Saturday, February 24, 2018

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!


GREATER THINGS!  Who doesn’t want greater things?  No, I am not talking about worldly, material things.  I am talking about the things of the heart that we desire deep down within.  Things of God – things that will bring lasting satisfaction.  Things we’ve not seen or experienced before ~ that will make us jump for joy!  In these days of fear and lies and destruction all around us … and yes, death – lots of it … our hearts long for peace and safety and truth … and life.  Abundant life.  We might ask ourselves or anyone else who will listen:  is that even possible in 2018 when the world around us seems to be something out of an unbelievable, terrifying movie?  Well, God says it is possible.

But first, He reminds us that we are human and He is God.  That while we cannot fully know or see or understand what is going on in all this craziness – He does.  And He’s got this.  Our part is to pursue HIM.  To run after HIM.  To seek HIM with all of our being!  The Apostle Paul tells us this in God’s Word: “For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face!  Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].”  (I Corinthians 13:12)  What assurance that we can trust God in the interim – until someday when it will all become clear to us!

Sometimes we see something so out-of-the-ordinary, the only way we can explain it is that the experience has GOD written all over it.  At work the other day in a memory-care facility filled with residents living with dementia and Alzheimer’s, I witnessed an amazing miracle!  I can still feel the goose-bumps I experienced when my eyes saw what I’d never seen before!  This elderly gentleman who typically shuffles up and down the hallways in a slow, not-so-sure-footed manner, stopping often to bend way over and rub his knees, did something that still makes me shake my head  – but jump for joy!!  In my six and a half years in my office position, I  am often out in the front living area and the hallways – and I am able to interact with the residents to the point that I am fully aware of their individual capabilities, or lack thereof.  So on this day, it was time for live music with an entertainer who is gifted with a singing voice that can emulate most any well-known singer.  Staff was gathering the residents and bringing them to the music room.  I walked in for the purpose of joining someone else to listen to “just one song” and then get back to the tasks awaiting me in my office.  As I stopped to listen, some movement caught my eye through the window looking out to the hallway.  I sucked in my breath at first glance, thinking this gentleman was losing his balance and was going to fall.  And in the next glance as he continued his unusual motion, I realized he was dancing down the hallway!  I quickly moved out of the room to where he was to make sure he would not lose his balance and fall.  His body swayed and moved in perfect sync to the timing of the music.  He moved his legs and arms and twirled around in fluid movement as if he had been a professional dancer.  I felt shivers go up and down my spine.  I wanted to run to him, but I barely dared breathe lest I break the beauty of what was taking place!  I looked at his face, and in those impeccably perfect steps and spinning circles, I saw something in his face I had never seen before.  He was visibly experiencing joy on a level that he has not been able to for years.  Fully engaged with the music, his brain and his body connected with full clarity and he danced by himself around the edges of the music room.  Everyone’s eyes were fixated on him, captured in the wonder of it all.  We were one with him, sharing his freedom, his enjoyment, his celebration!  Whoever neared the room, I waved them in to also witness what all of us were so astounded by.  It was nothing less than a miracle!  When I finally made my way back down the long hallway to my office, the physical wonder and sense of witnessing what God had just gifted this man with, stayed with me for the rest of my day.  I still feel it as I write.  One cannot see GOD in action and not be moved deeply and impacted greatly!  As I was witnessing the miraculous movements of this gentleman usually bound by the limitations of his medical condition, I could not help but remember “the greater things” that God’s Word tells us we will get to experience in these days we are living in!  I am still jumping for joy!!

So, in telling you this amazing story, if we want more than what this life on earth can offer us, what do we do?  Where do we start?  What makes it possible?  Well, we first need to recognize that the answer lies purely and simply in choosing to pursue God!  He is our only source for “more” of what really matters.  He is the only one who can gift us with “the greater things!”  We will never experience the very best things outside of God Himself.  Oh, they might seem like the very best in the moment – but believe me, they will not last.  They will fade away.  They will be forgotten.  They will consume us through our failure to hang on to the fleeting.  God’s greater things are experienced “freshly brewed” for each new day!  They are found in HIM:  in His presence!  Living in this pursuit of God takes us right to His heart.  Living this way is not about us – or what He can do for us.  Living this way brings us to a place of asking God what we can do for HIM!  We will want to know what is on HIS heart.  We will live in the place of pleasing the Lord God.  Not because we have to – but because we long to, from the deepest places of our soul.  Everything else will dim in our view, and our vision will finally be cleared to see more of what God sees.  Our heart’s desires will get in alignment with His desires, and our heartbeat will become one with His as we move into action where He is at work. Suddenly, the disappointments and devastations of this present earth lose their hold when laid down at the feet of Jesus. They are sifted through the Promises of God, and the sting is shaken out.  What remains is uncontainable peace and joy … and lasting satisfaction.  The greater things of God push us past our human capabilities … to participating in the supernatural ~ the very gifts of God that He delights in favoring His children with!! 

Just what did He tell us we would be able to do?  Listen:  “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12)  And Jesus goes on to say in the next verse:  “And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name {as presenting that I AM], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son.”  So, dear ones, our heartbreaking reactions of hopelessness need be no more.  We can run to Jesus, pursue Him, follow hard after Him, and experience all the greater things that God has just been waiting for us to participate in!  Whether we get to witness it – or it is something He wants us to do!  Wait no more ~ start doing!  Do you desire greater things?  Life on a whole new level with GOD awaits!

REMEMBER . . .

(Our Scripture theme verse at the birthing of Elevation North):

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to His power that is at work within us,
to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, forever and every!  Amen!”

~ Ephesians 3:20-21  

Joyfully Serving Christ . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie









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