Big Lessons from Small Things

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
But ask the beasts, and they will teach you, the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you,
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? Job 12:7-9 ESV

Have you ever stopped to wonder why God chose beasts and birds, along with bushes and fish, to teach us? Why not just use mighty waterfalls and stars or mountains? Maybe He wants us to pay attention to every small detail because He made every one of them. Not even a single cell in our body came into existence because we decided on it, and when the details of our lives do not work out as we planned, God is still glorified. He wants reminds us that He only needed one small stone from David’s sling to bring down a giant and one small cloud the size of a man’s hand bring rain when Elijah prayed.

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When God tells us in the book of Proverbs to watch ants and lizards, to learn the way we should live, I am reminded of a father coming home from work, who strips off his tie, and gets down on the floor to play with His children. In His time on earth, Jesus got down on His knees, to wash our feet, so that we could learn that He is lowly and humble in heart. And when we throw open the windows of our soul, He sends the gentle dove, with a tiny olive branch on our darkest days. God is simply so great that even all the details of His creation can only begin to tell His message of grace, love and forgiveness. Daily He reminds us that it was not by exploding stars or tidal waves that He demonstrated His greatest power, but by three nails, a crown of thorns and a cross. There on a hilltop, death, hell and the grave were defeated, and the gates of Heaven were opened for even the youngest child who would trust in Him!

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His Symphony Divine

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments 

Father taught about keys and rests
About scales and every note
When my younger mind was wishing
To be out fishing in the boat

But by grace notes and by quarters
And good old three-four time
Things slowly began to make sense
Like a poem starts to rhyme

And His melody stayed with me
Though sometimes I couldn’t hear
Over my life’s crescendos
And sonatas filled with tears

But now I am just grateful
As my voice begins to wane
That His notes can go on singing
Through both sunny days and rain

And I see my Father’s presence
In the notes between the lines
And I thank Him for the part I play
In His symphony divine!

His Symphony Divine
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2016
All rights reserved

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This poem, which I wrote about eight years ago, will appear soon in the 2024 Spring edition of Breakthrough Intercessor

When God Interrupts

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While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18-19 ESV

Over the last five days, because of sickness our agenda has been unceremoniously trashed, and we had to cancel most of our plans. Finally on Sunday afternoon, my wife and I went to a walk-in clinic, hoping to find some help. Though we came away with a diagnosis of nothing more serious than Bronchitis, it was frustrating to realize just how little control we had over our plans. Of course, not all agenda changing in our lives occurs due to negative circumstances. In today’s verse, we find Peter and Andrew finishing up their shift at work, after a long night of fishing. Then, while they were washing their nets before heading home for breakfast Jesus interrupted their plans, with a plan of His own. Though we have the advantage of knowing that Peter and Andrew went on to become Apostles, they were probably thinking about what their wives were cooking for breakfast! Imagine how the pages of the Bible would be different if they just told Jesus that they would go home and pray about it (after a nap!) There would have been, no story of Andrew, bringing a boy with five loaves of bread for Jesus to multiply and no Peter, walking on water to go to Jesus. Though they didn’t know it at the time, the history of nations lay in the balance that day, because God has chosen them to do something different than they had planned.

Has God has disrupted your schedule recently? If you are like me, you may have been irritated, frustrated or even just plain mad about having to cancel your carefully crafted plans. But as Christians, we need to remind ourselves, that God knows what is best, and He wants us to trust our schedule into His hands. We never know if instead of fishing at the lake, Jesus just might want us to go with Him and start fishing for men!

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