pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: blessing


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Giving All

Reading: Luke 7: 11-17

In His encounter with the woman outside of Nain, Jesus extends deep compassion.  He sees the funeral procession nearing His group and identifies the woman as the mother of the son who has died.  The deep compassion Jesus feels leads Him to offer her some words of comfort, “Don’t cry”.  Perhaps He chooses these words because He already knows what is coming next.

At times we too have encounters where we can see quickly that one is suffering or is in grief or is somehow afflicted.  Compassion rises up in our hearts as words begin to form in our minds.  We want to offer comfort or relief.  We want to help their situation.  But sometimes we do not know how or maybe we are unsure of what the next step will be so we really do not offer all of the compassion we are capable of giving.  We hold back.  Our words are short and superficial.  Then there is no commitment or need for follow through.

It is unclear whether or not Jesus knew the woman’s situation.  Maybe all He saw was her grief and He was moved with a deep compassion.  Or maybe He knew her full situation.  In either case, Jesus offered all He could.  He followed up His words of comfort with action.  Jesus called to the dead son to get up and He breathed new life into him.

In our encounters with those in need, we sometimes hesitate at the action step.  We pause and ask ourselves what this step of action might cost us.  Maybe we wonder if we really even have anything to offer that will help.  The cost and whether or not we have something to offer are things we should not consider.  What we have to first offer in all situations is free and costs us nothing.  The love of Christ in us should always lead the way.  What comes next is also a gift from God.  All that we have to share is a gift from God.  Whether a physical blessing or a gift such as empathy or compassion, God blesses us so that we can bless others.  God expects us to love freely, to not hold back.  Jesus demands of us what He was willing to give Himself: all.  Jesus gave all of Himself for you and for me.   Let us do the same for Him.


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Don’t Be Afraid

Reading: 1 Kings 17: 8-24

Elijah tells the widow that her flour will not run out and that her oil will not run dry until God brings rain and ends the long famine that had struck the land.  His request for bread must have settled on her as a heavy weight when she first heard his request.  The culture was one that placed hospitality very high.  It was customary that even if your sworn enemy came knocking and asked for lodging for the night, then one would provide a place to stay.

All the widow had left was enough flour and oil to make one last meal for her son and herself.  When she encountered Elijah she was gathering some sticks so she bake the last meal they would ever eat.  The widow must have been at a very somber place in her heart and mind.  It is at this point that Elijah asks for some bread.  She has used up her every resource and is preparing to make one last meal and then to die with her son.  It is now that Elijah comes along and asks if he can have some bread too.

Have you ever been where the woman is at?  Totally spent and at the end of the rope?  She is there.  It is like going through a very hard loss of a dear loved one, finally heading home and feeling emotionally spent after the funeral, and a distant friend calls to tell you the news of their unexpected loss.  It is like spending a hot July day working outside all day long at the Habitat house when a friend of a friend calls asking if you can help them move out of their apartment.  Every fiber in your being wants to say ‘no’ but you feel compelled to talk a while or to go and help.

Elijah must sense the apprehension in the widow.  So her says to her, “Don’t be afraid”.  When the phone rings or the stranger appears at your door, asking when we feel totally depleted, hear His voice, saying “Do not be afraid.  Trust me”.  May we find the faith of the widow.  May we too experience His amazing blessings when we choose to trust and to answer His call.


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Journey to Share

Readings: John 12:8a and Isaiah 43: 16-21

God parted the sea as a path to freedom for His people and as a means of destruction for their enemies.  God provided water in the dryness of the desert for their physical needs and to remind them again to trust Him.  Mary blessed Jesus by anointing Him and Jesus tempered Judas’ complaint by reminding him that the needy will always be present.

As we walk along our journey of faith, we also have experiences that grow our trust in God and some that allow us to bless others.  In the first case we learn from our trials that God is always near, that we can trust Him with all things, and that He will provide.  In the second case as we grow in our faith we come to see that we too can  anoint others and in this way share God’s blessings with them.

From these two things, our focus begins to change.  We begin to see others and their needs more clearly.  We become freer to give away to others because we gain trust that God will provide.  We come to better see needs and to understand how we can meet them as we begin to journey with Jesus alongside those in need.  Our increased awareness of the needs of others, both strangers and friends alike, deepens both our inclination and ability to help.  As we come to understand that helping carry another’s burden does not weigh us down but instead blesses us, we gain strength in our mission to others.

Verse 18 speaks of God doing a new thing.  As we grow in our trust and as our mission to those in need develops, we see more and more from a new perspective.  Our focus becomes more and more like Mary’s – seeing God’s kingdom more and the world’s less.  Seeing and responding to need builds God’s kingdom.  Offering more of ourselves shares Jesus increasingly with the world.  God seeks to do a new thing in each of us.  Can you sense it springing up?  Through our lives, may we ever bring glory to God as we strive to build His kingdom here.


