pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: God


by Leave a comment

Faith and Trust

The invitation to Rebekah to go and marry Isaac runs so counter to our culture today.  On a day like every other day, Rebekah goes to the well to draw water.  Only on this day she meets a stranger who asks her to move many miles away to marry a man she has never met.  And she says yes and is married by the end of the chapter.

How clearly Rebekah must have sensed the hand of God at work in the scene playing out.  How in tune with God she must have been!   Her submission to God shows great inner strength.  Her faith in God is of the mountain-moving variety.

On the one hand she is an awesome and inspiring example.  On the other hand, she humbles me when I see how far I fall short of her faith and trust in God.  If someone were to come up to me today and ask me to move away to ‘x’ to help plant a church or to start a mission, I’d falter.  I’d hesitate.  What would you do?

In Psalm 100, we hear what our answer should be: “Know that the Lord, He is God!  It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”  We are His.  All we have belongs to Him.  We are in the care of God as we roam His pasture.  May I learn to trust and obey my one and only savior, Jesus Christ!

Scripture reference: Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67


by Leave a comment

Coincidence?

Just got back from our mission trip to Seattle yesterday.  It was an adventure!!  Bus 1’s radiator started going out on the second day of the trip and they needed to get it replaced.  The bus company lined up a replacement bus to help drive us to our work sites in Seattle.  On Monday morning we walked onto the ferry to Seattle as two of our buses lined up to load onto the ferry.  Due to low tide they would not allow the buses onto the ferry.  So we set off to serve in Seattle with our lunches and water on the buses.  Yet the replacement bus was already at the ferry depot, waiting to provide rides.  Coincidence?

Abraham sent his servant to a far away land to find a bride for his son Isaac.  He sought a woman from God’s people living in a distant land.  There was no previous arrangement of connections – just go and find a willing bride.  A woman willing to leave her family and homeland, to go to a far land and marry a man she has never met.  Sounds easy, huh?  No wonder the servant doubted.  Bot, lo and behold, the first woman he meets at the well in Rebekah and she is willing to go and marry Isaac.  And her family is willing too so they bless her and the rest is history.  Coincidence?  I think not.

There were many other instances on our mission trip where we were able to look back and see God’s hand at work.  I’m sure there are many instances in your life where you can see the hand of God at work also.  If you think not – look harder – they are there.  God is a part of our lives.  The more open and inviting we are to His presence, the more we come to know that presence.  Hear His promise: “I will not forg et you!  See, I have engraved you on the palm of My hands.” (Isaiah 49: 15-16)

Scripture reference: Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, and 58-67


by Leave a comment

Tell the Story!

New life often begins in the spring.  It can be a flower poking through or the first buds on a tree beginning to show.  The signal of new life puts a bit of a bounce in your step and hope in your heart.

The promises of God’s faithfulness, love, and the hope of salvation do the same thing.  The sight of an older couple holding hands as they walk or the awe that settles in at the birth of a child remind us of life to the full.  Of the life God desires for us.

Yet at times in life we can feel trapped or stuck.  The sense of bring lost or of simply being tired can rob us of seeing the life God offers.  Thankfully in these seasons and timed of life we can rest into God and find renewal in His word.  These experience become part of our story.

We are called to be disciples and to make disciples.  When we share these stories of God’s promise and God’s hand in our lives, we are giving others a step towards God.  It is through these stories of faith that God becomes more real for others.  Be a good storyteller.

Scripture reference: Psalm 13: 5-6


by Leave a comment

He Is There

It is pretty easy for me, at times, to wonder where God is.  To question why this or that worked out the way it did.  To wrestle, seemingly alone, with some big decision or dilemma before me.

Our Hod is s big God.  He created the universe st a word.  He designed every one of us as a unique and special creation.  We are dearly loved.  He longs to be in relationship with us.

Yet we commonly feel we cannot bring God our anger, our frustration, our pain.  Maybe we feel we might hurt God’s feelings.  But when we are feeling we can’t do it alone, it is then we most need to kneel before God.  It is then that we most need to go to the Father.

Its against our nature to depend on another.  But that is how God designed us – to be in relationship with one another.  Go to God.  Talk with your friend.  He is there.

Scripture reference: Psalm 13: 1-4


by Leave a comment

What Is Our Response?

In our culture today we view greatness in terms of superior athletic prowess or in terms of vast amounts of money in the bank or in terms of captivating beauty or musical talent or in terms of controlling a vast economic empire.  Yet for some they are one injury or poor decision from being just like the everyone else.  For others it is simply time that robs them of their greatness.

But the one who created the land and sky and creatures from the chaos and the one who raised His Son from the grave does not change.  His greatness remains.  The same God who spoke and created the world whispers in our ear through the voice of the Holy Spirit and through the words we read in the Bible.  The same God who allowed His Son to be crucified for our sins loves us as much today as He loved us that day.

And what is our response to God’s greatness?  To His unchanging and amazing love for us?  We seek to be humble by letting go of self.  We seek to be forgiving by letting go of judging.  We seek to be more prayerful by letting go of idle talk.  Through these things may we glorify our God!!

Scripture reference: Psalm 86: 8-10


by Leave a comment

Time Invested

What makes some friends closer than others?  I think it is partly time invested.  It is also partly a natural connection.  In our relationship with God we need both parts.

At times we are blessed to abide in the presence of God.  Sometimes it is in worship, maybe it is in a sunset, maybe it is in the gentle embrace of one you love.  At other times, God simply happens into our lives.

Yet doesn’t God deserve more?  He is free with mercy when we sin and always hears our prayers.  None compare to His ceaseless love and His provisions for our lives.

