pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Lord


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Pray for All

Reading: 1 Timothy 2: 1-7

Paul opens this section with a universal appeal for us to pray for everyone.  Paul even says to pray for the King and all in authority.  Today he would tell us to pray for the President and all elected officials.  For some this may be a challenge.  Some dislike the King.  But as a Christian, we cannot argue with Paul’s logic: God wants all people to be saved and to come to know the truth found in Jesus.  So Paul calls us to pray for all people.

There are always reasons or obstacles that can make praying for all people difficult.  First of all is our own self-interest.  We want to know what’s in it for us.  It can also be hard to pray for someone who seems to have little connection to our life.  Second, we do not like all people.  It can be very hard to pray for someone we dislike or disagree with.  Yet we are called to pray for all people.  So that they can be saved.

In addition to bringing others before God, praying for all benefits us as well.  We are being obedient to God’s word and this shows respect and love to God.  Praying for all is what Christ did and still does, so doing this brings us nearer to Christ.  Praying for all opens our eyes and hearts to others.  It makes us more loving and empathetic.  It places neighbor ahead of self.  Praying for all replaced judgment with empathy and love.  It helps us to see all as children of God in need of salvation.  Praying for all also leads us to offer healing and hope to a world so in need.  It changes how we speak to and treat others.

Pray for all.  Not only does it bring them before God, it also changes our attitude, our heart, and our outlook.  Prayer draws us into being more Christ-like.  May we pray often.  May we pray for all.  May our prayers draw us ever closer to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.


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Priority

Reading: Luke 14: 25-27

Jesus wants to make sure those in the crowd understand that to follow Him is a commitment.  He is beginning to head to Jerusalem to face the cross; He wants all to know the level of allegiance that walking this road will require.  To continue to follow Jesus, each must pick up and carry their own cross.  Jesus wants His audience then and us now to fully know what is expected.

First and foremost we must lay all else aside.  Jesus and our relationship with Him must take precedence over all other relationships in our life.  Our relationship with Jesus needs to be above our relationships with our family, our friends, our teammates, our bosses, our coworkers, our job, our interests, our possessions.  In our lives, Jesus must rule over and above all else if we are to become His disciple.  Then all of our other relationships will be in their proper place.  All will be secondary to our relationship with Jesus but all will be better because of this dynamic.  We will be a better father, brother, husband, wife, worker… because our relationship with Jesus is our priority.

Making and keeping Jesus our priority is a challenge.  We live in a fast-paced world that places high demands and expectations on us.  We live in a world that has radically different expectations than Jesus has.  The world says to place self above all else.  Jesus says for self to get way at the back of the line.  The world says to accumulate as much as we can.  Jesus says to give as much away as we can.  The world says to just do it if it makes you feel good.  Jesus says to seek ways to make others’ lives better.

To walk with Jesus as His disciple is hard.  The path is difficult.  The choices and decisions are counter-cultural.  The relationship with Jesus takes supreme commitment.  But the life lived in Jesus is the life worth living.  It is a life filled with hope, love, mercy, grace, contentment, forgiveness, and peace.  May we all be strong in our walk with the Lord.


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The Lord’s Prayer

Reading: Luke 11: 1-4

Today’s passage is oh so familiar.  In most every church, in all times of worship, this prayer is prayed.  The words are in the hymnal or bulletin or on the screen, but most really do not need the words.  The Lord’s Prayer is such a familiar prayer.  One must be careful to not simply go through the motions or to recite the prayer.  It must be prayed.

As the prayer begins with “Our father” it establishes our relationship with God.  We are God’s children.  In the role of parent, God seeks to provide for us, to protect us, to help us mature in our faith, to keep us on the path to life.  But most of all, God seeks to love us in a close personal relationship.

“Who art in heaven” reminds us of God’s authority and position.  God is above all and over all.  God dwells in that place of perfection with the saints and angels.  Yet God is not limited to just heaven.  God’s presence is everywhere all of the time.  We sense it in close personal ways at times and in large, powerful ways at other times.  Through the presence of the Holy Spirit we have a deep personal connection to the presence of God in our lives.  The Spirit dwells in each believer and the presence of God is active and alive in the world.

The prayer fittingly ends with requests.  Reflecting on what is established with the opening lines of the prayer, it does seem fitting that the prayer ends with requests of God.  After all, isn’t that what children do with their parent?  It concludes with requests for our daily bread, for forgiveness of our sins, for help forgiving others, and to be kept away from temptation.  The first request acknowledges our dependence on God for all of our daily needs.  Then it turns to relationship.  Forgive us when we mess up.  In this it admits that we will mess up.  It also deals with our need to offer forgiveness.  In these two requests we are asking to be kept in right relationship with God and with our neighbors.  The Lord’s Prayer concludes with our request to be kept from temptation.  This is one of the roles the Holy Spirit plays in our lives.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, may it be slowly and with attention to detail.  Sit with each phrase, allow it to resonate deep within.  Allow it to bless you this day.


