pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: relationship


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Growing

In our relationship with Jesus Christ we can be doing one of three things: we can grow to be more like Him, we can stay where we are, or we can become less like Him.  In Revelation 3:16 Jesus warns us that if we are lukewarm, He will ‘vomit’ us out.  Another word for lukewarm would be stagnant and no one wants to be stagnant.  The path of becoming less like Jesus is the path of sin and that only leads to death and destruction.  Paul instead urges us to seek to grow from “one degree of glory to another” as we strive to grow in our faith.

As Moses’ face reflected God’s glory, our lives should also reflect God’s glory that is within us.  The love that Jesus has for us is the love that we should reflect to others.  He challenges us to love others as He first loved us.  As we grow in our faith and in the depth of our understanding of Jesus, we come to know more and more how deep and vast and wide His love is for us.  As we grow in this way, we are in essence moving from one degree of glory to the next as our lives come to reflect His love more and more to those around us.

This transformation that is occurring in us should be noticeable to those in our lives.  If we are growing in our faith, others should see this.  The love and compassion we exhibit should slowly grow.  The care and understanding we offer should slowly become greater and greater.  The depth of mercy and forgiveness we extend should be ever-increasing.  In all aspects of our lives we should be seeking to become more and more like Christ.  This day may we strive to grow a little more in our faith, growing so that we may know Jesus more, reflecting His glory in increasing measure.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 3:17 to 4:2


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Presence

Psalm 99 opens with, “The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble.”  This line evokes a powerful God.  goes on to speak of how God is holy and mighty and that we should worship at His footstool.  These words and images indicate a God that is far above mankind in status and place.  The psalmist almost makes God so far above us that we can barely connect to Him.  At times, particularly when I have sinned, it can be easy to see God in this manner.

But beginning in verse six, we are reminded that God connects with mankind in personal ways.  We are reminded of how Moses, Aaron, and Samuel all called on God and of how He answered them as He spoke directly with them.  Our mighty and holy and powerful God desires the same intimacy with us.  He longs for this on a daily, moment-by-moment basis, not just once a week or once in a while.

Often when we gather for worship, we begin by inviting God’s presence to be among us.  The words of the prayers, liturgies, sermon, and songs are all meant to help us connect to God and to feel His presence in our time of worship.  Our praise builds out of this sense of connection and relationship.  Our mighty and holy and powerful God desires a one-on-one connection with each of us.

As in the psalm, God desires to be our defender, our redeemer, and our champion of justice.  This desire is for all of the time, not just on a Sunday morning.  May we begin each day by inviting God to be present in our lives that day.  Throughout the day may we reach out and connect to Him, continually inviting Him into our lives.  And at the end of the day, may we thank God for His constant presence with us throughout that day.  May the Lord God be with you!

Scripture reference: Psalm 99


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Offer Much

As I pay more attention to my diet and as I exercise more, the more my health improves.  As I spend time reading more and more on a particular subject, the more intelligence I gain on that subject.  The more I focus on the care for and feeding of a plant in our home, the more it grows and flourishes.

Moses came down from the mountain after spending time with God.  Each time he came down, his face was radiant.  His fellow Israelites could tell he had been in God’s presence.  The fact that Moses’ face glowed tells us something about being in the Almighty’s presence!  While the most obvious and visible sign was his glowing face, I would guess there were other changes in Moses.  His heart and soul and spirit must have been just overflowing with love and joy.  Maybe he even had a little extra bounce in his step!

I believe the same two observations apply to our faith journey as well.  The more time we spend with God, the closer to Him we become.  The more we follow Jesus, the more we become like Him.  The more we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, the more we hear that voice above all others.  And like Moses, the time we spend in His presence changes us.  It changes us inside and out.  Our disposition and attitude become more positive and it shows in our faces, in our words, and in our actions.  The people around us sense that we are different from all the other people they encounter.

If we want to become more like Jesus and want to know God more, the formula is really pretty simple.  Spend more time working on the relationship.  One last observation – our relationship with the Almighty is just like all of our other relationships – you get out what you put in.  May we offer much to our relationship with the Lord.

Scripture reference: Exodus 34: 29-35


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Faith and Relationship

Jesus grew up and lived for almost 30 years in the same small town.  Almost everyone in town must have known Him.  But they knew Him in the kid-next-door sense.  They had watched Mary and Joseph raise Jesus.  The saw Him do all the things boys from good Jewish homes do – He read and studied the Scripture, He participated in the Passover and other holidays each year, He learned His father’s trade.  When Jesus began His ministry it was away from His hometown.  This passage tells us that as a teacher and healer, He was respected and admired.