So how do we offer more?  I think it is how we offer more to a dear friend – time invested.  It is time spent – being often in prayer.  It is time given – loving those in need.  It is time meditating – seeking His will in our lives.  Becoming a good friend with God takes a commitment.  But oh how great a friend He is!!

Scripture reference: Psalm 86: 1-10 and 16-17


by Leave a comment

In Our Moments

Have you had someone suddenly mad at you or suddenly lost a friend and had no idea why?  In that moment, you were probably stunned, sad, angry, hurt.  Sometimes you figure it out and become friends again, sometimes you do not.  Sometimes you just never know.

Hagar was Sarah’s maidservant.  Sarah was barren and advanced in years, but desperately wanted a family.  So Sarah convinced Hagar to sleep with her husband Abraham to bear them a child.  I imagine it was hard to  bear a child for a man who would never love her, who already had a wife he loved.  But she did.  I imagine that Hagar felt like she had done something special for Sarah and Abraham.

Fast forward a few years and now Sarah is pregnant and bears Abraham a son named Isaac.  Sarah becomes jealous and protective and wants Hagar and her son Ishmael sent away into the wilderness.  Abraham is unwilling but God reassures him of he plan and he sends Hagar and son out into the desert with some bread and water – presumably to die.  As this happens, can you imagine what is going through Hagar’s mind?  Do you hear her thinking, “But after what I did for you…?”

After they run out of water, Hagar walks off a little way from Ishmael and resigns herself to death.  She cannot bear to be near him and to hear his cries for water.  Hagar is in anguish.  But then suddenly a strange thing happens.  God sends an angel who asks her, “What is the matter?”  What a question!  God provides water, reassures her, and continues to watch over them as the boy grows up.  It all turns out OK for them.

Has God ever asked you, “What is the mattter?”  Has God ever entered into your brokenness?  You and I are blessed – always just a prayer away from God’s presence.  Yet sometimes we too are like Hagar – too broken and distraught to even offer up a prayer.  In these moments God will seek us out too.  Our God is a God of love.  A God who will seek out to lost and the broken.  Praise be to our God!!


by Leave a comment

We Too Will Be Blessed

Do you recall a time when you let go of something that you did not have to, in order to be in a better place or situation?  Maybe it was a house or a town, maybe it was a friend or someone you were dating, or maybe it was a job or volunteer position.  The promise or call of what lay ahead drew you forward.  Yet there is still some pain in the letting go.

In times of decisions like these, we need to spend time in prayer with God and to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  When we have wrestled with the decision with God at our side and the Holy Spirit leading us on, we move forward in a much different manner than if we go it alone.

Like Abraham, when God told him to send Hagar and Ishmael (his firstborn son) out into the wilderness, we too can move forward with God at our side.  Despite the pain of watching them walk away forever, into a wilderness, Abraham knew this was God’s plan and he trusted and obeyed.  He did so because he knew God is faithful.  He knew God’s promise is to never leave us.  He knew God’s promise is to always love us.  Upon His promises we too can walk forward with confidence and assurance.  And we too will be blessed.

Scripture reference: Genesis 21: 8-21


by Leave a comment

With Us Always

In Matthew 28, Jesus gives his last instructions: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”.  Jesus goes on to promise that He will be with us always, to the end of the age.

We are invited to baptize in order to bring all aspects of God into the new believer’s life.  God empowers, Jesus redeems, and the Holy Spirit sustains.  Just as a new believer needs all three, we too need all three to do our ‘work’ in the world.  No one can do it alone.  And we must not forget the last part of Jesus’ command: teach them to obey all of Jesus’ commands.  We are not called to simply bring people to Christ, but to also teach them about being like Christ in their world.  We too often forget the second half of Jesus’s great commission.

To make disciples and to teach them we must allow ourselves to be vessels of God’s redeeming love.  But if all we do is give, soon our well will run dry.  We too must allow ourselves to be poured into and filled by God’s love.  Once we ourselves are filled them we can go forth to disciple and teach.  Jesus promises to be with is always, to the end of the age.  This promise gives us the confidence to go forth in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  May all three fill us up and send us out!!


by Leave a comment

Created and Called

As a church or community of faith, what does it means when Paul calls us to “aim for perfection”?  Does that means that the worship and message on Sunday will be flawless?  Does that mean that the church will be beautifully decorated and that the coffee and cookies will be fantastic?  Or does it mean that the church will be a loving and welcoming place that feels like home?  Or is all this and more?  The target is indeed high but we are created in His image.

Paul also calls us to be of one mind and to live in peace.  All families disagree at times and have fights at others, right?  While true, it is not what we are aiming for.  It sounds like quite a challenge!  Yet each body of faith must be of one mind in terms of their purpose for being and in their mission in the world.  On a basic level, each and every Christian is called to ‘make disciples of all nations’.  Each and every church also has its own unique purpose and mission in the community in which it exists.  While each body of faith’s ‘work’ may look different from church to church – here the purpose and mission are also basically the same – to be Jesus’ hands and feet.

“To live in peace with one another”.  Begin with respect and an open mind and loving heart tuned to other’s needs above your own.  Our former and current ‘saints’ have much wisdom, experience, and insights to offer.  Seek them out, include them in the church.  Our ‘new’ friends to the faith are in need of love and encouragement.  Draw them in and give them all you have to offer.

Paul concludes 2 Corinthians 13 by reminding us that the God of love and peace will be with us.  This is a great comfort and reassurance because we all could use a little more love and peace.  We are created in His image and called to be like Him.