Month: May 2023

“Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

2 Kings 5:2-3 (NAB)

A young girl is taken captive by a band of raiders. She was removed from her homeland, her family and her way of life, to become a servant to the wife of a high ranking Syrian military leader. She was raised in the faith of the one true God, who did many great miracles for her people, Israel. Now she is far away from her family, her freedom and her home, but she manages to keep her faith throughout the calamity of war, while being a captive. She makes the best out of the place where she is now. She could have become depressed, being a captive in a strange land, but in seeking the heart of her God, she found compassion for the new people in her life. She told her mistress about the God she believed in, and all the signs, wonders and miracles He has done through a great prophet in her homeland, named Elisha. The husband of her mistress was Naaman, and his life drastically changed when he found out he had the incurable disease of leprosy. Naaman heard her speaking about the prophet Elisha, and so he asked his king to contact the king of Israel, to set up a meeting with their prophet. When Naaman arrived at the house of Elisha, he had an impressive entourage of servants, horses and chariots with him. Elisha walked up to Naaman, and gave him the most unusual instructions. He told him to go plunge himself seven times in the Jordan river. A man of power, pride, and prestige doesn’t take well to the advice of “Go jump in the river seven times.” He probably thought it was a joke, or an act of vengeance or some payback for conquering their nation. Naaman was about to walk away angry and give up, but there was another Hebrew servant with him, who persuaded him to do exactly as Elisha advised him. The people of Israel knew the power of their God and how He worked through the prophets. All the servants in this story were the true heroes of their faith. It started with the young girl as a messenger of hope and then with Naaman’s servant, who persuaded him to have faith. When he plunged himself in the river for the seventh time, his body was completely healed of leprosy. Naaman became a believer, thanks to his servants who lived their captive lives as God’s servants. Everything about our life may not be 100% of what we would like it to be, but God has a purpose for us in that imperfect place we are at. It’s easy to become distracted or depressed by all the things that seem to go wrong, but God is still working His divine purpose through us. These servants looked for the heart of God in the midst of their calamity. Sometimes it could be about bringing God’s message to others, and at other times, we may be the one receiving His message and being transformed in some way. His purpose works in unexpected ways, and it usually starts right where we are, instead of where we wish to be. We may be asking God to change our circumstances, but He is changing us through our circumstances.  

Lord, help us to be like the Hebrew servants in this story, to embrace our faith in the place we are at, and to allow your truth to transform us in the hardest of times. Make us people who truly live by faith, so that we may bring praise and glory to your name. Amen

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:37-39 (RSV)

I just joined a Facebook group called “Sisterhood of Widows”, and received many warm responses and personal welcomes from over 35 women already. I don’t think all the members are Christian but it’s a nice group to share with, in the areas we do have in common. I shared a brief story with them about my first year of widowhood, and was surprised that over 30 women responded to my story. I was so touched by their responses, that I decided to share the story in today’s meditation:

I remember about a year after my husband died, my dryer vent somehow loosened and needed replacement. I was so distressed I didn’t know whether to look up a handyman to call or to try and fix it myself. I knew if I did it wrong it could be dangerous, being a gas dryer. I was so frustrated and confused, all I could do was cry and pray. Then I felt within my spirit, my husband telling me to call Ben, his best friend. So I called him, and Ben drove over immediately. He looked at the problem, went right to Home Depot and returned with the new vent part and put it on for me. The dryer works fine ever since. I don’t know why it was so hard for me to ask for help. If we could only remind ourselves that our husbands would want us to reach out to friends or family and ask for help, whenever we need it. I taught myself how to do many other things, like patching a spot on the ceiling, and changing batteries in the smoke detectors on a 9’ ceiling, but sometimes we just need to ask for help. It’s not only what our husbands would want us to do, but it’s why we have friends and family. We miss our loved ones, it’s true, but we need to believe that their souls live forever, and if they live forever, they are still watching over us.

That was the end of my story posted on the Widows group page.

I think everyone, whether a widow or not, can learn something from this story.  It’s hard for many of us to reach out and ask for help, but people are more willing to help us than we realize. God loves us and He sends people into our lives for a reason. We also have a great cloud of witnesses in heaven, who are watching over us, so we are never really alone, nor are we ever separated from God or His love for us. He has raised us up to be more than conquerors and we can do all things through Christ, but sometimes He wants us to do it with the help of other people He sends our way. 

