BE QUIET: God is Speaking!

How exciting it must have been for Peter, James and John to have witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus Christ! One minute they were climbing a mountain and the next they were standing in front of a radiant Jesus as He spoke with Moses and Elijah!

At the very least, the transfiguration would have confirmed for the disciples that Jesus was going to die and be raised to life again, because Moses and Elijah stood on the mount speaking to Jesus about His upcoming death and the fulfillment of God’s plans through Him.

As this event unfolded, James and John stood by and silently took it in, perhaps in awe of what they were witnessing as they listened to Jesus and the others speak. Peter, however, began to make plans and suggestions, moving toward Jesus, Moses and Elijah with the ideas he had in mind. While Jesus was yet shining like the sun before him, Peter verbally spilled out his ideas into the holy and sacred atmosphere on the mount.

“It’s good that we’re here together, God is in this! Let’s set up camp here and get comfortable. We can make this our permanent home ministry base. Let’s build an office for each of you! And.........….” (Paraphrased Matt. 17:4).

And even as Peter was speaking, God interjected His thoughts into the situation. Matthew tells us the God interrupted Peter’s harangue, telling them to listen to Jesus: “While he [Peter] was STILL SPEAKING, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said: This is My beloved Son. LISTEN TO HIM!” (Mark 9:7).

In Peter’s defense, we’re told that he was so stunned by the glory of Jesus and magnificence of the situation that he wasn’t sure what he should say (Mark 9, Matt 17, Luke 9). But it appears that God’s plan was for him to say nothing: all he was supposed to do was listen to what Jesus was saying…ALWAYS!

God’s plan will always come to pass, but we may miss the magnificent manifestation of it if we are too busy making our own plans and talking over Him. We may miss the moment of awe that He has set in place for us to experience and learn from if we can’t be still before Him. If we’re set on showing Jesus our ideas for the current situation, then we have it backwards and have missed the voice of God: let us first hear His voice, then build accordingly!

Need more power? Be like Stephen!!

True to the command of God, the Church in Jerusalem took care of feeding the local widows (Acts 6). In fact, this was such an important job that the apostles themselves participated in the distribution of food on a daily basis.

However, it became evident to the apostles that the preaching of the Word was suffering because they were spending so much time distributing food to the hungry. To solve this problem, the apostles called the entire church together and advised them to choose 7 men from among themselves whose lives testified of their dedication to God, who were full of the Holy Spirit, and who operated in the wisdom of God. These were the type of men needed to distribute food to the widows and poor!

Once the church had accomplished this task, the apostles laid hands on the 7 and released them to the business of feeding the hungry. But Stephen, who had been sitting among the other members of the church before being chosen, began to perform miracles. Strangely enough, the apostles had not anointed him to perform miracles; they had anointed him to feed hungry widows. But once Stephen set about the task he was given, God used him in a way he might never have imagined.

To God, the food pantry was a perfect place for a man like Stephen (and the other power packed 6 as well). To the apostles, food distribution was important enough that they took it on for a time, then insisted that those who take their place be Holy-Spirit filled and wise. To the church, this task was important enough for the entire congregation to come together in search of their most qualified members. The fact that they had 7 men among them of this caliper is testimony to the dedication, strength, power, integrity and fortitude of the congregation in Jerusalem.

When Stephen was chosen, he wasn’t studying-up to be anything but a living testimony of Jesus Christ. He was dedicated to seeking God and living in faith through the Holy Spirit. Then he and the rest of the 7 accepted the call to serve widows: a job that today might be considered menial and of little importance.

But every task done for the Lord is an opportunity to extend the grace and power of God to people in need. No one person or gift has a market on the power of God; He is no respecter of persons and His power is not confined to those who are on a speaking circuit or labeled as apostles. Stephen was chosen to work in the food pantry and God chose this place to perform miracles through Him. Bit it is also likely that Stephen followed the pattern of Jesus, performing miracles in a wide variety of locations and circumstances, according to the needs of the people and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The heart that fully seeks God will be used of Him. The heart that is set on achieving status or is too ‘anointed’ to do menial tasks is one that forgets that there is power in washing the feet of others. And in effect, this is the type of task that Stephen and the 7 were assigned. It’s the heart that is willing to serve which may be suddenly surprised by the dunamis [miraculous] power that is poured upon it. Far above seeking an anointing for miracles, the 7 sought God and willingly submitted to His assignment to serve. In service and humility, power comes!!!

“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life--a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43b-45).