pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: presence


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God’s Presence and Will

It is common in the church today to hear that these are dark days.  The world is full of greed, the lust for power and control, the idea that the individual is supreme, and tragedies such as war, disease, and oppression.  While much of this is true, dark days are not common only to our time.  For those that lived through world-changing events, such as the Depression or the World Wars, their times were certainly filled with dark days.  This could be said of many events in mankind’s past.  For the Ephesians that Paul was writing to, the days were filled with persecution and they lived within a pagan culture.  These were dark days as well.

As each generation of Christians face the dark and evil days in which they live, the questions are the same: how will we face these days? And, how will we respond?  Today our answers are just as important as they were during the bubonic plague of Europe or during the more recent AIDS epidemic in Africa or at any other time in the church’s history.

Some voices call for the Christian to retreat within the walls of our churches and homes, to live largely in isolation.  Venture forth only when absolutely necessary.  Other voices call for more aggressive measures such as protest, boycott, and other forms of condemnation.  Through these and other political actions these voices call for Christians to play the world’s game of power and control, just with our own Christian agenda.

Paul’s advice to the Ephesians was to understand God’s will.  Christians never were or are called today to run from the world.  Nor are we called to fight with the world.  Instead we are called to follow Jesus.  Jesus’ life was God’s will lived out in the flesh.  We too are called to live as God’s presence in the world sharing His love, goodness, mercy, righteousness, truth, justice, and forgiveness.  We face each day knowing God’s presence in and will for our lives.  We respond by sharing God with others.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 6: 18-20


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Always at Work

God is ever-present and all-knowing.  God creates all and is in all.  He works sometimes in surprising and unmistakable ways and sometimes it is hard to see His presence.  In the psalm God is praised for always being present, for always being gracious, loving, and just.

Today’s psalm represents God’s activity in our lives from the beginning to the end.  The writer uses an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet to represent this idea.  He begins with “alpha” and ends with “tav” – equivalent to A-Z for us.  In the psalm he recounts all of the reasons we have to praise God – His works and righteousness, His grace and compassion, His faithfulness and justice, His laws and wisdom, and the covenant He keeps with His people.  For all of this, praise is lifted up.

God continues to offer all of this and more to us.  God continues to be active in the world.  As time unfolded, Jesus became the new covenant as He offered Himself in sacrifice to defeat sin and death so we could gain eternal life.  As we look back over our lives, from the beginning to where we are now, we can see God’s hand at work.  Sometimes His hand is active and easy to see.  At other times it is hard to see at all.  Yet even then we know He was present with us.  From the promises in the scriptures to our experiences in life, we know God is always at work.

In times of uncertainty or trial, it can be hard to see God at work or to feel His presence.  Sometimes another may see something we do not so it is often helpful to share our experiences with one another believer.  In the end, we know we can always look back and see His handprints.  In this we can always trust. For this, we say thanks be to God!

Scripture reference: Psalm 111


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Finding Rest

“How lovely is Your dwelling place O Lord Almighty!”. Like the psalmist we too long and almost faint to be in God’s presence.  ” Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.”. Again, like the psalmist, we too are blessed when we rest in God.

Sabbath – the idea of resting for a day, in His presence, to be renewed and refreshed both physically and spiritually.  To almost all Christians, we look at the idea of Sabbath as an ideal place, far, far away.  It is far away because of the schedules we keep and because of the demands we place or allow upon our time and upon ourselves.  I am as guilty as anyone.

A man in our small group shared yesterday that he had been keeping the Sabbath for a while now.  After church he goes home and does no work.  The yard, the chores, the cleaning all get done on days other than Sunday.  He shared that his time of rest and time with God really does renew and refresh him.  Sounded like a day he guards pretty closely.  I am kinda jealous.

In order to give God a day requires trusting Him.  He is in control – do we trust Him like we believe He is in control?  It also requires some planning and effort on our part because the yard, the laundry… all need to get done.  We do have a hand in allowing ourselves the Sabbath.

If we can set aside a day for Sabbath, we will find joy and pleasure resting in God.  We will be renewed by our time in His presence.  We will be more connected to our Creator.  Reports are this one day makes the other six so much better.  This week, may we all find our Sabbath.

Scripture reference: Psalm 84: 1-3 and 6-12


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Pray Always

Prayer is an integral part of our faith.  Paul encourages us to “pray on all occasions” and to always be lifting one another up in prayer.  Prayer strengthens both our faith and our connections to God and to one another.

Each Sunday we lift up in prayer the joys and concerns that people share on prayer cards.  Those in worship are encouraged to pray for these folks during the week ahead.  These requests and others that are received by e-mail are sent out each week to the prayer chain – a group of people who pray for these individuals during the week.

