Believing Is Seeing.

“What God has said will be accomplished in Jesus’s name.” – Jo Ann Richards, ethnomusicologist

The third folk song shared by Ms. Richards during last Sunday’s message was based on Luke 1:37: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

The Luke passage appears in the context of an announcement that morphed into an explanation. The angel Gabriel had informed Mary that she would be the bearer of the Christ, then addressed her confusion by explaining the process by which the Holy Spirit would cause a virgin to conceive. Gabriel then gave Mary a profound example of God’s power: “Your cousin Elisabeth has conceived a son in her old age” (see Luke 1:36).

Our God has the power to override biology.

Ms. Richards, in introducing the folk song, mentioned two accounts from the book of Daniel. She first mentioned the account of Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den. In the midst of King Darius experiencing his own distress at the edict he’d signed, the pagan king makes an incredible statement of faith: “Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee” (Daniel 6:16). The next morning, Daniel confirmed Darius’s statement of faith: “My God has sent his angel and hath shut the lions’ mouths” (see Daniel 6:22).

Our God has the power to override instinctive behaviors.

The second account mentioned by Ms. Richards was of the friends of Daniel (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) being thrown into a furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar. Their punishment for not obeying the king was preceded by their own statement of faith: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king” (see Daniel 3:17). Their statement of faith was confirmed by the king, who testified of their deliverance: “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (See Daniel 3:25).

Our God has the power to override the laws of physics and physiology.

Guess what? Our God also has the power to override speech and language, denominational politics and posturing, plants and trees, time and space, and anything else we might think of. He does this not on a whim, but to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfectly turned toward Him (see Second Chronicles 16:9).

Is your heart perfect towards our God and King? Then trust Him to deliver you. Have faith and believe.