faith

God’s Great Faithfulness

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul “Therefore I hope in Him!”  Lamentations 3:23-24

The book of Lamentations tells us that God is a Father who never gives up on His children. His people had rejected Him and yet even as they were being led away as captives to Babylon; God was already planning for the return of their children and grandchildren. After times of failure and disappointment in my life I have found encouragement by the  verse that says, ”He is not ashamed to call them brethren” Hebrews 2:11. In spite of our failures, sins and weaknesses Jesus never turns his back on us just as he didn’t give up on the children of Israel while they were in Babylon. No matter where we are Jesus is always faithful, willing to forgive us and help us find our way home.

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When my father passed away and I had to put his financial affairs in order I was surprised to discover that he had put my name on the title to his home. He did this to give to me all that he had. In that same way God is my portion because He has through Jesus Christ put my name and yours on the title to His house. There in heaven waiting for us is a place that is ours because in His great faithfulness He has become our portion and our eternal inheritance.

Maybe this morning you need to just take a moment as you listen to this song again.  God remains faithful in the middle of whatever you are facing or wherever your pathway may lead. May God bless and keep you as you trust in Him and His great faithfulness to us all.

Walking on the Waters

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Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity… Hebrews 6:1a NIV

Sometimes when we read this portion of scripture we want to skip ahead to the gallery of faith heroes in chapter 11. These passages can seem dry and filled with a high theology disconnected from our daily life. But in reality they are incredibly practical and are put there to help us to reorient our relationship with Jesus from simply looking back to His work of salvation in our past. They are focusing like a laser on the right here and right now nitty gritty of our struggles today.

When the writer of Hebrews says let us go on to maturity he points us to the ministry of Jesus as our high priest. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” on the cross, He didn’t mean that He was now ready to retire to heaven. Instead He passed from His sacrificial role as the lamb of God to become our  eternal high priest who will pray for us for us every day till the end of time. Just as Jesus was watching his disciples struggling at the oars on the Sea of Galilee, while he was on the mountain praying, so he is watching over us as we are rowing across our own rough waters. In the same way that he came walking across the waters to help them, so He is ready to come and help us with whatever we face today.  

We must never undo what lies on the path behind but maybe today God is calling you and me to focus on His purpose for what lies ahead. What is on your path today? Jesus is already praying for you and if you look out you just might catch a glimpse of Him walking on the waters towards you!

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He Hears

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I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4

In my imagination I sometimes wonder just how soundly asleep Jesus really was during the storm at sea. I have thought that perhaps he was more aware of the circumstances than the disciples knew. Perhaps as He climbed into the boat that day He said something along the lines of: “Okay while you guys start rowing us across Galilee, I am going to take a nap. Then as He borrowed a pillow and went to sleep He was saying to himself, “I know what is coming next, I wonder how long it will be before they wake me up?”

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Then as the wind picked up and the sky darkened with storm clouds the disciples kept rowing as hard as they could. They didn’t want Jesus to have to worry about anything; after all they were all experienced fishermen. Then as the first wave or two sloshed over the side of the boat some may have begun to worry. Finally as wave after giant wave tossed the little boat up and down and it began to take on water panic took hold of their hearts.

 

“Master, carest thou not that we perish?” Mark 4:38b

 

Just like us, they had come to the place where they wondered if God even cared about their fears. But Jesus is in our boat, to be our Immanuel through any storm. He listened to the disciples. He listened to King David. He is listening to you.

If today you are facing your biggest fear God is with you in your boat. He is waiting for us to cry out like David, like the disciples and like countless generations of believers. He is with us and He hears!