In today’s reading we find Jesus back at home.  He reads a passage from Isaiah and all spoke well of Him.  They were amazed at the words that came from His mouth.  But then Jesus spoke of other prophets who went to and ministered to those from ‘outside’.  What He was implying stirred the people up to the point that they were about to throw Him off of a cliff.

It is interesting that this story is in the Bible.  It is not a feel-good story and the people do not seem to gain any understanding from Jesus’ words.  They seem to miss the fact that Naaman was healed by faith.  They don’t remember that the prophet went to the widow in Sidon because of her deep faith.  In His hometown the people knew Jesus the person.  They did not know the Messiah.  The teachings and healing that they were hearing about were admired and respected, not believed.  In essence Jesus was saying that they lacked faith.  They had to have faith, not just know who Jesus was.

The same is true for us.  We can know all the stories in the Bible.  But we must go beyond simply knowing the stories and must enter into a personal relationship with Jesus.  We must believe that the stories are true and that Jesus’ miracles still happen in our lives.  We must call on Him as Lord and Savior to allow any of His power to begin to work in our lives.  Believe.  Have faith.  Know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Scripture reference: Luke 4: 21-30


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Closer and Closer

The psalmist’s words exhibit a deep relationship with God.  There is a connection that the psalmist feels has been present since birth.  In this statement it is implied that being in a relationship with God is all the psalmist has ever known.  For their part there is no other desire than this relationship.

Perhaps we each have similar relationships with our spouses or best friend.  While we have not been in the relationship since birth, over time it has grown to feel this way.  We feel as if we were “always” in the special relationship.  It is hard to remember a time when we were not deeply connected.

Both of these relationships share similar traits.  Over the years these relationships have seen good and bad sides as we have shared all of the joys and trials that are part of life.  There is also an intimacy that develops from being in the relationship day after day, year after year.  The level of honesty and openness is such that we can share anything with each other.  We grow to rely and depend on one another.

Many of us have this type of relationship with our spouse or best friend.  But is the same true of our relationship with God?  The psalmist certainly has this type of connection to God.  There is blunt honesty and high expectations in the writer’s relationship with God.  There is reliance and dependence also.  This is the type of relationship that God desires with all of His children.  To get there we must surrender some of self as we elevate the relationship above our own desires and wants.  Each day may we grow closer to God, falling more and more in love each day.

Scripture reference: Psalm 71: 4-6


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The Journey

God’s promises to Zion are promises to us too.  In the broad sense, Zion is the place where God and mankind connect.  People of all walks of life, from a wide variety of circumstances and situations, and from all over the world come and connect to God.  Each of us are such people.  We are drawn by the promises of freedom from sin and death, of abundant life in the here and now, and of eternal life in the time to come.  God’s promises bring love, hope, joy, and peace.

In order to live in and enjoy all of God’s promises, we must go on and be on a journey.  Our journey begins with another’s faith.  We come to know God through our parents or through a friend as we see faith in them.  Our desire to “have” what they have leads us into our own personal relationship as we choose to declare Jesus our Lord and Savior.  Through our own servanthood and discipleship we begin to live into God’s promises.  We see the world from a new perspective.  As we continue to walk in this new relationship we experience the constant renewal of our mind and heart as we grow closer and closer to Him.

We cannot stop walking though.  Some do.  Some say they have accepted Christ and act as if that is the end point.  It is not.  Our journey of faith continues until the day we die.  Every day we are  called to know Him more and to fall deeper and deeper in love with Him.  Our role also expands.  We add witness to servant and disciple.  It is the “go” part of the great commission.  We all need to become His light and love in the world so that others might see our life in Christ and say as we once said: I want some of that.  May our light and love draw others to His light and love.

Scripture reference: Isaiah 62: 1-5


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Each Opportunity

While at the wedding at Cana, Jesus experiences something we all experience – a request to help someone.  In this case Jesus must have known the wedding party as He and the disciples were invited to the party.  As I reflect on who I struggle most with when asked for assistance, it is with the stranger that I most often struggle.  In this story from the book of John, Jesus teaches us both what we are to do and what we are not to do.

The first thing Jesus did was to be open to the needs of others.  When His mother asked, He could have ignored her or dismissed the request.  Much like when the Spirit prompts us, do we pay attention or do we act like we did not hear or feel anything?

The second thing Jesus did was to decide what the greatest need was.  This can be hard to weigh or evaluate correctly.  At times people in need of assistance have a root need that is much deeper than the asked for need.  But we are called to be in relationship with and to walk alongside people in need.  Warning: to be in relationship and to walk alongside another is a much deeper commitment.  But it is only when we do this that we can begin to understand and address these deeper needs.