Lord, humble us so that we can ask for help when we need it, so that you can show us your love through those you send into our lives. Amen

“As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 66:13 (RSV)

God is the source of all motherly comfort, and He will fill the gap for anyone who has ever felt like a motherless child. Our mother is who we came from, she was our first home, our first love, our first friend, and our first teacher. I found three interesting mothers in the Bible, and each one describes the different traits that belong uniquely to mothers. These traits can be found whether in biological mothers, spiritual mothers or any significant female influence in someone’s life.
The first example is Hannah, who was barren for years. She spent time praying fervently in the temple, asking for a child, and God heard her prayer. She had a baby boy and named him Samuel, which means “God hears”. In her gratitude, she dedicated him to God’s temple and he became a great priest and prophet of the Lord. Fervent prayer and committing those we love into God’s hands is the first trait of motherhood.
The next example was the mother of the apostles, James and John, who were known as the sons of thunder, or the sons of Zebedee. The gospels don’t tell their mother’s name, but tradition tells us her name was Salome. She was a dedicated follower and servant of Jesus and wanted her sons to serve Him as well, which they did. She might have been a bit ambitious by asking Jesus to seat them at His left and right side in heaven, but the best thing about Salome was that she wanted her sons to serve the kingdom of God more than the kingdoms of this world. So, the second motherhood trait is service to God and encouraging others to serve Him as well.
The third example was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She treasured everything He said and did in His thirty three years of life, and her heart was full of memoirs, like a living scrapbook. Mary was the first love Jesus knew in the span of His human life. She treasured Him in her heart, but she also shared Him with the whole world. Mary reminds us that an aunt, sister, godmother or a grandmother, can also be a special maternal influence in someone’s life, treasuring their memories, and watching them live out their divine purpose. The third trait is to treasure special moments with those we love and yet release them to become the person they are meant to be.
As we contemplate all these traits of motherhood, we treasure the memories of our own mother or any woman who was significant in our own spiritual and emotional development. We also think of those who we may have influenced maternally, with or without being their biological mother.
Lord Jesus, thank you for the mother’s love we all grew up in, just as you grew up in your own mother’s love. We ask that you bless each mother whether they are biological mothers or spiritual ones, and whether their own mothers are still living here or living with you in heaven. God bless the mothers of all kinds today and Happy Mother’s Day to every reader.

(Tap on this sweet song written and sung by Ed Sheeran, dedicated to his own grandmother in heaven)

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Romans 8:16-17 (NIV)

Jesus broke many social norms and customs of the day in showing equal compassion to all, especially to women. He expressed His love by including women in everything He did, even though Jewish piety of His day, largely excluded women. He spoke to the Samaritan woman alone at the well, when it was taboo for a man to speak to any woman alone anywhere. He defended the woman caught in adultery, saving her from being stoned to death, showing that forgiveness is for all. He healed the daughter of a gentile woman who was considered outside the flock, not privileged to receive anything from the Messiah. He praised a known, neighborhood prostitute, who repented, and returned to wash His feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. The men in that room became indignant that He allowed the scandalous woman to touch Him, but Jesus showed us how His Father loves us and turns no one away when we come to Him in repentance. He held the same standards and offered the same mercy and forgiveness for females as well as males, for gentiles as well as Jews, for rich and for poor. He transcended all social norms, races, cultures, and genders, giving all who believe in Him a new identity as joint heirs with Him. He sees every person as a potential daughter or son of His father, the King of the universe. We are God’s children, not orphans. The only thing that holds us back is ourselves. I heard a gifted woman speaker once say that most believers live like they are orphans instead of God’s children. She said that most of us forget that our Father has authority over the whole world and we tend to fall into what she called “orphan living”. An orphan fears but a child trusts. An orphan strives to be in control but a child surrenders to their father’s control. An orphan thinks they have to work to earn their father’s  love, but a child is secure in their father’s love. An orphan needs to be self reliant, but a child of God is reliant on their Father. As believers in Christ, we have received a new identity. Paul tells us through today’s scripture that we are co heirs with Christ and we share both His suffering and His glory. Instead of living as the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, we’ve been adopted by the King of the universe, and ransomed by the blood of Jesus. Now He leads us in dignity, as His co-heirs, with our heads held high, and our self esteem based on being His child, not an orphan. We are children of our heavenly Father and we represent Him in all we do and say, all because we share a royal identity made possible by Jesus, who called us into His wonderful light.  

