EVIL, TEMPTATION AND TESTING

EVIL, TEMPTATION
AND TESTING – is what Jesus faced in the wilderness. Then soon afterward John the Baptist was put in prison. This was a signal to Jesus that evil forces were at work in the region, stirring up the Hebrew authorities. He chose not to take up that fight then. Instead, he went Galilee, a place where Gentiles lived in darkness. The prophet Isaiah, 9: 2 had foretold this event,  “16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” This is repeated in Matthew 4. We pick up the path of Jesus’ ministry here.

It is an important point that Jesus knew Satan had not given up, after tempting him in the wilderness. It is important for us and our desire to follow Jesus in the path he set for us, to know the ways evil uses to push us off the path. Prayer, in the sense of keeping an open line between us and the Holy Spirit, helps us see what ways demons have of distracting us from keeping our focus on Christ’s way of life. Making us feel bad about ourselves, losing patience, getting angry, talking badly about others and ourselves are just some of the ways that evil has of getting between us and God. In the strength we are given through God’s grace, we do not need to let this happen.

We can specifically pray for God to bring us out of evil’s influence and banish the evil from our lives. This is an excellent way to begin the day, right after we express our thankfulness for each new morning. Praying for deliverance from evil is even in the Lord’s prayer. It is, unfortunately, a prayer we will need to keep in our arsenal of defenses because evil is determined to stop God’s plan and all those who are working with God to accomplish it. Become aware of evil thoughts and know it is not us but evil working in us to push us into sin. God does not want this for our lives. Let’s not blame ourselves. Instead, we can turn to the Holy Spirit for relief from this onslaught. God will bring us peace and strength for the journey.   Protector God, whose love can be our defense against evil influences, help us develop our habits of prayer, for us to use whenever we feel threatened. Guide us in the ways we can pray to protect us from evil, and help us learn to call on the name of our God and Savior as a weapon to reject and banish evil. Give us the insight to know when we are facing evil, so we may call on your protection, to successfully defeat evil and aid the work you need us to do.  Amen.     PEACE

COMFORT TO MY PEOPLE

COMFORT, COMFORT
TO YOU, MY PEOPLE – is what God offers us and is testified to in Isaiah 40. We have inherited the promise that Isaiah spoke long ago to the Israelites. This promise of comfort is more than just a warm hug and a cup of coffee. It is an assurance of our sins paid for and forgiven. This is such a great act by God that the very landscape will be changed. God comes into our lives with power and still gathers us into the flock like a shepherd. Add to this the concept we heard from the creation story, that God made everything from love and considers all of creation good, including us.

21 “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  22 It is God who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in;  23 who brings princes to naught and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.”  Isaiah reminds us of how this is the God who brought about the creation of everything and will still remember each of us.  God will never grow weary of hearing our prayers. We will not be ignored. God’s understanding of us is not anything we can fathom. Know that because God created us, we are listened to and understood in love. Pray with an open heart, for God already knows what our struggles are and will still comfort and forgive us in whatever challenges we face.   O God of creation, we are in awe of your presence in our lives. We are grateful for your love and the ability it gives us to look past the ugliness created by others who do not love and instead see the beauty and joy that is always there. Help us live each day in the love you created and share it joyfully with others.    Amen.       PEACE

OUR PRIMARY INSTRUCTION

OUR PRIMARY INSTRUCTION
IS TO LOVE – God, ourselves and others, all others. This is so important that Jesus says the first and greatest commandment is “to love God, with our whole hearts, mind and body.” The second is almost the same – we are “to love each other as we love ourselves.”   But then the crunch comes – it is much easier to say it than to actually do it. Some of us are easy to love and others may seem hard or even impossible. So how can we do what Jesus tells us we must do?

Well, the answer is we can’t do it, not in our own strength. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit in us, teaching us how to look at others through God’s eyes. When we allow it to happen, we begin to see others in a different way, without judgment or jealousy. Try this method and see how it works. Before going into a situation where there are some difficult to love people, we can begin praying for God to help us see them as God does. Ask for ways of dealing with them in creative and different ways than we have used in the past. I know the experience will be different because I know when we ask for God’s help and are sincere, help comes and it will be powerful. Watch for unexpected ways or sources of help, too. In this way, we are likely to find people who will support us, who we never were open to before. We are a light in the wilderness to others, so that when we act out of God’s love, it is a signal to others who are also in tune with living this way. Acting for God always holds hidden blessings. We never need to doubt this will happen. As soon as we ask, God will have already begun the process in us. We will be given the resources and support we need. We only have to begin by opening to God and trusting. Love and God’s grace will be our strength from there onward.  Loving and powerful God, whose vision is for us all to live together in love, we are grateful that you come to us and act in us to help us do better. Guide us in seeking ways to love others, as you love them. Help this become a part of who we are as your children.  Amen.     PEACE     From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.

DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED

DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED
BECAUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MOVING – creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ. I feel this happening, in spite of all the bad and discouraging things we hear out there. More than one person has lately given voice to this same hope come to life, that they feel it too. The Holy Spirit is always creating and renewing, although we are not always ready to know about it. The Spirit is not just working “out there”, in other people and in other places. The Spirit is moving in each of us, renewing us from within and creating new possibilities in our hearts and minds. Are we paying attention, or are we too afraid to know? Long ago, the Apostle Paul laid out for us, in 2 Corinthians 4, why we do not need to lose heart and the results when we do not.   “Therefore, since God in mercy has given us this new way, we never give up.  2 We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God and all who are honest know this.”  This is what God will accomplish in us, the work of God In our lives.  “7 We now have this light shining in our hearts but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”

Why should we be afraid? God is within us and God loves us. God has always been in us, from the time we were born. So nothing is a secret to God. Everything we have ever thought or done is known to God and will be forgiven, guaranteed !!!  God is not like people who are mad at us for what we have done or those who may not like our life choices. God understands who we are, with no barriers. God is ready to guide us in the direction our lives were meant to go. Our gifts are there to enable us to do great things with our lives. We are each given unique abilities to do well. All we have to do is take the step toward that life God has for each of us, by asking forgiveness for ways we have been selfish and stubborn. The rewards that come after that are way too many to list. Near the top though are happiness and joy, calmness of spirit and the ability to focus on what we were created to do. Long ago a Congregational preacher said, “Our bad things turn out for good. Our good things can never be lost. And the best things are yet to come” ~ Jonathan Edwards  May each of us know the bond that comes from saying “yes” to the blessed life God offers us. Then pass on the love. WHAT are we waiting for?  Loving and forgiving God, who accepts us as we are, we are grateful for the unlimited forgiveness you offer us. Help us transform, through your love, into the person you have created us to be. Banish our fears and reluctance to begin so we may be energized with the power of your unconditional love. Guide us in our faltering steps to begin our new lives of love and service.  Amen.     PEACE     From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.

JOY IS FOOD FOR THE SOUL

JOY IS FOOD
FOR THE SOUL – and a gift from God. Yesterday we talked about expressing joy by smiling. But we need to back up from there to actually seek out joy, by opening ourselves to seeing it around us, in its many forms. We need joy in us because it feeds our souls, the essence of who we are. I read a quote from C. S. Lewis that says, “We do not have a soul. We are a soul. We have a body.” This alludes to the truth of who we are – an eternal soul with a temporary body. Just as our bodies need to have food to survive, our souls also need to be fed. God has provided more opportunities than we can name to nourish our souls. We were created to seek out more than just survival. We have been created to thrive and grow into the person God had in mind when we were put on the earth. In God’s plan, loving grace helps us seek out love and joy, and even fun, in order that we can flourish and prosper spiritually. It is God’s work in us that actually feeds us. It is our job to be open to the process when the occasions happen. That may mean that in any given day, we will be fed many times. Have we given God the chance to feed us today?

In Psalm 92, we are given this gift of joy for our souls.  “You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me!  I sing for joy because of what you have done.  5 O Lord, what great works you do!  And how deep are your thoughts.”  If we begin our day with remembering what has God has already done in our lives, it continues the process of connecting to God in a relationship, founded in gratitude and open to the unconditional love and grace God pours out on us. This sets us on the path of being open to God as we go through our day. Then grace will remind us to spread love, feel the joy and have some fun. Choose to do things that bring us joy and love, not frustration and anger. When we let God help us make better choices in how we live out each day, we will eventually find ourselves on a different path, without anger and fear, now filled with the joy that comes from serving God and spreading love. Our hearts and souls will grow and flourish, so when we face troubled times, we will have the tools and resources from God, that will get us through the storm. Every day open to things that feed our soul – love and spread love, sing and dance with joy, and most of all laugh, express the joy.  O God who gives to us so abundantly, help us receive the joy and show us how to drink it in. Nourish us to overflowing. Help us learn how to release the joy in us to others around us. Teach us to dance and sing and laugh without fear.  Amen.     PEACE     From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.

