Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Jas 1:17 NKJV

Wow – yesterday my son saw these two promises manifested in his life once again.  I’ve mentioned it before, and this is another wonderful example of, how our Father cares about everything – even the little things that so many consider “not worthy” of prayer or a “waste of God’s time”.  He’s answered prayed and un-officially-prayed requests of mine as seemingly insignificant as the desire for a professionally done haircut (vs an in-the-bathroom job!).

My 13 year old son has been pouring himself and his heart into the tech ministry at our church.  He has spent countless hours learning, participating, and growing in this area that he so loves and enjoys.  Through it he seeks to display aspects of his heavenly Father, even when he doesn’t realize this is what he is doing.  He has spent multiple hours at church, and even more at home, hours no one but I have seen.

Because we homeschool (as directed for us to do by the Lord) he has has the opportunity to spend lots of time under the wing of some really great guys at church, learning and growing in all kinds of ways (too many to list here beyond tech stuff).  For me this is exciting to watch, and honestly, who wouldn’t want their child to be learning what he loves in the environment of the church!

Obviously, the more time he spends there the more I need to make sure we can get a hold of each other.  For awhile now, he has been asking for an upgraded phone from my hand-me-down phone he has been using.  For probably over a year he has been looking up and looking into what phone he would like to have, and reminding me consistently about his request.  For awhile I determined he didn’t need an upgraded phone, but the more he got into photography I decided it would be great to be able to give him one with a better camera.  At Christmas, his grandfather gifted him with a nice DSLR camera he had wanted, and he carries it with him everywhere!  So again, I figured he had the camera thing covered.  Then the glass on the back of the phone broke.  We peeled off broken pieces and covered the rest with tape.  I was not in a position to be able to buy him a new phone.  Then the front broke.  We covered it with tape.  I broke some more.  More tape.  It stopped ringing at times (frustrated me to no end when trying to call him).  The phone needed to be replaced.  I decided for his birthday I definitely needed to get him a new phone!  Instead, he broke his arm and all b-day gifts went into x-rays, bone re-settings, casts, doc appointments, more casts, more doc appointments….  No phone.

Over the past two weeks he has been pouring himself into the tech ministry at church.  He spent countless hours programming lights and making tech plans and preparations for the upcoming VBS and middle school missions week at church.  Because of the faith his mentor has in him, he was put in charge of the recap video for the middle schoolers.  So not only did he participate in the middle school missions during camp, he also took on the responsibility to film parts of the week!  After a long, tiring week, he spent the entire next day not only putting together the recap video he was responsible for, but also pulling together a second surprise video for the tech team!

He was pouring himself into serving others through his gifts and talents, to support the Kingdom of God.

Yesterday, he was blessed with the manifestation of our Father’s promises.  One of the church leaders somehow saw the condition of his phone during the past week, and blessed him with an upgraded, non-broken, phone!  One in perfect condition which he could use right away, same carrier and all (yes, of course we have to get a new SIM card).  While he was seeking the kingdom, his Father was providing a good and perfect gift that he needed.

Have you ever experienced this yourself?

You probably have, and can think of when this has happened if you’ve kept your eyes opened to see the hand of God move in your life.  I know I have, many, many times myself.  When I am in need of or believing for something, big or insignificant, as I follow His directives and obey what He is telling me to do, even when it is completely unrelated to my need, He comes through and meets that need in a miraculous way!  He knows what we need, before we even need it, or know we need it!  The Lord even did that for me to cover the expenses of my son’s broken arm, and the request for a manly b-day gift.  Two days before it occurred we suddenly sold a number of things on eBay.  I thought this was great, I could now give him a great fun b-day!  Those were my plans, not the Lord’s plans.  The money raised covered exactly what I needed to pay for his multiple doctor appointments over the next few days, plus the ability to take him to a nice lunch each day after his appointments (remember, he is a growing boy!).  Because he was turning the 13, I had been praying that I could offer him an exciting, manly b-day gift, to usher him into his growing manhood.  Later, I learned that the broken arm, to my son, was the best manly ushering in he could get.

