acceptance

In the Beloved

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved             Ephesians 1:6

Suk* sat quietly in the front of the small church with just a worn carpet separating her from the dirt floor. The volunteer dental hygienist was explaining by use of a giant set of dentures how to brush her teeth. All the children laughed as he passed over the funny teeth with the large toothbrush. As he finished speaking their pastor helped to hand out a toothbrush and two pencils to each of the children. She tightly held her new prize possession for a moment then hid it beneath a corner of the rug to be sure no one would snatch it away as the program continued with a song that required her to clap her hands together.

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To us it was just a one dollar toothbrush, but to Suk the toothbrush meant that she was important. No westerner had ever come to her village. In fact almost no one from the outside world showed up for any reason except to carry away the bags and bags of tea leaves. The smallest of gifts meant to her that someone remembered, someone accepted and someone cared about her.

We have received a far more valuable and eternal gift in the love and forgiveness to be found in Jesus Christ. He came to our village from heaven and gave not just a toothbrush, but His own life for us. He knows all that we need and more importantly He has come so that no matter the value the outside world places on our life, we are loved remembered and accepted in the beloved – Jesus Christ.

Effective Prayer Part One

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

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

Prejudice is a common issue all across denominational lines. Many of our greatest struggles in relationships seem to be within the the church rather than out in the world. Amazingly even in the early church they had the very same issues! Right after the miracles and with the church growing at a phenomenal pace they ran into difficulties between the Greek Jews and the Hebrew Jews. It was a conflict that in various forms was played out through the entire book of Acts. What is encouraging is that though even the early church had problems, God worked with them in just as He continues to work with us today.

The breakthrough came, not because of some program or by the power of reason but by God’s action with a non-Christian Roman centurion named Cornelius and the Apostle Peter. First God spoke by an angel to Cornelius as he was praying and told him to send for Peter to learn the way of salvation. Cornelius then sent a delegation to Peter to find out what God wanted him to know. Since the apostles weren’t even speaking with Greek speaking Jews much less Romans, God had to send a vision to Peter telling him to receive the men coming to see him. After Peter went to Cornelius’ house and heard about Cornelius’ prayers and the angel visitation Peter came to a startling conclusion. God didn’t think the way that he did! God in fact cared about people whom Peter would not have even spoken with the previous day!

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and workimg1348ks righteousness is accepted by Him  Acts 10:34-35

Is God’s work being slowed down by how we think about others? Who might we be praying for and reaching if we began to see them through the eyes of God? How much more effective might our prayers be if we saw men through the eyes of God rather than God through the eyes of men!