through the darkness into the light.

________

1. Darlene Deibler Rose, EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 155-156.

________

Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

===============

Version in Holwick's sermon of May 25, 2014:

Darlene Deibler Rose was a young American missionary in the jungles of New Guinea in the 1940s. During World War II she was captured by the Japanese and spent four years in a prison camp. Through beatings, horrible illnesses, the cruelties of her guards, and the death of her husband, she continually felt a powerful sense of God’s loving presence sustaining her.

But toward the end of her imprisonment, something changed. At the time, she was in solitary confinement and severely malnourished. Her sense of inner peace evaporated. She wrote:

“Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, I felt enveloped in a spiritual vacuum. ‘Lord, where have You gone? Why have You withdrawn Your presence from me?’ In panic I jumped to my feet, my heart frantically searching for a hidden sin, for a careless thought, for any reason why my Lord should have withdrawn his presence from me. My prayers ... seemed to go no higher than the ceiling.... I prayed for forgiveness, for the Holy Spirit to search my heart. To none of my petitions was there any apparent response.”

Rose spent the night crying out to God, trying to figure out why she couldn’t feel his presence. When no answer came, she prayed:

“Lord, I believe all that the Bible says. I do walk by faith and not by sight. I do not need to FEEL You near, because your Word says You will never leave me nor forsake me. Lord, I confirm my faith; I believe.”

At that moment the words of Hebrews 11:1 came to her mind:

‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN.’

“...Evidence not seen -- that was what I put my trust in -- not in feelings or moments of ecstasy, but in the unchanging Person of Jesus Christ.... I felt that I understood what Job meant when he declared, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him’ (Job 13:15).”

Miss Rose concluded that you can feel God’s presence, and we should seek it. But we cannot base our faith on a foundation of emotional experience. If we base our faith on feelings, when the feelings go, the faith will flee. FAITH IS BEING SURE OF WHAT WE HOPE FOR AND CERTAIN OF WHAT WE DO NOT SEE.

Sermon in Exodus series, #16. Exodus 25:10-11,16-22

GOD'S BOX

=========

I. The ark is hot!

A. Hollywood's version.

B. Ethiopia thinks it has a better plot.

C. The ark has great significance.

II. Ark was made out of the best stuff.

III. The ark represented atonement.

A. In the New Testament, the cover is called the mercy seat. Heb 9:5

B. In Exodus, the cover is called simply "the atonement."

IV. The ark is where they met God.

A. It was a container for the Ten Commandments.

B. God's presence was seen over the mercy seat.

V. The ark was dangerous.

A. You didn't want to mess with it. 1 Sam 6:19-20; 2 Sam 6:6-7

B. Under Eli, the Jews used it as a magic charm. 1 Sam 4:4

C. This was the (false) premise of the Spielberg movie.

VI. Where is the ark today?

A. People still want a visual reminder of God.

B. God's real ark is still available to you.

Steve Adams tells how he had penned the words of that song during the 1974 category F5 tornado in Xenia, Ohio, which killed 34 people, injured 1,150 and completely destroyed about one-fourth of the city. As he huddled beneath a sofa in a large warehouse building and the storm was raging all around him, he was learning about the storms of life!

When the world that I've been living in collapses at my feet

When my life is shattered and torn

Though I'm windswept and battered, I can cling to His cross

And find peace in the midst of the storm

There is peace in the midst of my storm-tossed life

Oh, there's an anchor, there's a rock to cast my faith upon

Jesus rides in my vessel, so I'll fear no alarm

He gives me peace in the midst of my storm

When in twenty-four short hours, years of living are brought to moments

And when life's final picture is taking form

In the dark room of my suff'ring there's a light comes shining through!

He gives me peace in the midst of my storm

For there is wonderful peace in the midst of my storm-tossed life

Oh, there's an anchor, there's a rock to cast my faith upon

Jesus rides in my vessel, so I'll fear no alarm

He gives me peace in the midst of my storm. [1]

Now - when you hear the story of the birth of that song, I think it will mean something a little more special....