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Things That Satisfy

Reading: Isaiah 55: 1-5

Today we hear an invitation to come to God to be satisfied.  Isaiah calls us to the waters that will satisfy our thirst.  He calls us to come and eat without cost.  Isaiah is calling us to come and find salvation and blessing, to enter the reign of Christ.

The passage is full of actions we must take.  “Come” is not the only one.  Isaiah also urges us to listen to what fills out soul, to spend what we have on things that truly satisfy, and to eat of the good that God offers.  When God invites us to partake of all this, Isaiah asks, why do we still seek what does not ultimately satisfy?  It is a good question to ponder.  It is one we wrestle with.

The things of this world can be alluring and enticing.  Satan is excellent at dangling that which draws each of us in before our eyes in a number of ways.  He works at those insecurities and doubts, deftly trying to pry them open just a bit wider all the time.  He nudges us into thinking more of ourselves and less of others as we play the blame and judgment games.

In the season of Lent, may we be increasingly aware of all that has appeal but that does not satisfy.  May we heed the voice of the Holy Spirit ad it warns, convicts, and corrects.  May we draw close to our Lord and Savior to drink and eat of the living water and the bread of life that He alone offers.


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Will We?

After their capitol city Jerusalem was destroyed, many of the people of Israel spent a long period living in exile.  Finally the king of Persia begins to allow some to return to start rebuilding their holy city.  The Israelites had been helpful and useful to the king, so this was a way he could thank them.  Miraculously, the small group rebuilds all of the city wall in just 52 days.  They know from this amazing feat, accomplished in the midst of unfriendly peoples all around them, that God was at work in and around them.  So they gather to worship and to hear the Word of God read.

Each week lots of folks will gather on Sunday morning to hear the Word of God, to offer Him praise, and to celebrate God’s presence in their lives.  God is a steady and active part of the lives of regular church goers.  Sunday morning is the time when they are renewed and encouraged and built up so that they can face the world in the week ahead.  Their time each Sunday morning in church allows them to live each day with God’s presence.

For lots of other folks, this feeling of a need to connect with God is generated only through an exceptional blessing or through a trying circumstance or event.  For the first group, something really amazing happens and they can sense God’s hand or presence in that blessing.  They show up on a Sunday and offer theirs thanks to God.  For the second group, it is a tragedy or trial that brings them to the point of feeling they need to connect to God.  They come desperate and seeking, sensing that only God can make a difference for them.

Funny thing though, God is equally happy to have all three in the house.  Each and every one is seen as a beloved child of God.  To God, on that day, it does not matter if one is there every Sunday or if it has been a while or if it is the first time.  On that day, they are there in the house of God.  And God is happy.

The challenge in the church is, first, to be equally happy.  The second challenge is to regularly feed to every Sunday worshiper while also meeting the special occasion worshiper where they are at and ministering to them right there.  All people need to see the relevance of God in their lives and to feel that their time is well-invested to keep showing up at church.  Together, the body of Christ has the gifts and talents to accomplish all of this.  Together the church can be relevant, can be worthy of people’s time, and can meet and minister to each person right where they are at in life and on their journey of faith.  But our question is: will we?

Scripture reference: Nehemiah 8: 1-3


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An Act of Praise

“I will praise the Lord all my life.” (Psalm 146, verse 2a)

We find this line at the beginning of Psalm 146, one of the “Hallelujah” psalms.  Each of the last five psalms in the book focus on the idea of praising the Lord.  It is a great way to end the book of Psalms.  In verse 2a the psalmist pledges to praise God all of the time.  This too should be our pledge.

How would our daily life and perspective on life change if we really did live in a state of constant praise to our God?  How would our life look if all we did was bring praise and glory to God?  I imagine our witness would be quite different!  If we lived and breathed a constant praise to God, imagine how our light would shine!

We are created to live this way, implanted with the spark of the divine since our conception.  God’s desire is for us to reflect His light and love all of the time, not just in church for an hour or just when we are with our church friends.

To live as a constant praise to God requires some choices.  First, we must fully trust in Him as our all in all – our provider, comforter, healer, creator, …  Second, we must actively thank God for all of the blessings in our daily lives.  In doing so we reinforce that God is really our all.  From this deep well of trust and thanksgiving, may we pour out our lives today and every day as an act of praise to our God and King!

Scripture reference: Psalm 146


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Faith and Mystery

The book of Job has a happy ending.  Job’s suffering ends and God restored him beyond all he had before.  Job is blessed with large herds, many sons, and beautiful daughters.  He lives for 140 years as a very blessed and dies full of life.  One could say all ends well but our questions are left unanswered.  We do not know why Job had to endure this trial.  We do not know Job’s take on what happened either.  In the end we see that God remains mysterious.  For our faith, this mystery is essential.

