More wisdom from Pastor Thomas:
"God always knows what He's doing."
"As long as you give him the credit, He will continue to bless you."
Simple truths that stand on their own.
Thank you, Pastor Thomas!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Downcast
"Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God." Psalm 42:5
I wish I could say that my soul never felt downcast or disturbed, that I never felt hopeless. But I can't. There are days when just the daily tasks seem too big and my heart feels heavy, and the future is a blur.
One of the greatest things about the Bible is that it tells the truth....the whole truth. And the truth is that we have a God who loves us more than we can imagine, who is intimately involved in our lives, who is patient and kind and faithful and good to the core. It's also true that humans living in a fallen world can feel downcast in their souls and hopeless. We have a God who "knows how we are formed and that we are made of dust" (Ps 103). He is patient and understands our downcast souls.
I get into trouble when I put my hope in anything other than God. If I start to put my hope in my own ability to handle things or figure things out and handle it all, or in a system that supposed to take care of my son's needs, or in teachers who are supposed to find answers, or in a church that's supposed to be perfect, or.....well you get the picture. God alone can be my hope, my Savior, my son's Savior, my husband's Savior.....
When my soul feels downcast and my heart feels heavy I have to pause and refocus my hope.
I pray that you will have the grace today to lay whatever feels heavy to you at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. And that you will find Him trustworthy and able to carry the burden with you. I pray that His peace will fill your heart and soul and that you will not be disturbed within.
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God." Psalm 42:5
I wish I could say that my soul never felt downcast or disturbed, that I never felt hopeless. But I can't. There are days when just the daily tasks seem too big and my heart feels heavy, and the future is a blur.
One of the greatest things about the Bible is that it tells the truth....the whole truth. And the truth is that we have a God who loves us more than we can imagine, who is intimately involved in our lives, who is patient and kind and faithful and good to the core. It's also true that humans living in a fallen world can feel downcast in their souls and hopeless. We have a God who "knows how we are formed and that we are made of dust" (Ps 103). He is patient and understands our downcast souls.
I get into trouble when I put my hope in anything other than God. If I start to put my hope in my own ability to handle things or figure things out and handle it all, or in a system that supposed to take care of my son's needs, or in teachers who are supposed to find answers, or in a church that's supposed to be perfect, or.....well you get the picture. God alone can be my hope, my Savior, my son's Savior, my husband's Savior.....
When my soul feels downcast and my heart feels heavy I have to pause and refocus my hope.
I pray that you will have the grace today to lay whatever feels heavy to you at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. And that you will find Him trustworthy and able to carry the burden with you. I pray that His peace will fill your heart and soul and that you will not be disturbed within.
"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
Monday, July 9, 2012
Borrowing Problems
Pastor Thomas is a retired pastor who spent many years pouring out his life in the "Ghetto" (as he calls it) of Cape Girardeau. When you get the chance to sit and listen to him talk about the Bible or Jesus or his life or just life in general, you are really blessed and always walk away full.
This past week I got that opportunity. Just before I walked out the door he said to me, "You need to stop borrowing problems from the future!". I knew exactly what he was saying and that he is right. I keep having to learn this simple Biblical principle over and over!
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
So before I crawled out of bed this morning I prayed:
"Lord, please give me wisdom and grace for this day. I want to be a good Ambassador for you today, representing your heart everywhere I go and to every person I encounter. I do not want to be so absorbed with my own problems that I miss opportunities to express your love and concern for others. Give me grace to trust you with the things that press on my heart and threaten to steal my peace. Give me grace not to borrow problems from tomorrow but to live in your grace for today. Amen."
The issue is not how big or urgent my problem may be (or how big it may be in the future) but where is my hope and trust.
I'm going to try to pray that prayer every day before getting out of bed and to leave tomorrow's problems where they belong...to tomorrow.
This past week I got that opportunity. Just before I walked out the door he said to me, "You need to stop borrowing problems from the future!". I knew exactly what he was saying and that he is right. I keep having to learn this simple Biblical principle over and over!