**************

from Lindsay Terry's "Stories Behind 50 Southern Gospel Favorites," Volume 2 (retyped from Google Books)

"In 1974, Jan and I lived in Urbana, Ohio, about forty miles from Xenia, a town of about twenty-five to thirty thousand people, where I was employed as church minister of music. We were in the midst of preparation for an Easter musical, and early one morning I left home, in bright sunshine, to drive to the church where I was to meet other men who had agreed to help build a special stage setting for the presentation.

"I reached the auditorium before the other men and suddenly heard the fire alarm sound. The church had a preschool Kiddy College, a group of about 220 children who were inside the building. I rushed to the vestibule of the auditorium where some painters, who were working at the church, were already helping the children down into the basement from the upper floors. I looked out the front door of the auditorium and saw three funnel clouds in the sky. A tornado was headed directly toward our church. I could see roofs of homes being ripped off and spun around in the sky as if they were toothpicks.

"I quickly went to every phone in the building, and they were all busy, I wanted to call my wife to make sure that she did not come in the direction of the church. I suddenly remembered a pay phone about a quarter of a mile down the street. I rushed to my car, a Delta 88 Oldsmobile, and sped toward the pay phone. The circular winds, which I later learned were clocked at 360 miles per hour, were just too much. I had to pull into a drive-under at the bank for protection. I soon became fearful that the building would collapse on me while I was still in my car. I looked toward Kennedy Corner Shopping Center, about three hundred feet away, and saw a man standing in the doorway of a Western Auto Store, motioning frantically for me to come in his direction.

"I drove quickly toward him, and when I reached the front of the store, the winds were so strong I couldn't get the car to come to a complete stop. I jumped out and ran inside, I then saw the man at the back of the store with his hands above his wife's head and heard him screaming, 'My God! My God!' I dived under a sofa nearby, and suddenly the whole Kennedy Corner Shopping Center came crashing down on us. I was instantly buried alived!

"I remember calling Jan's name and the names of my children, Craig and Chris, as the building crumbled. I prayed for them, thinking that I probably would never see them again. I then remembered the words of an old hymn I had heard while I was a student at Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts: 'Oh Jesus, I have promised to serve You to the end.' I then surrendered my future and life to His control.

"I was in complete darkness under that sofa, and I wondered if I was dead. I then realized that I was indeed alive because I pinched my forehead and felt pain. I was unhurt, so I began to try to dig out. I screamed for help because I sensed that I was entombed. Nobody was answering, and so I felt some panic.

"After...I don't know how long, I was able to pull some debris toward me and soon saw a light. I then struggled through that opening to get myself free. As I looked around, I realized that our city lay totally in ruins. I went under the sofa with everything intact and came out a little while later and everything was gone.

"I saw a lady sorely wounded and I frantically tried to find my car in order to get her to some medical help. I couldn't find it. I saw a police officer, who I thought might help me locate my car, abut he was in a trance. He couldn't speak. I then ran toward the church. During the half-mile sprint, I saw nothing recognizable. When I reached the church, I saw the pastor standing in the frame of a doorway. He informed me that the children had all been saved in the basement, but the church building was gone, along with his home next door. In the middle of the street lay a dead man who had been killed trying to save a little girl. I was reunited with my family at eleven o'clock that evening. They were all safe. I hugged them more closely than ever that night.

"Three days later, the pastor walked with me to the ruins of the shopping center, and we saw National Guardsmen digging through debris where my car had been. I began inquiring about my automobile, and one of them asked, 'Do you drive a Delta 88?' and I said, 'Yes.' He immediately turned to the other guardsmen and shouted, 'You can stop looking!' Someone had seen me get out of my car, but then they couldn't find me after the storm had passed.

"My pastor had lost everything except his family. We both stood there in tears. He said to me, 'You know, Stephen, the Lord doesn't promise that He will take us out of life's storms, but He does promise to be in the storms with us.' That was the kernel that I needed for a song. Several days later, I began to reflect on the events of that frightful day and my experiences with the Lord. Verses began to form in my mind. Soon I had finished the song, 'Peace in the Midst of the Storm.'"

________

1. "Peace in the Midst of the Storm" - by Steve Adams (Copyright 1978 Pilot music (ASCAP)).