WHAAAAT??? you ask…

Yes, it was.  Of course as a mom I was heartbroken at first, because the big plan for him was to ride in a serious downhill mountain biking race that weekend, on his b-day.  It was going to be tough and dangerous.  Honestly, I was a little afraid of what could happen, as he was going to be the youngest to ever compete on that course.  But he wanted to do it, after lots of consideration, he wanted to see if he had what it would take.  A few weeks later, I was telling my son how much I respected him for how he had been handling his arm, from the moment it was broken until then, as well as the disappointment of not being able to race, not being able to even bike, and the challenges of doing tech with a broken arm!  While we were discussing this, he said he had always wondered if he had what it takes to get through something like this…. the pain… the challenges… the limitations…  I knew this hit to the core of the maturing young man in his heart – something I’ve learned while reading the Wild at Heart series material by John Eckhart.  But I digress, back to the original purpose of this post, this story is for another post….. but is an example of our Father’s timely provision of finances as well as a gift to my son that he is cherishing in his heart.

Anywho…  Some may shrug this off as no big deal and insignificant.  Who cares, someone gave him a phone.  But it’s not.  It is a big deal.  It is a big deal to him and to me.  Even this seemingly little gift.  It was an answer to his prayers and need, and to mine!  As I support him in maturing, growing, and being able to do his thing, I need to know I can get a hold of him when I need to, and that he has a camera he can use at any moment.  In his world it is a BIG gift.  One that could have easily been blown off as an expectation to be received from me.  But one that can’t be ignored when given to him from someone else.  A gift from that someone else that they may have no idea is that big a deal of a gift.  And we know that they will be blessed in multiplication in return for their selfless gift.

But that’s not all….

I experienced another answer to prayers last night.  Around here we loooove movies.  We wind down many days watching movies – good, clean movies, usually on PureFlix.com.  We were watching the last two of a series on PureFlix last night to wind down the last day of a long week for the both of us.  When it came time to watch the third movie in the series, around 10:30 pm, my son got up and said to me that instead of watching the next movie, he really wanted to go read his Bible.  I sat there stunned a bit, and was hesitating while processing this, and all I could muster was “Oh yeah?!? That’s great.”  He said yes, that is what he wanted to do, and that he realized he really needed to be reading more of his Bible more often.  WOW!  That is a huge answer to my prayers!  That his heart would be drawn to do this, without my pushing him to do so, which I know would make him not want to do it at all.  Instead, as he experienced more of the Kingdom and Love of God, his heart has been drawn more deeply into seeking it further.  Ultimately, this is what the promises of our Father in Heaven lead us to – the desire to seek a deeper, and more fulfilling relationship with Him.  Once we experience His love, His provision, His miracles, His gifts that we can’t make happen on our own, that is when we are led to want to see these things more, not only in our lives but also in the lives of others.

My son and I have been witnessing, and receiving love, blessings, and miracles like these for awhile now.  As I prayed years ago that the Lord would open my spiritual eyes to see, and my spiritual ears to hear, I began to notice and see not just the huge happenings, but also the small.  Not just the ones so big they hit you in the face, but the tiny ones that can so easily be overlooked.  And, not just the current ones, but ones that go back many, many years, before I was truly walking with and following Jesus.  All those years, He was by my side, guiding and directing, providing, loving, and more. (For a great teaching on “changing your lens” see Graham Cooke’s video.)

You know, the best part about this – is that our Father looks to do the same for you.  If He does this for us, He wants to do the same and even more for YOU!!!  Open your heart to Him through Jesus, and as He promises He will lead the way.  He will lead you on your path, even when it doesn’t look like it, feel like it, or smell like it.  When you can’t feel your way, He will guide you.  We don’t lean on our feelings, we lean on Jesus, the Word of God.  It IS true, it IS right, it IS never-failing, it IS eternal, it IS for every situation big or small, it IS the I AM.

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Just as I opened the door one began stabbing him with his beak, but he stood, unwavering still. They circled him, getting closer to intimidate him, but he stood. The squwaking had stopped as I had come out, they knew the authority of the one who was now also a part of the scene. I rebuked the crows and they backed off and continued in their silence. Still you could see in their actions they wanted to continue to attack and scare the huge owl standing his ground on the thick limb, high above the edge of our yard.