Because people share their prayer requests, there is a greater sense of care and concern within the body of Christ.  People ask one another how things are going, ask if there is some way they can help, and so on.  These interactions and the accompanying stories of how God has worked through prayer serve to illustrate how God is active in our lives bringing healing, lifting our burdens, and extending grace.  To share and talk about God’s presence and activity in our world builds us up in our faith.

Paul’s words to “pray on all occasions” can be put to good use with perfect strangers as well.  One can offer prayer for the police officer each time you pass by one driving in your car.  One can offer up a pray for the person who passes by in the ambulance or even as you hear the siren.  One can offer a quick prayer for the mom or dad struggling with their child in the store.  You can also easily be direct with your prayers.  If you encounter a harried grocery clerk or bank teller or gas station attendance, you can offer to pray for them.  Here too we can see God at work in powerful ways.

God so wants to be connected to us.  Prayer is our best opportunity to connect with Him.  So do pray often and on all occasions.   His ear is always open!

Scripture reference: Ephesians 6:18


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Why Church?

Those that sat in a sanctuary or some other place of worship yesterday made a choice to be there.  They got up, got ready, and came to church.  For many it was just like most other mornings, except they went to church instead or to work or school.  For some, they fought through something that was heavy upon their hearts like depression or grief or some issue at home or work or school and came to church.  For others, they had to fight the kids or their spouse or significant other, but they came too.

Some that came weighed their options – golf or fishing or hiking, or sleeping in , or yard work, or … – but decided in favor of church.  Some also pondered these things and decided not to come to church.  To be honest, there were some in  the other groups who came to church who would not have if the choice was fully theirs.

This all leads to the basic question: why do we go to church?  The answer is not tradition or because we are supposed to or because there is nothing else to do.  It is not to check off a box or to avoid questions later at the family gathering or to gain some social standing for being a church goer.

When Solomon built the temple and had the ark of the covenant brought up to Jerusalem to be in the temple, something amazing happened.  The Most Holy Place filled with a cloud.  The temple became filled with the presence of the most high God.  He was there in that place.

While it is true that God is everywhere, we find that in church we most often encounter the presence of the living God.  It is in the settings of community and in corporate worship that He is present.  When we gather to sing and praise His name, to spend time in prayer and in the Word, to confess and be made right with our God, it is then that He is present.  To be in the presence of the almighty God, this is why we go to church.

Scripture reference: ! Kings 8: 1, 6, and 10-11


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All the Time!

Being grateful for all of God’s blessings makes such a difference in our lives.  Every day, as part of my morning ‘routine’, I write in my ‘thanks journal.’  I write down at least five things I am thankful for from the day before and lift up a little prayer of thanksgiving to God.  It is important to me to recognize all God does for me.

In hospitals and hospice care they asses a person’s spiritual vitality by measuring the patients’ gratitude towards God.  Psychologists have identified gratitude as a powerful force in the lives of people who are healthy and resilient.  When one is truly thankful for the things one has in life, it shows in their attitude.

In life all is not roses.  Trials and sufferings will come.  These things are inevitable.  They are a part of life.  As with the Psalmist, we too know God is with us in both the good and the bad.  In the bad, God offers us relief from all sorts of suffering and oppression.  When we experience God’s liberation, or response is grateful praise.  The psalmist wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  When we have an attitude of gratitude it is natural to want to share how good God is with others.

When our normal mode of operation is to recognize God as the giver of all good things, then we know Him as good and through this can better weather life’s storms.  In these times of trial we can go to God for peace, comfort, strength, … in prayer, in reading His Word, in worship.  When we know the Lord is good through our daily practice of gratitude, the darkness is not as deep and we know there is His light at the end of the trial.  God is good.  When we live and acknowledge this often, we are blessed by His presence all of the time, in both the good and the bad.

Scripture reference: Psalm 34: 1-8


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A Little More

After the feeding of the five thousand the disciples head out across the lake without Jesus.  He has sent them on ahead presumably with reassurances that He will join them later.  One can assume that the disciples thought Jesus meant in Capernaum, their destination.  About three miles into their journey, they discover another reality.  With water as far as the eye can see in the dark of the night, the disciples spot something approaching.

The disciples reality is jarred as  they must have moved from “Hey look” to “can’t be” to “it is?” as Jesus draws near to the boat.  Jesus was not on a jet ski or in a speed boat.  He was walking on the water.  This must have struck a chord of fear in the disciples as He had to reassure them and calm them as He climbed into the boat.  I bet his sandals and the edges of His clothing were not even wet.

