The Spirit in Our Souls

We rarely get unwanted visitors where we live, just the four-legged variety. We have a few annoying dogs in the area. They often bark, growl, and approach until someone yells and chases them. One of them is a Great Dane, and he’s always egged on by a smaller pit bull mix. Lately, the owners have kept them away except after dark. One night, they were on our porch, dragging my work boots into the yard. We were getting something for nothing, but we didn’t want it.

When we first moved to the neighborhood, we also had a guy who came a few times offering something for nothing. He turned out to be a salesman, selling something, but not for free.

I like those gospel stories where Jesus walks around feeding and healing people and driving out demons for free. Yes, Jesus and His disciples did have to eat and sleep somewhere, but they generally did so at the kindness of others.

When Jesus sent out the twelve and later the seventy-two, He sent them out to share the message of the coming Messiah and to heal the sick for free (Luke 10:1). They, too, were often offered food and a place to stay, but that wasn’t their objective. Their objective was to let the people know how much God loved them—a little different from those who peddle the gospel for profit. 

What Jesus gave us during His ministry on earth was free. He died on the cross for us. The consequence of sin is that we must pay with our eternal life in hell. However, believing in Jesus cancels out our sins and results in a gift: heaven.

Each time someone offers you a gift, think about the one free gift that has eternal consequences. Share God’s message of salvation with them and tell them it is free. 

We’ve all experienced those nevertheless moments. They could be when a paycheck stretches further than it should, when we find unexplainable joy after a great tragedy or loss, or when a door closed but a better opportunity became available just in time. Even we, as believers, are influenced to quickly write off such unexplainable outcomes as coincidence, chance, good luck, or our own knowledge or skills.

An example of a nevertheless moment was when the disciples had fished all night but caught nothing. Jesus gets into the boat and tells Simon to go back out and let down his nets again. Simon reminds Jesus that he and the other fishermen had fished all night without success (Luke 5:5).

Simon, however, lowered the nets again as Jesus asked. When he did, his nets caught so many fish that he had to call in James and John’s boat to help pull in the incredible catch, which almost sank the boats.

Experiencing this amazing and unexpected outcome brought Simon to his knees. He confessed his sinful nature and acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus. Jesus used this nevertheless moment to prepare Simon, James, and John to follow Him and become disciples who would share the gospel with the world.

We may think such nevertheless moments were only for disciples and do not apply to ordinary people today. But when Simon, James, and John first appear in Scripture, they were just ordinary local fishermen. They did what fishermen do: catch and sell fish.

God still uses nevertheless moments to build our faith and prepare us for service. Just as Simon did, we should acknowledge Jesus as the giver of our undeserved, unexplainable blessings. Pray for ways to share Jesus with others who may be in a season of discouragement and need the hope that only Jesus can give. 

Have you ever thought about all the moments in a lifetime? I wonder how many moments we waste on things we can’t control—empty-handed moments. Instead of allowing the Lord to fill those moments, we often find ourselves circling around, wondering how things will turn out.

In 1 Samuel 2, we see the struggling moments in another person’s life (1 Samual 2:1). Hanna was desperate for a son, but she couldn’t have children. She poured out her heart to God, praying in desperation. The Bible says she prayed in deep anguish, refusing to eat, even after her husband tried to console her.

The Lord gave Hannah a son, and she named him Samuel. He was a great man of faith, born in response to Hanna’s prayers. Hanna’s heart rejoiced because God heard her prayer. She then vowed to give her son back to the Lord. But she had to reach that point of believing God would answer her prayer.

We, too, must reach that point when we know God can answer us. This may require us to become desperate, even to the point of emptying ourselves so that the Lord can do what He wants. We must believe that when we lay those burdens down, He takes them. Empty hands allow the Lord to be present to work in those moments. 

In his book Practicing His Presence, Brother Lawrence says, “This concentration upon God is strenuous, but everything else has ceased to be so. I think more clearly, I forget less frequently. Things which I did with a strain before, I now do easily and with no effort whatsoever. I worry about nothing and lose no sleep.”

Make sure you have moments when you’re empty-handed, so you can see what God wants to show you.

It’s just my armpits, I thought as I stared into the mirror, both arms raised to expose the two-week-old incisions where the surgeon had extracted lymph nodes for biopsy.

Each underarm bore a neatly stitched closure, and where it joined the skin was thick, about the length and breadth of a pinky finger. Not hideous, but a noticeable and lasting visual reminder of the cancer I had removed from my breasts. I could always skip wearing sleeveless blouses or sundresses.

I had prayed for God to heal me of breast cancer and believe He answered with the surgery, which resulted in clear margins. Knowing He healed me inside would overcome any self-consciousness over the marks left behind.

God’s healing power can sometimes seem invisible and take longer than we prefer (Psalm 30:2). Often, we fail to recognize healing in the day-to-day because it occurs at a microscopic level. But this does not negate the healing power the Lord wields.

David praises the Lord for hearing his cries and healing him. He does not downplay the healing, even if it may have taken years. We know from other psalms that David asked for healing and questioned the Lord about how long it would take.

God’s healing may not look as we expect. I have family members who did not receive their healing in this life. We can praise the Lord who hears us when we cry out for healing, nonetheless.

During thirty rounds of radiation, my skin began to change under both arms. There was some burning as a side effect, plus a week of peeling, and afterwards a light tan everywhere I had been exposed to the treatment.

There was also healing. Six months after the surgery, only faint lines appeared where the once prominent incisions and lumps of skin had been. At the surgeon’s follow-up, she remarked, “Now you can hardly tell you ever had cancer.”

The healing that God orchestrated inside my body was an answer to prayer. But He did not stop there. He healed beyond what I had dared to ask. Ask God for your healing.  

Complete darkness is scary. Once, before beginning a performance, I stood backstage in a totally black space. I became disoriented about where my entrance was located, which made me tremble. In silence, I had to reach out till I could touch someone.

When no light exists in our lives, we are lost, as I was in those backstage moments. Similarly, people without Jesus live in darkness. All the time.

Life can be dark for each of us at times, living in this fallen world. We need light to thrive, and tragedy or loss can seem overwhelming.

Light is also our source of color. If you ever see a rainbow inside your house, you see the evidence. A window or a prism catches sunlight and reveals the entire spectrum of color. Fascinating. We can see brilliant colors when the beauty and power of the light surprise us.

When God created the sun, the moon, and the stars, He spoke, and His words made it happen (John 1:4-5). Good sounds so small a word for the results. He took an absolute void and created a power that supplies all of life. From the sun that shines upon us to the visible spark at the moment of conception, God is the source of light. It is His power behind all created things. But the inverse is nothing without light.

From Genesis to Revelation, light presents the overarching theme of God’s Word. When the will of humans caused their world to be darkened by disobedience, God stepped in so many times to give us a chance to be redeemed. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, David, and prophet after prophet led attempts to return the people to God. Then, when the time was right, Jesus came. He was called the Light of all people.

When we read God’s Word, the precious gift of light and rainbow promises brings us into His presence. When life looks dark, ask Christ to make you a prism. When you ask with a pure heart, the darkness cannot overcome the light. Then you can clearly see the pathway to shine His light for others. Let there be light.