Beyond Explanation

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

I have written this prayer in one of my journals; "May I live a life that cannot be explained apart from Your Holy Spirit. That Your Spirit would do things that all would know are not of me, and cannot be faked or accounted for by human reason." I don't know how closely my life has come to realizing that prayer, but I hope that as I live, I continue to move towards its fulfillment. Certainly the realization of this prayer, going by Jesus' words in Matthew 17, would be His expectation for me, for you, for all who call themselves His.

I believe that it's a great sorrow to His heart that we don't take His promise in Matthew 17 seriously. We may quote it a great deal, but we rarely seem to live it out. When we encounter mountains in life, our first response is usually trying to figure some way around or past them. Our reliance is upon ourselves and our own capabilities. We try to manipulate the circumstances in order to get to the outcome we desire. We may actually succeed in that, but the results will be explainable to any who witness it. Nothing of the miraculous will be evident. I think that's why in general, we in the church don't really believe in, or look for and expect true miracles these days. So we see few of them. When we do hear of them, we're more prone to cynicism than belief. How could this be? How could lives founded upon belief in the miracle of His resurrection, His conquering of sin, and His establishing of His Kingdom, live in such a place of unbelief? Yet we do.

One of His great purposes for us is that our lives would glorify Him, yet how much glory does He receive through our day to day living? What about our lives radically sets us apart from the world around us? What would our neighbors and co-workers say about us? Is there anything, other than perhaps they notice that we "go to church?" I don't remember the person, but I do remember his question. He asked if anyone had ever remarked that there was a real presence of God about us? Even unbelievers notice such, and though they may not recognize that presence as Him, they do notice a presence, a witness that sets us apart from the "normal." Has anyone ever remarked about such a presence in you and me? His Kingdom presence is to mark our lives. Does it mark yours?

The people of God are to live supernatural lives in the natural world. It's to be our way of life. We live anchored in the reality of our Almighty God who does mighty things through His people. This has been the witness of His church through the ages, but is it our witness now? Our culture cries out for it. The need for those who can live above the social, political, and economic upheaval that is all around them is beyond desperate. In a society going insane, seeing a people who can live without fear, in hope and expectation, and believing for His miraculous purposes to come to pass, often through His people themselves, must be a reality. Will it be a reality through you and me?

Dare we, dare you, pray such a prayer as the one above? What will happen if we will? What will be the result when we truly live as the people of Light and Life, and our life witness pierces the death and darkness all around us? Do we have the courage, the faith, the yieldedness to find out? Do I? Do you? Or do we just keep trying to figure out ways to get past the mountain?

Blessings,
Pastor O