Be With Me: 7 Minutes of Biblical Wonder

Sometimes you need the strength of a bull. 
Sometimes you need to knock a few things down.
Sometimes you need to defend with power.
Sometimes you need to destroy with violence
Sometimes you need to celebrate that you are on the BULL'S Team

Lord you are the HORN OF MY SALVATION.

We will celebrate the BULLS, not the riders of the PBR: Professional Bull Riders.  In fact I couldn't even think of a single human rider.  I could however, think of a bull!  Fu Man Chu, who is celebrated in a Tim McGraw song, Live Like You Are Dying.  The rider lasts 2.7 seconds.  Why? Because of the bulls POWER, and STRENGTH.

It is not every day that we celebrate the Lord strongly for His ability to knock stuff down.  But today is that day!  We are on the strong side and boy do we need it!  "I'm with Fu Man Chu".  We are on His team.  He has raised up a HORN OF SALVATION!  Listen for 7 minutes and like and post and share and engage.  You can help somebody who needs His STRENGTH.

Has the Lord ever given you 278 days to reconsider your position? What if He sent you into a sort-of self isolation for that time when you couldn't speak and couldn't hear.  What if you had all that time between your own ears and only your own ears to think about something that you got wrong the first time.

This is what we see with Zechariah, who is deaf and mute for 278 days before he is tested with the fruit of his retreat.  What pours forth from his tongue that has had reigns on it for 278 days?  What would pour forth from your tongue?  What DOES pour forth from your tongue? Would you have to wash your mouth out with soap?

Remember, Zechariah, like many of us, starts with Unbelief.  Where he goes from there is a blessing to his wife, his son, his God, and his neighbors. Listen 7 minutes and then be a blessing by re-tweeting, re-posting on Facebook or mailing this to a friend.  

Are you hungry today, that is, of your SOUL?  Is your spirit longing a bit for your Maker?  If so, have I got a God for you.

Mary leads us on today with here great praise prayer of Luke 1.  He has looked. He is mighty. He has done.  He is holy. He is faithful. He has faithfulness to the ungrateful (hesed from the Old Testament). He exhalts the humble. 

My favorite today: He fills the hungry (soul) with good things.

Are you poor of spirit?  Are you hungry of soul? Are you aware that you didn't create yourself? Are you grateful that the Lord remembers you?

Look to Him.  Fall on Him.  You came to the right place this morning.  Subscribe at www.bewithme.us 

For my early morning listeners, I will be traveling for a couple of weeks, so the podcasts may not drop at their regular times.  Please be patient. Thank you for listening.

The awe-stonishing thing isn't that mankind and womankind looks to God.  The truly awe-stonishing thing is that HE LOOKS TO US. He does look.  And, He looks to US.  Mary worships about this very concept today.

But what if God did NOT LOOK?  What are the implications?  Would this be a world that you'd want to live in?  No holding of the world together, no orbits, no sunrise, no birds, no common graces, no marriage, no family, no intercession at the right hand of the Father, no sacrifice for sin, no covenants, no commitments, and of course no savior.  

I am so grateful, that You Lord HAVE looked upon us.  Like Mary, I get pretty small pretty fast.  With all you do, I end up as a humble servant, as she says.

Join me for seven minutes as we think about the truly awe-stonishing thing: That He has LOOKED ON US.  Then subscribe on your favorite podcast server like Apple or Google Podcasts.  Or, write at [email protected]

Mary is a spiritual rock star.  You have THE essential ingredient that she does: a SOUL. You know, the seat of your decisions, words, understanding and will. Your soul is fantastic, amazing, and is to be celebrated.  But here's the rub: you did not make your soul.  That should stop you in your tracks.  It did to me today.

Suddenly, the large, personally important footprint of my soul is viewed differently.  It is created.  I am created.  My soul is not an accident.  Its' agency is due to something, wait, Someone.  Now I am in duty-land.  I owe that Creator. I am getting smaller.  He is getting bigger.  My soul MAGNIFIES.

I don't make Him bigger than He is.  I'm just trying to right size God, and right size me.  He gets bigger.  I get smaller.  I choose with the agency He's given me to make Him bigger, and to rejoice in Him.  This is all a good thing.  I probably should indeed CHOOSE JOY.

Listen please for 7 minutes and with that soul of yours, perhaps you too can magnify today.  Please share this podcast.  Hit retweet. Subscribe at [email protected]. I'll be traveling x2 weeks out of country and the next podcasts may drop irregularly.  Please keep on listening.

What makes MARY so special? Her relative Elizabeth tells us the basics:  Blessed is She who believes.

