Jason Mitchener's Blog

Devotional: More Than We Can Imagine

More Than We Can Imagine

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

A couple years before I went on the ventilator, a doctor told me that my lungs were getting weaker and that I would probably end up needing to use a ventilator in a few years. At the time, I didn't really have a good concept of what that meant. I pictured myself being hooked up to this huge machine and having to stay in bed all the time. It wasn't a pretty picture and certainly not what I imagined my future to be like.

During college, I went through having two different goals for my life. At first, I wanted to be a lawyer and I was majoring in political science to prepare for law school. Later in college, I became friends with a few Christian dancers and I soon decided I wanted to start a performing arts ministry with actors, dancers, and musicians proclaiming the message of Christ. Indeed, I started down that route by adapting a short story into a play that I was going to direct and narrate for my church during Christmas. The night after our first rehearsal, I started having major difficulty breathing. The next morning, I was admitted to the hospital. Three days later, I was connected to a ventilator.

I thought God had taken any chance of ministry away from me. My picture of being on a ventilator turned out to not be quite so accurate though. Instead of being confined to bed, I could zoom around the care center halls in my electric wheelchair with a portable ventilator strapped to the back. I was freer than I imagined but still felt I couldn't minister.

Now several years later, God is allowing me to minister in more ways than I ever could have imagined. My devotionals minister to people with chronic pain, parents of autistic children, siblings of the mentally challenged, pastors, missionaries, and more that I'll only find out about in heaven. God has opened doors that I didn't even know existed.

Take courage, my friend. You may be in a situation that seems hopeless. You may think that even if you asked God for a way out, that all doors will still be closed. Not only can God do what you ask, but He can do more than we can imagine. Let's see what God can do.

Devotional: Enduring Suffering

Enduring Suffering

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2

Jesus hangs on a wooden cross, nails piercing His hands and feet. He raises Himself to catch a breath, which sends shooting pains throughout His body.

As He hangs there in agony, the crowd mocks Him: "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him" (Matthew 27:42).

The sky grows dark. Jesus has hung on the cross for three hours. The pain intensifies as unyielding cramps torment His muscles.

Another three hours pass. Jesus cries out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

Soon, He realizes His end is near and prays, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46.)

Jesus dies.

With all the suffering of the cross, Jesus endured until His death. He endured the pain. The mocking. The loneliness. He endured it all. How?

I have a feeling if I were up there on that cross for too long, I would be tempted to yell out, "Take me down! I repent! I'll do anything you say, just take me off this cross!"

But Jesus didn't do that. He endured the cross because He knew there was joy ahead.

A few days later He would rise triumphantly from the grave. Death and the devil would be defeated. He would sit at the right hand of the Father in glory. His death would pay the penalty of sin for fallen man. He would spend eternity with those He died for. With all those beautiful treasures ahead, is it any wonder He endured the suffering of the cross?

We go through suffering too. Diseases torment our bodies. Friends forsake us. Loved ones die. We suffer, but are we enduring? Are we looking to Jesus, "the author and finisher of our faith"? (Hebrew 12:2) Are we looking to Him for the hope of the joy that lies ahead? The joy that all this temporary suffering will be replaced with eternal glory? The joy that all our pain will flee and all our tears will be wiped away?

Keep the faith. It may seem dark now, but a light shines up ahead. Jesus' gentle voice is saying, "Follow me, I know the way."

Devotional: Special Children

Special Children

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Psalm 127:3

When I was in a public speaking class in college, a fellow classmate did a speech on abortion. During this speech, he said, "I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you have a pregnant friend. This friend has been told by doctors that because her husband is disabled, there is a high probability their child will be disabled and possibly end up confined to a wheelchair. How many of you would suggest to your friend that she get an abortion? To those who suggested she get an abortion, you just killed your classmate Jason Mitchener."

People often ask expecting parents if they want a boy or a girl. An answer commonly heard is, "I don't care, as long as the baby is healthy." But what if the baby isn't healthy? What if little Amber is physically disabled or little Joshua is mentally disabled? Are these children any less a blessing from God? Many people would think so. Disabled babies are often given up for adoption and many of these babies never get adopted because people are looking for the perfect child.

None of us are perfect. We each have flaws or disabilities that set us apart from others. And yet God loves each of us despite our imperfections. He looks past our weaknesses and sees special children needing His love.

All around us, people have never felt the love that all of us so desperately need. They may be children with obvious disabilities or adults with hidden wounds. They are hurting and yearning for a smile, a hug, someone to talk to. Will you love those God loves?

