pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: God


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Sing a New Song

It is raining outside this morning.  At times the rain swells up and pounds on the windows.  At other times it is a beautiful, steady tapping on the windows. To me it is a joyful sound.  Like the psalmist today writing of how our praises swell up to God, tha rain too brings joy and gladness to the earth.

The psalm brings to mind all of creation raising its voice in praise and worship for God’s steadfast love.  It is the response of all living things to the constant and deep care God has for all His creations.  I can almost hear the grass and plants singing their thanks to God for the moisture He is bringing this morning.  My heart yearns to sing along.

The psalm also calls for us to sing a new song, for salvation has come.  Like a steady rain, the love and compassion of Jesus washes over all who call upon His name.  We are also reminded that with salvation will come judgment.  The world and all of creation will be judged with righteousness and with equity.

Just as the steady rains falls on all of the grass and plants, so too will His judgment fall on all of us.  Today may the love of Christ that is within us be like a steady rain, falling on all we meet.  May it bring refreshment and cleansing to all we meet.  May the incredible love of Christ being to sink into their soil and creep down into their roots.  And in doing all these things, may we sing a joyful song to our God and King.

Scripture reference: Psalm 98 Continue reading →


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Aware of the Spirit

We live in a world that is constantly in change.  Every day people are born while others die.  People lose jobs, people starts new jobs.  People move from one place to another.  Even our relationships with those closest to us change and evolve over time.  In the midst of all of these transitions and changes though, God remains the same.

The call to abide in God in today’s scripture is a call to ground our life in the one thing that always remains rock solid.  Who and what God is and always will be the same.  His love and care for us never wavers.  He loves each of us just as much the day we were born as the day we die and all days in between.

Yet within the call to abide is also found the call to change ourselves.  We never reach the perfection found in God and Jesus, but we are called to seek to draw nearer and nearer to it as we live out our faith.  It is within this context that God seeks to prune us.  In this process of pruning we are shaped to grow more and more like Christ.

Our spiritual pruning is usually self-administered, done with the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  As we reflect on our lives, the Spirit points out things we need to change and things we need to pursue to grow closer to God.  This promoting comes in a wide variety if ways – from the gentle nudge to the quiet whisper to the in-your-face, can’t possibly miss this event.  The Spirit is always seeking to work in our lives.  We must allow it to shape, mold, and guide us to become more and more and more like Jesus.

Scripture reference: John 15: 1-8


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Pruning for Fruit

In the spring it is natural to clean, to prepare for a season of growth, to unclutter.  This week I uncovered and set out the patio furniture and rototilled the garden.  The lawn was mowed for the first time and I noticed that the rhubarb is almost ready to be picked.  Other plants are springing to life as well.

Down by the shed my grape vines are a mess.  An early storm last Fall toppled over the poles and wired that had supported the vines due to all the weight of the snow on the thick leaves.  I attempted a ‘fix’ last Spring, but it was largely unsuccessful.  I’ve come to realize hat I must tear out all the support and wires and really trim back the vines to be able to rebuild and start over.  It will mean that the grape crop this summer may be pretty minimal.

In today’s passage Jesus speaks of God pruning the fruitful branches and cutting off those bearing no fruit.  All this is done so that the whole plant can bear more fruit.  Energy goes more fully into what is fruitful.  With my grapes, I know this is true in the long run as well.

As I think about what I must do with my grape vines next week, I also come to realize that maybe I need to look at my life as well.  Are there things in my busy schedule that are not as fruitful and should go?  If I purge this or that, will newly available energy go into more fruitful pursuits?  This analysis may be a bit hard and maybe painful too, but God calls for my best.  Today’s question is where is God calling me to be invested.

Scripture reference: John 15: 1-8


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This Amazing Love

“God’s Love and Ours” is the title to the section in my Bible that contains 1 John 4: 7-21.  It is all about God’s and Jesus’ love for us and our love for our fellow man.  It is about how our love ought to reflect His perfect love.  The word ‘love’ appears over 25 times in this passage.  Seems that this love thing must be important in our lives.

If we were to look at Jesus’ ministry and to come up with one word to describe it, that word would be love.  In all He did love was at the core.  In all He did.  This example that Jesus set for us is the goal of our lives.  It is how we shine our light.