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
So before I crawled out of bed this morning I prayed:
"Lord, please give me wisdom and grace for this day. I want to be a good Ambassador for you today, representing your heart everywhere I go and to every person I encounter. I do not want to be so absorbed with my own problems that I miss opportunities to express your love and concern for others. Give me grace to trust you with the things that press on my heart and threaten to steal my peace. Give me grace not to borrow problems from tomorrow but to live in your grace for today. Amen."
The issue is not how big or urgent my problem may be (or how big it may be in the future) but where is my hope and trust.
I'm going to try to pray that prayer every day before getting out of bed and to leave tomorrow's problems where they belong...to tomorrow.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Babel
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:1-2,4
"so that we may make a name for ourselves"..... I wonder how many times I've been there and not even realized it. How many times have I set out to do something great and the hidden motive in my heart has been to make a name for myself?
How often have I masked my own selfish ambition with doing something "for God"? How often have I longed for the place that only belongs to God?
"But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."
Genesis 11:5-9
And how gracious is God to see me on a path that will not be good for me and intervene, confuse things, do whatever it takes to remove me from a destructive path?
He knows that making a name for myself would not go well for me. He knows that I am most fulfilled and safe when I am bearing fruit for His glory and completely dependent on Him and not myself.
And how often do I shake my fist in His face for confusing my plans, for setting up a roadblock on the path I was on. I will never know on this side of heaven what He saved me from when He interrupted my plans!
I pray that my life would make a name for Jesus Christ, for His glory, for His fame and that God would confuse and prevent any plan that is to make my name known.
I won't always understand what He saw down that path that He didn't let me stay on, but I will trust that He is good and is always at work to protect me and draw me closer to Himself!
Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:1-2,4
"so that we may make a name for ourselves"..... I wonder how many times I've been there and not even realized it. How many times have I set out to do something great and the hidden motive in my heart has been to make a name for myself?
How often have I masked my own selfish ambition with doing something "for God"? How often have I longed for the place that only belongs to God?
"But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth."
Genesis 11:5-9
And how gracious is God to see me on a path that will not be good for me and intervene, confuse things, do whatever it takes to remove me from a destructive path?
He knows that making a name for myself would not go well for me. He knows that I am most fulfilled and safe when I am bearing fruit for His glory and completely dependent on Him and not myself.
And how often do I shake my fist in His face for confusing my plans, for setting up a roadblock on the path I was on. I will never know on this side of heaven what He saved me from when He interrupted my plans!
I pray that my life would make a name for Jesus Christ, for His glory, for His fame and that God would confuse and prevent any plan that is to make my name known.
I won't always understand what He saw down that path that He didn't let me stay on, but I will trust that He is good and is always at work to protect me and draw me closer to Himself!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Praying and Singing...Not Whining and Complaining
"Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!" Acts 16:25-26
Paul and Silas were doing exactly what God has asked them to do and ended up being "severely flogged and thrown into prison with their feet in stocks".
Interestingly midnight in that cell didn't find them contemplating how this could have happened:
Does this mean we missed God's will somewhere?
Is God just not faithful?
Maybe God's not really good....
They're also not praying and agreeing together that they'll get released from this prison, justified and found innocent. They are not even whining and complaining...and they have been severely flogged and are sitting in prison, not knowing what was coming next!
I'm ashamed at how much time and energy I've spent begging God to fix whatever is making me uncomfortable or insecure and how little time in difficult moments I've spent simply praising Him....not for what I want Him to do for me, but just because He is who He is and for what He's already done for me.
Perhaps what Paul and Silas understood what was at stake. Is MY comfort and MY security and MY future really what's important here? The Bible tells us that as these guys were singing to God, "the other prisoners were listening." And when a bit later, "the chains of EVERY prisoner fell off"...Not because they prayed a prayer of faith or joined in with the singing, but because Followers of Christ were there and weren't wasting their time begging God to make them comfortable.
