pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: pray


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May He Be Present

Suffering and pain exist in our world.  Some is personal and close to home.  Some is far away and makes us shake our heads and lift up a prayer for those being afflicted.  And then there are tragedies like the shootings in South Carolina.  My heart aches, tears well up in my eyes, and a lump forms in my throat.  Prayers are offered at a deeper level as I feel connected to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are hurting so much right now.  Thoughts will often turn to those who are hurting often over the next days and prayers will continue to be lifted up.

It is hard for me to understand how one could take another’s life so easily.  It is hard to understand and come to grips with the beliefs and emotions that could lead one to do something like this.  But there must be a deeper level to the basic explanation that will emerge.  Something was going on there that we will probably never really comprehend.  Yet we must also be faithful to the faith we claim and offer prayer for the shooter and his family.  This is hard but God’s redeeming mercy and grace are for all people.  We are saved and loved not because of what we have done.

May God surround the families and friends immediately touched by this tragedy with all of His love, strength, and compassion.  May our Lord wrap this church and community tightly in His mighty arms.  May our Father bring healing to the strife that too often separates us. May He be present.


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Understand God?

Nicodemus is drawn to Jesus.  He comes in the dark of night though because, although he is drawn, he still has a lot to keep in mind.   He is a Pharisee, a Jewish religious leader, and his group often clashes with Jesus.  And yet he comes – because Jesus has answers.

Isn’t that why we usually come to Jesus too?  To seek answers, to understand life, to  get guidance or comfort or peace?  Our prayers are often not questions, but sometimes we really do question, it is just below the surface.  We pray for strength or resolution in a certain situation.  But just below the surface we are questioning why God would allow us to even be in the situation.

Nicodemus comes, of course, because he wants answers.  He is willing to risk a little to get an answer or two from Jesus.  But Jesus’ answers do not make sense to Nicodemus.  Be born again?  That makes as much sense as dying twice!  Jesus tries to explain what being born of the Spirit means, but that does not fit in with Nicodemus’ thinking either.  Then and there he cannot assimilate this information.  Nicodemus goes away confused, with a lot to ponder, and without any answers he understands yet.  But he will.

Can you relate to Nicodemus?  Have you ever had a prayer ‘answered’ in a way you do not understand?  Ever feel like you did not get an answer at all?  Like Nicodemus, at times we too struggle to understand God and His ways.  He is a big and complex God.  It is okay we do not fully know everything.  Even though we do not fully know God, we do know some things.  He loves us more than we can ever imagine and He wants the very best for us.  Hold onto these truths of God.  Keep on seeking and praying.

Scripture reference: John 3: 1-15


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The Spirit Remains

In the 40 days between the resurrection and ascension Jesus visited the believers and prepared them for ministry without His physical presence.  He knew that they would soon be on their own.  But He left them to wait with a promise.  His last instructions were to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.  The promise was that this would be even better than having Jesus himself because the Holy Spirit would dwell in each of them all of the time.  There would be no more sitting and waiting for Jesus.  The Spirit would be present with the believers at all times.  This is our promise too.

Jesus told them to wait with hope.  Often it is hard to wait.  It is even harder to wait when it becomes a period of time.  But when we wait with hope it is a different kind of waiting.  It is a holy waiting.  When we are waiting with hope we are waiting with the expectation that God will show up, that His presence and power will be made known.  We wait with this hope because we know that God loves us as His children and always has good for those that love Him.

When we live by faith it is essential at times to wait as well.  In this we also wait with trust.  Here we wait, also with God, as we trust in His wisdom and in His plan for our life.  This too is hard because we often do not see the big picture when we are in the middle of it.  But our hopeful waiting is grounded in our belief that He has plans to prosper us and to help us grow in our relationship with Him.

Through all of our waiting the Holy Spirit remains with us.  In ways we cannot understand and with words we cannot comprehend, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us continually before God.  The Holy Spirit seeks for us things we do not even know we need.  I am grateful for the Holy Spirit.  This day and every day, the Spirit not only walks with me and guides me, it prays for me.