Lord Jesus, helps us to live according to our royal calling as children of God, a part of your family and not orphans. Amen 

“The Lord saw this, and was aggrieved that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one,

was appalled that there was none to intervene; Then his own arm brought about the victory, and his justice sustained him.”

Isaiah 59:15-16 (NAB)

Sometimes it feels like we are completely alone, that no one intervenes for us as much as we would hope for. The truth is that when a situation seems hopeless, and we are feeling at our lowest point emotionally, God sees everything we are suffering, and He reaches out with His own arm to intervene in our situation. Whether it’s a relationship problem, a serious medical prognosis, or a dire financial need, the psalmist tells us that when we cry to the Lord, He hears us from His holy mountain. So many examples in scripture have shown us that God intervenes for people when all appears hopeless, and hope is hanging by a thread. When Jacob thought he might not have a future, and his twin brother was hunting him down to kill Him, he dreamed of a ladder to heaven while God said to him “I am with you and will protect you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.” After that, Jacob miraculously made peace with his brother and the crisis was averted. Another example is Hagar, the maidservant who Sarah mistreated and then cruelly threw out of her house, along with her young son, Ishmael. Having no where to go, Hagar roamed through the wilderness with Ishmael. Her water supply quickly ran out, and she lost all hope, expecting that she and her son would die of thirst right where they laid. Then an angel appeared to Hagar and directed her to a well of water and they both drank. The angel revealed God’s plans for Ishmael, saying “Get up, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand; for I will make of him a great nation.” When Hagar was at her lowest point, God intervened and blessed her with the promise of hope and a future for both her and her son. As I was preparing this message, a friend told me a true story about a young man she knew, who was given a tainted drug at a music concert, resulting in a long hospitalization, and he eventually ended up on life support. Although doctors indicated he would never recover, His parents would not agree to stop the life support that was keeping him alive. The young man recently woke up out of his coma, miraculously intact, with no mental or physical deficits at all. There is no explanation for this miracle except that God intervened, and when no one else could do anymore, God reached out His own arm and brought a miraculous victory. He restored the future of a man against all odds and gave him his life back, just as He did for Jacob and Hagar. God steps in when we are at our lowest and He raises us up. I believe God wants us to believe that He is the Lord of all intervention, and to keep our hope in Him. His word tells us weeping may last for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. God is in tune to every desperate situation and just as He had a plan for Jacob, for Hagar, and for Ishmael, He also had a plan to complete for that young man in the coma. God loves us, He hears our cry and He isn’t finished with us yet. He will intervene for us when no one else can.

Lord, we thank and praise you for the great love and compassion you have already shown to so many others. We believe in you and place our hope in your plan for us, as you reach down your arm to intervene in our own desperate situation, that we bring before you today. Amen

“And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours.”

1 John 5:14-15 (NAB)

In the midst of economic forecasts of a coming recession, there has been a lot of talk on the financial news that we are only weeks away from reaching our nation’s debt ceiling. Financial analysts are warning of an economic collapse and recession in this country. I can’t help but reflect on the few biblical examples of how God’s people fared during previous economic hard times. We may not have a Joseph placed in command over our nation’s economy, as he was during the seven year famine in Egypt, but God is still on the throne in each of our own lives. We may not have the prophet Elijah residing in our home, blessing and refilling our empty jars with daily provisions, but Jesus lives in our homes with us, and He is our provider. The Israelites, after their great deliverance from slavery, found themselves in a difficult place, out in a wilderness with no food or water anywhere. God didn’t lead them there to starve to death, He led them there so they would learn to cling to Him. When they cried out to God, He sent them food from heaven and water out of a rock. Whether we are to face a wilderness through an economic challenge or in the form of spiritual dryness, God has one single motive in bringing us to the point where we will cling to Him, and His only motive is love. Sometimes it requires difficult times for us to cling to God. He loves us so much that He longs to reveal His extravagant love to each one of us. When everything is going well, and we are not struggling in any area, we may loosen our grip. It is in our troubles and moments of need that we cling to Him and that’s when God can shine for us. If everything went smoothly without a problem, we would never see the greatness of God. We all need a Savior, and God intends to never let us forget it. Self sufficiency can go only so far, before we discover our insufficiency. John clung to Jesus, physically, spiritually and emotionally throughout the three short years he lived with Him. He wrote this scripture today, to help increase our confidence in God. We all need more of a hunger for God, to make us cling to Him as John did. He tells us that this is our confidence in Him, that if we ask anything, according to His will, He hears us, and if He hears us, then we know that we have what we have asked Him for. John reminds us to ask “according to His will”, and to be confident that God will take care of us. Our confidence is based on God’s love for us, not because He is a magic grantor of wishes. We don’t wish, we pray. He is our Father in heaven who loves us, and we can have confidence in prayer because Jesus told us to. Jesus came to show us the Father, and He is the one who goes to the Father on our behalf. Timothy wrote,”For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)

