Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Multiple podcasts rolled into one! You will hear my professionally narrated novels (in the private section) from beginning to end one episode at a time in The Story. But there is so much more...
6:00 am cst M-F | The Story (professionally narrated novels) Paid Programming
6:01 am cst M-F | After The Story (my behind the scenes discussion) Paid Programming
6:00 am cst Sat | More to The Story (various social and spiritual topics discussed)
6:00 am cst Sun | Miracle Story (stories of miracles I've experienced)
6:00 pm cst Sun | Archive Story (timeless yet relevant articles)
Find the podcast website at www.NancyJacksonPodcasts.com
God's Game Plan
Sometimes when we are in the middle of something, we can’t see the big picture, and it is hard to take a bird’s-eye view and see the overall plan.
One well know phrase is, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” I think that is very fitting.
Perspective is also very important and has been the crux of division for years. For thousands of years, man has been fighting over what is correct because our narrow perspectives become the entire picture to us. We all do this.
None are completely wrong and none are completely right. But it causes divisions, and that is exactly what the enemy wants. When we are critical of other brothers and sisters in Christ, we are playing right into the enemy’s hand and being disobedient to Christ.
Matthew 7:1-2
1) Do not judge and criticize and condemn [others unfairly with an attitude of self-righteous superiority as though assuming the office of a judge], so that you will not be judged [unfairly]. 2) For just as you [hypocritically] judge others [when you are sinful and unrepentant], so will you be judged; and in accordance with your standard of measure [used to pass out judgment], judgment will be measured to you.
2 Timothy 2:23-26
23) But have nothing to do with foolish and ignorant speculations [useless disputes over unedifying, stupid controversies], since you know that they produce strife and give birth to quarrels. 24) The servant of the Lord must not participate in quarrels, but must be kind to everyone [even-tempered, preserving peace, and he must be], skilled in teaching, patient and tolerant when wronged. 25) He must correct those who are in opposition with courtesy and gentleness in the hope that God may grant that they will repent and be led to the knowledge of the truth [accurately understanding and welcoming it], 26) and that they may come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
In this day and age of social media, it has become even easier to rant and rail against others in the body of Christ. Hiding behind a keyboard or camera has given us a sense of boldness to push the narrative for clicks and views.
The enemy wants the Body of Christ to be divided and to keep being divided and fractured, rendering it ineffective. A house divided falls with certainty, and that is exactly the enemy’s plan.
Even if we acknowledge this very thing, we still refuse to come together in unity. To have unity would mean that ‘the other side’ would need to come over to our side and agree with us. So, there is no unity.
Pride, ego, and arrogance prevent the humility needed to come together as a unified body of Christ, even though Jesus himself repeatedly talks about how we are to humble ourselves and submit to one another. We still refuse to do that very thing, disobeying Christ.
We are convinced that we are right and therefore refuse to even listen to others. We fear having an open mind. I believe that subconsciously we know if we listen with an open mind we might learn something that would show a bit of error in what we thought was true.
We would rather be close-minded than to actually learn from each other and come together in unity. So our stubborn pride plays right into the enemy’s hands. We would rather have the enemy win than humble ourselves and acknowledge that we don’t know it all.
I believe it is from God’s divine plan to keep knowledge splintered and fractured among all His children. That would force us to come together and acknowledge the portion of truth that lives with another believer. Bringing all our knowledge together forms the whole. To see the complete picture, we must come together as pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.
Why does all this matter? Many reasons, but mainly because this was a part of God’s overall plan for creation and we are the ones keeping that plan from coming to fruition.
In the beginning, we will go with the recorded beginning of Genesis 1:1, God created the earth. He smoothed out the chaos and darkness and made creation into something amazingly beautiful.
We have no mental frame of reference for exactly how creative, beautiful, and wonderful the Earth was in the beginning. I believe God poured out His full creative resources to create an earth simply perfect in which to place a child He was to create in the image of the Trinity.
Then, as if the earth itself was not wonderful enough, He created a special garden just for Adam once He had created him. When I think of this beginning, I can see the enormous love of the Father.
The first time I held each of my newborn babies in my hands, I was always overwhelmed with love so deep that there are no words to describe it. God allowed me to work with Him to create a new human, so new, tiny, and vulnerable. I handled them with the utmost care, using gentle hands.
I see God with the Trinity creating Adam, then with that deep, overwhelming love, picking him up with gentle hands and placing him in that special, perfect, and wonderful garden He called Eden.
