Daily devotion

Our Father

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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 ESV

Though many times we come to the Lord’s Prayer with a mixture of awe and duty, “Our Father, who is in Heaven,” begins with a line full of hope. It is hope because we are praying to a God who loves us enough to make Himself available as a father. We do not call and receive a heavenly voicemail instructing us to press -1- for emergencies, -2- for billing and -3- to speak to an operator. No matter how young or old, no matter how weak or powerful, no matter our success or failure, we are invited together to call on our Father who is listening in Heaven.

We have hope because we are praying to a Father who is in Heaven and sees our lives and our struggles, from a higher perspective than we do. He is touched by our infirmities, but not threatened by them. He bore our sins in His body on the tree, yet they never entered His heart. The whip marks on His back purchased the healing balm for our diseases, though He Himself is our physician. We need never fear that we have too great a sin, too difficult a dilemma or too desperate a situation. These mountains we face, no matter how high their summits, will never be higher than the throne from which our Heavenly Father rules!

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We also have hope, because He calls us children- and not just any children, but HIS CHILDREN! John reflects on this in His letter when He tells us how amazing the love of our God is that “We should be called the children of God!” 1 John 1:3 ESV. He who created the universe and existed before eternity began, wants us to join Him to spend all of our eternal lives as His children! What greater hope is this – that we should be called the children of God?

What Is Your Name?

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Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”  Genesis 32:26-27 ESV

All Jacob’s life he had struggled for blessings. Jacob had tricked Esau, his older brother into selling him the right of the first born (Quite a significant financial advantage in his day). Later when their father had decided to give Esau the family blessing, Jacob ran in ahead of Esau and fooled his blind father into giving him that blessing instead. When news of Jacob’s deceit got to Esau there was murder in his heart and Jacob fled to his mother’s family. So, instead of getting his father’s blessings he spent 20 years working for his uncle Laban. In today’s verse, Jacob was finally and totally alone in his struggle with God’s angel.

By this time, he was entirely out of strength and yet he hung on to his attacker, refusing to let him go. Jacob had gotten so much along the way. He was rich; he had married the girl of his dreams and had many sons and daughters. Jacob had all these accomplishments, but he feared his brother Esau. He had so much stuff and yet so little of God’s blessing of peace. As Jacob continued to struggle the angel finally agrees to bless him, but not as Jacob had imagined. Instead of giving him more things, the angel changed Jacob’s name.

 “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  Genesis 32:28 

What a strange victory God had planned for Jacob, and He has that same strange and yet wonderful victory available for you and me. Whenever we truly meet with God, we come away with a new name, a new future and a new hope. When we choose a name, that name can be changed. But when God chooses our name, it sticks forever. The name God offers to give us is our greatest blessing, because it is written down in Heaven. It is the name that Jesus calls us when we find him by faith and refuse to let go! What is your name?

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Did He Really Say That?!

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I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Luke 12:4-5 ESV

Today’s verse introduces a summer feature which I will call “Did Jesus Really Say That?!”. “But why Pastor Pete?” some of you will probably ask. “Why bring up those kinds of verses? Why not focus on the sweet and positive things that Jesus said?” Well, I guess the first answer is, “Jesus is way smarter than you or I.” If He tells us something, then in spite of how it sounds, He still has something good in mind. Take today’s verse, for instance. Jesus starts out by telling me not to be afraid of those who want to kill me. Now, in general, this does not calm my heart. Instead, I begin glancing over my shoulder, wondering who is planning what to do me in. But if we would scratch a little deeper beneath the surface, we would see that Jesus is teaching us to swim in a spiritual sense. Of course, it feels like He just tossed me into the deep end of the pool and said, “Go for it!”. But in reality, He is bringing a warning to our attention that far outweighs anything that an enemy could do to us. The life that Jesus wants us to focus on is beyond the horizon of this world. If He were to fail to tell us about God’s judgement, as to how we have lived our lives, He wouldn’t be doing us any favors.

Lately there has been a lot written about how the Chinese Communist Party is learning all our private information, in preparation for some future day. On my part I am not so sure that all the data which Google, Facebook and the American Government has on us is a whole lot better! But instead of worrying about what people would do to us, Jesus is telling us to chill. Don’t worry. Stop fussing about what other people can do. If you think the Tik-Tok folks know a lot, imagine God, who counts every hair on our head and knows every word, before we speak it. 

"Bless those who curse you, think what they would say if they knew the truth." Mother Teresa

And yet, our God who knows everything about us, cared enough to send Jesus into our world to save us. Yes, there are difficult things He would have to say to us, just as when a mother screams at her child to get out of the road when she sees a car bearing down on us from behind. Jesus wants us to be aware, awake and focusing our fear where it will do us good. Only then are we ready for what He has to say next! 

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.  Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. 
Luke 12:6-7 ES