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The Good Word is:
God Inspires Us
(Joel 2:28-29)

One new Christian wasn't sure how God inspires us, so he opened his Bible and put his finger on a random verse. It happened to say, "Judas went out and hanged himself." "Oh, My!" he thought. Something's wrong. I'd better do this again." So, again he opened his Bible and the first verse his finger happened to fall on said, "Go thou and do likewise."

By now, he was thoroughly confused and even a little scared. So he tried once more. This time the verse was, "What thou doest, do quickly."

Well, that's not exactly how God speaks to us. In Joel's prophecy, God says, "I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." (Joel 2:28).

To prophesy means to speak by inspiration. To dream means to quietly reflect; and to visualize means to watch and observe. Altogether these mean, "to perceive and understand truth or reality."

One man was struggling with a tough decision when a wise friend said, "Of course, you already know what you need to do." When the man looked confused, he continued, "How do you decide which antibodies to release into your bloodstream to fight the flu? How do you know how much water to drink to offset the salt in the ham you ate for lunch? How do you choose the correct chemicals in your brain to record memories? The answers are already within you! So is the right solution to your problem. God created us with a mind and a heart, and a soul. All of us have a conscience and an intuitive wisdom. Spend some time reading the Bible, considering good advice, analyzing your circumstances and getting in touch with the spiritual part of yourself, and the Holy Spirit will lead you."

So, how does God inspire us?

I. FIRST, GOD INSPIRES US MENTALLY.

He gives us insights and perceptions. Solomon said, "The Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding" (Prov. 2:6).

This means we learn new methods and think new thoughts. They say that Thomas A. Edison developed an intelligence test which he gave to all his prospective employees. He called it an "ignorameter." For most of us our ignorance quotient is considerably greater than our intelligence quotient. But that's all right if we realize and admit our areas of weaknesses. No one can have all the facts they need. Furthermore, we should never hesitate to ask for help. Wisdom is something God wants to give us. James said, "If any one of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5).

But God doesn't magically infuse us with information. We must do our part by studying and listening and being open to constructive ideas. According to legend, a man who was in great need of money prayed and asked the Lord to give him some. The Lord heard the prayer coming from earth and told one of his angels to help that poor fellow who was in trouble.

The angel went to search for some money, but soon returned saying, "Lord, I have looked through all the vaults of heaven and can find no money. We only have things which 'neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.' But while we have no money, we have some wonderful ideas and insights. Shall we send some of those down to him?"

Meanwhile, the man had worked and showed such great faith, that the Lord was delighted and said, "Yes, open the windows of heaven and pour out so many insights and ideas that he will have more than he needs."

And, in years to come, everybody said, "What a creative, ingenious and resourceful mind this man possessed."

God inspires us mentally. Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

II. GOD INSPIRES US EMOTIONALLY.

He gives us motivation and aspirations. Paul said, "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord" (Rom. 12:11, AmpB)

This means to be interested and enthusiastic and eager to accomplish our goals.

Danny Morris, a United Methodist pastor in Florida, tells of his first (and last) camping trip with his family. It rained ten out of the fourteen days! One night, after "blowing" his last match, he recalls staring at the wet wood, his flashlight dangling in his hand. As the light shone on the sticks, a disturbing thought possessed him—he could point that flashlight toward the pile all night long and never, never produce fire. Danny said, "I didn't want light. I wanted fire."

That's true of us. Mental inspiration is light, but we also need the "fire" of dedication. That's emotional inspiration!

Words in the Bible like fervent and zealous, mean intense and dedicated. With these traits we'll get started and we won't quit. Paul said, "(Jesus) gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good" (Titus 2:14).

Unless our heart is in our work, we're just going through the motions. Thoreau said, "The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Another philosopher wrote this description of modern mankind: "In the early morning darkness they migrate like lemmings from neighborhoods in which they don't know their neighbors down impersonal expressways to catacombs of commerce where they scurry about like rats in a maze.

At lunch they leave jobs in which they hardly know their coworkers to work out at a health club with other overweight men they've never met. After working late and forgetting to call home, they leave customers whose names they easily forget, to arrive home after dark for a warmed-over dinner with a wife they barely know.

On Sunday they arise and travel to a church, with kids they never spend much time with, to hear a sermon with a bunch of people whose names they have long since forgotten, from a pastor to whom they've only said hello. They rush out the door to watch football games for which they will never remember the score.

Their lives are empty. They are the generation of cardboard men who live, eat and sleep cardboard lives."

Sometimes we, too, get caught up in a daily grind of unthinking routines. God doesn't want his children to live cardboard lives.

