The Incarnation Miracle

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. Hello everyone and welcome.

Welcome back to our podcast, Running with Horses. You know, looking at the divine intervention that God consistently, constantly is revealing to each one of us, and I would say, you could admit, I certainly am quick to say that His miracle working power in my life explains my life. It is the reason I am alive and the reason for everything that is good in my life. So, I am confident of His constant display of His miraculous power and the heart, the very heart that He has to release miracles into our midst and to demonstrate Himself that way, not rarely, but often. You know, sometimes you have to be honest and admit that we don't see things because we don't know what we're seeing. We don't realize what we're looking at, or at least that is the case for me. I've discovered that.

It's so, so true. A book that has been written by a favorite author of mine, the book title is Miracles, C.S. Lewis, part of his classic series. There's a section in this book, Miracles, I'd like to read to you. It is a section on the free will, the free will that God gives to the individual. Here's the quote, actually a lengthy sentence. The sin, both of men and of angels, was rendered possible by the fact that God gave them free will, thus surrendering a portion of His omnipotence, which is a death-like or descending movement, because He saw that from a world of free creatures, even though they fell, He could work out, and here would be the reassent, a deeper happiness and a fuller splendor than any word of automata would admit, than any world of automata would admit, end quote.

Of course, C.S. Lewis and that very large vocabulary of his has expressed something very large, very huge, with very descriptive, very specific wording, and the explanation here that God surrendered a portion of His omnipotence, which would allow then a decrease, a descending movement, where He yielded up something that He actually had in giving to us our free will, the way that we are able to choose so that we are not, His word is automata, meaning automated or robotic, we are not robotic. And that if He gave us this free will, that even though we failed or fell, is the Bible word, He would lead us to work it out, thus resulting in a deeper happiness and fuller splendor, I love that, fuller splendor than anything a robotic human being could even think, imagine, participate in. So as you think along those lines, and you envision all that has taken place in the way that you have exercised your free will, and considering John chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God, and the Word, He, became flesh and dwelt among us, the incarnation. So as I said, let's consider this, the incarnation, as the springboard for both old and new creation miracles, the way that God interjects Himself, and interject Himself, boy did He ever, in the beginning was the Word, that means there was God the Father, God the Word, and God the Spirit, so the Word was with God, and the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God, and then He, the Word, took upon Himself flesh, He became flesh, and dwelt among us. So God the Word became God in the flesh, or God the Son, this is the incarnation, so that He could dwell among us, the miraculous right in front of us, His miracle mindset, dwelling among us, with us, affecting us, so that as we read His Word, and study His Word, Genesis to Revelation, we are reading God the Word, who became flesh, I mean do you see, do you see how beyond what we can grasp this truly is, but it helps me to grasp the miraculous, just the reading of that portion, several verses out of the first chapter of John, enlarges my heart, enlarges my thinking, helps me to expand to understand more each day the possibilities here, and so on this podcast, Running With Horses, you know our reference verse frequently is out of 1 Kings, and the account of how the hand of God came upon the prophet Elijah, and in a miraculous display of supernatural superhuman strength, the man Elijah actually ran faster than the horses, or horse, pulling the chariot that King Ahab was in, as they headed back to town from Mount Carmel, going back to Jezreel, you can read that in 1 Kings 18, the most important thing here is the connection, the hand of God was on Elijah, according to verse 46 in that chapter, and the result was the supernatural feat of superhuman strength and ability. And you know you can connect that way of thinking to the incarnation, and what, here again, a borrowed expression, that the incarnation should be sort of a baseline, at least a baseline for us to understand God's determination to be a part of our lives, and to raise us to his level, not for us to bring him to our level, and as they say sometimes, you know, in casual conversation, okay, let's keep it real now, well that is real, that's the most real, it is true, and is, as we've said before, our true north, and it's why we can pray the Lord's Prayer, thy kingdom come, and thy will be done, right here on earth, just like it is in heaven, so do you see it, do you see this expansion of the way we think and see and expect?

So in the life, if you use the life of Elijah, use that as the life of one man as our template, the focus of God's hand on your life, the lives of all believers everywhere, what does that really look like, and what result might I reasonably expect? And I say, when I pray, kingdom of God come, will of God be done, that is what I'm expecting, and if you pray that way, and you think that way, as we say on this podcast frequently, we have the mind of Christ, the Word says we have the mind of Christ, therefore, the possibility is to more and more think like him, believe like him, reason like him, and God's hand on us is what makes that possible, his Spirit on the inside of us is hand upon us. I say that miracles occur all the time. Sometimes they're easier to spot than other times because there are small miracles and much larger miracles, but the miraculous is flowing all the time. And the happening here, either way, whether it's small or large, the reason, sometimes the reason we don't see things is because often it occurs in the least likely situation or with the least likely person, but here again, we're just getting the answer to our prayer, kingdom of God come, will of God be done on earth just like it is in heaven. That is our prayer. So what do you expect when you pray that prayer? What do you see when you read 1 Kings 18? What would you come away with from John chapter one, the first couple of verses, and then maybe verse six, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And as C.S. Lewis says in his book Miracles, I really believe that you have to honestly consider that God has set everything up so that the happiness He created for us is deeper than anything we can ask or hope for and the splendor of the world that He has for us because of all that He wants to fill it with. I believe that that is an honest conclusion to come to and it's true, should be true, could be true, is potentially true for each life because we're free. We're free to allow God to work out everything that concerns us. The Bible wording is He is at work in us to will and do of His good pleasure, however, not against our will.

You see it? Not against our will. He is working miraculously to help me conform to the miraculous that He's doing. And my most brilliant response could only be to agree, cooperate, participate with God the Creator in doing what only He can do.

Oh, the depth here. It's just how powerful and supernatural our God really, really is. I just thank you. I really do. I thank you for joining us today.

You know, I have a sense as I'm doing these podcasts of who might be listening and where they might live and other, you know, details. It's amazing what God is doing as the world grows smaller and smaller and we who love Him so much become closer and closer. I appreciate you, I thank God for you, and today I pray for His highest and His best for you.

You have the mind of Christ, that means you have the thought life of a King. 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 acleartrumpet.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.