Boarding a small airplane, I immediately noticed the cheerful demeanor of the lone flight attendant. It was early in the morning, and amidst the crowd of bleary-eyed passengers shuffling onto the plane, she beamed like a ray of sunshine.

After welcoming us on board and making sure we were all buckled in and our carry-on luggage stowed, she proceeded to give us the prescribed safety instructions that anyone who has flown often could probably recite from memory. But instead of monotonously reading from a script about emergency exits and unlikely water landings, she delivered the entire speech from memory, yet with great personal warmth and conviction.

I was impressed, even inspired. But what I have not yet forgotten about this exceptional young lady are her spontaneous words after delivering that mandatory safety speech. She paused, and then with the most childlike wonder and enthusiasm you can imagine, she said, her eyes twinkling, “And now -- it’s time to fly!”

How I wish I could better convey the way she bade us to the heavens with that one phrase. As many times as she had undoubtedly endured the routines of stowing luggage, delivering safety speeches and serving soft drinks and peanuts, she had not yet lost the wonder of getting to fly.

A few days later, I heard a comedian on a talk show describing his own recent experience on an airplane. As he awaited takeoff, he said he was contemplating the miracle that he would soon be sitting in a cylindrical tube 30,000 feet in the air, hurling through the atmosphere at 500 mph to arrive cross country in less than four hours, a trip that once took early pioneers a lifetime. Just then the flight attendant announced that wireless internet would not be available on that flight, and the man sitting next to the comedian flew into a fit of profanity. How quickly, he observed, we turn miracles into entitlements, and entitlements into opportunities for criticism.

The word “miracles,” of course, turned my thoughts to the many spiritual blessings that I too often take for granted or consider entitlements. Every week, I gather freely with other believers and have fresh opportunity to celebrate the resurrected Lord Jesus and the transformational difference He has made and is still making in my life.

Every week I sing, along with people I call brothers and sisters, the songs of our deliverance from sin, our new life purpose, and eternity in heaven. Every week, I hear from God’s Word a new, relevant message that applies to me personally.

With all that being true, it seems that every week, worship leaders in every local church should stand and tell us, “And now -- it’s time to fly!” Yet it may be more common for us to settle into familiar weekly routines and even rituals, taking for granted the gathering for corporate worship and considering it an entitlement.

That cheerful flight attendant reminded me that it only takes one sincerely excited and grateful worshiper to call other sleepy souls out of their routines and criticisms. One person who recaptures the wonder and miracle of the church assembling together in God’s presence can rekindle that wonder in others. This Sunday, I will not be a presumptuous passenger who feels entitled to the miracle of access to God that cost Jesus so much. This Sunday, my worship will say to any on board with me, “And now -- it’s time to fly!”

There are many words that can be used to describe God: holy, just, righteous, merciful, sovereign, gentle. I’m sure you can think of many more. One of my favorite adjectives for the Father is “gracious”.

Our God is no Scrooge when it comes to sharing what is His with those He loves. He is a giving God. His kindness overflows with great abundance. Whenever I give what I consider to be gracious to someone, He always give more.

In Psalm 18:35-36, David challenges us to enumerate all of God’s grace gifts. In these two verses he starts the list with four blessings he had personally experienced from the hand of God:

1) “You have given me the shield of your salvation”

2) “Your right hand supported me”

3) “Your gentleness made me great” (“Your humility exalts me” – CSB)

4) “You gave a wide place for my steps under me and my feet did not slip”

Salvation, support, strength, security ... four treasures for which the shepherd king would willingly trade everything or pay any earthly price; yet, given freely by the One whom David called, “my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2).

Interesting. Do you see a parallel? Each word or phrase David uses to describe God in verse 2 to open this psalm is also descriptive of the four gifts from God that he exalts inverses 35-36. These blessings were not simply spiritual items that God went shopping for and thought David could use. The real present was God Himself. As Israel’s king opened his presents of salvation, support, strength, and security, he recognized that the true gift was the Giver ... the King of kings.

