pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Lord


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Take Refuge, Be Blessed

The psalmist cries out to God and God hears his prayers.  God always hears our prayers.  The response of the psalmist is to extol, praise, and glorify the Lord.  We certainly do this when we receive the answer we want.  A little child whose parent buys them that piece of candy in the check-out aisle does this as well.

The psalmist reminds us that God hears, delivers, and saves.  God always hears our prayers.  Our prayers never fall on deaf ears.  God also always delivers.  This is not to say God fixes all things.  Maybe He does ‘fix’ it.  Or maybe He delivers whatever it is we need in that moment or situation: patience, strength, compassion, understanding, forgiveness, love…  He does not leave us alone.  Sometimes God saves us from hurt and pain; sometimes He is saves is in the midst of it just when we need Him most.  The angels camp around those who fear the Lord.

The psalmist reminds us to taste and see that the Lord is good.  We easily taste and see this when He rescues us from the pain or suffering or fear.  It is a sweet and pleasing experience.  We also do this when we look back on something we endured and we see how the Lord was there in the midst of it with us.  We thank Him as we realize we would not have made it through on our own.

The psalmist reminds us that we are blessed when we take refuge in the Lord.  Whether it is to find help or whether it is to find rest, the result is the same: we are blessed.  Be blessed today!

Scripture reference: Psalm 34: 1-8


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Revealing Jesus?

In the day people thought Jesus was many things: teacher, prophet, healer.  Some even thought He was the Messiah, the Holy One of God.  Two thousand years later the answers are not all that different: a wise teacher, a good person, a revolutionary hero, a symbolic figurehead.  Some still see Him as Messiah.

In the day those who refused to see Jesus as the Messiah had something to hold on to.  The political and religious leaders had their positions and power to hold on to.  Others had the same things we do.  They and us hold onto our illusion that we are in control, of having time before we really have to commit to this Jesus, or of Him not being the absolute Lord of life.  Like many in the day and like many since then, we yield up some control of our life and offer a level of allegiance to Jesus the Christ.  But we hold onto some ourselves; we are not totally committed.

In the day Jesus’ disciple Peter correctly identified Him as the Messiah but Jesus told them not to tell anyone.  Perhaps the claim of divinity would have been too much right then or maybe some would look to Jesus for political and military leadership.  It was enough at that point for the disciples to know.  Soon many would come to know Jesus as the Son of God.

If one were to simply observe our life and listen in on the conversations we have, would we reveal Jesus as the Messiah?  If we are seeking to draw others to Jesus as Lord, then the answer has to be ‘yes’.  Our lives “reveal” who we ‘say’ Jesus is.  May we live in such a way as to reveal that Jesus is Lord of our life and is a Lord others want to get to know.

Scripture reference: Mark 8: 27-30


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Our Rock and Redeemer

God is perfect.  Therefore we find perfection in His laws and in all of His ways.  The psalmist extols the laws’ benefits – it revives the soul, makes the simple wise, and makes the heart rejoice.  Benefits come from living under the law.  The psalmist recognizes his own imperfection and acknowledges that God does not expect perfection from us either.

The ways of God are valuable and important to life.  To the psalmist they are as valuable as pure gold and as sweet as honey.  For us as well there are benefits from following God’s statutes.  They give us both guidance and protection.  Life is smoother and within a peaceful contentment more often when we seek to follow His ways.  Yet we cannot always follow all of His laws and the psalmist admits this as well.

The psalmist goes beyond this admission as he asks God to find his hidden faults too.  The obvious sins are just that.  But we sometimes sin in ways that we do not even realize and he is asking for forgiveness for these as well.  Perhaps these are things like the missed opportunity we did not even see or the words that hurt another unbeknownst to us.  We too need what the psalmist asks for – forgiveness from sins and protection against future sins.

The psalmist closes with a popular and well-known prayer: “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  Today, may this be our prayer.  May the words in our mouths and in our minds be acceptable to God.  May all of our thoughts and ideas honor God.  And may we find rest, peace, comfort, and love in the Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Scripture reference: Psalm 19: 7-14


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Sing His Song!

Sometimes I get a tune or song stuck in my head.  It plays over and over and over.  If someone mentions or, worse yet, hums a bit of some songs, they get stuck.  There is much joy and happiness in music, so ‘stuck’ may be a bad choice of words.