I have seen this before. A few weeks ago a loud clamoring of different, boisterous crowing and squawking was going on in the middle of our backyard. I looked out the window to investigate and witnessed what I believe the Lord calls us to do. I saw three crows trying to run off a large hawk that frequents our backyard. The hawk was fighting back, wanting to claim this area as his territory for the moment. He also flew back and forth, ferociously squawking right back at them. This continued, back and forth, for a good five or more minutes. Finally the large hawk darted at the crows and won the battlefield. I thought, good for him! He is a great creature to watch, and I didn’t mind him getting rid of the annoying crows (who NEVER seem to be quiet!) that often represent evil. But then, when I expected quiet peace to return to the yard, before I could walk away the hawk turned and started in the other direction towards something else, trying to make it too leave. “What or who was he after?”, I thought. Then I saw him. The great, majestic looking owl that hides himself, high above out yard, camouflaged in the tree limbs and leaves. He is huge, and mighty looking. He and I have stared at each other for hours before. He quietly teaching me things without a sound. As the hawk sought to dislodge this creature bigger than he, the owl stood.

He stood. He was unshakable. Unwavering. He allowed the hawk to carry on a bit, until he finally let out a great owl screech. The hawk got closer to see somewhat call his bluff. The owl was not bluffing. He stood. The hawk closed in, and as he did the owl screeched again. The hawk knew he was not going to win this day. Probably not any day. Not when someone, something stands their ground and doesn’t show any sign of wavering against attack.

This was happening again today, the owl was standing his ground, and the one who was going to own this territory for this time. I watched as the crows bounced from limb to limb, so wanting to attack again. The owl stared at me, letting me I didn’t need to continue to rebuke the crows away, he’s got this. He’s been here before, and he knows the outcome. I went back inside, to come and write this story. Shortly after wrestling a bit with my computer, the squawking resumed. I went to the back door, but peered out instead of stepping out. The owl saw me and stared again, letting me know all he has to do is continue to stand. I sent him a look of thanks, to let him know that I appreciate him fending off the crows from our yard. He turned to stare down the crows, and they stopped. After I walked away the crows too left. He won. By standing.

I thank the Lord too for this reminder, this great reminder of what he tells us to do. Immediately the verse that came to mind through this great display was: “Eph 6:11 KJV – Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” This great owl was doing just that – standing! He was not fluttered, he knew he would overcome. He knew by not showing fear or that he could be threatened that he would win!

How often does this happen to us? The enemy comes after us, circles us, yells at us, tries to intimidate us and get us to move, to flinch. How often do we give in? We twitch a bit at times, and wonder if what he is screaming at is true. It could be, we are hearing it so loudly! The message is coming through loud and clear! We may, we could, be defeated. But what are we called to do instead? Put on our armor to STAND against the wiles of the devil. Not always fight, sometimes it’s just not to give in, not get distracted, and not flinch. To not give him the foothold by giving way to the thoughts he wishes to implant and take root in our minds. We are to stand – for we are already placed in a seat of victory in Christ Jesus. We may lose a battle every now and then, but the war has already been won. We hear that often, so often… But it is easy to forget when we are getting poked with the sharp beak of the devil in the midst of conflict. Easy to forget that we are to stand, and sometimes just simply resist him like the owl resisted both the crows and the hawk. Even while they screamed at him, continually. And when they wouldn’t leave he rebuked them with his deep howl of authority. If the owl can do this, we can too, and so much more so. For we are seated with Christ, who has given us authority greater that the owls, in fact even over the owl himself. We can do this, just like the owl. We can stand and resist. Even when it looks hard, voices are screaming. Did the owl learn like we have to, that he could do this? Or has he always innately known? I supposed that like us, as we grow in the Lord and understanding the authority we have over the evil one that the owl had to also grow and mature in the understanding of his authority and ability to stand in it.

Like so many things, this is easy to say, yet hard to do in the midst of conflict. How do we stand, and what are examples of standing? When looking up the scripture reference above, I was actually shocked to find 274 uses of the word “stand” in 267 verses of the KJV version of the scriptures. WOW! I did not stop to read them all (I’d get sidetracked for now) but did skim a number of them, and there are so many examples in the OT of how to stand, how others stand, and how the Lord told people to stand in a variety of circumstances. In the NT there are more instructions on how we stand, and encouragement to do so. I encourage you to read through these examples, and ask yourself how you too can better stand against the wiles, screams and pokes from the devil. I know he does this to me often, and when I’m not prepared I can flinch easily. Praise God, He is teaching me for sure how to ward this off sooner than later.  I pray too you find yourself to do this more and more, easier and easier, remembering to put on the full armor of God, for this purpose and more.