God’s Faithfulness

The Puzzle of Prayer

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:19-20

While I was out on my Saturday morning walk, I stopped at a neighborhood yard-sale. Usually I try to avoid picking up other people’s junk (or treasure) but I was intrigued by a 1,000 piece puzzle that reminded me a bit of a Thomas Kincaid painting. After returning home with it, I carefully taped together a cardboard piece big enough so I could move the puzzle around and then excitedly dumped out the pieces. First I assembled

20190401_062321_Film4.jpgthe edges and then grouped the rest of the pieces by color. But as I worked I discovered that I had a serious problem. The puzzle pieces were not from the puzzle displayed on the box! 

 Joseph’s life must have seemed a lot like my puzzle. His dreams of greatness and success must have seemed far off during his years of slavery and jail. Have you ever felt that way? My own hopes and dreams; like the photo on the box-top are decidedly different from the jumble of the pieces of my life. Some days or even years it feels as if nothing fits together no matter how hard I try.

But rather than give up I determined to find out just what kind of picture I would see if I kept at it. So as I worked piece by piece I began to see a cottage very different from the one on the box and yet still breathtaking in its complexity and beauty.

That is how the Christian life is. Our puzzle box dilemma is not an accident. On the outside things are never as they appear. God has chosen for us to walk by faith just like Joseph. When we trust God no matter what we see; it frees us from the tyranny of  expectations; both our own and those of others. Faith frees us to forgive and then live in confidence that whatever the final picture looks like; it has been designed by God. As we trust Him to fit together the pieces we will little by little begin to see and a perfect reflection of His love for us all!

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A Tiny Seed

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.                   Luke 17:6 ESV

If you are a little like me, you probably find yourself sometimes praying “Lord please, give me more faith!” When we feel like we are drowning in a sea of fear and we try grasping at straws floating on the water’s surface. But our good news for today is that Jesus did not require us to have a large quantity of faith. In fact during His time on earth,

Jesus seemed to take special delight in people who struggled to believe. After watching the Lord multiply bread for five thousand men the disciples got worried when they ran out of bread in their boat. He sat and talked to a woman by a well who probably never darkened the doors of her synagogue. He healed a man’s son after the father confessed his unbelief and made a special appearance for Thomas when he refused to believe the others about the resurrection. Imported from phone 065

So on nights when it feels like you are going under for the third time remember that our Lord loves to walk out on the water in the middle of storms. He came for the widow, the orphan and the poor. Jesus is moved when we pray with even a tiny seed of faith. When we trust the heart of God we will discover that He is ready to move anything blocking our path and help our faith to flower no matter where we are planted!

 

Rebuilding a Marriage

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It often comes as a surprise to us that the enemy’s battle in our lives is not about our worship our prayer time or Bible reading; it is in our marriage (Or for singles their immediate family). The battle we fight is not only on the front lines, it is often behind the scenes. There was a wrestling match fought long ago by a man named Jacob that gives a perfect picture of one family’s struggles and ultimate victory.

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And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. Genesis 32:24

Previous to this night, Jacob had been a smashing success at everything he wanted to do. He had received His father’s blessing and had tricked his older brother into giving him the inheritance that belonged to the firstborn son. He had married the beautiful woman of his dreams (Though he was tricked into marrying her sister also). He had many sons, and daughters as well as servants and vast flocks of sheep and cattle. But despite his accomplishments Jacob was left alone in the battle of his life.

But before you start to feel sorry for Jacob you need to know that he was alone by choice. When facing the consequences of his earlier deceitfulness with his brother Esau Jacob’s first instinct was for self-preservation. He chose to give away all the blessings he had received. First he sent ahead all the many possessions and servants as gifts to Esau. Then he sent his wives and sons ahead of him with a message that they would be servants for Esau. Not even his beloved Rachel was spared in Jacob’s master plan. But a funny thing happened to him on the way his goal. God said, “Enough!” Jacob wasn’t going to go one more step till the selfishness that had governed his every choice was dealt with. The word tells us that after Jacob had wrestled all night that the angel touched him and weakened him. God saw to it that there would be no more self-important, self-reliant adventures in Jacob’s future.  When the sun rose a different Jacob went to humbly meet his brother and be reunited with his family.

The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.                    Genesis 32:31 ESV

Maybe in our efforts to rebuild our marriage or family relationships we have focused too much on the mechanics of christian disciplines and too little on reliance on God and on each other. So here are a few things to think about.

A) Be encouraged: Even though we feel alone: in reality God is still with us and though we cannot continue as we are, he will stay with us and struggle with us all through the night.

B) Go slowly: A little more limping with our family and a lot less racing ahead alone is a good thing.

 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die.  Genesis 33:13

C) Don’t give up: Though we have done a lot of harm by our selfish stubbornness in the past that doesn’t mean we should be push overs. When God was done struggling with Jacob he changed his name,

Then he said, “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

If we allow Him: that same God who has struggled against us will now struggle with us and with his help, we can deal with whatever lies ahead.