(Note: This devotional was inspired by a subscriber to this devotional who has raised twenty-six children, most of which she adopted. Many of her children have had severe disabilities, including ten with profound retardation. You can visit her web site at:
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/caressa/index.html )

Devotional: Glory in the Cross

Glory in the Cross

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Galatians 6:14

When I was in high school, I placed second in a computer competition at the state conference for Future Business Leaders of America. Usually only the first-place winner moves on to the national competition, but he couldn't make the trip. So the state organization asked me to compete in his place.

With some funding from my school and my grandma, I flew to Washington, D.C. for the national conference. The competition was tough but I felt confident. I ended up placing eighth.

Of course, I had wanted to place first, but eighth felt great. Eighth place in the whole country sounded really good. My chest puffed with pride as I gloried in my accomplishment. Before the national competition, the local newspaper published an article about me with the headline: "Calculating Lad: Handicapped Computer Whiz Has Point to Prove."

The point I wanted to prove was that having a physical disability does not mean you cannot accomplish great things. After placing eighth nationally, I felt I had proved my point. Oh, how I flushed with pride whenever I looked at my award plaque hanging on my bedroom wall!

The apostle Paul had a lot he could glory in too. He could brag about his heritage as an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. He could take pride in his strict observance of the law. He could impress others with his study under the great Jewish teacher Gamaliel.

Perhaps he did glory in these things at one time. But later in life Paul said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).

Paul gloried in the Cross. How foolish that must have seemed to some! "He glories in an instrument of death? Is he sick?"

Paul didn't glory in just any instrument of death, though. He gloried in the cross of Jesus Christ. In that wooden cross where Jesus Christ took all the sins of the world upon Himself and paid the penalty with His own blood. In that wooden cross where Jesus Christ enabled us to have a relationship with the almighty God. In that wooden cross where Jesus Christ showed ultimate love by dying for you and me. Paul gloried that while he was yet a sinner, Christ died for him.

What do you glory in? Do you glory in your accomplishments? In your looks? In your checkbook balance? In your ancestry? Perhaps you glory in what church you attend. Or in how modestly you dress.

We should glory in nothing except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. All else fades in comparison.

Devotional: Light Affliction

Light Affliction

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
2 Corinthians 4:17

I type with a stick held between my teeth because I don't have enough strength to use my hands. I sit in a wheelchair because I can't walk. A ventilator on the back of my wheelchair breathes for me because my lungs are too weak to pull in air. If my nose began to itch right now, I would have to call a nurse to scratch it for me or just put up with the itching. Doctors and social workers classify me as "severely disabled."

Some may see the condition I'm in and pity me, thinking, "Oh, that poor soul! How he must suffer!"

Do I suffer? Yes. I wouldn't be a flesh-and-blood man if I didn't.

Does my suffering drive me to despair? I praise God that it doesn't.

How can a severely disabled man still have joy? Picture an old-fashioned two-pan scale. On one side, I place all my earthly suffering. On the other side, I place all the glory I will receive in heaven. Which side will have the most weight? My glory in heaven! Indeed, looking at this comparison of weights, my suffering doesn't seem heavy at all. Rather it becomes a light affliction!

Why complain that I can't walk when one day I'll dance before God's throne? Why complain that I need a ventilator to breathe for me when one day I'll be breathing in the full glory of God?

Paul says, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Christian, all the suffering you go through on this earth is temporary. Your bad hip pain won't last forever. The unforgiveness your family has toward you will someday be forgotten. The loneliness you feel now will be replaced with constant fellowship with your Savior.

Are you focusing on the temporary or the eternal? When we focus on the temporary, we lose sight of the things that really matter.

Devotional: Unfinished

Unfinished

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6

Sometimes we're tempted to just give up. We look at ourselves and realize we are far from being perfect Christians.  Anger still makes us raise our voice. Jealousy still blinks its green eyes. Impatience still causes us to tap our feet. We think, "I'm not living like I should. What kind of Christian am I?"

What kind of Christians are we? We're works in progress.

When we gave our lives to Christ, God began a good work in us. The Bible says that we are "his workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10). The Greek word we translate as "workmanship" is poiema. This is where we get our word poem.

God is a poet wanting to create beautiful poetry in our lives. He may need to change a word here or switch a couple of lines there, but He won't quit revising until He has a poem that shows forth His beauty.

God isn't the type of poet who throws His unfinished poems in the trash. He loves us too much to do that.  His Son's blood is the ink He uses to write each line. Such ink is too precious to waste.

When we look at our flaws and consider giving up, we need to remind ourselves that God isn't finished with us yet!

Devotional: Is Anything Too Hard for God?

Is Anything Too Hard for God?

Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Genesis 18:14

God told Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a child. Sarah overheard this and laughed, thinking it was impossible. She and her husband were old and Sarah was well-past her child-bearing years. God asked Abraham why Sarah laughed and asked, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14a).

