Month: March 2024

Kept in God’s Pocket

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV

After a brief bout of sickness, it was great being back with my friends at Life Care Center this Friday. After we sang the hymn, “Take my life and let it be” I shared about what it means to be “Consecrated, Lord to Thee.” Religious sounding words like consecration, or as the New Testament calls it, sanctification, may make us think of some special ceremony. But the wonderful reality behind consecration is far more personal than some formal ritual. When Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood, He paid the price for us to belong personally to Him. Another way of looking at is is that, just as my car keys are kept in my pocket, because that Red Kia you see parked outside is mine (or actually mine and Nancy’s!), God puts us in His pocket. I keep my keys safe, because they are precious and of great value to our family. In that same way, when God receives from us the key to our hearts, He takes us and puts us in His pocket. There He keeps us safe, because from that moment on we are His! Have you surrendered the keys of your heart to Jesus? There is no experience more personal, than for Him to receive you into His family and to be exclusively be set apart for Him!

Big Lessons from Small Things

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
But ask the beasts, and they will teach you, the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you,
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? Job 12:7-9 ESV

Have you ever stopped to wonder why God chose beasts and birds, along with bushes and fish, to teach us? Why not just use mighty waterfalls and stars or mountains? Maybe He wants us to pay attention to every small detail because He made every one of them. Not even a single cell in our body came into existence because we decided on it, and when the details of our lives do not work out as we planned, God is still glorified. He wants reminds us that He only needed one small stone from David’s sling to bring down a giant and one small cloud the size of a man’s hand bring rain when Elijah prayed.

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When God tells us in the book of Proverbs to watch ants and lizards, to learn the way we should live, I am reminded of a father coming home from work, who strips off his tie, and gets down on the floor to play with His children. In His time on earth, Jesus got down on His knees, to wash our feet, so that we could learn that He is lowly and humble in heart. And when we throw open the windows of our soul, He sends the gentle dove, with a tiny olive branch on our darkest days. God is simply so great that even all the details of His creation can only begin to tell His message of grace, love and forgiveness. Daily He reminds us that it was not by exploding stars or tidal waves that He demonstrated His greatest power, but by three nails, a crown of thorns and a cross. There on a hilltop, death, hell and the grave were defeated, and the gates of Heaven were opened for even the youngest child who would trust in Him!

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His Symphony Divine

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 

Father taught about keys and rests
About scales and every note
When my younger mind was wishing
To be out fishing in the boat

But by grace notes and by quarters
And good old three-four time
Things slowly began to make sense
Like a poem starts to rhyme

And His melody stayed with me
Though sometimes I couldn’t hear
Over my life’s crescendos
And sonatas filled with tears

But now I am just grateful
As my voice begins to wane
That His notes can go on singing
Through both sunny days and rain

And I see my Father’s presence
In the notes between the lines
And I thank Him for the part I play
In His symphony divine!

His Symphony Divine
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2016
All rights reserved

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This poem, which I wrote about eight years ago, will appear soon in the 2024 Spring edition of Breakthrough Intercessor