In today’s reading from the Song of Songs the author speaks of their lover coming to visit.  The winter is over and spring is bounding out all around.  New life can be found all over the place and he beckons her to join him in enjoying it.  Visions of new shoots of green poking up through the earth as birds sing songs carried off on a warm breeze fill my mind.  It is a time that makes the heart smile.

The relationships between lovers also parallels our relationship with God.  Each morning God calls out to us, sings to us, at the start of each new day.  Like an expectant child lying in bed awaiting Christmas morning or a fiance about to pop the question, God cannot wait to welcome us to a brand new day.  The actual time or season of the year does not really matter – God is anxious for us to begin a new day with Him.  It is God’s desire that each new day is full of His presence.

2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new is come!”  Each day is a new day as we walk with our Lord.  His mercies are made new every morning as God offers us His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness each new day.

God calls us to be in song with Him each day as well.  He invites us to sing the songs of love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness each day.  May this song of God become so stuck in our hearts and souls that it springs forth from us each day, all day!

Scripture reference: Songs of Songs 2: 8-13


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The Table

In the Lord’s supper we are offered communion with Christ.  As the bread is broken and the cup is poured out we remember Jesus’ body broken and His blood spilled at the cross.  His sacrifice opens the door for us to experience eternal life.  In communion we welcome in the life-giving presence of Jesus Christ as we are made new and are restored to a whole and right relationship with our God.

The table we come to is the Lord’s.   No one person or group has the corner on the market.  It belongs to Jesus alone and is extended to all.  Each and every person is invited to come into the presence of Jesus as we come to the table.  All are welcomed because all are loved by God.  He wants all people to come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

We certainly come to the table in a variety of states.  Some come with a relatively clean slate and a conscience without much burden.  Others come so weighed down by their sins that they feel barely able to approach the table of communion.  But the good news is that Jesus came for the masses of sinners, not just for the few saints.  In reality we are all sinner who all fall short if the glory of God.  We are all in need to a Savior.  The table is for all.

In communion we not only remember what Jesus Christ did for us but we also look forward to the future.  One day all can join Him at the great feast in His new kingdom.  In our communion liturgy we say, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”  We know He will come again one day to make all things new.  In this we trust and in this rests our hope.

Scripture reference: John 6: 51-58


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Unity and Love

To live in unity and peace as the community of faith can be a challenge.  It takes effort.  Paul reminds us of our call as the body of Christ to work together for the common good.  To best accomplish this he offers three key characteristics to strive for: humility, gentleness, and patience.  When this is how we each walk, unity is much easier to accomplish.

Paul also calls for us to bear one another up in love.  What does this look like?  It looks like coming alongside a brother or sister in Christ when they have lost a loved one.  It looks like showing up when a single mom needs a hand around the house.  It means showing up to babysit a young couple’s children so they can have a date night.

At first glance maybe it seems unity may be hard because we appear to be quite diverse.  But diversity is good.  When we are diverse we all have unique gifts, perspectives, and thoughts that we can offer to each other.  Paul reminds us, though, that we do have much in common.  We worship one Lord and are guided by one Holy Spirit.  We share one common faith.  We practice one baptism.  We hold onto one hope.  We come together as one to worship one God and Father over all and through all and in all.

Together in unity we are strong and powerful and able to do much for God.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 4: 1-10


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All in All

When the Israelites ask the prophet Samuel to appoint them a king, they are living fully in the world.  How quickly they have forgotten God’s defeat of Pharaoh and His leadership of them into the Promised Land.  How quickly they have forgotten the leadership of God’s agents – Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Samuel.  They want to be like the rest of the nations around them, so they say, “Give us a king!”

At times I walk a similar path with God as I live fully in the world.  My life does not always fully reflect my pledge that “Jesus is Lord.”  In the little daily struggles it is not always to Jesus that I first turn.  Often I try to rely on myself or turn to others to deal with the day to day issues.  Maybe in the ‘big’ stuff I am a little better.  Maybe just a little though.  It is in the larger crisis that I realize sooner that I am less in control and I tend to turn to Him quicker.  This is especially true when I have hit bottom or feel as if I am at the end of my rope.  Yet Jesus is not who I always turn to.

