Are You Listening To The Angels? Part Two (originally published 1985)

Today's Word Of Encouragement From Wayne:

"And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people.'"

Luke 2:10

(Continuing From Yesterday)

"I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people."  This truth is the doorway to our transformation.  If we will REALLY believe then we will have no other course but to rise up with wings like eagles and soar above the problems, internal and external, which have held us in captivity to the continuing dominion of the kingdom of darkness.  Our lives have always been intended by God to be one long Christmas celebration.  No matter what evil may befall us there is no changing the facts that in Jesus Christ we have been given such a message of good news that it should simply shout down all adversity with its eternal promise of great joy.  "For all the people."  That means me and you too.  This message means we must make an important choice.  We can go through our lives paying lip service to the truths of the Gospel, while our innermost being remains unchanged, or we can grasp the promise with fury and break free of our own self-imposed prison of negativity and cynicism.

The bottom line is this:  We will either live in our fears or listen to the angel.  We cannot do both.  We either protect our attitudes and secretly harbor our resentments or we start living the good news of great joy.

I have learned time after time this year that trials and adversities are really matters of perspective.  If I give in to my own self-pitying tendencies then a cloud of gloom will settle over the whole of my life.  But, if I truly believe, believe right now in God's word, then, I have only one option and that is to see all affliction as a blessing in disguise.  Every setback is an opportunity for me to "choose this day which God I will serve" (Joshua 24:15).  Will I succumb to apparent circumstances or will I stand as a child of the King? Will I complain about injustice or will I give love and compassion?  Will I fix my eyes on what I think I need or will I see that what I really need is to give of myself to meet other's needs?  Will I be the center of my life or will Jesus be the center of my life?

In my counseling ministry I see this to be THE issue in the lives of thousands of Christians I deal with.  The initial decision of Jesus has been made, forgiveness received, and there is an outward commitment to the principles of the Gospel such as prayer, reading the Bible, going to Church, and witnessing.  But what so many fail to see is that all of this is merely the scratching of the surface.  What is needed now is a moment by moment yieldedness to the Lordship of Christ in the heart.  This means taking all of our opinions, attitudes, judgements, and all of the circumstances that face us daily and placing the whole of them upon the altar of submission to God's word.  Where we may have once looked down upon another, we now ask God to search our own hearts and deal with the evil in us.  Every situation asks us the question:  "Your feelings or God's word?"  This is the arena where Christianity becomes real.  To live on the surface is to live a charade.  You may look holy and respectable but you are spiritually impotent.  In that frame of mind Jesus only exists to bless you, to comfort you, and to support your own natural feelings.  Your life is only a hollow shell of faith and ultimately, because you refuse to let the Lordship of Christ touch your true being, you deprive yourself of all the benefits of being a child of God in this life.  Sure, you will go to heaven, but you will have buried you talent and wasted your life in spiritual atrophy.

Your life does not have to be this way!  You can make a decision to be different.  There is real power to change.  You can see your trials evaporate in the sunshine of God's love.  Even if the outward circumstances do not seem to change, everything will have changed because YOU have been changed.  Instead of being overcome with evil you will now be overcoming evil with good!  God's word, which brings His love as reality to your feelings and emotions, will be your source of input and you will be inwardly radiant as a result.  Instead of living in fear, you will behold and see the good news of a great joy for all the people.

As the cliche goes, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."  What will you do?  Will you hear your fear, or will you hear the angels?  The decision you make right now will determine whether your Christianity will be superficial or whether you will be renewed in the spirit of your mind, transformed into His image, and in experiential reality become a child of God.  I can't think of a better gift you could give to Jesus than that of your willingness to let His word be the totality of your life.  In this environment His love will be your ever present reality and you'll finally be able to be grateful for all He has done.  Nothing rejoices the heart of God more than a soul that basks in His love.  Come on, listen to the angels and get on with truly living your life.

Hallelujah!