God inspires us emotionally. Jesus said, "I came that they might have life and to have it abundantly" (John 10:10b, nas).

III. FINALLY, GOD INSPIRES US SPIRITUALLY.

He gives us peace and joy. The Psalmist prayed, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psa. 51:10).

This means to have positive attitudes and productive desires.

God renews us. Jesus said, "The spirit gives life . . ." (John 6:63).

Paul said, "Inwardly we are being renewed day by day" (II Cor 4:16b).

There is an old story of an outcast beggar who was sitting across the street from an artist's studio. The artist saw him and quickly began to paint his portrait. When it was finished he called the beggar over to look at it. At first the beggar did not recognize himself. 'Who is it?" he kept asking. The artist smiled and said nothing.

The beggar kept looking at the portrait until recognition began to dawn. Hesitantly he asked, "Is that me? Can that possibly be me?"

The artist replied, "That is the man I see in you."

Then the beggar made a wonderful reply: He said, "Well, if that's the man you see! Then that's the man I'll be."

Sooner or later, all of us become the person we believe ourselves to be. Sometimes parents and siblings and friends and teachers criticize us and make us feel worthless, but God never sees us as worthless. That's what inspiration is all about. Jesus said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Matt. 10:29-31

If God sees us as valuable, then that's what we can be! And if God sees us as worthwhile agents, then that's what we can be!

Through Spiritual inspiration God brings out our strengths and helps us overcome our weaknesses. God maximizes our best qualities and minimizes our worst qualities. God encourages our creativity and emphasizes our originality.

God enlarges us. He lifts us. He fulfills us. He satisfies us. He empowers us and, best of all, He never gives up on us.

God inspires us Spiritually. Paul said, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion . . ." (Phil. 1:6).

In Jeremiah God said, "I will make an everlasting covenant with them; I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to reverence me, so that they will never turn away from me" (Jer. 32:40).

We all need inspiration to help us rise above the day to day tasks. An old, old story illustrates our need of God's inspiration. Quite by accident, a farmer found an eagle's egg on a hill. He carried it to the chicken coop and placed it alongside some eggs in the nest of an old hen. Later, the eagle hatched among a brood of chicks.

As the eagle grew, it did what chickens do, since it was convinced that it was a chicken: It clucked. It flapped its wings to fly a few feet in the air. Like the real chickens, it searched for no more exotic food than the seeds and insects it found by scratching in the earth.

One day the eagle looked up into the sky and saw the most dazzling creature it had ever seen. "What is that?" it asked, startled by the sheer majesty of the form soaring gracefully in wide circles in and out of the high clouds.

"That," a rooster said in a hushed, reverent tone, "is an eagle, the greatest of all birds." "Wow," said the misguided eagle; "I'd like to do that!"

"Forget it," the rooster advised. "We're different. We can't fly like that. We're just supposed to scratch around down here in the dirt" So the little eagle did forget and when it died years later, it died believing it was a chicken.

God doesn't want us to die believing we're less than we are. He wants us to realize that we're His children. Without God's inspiration we can't become what we really are and reach our true potential.

***

(Word Count 1813)

These messages are from an unpublished manuscript © copyrighted by Miles and Maralene Wesner, Idabel, OK. Please use them in any way you think appropriate. The only thing we ask is that you give credit for original material in published works.

Sermons with the "I" prefix are from our "What's the Good Word" Series;
II from our "Pitfalls on the Path of Life"
III are sermons for special days and occasions.

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OUR RATIONALE:

We are not political! We are not against anyone. And we have no doctrinal agenda. Rather, after many years of pastoring small churches and teaching (especially college students, who represent the next generation), we have chosen to emphasize certain very relevant, neglected aspects of the Gospel—namely: personal discipline (maturity and responsibility); family relationships (marriage and child rearing); general life skills and common sense.

Our social problems today prove that these characteristics are so important. Young people need them and are asking for them.

We are semi-retired—still teaching and ministering on a part time basis. All we're really interested in now is using our experience to help others. If you would like our Sermon Service or New Perspectives, please avail yourself of them. There is no obligation.

We also have much of this information in books—provided to you at cost while the supply lasts.

We can not improve on the messages from the great Evangelistic Preachers. Material in our Essays and Sermons usually present the Gospel from a psychological point of view.

My ministry has been blessed immeasurably by reading other people's sermons. When I started preaching 56 years ago, I waited for "inspiration" (usually Saturday night, about midnight) before I began my sermon preparation. Then, I discovered it wasn't inspiration at all—it was sheer PANIC. I would have welcomed this service.

Comments are always welcome. (Please indicate if you do not want your comments to appear in New Perspectives).

Miles Wesner