pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: moment


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God’s Presence

Reading: James 2: 14-17

Verse 17: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead”.

Our faith rests in our relationship with God. As our journey begins, we first sense God’s presence in the world and in those around us. Then we come to a point where we realize that we too can have a relationship with God. Our faith journey leads us to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, as our hope, and as our salvation. We realize that grace is big enough for even our sins and we commit our lives to faith in Jesus’ saving power. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our heart and we live from then on with Jesus’ presence within us, leading and guiding our continuing journey. Others begin to sense God’s presence in us.

Each day we will encounter others who do not have faith. Like we once did, they too can sense God’s presence. And here is the crucial moment, the time that really matters, the litmus test of our faith. As we encounter the lost, do we just offer to pray for them and maybe give them a Bible, really keeping our faith to ourselves? Or do we allow the words to become actions, walking alongside them, guiding them through the next steps of faith? As we encounter the needy, do we do like the man in our passage, simply wishing them well? Or do we spend time with them, understanding their needs so that we can actually meet them as best as we can, taking advantage of the opportunities to share our faith as they arise? As we encounter the broken and hurting, do we only offer a few words of sympathy or give our condolences? Or do we make the time to be present to them in their grief or pain? Do we bring a needed meal or mow an overgrown lawn? Yes, we have many opportunities and many ways to be both God’s presence and Jesus’ hands and feet in the lives of others.

In our passage today, James asks, “What good is it?” if our faith does not lead to action. What good is it if our faith does not make a positive difference in the world? James plainly states, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead”. How true.

Lord God, move me past my comfortable, easy inner faith. Move me outside of my tidy, little, personal relationship with Jesus and out into the real world. Help me to live a real faith that is shared and given to others, leading them to know you and the gift of salvation. Use me today, O Lord. Amen.


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Hard Teaching

Reading: John 6: 56-60

Verse 60: “On hearing it, many of His disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching, who can accept it'”?

The miracles and the healings attracted people to Jesus. The thought of being able to see or to walk brought many. The idea of being freed of a disease or illness or of the demons inside brought others. Jesus’ touch offered wholeness and welcome back into community. The latest miracle involved food and the crowd returns the next day looking for more bread. But this day Jesus offers a different kind of bread.

Jesus reminded them of the manna – the bread that God had sent down from heaven to feed His chosen people in the desert. It offered the people sustenance, but it was just food. Jesus tells them that He too was sent down from heaven by God to feed the people. Jesus parallels himself to the manna in the sense that it must be eaten to receive life. To “eat” Jesus is to take in His teachings, to follow His way of love, to absorb who and what Jesus is so that one receives spiritual life, eternal life.

Many in the crowd struggled with this. Today we read, “On hearing it, many of His disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching, who can accept it'”? Many had just come for some more bread. Some probably just came in search of healing. But this? And this certainly is not the first or last hard teaching that Jesus will give. He speaks the truth and sometimes the truth is hard to hear.

Today some people are just like these in the crowd. They just come when there is a need. They cruise through life until a crisis arises and then Jesus is their best friend. Until the crisis passes. Others discover Jesus and dive into the relationship. But they come to a point where the teaching is hard. They love that thing more than they love Jesus and they walk away.

As followers we too know these struggles. Staying true in our walk with Jesus has its hard moments, when that “hard teaching” hits home and requires something inside to die to self. In those difficult moments may we remember the promise: “he who feeds on this bread will live forever”. May we ever feed on the Word made flesh, ever drawing strength for the journey. Amen.


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Transform

Reading: Mark 9: 2-9

Verse Seven: “A voice from the cloud: ‘This is my son, whom I love. Listen to Him!'”

Today is known as Transfiguration Sunday. It is the day when Peter, James, and John get a glimpse into what the heavenly Jesus may look like. To be present in his moment is a powerful and life-changing moment for the inner three. In its own way it was unique and special. But it is just one of many such moments that forever changed Peter, James, and John.

We too will have these mountaintop, transforming moments. We will also have our share of life-changing moments in the valley. Those moments on the mountaintop are things such as the birth of a child or the day we accepted Jesus. Our valley moments are the times we lost someone or something dear to us or the day life radically changed. Each of these unique and special moments also work within us to transform us, to make us more and more like Christ.

In the transfiguration, Jesus is elevated to a better and more perfect version of His earthly self. As we experience our own God moments, we too can be transfigured. Through our unique and special moments with God – whether on the mountaintop or in the valley – we can be changed and shaped more into the image of who God created us to be. I say ‘can be’ because we do have a choice. In those valley moments we can choose to continue to cling to God and to walk through it with God. During those mountaintop moments we can give God all the glory and honor, bringing Him praise. Both are choices. One choice is God’s path and that choice elevates our faith journey and brings us closer to Jesus Christ.