God’s love also continually pours out upon us.  His love can be found in us and all around us.  If we were to analyze our day, we would find many “God sightings” sprinkled throughout our day.  Some of these would be points where we experienced God’s love for us, some would be points where we shared His love with others, and some would be points where others shared His love with us.

A lot of the time we take this amazing love for granted.  Sometimes I am sure we do not even notice it.  Our days can be so busy that by the time we get to the end of the day, we just want to relax.  But it is important to acknowledge and give thanks for His love.  Whether in your mind or on a piece of paper, take a minute right now to consider where all you experienced God’s love yesterday.  Smile and give thanks.  Repeat each day.

Scripture reference: 1 John 4: 7-21


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Deep, Deep Love

God’s love is amazing.  God’s love is unending.  God’s love is steadfast and true.  He calls us to abide in His love, to dwell in it, to soak it up, to share it with others.  His perfect love was shown on the cross as God allowed His Son to be our atoning sacrifice.

The cross is also the symbol of how we are to love.  The vertical beam represents the love that flows back and forth between us and God.  Despite our failings and stumblings, His love still always extends to us, always calls us back into relationship with Him.  As we find forgiveness after forgiveness and come to know how much God loves us, our own love begins to flow out to our fellow man.  This love is represented in the horizontal beam of the cross.

At times these relationships with our fellow man will challenge us.  Just as we are to others, some are harder for us to love.  Just as in “The Shack” the God character always said, “I am especially fond of that one,” we too are called to not only say this but to live this out.

One of the best parts of how big God’s love is is shown in our struggles to love all of our neighbors.  His love is so big that we can draw and draw upon it.  In those cases when we especially struggle to love one of our brothers or sisters, draw deep into the love of God.  Soak in His love.  Abide in His love.  Steep in His love.  Then go forth to love that friend in Christ.

Scripture reference: 1 John 4: 7-21


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A Living Testament

Faith is not so simple as saying “I believe.”  It is the requisite first step to a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Our faith is built in and upon the “I believes”: I believe in the virgin birth, in the teachings of Jesus, in His death and resurrection, and in the promise of eternal life.

But one cannot stop at this point of belief.  If one does, life is hard.  Belief will only get you so far.  It is the first step in the relationship, but one must see inward change as well.  It is possible to say ‘I believe’ and to go on living a life of sin.  Belief is like entering the cocoon.  The transformation comes once inward change begins.  To facilitate this change, it is necessary to invite the Holy Spirit to live within us.  Once we do this and experience the daily presence of Jesus Christ through the indwelling of the Spirit, then our life is forever changed.

The Holy Spirit then begins to work on that inward change.  In a short time the Spirit’s inner workings lead to outward expressions of God’s love.  Life more and more becomes about sharing the love of God with all that we meet.  No barrier holds us back or stands in our way.  The love of God conquers all.  Our transformation to a new creation draws nearer.

As we share the love of God with others, Christ comes to be more and more a part of who we are.  In time, He is our all in all.  n time our life becomes a living testament to His great love.

Scripture reference: 1 John 3: 21-24


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The Second Line

“God is love” is a widely used statement.  When I ask my Youth to describe Jesus using only one word, the word they always choose is “love.”  If we ask how much God or Jesus loves us, we know we cannot quantify the answer.  Their love for us is so vast we cannot comprehend it.  In the Bible our greatest example of ‘how much’ is found on the cross.  In this we get an inkling not only of how much but also the idea that love is intended to be shared or given away to and for others.

In my Upper Room Devotional book, today’s reading contains these words: “The person with true love from God displays the same kind of unconditional love towards all just as Jesus evidenced that agape love toward us.  We do not even consider refusing the needs of a sister or brother in need.”  If you were like me, you were thinking “yep, yep, yep…” as you read the first sentence.  Then you too got to the second sentence.  Conviction time!

As I wrestled with that second line, I came to realize this was really true of Jesus – He didn’t refuse anyone.  As I went further with these thoughts, I came to again see that this idea extended to the cross.  He didn’t die for some of our sins or for a select group of sinners.  Jesus died for all the sins of all the people.  When we are called to follow the example of Christ and to love our neighbors, God means all the people, all the time.  May God grant the strength, faith, and love necessary to walk this path of unconditional love and to do as Jesus did.