Throughout his life David learned that the best way to seek and enjoy God’s presents was to seek God’s presence, to seek God Himself. When the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to its rightful place in Jerusalem in the early days of his reign, David called the nation to, “seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11).

Then, as his life and reign drew to a close and he was ready to pass the scepter (along with the responsibility of building the Temple) to his son, Solomon, David challenged his heir and his people to, “set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God” (1 Chronicles 22:19). He invited them to receive God’s presents by seeking His presence.

Nearly 1,000 years later, God stepped boldly into history with another present. Imagine the surprise of those who were at Bethlehem’s manger and those who came to know Jesus in the years to come to discover that this gift was none other than Emmanuel ... God with us! In presenting Himself, wrapped in humanity, God was once again giving salvation, support, strength and security! Our awesome God never changes!

The best gift that will be given this Christmas is the gift of God, Himself; or, as the song goes, “The best gift of all is Jesus.” As you seek God’s hand of blessing, seek God’s face. As you enjoy His grace-filled presents, recognize that it is His holy presence that brings salvation, support, strength and security. This is how to have a blessed Christmas and a Christ-filled new year.

One final thought ... if God’s best present is His presence, what present should we make of our presence in the life of those we love?

Baptists don’t have popes but we do have area leaders. In New Jersey, our state leader was Lee Spitzer. Lee is a very dynamic guy and has been a successful pastor in Nebraska, the Executive Minister of New Jersey who led the state to growth, and then the leader of the entire American Baptist denomination.

He wasn’t born into a Baptist family - he was born Jewish. His family was not very religious and rarely attended synagogue. Lee had a bar mitzvah party, but no bar mitzvah. His dad said the synagogue charged too much for the ceremony.

Lee remembers that he often felt like an outsider, such as when his school sang Christmas songs at a holiday assembly. Yet he was very proud to be Jewish. During the Six-Day war between Israel and the Arabs in 1967, he avidly followed the news of Israel’s huge victory. In his young mind, it was like God had delivered them from Pharaoh all over again.

Lee knew about the Old Testament prophets, especially Ezekiel. Ezekiel predicted a renewal of Israel and the defeat of its enemies. A messiah would bring it about.

When he was 7 years old, Lee had a dream. Probably inspired by Ezekiel, he dreamed that he was taken to a mountain where he saw all the enemies of Israel gathered. Up in the sky, he saw a man riding on a white war horse. He pointed to him and said, “That’s my messiah!” Then he woke up.

There was something else in Ezekiel that bothered Lee. The prophet talked a lot about sin. Lee was a pretty straight-laced kid, but he knew he fell far short of God’s ideal. How could a holy God forgive him? The Jewish Bible had animal sacrifices but that didn’t seem possible or desirable today. Lee wrestled with the idea of atonement.

It all clicked for him on December 23, 1971. He was bored and watching TV. Only Christmas movies were on. He watched two versions of Dickens’s “The Christmas Carol.” During the second one, he felt a PRESENCE in the room. He started to tingle. He searched all the closets to see if someone else was there. Lee said out loud, “What should I do now?” To his utter astonishment, he heard a strong voice. The voice said, “Pick up that book!”

His eye caught a book lying on his brother’s bookshelf. He picked it up. It was a Bible. Lee had never seen a New Testament before. He turned to the last pages and his attention fell on this passage in the book of Revelation:

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse ...

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns...

On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

(Revelation 19:11-16)

Who was this guy? The voice spoke to him again: “Turn to the first page of the New Testament.” Lee had to go to the table of contents. Matthew was the first book. He turned there and read, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham...” It dawned on Lee - Jesus was Jewish! He was the rider on the white horse. He has the power to forgive sins. He is the Messiah Lee had been waiting for. Lee was moved to pray, and he acknowledged Jesus as his “master and messiah.”

He concluded his prayer by telling God he wouldn’t evangelize. Jews hate evangelism. Yet within days he was telling his friends about Jesus. God had truly invaded his life.

Mark Twain’s feelings about God were revealed when his publisher, B.H. Ticknor, was not able to attend a meeting with Twain. Ticknor sent his regrets with a note that said, “God be with you, for I cannot.”

