The Mountain Side

Jesus said, Blessed are the persecuted and they are suffering big time right now. This is Bible League International and 19-year-old Aria was beaten by her own father and violated by local authorities. You know what her crime was?

Simply that she gave her life to Jesus Christ after leaving radical Islam. They need Bibles in order to endure and persevere. And that's why Truth Network and Bible League are teamed up to send God's Word to 3500 persecuted believers around the world at $5 a Bible, $100 Synth 20. Call 800-Yes-Word, 800-Yes-Word, 800-Yes-Word, or give at truthnetwork.com. This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Running with Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible. Shirley Weaver wants to take you there.

And now, here's today's episode. When our three children were young, a neighbor family with children basically the same ages as ours invited us to join them for a quote restful end quote weekend in the mountains about a four-hour drive from where we lived at that time. And another family in town offered their van so that we could comfortably make the trip with all the necessities that you need, you know, for younger children. The host family's three-year-old daughter was a preschool friend of our three-year-old son, so they were buddies.

They were good playmates, really sweet kids. The first morning of the first full day of our restful weekend, we lingered in that mountain cabin. It was fall, fall of the year, so the temp outdoors was chilly.

So we lingered inside and no one missed the two three-year-olds. About that time, I headed upstairs to begin the process of getting ready for the day, for that day, and from my elevated bedroom window, I realized the borrowed van was moving. I don't recall exactly, but basically, about the same time, someone downstairs realized the same thing, so the alarm was kind of sounded, you know, as parents began to say aloud, the van, where are, you know, so this is one of those slow motion memories, the kind I'm sure is not unfamiliar to parents everywhere. You know, you're just standing there.

You're helpless. You're watching this thing happen with real-time facts, merging together in your head, painting the full picture of what's really going down. Bottom line, both three-year-olds were in the van, and the van is moving in the downward direction of the mountain, in reverse down a narrow mountain road, bordered on one side by a thick forest of Carolina pines, and on the other side by that familiar, all-too-familiar steep drop-off that every mountain road has as it moves, as the elevation on the mountain changes from top to bottom, bottom to top, that was the setting of this little mountain road.

So in slow motion, I'm watching from this upstairs window, and the details, again, in slow motion, are magnified in my mind. Obviously, the sliding door on the side of that van was open. Somehow those children had opened that van and climbed inside.

They're inside the van. It's moving downhill, and now it's covered enough area that is approaching a bend in the road that is turning away. The road is going to turn away from this straight trajectory, basically, that the van is on. So since no one in the van is steering, the continual trajectory as it began, when it began moving, that looks logical. When it began moving, that looks logical.

I mean, that's what you're expecting to happen. So the strongest possibility is that the van, with the children inside, would leave that bumpy road surface and continue the downward movement, downward on the incline, toward the drop on the side of the mountain. And it was pretty steep. I began to really assess what was about to happen, and like in split-second timing. So I'm at this upstairs window.

Everyone else, adults and other children, are all downstairs on the ground. So I'm watching this happen so I'm watching this happen from this view that I have. And I do not remember saying a word, making a sound, not a prayer, not anything.

I may have, I just don't remember it. And suddenly, this nine-passenger blue van, moving in reverse, made a sharp turn toward the tree line. And it literally backed into a small space, a small spot, on the side of the road with a slight opening that accommodated it, like nestled in the trees. And suddenly, again, suddenly, it came to an immediate, abrupt, definitive stop.

I'm telling you, the van parked itself. I think I remember the children scampering out and like their, the look on their face, like, you know, phew. But I'm not clear at that point whether that actually happened or I imagined it.

I was in this state. I was completely caught up in a split-second of time. All of this unfolded. And the reality of what was happening was all unfolding. Was all unfolding in my brain all at the same time. So there's lots of adrenaline. But there's also a lot, a lot, of other body chemistry that's like taking over. You know, you've just witnessed a miracle.

You've seen it with your own eyes. And right this minute, all you can think is that your child is safe, unscathed, apparently, alive and well. And those two, except for maybe fearing that the daddies were about to administer a spanking, you know, hey, no one got in the way of it.