Scripture reference: 1 John 3: 16-24


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The Shepherd

Psalm 23 is probably the most well-known psalm.  It is so well-known because of its content.  It speaks so beautifully of the relationship we have with God.  In the words of the psalm we hear how fully David trusts in God because he knows God is always there.

In the psalm God is in the role of the shepherd.  David, and later Jesus, will come to play the role of shepherd as well.  In all of these cases the people are the sheep under the loving shepherd’s care.  This care is spelled out so so richly in Psalm 23.  Today we are the sheep as well.  In this care we find our needs are met.  We find times of rest when we refresh our souls.  We find both guidance and protection.

Beyond these basics, we also find care that extends to our spiritual and emotional needs.  The Good Shepherd prepares for us a table and blesses us with oil.  With Him we are assured that goodness and mercy will be with us all of our days.  Within this relationship we come to see that we do indeed dwell in the house of the Lord all our days.

When we get to this place in our relationship with the Shepherd, the fears, doubts, and other concerns of life do not have a grip on us.  We trust in His care. We rest in His love.  When we know our Shepherd is walking with us through all of life, then we begin to live life to the fullest.  Not only do we live in and enjoy the abundance of God’s grace and love, but we begin to share Him with others.  Our cup overflows into other’s lives.  Through sharing how the Shepherd cares for and loves us, we help others to come into His care as well.

Scripture reference: Psalm 23


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Relentless Love

Do miracles really happen?  Miracles really do happen.  Do they really still happen?  They really do still happen.  God and His Spirit are still active in the world.  They do not only work through miracles but they also work through people like you and me, making a difference in everyday life.  God still answers big audacious prayers (and small ones too), still heals people of ‘incurable’ and ‘terminal’ diseases, and still restores relationship that were long ago dead.

Why does God continue to do such works?  It is through our encounters with the divine that our faith grows and that we come to know the nature of God more and more.  When Peter healed the beggar at the gate to ‘perfect health’, it was great for the man.  But the higher purpose was to give Peter an audience to share the story of Jesus with.

Another reason we continue to experience God through a variety of means in real ways is to counter our doubt.  Doubt and questioning continue to pull at us and to creep into our lives.  Yet our God continues to and will continue to pursue us.  His longing for each of us is to form and mold us into just the person He created us to be.  He has a plan for our lives.

Sometimes we don’t always hear His voice and some of the time we make decisions or choices we shouldn’t.  We get off track.  We drift.  We lose touch with our faith.  But our God never gives up.  Another person comes along or we encounter God through an event or other experience.

In His relentless pursuit of us, God never, ever gives up.  Through whatever means necessary He continually works to shape and mold us into just who He created us to be.  That is just how much God loves us.

Scripture reference: Acts 3: 12-19


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Each Day with Him

Psalm 4 begins in deep anguish and ends in deep peace.  In life we too experience these wide swings.  Sometimes it is within a day and sometimes it is for a brief season.  And like us, the psalmist cries out to God, asks the ‘why’ questions, and searches for the reasons for their anguish.

Deep in our heart and soul, even when we are in the middle of a crisis, we know that God is still present.  The psalm reminds us of this and implores us to pray, to be silent, to offer sacrifice, and to trust in God.  When we seek Him we will find Him.  Sometimes we just have to step away from all that is swirling around us for a few minutes and focus in on God’s presence.  There we will find rest.

Along with all the things that test us, we also experience joy and blessing.  Life is a mix of the two, the good and the bad.  The rain falls on both the good and the evil, so does the hard and the trying.  Yet if we choose to see and acknowledge God’s hand in the joys and blessings as well, we are reminded that in all things, God is near and God is in control.  He is always faithful and true.

The more we learn and know God is always there, the more our trust in Him grows.  As we learn to abide in Him more and more, we increasingly live as a child of God.  That trust allows us to better walk through the highs and lows that are sure to come.  When we know God personally and deeply, life will not be all roses, but each day we can walk in the garden with our Lord.

Scripture reference: Psalm 4