The scriptures tell us that as Jesus joins them, just as He got into the boat, suddenly they were there on shore.  Once He joins them they are there.  Does this phenomenon occur in our lives?  Does it ever seem as if Jesus sends us out and we journey along on our own?  Then just at the right time He is there, right in the midst of life with us?  Then He too says, “It is I.  Do not be afraid.”

His presence is an amazing part of this journey of faith.  Although God is omnipotent and omnipresent, it seems at times we get a little extra ‘bump’ – He is just a little more present, a little more with us when we need Him most.  He calms us with the same words again, “It is I.  Do not be afraid.”  For this we say thank be to God!

Scripture reference: John 6: 16-21


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In God’s Presence

God is really big.  He is the creator of all that is in the world.  God continues to create new life, new experiences, and new discoveries.  God has a hand on and in all life, in nature, and in the physical world.  In spite of how vast God and His reach are, at times we think we can control or dictate to God.  We cannot.

Perhaps it is because God allows us to have free will that we feel this authority and power.  Perhaps it is because God placed humankind as stewards over all creation that we feel in charge.  Perhaps it is because God enabled us with the ability to reason and make decisions that we feel we should.  Yet it is through a relationship with God that we should exercise our free will, our stewardship, and our decision-making.  It is within this relationship with God that we were intended to live.

Despite the omnipotence and omnipresence of God, at times we pretend He is not there.  We ignore a temptation or give in to sin or we compartmentalize an area of our life and live as if God did  not exist.  But God is not just in our churches, He is everywhere.  He is a constant presence in our lives and in our world.

It is natural for us to acknowledge and live within God’s presence all of the time.  A close relationship is what God most desires from each of us.  Just as we are intimately known, God wants us to grow to know Him intimately as well.  When our efforts focus on His presence in our lives and in the world, we live a life that is truly blessed.  We see God is so many people, places, and experiences.  We are made to live in step with our creator.  This day may we all choose to walk closely with our God.

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 7: 1-14a


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Places, Spaces, and Faces

Sometimes it is hard to get out of our boxes.  In many ways we settle into routines and ways of doing things.  Too often we allow stereotypes to determine how we see situations and people we encounter.  Our past experiences can also cloud our expectations for the here and now and for the future.  As creatures of habit with good memories I think we often miss out on God’s presence and work in our world.

When Jesus visited his hometown to preach and offer signs of His glory, He encountered this.  As the people realized who He was – just a carpenter’s son who they saw grow up an ordinary boy and young man – their amazement turned to doubt.  The teachings and miraculous signs did not continue in this environment.  The people allowed their experience and expectations to get in the way of experiencing God.

I wonder how much I miss out on because I am so tightly packed into my little box.  How many opportunities do I miss to share God with others and to experience God through others each day?  How often do I allow my judgments and low expectations to become roadblocks to being present in meaningful ways?  Yet rarely is anything in my day ever more important than moments experiencing God’s presence.  But I do not always reflect this with my thoughts, actions, and words.

May I learn to better live a simple faith and to walk on a slower path.  May I learn to live fully in each moment and person God places before me.  May my faith, heart, and eyes be like that of a child – eager to find love and joy in all the places, spaces, and faces I encounter today.

Scripture reference: Mark 6: 1-13


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Step to the Line

The Israelite army is pretending to be in battle.  Each morning they put on their armor, gather up their weapons and form up in position.  They shout the battle cry and march out into position opposite the Philistine army.  Goliath shouts out his challenge and the Israelites look at the ground, at th birds in the air, off into space.  They do everything except face their enemy or each other.

Sometimes in our lives or in our churches we can take the same approach.  We can sense that something needs done but we are unable or unwilling to see or do anything about it.  Good examples would be a lack of baptisms and fewer or no new professions of faith.  We are aware that these are signs of a dying church but investing the time and energy into young families and into unchurched people in new ways is scary and intimidating.  We stay right where we are.  And we line up each Sunday morning in our pews and see the same familiar faces.

In our own lives we can also get stuck.  In a really busy season of life we allowed our daily discipline of reading and meditating on God’s word to slip to the back burner.  That extra fifteen minutes of sleep or the extra time in front of the television sure is nice and prevents us from giving our time to our faith. Maybe we play the ‘next week’ game – next week I’ll get back to daily time with God.  We somehow think we are not ready to face that giant today.

God is ready every day.  He calls to us every day to die to self and serve Him alone.  He is present each day, waiting for us to engage.  It is up to us to step up to the line with a willing servant’s heart and to say, “Here I am Lord.”  With God on our side, who can stand against us?  What giant is ready to fall today?

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 17: 19-23