Praise Party - Believe It or Not

Today, we are taken straightaway to another section of the text.

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God.

Capture those shepherds in the night. One can rightfully suppose that the only sounds they are used to, the familiar friendly and unfriendly sounds they hear in the fields, will include the sounds of night creatures, their sheep now and then, and the sounds of their own voices. Yes, these are all earthly sounds they are accustomed to and expect to hear. Suddenly, they are in the midst of a Praise Party. Believe it or not, they are witnessing the impossible. Have you ever really stopped to think of what these shepherds on earth have been made witnesses of?

Let’s go very slowly here. One heavenly messenger is speaking to the entire company of shepherds. Again we have not been given a number, however, I have been reliably informed, as some of you have, that shepherds, in that time, went out in groups or families. This entire group of shepherds was made spectators to a heavenly Praise and Worship session, which I refer to as a Praise Party.

Remember, this heavenly sent Praise Party comes upon these unsuspecting earthlings, most suddenly. I don’t know what your faith allows you to see and hear, but it is by faith that I have received these treasures and share them with you. They are treasures in that they have brought me to some Decision Points where I have been cautioned, challenged and constrained to spur on. In truth and in fact, may these be your responsive moves also, as our faithful Holy Spirit brings us all to these critical Decision Times.

Cautioned – This caution warns me not just to listen to the experience of the shepherds, people on earth, in flesh, as that which is totally awesome and wonderful and leave it at that. In other words, it is a good story, but not realistic and possible for us. Reminds us, does it not, of the mind of Nicodemus, who could not come to grips with Jesus speaking to him about being born again? We all know that Nicodemus was looking at it through human, conventional, lawful eyes. Jesus had to inform him of this truth. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3: 6. The same is true here also, for you and me.

Heaven came down in the voices of the Spiritual hosts, so that those on earth, in flesh, could share in what was of heaven here on earth. They had a choice, to receive all that they had witnessed and experienced as reality and let it inform their steps, or they could have taken it as a spiritual experience, totally unrelated to their present, earthly living. They could have decided to remain in an euphoric state, where nothing of what they had been given, changed their everyday living.

Faith ways are Spirit ways and flesh ways are human ways and neither the two can meet. Nicodemus was brought to a Decision Point, where he had to leave his carnal mind to receive our Lord’s Spiritual Mind. We too, with our given spiritual experiences, must decide to leave our carnal, flesh thinking and moving and live more deeply in the ways of the Spirit.

Challenged – We have been cautioned that our Spiritual experiences are real and given to us, while in our mortal clay, that we may live differently. Here also our beliefs are also being challenged. This is what is taking place at the Praise Party to which the shepherds have been made a part. One of the chants which the shepherds heard echoing through those open fields, as the celestial voices rang out praises, was, Glory to God in the highest heaven.

Have you ever stopped to think of any of these? I certainly had not, but I am so thankful that I have been challenged in this awakening. We are shown angels, heavenly messengers, who came down to earth, praising God in pure earthly conditions. They were in the presence of earthlings, and ordinary ones at that, who were not prepared for them. They came suddenly to these people at work, in their place of work. They were not in a conventional place of worship, a church or cathedral, for example, which had been lovingly and beautifully prepared for them. No! They were among shepherds and among all that the dark open fields came with, the good and the bad. It is this human setting, without trouble or threat, that God was being given glory.

Where do you stand in all this? Are you being spoken to? What is God the Holy Spirit telling you now?