The third thing Jesus teaches us is something not to do: He did not judge the situation or the person.  This is often where I struggle most.  It is usually in the immediate need requests that I struggle with this the most.  When I have entered into a helping relationship with another, I learn that they are much like me and it is easier not to judge them.  But in the immediate request from a person I encounter on the street who is asking for $5 for food, for example, it is harder to not judge the validity or worthiness of the request.  In God’s view, we are to help if we can, no questions asked.

The last thing Jesus teaches us is to respond and act to the best of our ability.  He didn’t just make wine, He made good wine.  We too are called to be honest, genuine, and fully invested.  Each of our relationships and encounters should receive our best efforts.  Jesus offered no less.

May each opportunity to come alongside another be done with all the love, compassion, and ability that God has placed within us.  Lord, may it begin with me.

Scripture reference: John 2: 1-11


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Growing in Faith

Will the year ahead be significantly different than the year that just ended?  Or will it be much of the same?  Depending on where you are at in life, the answers to these questions can be very different.  But for almost everyone, we begin the new year with the hope that 2016 will be better than 2015.

For some, there will be changes that are big – some will graduate from high school or college; some will get married or have a child; some will lose a parent or a spouse; some will start or change careers; and some will move to a new home or community.  For others, the changes will be less significant but could still be impactful.

For all people of faith, our 2016 hope should be to see growth in our relationship with God.  As we enter the new year, no one hopes to see their relationship with God be stagnant or to diminish.  Growth and development should be the goal of all of our relationships.  To see growth, however, requires some work on our part.  Some of this ‘work’ can be thrust upon us by one of the life changes listed above, but our growth often comes as a result of choices we make.

One area that can see growth is our personal ministries.  For example, I can come alongside a couple of the Youth who are struggling with their faith or with life in general to mentor and encourage them just a little bit extra.  Or at the place I volunteer I could develop a deeper connection with a few of the clients.  In each of these areas it is putting just a little more effort in to positively impact another’s life.  Yet in the offering of self in the name of Christ, our own relationship with God will grow as well.  In the coming year, may we all bear a little more fruit as we grow in our faith and in our relationship with God.

Scripture reference: Revelation 21: 1-6a


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The Living Water

Much of our world is dependent on water to sustain their crops.  Much of the world is still agriculturally based and many people outside of the US are subsistence farmers just getting by day to day.  For many of these people, water is hard to come by.  Either the water source is polluted or it is not clean or it is far away.  In many places a well would provide good water but the people do not have the resources to have a well.  Even in our country, water access can be difficult for some as well.  But one thing is true no matter where you live – water is essential to grow food and to sustain life.

In faith God is essential to sustain our spiritual life.  But to some, God is like their water – scarce.  He is hard to find or He is difficult to relate to or to get to know.  He exists but does not seem to want to be in a relationship with them.  To some, getting to God requires a good effort – like walking hours to fill a jug with water.  God seems to exist, but just is not very close tho their corner of the world, to their daily lives.

For others, God is simply there all the time.  God’s grace and blessings are like the gentle rains that fall in the Spring.  To a believer, God’s love is as vast as the ocean and as powerful as a mighty river.  It sustains and gives life.  The living water that Jesus brings is not like the water that many have to work so hard to get – His water is free and only requires that one asks Jesus to come and dwell in their heart.  Once we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then His living water becomes a spring welling up inside of us.

Who do you know that needs to drink of Jesus’ living water?  How will you help them drink today?

Scripture reference: Isaiah 12: 3-6


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God with Us

Through Zephaniah the people are reminded: do not fear.  This is a common command throughout the Bible.  Fear is a natural instinct.  It warns and protects us when we may be in danger or when we are in a situation that is unknown.  But for some fear is more constant and can be debilitating.  It can cause panic and can make one freeze up, unable to respond.

When we allow fear to become unhealthy or to give it too much attention, then we run the risk of not being present because we are focused on the future and what may happen to us.  Then we run the risk of missing out on the small joys of life and on experiencing God’s presence with us in the day to day of life.

In today’s passage and throughout the scriptures we are reminded over and over not to be afraid because God is with us.  When our fear goes beyond a natural reaction to a present threat, we are allowing fear to replace our trust and faith in God.  In the Word we are reminded that if we allow Him to, God will act on our behalf and will be our protector, provider, and guide.  If we seek Him and trust in Him, God will be in our midst.  God desires to be in relationship with us.

We can rejoice because God is with us.  We can set aside our fears because God is with us.  We can focus then on living the life that God intends for us – fully living in and with His love.  Then God will rejoice as well!

Scripture reference: Zephaniah 3: 14-20