We know that His loves, Adam and Eve messed up and exchanged their unique divine place in God’s kingdom for a darkened shadow of that kingdom. But I believe that none of this caught God by surprise.
He created beautiful beings to fellowship with Him. But they loved Him and fellowshipped with Him because that was the way they were created. No choice, just because their created design leads them to be that way.
However, after the fall, they had a choice. They could commune with God or not. God loves all humanity, but He spends time with and favors those who choose and favor Him. They are His children.
When the fall happened, it suppressed all the wonderful creative works of God. His creation was dulled, muted, and depressed into a vague shadow of its former self.
But God had a plan. Not a short-term plan, but a plan where He could once again restore man and creation to its former glory, having a people who would lovingly choose to be with Him. The entire Bible is that plan from beginning to end.
We, however, are in the midst of the forest and cannot seem to see from our perspective the entire plan. We see tidbits from our perspective but not the entirety of it.
Jesus was the pinnacle of the plan. He was deity come to earth as man to rectify what man had done in the garden. He reversed the curse, or at least initiated the beginning of the reversal. The legal case was settled. From that moment on, the reversal of the curse was to begin.
We who hungrily yearn for God have been given the authority to become the children of God. See 1 John 1:9-13 from the Monday Meditation episode. This process is part of the curse reversal process. We are called the body of Christ with Jesus as the head. We are called to be a unified body each accepting our place within the body.
God’s plan was for the curse reversal to culminate when the body comes into full unity, then Jesus will return as the head of His body. That is when the children of God will be revealed, and the entire earth will be set free, and the curse reversal will be complete.
And all of creation is waiting on us for that very thing. For us to unite so that Jesus can return and reveal who the children of God are. We are not just harming ourselves by delaying, but all of creation. They are waiting in frustration and futility.
See the verse from Mondays Meditation:
Romans 8:19-23
19) For [even the whole] creation [all nature] waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed. 20) For the creation was subjected to frustration and futility, not willingly [because of some intentional fault on its part], but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope 21) that the creation itself will also be freed from its bondage to decay [and gain entrance] into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22) For we know that the whole creation has been moaning together as in the pains of childbirth until now.
So what about heaven? From what I have researched in the Word, is not our final destination, but a holding place while God’s body comes into full unity and Jesus is able to come back to judge and then reveal to the world who His children are. Then I believe heaven and earth will be one. Our beautiful earth that God created for us in the beginning, will be part of our eternity.
Numbers 14:21
21) but indeed as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD.
Habakkuk 2:14
14) “But [the time is coming when] the earth shall be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.
God doesn’t lose. He wins. Always. Every single time. He will not create something as wonderful as this earth only to give it over to the darkness of the enemy. Legally the enemy was declared null and void when Jesus rose from the dead, but he is still roaming the earth in a last-ditch attempt to bring the body down.
Legally, he has lost the fight regardless of what we see in our corner of the world. Remember the forest for the trees analogy. His redemptive process is growing to cover the earth.
Consider Jesus’ description of His kingdom.
Matthew 13:31
31) He gave them another parable [to consider], saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;
32) and of all the seeds [planted in the region] it is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR FIND SHELTER IN ITS BRANCHES.”
and
Matthew 13:33
33) He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and worked into three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
It starts small and then grows and becomes larger than any other thing. He is growing His kingdom, and we are to co-labour with His to make this happen as a unified body of Christ. This is our mandate.
God will not only not allow this earth to be destroyed, He will completely renew it and make it even better that what we have ever known it to be. He is in the process of making all things new.
Revelation 21:5
5) And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true [they are accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy].”
He did not abandon us here to fend for ourselves and leave it to us to keep the earth He created alive. We are to be good stewards, yes, co-laborers with Him, but we are to trust Him to renew and regenerate where needed.
Many of our brothers and sisters feel that heaven is the final destination, and all they want it to survive this life and get to heaven where they can breathe a sigh of relief that the race is all over and now they can rest.
But God designed us to be workers, co-laborers working to grow His kingdom. That and only that should be our focus. Even in the perfect garden, he gave Adam the direction to tend to the garden.
When the earth is once again restored and we are newly resurrected in our glorified bodies for the last time, Jesus will rule the new and completely restored heaven and earth, and we will abide there.
