Category: First Steps

 

As a pastor, I’m often invited into some of the most sacred moments in life: A few moments after a baby is born to pray for all; sharing a covenant moment in a couple’s wedding; sitting with a loved one in one’s final moments are all sacred moments. Though many are filled with joy and excitement, some are full of sadness and grief.

In those moments of sadness and grief, I often think of Julian of Norwich’s prayer as she approached her final days. She prayed, “Lord, I trust you for this one. When it’s all over and we meet face to face, I will trace through this life of mine, shared with others, and see in it all your love. Tears of happiness and tears of grief. Love. Achievement and discouragement. Love. Sickness and health. Love. Good and evil. Love.”

Frankly, I’m heartened by this prayer; although, I hope I’m a long way before I face my final moments! What I like about this prayer is the hope of knowing all things through the lens of God’s love. I can only believe how wonderful that will be. Regardless of where you are on your journey, I hope the promise of seeing all through God’s love brings comfort and thrills your soul.

 

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

 

I am often asked, “How do I become closer to God?” or “How can I grow my faith?” Sometimes we over complicate it and think that we have to climb a large mountain to reach a different spiritual plateau. I like what Brother Lawrence suggested:

• Renounce everything that does not lead to God.
• Become accustomed to a continual conversation with him in freedom and simplicity.
• Speak to him every moment.
• Ask him to tell you what to do when you are not sure.
• Get busy with it when you plainly see what he requires of you.
• Offer your activity to him even before you do it.
• Give God thanks when you accomplish something.

As practical and wise as this advice may be, the best advice he gave was, “the depth of your spirituality does not depend upon changing the things you do but in doing for God what you ordinarily do for yourself. The biggest mistake is to think that a time of prayer is different from any other time.”

I like his advice because it reminds us that everything we do, even the ordinary, is done in the presence of God. Isaiah 66 says that Heaven is God’s throne and the earth his footstool, indicating that everything is God’s and nothing is beyond his presence; therefore, everything we do is in his presence. Ordinary or not, it is all spiritual. This week, approach every minute with the thought that all is spiritual and that all is done with him and in him.

 

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

 

William Tyndale, an early 16th Century British reformer, who translated the New Testament into English against fierce opposition and ultimately martyred because of it, wrote:

“The Scripture urges us to do good, not in order to win God’s love but to do good because God loves us. Faith naturally results in good works. If good works are not the result, then it is only a dream, an opinion, a pretension of faith. Notice that fruit does not make a tree good. Fruit is testimony that the tree is good already.”

How true this is even today. Many people think in reverse that if we do good things, God will love us. We are already loved. God doesn’t love us more if we do good. Actually, he can’t love us more. He is love and that love is unconditional and constant. This is where we start. Any action stems from that love, because of that love; not to earn what can’t be earned.

If this is your struggle, stop trying to earn what can’t be earned. Before you do anything, allow the Holy Spirit to saturate your being with how much you are loved—not because of any action, but simply because God is love. In fact, stay in that state of being as long as needed. Don’t worry about your actions, they will come soon enough.

 

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

 

What are we to make of these words from Psalm 94?
The Lord is a God who avenges.
    O God who avenges, shine forth.
2 Rise up, Judge of the earth;
    pay back to the proud what they deserve.
3 How long, Lord, will the wicked,
    how long will the wicked be jubilant?
4 They pour out arrogant words;
    all the evildoers are full of boasting.
5 They crush your people, Lord;
    they oppress your inheritance.
6 They slay the widow and the foreigner;
    they murder the fatherless.
7 They say, “The Lord does not see;
    the God of Jacob takes no notice.”
8 Take notice, you senseless ones among the people;
    you fools, when will you become wise?
9 Does he who fashioned the ear not hear?
    Does he who formed the eye not see?
10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
    Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?
11 The Lord knows all human plans;
    he knows that they are futile.
12 Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord,
    the one you teach from your law;
13 you grant them relief from days of trouble,
    till a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not reject his people;
    he will never forsake his inheritance.
15 Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.

How does one handle this harsh language of what some call a psalm of wrath or vengeance? One first must understand this psalm is to attempt to take justice and righteousness, and conversely injustice and sin, as seriously as God does. God turns against evil because of what evil does to God’s good creation—it destroys or perverts it. Because God loves creation so much, it is a natural reaction to turn against that which would destroy what is dearly loved.  

In this psalm, we read the level of moral outrage to injustice and evil. Love has a goal for the object of that love to be better in every way. When that goal isn’t reached or actualized, the lover will do what is necessary for the object of love to reach that goal. This is not mean-spirited but the willingness of one to go to great lengths for another’s wholeness.  

I like what Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “I pray the imprecatory psalms in the certainty of their marvelous fulfillment.  I leave the vengeance to God.” If I leave it to God, then I don’t have to worry about its fulfillment. That is something for God to do…and God alone.   

 

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
    the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
    indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
2 Your throne was established long ago;
    you are from all eternity.
3 The seas have lifted up, Lord,
    the seas have lifted up their voice;
    the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
    mightier than the breakers of the sea—
    the Lord on high is mighty.
5 Your statutes, Lord, stand firm;
    holiness adorns your house
    for endless days.

An Old Testament scholar, Michael Jinkins, once said:
“Nowhere in the Psalms do the cries of human experience and the claim of divine sovereignty clash more powerfully than around the statement ‘the Lord is King.’  Humanity seems hell-bent on trying to put someone or something other than God in charge of things, that is, on the throne. Indeed, many would prefer to do away with even the language of lordship or kingship when speaking of God. Surely our contemporary bias toward democratic processes (which most of us accept as being a very good thing) should be extended to our doctrine of God, right?

“While it is true that there are many wonderful images and metaphors in the Bible describing the character of God—from a just judge to a loving parent to a loyal friend—at our peril we ignore the qualitative difference between God, the Holy One, the Creator, the Preserver, and the Sustainer on the one hand and God’s creatures on the other.  

“But most importantly, this is good news!  For in acknowledging that it is the Lord who reigns, we know that we do not.  We do not reign over this world.  We do not reign over our lives, and certainly not over the lives of our neighbors.  One infinitely and eternally wiser, truer, more compassionate, and more just than we are reigns supreme.”

 

We are called to lift up our hearts because He is king.  For this, thanks be to God! 

 

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6