Was it worth the beating and time in prison to Paul and Silas when everyone's chains fell off and the jailer's entire family came to faith..... I feel sure they would say "Yes!".
God needs us to go where people are hurting (or in chains and a prison of sorts). Sometimes He calls us and we willingly go there. Sometimes we find ourselves there without agreeing.
Wherever you are and whatever you are living, live it with hope and praising God.
You never know who is watching and listening. And you never know what's really at stake!
Paul and Silas were doing exactly what God has asked them to do and ended up being "severely flogged and thrown into prison with their feet in stocks".
Interestingly midnight in that cell didn't find them contemplating how this could have happened:
Does this mean we missed God's will somewhere?
Is God just not faithful?
Maybe God's not really good....
They're also not praying and agreeing together that they'll get released from this prison, justified and found innocent. They are not even whining and complaining...and they have been severely flogged and are sitting in prison, not knowing what was coming next!
I'm ashamed at how much time and energy I've spent begging God to fix whatever is making me uncomfortable or insecure and how little time in difficult moments I've spent simply praising Him....not for what I want Him to do for me, but just because He is who He is and for what He's already done for me.
Perhaps what Paul and Silas understood what was at stake. Is MY comfort and MY security and MY future really what's important here? The Bible tells us that as these guys were singing to God, "the other prisoners were listening." And when a bit later, "the chains of EVERY prisoner fell off"...Not because they prayed a prayer of faith or joined in with the singing, but because Followers of Christ were there and weren't wasting their time begging God to make them comfortable.
Was it worth the beating and time in prison to Paul and Silas when everyone's chains fell off and the jailer's entire family came to faith..... I feel sure they would say "Yes!".
God needs us to go where people are hurting (or in chains and a prison of sorts). Sometimes He calls us and we willingly go there. Sometimes we find ourselves there without agreeing.
Wherever you are and whatever you are living, live it with hope and praising God.
You never know who is watching and listening. And you never know what's really at stake!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
What Does It Take?
A little recap of what I got to share at church this weekend:
From 1 Kings 18 and 19
"Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, 'O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant.
O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself."
Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust.
And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, "The Lord - he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!"
When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including he way he had killed all the prophets of Baal.
And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave."
"Answer so these people will know that you have brought them back to yourself." The people saw God's amazing hand come down in one of the most extraordinary moments in all of the Bible. And they were moved and fell down and cried out that He is God!!
"Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done". Ahab was there too and saw the awesome display of God answering His prophet. But he walked away unmoved, unchanged, unimpressed, unconvinced.
And then Elijah who was discouraged, confused, exhausted, depressed to the point of wanting to die, hears God whisper.
The question for us is: What does it take for us to be moved, changed, impressed and convinced by God? Are we like the majority of the people and it takes a fireball from heaven, but we get it after that? Are we like Ahab: it's just never enough, never enough like I thought God should do it, never enough like I wanted God to do it, never enough...... unmoved, unconvinced.....
I want to be like Elijah, even when I don't understand and things have gone terribly wrong, and I feel alone and abandoned and confused, at the end of my rope, and convinced that I don't have the strength for even one more day......I hear Him whisper...... and I am moved, convinced, changed......
The day after I shared at church, my Michael started throwing up blood and we ended up in the ER....and here we still sit. We think we're finding answers, but this is slow and long. I've spent many many days and months seeing my boy in pain, not always knowing where it was coming from, praying for answers, wondering how many more days he or I or any of us could do this anymore.
And then God whispers.....or sometimes even rains down provision like fire from heaven. Sometimes I walk away like Ahab and don't recognize His hand at work. Other times I hear Him whisper and He moves me. I have to stay in a place of allowing Him to be God and trust that He knows what needs to be done from His eternal perspective and not from my earthly one.
I pray today, wherever you are and whatever overwhelming thing you face, that you will hear God whisper, and that His whisper will move you and sustain you and fill you with enough faith and courage to take the next step!!
