pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: God


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In His Presence

In 1 Samuel 16 Samuel is sent off to find Israel’s next king.  Samuel is still sad for Saul’s failure as king – after all it was Samuel who anointed him king.  Samuel wished for some time to grieve Saul’s failure.  But God will have none of it.  He also was traditionally the bearer of bad news, so he was less than enthused about going to Jesse of Bethlehem.  But God directs him to go under the guise of making an offering to the Lord.

We also want to sit in our grief or sadness at times.  Not in times of a significant loss, but at times with some small losses we like to stay with it.  At times we like to sit on our own little ‘pity pot’.  It is odd, but at time we like the ‘woe is me’ moments in life.  Yet this is not where God calls us to be.

After a period, we are urged forward again by God or by someone God sends our way.  Like Samuel, we dust ourselves off, glance heavenward, and resume our journey.  We return to the path that God calls us to walk.  It is then that I am reminded, God is always with us.  We are always in His presence.  Thank you, for always being there O Lord!


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God Among Us

When one focuses in on the specific situation the Israelites were in – in the desert, no water, feeling a bit abandoned – one can see why they wondered if God was among them.  In certain situations we too can wonder if God is with us.  At times we can all become so overwhelmed with the moment and lose sight of the big picture.  And it is in that moment of panic that we wonder where God is or why He would ‘allow’ us to go through that situation.

As we turn to the Bible we find answers to the questioning of God’s presence.  Long ago God established a covenant with His people.  The covenant still exists for us today.  The covenant was a two-sided arrangement – if the people would dedicate themselves to God, then He would dwell among them.  The covenant remains there for us today as well.  In the New Testament, Jesus put forth two answers when questioned about which law was the most important.  The first was a repetition of Deuteronomy 6:5 – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.  The second came from Leviticus – love your neighbor as yourself.  The first really speaks of what it means to dedicate yourself to God.  The second speaks to what it means to live it out.

God always seeks to draw near to us.  We make many choices each day – some draw us into God’s presence and some push His presence away from us.  When we choose to draw near, He is there.  When we choose to read our Bible, to spend time in prayer, to worship Him, to reach out to the needy, … then we are living in His presence.  But when we choose to listen to the whispers of the world and choose to focus on things other than God, then we do not sense His presence.  Yet God is always near, always present with us.  If we are only looking within, we do not see Him.  We must live with eyes, ears, heart, mind, hands and feet seeking to be in tune with God and our world.  It is then that God is among us!


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Thanks Be to JC!!

In Romans 5 we find many of the great cornerstones of our faith.  Paul had quite a way with words!  In the first part of Romans 5 Paul reviews the basics of the faith – Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead.  Jesus made the choice to die for our sins.  He chose to take upon himself the sin of the world and to shed His own blood for us.  Through Jesus, God restored every person’s connection to Himself.  Up to this point there was a lack of personal connection.  The priests played the role of intermediary between God and the Jewish people.  Sacrifices were made on behalf of the people to atone for their sins.  Reconciliation came through these ritual sacrifices.

As Paul writes, at just the right time Christ died for us.  While we were still sinners, He died for us.  Jesus was and is our sacrifice.  He opened to us and to all mankind that conduit to God.  We come ourselves before God seeking forgiveness so that we can be reconciled to Him.  We do not need a human intermediary.  Nor do we need a ritual sacrifice.  For us that was and is Jesus on the cross.  Because Jesus defeated death and rose to live eternally, He will always be there to intercede on our behalf.  He will always be with us, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to guide and lead us in this life.  Through Him we grow to be more and more ike the Father.  Through him we are continually reconciled.  Through Him we repent, are washed clean, and are restored to the righteous relationship with God.  Thanks be to Jesus Christ!!


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His Mystery and Power

How does God see our hearts today?  Does He see us like the Israelites who saw the mighty miracles of their exodus story yet chose to test God almost as soon as they were across the Red Sea? (Psalm 95: 7b-11)

In our lives we see the beauty of creation, witness the miracle of a birth, experience healing from a rare disease, … We give thanks yet so often in the same breath say, “but could You also…?”

