pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: faithful


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An Amazing Love

All along our journey of faith there will be times when we are separated from God, adrift in our faith.  The circumstances of life will draw us away, both in the good and in the bad times.  Sometimes when life is really going well we can start to take the credit or we can get comfortable with our faith and suddenly God has a back seat.  We can feel that we don’t seem to ‘need’ God at times.  Other times, after being in a long struggle, we can come to a point where we question God’s presence or we may wonder of our prayers are being heard.

As the food that they had brought with them from Egypt began to run out, the Israelites began to grumble against Moses and Aaron and, ultimately, against God.  They could still remember the pots full of food from their days as slaves in Egypt and they longed to be filled again.  Our loving God heard them and sent manna and quail, but with some instructions.  If they took more than they needed, then it would be rotten.  God wanted to meet their need, not to spoil them.  Once they saw God’s provision, their faith in Him was restored.  But eventually they will fall away again.  And again.  And again.  And again.

We are just like the Israelites.  As my friend Kent likes to say, “One more time around the mountain!”  Yet the amazing thing is our God.  He never  leaves us.  No matter how many times we have to circle back around, He is always right there.  It is only us that chooses a time of separation.  And over and over and over and over again, when we seek Him, God is right there.  His great love for us is amazing.  It is a love that never ends, that never fails.  It is an amazing love!!  Praise be to God!!

Scripture reference: Exodus 16: 4-15


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Still at Work

The Bible is our history book.  There are many people and stories that we recall, study, and know by heart.  They teach us who God is, what we are called to be like as people of faith, and show us examples of faithful witness.  As we look back into our history book of faith, we can see God at work in the lives of the people and places in the stories and accounts.

Since the time of Jesus and the disciples, faithful servants have continued to teach us what faith is and how we are to live in our world as disciples of Christ.  People like Martin Luther, Calvin, and Mother Teresa continue to explain and define who we are as a people of God.  We can look back on their lives and see the hand of God at work here as well.

In each of our denominations and local churches, our histories contain people and events that have shaped us.  For example, John Wesley had tremendous influence on the Methodist and Wesleyan movements and churches.  In our local churches it is a beloved pastor or a lay members viewed as a ‘saint’ plus significant local events that define who and what we are as a congregation.  And through all of these local people and events, we can see God at work too.  He continues to be present and active in our world.

People very likely look at your life too.  Maybe it is your student or your patient or your coworker or your exercise classmate.  Each of us is part of the story of God at work in our world.  He is still at work.  As we live as salt and light in the world. we are co-laborers with Christ.  May we labor well!

Scripture reference: Psalm 105: 1-6, 23-26, and 45c


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Claim All That He Offers

“Keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” – Romans 12: 11-12

It can be hard to always love others.    It can be hard to always be ‘Christian’ towards others.  It can even be hard to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ with love all the time.  These words of Paul provide us with some insights and guidance for how to love all in a manner worthy of Christ’s love.

‘Keeping our spiritual fervor’ involves staying in love with God – one of Reuben Job’s ‘Three Simple Rules’.  When we are in love with God we naturally want to serve others and to meet the needs we can meet.  We stay in love with God by practicing our spiritual disciplines – worship, prayer, study, fasting, …

When we are ‘joyful in hope’ we are living into the belief that Jesus will be there for us.  We are expectant that He will be present to us and as we live with hope in our hearts, we are filled with joy.  When we are ‘patient in affliction’ we are living into the belief that although we endure for a moment, that Jesus will be there when we reach the other side or the end of our present situation.  In the midst of trial, we know that He is there with us and will be there always.  This allows for patience.  With patience we can gain much from the trials of life.  When we are ‘faithful in prayer’ we are living into the belief that through talking with Jesus we draw nearer to Him and draw strength from Him.

Though these four practices we equip ourselves to better love all we encounter each day.  This blessing from Hebrews 13 is also ours if we claim it: “May the God of peace equip you with every good thing that you may do His will, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.”  He wants to equip us with spiritual fervor, joyful hope, patient enduring, and a faithful prayer life.  May we claim all that He has to offer as we live daily with Christ.

Scripture reference: Romans 12: 9-21


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To the Best of Our Ability

All that we have is a gift from God.  Our talents and abilities are gifts that we must use with humility, grace, and love.  We are not to use what we have been blessed with to lord it over others or to take advantage of people or situations.

As Joseph was riding along that trade route to Egypt, a new slave to Midianite merchants, I wonder if he saw it as God’s work in his life.  As they saw Joseph disappearing into the horizon, I doubt the brothers we thinking of how God’s plan was just beginning to take shape.  Often in the midst of things we too fail to see God at work in our lives.

When Joseph first exercised his gift to interpret dreams, he angered his family.  Yet later in Egypt this ability would allow Joseph to rise up in importance.  When used as God intended, Joseph’s gift was used to build up and to do good.  And yet even then Joseph probably only saw this as a personal success, not as a part of God’s bigger plan.  But Joseph was faithful and continued to do as God led him to do.  Because of this, he would eventually he would see God’s big plan.

What gifts and talents has God blessed you with?  In what ways are they being used to build God’s kingdom now?  Are you using you gift to the best of your ability?  May we learn to use what God has blessed us with, trusting Him and the plan He has for our life.

Scripture reference: Genesis 37: 1-4 and 12-28


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Faithfulness and Love… and Patience

In Romans 9, Paul is in sorrow over the Israelites not seeing Jesus for who He was  – the Son of God, come to redeem the world.  It is a situation where he sees it, has the same background knowledge as them, and does not understand why they do not see it.  Have you ever been one either side of one of these situations in your life?  Maybe you were in the role of Paul and tried and tried to get someone to understand, but just couldn’t.

