Look Up! Look Down! in 2022

With 2021 in the rear-view mirror, and 2022 stretching out before us, we all know we are in a very different season. Perhaps that is a monumental understatement! As I prayed about the coming year and asked God for a word, as many of us do, my initial impression didn’t seem very encouraging, but I pressed in for more. Here is the sense I have for the coming year.

In the world, we’re not in for an easier ride than we’ve had the past two years. In fact, I sense the pressure may increase on all sides:

The Level is Rising

·      The pandemic and continued strains of Covid;

·      Government restrictions and intrusion into personal lives;

·      Unprecedented inflation, financial stress, personally and nationally;

·      Lawlessness abounding and becoming a way of life;

·      Evil being called good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

BUT GOD!

Jesus said: I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you](AMP) (John 16:33).

The Greek word, thlipsis, translated tribulation, means:

Pressure, oppression, affliction, squashing, squeezing, distress. 

Have you felt “squashed or squeezed” these past two years? I have!

The word pictures placing your hand on a stack of loose items, say a stack of papers, then manually compressing them. That is thlipsis. It’s putting a lot of pressure on something that is free and unfettered. It’s like spiritual bench-pressing, as one refence put it. The word is used for crushing grapes or olives in a press. 

Amid the thlipsis in our lives and in our world, Jesus tells us to be of good cheer. Why? Because He promises His peace – a peace that assures us of rest, quietness, prosperity. A set of favorable circumstances involving peace and tranquility. To be without trouble or to have no worries or to sit down in one’s heart (Louw, Nida: Greek Lexicon).

I like that – “sit down in one’s heart.” Not standing, wringing the proverbial hands. Not standing, anxiously anticipating the next bad thing. But sitting down in our hearts – a settled place of peace on the inside, even if the outside is raging. 

Isaiah 26:3 encourages us:

    You will keep him in perfect peace,

    Whose mind is stayed on You,

    Because he trusts in You. (NKJV)

PEACE

Perfect peace? When the world feels like it’s spinning out of control? When the Good News is daily drowned out by the bad news on every television station? When a pandemic is raging that has changed the course of our lives? When parental authority over their children is being usurped by an agenda to indoctrinate them in gender fluidity, Critical Race Theory, and attempting to rewrite our national history? When it seems our government officials are hell-bent on destroying our country? Perfect peace? Really Jesus?

But He knows something we don’t. The peace He’s talking about is not based on circumstantial realities; rather, His peace is based on eternal truth. There is a vast difference between facts and truth. The fact is that the world is very different from what it was just a few decades ago. But the truth is that we have a source of peace the world doesn’t have access to. In John 14:27 Jesus said:

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled] (AMP).

I think of the peace Jesus had when He stood before the Sanhedrin being falsely accused. Or when questioned by Pilate, knowing that He was about to go through an excruciating death and be separated from His Father for the first and only time in all of eternity. It is that kind of peace that He not only gives us, but that He bequeaths to us. Bequeath means to leave or give something to someone by a will after one’s death. In other words, His peace is our inheritance. 

Our English word peace inadequately expresses the richness of the Hebrew word – shalom. It means completeness, wholeness, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, and the absence of agitation or discord. That is so much more than the absence of conflict! That is the inheritance Jesus has left us.

Then He says, “be of good cheer.” Again, are you serious Jesus? Not only be at peace while thlipsis swirls around us, but be of good cheer?  Be happy, joyful, and glad? I think He had something deeper in mind. “To be of good cheer” means to have confidence and firmness of purpose in the face of danger or testing—to be confident, to have courage, to be bold. It’s also defined as being immovable or deaf to threats (Louw). A far cry from a Pollyana perspective where everything is wonderful and it will all turn out alright. I’m not saying we don’t need a positive attitude, but sometimes our emotions and even our beliefs do not line up with a glass half-full mentality.