When I say and claim “Jesus is Lord” my thought process and my heart need to reflect this.  It is just not turning to Him in times of trial either.  It is in choosing to give to another without hesitation and without questioning.  It is to offer the best of my day to Jesus and not what I have left at the end.  It is really about giving Jesus every area and little corner of my life.  May I be willing for Jesus to be by all in all, my everything.  Strengthen me Lord Jesus.  Bend me to Your will.  Make me yours.

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 8: 4-9


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Focus on Jesus

And thus endeth the story.  On this Ascension day we believe Jesus rose up to “heaven”.  Christ risen and Christ glorified!!  The gospel story concludes with this grand finale.  But is it really the end of the story?  No!  Jesus left the disciples with two great promises.  First, He promised that the Holy Spirit would come upon them in great power.  This power would lead them to preach the good news to all nations.  Second, He told them, “I will be back.”

From the time of the ascension to now and on into the future, the followers of Jesus are to work on the first promise until the second comes to be.  It could be tomorrow that Jesus returns.  It could be a long time from now.  No one knows except the Father.  When we allow the Holy Spirit to work fully in us, it is easy to share the good news of repentance and forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.Without the Holy Spirit, trying to do it on our own, it is hard to share the message of Jesus Christ.

The Ascension represents Jesus returning to the Father in heaven, wherever that may be.  Conceptually this places Jesus right next to God.  In this thought is the idea that Jesus is supreme.  He is above all.  Above my life, my desires, my priorities.  He is Lord of ALL.

How is that lived out?  My focus must be on sharing my story of Jesus with those who do not know Him.  In my community that is a large task.  This is OK.  I do not labor alone.  The Spirit goes with me and there are many coworkers as well.  May our mighty God provide the opportunities this day!

Scripture references: Luke 24: 44-53 and Acts 1: 6-9


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Thank You Prayer

Thank you for faith.  Thank you Lord for being a part of my life, for allowing me to live in a time and place when and where I can know you.  It is a blessing not only to have the opportunity to know you but to also be able to publicly worship, proclaim, and follow you.

Thank you for your Spirit.  Thank you for giving me your Spirit to dwell within me, for the wisdom and revelation that it brings me.  It allows me to be your disciple.  It allows me the ways to come to know you more.

Thank you for your call.  Continue to open my eyes and soften my heart for the things that break your heart O Lord.  Help me to cling to the hope I find in this love and in the eternal life which you promised to all who believe.

Thank you for your mighty power.  Thank you for your great power which works in the world and in my life. This heart that struggles needs your strength every day.  Fill me with the courage to live each day knowing your power and authority is all that matters.

Thank you for being the head of the church.  In you alone is the example of true servant leadership.  Bind my will to yours.  Place all of my desires behind yours and those around me each day.  Fill me with you in every way Lord Jesus.  Amen.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 1: 15-23


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It Narrows

“Jesus arrives on the scene disinclined to greatness but inclined to goodness.”  This line really stood out in one of the devotionals I read this morning.  Just a bit earlier in Mark, Jesus referred to himself as “Lord.”  But His definition of ‘Lord’ is a bit different that the people He will encounter as they enter Jerusalem.

The excited people gathered for the Passover with shout “Hosanna!” and declare him ‘Lord’ and will call in the kingdom of David as Jesus arrives.  Hosanna means ‘Save!” – they had such high expectations for Jesus.  They were ready to anoint Him.  Riding in on a donkey probably wasn’t what most had imagined for the day a king would return to save Israel.  The crowd was so charged that Jesus could have been easily lured in.  But He was not.  As He slowly progressed His mind remained resolutely focused on the cross.  He could have chosen greatness but instead He chose to be the good servant.

Jesus’ life was never about power or status or accolades.  His life was always about service and the offering of self for others.  To follow Him is to do as He did.  It is hard.  Remember, when the teachings got really tough and the road narrowed, then the crowds thinned and the followers fell away.  His teachings were challenging and required a cost or sacrifice – most often to self, to status, or to possessions.  In Jesus’ economy the things of value are love, mercy, justice.

In the week ahead, as we enter Holy Week, the road gets really narrow.  It will take a bit to walk through the week ahead with Christ.  This Lenten season of self-denial and introspection makes us ask some hard questions.  He is calling us to read the Word, to feel the tug of the emotions, to be a part of His Holy Week.  Happy trails!

Scripture reference: Mark 11: 4-7