The song today is sans busy instrumentals, just a simple guitar, two beautiful voices and assurances of the faithfulness of God Almighty. Based on Philippians 1:6, a letter from Paul and Timothy tells the people of Philippi that they have been partners in spreading the word of Christ and as such, he and they, can be confident that the good work God began in them will not go unfinished. My favorite Christian blogger Carl Middleton has some intriguing questions though, and is asking what happened to all the many miracles performed, of course by Christ, but by his Apostles, and by those connected to the Disciples and on down to today. If we have the faith we say we have and the faith we believe we have, why are we not creating miracles?
I certainly don’t have an answer to Carl’s question, but I do believe every baby conceived is a miracle. Do you?
Could it be … the anointing faded like it did with Moses? The Apostle Paul explains in 2nd Corinthians 3:13 the reason why Moses, after receiving the Law and then coming down from the mountain placed a vail over his face. After being in the presence of God, the face of Moses shone with the glory of Godstill upon it. (Exodus 34:29-35) The vail prevented the children of Israel from observing the glory fading slowly from his face.
So I ask, why couldn’t the glory, the anointing, and the power of Jesus … given to the disciples and church fathers likewise have faded slowly away….
Could it be … that the Church the disciples started in the first century has fallen so far away from what the church was intended to be, that the same powerand anointing of the Holy Spirit has very few places or people to work with anymore? Is that why it seems as though God doesn’t work miracles as often in this present church age?
I know many who have been healed and believe their healing is a miracle. I don’t doubt it, but I do wonder how one knows? Maybe it’s the meds, or your body cooperating, or is it just not your time to go? All of the above could be God’s miracles, or God’s miracle could be that it is your time, but God created the meds and the doctors and your fierce, fight-worthy body.
I remember every day that I have survived breast cancer, soon to be 20 years. I never doubted that I was God-directed in my treatment and decisions, as were my doctors. I often wonder what being a cancer “survivor” really means. It can only mean the cancer never comes back and doesn’t move elsewhere. I heard Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said her mother was a 24-year breast cancer survivor, and then she said her mother died of breast cancer after those 24 years. When I think I can be an encouragement to someone facing cancer, I will tell them that I am a many-year survivor. I should say “I have survived for many years.” There is a difference, but whatever the difference, I’m here and I am thankful and I am blessed. I watched my children grow-up.
Etched solidly in my consciousness are times when without the grace of God I would have been in an horrific automobile accident, but wasn’t. I was spared – heart-pounding and thanking God seriously that Jesus took the wheel, either mine or theirs. I remember when I fell through the attic and lived to tell about it, laughed about in fact, really wasn’t injured at all.
Maybe you didn’t get onto a scheduled flight for a last-minute reason and that flight didn’t make it to it’s destination. Maybe you were in the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2013 and made it out, or didn’t. Maybe you survived 5 tours in Iraq and Aghanistan – or one. Your buddy didn’t. In times like these, we never doubt the miracle that brought us through.
But when miraculous events in our lives are not as recognizable, I wish God would whisper in my ear, ‘Maggie, this is a miracle you’re involved in here, and I know you’re not paying attention, so I’m giving you a heads-up. Please show proper gratitude.’ Maybe if I were a quieter person, I would hear those whispers, feel God’s breath on my ear.
As you listen to the song based on Paul’s comforting words and his confidence that God will “finish” me/us with the good works that he started, in spite of my/our constant noise and interruptions, listen to Steve Green in the background and then read Carl Middleton’s column – there is so much more than the short snippet above.
“In Science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Miracles
Lyrics by Jon Mohr
Philippians 1:6
Chorus
He who began a good work in you
He who began a good work in you
Will be faithful to complete it
He’ll be faithful to complete it
He who started the work
Will be faithful to complete it in you
If the struggle you’re facing
Is slowly replacing your hope
With despair
Or the process is long
And you’re losing your song
In the night
You can be sure that the Lord
Has His hand on you
Safe and secure
He will never abandon you
You are His treasure
And He finds His pleasure in you
Repeat Chorus
Previous Worship Music Posts here.
Linked at My Daily Musings Headlines (find things you need to know here).
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