Now Elizabeth was no stranger to this.  Her husband had THE SAME angel visit him 6 months earlier.  He did not believe the angel.  His question betrayed his unbelief.  Therefore, for the last 6 months, 5 of which "she kept herself hidden" probably at home alone with Zechariah. Don't forget though that he was stricken dumb and deaf, so this probably came with its own set of challenges.  Elizabeth declares Mary blessed because SHE BELIEVES.

Suddenly, Mary shows up.  Suddenly the baby leaps within her. Suddenly, she is filled with the Holy Spirit.  It is quite a day in the Zechariah household!  And here is the response: JOY.  I am happy to see you.  John leaps for joy. She worships God in as much as she says to Him, "I am joyed to see you".  Also, she is humbled in a "who am I to receive such a wonderful visitation?" kind of way.

Listen 7 minutes today for joy, for humility, and for belief.  Subscribe on your phone at apple podcasts or Spotify or google podcasts.

An angel is opening a gift to Mary and the world.  He is describing some of the 'who is Jesus' questions that you may have.

Jesus is proclaimed now to be occupying the office of the 'throne of David'.  This was promised about a 1000 years previous to this to David who wanted to build God a nice house.  God turns the tables and says to David, 'no, I am going to build YOU a house.' By this, He means a heritage, an inheritance, a lineage that will go on FOREVER.  It is a great story that you might want to dog-ear in your bible in 1 Chron 17.  Cara and I wrote a bible study on it: The Lord of the Kings: a Bible Study from 1 & 2 Chronicles.   

Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Kings-Bible-Study-Chronicles/dp/1076893244/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+lord+of+the+kings+cara+smith&qid=1622628961&sr=8-1

Then the great truth: nothing is impossible with God.  This recalls an angel that visits Sarah regarding a pregnancy, "Is anything too difficult for God?"

Today we will ask God for the impossible.  For one impossible thing.  Please listen 7 minutes.

Gabriel comes to give the triple reveal of pregnancy of Mary:

• that you are pregnant (miraculously)
• that the gender is male
• that He already has a name (but you are the first to know it)

Mary is knocked off her game.  She is DISTURBED: deeply troubled, confused
So here is the big question for today, what does she do with the DISTURB?  

We are sobered here because Zechariah, Gabriel's last assignment betrays UNBELIEF with his question.  Mary is at risk, how will she do? 

It is one of the big questions of Christianity.  What happens when we are disturbed?  It reveals the interior life of the Christian. Do we doubt? become angry? Curse? Fall in to stinking thinking? Act out verbally, mentally, physically or sexually? Take liberties with boundaries? Become fearful? Or like Zechariah, Doubt?

What will Mary do when visited by an angel?  What will she do with her DISTURB? Listen 7 minutes and find out.  Then subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Zechariah, though he is earlier described as a righteous man, betrays himself by a question.  The question seems innocent enough, but we get an angelic clarification.  The angel just calls him out definitively:  you did NOT BELIEVE MY WORDS. This is to a faithful, chosen, professional priest, who has stood the test of time.  If you wanna know, the question is on the surface pretty 'innocent.'  In reality it is not.  Here it is, "How should I know this?"

In this, he betrays his unbelief.  You see, because an angel has come as a messenger.  It is an angel who "stands in the presence of God."  I work at the White House.  And, he even gets his named revealed, Gabriel.  The last time Gabriel was named, it was 500 years before this to Daniel the prophet when in captivity.  Gabriel has been on the job for a long, long, time.  It is not his first rodeo.  

The Gospel of Luke starts with two surprises.  First, that a child is going to be born and his name is JOHN.  Second, that it starts with UNBELIEF from a guy who should not be doubting. Isn't it true that supposedly innocent questions betray so much.  But it is not every day that an angel calls you on it.  Please listen for 7 minutes. 

The Gospel of Luke starts with the birth of a child.  IT'S NOT JESUS.  Surprise. Surprise.  

We get the prequel to Jesus' birth by the story of John the Baptist's PARENTS.  They are a couple of good people that were dealing with the bad thing of barrenness.  It is not because of sin, it is for the sovereignty.  Certainly they didn't have the end of the story here at the beginning, so likely, this was definitely a life pain for them.

God shows up after 400 years of prophetic silence since Malachi.  Zechariah is appropriately terrified.  He hears his unborn son is seen, known, named, filled and has a future.  It is single-handedly one of the strongest pro-life arguments in the Bible.  If this is true, we probably should be acting appropriately with our laws and politics.  We may want to re-orient the discussion to what the Lord has given this little baby. We may need to re-think who has been given rights, and who is given responsibilities.

There is a great lesson of prayer here.  "If every prayer you prayed in the last week was answered, how would the world change?" Perhaps that is convicting.  Maybe it is a call to pray more, and for some, pray ANY.

John is here at the very beginning for a reason.  He's the last of a long line of prophets who mostly paid with all they had.  Let's listen and find out why.