And Twain returned the note with his own message on the bottom:

Dear Ticknor:

He didn’t come. It has been a great disappointment to the whole family.

Hereafter, appoint a party we can depend on.

I have two brothers with diabetes, so when I came down with some of the same symptoms, my first thought was to have the doctor check me out. "Your blood sugar is fine," she said. "You do not have diabetes." Reading the fine print on some medical publications, however, I discovered the symptoms I've been experiencing are actually the side effects of the medicine my doctor has me taking. Everything is fine.

Charlsie wakes up in the middle of the night anxious. A nameless, faceless fear invades her bedroom threatening to rob her of her peace. She wonders, "If I'm a Christian and the Lord is with me, why do I have this fear? What's wrong with me?" As her pastor, I assure Charlsie that she's just fine, and that there could be a hundred reasons for such anxieties, and that she would do well to shrug it off and go back to sleep.

"I don't feel saved," Robert says. I say, "How does 'saved' feel?" "Aw, preacher, you know what I mean," he says. "No, I don't. Tell me," I say. Robert describes how distant God often feels to him. That's when I tell him the story of Rachel. Rachel is a preschooler, I suppose, and lives with her mom and dad. Her father is a pastor and recognizes a great spiritual lesson when he sees one, so he passed this one on to us.

Recently, Rachel has been awakening in the middle of the night, afraid and crying. Only crawling into bed with her mom and dad soothes her fears. Then, her mom announced to the family that she would be out of town for a few days on a business trip. Her dad could see he needed to take pre-emptive action. "Rachel," he said, "I have an idea. While Mom is away, suppose I sleep in your room on the top bunk bed." She thought it was a great idea.

That night, Rachel went to sleep on time. A couple of hours later, when her dad crawled into the upper berth, she was sleeping soundly, and she slept like that all night. The next morning, her dad congratulated her on a full night's sleep.

"It's because you were in the room with me," she said. "But how did you know I was there?" he asked. "You were asleep when I came in and you never woke up the whole night."

Rachel said, "Because you said you would be there."

Of all the promises our Lord has given us, nothing means as much as his promise to be with us. Nothing banishes fears or inspires courage so instantly as the knowledge that the Lord is by our side.

In the Old Testament days, whenever God called someone to serve him, they began putting up excuses: I'm too old, too young, can't speak, that sort of thing. Invariably, God's response was the same each time: "I will be with you." God thought the fact that he was near should take care of all fears of the enemy and doubts about ourselves. David said, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

In the New Testament, we see a change of tone. Instead of the Lord specifically promising each individual he calls that he will be with us, he gives to all disciples a blanket promise: "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." Mark 3 tells us Jesus chose 12 apostles "to be with him." And maybe best of all is Hebrews 13:5-6: "'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,' so that we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my Helper and I will not be afraid.'"

We may have to learn what Rachel already knows: to take the Father at his word. You will not often feel him near for the simple reason that God's Spirit is not detectable by the human senses, no more than our eyes can see him or our hands can touch him. Believe that he is here, and go forward accordingly.

When the apostle Paul was facing a second trial before Caesar, he knew it could be the end of the line. Yet, as he reminisces in 2 Timothy 4, he went forward with confidence. The first time he appeared before Caesar, all the other disciples had abandoned him and he went alone. "Nevertheless, the Lord stood with me," Paul said, "and strengthened me." Why? "So that through me the gentiles might hear the gospel." Think of the congregation Paul had that day -- all the dignitaries of Rome, from Nero on down.

It reminds us of the promise of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 10, preparing the disciples for the time when they would be tried in courts and beaten in synagogues, brought before kings and governors "as a testimony to them and to the gentiles." When that happens, Jesus said, "Do not worry about what you are to say. The Holy Spirit will give you what you are to say." He would be there and he would be on duty.

So, did Paul feel the Lord's presence that day? We're not told. I guarantee he felt a lot of things -- like hostility from the bleachers where the Roman officials sat in judgment and hatred and ugliness from the crowd. Did he feel the Lord's nearness? There are two answers: 1) We do not know and 2) This is not about feelings. It's about the Lord keeping his promises and our believing him.