SMILES AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

SMILES AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
ARE GIFTS OF JOY FROM GOD – to all of us. Where do you find your joy? For me, it is God, people, nature and music. I have been in singing groups since I was seven years old. I know it is a gift from God to get such joy from singing. It can also be a source of emotional release. As a new pastor’s wife, I used to sing at the top of my lungs by myself in the car. It was better than screaming and turned a negative emotion from great frustration to pure joy. I sing to express praise and joy and I know it is an expression of a direct connection to God. I usually smile too, just can’t help it. Smiling actually changes the tone of your singing voice for the better, something I learned back in high school Glee Club. It takes effort to smile – 22 muscles come into play and yet when a smile expresses joy it seems effortless. How do we feel when someone smiles at us? Does it make us want to smile too? Does it turn a bad day into a day worth living? It fills my heart with joy to see others smile. I especially love to see how faces are literally transformed when they smile. Their whole being seems to light up when a smile comes from their heart.

I like to think that since God created our faces to smile, that we should, whenever we have the slightest reason.  We only have to consider the gift of forgiveness God gave us all or all the magnificent beauty in creation and the joy swells in me.   16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  If that doesn’t give us enough reason to smile, consider what life would be like without it.  When I consider this gift and the gift of my own life, I cannot help but smile. Those who regularly smile make me wonder how God has touched their lives and what they are doing to live a joy-filled life. It can be reflective of the love of God, available to each of us. God loves us without reservation, so smile if you feel it.  I’m reminded of the old children’s song – “If you’re happy and you know it, say AMEN!”  Loving and merciful God, who has given us the potential for lives full of love and joy, help us see creation and its beauty as a reason to know joy and to share it with others. Guide us in learning how to forget our own worries sometimes, in order to feel the joy and share a smile with others who need to know what joy looks like. Guide us to sense when others need the touch you bring through a smile. Thank you for the great unconditional you give us, that we feel through joy.    Amen.       PEACE     From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.

Photo by Artem Bali from Pexels   

IN THE LOVE AND GRACE FROM GOD

WE CAN ONLY LIVE A GOOD LIFE
IN THE LOVE AND GRACE FROM GOD – not from our own strength. But how many times during each day do we fall into the trap of kicking ourselves and saying “we should have done better.” There are also voices of others: ready to criticize the way we live, ready to hold us to impossible standards. An unhelpful daily devotional I read adds this passage that takes us in the wrong direction. “A bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled.” – Titus 1:7-8  This raises all kinds of concerns, like by whose standards is this judged and where is the compassion and mercy in all this. Sadly there are far too many people who think that coercing others into an upright life will work. That is not the way God works in us. It is not the kind of companions God wants us to be, in the work of creating the New Creation.

Sadly the institutional church leaders through the centuries have pulled passages like this out of context and used them to put people down, trying to shame everyone into behaving. At the end of this chapter in Titus, we get a clue to bring us back. “16 They profess to know God but they deny God with their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” Unfortunately, Paul does not take the opportunity here to continue this verse to its conclusion: that we do NOTHING in our own strength. The problem in this situation that Paul speaks about was a lack of folks willing to live an intentional life of loving service for and with God. So verses 7 – 8 suggest the kind of intention we need to make, but then it is only God who can bring that commitment into being. It is only in our relationship with God, minute by minute, that we have a prayer of living up to the standards Paul suggests. Giving ourselves up to judgment and criticism leaves us open to the work of evil and takes the opportunity to make us feel bad about ourselves when we can’t live up to this standard. That leads us to death. Committing to God is the way to life. Good things will come into our lives through grace when we allow God to guide us in all our decisions and actions. It is the miracle of a relationship with God, that God will act in and through us, showing us how to do everything in love. Our lives will be transformed. It is then and only then that we can live the good life God wants for us.   Merciful God, we humbly ask for your help and support, through your presence in our lives. May we feel your unconditional love, giving us the strength to turn off the judgment others are quick to throw at us and others. Help us believe to our core, that nothing will separate us from you, so that your love may spread through us to others.  Amen.     PEACE     From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.