In our faith journeys and in life may we always choose to walk with Jesus. We were created in God’s image, chosen since we were woven together in the womb, marked as a child of God in the waters of baptism. May we ever choose to live into our identity in Christ, allowing each God moment to transform us one experience at a time, bringing us ever closer to our Lord and Savior. Amen.


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A Simple Thanks

Reading: 2nd Kings 2: 8-12

Verse Eleven: “As they were walking along and talking together…”

In one devotional I read today, it referred to the term “outlier”. Immediately my mind went back to many years teaching 7th grade math. We identified outliers when we were studying mean, median, and mode. An outlier in math is a piece of data that stands out from the other data. Outliers can really impact the mean, or the average. In its original content in the book my devotional referenced, an outlier was a regular person who practiced a skill or talent or job thousands and thousands of times. The result was extraordinary skill or proficiency at their chosen pursuit.

Using both of these understandings of outlier, the term pertains much to our faith. In today’s passage, Elijah is an outlier. He was a prophet who stood far outside the norm. At times, he was practically the last one standing for God. He spoke the truth no matter the risk, always being obedient to God. Accordingly, Elijah is widely accepted as the greatest Old Testament prophet. In our passage, Elisha shows the dogged persistence required to become an outlier. He has personally witnessed Elijah’s absolute faith in God and his total trust to go where God sent and to say what God said to say. It is something he wants for himself, so he follows closely as Elijah’s end draws near. Elisha’s persistence pays off as he sees Elijah taken, thus receiving the reward: a double portion of his spirit.

It is interesting to me that Elijah is taken not in some suspenseful moment but simply as they are “walking along and talking together…”. Elijah had just nonchalantly yet miraculously parted the Jordan so they could cross, allowing them to continue to simply walk and talk. These ideas remind me of our faith journey. We too walk and talk through life alongside God. Much of the time life is routine or normal. Yet by walking close and talking consistently, we grow deep in our relationship with God. And we do have moments, times God parts the waters, allowing us to safely pass through. Some of the time we do not even know God has intervened. Other times, it is right there for us to see. At times God gives us these moments that awe and uplift us. These too build our relationship.

As I ponder my daily walk with God, blessed here and there with those “God moments”, I am humbled and awed. I simply say: thank you God!


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God Moments

Reading: Exodus 24: 19-25

Verse 21: All that night the Lord drove back the sea.

The Israelites experience God’s presence in several ways in today’s passage.  God moves the pillar of cloud to be a barrier to keep the Egyptian army at bay.  This same cloud gives light in the darkness so the Israelites can move.  God next provides a way: “All that night the Lord drove back the sea”.  The sea floor is made dry and the people of God pass over.  That same sea bed is made muddy and the Egyptians get mired down.  Chariots wheels fall off, stalling them out completely so that the waters can come over them all – drowning every single Egyptian soldier.  God at work in powerful ways.

Al times we too can see God at work n our lives.  Some of the time we can see how God has opened a door or provided a way when we saw none, bringing hope, relief, joy…  Other times a door closes or we become stymied.  After our initial frustration we find a new way or a path forward.  In both cases we can see God at work when we look back and reflect.  It is almost as if there were step by step instructions being worked out as we wandered along.  It is only with some reflection that we can see God’s hand at work.

Just as with the Israelites, we too remember these times of God’s hand at work and we rejoice.  Our faith grows as we see how God has worked plans once again for our good, demonstrating His great love for us.  This day may we look back at some of our God moments and bring God our praise.


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Reason to Praise

Reading: Psalm 105: 1-11 and 45b

Verse Four: Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.

The Psalm begins with encouragement to give our thanks to God and to sing our praises to Him.  In singing our praises, the psalmist instructs us to “tell of all His wonderful acts”.  For the Israelites, God had acted in mighty and dramatic ways.  As a people, they have many touchstone moments when God has actively intervened.  In most cases, these are positive experiences that are remembered and celebrated.  Sometimes these are national events like the Exodus story and the rebuilding of Jerusalem.  Sometimes they are personal stories – like the story of David and Goliath.  These moments all recall God’s love for His chosen people and their response is to praise and worship God.

On occasion they are stories of correction and sometimes of consequences for poor choices or ungodly living.  Noah and the flood and the periods of occupation and exile are key reminders of what happens when the people stray from God and His love.  Yet each of these stories had a silver lining because in the end the people return to a God who continues to love them anyway.  This realization also leads to the praise and worship of God.

As we fast forward to 2017, we are also the people of God.  As we look back over the last 10, 20, or more years of our own faith journeys we too can see the God we love at work in our story of faith.  We too can “tell of all His wonderful acts”.  There are moments when God has moved and we have been led to our own promised land or when we have slayed our own Goliaths.  Our faith has grown in these times.  And there are our times of wandering in the dessert and times when Satan’s temptations did lead to sin.  In these times, God never gave up or abandoned us. We too remained loved and cherished by God.  We found redemption and came back into the great love of God.  God’s love always remains constant.  What a reason to praise!  All of these experiences, both the good and the bad, remind us to always “Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always”.