Let me ask you the same question. Is anything too hard for God? Think about it. He created the universe by speaking it into existence. God took the dust of the earth and formed man. He parted the Red Sea. God made the lame to walk and the deaf to hear. He transformed us from sinners deserving hell into saints headed for Heaven. Is anything too hard for God?

Is anything too hard for God? The answer seems obvious when we think about it. But sometimes when we are going through trials, we begin to think that there is no way out. We think that the solution to our problem doesn't exist. We feel like giving up because we view our situation as hopeless. When we respond to our trials like this, we are saying that something is too hard for God. We may not actually say this, but our attitude betrays us. Our attitude says God can't help us through our trials. Our attitude says God can't provide the solution to our problems.

My friend, I assure you that God can. Whatever trial you may be going through, God can help you. God can give you peace. God can give you strength. God can give you wisdom. Ask Him.

Devotional: Like a Child

Like a Child

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3

My friend Marge had finished talking with me and was about ready to say good-bye when her son Danny said, "Let's pray for Jason." And so she prayed with Danny giving a hearty "Amen!" at the end. They left with Danny waving as he said, "Bye!" I loved it when I got to see Danny because his enthusiasm for Jesus was contagious. Due to his Down Syndrome, he acted like a playful seven-year-old even though he was in his twenties at the time.

Because of his childlike attitude, Danny never tried to analyze God. He didn't question the Lord's motives or doubt His love. Danny just accepted God for who He is and placed his trust in Him. He eagerly told people about Jesus like a child showing off his new bicycle. He was never concerned he was going to rub people the wrong way. After all, who wouldn't want to hear about Jesus?

Some skeptics believe that in order to become a Christian a person must shut off his brain. Rather, I believe a person's thinking must be changed. People need some childlike thinking. An attitude of distrust must turn into an attitude of trust. A focus on independence must turn into a focus on dependence. A know-it-all nature must turn into a knowledge-seeking nature. A belief in self must turn into a belief in One greater than ourselves.

People may call my friend Danny retarded, but I believe in many ways he is ahead of us all. May we all have that childlike enthusiasm about Jesus.

Devotional: Thunder of His Power

Thunder of His Power

Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
Job 26:14

In Arizona, we have some amazing sunsets. My words can't do justice to the beautiful array of reds, oranges, and pinks that often grace the sky. The heavens become a canvas for God the Artist to wondrously paint vibrant colors for our enjoyment.

Sunsets are only one display of God's creative power. His artistry is revealed throughout nature. All of creation was formed by His life-giving words. The majestic eagle soaring above red rock canyons. The baby girl joyously entering this world. The vast forests spanning thousands of acres. The deep oceans teeming with endless varieties of marine life. How can you not be awestruck by all God has done?

Science may try to explain the complex nature of the world around us, but we can never fully understand the workings of the Lord. His ways are beyond anything we could imagine.

With God's might clearly shown to us, you would think we would never doubt He can help us in our time of need. We impose limits on God's reach in our lives, perhaps thinking that our troubles are insurmountable. We tremble in our darkest hours, fearing that no hope will ever shine in our lives.

We need to regain a sense of God's awesome power. The hand that placed the stars in the sky can wipe away the tears that stain your face. The voice that formed the mountains can speak answers to your deepest problems. The heart that showed love on the Cross can bring healing to your broken heart.

Allow God to work His power in your life, changing you day by day in to a Christian showing His glory to a world in need of a higher truth.

Devotional: Fool's Day

Fool's Day

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Psalm 53:1a

Find a window nearby and take a look outside. What do you see? As I look out my window, I see a few tall trees and a mountain in the distance. Every once in a while, a bird settles on my window ledge for a few moments and then flies off to someone else's ledge. Your view may be similar to mine or you may see a beautiful lake or a quiet meadow or a grass-filled backyard.

Whatever you see, do you see God? Do you see God's artistry in the apple tree in the front yard and in the sparrow on the window ledge? Do you see God's creative genius in the bumble bee? Do you see God's hand sculpting the mountains and forging paths for the rivers? I look at nature and I can't help but to see God.

And yet there are those who say God doesn't exist. The psalmist says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" (Psalm 53:1a). These fools look at nature and say, "It all just randomly appeared and then evolved." These fools deny God. And without God, they feel free to live their lives as they please. They reason, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die."

The fool's day is coming. Soon, Christ will appear in the clouds in glory and might. All shall behold Him and all shall bow before Him. On that day, those who deny God will see God face to face. These fools will realize their folly.

Oh, may those who deny God find their Creator before it's too late!