Instead we should take the time to rest in the creation and mystery of God.  Maybe even sing a song of praise to Him!  But most importantly, acknowledge Him as the creator and ruler of it all.  Bow or kneel before His awesomeness and take notice of the Lord almighty.  Draw in a deep breath, focus in on His presence, and lift up a long, slow thanks.


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Don’t Worry, He Can Take It

In Exodus 7 the Israelites depart from the Desert of Sin and head out on the path that God directs them to follow. As they wandered they started to grumble – they were in a desert with no water. You and I would grumble too. But they went a step beyond where you or I would normally go. The Israelites come to God and almost accuse Him of a lack of care and concern for them. After all, they are in a desert and they are thirst and God is providing them with water. It kinda makes sense.

At times, in my own mind, I may question God and may even wonder why He allowed this to happen or wonder why He did not choose to intervene in this situation or that one. Sometimes I struggle with reconciling what I know of God with what I see happening in His world. But I don’t ever come close to accusing God of something.

Maybe this disparity about how we each relate to God reveals some things about us and some things about the Israelites. The Israelites certainly had a different comfort level with God. They felt that God would listen to their complaints and that He would listen and that maybe He would even fix things. We don’t see our relationship as that personal. We don’t see God as our direct caretaker. And I wonder ‘why not?’

Many times we pray for something or for someone. Last week, a fellow church member asked me to pray for a friend’s daughter who was very ill. The friend’s family lives in another state and I do not know them. But one morning later in the week I felt the Spirit move me as I prayed for this girl and her family – to tell God that I trusted in Him to bring her healing. I believe He is a mighty God and that He can do anything. So I placed this girl into His hands. Sunday morning my friend told me that she passed away. For a few minutes I was almost at a loss for words and for thought. I wondered how God could allow this. But then came my understanding. God did bring her healing. And in the midst of this tragedy He will continue to be present for this family. He will love on and comfort and get them through this. He will send the right words they need to hear and will send them the people they need to have in their life right now. He is a mighty God.

And just like we wrestle with what God lays before us from time to time, the people of Moses wrestled with God. From the expression of their frustration, the Israelites came to learn something. We need to learn this lesson as well. They came to see God’s mercy in His repsonse to their complaint. They came to know Him more. When we come to God with all of our good, bad, and ugly, we too come to know Him better. And don’t worry – He’s a big god, He can take it!

 


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Tuning Into God

On Sunday mornings we are pretty good at praising and worshipping God.  The hymns or songs remind us of our relationship to and with God and to and with our fellow man.  In the praise song “Holy Is the Lord” we sing these words: ‘We bow down and worship Him now; how great and awesome is He.’  In the prayers and liturgies we are also drawn to God and community.  In our quiet times at home, at work, in the park… alone with our Bible, devotional, journal, … we too can grow in our relationship with God.  These are the times we would expect to experience God.  Worship and ‘alone time’ are times when we do experience and raw close to our God.

But God is always here.  God doesn’t slumber or sleep or go on vacation.  If He is always here, then we could always be with Him too.  But are we?  Do we go through our day breathing in and out God?  Today, as we go through our day, may we take a few seconds in each encounter to see God in the people we meet, in each experience we have with His world, and, most of all, in the way He touches our life throughout the day today.


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May It Blow Strong

Nicodemus visits Jesus with a purpose.  Yet he never gets to ask his question.  Jesus decides the topic and tenor of the conversation before his “guest” can initiate it.  Like so many other times in the Gospels, it seems that Jesus knows just what this person standing in front of him needs to hear.  We do not know for sure which Jesus speaks of – baptism of being reborn spiritually.  Maybe it is both.  In Jewish tradition baptism was for proselytes.  We too view baptism as an initiation into the faith.  For some churches it is akin to confirmation or in others to a believer’s baptism.  In both cases it is roughly equal to a confession of faith.

The “pnuema” or wind that Jesus speaks of is fascinating.  Also challenging!  We cannot see when or where or why the wind begins.  Scientifically we can explain ‘how’ the wind is created.