With Jesus as our mediator, we have confidence that when He told us,

“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14) Let’s believe in the Father’s love for us and in our mediator, Jesus. We do not have to fear the economic recession that is talked about because we have the same God of biblical history, who miraculously fed His people in the wilderness, who filled the widow’s empty jars each day, and who led Joseph to keep storehouses full of grain in preparation of the famine. He loves us, He lives within us, and He wants us to pray with confidence, so He can shine His love in our lives today. 

“Only think of me when all is well with you, and please do me the great favor of mentioning me to Pharaoh, to get me out of this place.

The truth is that I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and I have not done anything here that they should have put me into a dungeon.”

Genesis 40:14-15 (NAB)

Joseph is speaking to one of his fellow prisoners, a cupbearer for the King of Egypt, the Pharaoh. The cupbearer did something that upset the king and was briefly punished by being thrown into the dungeon. Joseph was already imprisoned there after suffering a series of misfortunes and injustices. He was abandoned by his own brothers, then kidnapped and sold as a slave, and finally ended up in a dungeon for a crime he never committed. He made friends with, and earned the respect and trust of many fellow prisoners and jailers, while he was there. He befriended the cupbearer who previously worked close beside Pharaoh. When the time came for that cupbearer to be released from prison, Joseph pleaded with him to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf. The cupbearer promised to remember Joseph and to intercede for him, but he actually forgot all about him. For days, weeks and months, Joseph kept hoping and praying that the cupbearer was speaking to the king on his behalf, but nothing changed and Joseph remained in the dungeon. Two long years later, the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph and mentioned him to Pharaoh and Joseph finally received his long awaited breakthrough. God has an appointed time for everything. We may feel forgotten at times. People may forget us, but God never forgets us. If Joseph was meant to be freed sooner, God would have quickened the cupbearer’s memory, but He didn’t, because it wasn’t his time yet. When Joseph was finally set free, he was more than just a man freed from prison, he was God’s man of the hour, promoted to second in command over Egypt. It happened before a famine was about to affect all the land, but Joseph had wisdom and a plan for storing grain, which provided food for his nation. He was not merely a former convict with an expunged record, he was a promoted royal official over Pharaoh’s entire household as well as his nation. Pharaoh even took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. Joseph waited years just to be free, and he was delighted just to see the ocean, sun and sky again. He never thought about a ring, royal robes or a gold chain. He spent many years in that dungeon, but his years of waiting were not lost years. God teaches us many lessons in our waiting period. The best thing about Joseph’s character is that although his troubles were all instigated by his envious, abusive brothers, he never held any resentment toward them. When God reunited Joseph to his father and brothers, there was only love and forgiveness between all of them. Although his circumstances took a confusing path, full of heartbreak and disappointments, Joseph’s faith in God reaped a reward later. In the end, Joseph was promoted to a position of power, and was able to supply food to Egypt and his immediate family during the famine. It’s hard to see it in the moment, but God’s timing is always perfect. If we learn one thing from Joseph, it’s that we don’t need to know our destination, when we trust God as our driver. He can turn everything around in one day, by promoting  and lifting up those who trust in Him. 

Lord, we pray for your perfect will to be done in our lives, and give us the grace and wisdom to wait patiently in spite of disappointments.

“Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled;”

Hebrews 12:14-15 (RSV)

Paul told us through his writing, to pursue peace with all people and to strive for holiness. Then he adds, without which, no one will see the Lord. As I read this I think, “uh-oh, without holiness, no one will see the Lord?” Then my chances are pretty slim. This scripture keeps a healthy fear of God within any believer. The Lord wants every believer to see Him and to live Holy, but we cannot make ourselves Holy, because it is God who sanctifies us. Paul said more about this, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23) 

Everything Jesus did for us, has a divine purpose that goes beyond giving us a “Get out of Hell free” pass. He wants to put His own nature with us. If we strive for the pathway to holiness, He will keep us on that path until He comes. Jesus can transform anyone into a holy believer, because holiness is meant for everyone, not just those who are called to full time Ministry. Jesus pretty much summed up all of the Ten Commandments into just two:

To love the Lord our God with all our heart and then to love our neighbors as ourself. It’s His blueprint for holy living. Being made Holy or sanctified is what God does in us, not what we do to change ourselves. In striving for holiness, a new way of praying begins to take shape within us. Prayer is no longer just about asking God to do what we want, it’s asking God to help us do more of what He wants. To strive for holiness is simply striving to be the person God created us to be. Jesus said without Him, we can do nothing, and we cannot achieve a holy life on our own efforts. Only through Jesus, can a person live out the two greatest commandments. God wants to share His nature with us and that’s how He alone can transform us into a life of holiness. With holiness we receive love from God for those who we never loved before. With holiness we can trust, where we previously let anxiety rule us. With holiness we can forgive that one person who we find the hardest to forgive. It is Jesus who helps us look beyond the face of that enemy, and hear Him softly whisper that He loves that person as much as He loves us. That is His path to holiness. I heard a theologian say that the word for holiness (Kadosh) is only mentioned a few times in the Old Testament, but it’s mentioned repeatedly throughout the New Testament. The reason for that difference is that we now have Jesus, who paid the price for our salvation and is alive within us. The epistles remind us that we are new creations in Christ, our old ways have gone and have been replaced with new ways. Someone once said “God is still writing our story. Let’s not steal His pen.” Jesus is not yet finished transforming us into new creations, without our striving for holiness. I feel like the simplest prayer to say is “I want to be better, I don’t want to stay as I am, Lord.” 

Jesus, you desire us to be holy, to take on your nature, so we pray that you make us better, help us to live in holiness and become the new creation you have called us to be. Amen

REFILLING OUR EMPTY

“ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.“

1 Kings 17: 13-15 (NIV)

The Lord told Elijah to go to a widow’s house, because He had already directed her to supply the prophet with food. We don’t know how God directed her, but she heard from God, and followed what He told her, even though it didn’t make her task any easier. She was at the end of her supply of food during a famine and an economic crisis, and she only had enough flour and oil for one last meal. When Elijah arrived at her home, anxiety must have gripped her, because he had to first calm her  by telling her not to be afraid. She used up the last of her oil and flour to make bread for the prophet. As she obeyed, she might have wondered about tomorrow, while looking at her empty jar. God didn’t give the widow a financial plan for her future, or a miraculous lump sum supply of food to last her for months. Maybe she wished God would explain what His plan was for her future, but He doesn’t work that way. God gave her direction and through Elijah told her not to be afraid. She had to trust God for that day, even though she was probably full of questions about tomorrow. The next day her jar of flour and her jug of oil were refilled. It continued to be refilled, day by day, and she had enough to last her until the famine was over. God blessed her in her scarcity. Instead of miraculously filling her jar and jug to the brim the very first day, He provided for her each day, one day at a time. God wants us to put our trust in Him fresh each day, because He is the Lord of today. He is always teaching us to trust, and His lessons might also apply beyond financial or material needs. He wants us to trust Him for whatever we have a scarcity of. We might be scarce on patience, trust, or have reached a limit in our willingness to forgive someone who once hurt us. God provides whatever we lack, and He makes changes in us, when we give ourselves to Him. We cannot change ourselves, but God can, and He directs us and provides for us, only one day at a time, as He did for the widow of Zarephath. We have something that the widow did not have. We have the bread of heaven, Jesus, who is a real living presence in our lives, and is always with us. When we practice His presence, casting all our cares and concerns on Him, He sees our scarcity, and will give us what we need, one day at a time. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us and giving yourself up for us. Help us to give ourselves back to you, and to trust you as our daily bread of heaven, to refill all those empty jars in our lives. Thank you for supplying all our needs one day at a time. Amen

…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever. Amen.”

