Click for song “He Knows My Name”

“That’s my little baby…” she was able to whisper before she burst into tears.

The emotion of the moment was overwhelming. Even though I had just met these people I was now swept up in their grief; emotion was rising to the surface of my own heart. It was the painful closure they had wished would not be the case, but deep inside knew it to be the most likely of endings.

She began with the utmost of care to stroke the head of her little beloved dog. She gently wrapped the broken and lifeless body of this special member of their family in preparation for the journey home and the final stage of their heart wrenching goodbye.

I mentioned how providential it was that we discovered their dog on this remote portion of our property. She thanked me for the role I had played in helping them bring closure to their grief-stricken last 4 days. She indicated they had been praying that God would help them in their search. Her final words to me were,

“You are the answer to our prayers.”

I began to realize the great lengths to which the Lord had gone to answer their prayers to find their little dog that was carried off from their back yard by some sort of carnivore…

I had just phoned them in response to a message I found taped to our mail box:

“Lost Yorkie. Please call 250-764-xxxx if you find her.”

Earlier in the day Anne and I had walked to our neighborhood store to get a Globe and Mail to sit in the sun at the coffee shop to relaxing by chatting, and reading the paper while we enjoyed our preferred form of caffeine. At the tail end of our long walk we cut through the far corner of our property – which we never do. I can’t remember the last time we walked through this steep brush and tree covered area of the yard.

That’s when a Magpie caught Anne’s eye. It was on a dark lifeless object. She wondered if it could be a pet. On a number of other occasions we have found deceased neighborhood dogs and cats on our property – typically the prey of coyotes.

I pushed my way through the bushes to investigate and discovered it was indeed a little dog. With no collar on its neck I had no one to call.

Later that day I was suddenly moved by a burst of motivation to zip out to Rona to buy some parts I needed for a home repair I had been procrastinating about for months. When I came home the note about the lost Yorkie was taped to our mail box. They had come by while I was away. They had been searching the neighborhood for 4 days and had finally reached our street.

I phoned. They described their dog to me. I told them I think I found her. They came and got closure, and an answer to their prayers.

Even though this was a heart-breaking situation, my new friends recognized God had answered their prayers. He had gone to great lengths to coordinate Anne and I with a number of other factors to bring resolution.

I realized again, God hears us when we call. He cares about our lives. He cares about us far more than we realize. Oftentimes we think He doesn’t hear, He doesn’t care, He is disengaged, but it’s not true. He is very much engaged – He hears our prayers. Our prayers may not be answered the way we think they should be, but He answers out of what is best for us.

God loves you and is far more engaged in your life than you realize. He cares about the big things and the little things. His invitation is for us to trust Him with all aspects of our lives; to discover His great love for us in everything. And then to make His love known in everything we do.

Whatever you are going through, God cares and He hears you when you call. Whatever you are facing offer it to the Lord, look to Him for your hope, provision, healing and resolution.

He hears when you call.

Psalm 34:17

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.”

Psalm 145:19

“He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”

Luke 12:6, 7

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

1 John 5:14

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

“Well I won’t back down, no I won’t back down
You could stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down

Gonna stand my ground, won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won’t back down

[Chorus:]
Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down

Well I know what’s right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground and I won’t back down

Hey baby there ain’t no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down
No, I won’t back down.”

You may recognize these words as the Lyrics to the song “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I love the sentiment of this song.

Hey, sometimes it’s just tough – there’s no easy way out. So what am I going to do? Stand my ground. I am not going to back down. I know what’s right. I’ve only got one life and even though the world is trying to push me around I’m going to stand my ground.

This is a song about conviction, commitment, fortitude, courage, diligence, perseverance and strength.

We need more of this sentiment.

We need more men who will stand their ground. We need men who won’t back down. We need men who are choosing courage, conviction and commitment: strong men of fortitude, and diligence who persevere through difficulties.

We need men who understand when to surrender and when to stand firm. Men who know how to surrender to God, and stand firm against the spiritual opposition sent to steal, kill and destroy. Sadly though, we can often surrender to the seduction of sin and resist the work of God in our lives.

Your ability to stand your ground in the midst of opposition depends on what you’re standing on and how you’re standing. It very difficult to stand firm on ground that is shifting – like sand. To stand firm you need to be standing on solid ground.

The only solid ground that enables us to stand firm is the Truth. We must be standing on the Truth. Jesus said that He is the Truth and that He will send the Spirit of Truth to guide us into all Truth. We will know the Truth and the Truth will set us free.