In our faith we cannot explain when or where or why the Holy Spirit enters into our lives. We do have Biblical explanations and examples of how the Holy Spirit came to enter the world and how it functions in our lives.  But for most of us, just like the wind, the Spirit comes and goes from our lives.  There is no question in our minds, hearts, or souls, that the presence is with us.  The Holy Spirit is there as surely as the wind rustling the leaves outside.  The strong power guides us and leads us.  It calls us to action at times and to repentance at others.  It draws us closer to God.  And like the wind that blows away the dust and the leaves, the Holy Spirit clears away the chaff so that we are left standing on the rock, on Jesus Christ.  May the Spirit blow strongly in your life this day!!


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What Gets You Into Heaven?

Does being a member of a church or attending worship equate to salvation?  Does being saved require going to church ‘x’ times a month?  Paul writes that we are justified (or made right with God) only by our faith.  Yet in our human nature we often go to the question, “Am I good enough?”  Am I good enough to be loved by God?  Am I good enough to attend church?  Am I good enough to find happiness?  Am I good enough too….   Yes, yes, yes, and YES!!!

We are put into good standing in our relationship with God becuase of what we believe, not because of what we do.  When we come to trust in God with our lives, job, money, family, time… then we are living in a right relationship with God.  Do works or what we do matter?  Of course.  Later in the Bibe we read that faith without works is dead.  As we grow in our relationship with God, we come to see that His great love for us calls us to share that love with the hurting and broken world in which we live.  Why?  So that they too can come to know His saving love.

We cannot buy or earn righteousness or a right relationship with God.  We don’t get saved through membership or attendance, but by living and walking daily with God.  When our lives are guided by a trust and belief in God, then we come to live by faith.


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Always Ready

Does anyone watch over you at night?  In a sense the police watch over the town as we sleep at night, but they do not guard each individual house.  A security company protects the church at night, but in reality they are only there a fraction of the night-time.  We tend to rely on locks and alarm systems to keep watch over us at night.

When the psalmist penned #121 it was a different culture but some things existed then that exist now.  Thieves and robbers broke into houses and people were concerned about being safe at night.  And like us today, they lived in and among people who followed other religions and worshipped different gods.  But in contrast to God, the people around the Israelites believed in gods that slept at night or even for a whole season.  They worshipped gods that had to be appeased or bought.  For the psalmist, for the Israelites, and for us, we worship a God who is always there.  We worship a God who never sleeps, who always watches over us, and who keeps us from harm.  Our God is always present.

Yet how often we bounce between God and our own personal gods!  We can easily stay late at work with an eye on that possible promotion or we can jealously eye the neighbor’s new car with a thought on how we could afford a new car too.  We can plop down on the couch in front of the TV instead of at the table with our Bible.  Even in these times God is with us.  Perhaps a little sad but still right there with us.  And always ready.  Always  ready to guide us, to guard our heart, to protect us, to love us, to welcome us home. Continue reading →


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Now and Forevermore

The Psalmist asks, “Where does my help com from?”  How would you answer that question?  In Psalm 121 the writer is reminding the people, and us, that help does not come from the false gods up on the hilltop or from the many sources that we can turn to for help.  For the Israelites and for us, help comes from the maker of heaven and earth and of all things that dwell upon the earth.  In this ‘song of trust’ that the Israelites would sing, they were reminded of God’s constant watch over them.  We too have this grace – God is our all-in-all every second of each moment of each day.

Like the people who wold sing this song to remind themselves, we too sometimes need reminders.  Today we can come to put our trust in ‘things’ other than God.  We can turn to modern medicine, the latest technology, all sorts of ‘professionals’ and other ‘experts’, and even friends and family.  While each of these  things may be helpful to a degree, we must always keep in mind that God is the one in whom we put our ultimate trust.  God is the only one really in control.

Whether gathered together in corporate worship or in a study, alone with our Bibles, or gathered with a few fellow believes, at all times we have the same purpose – to more fully develop our faith and trust in God.  We must remember that He never slumbers or sleeps.  We must remember that He is always watching over us.  Both now and forevermore.