Enjoying

Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him. His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: (Luke 1:66-67 NIV)

It's easy to get caught up in the "negative" work of God in Zechariah's life.  Zechariah asks a question and God strikes him dumb for nine months.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that plenty of husbands and wives would welcome nine months of silence from their spouse, but in this case it was a punishment.

When Zechariah was faithful, though, God not only reversed the punishment.  God added a blessing.  Zechariah was now filled with the Holy Spirit, something that wasn't available to everyone yet, and was able to enjoy being a prophet of God.

"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-- to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. (Luke 1:68-75 NIV)

Not only did Zechariah receive the blessing of God's Spirit and prophecy.  He would have the ongoing blessing of seeing God at work in his son, John.  He would watch John grow up, be filled with the Holy Spirit as well, and become an integral part of God's salvation plan.

in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." (Luke 1:75-79 NIV)

Don't ever think that your past sin will stop God from welcoming you home today.  Don't believe for a second that your disobedience excludes you from God's work in the future.  God is in the reconciliation business.  God empowers, equips, and encourages people all the time - people who have made mistakes in the past.  God even works with people who make mistakes along the way.  That's just the way God rolls.

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. (Luke 1:80 NIV)

How about you?  Are you willing to let go of your past mistakes and start being faithful to God again?  Are you ready to be empowered, equipped, and encouraged by God?  Are you ready to enjoy not only walking together with God but empowering one more?

Faithful

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John." (Luke 1:57-60 NIV)

Elizabeth was excited to be blessed by God with a child, even in her old age. When she had the baby, it was really time to celebrate. They did. As per their custom, the child was given his name at the circumcision ceremony. Clearly Elizabeth had communicated with Zechariah about the name, even though he couldn't talk this entire time. The angel had directed them, so they would be faithful to the call. They would call the boy, "John."

They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name." Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." (Luke 1:61-63 NIV)

I don't know about you, but I enjoy being married to someone who knows me well. When Traci says, "Pete had mentioned...," that means I mentioned it. She knows what I've said, what I've thought, and what I've done. I know the same about her. We have real limitations in our humanity, but in our relationship we desire to be one as God has designed husband and wife to be one.

Zechariah and Elizabeth clearly cared about this as well. They were considered "righteous in the sight of God" (Luke 1:6). This means that they were one in their marriage. They did not lie to one another. They both desired to walk together with God. It was important, then, for Zechariah to tell Elizabeth all about his encounter with the angel. They were on the same page in this: God's page. It didn't matter what traditions were being broken. It didn't matter what peer pressure was being exerted. They were going to walk together with God. They were going to name him John.

Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. (Luke 1:64-65 NIV)

Because of their faithfulness, John was born and named as God instructed. Because of their faithfulness, Zechariah was the object of God's miraculous sign. Because of their faithfulness, their child would pave the way for the savior of the world. God was working in and through them both. They were a team: God's team.

How about you? Are you faithful to God regardless of the traditions that have come before you? Are you faithful to God no matter how much peer pressure works against you? Are you faithful to God so that God will work through you? Are you a part of God's team?

Wavering

Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." The angel said to him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time." (Luke 1:18-20 NIV)

Zechariah was a priest.  Drawing near to God was a regular occurrence for him.  Encountering an angel of God, however, probably wasn't.  Even though God sent him a special messenger, Zechariah began wavering at the message.  "How can this be?"  This created problems for Zechariah.

When God puts a plan in action, there are only two options for us.  We can participate willingly or participate by fighting God.  When we fight God, we will lose and God's plan will still come to fruition.  When we participate willingly, God's plan still comes to pass but we get to enjoy the process much more.  Zechariah didn't participate willingly.

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. (Luke 1:21-22 NIV)

We can't fault Zechariah.  Many of us would have done the same thing.  It's a bit overwhelming to have an angel of the Lord show up and give you a direct message from God.  Before we look down on Zechariah for wavering, perhaps we should humbly remember the times we've tried to fight God, too.  Rather than bashing him, we can relate to him.  There are times we are dragged through God's plan kicking and screaming.

When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. "The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people." (Luke 1:23-25 NIV)

Elizabeth, however, responded to God's plan immediately.  Maybe that was because she wanted a child her whole life and she was finally getting a "yes" answer to her prayers.  Perhaps, though, she was just that open to God leading her.  Either way, she did not waiver.  She willingly followed God's plan.  As a result, we were all blessed with their child: John the Baptist.

How about you?  Do you waver when God calls you to do a part of His plan?  Do you participate willingly?  Have you seen the blessings that come from walking together with God?

Ready

Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. (Luke 1:6-7 NIV)

Zechariah and Elizabeth were clearly both walking together with God.  They were the ministry team of two, being "righteous in the sight of God."  Even though they were available to God for anything God wanted, they could not have children.  It's good to remember that walking together with God will still have struggles in this world.  Even for us today, we receive the Holy Spirit to help us in this world, but it does not take us out of this world.  When Jesus returns, that is when everything will be set right again.

Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. (Luke 1:8-10 NIV)

Here's a simplified diagram of the temple I found on the internet.  The Holy of Holies was the place where God dwelt.  The Israelites were afraid to encounter God at Mt. Sinai, so they told Moses to be their intermediary.  He would go up on the mountain to talk with God and then come down to tell them what God said.  Moses was living the role of the first prophet.

When they built the first house of God, it was a tent called a tabernacle.  Since they were traveling away from Mt. Sinai, this new tabernacle was the place where Moses and Aaron, the first High Priest, could go meet with God.  God's dwelling place was the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies).

When Israel finally settled in the promised land, they built a building where God would dwell.  This building is called the Temple.  The layout was the same, the Most Holy Place was still there, and the only person who could go into the Most Holy Place was the High Priest.  He went once a year.

Zechariah wasn't a High priest, but he was a priest.  He wasn't going to the Most Holy Place, but he was going to the next closest room: The Holy Place.  It was a frightening thing to encounter God because God only allows Holiness in God's presence.  The priests would purify themselves before going in to be close to God's presence.  Zechariah was about to have an encounter with God.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:11-17 NIV)

Zechariah and Elizabeth had lived lives that were "righteous in the sight of God."  They were walking together with God and ready for anything God called them to do.  They were ready.  God was about to work through them in a powerful way.

How about you?  Do you walk together with God?  Are you ready for anything God calls you to do?  Are you ready?

The Power of Two

The more we walk together with God and enjoy the benefits, the more we want to learn how to empower others to do the same.  When we begin praying for others and planting seeds of faith in their lives, it can become overwhelming when our list of people gets longer and longer.  In these times, I like to remember that even Jesus did not work with the five thousand in the same way he did the twelve.

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. (John 6:1-2 NIV)

Jesus' teachings and miracles certainly drew large crowds.  Often times, we think of "effective ministry" as being large crowd type of ministry.  In Jesus' life, that simply was not the case.  Whenever large crowds started to gather, Jesus would often do things that caused the crowd to break up and go home.

Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. (John 6:10-11 NIV)

Don't get me wrong now.  He fed the five thousand.  He certainly didn't turn down the opportunity to give the sermon on the mount.  He served large crowds with food, healing, and teaching.  But he didn't let the large crowd mentality get out of hand.  Sometimes he would give them teaching that was difficult enough that they would walk away scratching their heads.  Sometimes he would just leave himself.

After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (John 6:14-15 NIV)

When Jesus withdrew by himself, it was to spend time in prayer.  Praying about the Father's call in his life was essential to the ministry of Jesus.  He always did and said what the Father called him to do and say, regardless of whether it was popular or not.  Jesus wasn't trying to win popularity contests.  He was preparing people to become his disciples and disciple-makers.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town... (Luke 10:1 NIV)

We know that Jesus had "concentric circles" of relationships - people who were closer than others.  Jesus may have done things to purposefully think crowds of thousands.  He knew seventy two, though, by name.  In fact, he knew them well enough to pair them up, empower them with The Spirit, and send them out on test-runs to get ready for the later ministry they were going to do.

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, (Luke 9:1 NIV)

Before sending out the seventy two, Jesus did the same thing with the twelve.  He had already been working with them to teach them and prepare them for the ministry they would perform after his ascension.  They needed to know what to do when The Spirit descended upon them on the day of Pentecost.  Jesus gave them instructions, The Spirit, and a test-run as well.

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. (Luke 9:28 NIV)

Within the twelve, Jesus had an even closer relationship with three.  Peter, James, and John went with Jesus when he raised a little girl from the dead, when he was transfigured before their eyes, and when he was praying in the garden of Gethsemane.  Peter was given the "keys of the kingdom" and John referred to himself as the one that Jesus loved.  Jesus had a closer relationship with the three than the other nine.

My encouragement to you is this: don't be overwhelmed by the number of people God puts on your heart.  Pray for them.  Plant seeds of God's love and truth in their lives.  Allow different relationships to be, well, different.  Some will be closer.  Some will be more surface in nature.  Some people you will encounter every day.  Others you will see once a year at the family gathering.  Talk to God.  Ask Him for the names.  Then, pray for them.

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. (Luke 1:5-6 NIV)

Did you notice how the twelve and seventy two were sent out?  They went out two by two.  There is great power in being one mind with another person in ministry.  I encourage you to begin praying for that partner in ministry.  Who is God calling you to work with?

Jesus said: "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:19-20 NIV)

I'm praying for you right now - that God will provide for you a partner in ministry.  I'm praying for your ministry to others, that you will be faithful in praying and planting seeds of faith in those around you.  I'm asking God to help you recognize when someone is with God and when they are against - especially yourself.  I'm asking God to empower, equip, and spur you on to love and good deeds so you will empower one more to walk together with God.