No one got a spanking that day. These children were restored to their parents, to their families, unharmed in a split second of timing from beginning to end. This kind of bold, divine intervention is something that forever marks you. And not just this once, but as every parent will tell you, God comes again and again. And we sometimes only remember the times when we feel He did not show up. And our question is, why did He not show up? But how many times does He, in fact, show up? And whether you consider that a completely divine, what I've just described to you, a completely extension of God's right hand. There was an army of angelic helpers right there, whatever you think.

It actually happened. The memory is imprinted on my brain forever. And what it did to me was it marked me with this expectation that if God did it once, He will do it again.

It's why I have written this book, Running with Horses. It's why we do this broadcast of this podcast by the same title to really point again and again and to remind God's people, the church of this miraculous side of God that is upon us in our lives, marking us, delivering us, revealing this character of God to rescue and to deliver. And whatever your circumstances, wherever you are on this globe that we call planet Earth, you are a candidate for this kind of visitation from Him. And this mark, this mark to make you also a carrier of bold confidence in confidence in God. That's the mission of this podcast. That is the mission of everything that we do in our ministry. We belong to a supernatural God and we have this supernatural mark on our lives.

Not just rarely, but daily. And not just one of us, every one of us, all of God's people who have eyes to see and ears to hear. And just as it was that day when Moses encountered the bush that was burning but was not consumed and a voice spoke to him from that bush.

Are you kidding me? A voice speaking to a man from a fire in a bush in a remote area and the bush was not consumed. This is the voice. This is the persona. This is our God. This is our God. This is who we magnify and we worship and we announce to the world.

This is the God of the Gospel and this is the one who is revealing Himself in a way that is majestic and beyond any natural explanation, any logical outworking. This is our Father who is in heaven. Hallowed is His name. Hallowed. Hallowed. We set Him apart to set Him apart, to magnify Him today, to worship Him, to say, Lord God you are greater than anything in the universe and the greater one lives on the inside of me, on the inside of you, on the inside of every individual that recognizes the name.

Oh, Selah, pause and think of that. He is good. He is God.

Wow. Glory. And you know besides that story there in Deuteronomy 33 about the bush that burned but was not consumed, I'm just really thinking right now, just as I'm sharing this story with you, Ephesians 1, that whole passage beginning in about 15, verse 15, but verse 19 especially, this is a powerful apostolic prayer, but for this verse 19, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His great might? I mean the verses on each side of that verse are so powerful, but just look at this one with me and what is the what is the immeasurable greatness of His power, His power toward like leaning into those of us who believe and this power, what? This power toward those who believe is according to the working of His great might. In other words, this is the Lord. This is His character. This is His greatness concerning His power and His might. It is toward you. It is coming at you.

It is for you. It is revealed to you. There is even a verse 17 speaks of a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. In other words, it is His plan.

I would say it is His heart. Maybe the deep longing of His heart that you would have a revelation and a level of knowledge of Him in this regard, that you would think of Him this way, see Him this way, and not diminish Him or reduce Him and think that miracles have either passed away or they occur once in a blue moon because clearly just this one passage in Ephesians chapter 1 points to another view for sure. For sure because it is up to us to believe this way. It is up to us to see it, to see in God's Word this is His character and this is His revelation and this is His revelation to us and these are the possibilities that are available to you and I. Available to us because we are the church. He is the head over all things to the church. The church is His body and we become the fullness of Him who fills up everything literally all in all. So you can't escape the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him that leads us directly to an encounter with the greatness of His power because you believe in Him and because you believe accurately according to the working of His might.

Why would He do this? Listen, this was the plan at Calvary. It says here clearly in verse 20, He worked this into Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places. Christ is seated at the right hand in the heavenly places. This is a confirmation of what was accomplished at Calvary far above your adversary, your opposition.

I mean that's another message obviously. We're talking about the power of God that is greater than the rule and authority of the enemy at a lower place in the cosmic arrangement far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And you know I love to say because I believe this we are bumping up against the end of this age and entering as we prepare to enter into the one that is to come. Again, not the end of the world, not the end of the world.

