pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: plan


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Listen and Be Present

Does our vision ever cloud what God wants us to see and experience?  Does our way of thinking how something should (or shouldn’t) be ever derail the wonderful thing that God is trying to unfold in front of us?  Yes and yes!

In Matthew 16, Jesus tells his disciples about his impending suffering and death.  Peter responds with “Never!”  Peter wants to hang onto the Jesus he has come to know and love over the last three years.  Peter cannot begin to see or understand what God will do through Jesus Christ.  How easy it is to get in the way of God’s plans.  We can be much the same way. We often cannot see the thing that God has in mind, so we try to limit God.

So often in life we want to avoid the uncomfortable when it is precisely where God wants us to be.  When one we know is in the midst of a loss, we want to help them move along and feel better instead of staying in that moment.  In that moment is where we find God’s comfort and hope.  In a difficult situation when one wants to talk about the struggle and the pain and the hurt, we try to move them along to recovery.  Sit, listen, feel where they are at and allow God to enter in and be present with those emotions and thoughts.  In time He will bring healing.  But we must resist our inclination to steer the bus.  Allow God to be in control.

In those times when God is asking us to listen and be present, do just that.  Just listen and be present.  Don’t try to fix things or make one feel better.Just be there and offer yourself to the one in need.  Remember, God is there too.

Scripture reference: Matthew 16: 21-28


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Are You One?

I believe God has a plan for our world.  When one looks at the amazing organization of planet earth, you can see that God is a planner and organizer.  Every single event and choice is not predestined, but God has an intent for how things will unfold.  Sometimes we see our role in His plan, but, more often than not, we don’t see it or at least its after the fact.

The key to being part of God’s plan is to be open to where He places us and to be willing to step into the situations that come before us.  To do this takes courage, boldness, faith, and trust.  God will provide all we need for all situations He places us into.

Like Moses’ sister by the riverside, we need to step into what God places before us.  Our role may be to simply offer kindness or to meet a basic need.  It may be grander or more significant.  That matters not.  God is looking for faithful servants, willing to build His kingdom. Are you one?

Scripture reference: Exodus 1:8-2:10


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To the Best of Our Ability

All that we have is a gift from God.  Our talents and abilities are gifts that we must use with humility, grace, and love.  We are not to use what we have been blessed with to lord it over others or to take advantage of people or situations.

As Joseph was riding along that trade route to Egypt, a new slave to Midianite merchants, I wonder if he saw it as God’s work in his life.  As they saw Joseph disappearing into the horizon, I doubt the brothers we thinking of how God’s plan was just beginning to take shape.  Often in the midst of things we too fail to see God at work in our lives.

When Joseph first exercised his gift to interpret dreams, he angered his family.  Yet later in Egypt this ability would allow Joseph to rise up in importance.  When used as God intended, Joseph’s gift was used to build up and to do good.  And yet even then Joseph probably only saw this as a personal success, not as a part of God’s bigger plan.  But Joseph was faithful and continued to do as God led him to do.  Because of this, he would eventually he would see God’s big plan.

What gifts and talents has God blessed you with?  In what ways are they being used to build God’s kingdom now?  Are you using you gift to the best of your ability?  May we learn to use what God has blessed us with, trusting Him and the plan He has for our life.

Scripture reference: Genesis 37: 1-4 and 12-28


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Faithful Pursuit

What is God’s call upon your life?  God has a plan for all of us.  The plan He has for each of us is a part of His overall plan to redeem mankind and the earth.

Each of us are gifted with skills and abilities to accomplish what God has called us to (or will call us to).  Some people know their gifts, know God’s intent for their lives, and are working the plan.  Others wonder what their gifts are and haven’t heard God’s call yet.  Others remain in between – some questioning the gifts and/or the call and others knowing gifts and call, yet hesitant to begin the work for a variety of reasons.

In His pursuit of us, God asks that we remain open to His guidance and direction.  If we are faithful, He will reveal the plan.  If you are getting along in years and wonder when the plan will finally be revealed – remember, God used some people that were ‘advanced in years’ to do His work.  (See childbirth at almost 100?!)  Keep faithful.  And if you are young and wondering ‘now?” remember, He used some teens in the Bible to accomplish His work too!  (David anyone?)  Be faithful!

If we look for opportunities to share our faith story, to serve others, to offer love where needed, then we will come to know both our gifts and God’s call upon our lives.  Faithfully pursue God and He will use you just as He has always intended to use you!

 

Scripture reference: Genesis 25: 19-34


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Faith and Trust

The invitation to Rebekah to go and marry Isaac runs so counter to our culture today.  On a day like every other day, Rebekah goes to the well to draw water.  Only on this day she meets a stranger who asks her to move many miles away to marry a man she has never met.  And she says yes and is married by the end of the chapter.

How clearly Rebekah must have sensed the hand of God at work in the scene playing out.  How in tune with God she must have been!   Her submission to God shows great inner strength.  Her faith in God is of the mountain-moving variety.

On the one hand she is an awesome and inspiring example.  On the other hand, she humbles me when I see how far I fall short of her faith and trust in God.  If someone were to come up to me today and ask me to move away to ‘x’ to help plant a church or to start a mission, I’d falter.  I’d hesitate.  What would you do?

In Psalm 100, we hear what our answer should be: “Know that the Lord, He is God!  It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.”  We are His.  All we have belongs to Him.  We are in the care of God as we roam His pasture.  May I learn to trust and obey my one and only savior, Jesus Christ!

Scripture reference: Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67


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In His Time

Wait.  Be still now.  Seek Jesus.  Open up.  Listen.  He is faithful.

It is sometimes hard to discern between something we have dreamed up and something God is placing upon our hearts.  We must ask, where is the motivation to do this work coming from?  It may seem to be holy and righteous and goog, but it may not be ordained by God.  So how do we tell?

Prayer is the place to start.  But not just a “Dear God, show me the way.  Amen” type of prayer.  It must be a prayer of stillness, a prayer with all of your ears and heart, a prayer of listening.  A prayer that can be hard because it requires patience and time.

If it is God’s plan He will be faithful.  God will bestow upon you His “power from on high.”  The pieces will fall into place.  As you move into what God is calling you to, the Holy Spirit will fill you with conviction, courage, peace, perseverance, and His love.  He is faithful.  He is just.  He has a plan for you.  Trust in Him.


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Peaceful Trust

What is the largest crowd you have ever actually been a part of?  Was it at a big arena concert or maybe at a game?  For me it was several years ago in Washington, DC, when I went to be a part of Promise Keeper’s ‘Million Man March’.  I was just one of about a million people gathered there that day.  It was incredible to look out at the sea of humanity and to realize that I was just one part of it.  When I think about that huge group, it pales in comparison to how many people inhabit the earth.  There are now 7,000 people for every one of those million men gathered that day in DC.

Yet God knows, cares for, and loves each of those 7 billion people on the earth.  Do they all love Him back?  No, but that doesn’t matter to God.  He loves them all equally because  they are all His creation.  He loves them all.

It is hard to fathom that despite the fact that we are each just one of seven billion, God loves each and every one of us.  Yes He does!  What a mighty God we serve.

It is because of this great love that we can trust Him with our lives.  His plan for us is so much better than any plan we could muster.  Because God’s steadfast love endures forever, we can trust Him to always have the best in mind for us.  Because His love never fails, we can trust that He will see us through the valleys and will bring us up the other side.  We can trust into God and into Jesus’ words: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)