Try as we might, mankind cannot explain all that is in the world.  There is much that has been figured out but we only seem to be able to go so far.  Great minds have studied and observed and analyzed and calculated to learn much.  We can split atoms and see far into space.  We can trace the evolution and extinction of many species.  We can replace hearts and we can restart hearts.  Yet there is much that cannot be explained by scientists, doctors, mathematicians…  Events and things that happened and happen remain a mystery.  In our world miracles still occur and a shrug of the shoulders is the best explanation that can be offered in intelligent response.

There is still mystery to God as well.  There are may questions that cannot be answered.  The ‘why’ questions of life and death and illness remain as do the ‘how’ of miracles that occur.  There is much we do not know of God.  But there is also much we do know.  God is love, compassion, peace, comfort, understanding, forgiveness, mercy, grace.  He has plans for each of us and those plans are good.  Yet there is still much mystery and this is also good.  Faith and hope are still required of us in our relationship with God.  Faith draws upon trust and experience.  As we live out this life in relationship with God, our faith grows.  In faith and hope, we live with the mystery of God because above all else, we know that God is love.

Scripture reference: Job 42: 10-17


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Sing His Song!

Sometimes I get a tune or song stuck in my head.  It plays over and over and over.  If someone mentions or, worse yet, hums a bit of some songs, they get stuck.  There is much joy and happiness in music, so ‘stuck’ may be a bad choice of words.

In today’s reading from the Song of Songs the author speaks of their lover coming to visit.  The winter is over and spring is bounding out all around.  New life can be found all over the place and he beckons her to join him in enjoying it.  Visions of new shoots of green poking up through the earth as birds sing songs carried off on a warm breeze fill my mind.  It is a time that makes the heart smile.

The relationships between lovers also parallels our relationship with God.  Each morning God calls out to us, sings to us, at the start of each new day.  Like an expectant child lying in bed awaiting Christmas morning or a fiance about to pop the question, God cannot wait to welcome us to a brand new day.  The actual time or season of the year does not really matter – God is anxious for us to begin a new day with Him.  It is God’s desire that each new day is full of His presence.

2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new is come!”  Each day is a new day as we walk with our Lord.  His mercies are made new every morning as God offers us His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness each new day.

God calls us to be in song with Him each day as well.  He invites us to sing the songs of love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness each day.  May this song of God become so stuck in our hearts and souls that it springs forth from us each day, all day!

Scripture reference: Songs of Songs 2: 8-13


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Clean Hands, Pure Heart

The whole earth and all that is in it belong to God, the creator.  Psalm 24 beings by stating God’s claim to rule over all He made.  For us, as a people of God, His claim has significance and importance.  There are implications both personal and communal.

On a personal level the Lord is seeking those with clean hands and a pure heart.  To live with clean hands is to live a life of integrity.  It is a life that seeks to do good, to do no evil, and to honor God in all we do and say.  To live with a pure heart is to place God as Lord of our life.  We bow to no other god or idol – not to power or position or authority or jealousy or greed…

Psalm 24 also calls for us to open the gates of the city, to invite God in.  This means praying for God to be a part of our communities.  For example, a group of ministers from around our city gathered at a high place yesterday and prayed over our community.  It was a powerful experience to look down over our city and to pray for God’s presence to be made known.  We all can join together in our churches to pray for His presence to be in our churches and in our communities.

When we live with clean hands and a pure heart, we are blessed by God.  We proclaim His goodness and bring Him glory through our lives.  In doing so we help to manifest God’s rule over the whole earth.  This is how we shine the light for all to see.  In all we do, may we bring God the honor and glory that He is due.

Scripture reference: Psalm 24


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Alone Time

Life is busy.  When we have a slice of free time outside the requirements of work or school and the necessity if eating and sleeping, we have a myriad of choices about what to do with that time.  We can fill our ‘free time’ with things that are good for us or with things that are not.  For the interests or activities that we find valuable we usually schedule them in so that we do not miss out on them.

Time alone with God should be one of these priorities.  To find a space in the early morning or just before going to bed or someplace in between is so important to our faith.  Each day we must carve out time to read and reflect on God’s word and to spend time in prayer.  Through these two means of grace we draw closer to God and become more open to the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives.

This ‘alone time’ with God also serves to open us up to the world.  As our eyes, head, and heart become more and more in tune with God, we see both His presence in the world better and hear His call to meet the needs of others more clearly.  Through these we see and respond to the needs more readily.  We live and interact in the world as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Time dedicated to God is a commitment.  We are called to live in covenant relationship with God.  If time with God is a “when I have time” type of thing, one never seems to find the time.  Yet nothing in this life is more important than daily time alone with God.  This time is an absolute blessing.  May you be blessed every day!

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 5: 9-10