Don't think that way. That's not the right term. The correct Bible term is the end of the age, bumping up into the beginning of a new one. And as we do that because we're positioned this way, that's where we're postured, we are watching the outworking and the unveiling and the absolute clear picture that all things have been under placed under the feet of Jesus Christ and he is the head over all things to the church which is the body, his body, and he fills us, he fills up his church with everything. He fills all in all.

He is the one who fills all in all. And listen, if he fills the church, then we experienced this immeasurable greatness of power if we believe it. You know, if you believe it. You know that expression, well that really made a believer out of me. That day on the mountain, you might call that a mountaintop experience but not one like I would have imagined. I would have been a believer and not one like I would associate with that description. I was never prepared to see my child that close to severe harm. I mean that was the expectation.

And to be rescued in front of my very eyes. Why wouldn't I believe God? Why wouldn't I move into a place of expecting the greatness of his power every day that as I wake up and as I leave my family, as I go into the marketplace, into the place that God has given me to steward, that I would expect this same greatness of power to me as I go through my day and as I lead those around me. Whatever that level is, you know they say you can tell if you're a leader if you turn around and notice that someone is following. And hey, if nobody is following, you're probably not a leader. I think that, I think that the truth is you are leading more people than you realize because you're the epistle that they're reading and that you're the one they're following and your story is the one that they know about God until they get their own story with him. So Paul said in Ephesians 1, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward his saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened and that you may know what is the hope to which he hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, that's you the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places at his right hand in the heavenly in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come and he put all things under his feet and he gave him his head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all do you see it do you understand that that apparent disaster that began to unfold on the mountainside that day that that calamity and that impending doom not to be dramatic but you know that threat um that was already under his feet like he was already lord he was already rescuer and i didn't have to pray i didn't have to say there was no time to do either i think however that those times in prayer when i did pray and i did say your kingdom come your will be done for my family over each one of my children i mark each one of them for the greatness of your power because i believe it i believe your word and that your great might is working for them 24 7 night and day and even if i'm not there to see it or to intervene or to rescue them by my strength or power that your great might you are resident with them and you are there you are that burning bush you are the bush that is not consumed that you are the voice are the voice that speaks out of his excellent glory you speak concerning my child that you care about my child and that every day in every way even when it appears that in subsequent days and years and throughout the history of the lives of my children or your children it may not be that everything is perfect it may not be that everything is just hunky dory and there may have been disasters there may have been things that did happen but listen those things those things are subject to the overriding greatness of his power and the ultimate truth of the age that is to come so we live it out now like it is true like it is present like we have it right now and we're not moved by the things that do not go well or do not turn out right because we know that his plan is working behind the scenes it just so happens that this mountainside story I am sharing with you a very personal pretty intimate story I've never told it publicly I don't think I don't recall doing that because it's just one of those one of those times one of those times that God intervened God intervened oh my he is great he is great he has put all things under his feet so that's where we meditate that's what we believe and we see him as the head we see that his lordship is greater than anything else anything else and so prophetically we see the generations as God intended we see that and like Joseph in the word who was delivered again and again it doesn't mean his his life was easy it doesn't mean his story was perfect but because God raised him up we we have this example because as believers as Christian believers we are modern day Joseph's and our emphasis in prayer and study of God's word positions us to ultimately prevail over every force and over every threat and over any um over any threat wow listen take this as your own take it and believe it wherever you are throughout planet earth God today you are the revealer and have put on display your power and might your right arm is bared and extended toward us who believe to deliver to us again and again and again your character your unfailing love which is the motivator your love motivates us to trust you and believe you more and more and to look toward that ultimate day when everything will be set in order and revealed for what it really is and how it truly is for yours is the kingdom father and yours is the glory forever and ever and ever and ever throughout eternity thank God thank God oh I bless you today be full be full of expectation oh be full of the expectation of God's power in your life you can trust him to have bold have bold very bold confidence in God amen see you next time thanks for listening if you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast please share it with others post about it on social media or leave a rating and review don't forget to check out the show notes or visit a clear trumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list download the ministry app and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365 day devotional running with horses thanks again and we'll see you next time