faith

Reflecting on the Sabbath

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Keeping Sabbath is a step of faith with our time in the same way that giving our tithe is a step of faith with our finances.  We give our financial resources trusting that God will multiply what remains, so also our committing to a day of rest will give God the opportunity to multiply our other days with unlimited peace.

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It is amazing how Jesus accomplished more when he was resting than the disciples did when they were busy working.

And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”  But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Matthew 8:24-26

Jesus wasn’t being lazy when He was sleeping. Jesus simply knew that the Father would help Him to do just the right work at just the right time if He rested!

As we rest we depend more fully on Jesus. As we come to a stop even for a few quiet hours our racing thoughts calm to a hush. In that quietness we can begin to hear the whisper of God’s still small voice. That quietness is like the great calm which Jesus brought to the sea by His word. When was the last time that a great calm ruled over the storm of anxious thoughts and struggles in your life?

As believers in Jesus Christ we know that one day we will finish the work of this life. On that day we will enter into the greatest experience of our Sabbath rest in Him and our works will remain behind!

‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Revelation 14:13

 

Effective Prayer Part Two

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February 23             Effective Prayer Part 2

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much  James 5:16

If we prayed as earnestly for others as we have prayed for ourselves how different might our church be? In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed so earnestly that we are told that “his sweat was as it were great drops pf blood” Luke 22:44
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No priest, no king, no father and no mother ever prayed with the earnestness of Jesus Christ. Yet for all His earnestness Jesus’ request was denied! The Father’s will remained unchanged and then three times our Lord ended His prayers with “not my will but thine be done”

 

And though apparently His request was denied yet the most earnest of all prayers continues to be answered for us today.  God still hears and has always heard earnest fervent prayers. The way He chooses to answer remains wrapped in the mystery of His Sovereign will. We change and our lives fade yet if we forever hold fervently to His promises lives all around us will be changed!

 

 

 

People are a Loan Not a Gift

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

img_5240The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,                                                                                        The world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1

This week of my cousin Tom passed away. (He is the one peeking over my God’s mother’s shoulder) Tom was a gentle man who we thought would somehow always be there. He and I were born the same year, had been on summer vacations, horse back riding and even briefly played in the same band.together. It seemed my quiet cousin would always be there and yet he is suddenly gone.

How often we say things such as, “She is one of God’s greatest gifts to me! or What a gift God gave us with this son or daughter!” But in reality none of those we love so dearly belong to us. The time we spend here on earth together is just a short term loan.God holds the appointed time the loan will be called in, in His hands. They are not ours but how we treat those God has trusted into our care changes us for eternity.

Sometimes people are like little birds singing outside our windows. We may throw them a few crumbs but we don’t realize the value of their songs until the day they are silent. People are a loan. We do not possess someone else’s life, they belong first to God. How I miss Tommy today. I cannot go back to say or do something more for Tom but his sudden absence stirs something in my heart to treat with more earnest and sincere love those who remain behind.