Revelation 1:5-6 (NAB)

I learned something by watching the coronation of King Charles. I learned that most people love their own country in spite of weak leadership and imperfect laws. Up until the day of coronation, the buzz in all the news outlets was about how unjust it is to lay the burden of the costly and pompous rituals of Coronation day, upon the backs of Britain’s tax payers, yet the faces of the British citizens in the streets said it all. They were proud of their country and happily celebrating the coronation. They were not celebrating faulty tax laws, or a failing economy or even the specific person who was being crowned. They were celebrating a centuries old tradition and an honored ceremony of their nation. Those citizens were simply proud to be British. While the head minister offered up a loud prayer to God, calling upon the “King of kings” and asking for His divine guidance over King Charles’ reign, the camera was focused on Charles’ face. He looked like he was feeling a mixture of emotions, one being a humble sense of unworthiness. I wondered what thoughts ran through his mind during that pre-crowning prayer. Maybe a montage of mistakes that he made in his lifetime, suddenly ran through his consciousness. I thought of the mother of his two sons, Diana, and wondered if they would have had a better marriage, Diana might have been in that room with him, instead of Camilla. There was a brief look of restrained tears in his eyes, and we’ll never know what his thoughts were. Whatever Charles was thinking or feeling, the humbling of that loudly spoken prayer was a touching moment for many. Every king in history likely also felt a transient sense of unworthiness on their coronation day. The scripture tells us that Jesus is the ruler of all the kings of the earth, and where two or more are gathered in His name, He is in the midst. That means that while the minister prayed for Charles, and with any other person in agreement with his prayer, Jesus entered the room, and that is always an awesome moment. I think that would explain the restrained tears in Charles’ eyes. The throne of England is not a position earned by popular demand, it is based on inheritance. Jesus made us all into a kingdom of priests for God, and He is our king. We also cannot earn the title of priesthood based on merit or popularity, it is assigned to us by grace, and based on our adoption into the kingdom of God. Peter wrote, “You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) 

That is who we are, and it’s spoken by the humbling loud prayer of Peter, a leader in the church that Jesus established. We may not feel worthy to be a royal priesthood, but it’s who we are, simply because we are called out of darkness, and into His wonderful light. Just as the British citizens were not celebrating the problem tax laws or faults of their leaders, but simply the national pride of a British coronation, we also are not celebrating the many failures or shortcomings within the church, but rather our transformation from darkness into light in Christ. As humbling as it was for Charles, we are also humbled that God has called us to be a part of His royal priesthood. We couldn’t earn it, but like Charles, we inherited it. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:16-17)

Today, we celebrate our King of kings, Jesus, who chose us to become His royal priesthood, and in humble gratefulness, we pray that His light continues to shine through each of us. Amen

GOOD FATHER

“As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut; you were not washed with water or anointed; you were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in swaddling clothes. No eye looked on you with pity or compassion to do any of these things for you. Rather, on the day you were born you were left out in the field, rejected. Then I passed by and saw you struggling in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, “Live!”( Ezekiel 16:4-6)

God uses very harsh language to describe the state of unbelief that His people were in at this time in their history. Centuries after He had called them out as a people for Himself, He intended to make a great nation of believers out of them, who would teach the faith to the world. Instead, they fell into a total apostasy, rejecting the faith and His commandments, so He spoke to them through the prophet Ezekiel.  God saw their rejection of Him as rejecting His fatherhood, and leaving themselves as a helpless baby, lying on the ground. They abandoned themselves from their Heavenly Father, and practically aborted themselves by rejecting their God. He passed by and saw them squirming in their blood with an uncut navel, and goes on to say, “Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood, and anointed you with oil.”(Ezekiel 16:9) God picked up the bleeding baby, anoints him with oil, feeds, nurtures and adopts him as his own, and speaks to the baby saying “Live.” 

God is by nature, a good father, and it is His same paternal love today that pursues each of us, picks us up wherever we are lying, and washes us clean through His grace and forgiveness. He is our good and perfect father, who wants to nurture us and watch us grow, constantly saying to us “Live”.  If there is any message that everyone needs to hear, it’s that God is a father, who has deep paternal love for us. If someone had a bad earthly father, they might live with a false image of what God is like. Someone once told me that he wanted nothing to do with an ego driven God, who demands to be worshipped. It left me speechless, because I cannot even imagine such a strange  perspective of God, yet there are people who really think this way. When people reject God, He is saddened more than He is angered. The heart of a parent wants their child to live healthy, happy and fulfilled. A parent will do all within their power to make it happen, and it is no different with our father in heaven. He said only one word to the baby, “Live.” He says it today to every one who has slidden away from the faith, and anyone who rejects His offer to be a good father to them. He isn’t driven by ego, demanding to be worshipped, He is driven by passionate fatherly love for each one of us. Once we receive His paternal love, our natural response is to worship and love Him in return. 

We love you heavenly Father, and we want to live for you, and allow you to have your way in our lives and our families’ lives. Amen