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For His Glory

Reading: Acts 1: 1-11

All too often we are like the disciples.  Jesus tells them that they will soon receive the Holy Spirit.  He has taught and built them up so that they can carry on His work as they go out to share the good news and to build the church.  He has told them that it is better that He goes so that the Holy Spirit can come.  It is now their moment to shine.  And they ask if now is the time He will restore the kingdom of Israel.  I can just see Jesus’ head drop and His shoulders slump as He let’s out a long sigh.

We too have the promise of the Spirit dwelling in us.  Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior then the Holy Spirit enters our heart and seeks to lead and guide us.  We are reminded in scripture that the Spirit will give us what we need, the words to say, the thoughts to share.  We are told that God will never put us in a situation we cannot handle and that He will never give us more than we can bear.  Yet we don’t always live into these things.  We too ask, “God, won’t you just do this for me?”

We cannot expect the kingdom to grow if we are not willing to be co-laborers with God.  We cannot begin by pursuing our own agenda, hoping that God will join us somewhere along the way.  Our God is a big God and can alter our life anytime He wants to bend us to His will.  But that is not how He operates.  He desires our love, our obedience, our willingness to serve.  It is when we offer all of these and when we prayerfully seek His lead that we can make the greatest impact for His kingdom.  Each day we must strive to offer our all to God.  Each day we must hand all control over to Him.  It is then that we begin to live for His glory.


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Praise the Lord!

Reading: Psalm 148

Praise certainly is the main idea of Psalm 148!  At the beginning is a general call to praise the Lord.  The  praise quickly begins in the heavens with the angels, moon, stars, and sun.  Each is called to praise God for both their own creation and for their eternal place in God’s creation.  Then the Psalm shifts to the earth and calls all to praise the Lord.  The psalmist calls upon the elements and parts of nature that God stirs to life.  Also called are all of the living creatures and all of humanity – from Kings to children to the old.

All of this leads us to see that in our daily life we should offer our praise.  Our praise should be deeply rooted in our prayer life, letting God know how grateful we are for all He has blessed us with.  Our praise should also shine out through our lives in such a way to bring glory to God in all we do.  Just as all of creation reveals God and is called upon to bring Him praise, so should all of our lives.

The Psalm draws near its end recognizing that God alone is to be exalted.  We are to  worship none other than God.  We are not to worship any other being or any other thing.  But in a world that pushes pleasure, self-satisfaction, and individual preferences, this is tough to do.  To worship Him alone takes discipline, dedication, and effort.  Even with  heaping amounts of these, we cannot obey on our own.

At the very end of the Psalm, it is written that the Lord has raised up a horn which is the “praise of all His saints”.  This strong and mighty King is Jesus, the perfector and witness of our faith.  In Him we find the example of how to live a life of praise that brings glory and praise to God alone.  In Jesus we also find the strength to do what we cannot do on our own.  Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we find guidance, direction, correction to help us follow Jesus’ ways and teachings.  May we join all of creation in praising the Lord!!


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Worship

Reading: Psalm 150

The Psalm calls upon us to “Praise the Lord” in many ways.  First, we are to praise Him with our voice – to shout or lift up our praises to God.  The psalmist also calls upon us to make music to God using all kinds of instruments: trumpets, lyres, harps, tambourines, flutes, strings, cymbals.  And lastly, the psalmist encourages us to dance before the Lord.  I have the feeling that if the Psalm were written today, the list of instruments would be much longer and the visual arts would also include painting, drawing, images, and so on.  In essence the psalmist is telling us to Praise God every way we can.

In our worship yesterday, many of these elements were present.  But I do not think God only desires or is impressed by how many instruments or presentations we offer.  One lone voice lifted to God can be as pleasing and worshipful to Him as a whole orchestra or huge choir or multi-instrument praise band.  In our worship, the “how” God desires is not how many but simply how.  “How did you worship me today?” is the question God asks.  Did we come before God yesterday with our whole beings, intent on nothing other than offering all we are and all we have to Him?

My off key, changing tempo song can be more pleasing to God than the most polished voice performing a perfect solo.  It is all about our heart.  When we praise our God, He wants our whole heart to be fully engaged.  This day may we find opportunity to praise our God with our whole being.


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The Joy of the Lord

Reading: Psalm 32

God desires to bring us joy unspeakable.  His desire is to fill us with joy as we walk daily in a loving and meaningful personal relationship with Him.  Each and every day God seeks to be the sunshine that can carry us  through any storm.  His mercies are new every morning because His love never fails.  Even though we will fail at times, God never gives up on us.

The psalmist admits to God and reveals to us a time of struggle in their life.  When he or she was silent and did not confess their sins to God, they experiences a time without joy.  Physical ailment came due to a separation from God.  We too can easily experience this.  When we are emotionally and spiritually stuck in our sin, the feeling and affects of being separated from God are real and tangible.

