Day: 6

Spiritual GPS

“The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.”

Proverbs 4:18 (NLT)

Good ‘n Lost!

Years ago, I went scuba diving with an old friend at a spring in Florida. We floated around the “mouth” of the spring, thirty feet under the surface, where the waters came out from the depths of the earth. The “mouth” was a small black tunnel about three feet in diameter that led deep down into the Earth. Where we were at, the water flowed out at a furious pace.

While we marveled at this natural phenomena, a diver with lights swam down into the tunnel. My buddy, being a wild-man, decided to follow him down into the darkness of the tunnel.

This tunnel went down 120 feet or so below the surface and opened up into a small chamber. My buddy and the other diver reached that chamber, but the other diver quickly ascended. Before he knew what was happening, my buddy was alone in pitch-black darkness.

When scuba diving, you can spend very little time at that depth. If you delay your ascent, you will become confused and disorientated due to the effects of the pressure on the gases in your blood. Essentially, you feel and act as if you were drunk.

This is exactly what happened to my buddy. Worried about how much air he had left, he looked at his pressure gauge and realized he couldn’t make any sense of it. Immediately, he realized he was in grave danger. He couldn’t tell how deep he was or how much air he had left. He couldn’t even figure out where the exit to the chamber and the way to the surface was – it was all darkness!

On top of that, he was really confused and mentally disabled.

For me, this is the picture of being lost! Good and lost!

I waited and waited at the mouth of the spring, one hundred feet above him, and a sense of dread slowly spread over me. The possibility that he had died was becoming more and more real.

The good news is that he eventually made it out. The immense flow of the water coming out of the spring pushed him in the right direction out of the chamber and up the tunnel towards the surface.

Being Lost

We continually struggle with “getting lost” during our journey here on earth.

When we feel alone in the dark, we experience a sense of rising dread. We realize that things may just not go the way we had hoped! Our own poor choices or circumstances make us disoriented and panicked. Persecuted believers face this feeling of uncertainty every day. They live in hostile cultures, constantly targeted, attacked, beaten, imprisoned, and even murdered.

In the darkness of these moments, Satan attacks. He whispers those familiar lies:

  1. God has forgotten you.
  2. God doesn’t love you.
  3. God is punishing you.

Solution: Spiritual GPS

Martyrs fight many battles before their final death. They train their “eyes” to stay focused on the prize in the midst of the attacks.

Over time, they become wise to Satan’s schemes. They learn to keep two things in mind: the nature of the leader they’re following (Jesus) and the final destination (heaven).

They remember the words of Jesus and the Father:

“Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’”

John 13:33 (ESV)

“Don’t let your heart and mind be troubled. Trust me. I am going away for a while to prepare a true and everlasting home for you where you will finally be at rest. I will be gone for a while but I will come back and get you can be with me… I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

John 14:1-3, 18

Can you hear His voice? He’s speaking to His children. He’s reassuring them that He is always present – even when his presence is not seen or felt..  He’s reassuring them; He lets them know they are going to be scared because He’s going to be out of sight for a bit and

My paraphrase with other verses added in would be this:

“My children, I’m going to have to go away for a while and it’s going to be frightening but remember, you are not an orphan. You are my child and I cannot forget you. I WILL come to get you. Did you think I can forget you? A new mother can’t forget her new baby or she will experience intense pain if she forgets to feed her. Even if some women can abandon their children, that’s not me!

I cannot forget you.”

John 14:1-3, 18, and ISA 49:15

Chris Leggett

I wrote about the martyr, Chris Leggett, in chapter 7 of my book, and he had these two points down!

This man always had his destination in focus. It was clear that he was on a journey to a better home. He risked it all on making his life count because he knew the time was short. He longed for a better country and trusted the one who had gone before him to prepare him a home.

Three in Heaven, Two on Earth

Years ago, a dear ICC donor told me about a lady she knew. This woman previously had five children, but tragically lost three of them in a fire. When people asked her how many children she had, she always responded the same: “I have five children, three are living and two are here on earth!”

Approaching Dawn

This woman obviously knew where she was going there and had placed all her trust on the promises of the one guiding us home. She knew clearly what was waiting for her and what her future was. We have much to learn from her don’t we?

Our journey is going to be bumpy and scary, but our home is just over the horizon and we have someone watching over us guiding us there. That doesn’t mean we won’t encounter all kinds of tests and trials that will test us to the core. We will!

Along your journey, you are going to continually hear a whisper that you are an orphan, alone, and without a home.

Let’s look to the persecuted though. They above all have learned how to trust Jesus in the dark and they have buried his words in their heart:

“Child, I have to leave you for just a bit, so don’t be scared. The evil one will whisper to you that you are an orphan but don’t believe it!”

“I have to leave to prepare your true home that you have longed for.”

“What is coming is beyond what you can conceive presently. Trust me, you cannot even imagine what you are going to experience in just a bit of time.”

“When you see me next, you will truly see me and experience me in a way you never could have while here on earth.”

“Trust me. . .I love you!”

The last passage is my paraphrase of several passages strung together: John 14:1-3, 18, and 2 Corinthians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 13:12.

For Further Reading

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

John 14:1-3 (NIV)

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

John 14:18 (NIV)

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

John 14:1-3 (NIV)

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”

Isaiah 49:15 (NIV)

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

Hebrews 11:13-16 (ESV)

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.”

1 Peter 2:11 (NIV)

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household…”

Ephesians 2:19 (ESV)

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Romans 13:12 (NIV)

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)

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