In this story it is God who is ultimately in this role.  The story also extends out past this current moment in the Bible.  And in this we see something amazing about God.  We can see God covenantal faithfulness and His steadfast love.  Despite all in the Old Testament and all that Jesus said and did, most of the Israelites do not come to understand who Jesus was and is.  Yet God continues to pursue the people of Israel even to this day!

Often I think it is the same with me.  After all of these years of walking with Christ, I still fall short.  At times my sin is that I think I am the one in charge.  Sometimes I take the credit.  Other times it is a thought or word that holds my sin.  But thank God for His faithfulness and love!  Sometimes I can’t imagine why He chooses to stick it out with me.  But He does.  Thank God for His patience too!

Scripture reference: Romans 9: 1-5


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Confidence Forward

Have you ever taken the time to look back over your life to see God’s fingerprints on it?  Do you see how He guided you to this job instead of that other one and how you were blessed there?  Or maybe there was a challenge there – see how it forced you to grow and mature?

Can you see all the other decisions and event sin your life were God is there too?  Maybe it is the college you went to, the  major you ended up with, the person you dated or married, or the places you lived.  Maybe it was the college you did not go to, the person you did not date, and so on.  Maybe it is in the birth or a child or in that heart-wrenching loss.  Maybe it is that divorce or breakup, in that firing, or in that addiction.  As you take time to look back over your life, can’t you see that God was in each and every one of these points of your life?

As we look back and see how God led, directed, and loved into our lives, we gain a confidence to move forward.  In this reflection we build a reserve to know that He will be there in our next difficulty, decision, or event.  We know God will continue to be a part of our lives because He loves us so.  “The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.” (Psalm 145:9)

Scripture reference: Psalm 105: 1-11 and 45b


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Faithful and True

We are called to spread God’s word and love.  Jesus compared the discipling of others to seeds and yeast.  In Matthew 13 the small mustard seed grows into a large plant that is home to many birds.  The ‘yeast’ that we work into the ‘dough’ spreads out and causes all of the dough to rise to new heights.  As we spread God to those in our worlds, we help them to grow in their faith.  It is neat to watch another grow in their faith.

But sometimes we have to wait.  The seed does not sprout overnight and the yeast takes time to work.  Sometimes it is hard to wait.  Although we can see and feel other ways God’s kingdom is being built, at times we can hone in on one person or one situation in our life.   It then becomes hard to see big picture that God is painting.

We must learn to wait patiently and to continue in our labors.  We are only the labors – God and the Holy Spirit are what cause the seed to sprout.  We know that the Father is faithful and true.  He is our hope and our strength.  In Hebrews 10 we find encouragement: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur on another on toward love and good deeds”.

Scripture reference: Matthew 13: 31-33


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Hello… remember me?

God is a mighty God who watches over us and cares for us.  He is a powerful, benevolent, and passionate God.  In Psalm 68 we read of God bringing rains of abundance upon His people.  We are blessed today too.

But how often we forget to praise His name for all He is and does for us.  Sometimes we may even start to think that success is because of our efforts and our own hard work.  Possessions start to fill our lives instead of God.

And then reality hits.  Life becomes hard.  A sudden illness, a conflict at work or at home, something to bring us back to the realization that we are not really the one in control.  We come to realize that only God is in control.  It is then that we turn back and say, “Hello God… remember me?”

All we have and all that we are comes from God.  Nothing is outside of God.  May we all learn to thank God each day so that we live always in His holy presence.  May we live this way so that He doesn’t have to say so often, “Hello child… remember me?”


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To the End of the Age

Jesus suffered a painful death as an act of obedience to God and out of love for us.  A pure and holy man went to the cross not only to suffer nd die but also to take upon Himself the sins of us all.  It is through this gift that we are able to find salvation for our souls.

After He died, Jesus was resurrected and sits at God’s right hand.  He sits to judge the living and the dead.  Peter tells us that after dying Jesus went and “preached to the spirits in prison”, those dead in their sins since the time of Noah.  Jesus wants us all to be saved.  Jesus judges us in accordance with how we live our lives as a follower or disciples of Christ.  Followers emulate the ways of the one they follow.  Disciples study one so that they can be like the one they study.

Our baptism was the beginning of our commitment to live as a follower or disciple of Jesus Christ.  Baptism is symbolic of the cleansing waters of the flood, when God washed clean the earth, removing man and his sin from the world.  Baptism is a promise to God to live with a purity of conscious.  At times we have suffering.  At times we have joy.  Most of the time we live between these two.  If we live in all these states as a faithful and obedient follower and disciple of Christ, our destiny is the same as Christ’s destiny.  Eternity awaits the faithful and obedient.  But in our day to day, we are called to take up the cross of Christ, to live for Him. For strength, remember the promise found in Matthew 28:20 – “I am always with you, even to the end of the age.”


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Faithful and True

Have you ever done something or ventured somewhere with a guide or expert that you never would have alone?  If I were to go white-water rafting or skydiving or up Mount Everest, I would want a pretty skilled guide right there with me, leading and showing the way.  Imagine stepping to the door or the airplane and hearing your guide say, “Hope I packed the parachutes right, today was my first time packing a chute.”

In your walk of faith have you ever stepped outside of your comfort zone or made a ‘leap of faith’?  When we do these things we do so with the confidence that He is right there with us.  He walks right alongside of us – ready to catch us when we stumble, ready to show us the way when we feel a little lost, ready to whisper in our ear just what needs to be said, ready to give us courage when we begin to have doubts.  He is our rock, our comforter, our expert guide.

Knowing He is always by our side gives us the confidence and knowledge to step up or out for Him.  He will never leave us, He will never forsake us.  May we walk boldly, for He is faithful and true.