pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Lord


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Blessed in the Presence

Did you see God yesterday? Were you able to spend a bit of time with Him? Did He bless you because you chose to draw near to Him? What was your means to grace?

When I am privileged to see God’s hand at work in the world, I am awed and amazed. When we seek God and His rule in our life, sometimes we can ‘see’ or sense His presence with us. It is a blessing to see God in the morning sunrise and in the beauty of each snowflake. It is a blessing to see God in the kindness one extends to another or when justice is shared with one in need. It is a blessing to see God in the stories we read in the Bible. All of these things reveal His glory. And for these gifts we praise His holy name!

When we draw near to God, we choose to enter His presence. It may be in a time of prayer, in some moments spent in the Word, in the thoughts we turn toward Him as we walk in His creation. When we choose to spend time with our Lord, He is so happy. In these moments we can know Him more deeply, we can pour out our transgressions into the cup of forgiveness, we can be made anew in Him. As we move through our day Lord, bless us with eyes that are open wide for you and with ears that are attuned to your presence in our world.


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All Those in the Middle

“He must become greater; I must become less.” That really is the crux of the matter for us as followers of Christ. How do we come to be able to say that about everyone – that our wife, our kids, our friends, that homeless person – that they get considered before we consider ourselves? To know that as Jesus becomes the Lord of our life, we become less and less?

That’s hard to do! But we see in John 1 an example to follow. John the Baptist drew people out into the wilderness to hear his message of repentance. Lots of people. Many who heard him stepped out into the water to be baptized. Pretty heady stuff! I wonder if I could be so humble. I wonder if I’d drift off into the “Look how well I am doing!” mentality and become self-absorbed. It is hard to keep a humble perspective when we are successful and popular.

Yet in spite of the crowds John continues to proclaim Jesus and continues to point toward Him. John realized his call in life was to draw people toward Jesus. He also knew that as Jesus’ ministry grew his own would decline. “He must become greater; I must become less.” And John was absolutely, 100% happy to say that. And he meant it!

As our faith deepens and the relationship with Christ becomes THE relationship in our life, we too can come to say those words of John – I must become less. As we humbly kneel at the foot of the cross and look up into the loving eyes of Jesus, we ask, “What can I do for you today Lord?” As we enter our worlds today, may we seek to be the lesser – to treat all as somewhere between Christ and ourselves.