Try this. The next time you feel estranged from the Lord, give him thanks that he is near. Ask him to remove any sin that separates you from him (Isaiah 59:2 comes to mind) and reaffirm your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, go to this little three-word prayer: "Thank you, Jesus." Say it over and over: "Thank you, Jesus." I promise you the last thing on earth the evil one wants is you praising the Lord. Let anxiety and worry jump-start your thanks to the Lord Jesus. Watch how an indescribable peace settles in.

Fear, always remember, is "False Evidence Appearing Real." Faith? "Forsaking All, I Take Him."

_________________

McKeever is pastor of First Baptist Church, Kenner, Louisiana.

What’s your burnout story?

Perhaps COVID-19 is part of your story. Maybe your burnout story involves being overworked, cutting a vacation short due to an emergency or navigating a family crisis. Burnout can cause a loss of zeal for ministry and result in pastors simply going through the motions of ministry. Burnout can even affect personal, spiritual disciplines.

In a recent Lifeway Research study, over 70 percent of pastors say they need consistency in personal prayer. It’s obvious pastors understand the importance of personal prayer in ministry. But what about the pastors who have lost their zeal for ministry and are simply going through the motions each day? How can they pray when they’re burned out?

Thankfully, the Bible is our guide for all of life and has something to say about it.

A biblical example of burnout

Now that you’ve thought about your personal burnout story, it’s important to recognize it’s not always one specific event that causes burnout. Ministry burnout often comes over time as a result of multiple events. Take David, for example.

In 1 Samuel 18-21, we read about David’s marriage to the king’s daughter, the king’s attempt to take David’s life, his fleeing for his life, and his pretending to be insane. Each of these events (and others) led David to retreat to a dark cave. His time alone was soon interrupted. Everyone who was in distress gathered with David in the cave, and he quickly found himself leading over 400 men (1 Samuel 22:1-4).

Yet while in the cave, burned out from all of the life changes, running and hiding, David prayed. David records his plea to God in Psalm 142. In this prayer, we discover five powerful strategies for praying when we’re burned out.

1. Acknowledge the reality of burnout

In the first four stanzas of Psalm 142, David acknowledged the reality of his situation. He confessed he had no energy when he said, “my spirit is weak within me” (v. 3a, CSB). He even acknowledged, “no one stands up for me,” and “no one cares about me” (v. 4, CSB). Aware of his weakness, David doesn’t allow the reality of his weakness to keep him from coming to God in prayer.

Ministry burnout is real, but your experience with it doesn’t make you insignificant. God calls pastors to lives of service that have many joyful and exciting moments. Yet, there are also difficult and wearisome seasons. Ministry burnout shows no partiality.

Once you recognize your burnout, acknowledge the reality to God in prayer. God is fully aware of the burnout you’re experiencing, and He invites you into His presence.

2. Go back to the basics

In David’s burnout, he did not have the energy to consider a lengthy address to God like the author of Psalm 119. David simply cried out, “You are my shelter, my portion in the land of the living” (v. 5b, CSB). For David, returning to the basics meant returning to the attributes of God.

If you’re experiencing burnout, the attributes of God are a wondrous place to return. Carefully pray through a select passage that describes the greatness of God. For example, Genesis 1 declares God is our Creator. Exodus 15 praises God as our Warrior. Psalm 23 gently reminds us God is our Shepherd. Isaiah 40 boldly reveals God as our great Comfort.

While burnout often leads to thoughts of hopelessness, revisiting the greatness of God produces hope.

3. Be honest with God

In his prayer, David didn’t hold anything back. He cried, “Listen to my cry, for I am very weak” (v. 6a, CSB). Facing a low point in his life, David was honest with God and asked for deliverance.

You have permission to be honest with God in your prayers. God is omniscient and aware of your burnout. God is omnipresent and is with you through the motions of ministry. God is omnipotent and at work in His church despite your burnout.

So don’t hold back. Be honest with God about your burnout.

4. Show transparency in your requests

While hiding in a cave, David became the leader of 400 men. Burnout often leads to hiding, even while you’re leading others. While encouraging others in their pain, you may mask your own dark loneliness so others can’t see the pain.