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Day to Day, Take My Hand

Reading: Matthew 17: 1-9

Peter, James, and John are blessed to experience the transfiguration.  It is an event that would stick with all of us forever.  In this one moment these disciples see the Law, the Prophets, and the Messiah together.  In seeing Moses, Elijah, and Jesus talking, we get a glimpse of the span of the Bible and can see the connections between these three central themes.  Peter’s response is to offer to build three shelters, one for each man.  He wants to prolong this moment.  I would want to do the same.

From time to time in our faith journeys, we too are blessed with moments where Jesus has touched our lives in a special way.  Those moments when we feel an undeniable closeness to His presence or when we can see the answer to our prayers are touch points in our faith.  They are times when we know that Jesus is real and alive and is truly present with us.  In this transfiguration moment, the disciples are blessed to see that this human man that they have been following is also a divine being that is connected directly to God.  For the disciples in today’s story and for the touch points in our life, these moments, these experiences, they shape our faith.

Like Peter, we too would like to extend these moments and sometimes we wish we could stay in that sacred moment forever.  But we cannot.  Although they are etched into our memory, we must move forward with life.  The reality of our faith, though, is that Jesus is not just in the touch points.  Jesus comes down off that mountain and walks with us in the day to day of life.  It is His constant and abiding presence in all of life that is the bedrock of our faith.  Jesus’ presence in the little scrapes and in the small victories that occur day after day are the basis of our trust that He will be there in the really tough times as well.

Yes, those touch points are awesome and are significant for our faith.  We are stronger Christians and better disciples because of them.  But my deepest need is for Jesus in the day to day.  Dearest Lord Jesus, take my hand, walk with me through all that life has for this day.  Please be with me, dearest Lord Jesus.


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In This Moment

Reading: Joshua 5: 9-12

For the Hebrew people, the time in the desert is over and they have crossed the Jordan River into the promised land.  One can almost hear the audible sigh that comes at the end of a long journey.  The people will no longer eat manna but will eat the produce of Canaan.  But first they acknowledge God and His provision.  As all things are in God’s time, they cross over and are right on time to celebrate the Passover – the feast to remember God’s saving hand in Egypt.  They connect to God in the moment instead of allowing it to pass by.  God has led them to this time and place.  They stop to worship Him.

This example of being in the moment with God is a great one for us.  We know that the glory of Easter morning us coming soon.  We know there will be stops in Holy Week where we acknowledge and live with the events and emotions that led to the cross and grave.  Each day between now and then is a day of preparation and looking within.  Let us not skip right past these days in a rush to arrive on the brink of Easter, but let us be present to each day.

Living in the moment each day of Lent could be either rewarding or trying, either joyful or painful.  Maybe we find ourselves experiencing God’s presence in our lives.  We have the taste of His blessings on our lips and we celebrate His presence and look forward to the next steps on our journey.  If so, may we be sure to stop and celebrate our thanksgivings for His presence.

Maybe we find ourselves in the period of testing or trial.  We feel not quite connected to God.  We cannot sense a first or maybe next step to take.  Maybe the unknown is keeping us from stepping forward.  In this moment may we seek God.  His desire is to connect to us and be on the journey together.  May we reach out in this moment and take hold of His hand.  May we walk this day with our Lord.


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When Necessary…

Have you ever had a “God moment” when you did not expect it?  In a place you did not expect it?  Both?  In your own Christian witness, have you shared your faith with another in an unusual circumstance?

A few weeks ago at Praise Team practice I was touched and moved by a fellow members care, concern, and power of observation.  It had been a busier couple of weeks than normal.  She noted in a deeply loving way that I seemed tired, that I did not have my usual ‘bounce’ as she put it.  In that moment it was as if God was sending me a message.  The divine was brought in by a simple observation by a good friend.

At times, we too can share God.  Although simple, one of my favorites is the idea of offering to pray for the stranger.  If the checker at the store seems a bit frazzled, offer to pray for him or her.  If a homeless man asks for some money, give and then ask if you can pray for him.  This simple act of prayer says I love you, God loves you.

The disciples were bothered by an outsider healing people of their demon possession.  Jesus said, in essence, ‘Silly men, whoever is not against us is for us.’  He went on to explain that all done in His name merits reward, even something as simple as giving another a cup of water in His name.

We are all asked by God to make a positive difference in the world.  He desires to use unlikely people in unusual circumstances to accomplish His will.  We are each unlikely.  The question is: do we see and hear well enough to catch the opportunities that God places before us?  Holy Spirit, whisper to me and nudge me to be used by God.  When necessary, shout and shove.

Scripture reference: Mark 9: 38-41