Our power to stand firm in the midst of opposition – to stand our ground – is found in the authority of Christ: the Truth of who He is, what He has done for us, the Truth of who we are in Him, and the Truth of the Father’s heart for us.

The only way we can stand our ground in the authority of Christ is to surrender to the authority of Christ. Your ability to stand your ground and be a man of strength, courage, conviction, fortitude, perseverance, faith and diligence is dependent on your willingness to surrender to Jesus and believe the Truth.

Once again, only by surrendering to the authority of Christ can we walk in the authority of Christ.

It’s in the authority of Christ that we need to take our stand on the Truth of God. Standing on the Truth in the authority of Christ enables us to stand our ground and not back down. This enables us to live in victory. When doubts, fears, insecurities, regrets, shame, and condemnation come against you, don’t back down. Stand in the Truth of what Jesus has accomplished for you. Stand on the Truth of the authority of Christ – the victory he has given you over the strategy of the enemy.

Easter is when we remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. He has overcome the enemy and broken the curse of sin. We have all authority in heaven and on earth in the name of Jesus. We don’t need to surrender to the lies and shame of the enemy when we have surrendered to the authority of Christ.

Stand your ground. In the authority of Christ. On the Truth. Don’t back down.

Matthew 24:13

“but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

Luke 21:19

“Stand firm, and you will win life.”

Ephesians 6:13-17

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

There were thousands of them – they were everywhere. How could so many people hear about where he was? He was trying to get away from the crowds and now they had discovered him here.

The people were hungry for more of what he had to tell them. So he took the time to speak to them. He took so much time to speak to them that it was approaching dinner time. They were now hungry for a meal, and they were not going anywhere.

The disciples knew they wanted something to eat. They also knew that they did not have the resources to feed thousands of people. Hey, if a handful of them wanted to stay behind and join them for dinner that’s one thing. But there is no way on earth they could feed thousands of people – what a preposterous notion! The disciples said to Jesus that he should send them away to go get some dinner.

And then Jesus did it again. He did what he had a habit of doing. He pushed them a little deeper into faith. He encouraged them to step out of their comfort zone and into the faith zone. He was thrusting them into the purposes of God. He was throwing them in the deep end…

“You feed them.”, he said matter-of-factly.

Ha, ha, ha – that’s funny Jesus. But Jesus isn’t laughing. He is still looking at them with that same, “I see something that you don’t and want to help you see it too” kind of look on his face.

Are you nuts? There has got to be close to 10,000 people here. 5,000 men plus women and children – there is probably way more than 10,000. We checked the cash box and we don’t really have $80,000 to go buy lunch. And even if we did, how on earth could we logistically make it all happen?

But Jesus isn’t budging.

It seems there was a boy who overheard this conversation and thought he’d jump in,

“Hey, I got 5 loaves and two fish.” , he declares.

Ahhh yes, now we have some faith. The boy showed up, he brought his lunch, and he shared his lunch – that’s all Jesus needed. Now watch what God can do.

God can, and that changes everything!

Jesus was about to school the disciples, and us as well, in the principle of shifting from “eyesight to insight”. To walk with Jesus in the adventure into which he is inviting us, we cannot look solely with our physical eyesight – we need spiritual insight. We must see things from God’s perspective.

We need wisdom and revelation. We must see the visible and the invisible. We must live in the now and not yet. We must believe the impossible is possible for an all-powerful God.

This is shifting from eyesight to insight.

As you know, Jesus fed those thousands of people with 12 baskets of leftovers. He multiplied the 5 loaves and 2 fish into thousands, and had far more left over than they started with. That’s just a blow-your-mind kind of miracle when you stop and think through the details of what happened that day.

Jesus was saying loud and clear, “God can, and that changes everything!”

No matter what overwhelming situation you are facing – God can, and that changes everything! No matter how little you think you have that cannot make any sort of difference – God can, and that changes everything! No matter how much you think you are short, that you don’t have what it takes to do what needs to be done – God can, and that changes everything!

To walk wholeheartedly with Jesus into the epic adventure of God’s kingdom coming and his will being done in and through us, we must shift from eyesight to insight. We must see through the eyes of faith. We must see things from God’s perspective.

God is able to do far more than we can ever ask or imagine. We must ask Him to open the eyes of our heart to see differently – through the eyes of faith.

We must be able to shift from eyesight to insight.

Ephesians 3:20

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us.”

Ephesians 1:17-19

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.”

Philippians 4:13

“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”