From 1 Kings 18 and 19
"Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, 'O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant.
O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself."
Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust.
And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, "The Lord - he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!"
When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including he way he had killed all the prophets of Baal.
And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave."
"Answer so these people will know that you have brought them back to yourself." The people saw God's amazing hand come down in one of the most extraordinary moments in all of the Bible. And they were moved and fell down and cried out that He is God!!
"Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done". Ahab was there too and saw the awesome display of God answering His prophet. But he walked away unmoved, unchanged, unimpressed, unconvinced.
And then Elijah who was discouraged, confused, exhausted, depressed to the point of wanting to die, hears God whisper.
The question for us is: What does it take for us to be moved, changed, impressed and convinced by God? Are we like the majority of the people and it takes a fireball from heaven, but we get it after that? Are we like Ahab: it's just never enough, never enough like I thought God should do it, never enough like I wanted God to do it, never enough...... unmoved, unconvinced.....
I want to be like Elijah, even when I don't understand and things have gone terribly wrong, and I feel alone and abandoned and confused, at the end of my rope, and convinced that I don't have the strength for even one more day......I hear Him whisper...... and I am moved, convinced, changed......
The day after I shared at church, my Michael started throwing up blood and we ended up in the ER....and here we still sit. We think we're finding answers, but this is slow and long. I've spent many many days and months seeing my boy in pain, not always knowing where it was coming from, praying for answers, wondering how many more days he or I or any of us could do this anymore.
And then God whispers.....or sometimes even rains down provision like fire from heaven. Sometimes I walk away like Ahab and don't recognize His hand at work. Other times I hear Him whisper and He moves me. I have to stay in a place of allowing Him to be God and trust that He knows what needs to be done from His eternal perspective and not from my earthly one.
I pray today, wherever you are and whatever overwhelming thing you face, that you will hear God whisper, and that His whisper will move you and sustain you and fill you with enough faith and courage to take the next step!!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Rest
"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:5-8
Where does my soul look for rest and comfort? Where do I expect my hope to come from? On what does my honor depend? What do I trust in? To whom do I pour out my heart, my deepest fears and hopes and dreams?
If I'm honest I have to admit that my natural inclination is not to fall before God and pour out my heart when I need hope and rest. I tend to pick up the phone or go to a friend's house. Don't get me wrong, God has given me amazing friends (and especially sisters) to call and go to for encouragement and perspective. But I cannot go to them instead of or before I go to the source of all real rest and comfort and peace and security. And good friends, in the end, go there with me when I go to them!
The New Living Translation calls a refuge "a rock where no enemy can reach me". No enemy of bad news or discouragement or failure or sickness can reach me there. That doesn't mean I won't experience those things in my lifetime, but it does mean that they will not take me down and do not have the power to take my rest and hope.
"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Pressed on every side, perplexed, hunted down, knocked down!
But never crushed, driven to despair, abandoned by God or destroyed!
May you have rest and hope through whatever you face today!
my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:5-8
Where does my soul look for rest and comfort? Where do I expect my hope to come from? On what does my honor depend? What do I trust in? To whom do I pour out my heart, my deepest fears and hopes and dreams?
If I'm honest I have to admit that my natural inclination is not to fall before God and pour out my heart when I need hope and rest. I tend to pick up the phone or go to a friend's house. Don't get me wrong, God has given me amazing friends (and especially sisters) to call and go to for encouragement and perspective. But I cannot go to them instead of or before I go to the source of all real rest and comfort and peace and security. And good friends, in the end, go there with me when I go to them!
The New Living Translation calls a refuge "a rock where no enemy can reach me". No enemy of bad news or discouragement or failure or sickness can reach me there. That doesn't mean I won't experience those things in my lifetime, but it does mean that they will not take me down and do not have the power to take my rest and hope.
"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Pressed on every side, perplexed, hunted down, knocked down!
But never crushed, driven to despair, abandoned by God or destroyed!
May you have rest and hope through whatever you face today!
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