CATCHING THE VISION

CATCHING THE VISION
OF THE NEW PERSON WE COULD BE – is what God wants for all of us. The way the world thinks of God is very different from the way we can come to know God, through prayer and in growing into a close relationship with God. There is a longing to build a relationship with God in all of us, put there when we were created by God. Some of us run from it with great fear and work very hard to block the call of God’s voice. It may be behind drug and alcohol use in some. And there are others who embrace the call from God and even in fear, begin responding to God. These are the two most common of the major life choices we each make. God is with us in these choices and never abandons those who do not choose a life with God. For those who do choose to hear God, the road to a new and different life begins. Learning to live as Christ has shown us and guided by God’s grace into living that out means we treat others differently than we might have and see God’s creation and the vision of the new life God can give us in a different light.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul helps us see what this new path may be like.  16 “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!   18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to God through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to God.   19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to God, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”   How does this passage help us understand our new life with God and our relationship to others? We begin by seeing others through God’s eyes. When we know others as God’s children also, how can we treat them with anything less than love? We know now that Jesus was God’s son, and showed us how we are to love one another. To become a new person in Christ is to live in love towards all others. We cannot do this as humans. Only when we rely on God working in us to fully live as new people in Christ will it happen. When we know this new life is because all of our sins have been wiped away as if we never did them, we will also want to share this with others. It cannot be a secret, because if we know God’s forgiveness, then we need not feel any shame. Prayer is the process that will help us grow into accepting all this. It will bring us to a new strength of purpose. We will receive new skills, in order to do new things for God. Through prayer, we will be taught how we are able to do things we never imagined. In faith through prayer, we will understand and be empowered.  Transforming God, you know our past and still love us. We are grateful that you love us unconditionally. Help us accept that we have no reason to be ashamed. Help us hold our heads high, and forget the past, so we may look toward a very different future with you as our guide. Empower us to do what you need us to do.  In the name of Christ, who died for us.    Amen.        PEACE    From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE
TODAY IS A NEW DAY – offering up new chances to come to God, asking for forgiveness, wanting to change the direction our life is taking. 1st John 2 shows us the road we can take to come to God.  15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Creator is not in those who love the world;  16 for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Creator but from the world.  17 And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.”   Or consider this from the great Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer – “Where people are on their own and live by their own devices, there is only the old, the past.”    This path offers us – no hope or creativity, no grace or mercy and no joy.

It saddens me as I see people who know some measure of God, who have grown up in the church, and may still attend church now, that never complete the circle between themselves and God. Instead, they valiantly try to live a worthwhile life, in their own strength, without relying on God. They are some of the reasons why I am writing this blog. I know at least some of those in worship are there because they want to complete the relationship, but either don’t know how or are afraid to take the step and may be waiting for a sign – to show them the way. Before I turned to God and asked for help, I had trouble with these same fears. Those very fears are getting in the way, by design. Evil does not want us to connect to God. I got so tired of living that way. Living with God, within the circle of love is not a fearful unknown. We have so much in the Bible that helps us move past the fear and leave the old fears behind. Plus, deep in our memories are loving experiences from God, feelings from when we were young and before fear and the world blocked our knowledge of God’s love. This verse at the end of Hebrews 4 lays out for us the difference in what our life could be like with God or without God.  16 “Let us, then, feel very sure that we can come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it.”  O God of grace and mercy, we are grateful that you reach out to welcome us into the everlasting love and joy you offer us. Help us let go of fear that becomes a wall to keep us from your love. Guide us to look for your hand reaching out to lift us from the world, into unconditional love.  Amen.     PEACE       From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.

LOVING OTHERS

LOVING OTHERS
AS GOD LOVES US – is a step in living as a child of God. This is also called discipleship. How do we live out this command? 1 John 4 helps put it in perspective. 7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 God showed how much God loved us by sending the one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent this Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

There are many ways we may respond to this passage. One response is gratitude for this gift of redemption. Feeling gratitude to God is a momentous choice we make. We might think on this the rest of our lives and never come to the full realization of what this sacrifice truly means for the world and for us. However fully we might understand the impact of what God did for all God’s children, when we respond in gratitude we also are responding in love for what God has done. Supported by even a partial understanding of the act of God, we are able to feel and share this love from God with others.

We may not all find ourselves in a good place when we see the light of God’s love. We may be at the bottom of a hole. I have been there. At the bottom, we are surrounded by darkness. As we turn and look around us, there are only walls and no options. The only way out is to look up. That is where the light is. The light holds promise and hope. We are again making a choice.

When we choose God, it is a choice to live. If we never make the choice, it amounts to a slow death of our spirit. Without God’s love, our spirits slowly starve to death. God does not abandon us. Love and all it holds possible is always there. We only have to plug ourselves in. God does not coerce us. Love is freely offered as a gift to be accepted and then shared.

Loving and gentle creator, we are grateful for the many individual ways you respond to us. You meet us wherever we find ourselves. When we need to say yes to your love, it is already there waiting for us. Help us see the light of that love as it guides us to the forgiveness and constancy your hold out to us. Show us how to accept and share that love.  Amen.     PEACE

From an upcoming book: BECOMING, Steps in the Journey of Discipleship.