Good News
By Margaret D. Mitchell
Week of October 17, 2021
God’s good news is live-giving. His directives lead us into abundant life in Him.
Deuteronomy 30:19 instructs us to “choose life.” But how do we know which way offers God’s best life?
We will know by first knowing Him and His Word. By seeking Him and developing a relationship with Him that builds trust in Him and His truth (Ex 14:31). By putting His ways above our own desires. By being obedient and waiting on His timing.
The more we come to trust God and extend faith to go His way, the more His faith in us takes root in our souls (mind, will, emotions) and instills new life. This is the same everlasting life that our loved ones, who have gone before us, experience in Heaven. It is a lifeline of God’s goodness that is inherently void of harshness. It’s what Jabez prayed for (1 Chron 4:10).
So, even during hard times, we can choose to look at the sonship Heavenly Father offers to us more than our hardship. God has provided His abundant lifeline, even in the midst of difficulty. Therefore, we are not without His best option.
Choosing life in times of endurance enables us to progress with our Lord along His timeline. Even in the face of no way out, He will make a way. He will move the immovable and do the impossible. We will see it and experience it as we look to Him and obey Him.
A few weeks ago, while driving home one night, our Lord gave me a visual of a miraculous work He is doing in my life:
As I was driving on an interstate, this highway suddenly turned into a "parking lot." GPS said the wait would be three miles long. So, I prayed to God to make a way where there didn’t seem to be a way for myself and everyone else.
Then, I turned on Christian radio and immediately heard the lyrics, "Move the immovable. Do the impossible." I began to sing these words in my car and thank God for doing exactly this.
Ironically, after the song, a local pastor broadcasted a message that included the lie that God doesn’t do miracles anymore, ever since He gave us His Bible. Isn’t this just like the enemy to try to counter a work of God before it happens?
Still, God got me through the road construction zone, little-by-little, where three lanes narrowed into one.
In situations like this, I have learned to pray, “Lord, what would You have me see and know in this?”
In this case, He revealed to me that this is a visual of what He’s doing in my life regarding a particular assignment—that, even though it has seemed impossible, like there is no way I’ll ever get through it, He will help me as I progress with Him.
When I arrived home, I learned that my husband, who had driven separately through the same “parking lot,” suffered through five miles compared to my three. He was up ahead of me. But, even so, God accelerated my timeline to pass through.
Over the next twenty-four hours, our Lord confirmed His promise to me through three witnesses and by highlighting His Word in John 1:16 NIV, which says, "Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given."
The Amplified Classic version says, "For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift."
Friends, God’s every Word trumps every enemy lie.
Jumbo blessings require a narrow path of truth, focus, discipline, and persistence. It’s on this narrow path of obedience that we experience God’s favor to accomplish His will with Him by His grace-power and authority. Our faith is activated by our will to use what He has put in our hands to create what He desires.
Think Moses and his staff (Ex 4:2, 17; 14:16).
Good news came at just the right moment for the Israelites to cross through the Red Sea, as Moses obediently followed God’s command and extended his hand with staff over the water (Ex 14:21, 26-27).
What God put in my hand is a laptop purposed to write a book that He told me will help save many lives.
So, what has God put in your hand that will bring good news to others?
What we do for others, God will do for us. Multiplied. So, there’s no need for selfishness or jealousy. We can choose to grow in faith and be extensions of God’s goodness of deliverance when we do good to those who wrongfully blame us, like the Israelites did to Moses (Ex 14:11-13). God will protect us by His hand, and others will ultimately appreciate the handiwork (Isa 49:2, Ex 14:31).
I believe we are in a special time and season where, as we speak to the mountains before us and put our hand to the task assigned us, we will see God’s manifest miracles that will enable us to progress through impossible obstacles. His weight of glory is bigger than the weight of any responsibility or pressure that we can hand over to Him. As we dwell in God and put evil behind us, we can expect to see God’s upper hand defeat the enemy's underhandedness in our mission (Job 11:14). So, let’s keep our eyes of faith on God, who carries our burdens, and outweighs enemy lies of defeat with His assured good-news victory (Heb 11:20 AMPC).
To God be the glory.
Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ.
