Month: January 2024

“The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a person speaks to a friend.”

Exodus 33:11 (NAB)

Just think about this verse, that the Lord spoke with Moses as one speaks to a friend. James wrote, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.”(James 2:23) 

The Lord called Moses and Abraham His friends, and then came Jesus, who had twelve chosen disciples, but three in particular who were His close friends. When we think about God and friendship, we can safely say that God desires our friendship.

Jesus had many followers, but He only took Peter, James and John with Him, during His deepest and most difficult moment in the Garden of Gethsemane. He also took them with in His peak moment during a heavenly vision on the Mount of Transfiguration. 

I used to assume that those three disciples were chosen by God, because they had some special qualities more than the others. The beauty of friendship with Jesus is that He calls all of us to be His friends, simply because He loves all of us and equally desires our friendship. It’s up to us to respond to His call. Peter, James and John may appear to be closer to Jesus, but maybe they just responded to His invitation for that closer, intimate friendship.

They were the only three who went into the home with Jesus, when He healed Peter’s mother in law. When going into the home of Jairus, Jesus sent all the others away, except His three disciples, who witnessed the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter. 

Instead of asking Jesus to bless what they were doing, His friends go where He is going and do whatever He is blessing. 

Those three disciples were not perfected in holiness. When they stayed with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, they all fell sound asleep, while trying to watch and pray with Him. Peter denied Jesus three times, but he later found forgiveness and was empowered at Pentecost. God sees us as we are, faults and all, but He still desires our friendship, just as He did with Peter, James and John. 

To forgive our friends’ offenses, we put ourself at risk of being offended again, but that is what God does. He knows if and when we are going to fail, but He forgives us over and over, as often as we return to Him again and again. It’s what true friendship is all about, and Jesus is the truest friend we will ever know. He believes in what we can become, and is always hoping that our friendship will grow deeper with Him. 

He said, “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15)

Whether He was sharing His tears and sweat in the garden, or sharing a small glimpse of heaven on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus wanted His friends to be with Him, through the good and bad times. Just as He shared His best and worst moments with His friends, He expects us to do the same by coming to Him with all our worries as well as our gratitude.

We all try to watch and pray with Jesus, and we also struggle with our weaknesses, in disappointing Him, but He doesn’t choose us based on our special qualities or look for redeemable characteristics. He loves us as we are and invites every believer to deepen our friendship with Him. He may wait for years for some people to respond. 

He is meek and gentle with His arms open, calling us to closer friendship. We all have friends and we have family, and some friends are more like family, which is a blessing, but Jesus is a friend like no other, because He knows us, like no other. 

Lord, we say yes to your love and your invitation to friendship. Thank you for always drawing us near, desiring us as we are, with all of our shortcomings, to be your close friends. Amen

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

James 1:17 ( NASB)

There was an interesting story on the news about a year ago. A young female rookie pilot was taking off in a small plane in Pontiac, Michigan. It was only her third solo flight. After she took off, a veteran pilot who was also about to take off, noticed that her front landing gear just fell off. He quickly contacted her by radio, introducing himself and telling the young pilot what just happened. Knowing it takes an experienced pilot to land a plane without its landing gear, with a calm and confident voice, he guided her step by step, helping her to make a safe landing. 

He later learned that the young pilot’s name was Taylor, which was also his own daughter’s name. Her voice was shaken but she followed his instructions as he calmly guided her, step by step. Afterward, Taylor said that it was his calm voice that helped her to follow his instructions and safely land her plane. If she had landed the plane on her own, it could have flipped upside down, resulting in a crash with injuries, and possibly bursting into flames. 

God intervenes and protects us in exceptional ways, sometimes by sending His invisible helpers, like angels, and sometimes by sending a qualified person, in the right moment, to guide us to safety.

When I heard this story on the news, I thought about how valuable that  calming voice of a veteran pilot was, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The whole event was miraculous. The experienced pilot being there at the right time, was the first miracle, and the second miracle was his ability to guide her to a safe landing. He had nerves of steel to calmly talk her through a dangerous situation and she had nerves of steel to follow his instructions, without freezing in panic.

All the right things had to line up with a successful ending like this. It’s the right person at the right time, and it all lined up too perfectly for it to be a coincidence. It was a gift from above. 

Scripture says that every good thing and every perfect gift is from above. Not some, but every good and perfect thing. If it’s good and perfect,  it came from God. We may think we are flying solo sometimes, but God is always watching, and if our landing gear falls off, a calming voice will redirect us back to a safe landing.

Jesus is our veteran pilot, having experienced every kind of adversity before we ever did. We may not have nerves of steel, but Jesus does. He sends us His good and perfect gifts, which may look like coincidences, but He has always been watching. 

In every stage or journey in our life, we have been on His radar, and He is calmly and softly speaking to the radio of our souls. When we commit our life into God’s hands, we start to see God’s hand in every part of our life.

Thank you Jesus, for looking out for us in the many ways that have been miracles, and not coincidences. Keep our hearts tuned in to your soft, calm voice, and lead us safely to our heavenly landing, so we may express our gratefulness for all eternity. Amen

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

Philippians 3:12 (RSV)

Every sport has a goalpost or a home base, that signifies a point of accomplishment. Just as in a game or a sport, our lives are filled with various goals. We may have physical fitness goals, educational goals, career goals, romantic goals or financial goals, throughout the different phases of our lives. 

There is a temporary sense of satisfaction in reaching any of these goals, but when something unexpected happens and a goal seem no longer attainable, due to a tragedy, an illness, or any type of loss, I know from experience, that it’s difficult to overcome feelings of  disillusionment. It’s a struggle to find hope and we may even start thinking that our best days are behind us, instead of ahead of us. 

That’s exactly what Satan wants us to believe. The enemy of our souls, wants to steal our joy, kill our faith and destroy our hope, but we trust in God, who loves us, and has good plans for us. He wants to lead us forward to fulfill the best, lasting and eternal goals He has for us.

We forget that the trials in our lives are just snapshots, not the whole story. God sees the whole picture, and He has His own goals for us too. His goals outlast the temporary problems we face. In spite of all the setbacks we see, God prepares us by grace, for our best unseen and more lasting goals. 

Paul tells us not to fix our eyes on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

(2 Corinthians 4:18)

As we rely on God, He brings eternal beauty out of those temporary ashes in our lives. There is a rich and deep peace in knowing God loves us and calls us His own, and because He believes in us, He allows certain trials in our lives. He then uses those trials  to transform and shape us according to His wisdom, for our best eternal benefit.

Everyone is in a preparation process for eternity, whether we know it or not. We are eternal beings and were made for a greater purpose than to acquire things, reach our goals, leave a prestigious legacy, and then die. Of all the marks to leave in this world, the ones that mean the most, are the eternal ones. It’s the mark of our inner transformation by God, as we run to that finish line through faith in Jesus.

We are eternal beings, surrounded by a great cloud of eternal witnesses who are looking down from heaven and cheering us on, while we run this marathon race of faith throughout our lives. (Hebrews 12:1)

We occasionally need reminding that we are running a race, and are being observed by those witnesses above, who besides Jesus, includes all the heroes of faith who went before us, myriads of angels, and many deceased loved ones and friends. 

Since we are running a race, we fix our eyes on the finish line above. We strive for excellence with an eternal perspective, knowing we are in the process of meeting the goals God has for us. We make His goals our own, since He loved us first and called us His own.

Lord, seal our hearts as we run the race of faith, keeping our eyes on the things above, and we trust that your perfect plan is unfolding in each of our lives. Amen