How can that be our stance when facing trial or testing? Only by looking up! Lifting our eyes from the natural circumstances to the Source of our peace, confidence, and boldness. Jesus said: I have overcome the world. In the Greek, overcome means… overcome! To be victorious! To conquer and to prevail! Jesus already won the victory over every circumstance we face – whether in our personal lives or the world around us. And because He has overcome, we, too have overcome. 

Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us (Romans 8:37, AMP).

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5).

THE LEVEL IS RISING

As tribulation abounds, I believe God is raising our level of faith and authority as a people. Here in Seattle, we have “water locks” that connect two bodies of water with differing sea levels. The water level in the Puget Sound is lower than that of Lake Washington, so when a boat moves from the Sound to the Lake, it must be positioned in the lock. A gate closes off the water from the Puget Sound and raises the water level in the lock to that of Lake Washington, allowing the boat to pass through. That’s a picture of what I see the Lord doing with His people in this season: He is, in a sense, cutting off the level of faith we had in the previous season, and He is raising the level so we can move into a higher degree of faith and authority. The key is being positioned in the “lock” – with our eyes “locked” on the Lord.

LOOK UP!

We get what we focus on. We become what we behold. To navigate to a higher level, we must look up and focus our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). In our day-to-day living, we must engage our eyes of faith more than our natural eyes. Our natural eyes will betray us, in a sense, because there is a vast spiritual realm that can only be accessed through eyes of faith. Holy Spirit instructed John in Revelation 4:1 to “Ascend into this realm, I want to reveal to you what must happen after this” (TPT). God invites us to look up to Him, to the realm He lives in, for He is where our help comes from (Psalm 121:1-2). 

The enemy wants to unsettle us. God wants to secure us. The enemy provokes fear and uncertainty. God provides safety and rest.

Now I will arise, says the Lord. I will set him in the safety he years for (Psalm 12:5).

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] 

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. 

For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne (Matthew 11:28-30 AMP).

When an anxious thought comes up, over the world situation, or fear creeps in concerning something in your personal life – Look up! Position yourself in the “lock” of His grace, lift your faith, and step into His peace.

LOOK DOWN!

When once we lift our eyes of faith to Jesus, then we must look down on our earthly circumstances with His heavenly perspective: Set your mind on things which are above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 2:2). In an upside-down world like ours, what is God’s viewpoint? Is He wringing His hands because His truth has been dismissed by a cancel culture? Is He worried about the liberal agenda that tears at the fabric of this nation? Is He distressed that the economy is suffering unprecedented inflation or that there is a new Covid variant? I think not. That is not to say He doesn’t care about how these things affect His children. He does. But He is in control. He has not relinquished His sovereign power and dominion. He is on the throne, and He still reigns, no matter how things look. He has given us the ability to view our earthly circumstances through the lens of His peace, His shalom. Confident and courageous because we know that He holds the whole world in His hands, as the song goes.

So, in the year ahead:

1.     LOOK UP! Lift your eyes of faith to His throne of grace and expect your faith level to rise as you position yourself before Him. 

2.     LOOK DOWN! Activate your spiritual eyes on the realm that God lives in and see things from His perspective. He has already overcome. Declare with the spiritual authority Jesus has given you, His purposes for yourself, your family, city, community, and nation (Luke 10:19). 

 Prayer:

Father, I thank you that you hold all things in the palm of your hand. You are not taken off guard by the activity of the enemy in this world; rather, you have him on a very short leash. We declare the peace that Jesus bequeathed to us is a mighty weapon against the enemy’s schemes. We declare that in every circumstance we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. We declare that we will fix our eyes on the realm above and receive your perspective and strategy for prayer. We declare that we will look down, not with our natural eyes, but with eyes of faith. You are a great and mighty God and there is nothing too difficult for you! We praise and honor you. We echo David’s words when he said:

Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. 

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,

The power and the glory, 

The victory and the majesty;

For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; 

Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,

And You are exalted as head over all.

Both riches and honor come from You,

And You reign over all.

In Your hand is power and might; 

In Your hand it is to make great

And to give strength to all.

Now therefore, our God,

We thank You

And praise Your glorious name.

(1 Chronicles 29:10-13)

Amen!.