David was attempting to hide from others in a dark cave, but he could not hide from God. So David was transparent in his weakness. He prayed, “Rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Free me from prison...” (vv. 6b-7a, CSB).

Has the impact of COVID-19 finally caught up with you? Do you find yourself struggling to faithfully prepare a sermon each week? You may be able to hide your burnout from others, but you can’t hide from the God of Light. So in your prayer, be transparent with God.

5. Remember you’re not alone

David ends his prayer with hope. He prayed, “Free me from prison, so that I can praise your name. The righteous will gather around me, because you deal generously with me” (v. 7, CSB). David had hope that he would not remain in the shadow of the cave. God was with him and would not leave him to face uncertainty alone.

Burnout often leaves pastors feeling uncertain about their ministry and calling. However, you are not alone. Psalm 142 gives a good example of David, but it’s an even greater picture of the One who is with you always. On the cross, Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46, CSB). Jesus experienced utmost loneliness, and now he’s the victorious advocate who prays for us. In his book Soul-Depths and Soul Heights, Octavius Winslow said, “When I cannot think of Jesus ... Jesus is thinking of me.”

There’s not a magic formula for pastors to escape burnout. Even the use of Psalm 142 as a strategy for prayer may need to be repeated often while facing burnout. However, pastors serve a mighty God who hears every prayer — even the prayers that are prayed when you’re burned out.

Baptists don’t have popes but we do have area leaders. In New Jersey, our state leader was Lee Spitzer. Lee is a very dynamic guy and has been a successful pastor in Nebraska, the Executive Minister of New Jersey who led the state to growth, and then the leader of the entire American Baptist denomination.

He wasn’t born into a Baptist family - he was born Jewish. His family was not very religious and rarely attended synagogue. Lee had a bar mitzvah party, but no bar mitzvah. His dad said the synagogue charged too much for the ceremony.

Lee remembers that he often felt like an outsider, such as when his school sang Christmas songs at a holiday assembly. Yet he was very proud to be Jewish. During the Six-Day war between Israel and the Arabs in 1967, he avidly followed the news of Israel’s huge victory. In his young mind, it was like God had delivered them from Pharaoh all over again.

Lee knew about the Old Testament prophets, especially Ezekiel. Ezekiel predicted a renewal of Israel and the defeat of its enemies. A messiah would bring it about.

When he was 7 years old, Lee had a dream. Probably inspired by Ezekiel, he dreamed that he was taken to a mountain where he saw all the enemies of Israel gathered. Up in the sky, he saw a man riding on a white war horse. He pointed to him and said, “That’s my messiah!” Then he woke up.

There was something else in Ezekiel that bothered Lee. The prophet talked a lot about sin. Lee was a pretty straight-laced kid, but he knew he fell far short of God’s ideal. How could a holy God forgive him? The Jewish Bible had animal sacrifices but that didn’t seem possible or desirable today. Lee wrestled with the idea of atonement.

It all clicked for him on December 23, 1971. He was bored and watching TV. Only Christmas movies were on. He watched two versions of Dickens’s “The Christmas Carol.” During the second one, he felt a PRESENCE in the room. He started to tingle. He searched all the closets to see if someone else was there. Lee said out loud, “What should I do now?” To his utter astonishment, he heard a strong voice. The voice said, “Pick up that book!”

His eye caught a book lying on his brother’s bookshelf. He picked it up. It was a Bible. Lee had never seen a New Testament before. He turned to the last pages and his attention fell on this passage in the book of Revelation:

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse ...

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns...

On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

(Revelation 19:11-16)

Who was this guy? The voice spoke to him again: “Turn to the first page of the New Testament.” Lee had to go to the table of contents. Matthew was the first book. He turned there and read, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham...” It dawned on Lee - Jesus was Jewish! He was the rider on the white horse. He has the power to forgive sins. He is the Messiah Lee had been waiting for. Lee was moved to pray, and he acknowledged Jesus as his “master and messiah.”

He concluded his prayer by telling God he wouldn’t evangelize. Jews hate evangelism. Yet within days he was telling his friends about Jesus. God had truly invaded his life.