Daily Bread

The Biggest Mountain

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

… if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you Matthew 17:20b

Maybe when you have heard this verse mentioned it was used in the context of a surgery to be faced, a marital crisis brewing or a financial disaster looming on your horizon. But a mountain also represents any impossibility that separates us from God’s plan for our lives. What is the biggest mountain that separates us from God? Today’s encouraging  news is that moving that mountain has nothing to do with its size but it has everything to do with our small faith in a big Savior!

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 8:38-39 new-alaska-pics-4

No mountain can separate us from God’s love because of the cross of Jesus. Our sin which loomed like a giant mountain in our path has been removed and cast into the sea of God’s forgetfulness. It will no longer be remembered anymore forever. When one day we open our eyes in eternity with God we have the wonderful assurance that this biggest mountain of all has been moved! Since He has moved that giant mountain we joyfully use our mustard seed faith to face any small mountain today!

Going through Samaria

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

But He needed to go through Samaria John 4:4

In Jesus’ day Jews rarely went by way of Samaria. We could speculate that Jesus needed to go through Samaria to avoiding the Jewish leaders or maybe just because it was shorter and he was tired! We don’t know the reason but we can all identify with having to go somewhere that we would prefer to avoid.

Samaria was a bit like the business district we go around so we don’t get stuck in traffic. It could be a job you don’t like or a family commitment that is getting heavier every day. You may have to sit by the bedside of a loved one for whom the doctors have to hope. There could be a surgery or a crushing debt that must be paid looming on your horizon. All of our Samarias are different but the one thing they each have in common is that we must go through them.

san-francisco-04-076

It is comforting to know at those times of trial, temptation and weariness that Jesus doesn’t just command us to keep going, He has gone ahead of us to prepare the way. Jesus had to go through Samaria because Samaria is where he found you and I. Samaria is where He gave us hope. Samaria is where we discovered we could be accepted by God. Samaria is the place Jesus chose to go and He calls for us to go with Him through our own Samaria today.

Jesus knows where we are

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” John 5:5-6

june-2010-plus-some-india-039

Recently I started a part-time job at a large store in our city. Since I know so many from my church, neighborhood and work I thought that I would see people I knew regularly. But day after day, week after week it is a rare delight to see a familiar face. There are just so many! That may have been the feeling of this lame man lost in the crowd. The pool of Bethesda was jam packed with strangers. There was no one there to help him. Jesus came at a time when he felt abandoned and forgotten. He came not just to wave His hand and perform a miracle, but to ask about his needs and to listen to his response.

Jesus is right here I the middle of our small and forgotten situation. Jesus is bending down to ask us what we need. Because even with all the knowledge and all the power in the universe He will not begin His work until we ask. Are there years of bitterness and frustration holding you back? Do you feel forgotten in the crowd? Jesus has not forgotten! Jesus knows exactly where we are! He is passing by us, whether at the pool of Bethesda or on a busy city street. He is listening so we can fearlessly tell Him exactly what we need!