Month: March 2019

A Tiny Seed

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.                   Luke 17:6 ESV

If you are a little like me, you probably find yourself sometimes praying “Lord please, give me more faith!” When we feel like we are drowning in a sea of fear and we try grasping at straws floating on the water’s surface. But our good news for today is that Jesus did not require us to have a large quantity of faith. In fact during His time on earth,

Jesus seemed to take special delight in people who struggled to believe. After watching the Lord multiply bread for five thousand men the disciples got worried when they ran out of bread in their boat. He sat and talked to a woman by a well who probably never darkened the doors of her synagogue. He healed a man’s son after the father confessed his unbelief and made a special appearance for Thomas when he refused to believe the others about the resurrection. Imported from phone 065

So on nights when it feels like you are going under for the third time remember that our Lord loves to walk out on the water in the middle of storms. He came for the widow, the orphan and the poor. Jesus is moved when we pray with even a tiny seed of faith. When we trust the heart of God we will discover that He is ready to move anything blocking our path and help our faith to flower no matter where we are planted!

 

Super Hero or Super Weakling?

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As a kid I had my choice of maybe 10-12 super-heroes from my comic book collection. My all time favorite was Spider-man followed closely by Thor. Today the movie landscape seems littered with super-heroes, villains and some in between (I’m still not sure if Wolverine or Green Arrow are good or bad) 1553824974533_image.jpg

In the Bible there were some pretty amazing things done by some folks, like, raising the dead and calling fire down from heaven. But none of those guys did anything by their own power. Moses who parted the Red Sea, was a fugitive from the law. Samson who defeated thousands of his enemies in battle was a long-haired party-boy.  Even the Apostle Paul was so unpopular that he was stoned, beaten and whipped more often than applauded. But  in the middle of his trials Paul learned something that shed a whole new light on things for all of us in this not so super world. He discovered that the only real super hero was God; and that the way He loved to operate was through our super weakness: not our super strength.

To the Flat broke – Jesus promised His kingdom

To the Meek – Control of the planet

To the orphan – a Father and a family

To the Widow – the best husband in the universe

For lost sheep – a shepherd

For the criminal – Restoration

For the rejected – a Friend even closer than a brother

And for fallen sparrows – a loving creator who never forgets

And all of these things can be summed up in the one super power never once mentioned in films. The power of the grace of God. That one and only super power was released on the day when God was weakest of all – on the cross of Jesus Christ!

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9

 

Lord I Want to See!

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“What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. … Luke 18:41-43 NLT

Often our greatest problem is that we are not seeing clearly. “Sit still!” my Step-father used to say as I would try to wriggle away from the tweezers with which he worked to pull splinters from my hand. All I could see was a big man standing over me with something that was causing me pain. But he could see that if the splinter wasn’t removed then an infection could cause greater pain or even irreparable harm.

Are you going through situations that are out of your control? In the moment it is so painful that all you want to do is wriggle free. We cry out praying things like, “Lord hide me from this situation!” But maybe our best prayer would be, “Lord help me see this trial like You do!” Then when Jesus says, “Receive your sight.” we will suddenly see other people for the very first time. Next as we turn to look in the mirror we will be able see ourselves as God does. Then when we look up to Jesus we will see that His plan was best. Last of all as we look ahead we will be able to walk side by side with our Savior and Sight Giver and follow Him all along the way!

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