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Encouragement Today

“Mightier than the thunder of the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty. (Psalm 93:4)

We have been in the hospital for 6 days, I think. Forgive me if  I am wrong on the numbers because the days just seem to run together. We have overwhelmed with the love that you have shown Amy and our family. Thank you for your hearts. I would like to share a quote from the Upper Room for today:

Yet I also realize that God sees our struggles and is with us even when the world knocks us down. No matter how difficult the waters, we are never out of God’s sight. We can remember the mighty Lord who made the seas we navigate. 

Today’s devotional really speaks to our lives this last week. We have been knocked down, and we have struggled, but The LORD on HIGH is MIGHTY! Fear Not because we are not out of God’s sight. We want Amy to be better quicker that her body will allow, but she will come home.

That is what we hold on to.

With a VICE GRIP.

Dear God of land and sea, comfort us with your strength and your love whenever we feel afraid. Remind us that you teach and guide us by your mighty hand. Amen. 

(All italicized texts is from Upper Room Devotional for June 21)

 

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Are you listening?

Yesterday in Sunday School with the Senior High group we were discussing the Lord’s Prayer and one of my students said something quite remarkable about a certain line in the Lord’s Prayer.

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

One of my students jumped into the conversation that we were already having and said something along the lines of:

“Isn’t it interesting how specific this line is?”

That student went on to say that it could have easily have been written to give us our daily bread, but no it says give us this day our daily bread. Implying that reading the word is a daily activity. A daily one because we need it everyday.

The students and St. Philip’s UMC and students around the world are indeed remarkable. Are you listening to what they are saying?

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Day 28: Silence

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“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) 

Silence.

Something that is sometimes thought as a weapon rather than a choice.

Have you ever had some use the weapon of “silent treatment” on you?

It drives us crazy to have this weapon used against us, because I believe this goes to a larger truth of our humanity that we are downright obstinate against. We don’t like it. Period.

Maybe go as far to say that we hate silence and there are many reasons why.

Our culture is quite use to the loudness of everything around us.

So much so that we like it and without it we are downright confused.

As a member and staff member of St. Philip’s UMC I love going to our historic chapel that we have on campus. I love  sitting in this chapel all by myself. It is soothing. To sit there in that chapel, in the quiet. I have heard many things from God in that very chapel.

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The point here is this is that silence is in place in times when we feel God’s presence so powerfully. Every time that I sit in that chapel alone I don’t feel alone because God is not a God that is always loud and boisterous, but one that is with us in the quiet and whispers his love and grace into our very lives. Jesus showed us this behavior as well by going to the mountains and spending quiet time with God and listen for his voice.

If Jesus the Son of God did this why do we think that we don’t have to? 

So tonight before you go to bed. Spend some time in silence before God and listen to what you might hear. It just might amaze you what God has to share.

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How a New Covenant Motivates Us

 

 

 

 

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Day 26: Ate

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Day 27: Happy

 

Happiness is a word that I feel is drastically misunderstood. 

Mostly because I feel that this world that we live in is a word that drastically misunderstands things because of what it offers which actually is not even close to what God’s massive love and grace offers. Today I wanted to blog about two pictures actually. The first is a picture from yesterday that represents the word, “Ate.”  and the picture below is from today that represents the word, “Happy.”

Both of which have a lot to do with one another.

“After taking the bread and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in rememberance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup after the meal and said, “This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you.” 

The first picture was taken as Amy was serving me this new covenant outside of the Garden Tomb (one of the places that is believed where Jesus rose from the grave). Just thinking about it gives me chills and warms my heart. This new covenant is a very important part of our faith because it is redemption and the moment where God came down and rescued us from the slavery of sin and gave us the answer. Through this practice of remembrance we remembered what Christ has done and what he continues to do on our behalf. We remember that He came for us to rescue us so that we could come home.

This for me is what leads me in all I do.

I desire for it to be known fully and intimately by my students so that they can know Jesus like I know him. Everyday I get to share this faith with the students at St. Philip’s UMC makes me so incredibly happy but that is just one of the perks of being rescued by my Savior Jesus Christ. This motivates me because Jesus calls us back to who we were made to be, who we were originally designed to be. He calls us and says that we belong to him and He will do anything to fight for us, he will even die for us, and that’s pretty flippin sweet!

That’s something that motivates all of us!

Awesome God,

Motivate us to be your children and to live as you have taught us to live.

Amen

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Jesus Heals Us

But this was all a signpost. When Jesus came to town, it meant that healing, deliverance, joy, celebration, forgiveness, transformation, and rescue soon followed. This is the consistent testimony of the Gospels. Jesus healed, He forgave, He celebrated through feasting with people (usually the outcasts of society), He delivered, and He transformed lives— not by changing the outside of the cup, as the Pharisees did, but by curing hardened hearts and cleansing them from the inside. Jesus’ healings demonstrated that the arrival of God’s rule over evil was breaking into the present. For Jesus, healings and the casting out of demons were signs of the dawning kingdom. They indicated that God’s future had arrived. They were tangible signposts that the kingdom of God was coming to earth as it is in heaven. “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” 49 By healing the sick and casting out demons, Jesus was effectively saying, “This is what happens when God is running the world. This is what it looks like when God is King of the earth. The time has come; the dominion of God is breaking into the present. This is what happens when God becomes King on earth as He is in heaven. (Sweet, Leonard; Viola, Frank (2012-10-02). Jesus: A Theography (p. 169). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)