As  the psalmist admits their sins to God, the joy of the Lord returns.  It is as if sunshine has broken through the clouds and the lights fills their heart.  The sudden flooding in of God’s joy and love leads to proclaiming to others the amazing impact God’s love can have on our lives.  The psalmist bears witness to the joy that has been restored now that they walk in a right relationship with God again.  The joy is unspeakable.  He or she feels they must teach, instruct, guide, and lead others to experience this joy themselves.

The joy of  the Lord is the Son shine that we can have in our lives every day as well.  If we humble ourselves daily and confess our sins to the Lord, we too will experience the joy of living in a right personal relationship with God.  This joy that we are filled  with becomes a light within us that we too must share with all we meet.  May the joy of the Lord fill us and flow out of us into the lives of all we meet through our words, actions, and deeds, bringing glory and honor to His name.


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Daily Word

Reading: Philippians 3: 18-19

To live in our society and culture, it takes a great deal of self-discipline to stay on the path Jesus calls us to.  In order to live as the person God calls us to be, we must live in a way that is faithful to our role as follower of Christ.  In order to do this, we must practice the things that draw us to following Him.

Paul refers to those who are living self-indulgent lives as “enemies of the cross”.  This is a bold term.  But it is an accurate statement as well.  In Matthew 12 Jesus states that if we are not for Him, then we are against Him.  From Jesus’ point of view there is no middle ground.  Yet in reality, this is most often where we try to live.

The practice of spiritual disciplines is where we begin to prepare ourselves to live as citizens of heaven.  For us to live as God desires, we have to know what that means.  First of all, it means being in the Word.  It means cracking open our Bibles every day and reflecting on His Word.  This needs to be a systematic approach.  Whether it means using a devotional or a reading plan or simply starting on page 1 and reading through to the end does not matter.  But we must read our Bibles daily and study and digest the Word.  To do so daily with intentionality requires discipline and commitment.

We cannot live as “enemies of the cross” and be in the Word daily.  When self-indulgence rears up, we must say “Away from me Satan”!  One more hour of TV, games, or online…?  Hit the snooze button again…?  Just catch up tomorrow…?  I’ll just read it later…?  No, no, no, and NO!  May each of our days be centered in the Word.  May we allow Jesus Christ to grow to be the Lord of our life!


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Faith and Relationship

Jesus grew up and lived for almost 30 years in the same small town.  Almost everyone in town must have known Him.  But they knew Him in the kid-next-door sense.  They had watched Mary and Joseph raise Jesus.  The saw Him do all the things boys from good Jewish homes do – He read and studied the Scripture, He participated in the Passover and other holidays each year, He learned His father’s trade.  When Jesus began His ministry it was away from His hometown.  This passage tells us that as a teacher and healer, He was respected and admired.

In today’s reading we find Jesus back at home.  He reads a passage from Isaiah and all spoke well of Him.  They were amazed at the words that came from His mouth.  But then Jesus spoke of other prophets who went to and ministered to those from ‘outside’.  What He was implying stirred the people up to the point that they were about to throw Him off of a cliff.

It is interesting that this story is in the Bible.  It is not a feel-good story and the people do not seem to gain any understanding from Jesus’ words.  They seem to miss the fact that Naaman was healed by faith.  They don’t remember that the prophet went to the widow in Sidon because of her deep faith.  In His hometown the people knew Jesus the person.  They did not know the Messiah.  The teachings and healing that they were hearing about were admired and respected, not believed.  In essence Jesus was saying that they lacked faith.  They had to have faith, not just know who Jesus was.

The same is true for us.  We can know all the stories in the Bible.  But we must go beyond simply knowing the stories and must enter into a personal relationship with Jesus.  We must believe that the stories are true and that Jesus’ miracles still happen in our lives.  We must call on Him as Lord and Savior to allow any of His power to begin to work in our lives.  Believe.  Have faith.  Know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Scripture reference: Luke 4: 21-30


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Hope … in a Child

Hannah’s prayer is answered and she gives birth to a son.  After weaning him, Samuel is given to Eli the priest to fulfill her pledge to God: “as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.”  For the end to long years of shame and feelings of inadequacy and out of thanks for God answering her prayers, Samuel is given as a gift to the Lord.

Following these events Hannah offers up a moving prayer to the Lord.  One might expect it to be thanking God for a child or seeking blessings upon his life.  But it is not.  One can read Hannah’s experience into the prayer, but it is much more about God and who God is for us all.  It speaks of no rock like our God.  It reminds us that He raises the faithful up.  It tells us that God raises up the poor and needy to seats of honor.  It warns of what God will bring to those who think they are high and mighty.  The prayer flows with God’s love, grace, mercy, justice, and equality.  The prayer is quite upside down compared to the society of Hannah’s day – and to our’s today as well.

Yet today we still have hope in a child who was born to us, who descended from heaven’s riches and glory to dwell among us and to live a poor and simple life here on earth.  In Jesus we are taught that love, grace, mercy, justice, and equality are what matters and that we are to live our lives sharing these with others.  In Christ we learn that none of thee can be earned but that they are freely given so that we too can freely give them away to others.  Through His promise and by His example, may we do so today.

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 2: 1-10