Our Family Gives Thanks

Tonight, as we sat down for our evening prayer, we stated what we were most thankful for this Thanksgiving;

Bennett is most thankful for God and for Jesus

Zion is most thankful that he is alive, for God, for our family, for his Kindle.

Addison is most thankful for family, me, house, food

Kim is most thankful for our family, for our health, for God, and for the freedom that we enjoy.

I am most thankful for God's blessings (including our health and wealth), for Jesus' love, and for our family members (and that we can be together).

Journey of Faithfulness: Belief

Luke 1:26-45

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[c] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

To be used and blessed by God we must be available to Him.

 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

To be used and blessed by God we must believe that he will do what He says He will do. 

Blessed with Provisions

Yesterday I was speaking with a friend about wealth in America and poverty around the world. He seemed to be of the school of thought that we do enough for the needs of those outside our country and that we need to care more for our own before we concern ourselves with the needs of those living over seas.

I asked Him what he felt our response as Christians should be. I asked him where Scripture states that we should care for our own before we care for the needs of others. After some discussion, he pointed me to Genesis and the account of Joseph, how God blessed Joseph with a gift to bless Egypt during a time of famine.

I read this account and I thought that my friend might have had a good point. But then I kept reading.

Genesis 42:1-2 reads:

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

When the top 4% of the world are living on 75 times more wealth than the bottom 96% of the world is, don't you think their statements echo that of Jacob's?

I imagine they say something like:

I have heard that there is wealth in America. Let us go there and get some for ourselves, so that we may live and not die. 

As Christians, we must believe that God is in control of all things at all times in all ways. As Christians, we must believe that God loves all people at all times in all ways. Which brings us to the question, why does God allow famine, droughts, and plagues that lead to poverty?

The answer is that God provided us a Joseph!

God has provided us with a man (or a woman), or several, to see visions, to dream dreams, and to plan ahead. And, God has provided them with the means to do so.

The issue, then, is not that God allows these things to happen and that He fails to provide. The issue is that when God provides for the needs of His people, those of us who receive His provisions sit on them, we waste His blessings or we absorb His blessings for ourselves.

You see, God has blessed the nation of America, He has poured His favor upon us. And, as Christians living in America, we have made the wrong assumption that God intends for us to sit on, to waste, or to absorb His blessings. God does not intend for us to do this, but rather, He intends for us to share His blessings and to bless others.

Perhaps this is the test. And, if it is, we are failing terribly!

With this in mind, read the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30. Pay attention to what happens to the lazy servant.



A Blessing for Job

If you have been around the church for any period of time, or even if you haven't, you have probably heard the story of Job from the Old Testament. Job is the guy that in the period of a couple of days lost his oxen, his camels, his donkeys, his sheep, his servants, his daughters, his sons, and finally his health. This was a successive pattern, happening one after the other, through Satan, as God gave him permission to do so.

As we consider this account we often look at Job and think of the poor guy. Sometimes we might ask the question of how God would allow something so horrible to happen to a guy that was blameless. But, then, that is the point. Isn't it?

Job 1:8 reads; "Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 

It was because Job was blameless and upright, because he feared God and shunned evil that he was the target of these tests and the persecution that came at the hand of Satan. Not only that, it was because of his faith and the life that he lived that God pointed him out to Satan and encouraged him to examine him, to evaluate his life, and even allowed Satan to put him to the ultimate test. It was because of Job's strong faith that he was able to withstand the ploys of Satan and to combat the words of his closest friends and his wife and did not curse the God that gives and takes away.

When we consider all of this, we realize that this entire episode of testing and persecution from Satan, by the permission  of God, was the greatest compliment that could have ever been given.  When we consider Job 1:8 perhaps we should ask ourselves; What would God say if He were having a discussion with Satan about you and your life? Would God feel confident to send Satan your way and encourage him to examine you, to evaluate your life? Would God feel confident that you would stand strong in your faith if you were to lose all that you hold dear, if all that God has given to you were taken away?

Blessed are...

“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen!” (Luke 16:6, NIV) To me, these are some of the most powerful words recorded in the Bible. These words tell us that we serve a God that was crucified for our imperfections, our sins, that He died this horrible death so that we did not have to and that He conquered death. He lives, even today, He lives! We serve a living God! Think about that for a moment…..then take a couple minutes thanking Him for all that He has been through for you.

As believers, Easter is one of the most joyous holidays because, through it, we get to celebrate everything that sets our faith and our Savior apart from this world. Now that the Easter holiday is through I encourage you to stay focused on Christ, on everything that He has done and everything that He continues to do in, through, and around you.

After Jesus’ resurrection he appeared to many people before his ascension into heaven. The other day I was reading about Jesus’ appearance to Thomas, one of His disciples (John 20:24-31). One verse caught me more so than the others that morning, verse 29. Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those that have not seen and yet have believed.” Was Jesus talking about us in this verse? Was Jesus saying that we are to be blessed, to be happy, to be envied because we have not seen Him and yet we have believed? I have read this passage in the past and for some time now I have believed that Jesus was, in fact, speaking about you and I. But more recently I was reminded of Jesus’ healing of the man who was born blind (John 9). Later, when this man was questioned by the Pharisees, he replies “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.” (John 9:25)

Whatever your view on this passage is, whether Jesus was speaking about you and I, because we have not seen Jesus in the physical sense or not. The truth is, it doesn’t matter! For if you have seen Jesus in the Spiritual sense, you have been blessed immeasurably. Your challenge, then, is to evaluate the relationship you have with The Creator of the heavens and the earth, to come to know Him for who He is in, around, and through you! And then, live this blessing out and share it with everyone around you, today, tomorrow, and forever.