Scripture references: Acts 1: 1-5 and Romans 8: 22-27


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Decisions, Decisions

Each day a person makes many decisions.  Depending on how you define ‘decision’ it could be thousands.  In the decisions like ‘what to wear today’, most of the time these decisions do not have lifelong implications.  But for some, each day decisions are made that are on this level.  Certainly we all make major decisions at times in life.

Each of us must apply due diligence in making the big decisions – Do I marry?  What college?  Do I pursue that job?  Do I blur the lines?  We must each weigh the positives and negatives and think through our decision in light of who we are.  Sometimes we seek the counsel of trusted friends, mentors, or family members.

When the disciples came to the point of replacing Judas, they thought through what this person must offer and what the requirements for the job ‘apostle’ were.  After this and after searching for a candidate they came down to two qualified men.  They did not then flip a coin or vote on who to select – they went to God in prayer for the final decision.

This pattern of doing what we can and then taking time to seek God’s will and direction should be our standard course of action when we face the big decisions in life.  Sometimes we may even need to involve God when we cannot sort our options out on our own.  God desires good for all who love Him.  Invest in time with God when making life’s big decisions.  Listen for His voice, feel the nudges, trust in Him.

Scripture reference: Acts 1: 21-26


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Faithful to Our Call

After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the disciples were told to wait.  The Holy Spirit had been promised to them by Jesus, but it does not come right away.  Fresh from seeing and learning from the resurrected Jesus, they must now wait.

As a few moments turn into an hour and the hours stretch into days, the waiting must have gotten harder and harder.  plus they must have been filled with excitement over what was to come.  Can you remember waiting and waiting for something promised that just never seemed to come?  For myself I best relate this waiting for a child to come home from a night out.  Eleven becomes twelve and twelve becomes one.  The cell phone is not answered.

In those instances of waiting, God calls us to be faithful.  As I wait for a child, I pray for them.  I place my trust and them in God’s hands.  In these moments we pray, but we may also read scripture, sing a hymn or song, and pray some more.  God does not expect or want us to be idle as we wait for Him to act in our world.

As the disciples waited on the Holy Spirit’s arrival they did not wait either.  One of the twelve, Judas, was no longer with them.  Peter urges them to appoint a new disciple.  Peter encourages them to choose one who has been with them from the beginning right through the present time.  Being present from John the Baptist through the miracles, teachings, death, resurrection, and ascension are the requirements of the job.

Of course we were not there for all of these events, but we can read of them.  We can come to know Jesus and His example.  We can put these things into practice in how we live our life.  We can live as Jesus did, pray as He did, honor God as He did.  May we be faithful to our calling.

Scripture reference: Acts 1: 15-17 and 21-22


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Life Lived Fully

Jesus says to us, “Come be with me, come spend some time with me.  Be in my love and my love will be in you.  Remain in me and I will remain in you.  Get to know me by being with me and then become like me.”

He calls us to spend time in prayer – both talking and listening.  He calls us to spend time in the Word – both reading and reflecting.  He calls us to take account of our life  and day – both in thanksgiving and in evaluation.  All we do and say should be done to draw us closer to Jesus and to deepen our relationship with Him.

As we get to know Jesus more, two things happen.  First, we begin to recognize then respond to His calls into our life with increasing clarity.  As it really sinks in how Jesus loved and treated others, we come to see that we are called to do the same.  Our ears, eyes, and heart become more attuned to the nudges and voice of the Holy Spirit.  We think less of self and more of how we can come alongside another in the love of Jesus Christ.

Teh second thing is also within but it has more to  do with how we see self.  We question what we once never gave a second thought.  We choose to do this or that (or choose not to) as we seek to imitate more and more the life of Jesus.  Living a life that is holy and pleasing to God takes on new meaning.

As we continue on our journey of faith the line between outward and inward seems to blur.  As this line blurs one comes to see what a life truly lived for Christ looks like.  Be faithful to the journey.

Scripture reference: John 15: 9-11


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Humble

In all of creation, God bestowed upon mankind alone the ability to pray.  It is a great honor to be able to intercede for one another in prayer.  In prayer we can also find great comfort.  In prayer we can find strength and peace.

Yet we are also just a part of creation.  In our worlds and in our lives there is just so much we cannot control.  At times we cannot control even ourselves, often falling into sin.