There will still be a need for structure, and we will fill the earth with working at what we love and what we are good at, without the stress and hindrances of the fallen world. Utopia with purpose? Yes, I believe it will. And I truly believe that we do not know the wonder of it all. He has hidden the best for us.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (Paul quoting from Isaiah 64:4)
9) “THINGS WHICH THE EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND THE EAR HAS NOT HEARD,
AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,
ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”
Paul is talking about how the Holy Spirit was and is currently revealing the hidden things of God to us who believe. And I believe He is continually doing that and will be forever.
So what is hindering God’s plan for all this to take place? We are because of our constant prideful arguing and disunity. I want unity so badly in the body of Christ that I myself daily go before God to lay down my pride and humbly ask to help bring believers together.
We cannot work at the command Jesus gave us to grow His kingdom on earth until it covers the earth while we are in disunity. I salivate for unity because I know, truly know, that when we come together, there is nothing that can stop us.
We can help all who need help. We can love all who need love. We can put down petty arguments and vain discussions and do the work that Father has given us to do. And the world will heal and be a better place for it.
Don’t be angry at God for the mess the world is in. Blame us and lay down our pride and join together to make the world better. Focus on God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit and forget the other unimportant ideals that divide us. Remember 2 Timothy 2:23 from earlier.
I am convinced that if we could see the full picture, what we are keeping at bay, we would yearn for it and humble ourselves and come together as a unified body. Our viewpoints are not important. Our so-called doctrines are not important. What is important is loving those who don’t know God into His family. Caring for the lost, feeding the hungry, tending to the needs of others. In unity, we can do so much more.
I know that even though I have studied the Word for decades now; I am humble enough to know that I do not know it all. I know other brothers and sisters hold other truths that I do not have. However, I know the most important thing . That there is one true God, and that Jesus came and died to set us free from sin and death, and sent the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and protect us daily. When I get in the weeds of thought, I always come back to this and this alone.
If we were to focus, really focus on those things, we would come into unity without even realizing it and then suddenly the head of our body, Jesus, will be here. Let us fulfill God’s mandate to cover this earth with His glory, one loving act after another.
Here in Matthew 5:16 Jesus is saying for us to let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good deed and moral excellent, and recognize and honor and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Not tell, yell, argue or scream at them, but to DO our works so that they can SEE. Our deeds mean everything, Let us be slow to speak and busy doing.
Matthew 5:14-16
14) “You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15) nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16) Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.
So what are the absolute basics that we are to agree upon, with all else that man has added being inconsequential? In the year 325 AD, the church created a statement of what they knew to be the important defining points of being a follower of Christ.
In the early church, John warned that there were deceptive teachings from multiple anti-Christs going about, attempting to divide the true church.
1 Timothy 6:3-6
3) If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine and teaching which is in agreement with godliness (personal integrity, upright behavior), 4) he is conceited and woefully ignorant [understanding nothing]. He has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, which produces envy, quarrels, verbal abuse, evil suspicions, 5) and perpetual friction between men who are corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth, who think that godliness is a source of profit [a lucrative, money-making business--withdraw from them]. 6) But godliness actually is a source of great gain when accompanied by contentment [that contentment which comes from a sense of inner confidence based on the sufficiency of God].
This different doctrine was not the various nuances of followers of Christ, such as whether to have Sunday School or what kind of worship to have at church. It isn’t whether or not to pray in tongues, or to have musical instruments in church. This is when they deny the deity of Jesus, or disavow the Trinity, or other basic truths taught in the first-century church.
They wanted a simple, uniform statement that would be the basis for what a Christ follower believed; they created the Nicene Creed. It still holds up today regardless of what physical church you attend or what denomination you ascribe to. In this creed, the word catholic is lowercase, and the term comes from the Greek word katholikos, meaning “universal”. It is not referring to the Roman Catholic Church. The Nicene Creed is for all who follow Christ and reads:
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come. Amen.
Any beliefs piled on top of this are purely personal opinion. Nothing but believing in the one true God, Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit matters. Surely we can all agree on that and come together in unity to fulfill the call, the mandate the God gave us to love and disciple others which will automatically increase the Kingdom of God here on this earth.
Shop all versions of my novels here: Shop Here
My Media Website: NancyJacksonPodcast.com
Check out my website: NancyJacksonAuthor.com
Follow me here:
Substack: https://nancyjackson.substack.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyJacksonAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NAJackson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/najackson/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nancyannjackson
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NancyJackson
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nancyajackson?lang=en