In Psalm 25 the writer recognizes all of this.  He seeks what we seek – help to trust in God and to walk in His ways, forgiveness of our sins, and guidance for the humble.  For the humble?  Why must we be humble?

When we are humble we first remember that God is the creator.  All is within His grasp, all is under His control.  We are reminded of His supremacy.

When we are humble we recognize that we are not the only creation of God.  Each and every person is a child of the King.  In humility we treat all of our brothers and sisters with love, care, honor, and respect.

And lastly, when we are humble we come to see ourselves as we are: imperfect people, incapable of accomplishing much of significance on our own.  In humility we come to see how much we need God.  We come to see that even our gifts, talents, and all that we have come from Him.  With a humble heart, may we offer ourselves in service to our God this day.

Scripture reference: Psalm 25: 1-10

 


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Our Call

Today is Ash Wednesday.  Today Lent begins.  Lent is a time designated as a time of preparation.  Spiritual disciplines such as self-examination and repentance, self-denial, and fasting couple with practices such as prayer and reading and meditating on God’s Word to help us prepare ourselves for Easter.

Lent is often a time we choose to give something up.  This is a form of self-denial.  When we crave or notice what we chose to give up, we should draw close to God in prayer.  We are reminded that we are dependant on Him.  Fasting is another way we can deny self and draw closer to God.  In the same way, when we feel the hunger we draw close to God in prayer and seek His strength.  In one of the devotionals I read, the author wrote, “Fasting is an offering to God to overcome being and doing what we want so that we may be and do what God wants.”  We become less so that He can become more.

Lent should also be about other things we choose to do for God.  In today’s reading from Isaiah God calls us to feed the hungry, to care for the poor, to loosen the bonds of injustice, to free the oppressed.  God is seeking a just and fair world, a world where all are loved equally and where all have enough to meet their needs.

You and I have a role to play in this world that God wants to see.  Both personally and corporately we must be involved in healing our world.  Us as individuals and our churches as a whole can do much to restore this world.  Whether one person at a time or one issue at a time, God’s people must make a difference in this world.  It is our call.

Scripture reference: Isaiah 58: 1-12


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Maybe It’ll Grow

Today I read about Benedictine monks.  Each day and week and year is filled with the same pattern – they work and pray and work and pray and work and pray and so on.  Each day is filled with this pattern.  They sleep at night and start the pattern over day after day.  Each prayer time is followed by a period of work.To praythey first center themselves and then they chant Psalms back and forth.  In a month, they pray through the book of Psalms.  Then they start over.

Paul writes often about the same integration of prayer and work.  The idea of regularly stopping our work to pray is found in others.  Daniel, for example, prayed three times a day at his appointed times.  Jesus even went so far as to suggest His disciples pray without ceasing.  But I think Jesus was suggesting we be attuned to praying here and there, whenever we felt led to pray for someone or something.  For the monks, Paul, and Daniel it was spontaneous prayer and also about engaging in formal times of prayer regularly each day.

What would that look like in our lives?  Could we set aside a time to pray upon arriving at work, during morning break, at lunch, during afternoon break, and before departing for the day?  Each prayer time could be specific and focused.  Perhaps this is a great experiment to try for a few days.  Maybe it’ll grow into weeks, months, years…

Scripture reference: 1 Thessalonians 2: 9-13


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Love and Intercession

Romans 8:28 reads: “We know that all things work together for goof for those who love God”.  Paul’s words are of great comfort when we are dealing with or living in a difficult situation.  Events full of tragedy, heartache, and stress will come our way.  We will hurt.  But we know that God’s love will be there in our darkest hour, because He is a God who desires good for His children.

Not only that, but in times when we are in such despair that we do not know what to pray for, in these times, the Spirit will intercede for us.  When we are so torn and broken that we cannot even form words, God’s Spirit prays for us.

These two great promises remind us that God is always near, and that because of His great love for each of us, He wants the best for us.  We can go through each and every moment with confidence that God and His Spirit are always near, eager to offer love and intercession for us.  Thanks be to God for this great gift!!

Scripture reference: Romans 8: 26-34