Tag: empowered

February 2 2023 – Mark 6 – Impossible Situations

There are many times in life we run into what seem like impossible situations. By that I mean, they are situations or problems that we can see no possible solution for. We have all been in them perhaps multiple times during our lives. They may be interpersonal problems with other people. They may be problems with a group of people. They may be financial problems. They may be health issues. There are a thousand other possible suggestions.

When we come to these impossible situations, we work through them in our strength and intellect. We are resourceful. We have been given the gift of intelligence. However, impossible situations are beyond our resources and intellect and after we have exhausted every possible solution we can think of, we have a moment of dismay. We may wonder why God let us get into this situation. Is God mad at me? Did I do something wrong? Is God there? Does God love me?

I believe God allows impossible situations because he wants us to grow in our faith and recognize his great love for us. Nothing is impossible for God. He knows what the solution for our impossible situations are before we even ask for help. His solutions are beyond what we would have expected or imagined. When God solves our impossible situations we grow in faith in him and in love for him.

In Mark 6, the disciples are in an impossible situation. It is getting late and there is a crowd of five thousand men plus women and children. The disciples recognize the need for these people to eat and they are out in the country with no place to get food. They say to Jesus, send them away so they can get food. Jesus put the disciples in an impossible situation. But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” Mark6:37NASB1995. A denarius was a day’s wage. In today’s money, if that was someone working for McDonald’s at $13 an hour, that would have been $20,800 for a meal to feed this crowd.

Then Jesus ask them to go see what they had there. They come back with two fish and five loaves of bread. So Jesus has the crowd sit on the grass. He blessed the food and began to break it and give it to the disciples to distribute. He kept breaking it and they kept distributing it until everyone was satisfied. It was like a free all day fish and bread buffet. They all kept eating until they were full. Afterwards they picked up twelve baskets full of leftovers.

Jesus knew what he was going to do. However, he let the disciples wrestle with the impossible situation to grow their faith. In working through it with the Lord they experienced his power and glory and grew in their love for him.

Next time you find yourself in an impossible situation, remember nothing is impossible for God. He knows the solution to your problem. He loves you and wants to use it to grow your faith and love for him. Instead of letting the devil tempt you to doubt God or his love for you, ask Jesus, “how are you going to solve this?”

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank you for your great love for me! Thank you for impossible situations that help me to grow in faith and love. Help me to realize when I am wallowing in self pity instead of seeking you and your solution for my impossible situation. Amen.

January 31 2023 – Mark 4 – Kingdom Growth

If you have ever tried to grow a garden, you realize there is a mystery to it. It is possible to do everything right, as far as you know, and still not produce much of a crop. It is also possible to put the seed in the ground and not do much more than that and have a bountiful harvest. We partner with God when we plant and garden. You can’t go wrong in asking God to bless your efforts.

In Mark 4, Jesus is explaining the Kingdom of God to his disciples. And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark4:26–29NASB1995

In this parable, Jesus teaches us an important truth. It is God that gives growth to the Kingdom. We certainly have a part in it. We are called to be in faithful relationship with our Heavenly Father. That means as an expression of our love for the Father, we join him in what he leads us to do. However, we must remember that Kingdom growth comes as a result of God’s mysterious and miraculous power at work in us and through us. God calls us to step out in faith and join him where he leads. We step out in faith in some tangible way. God blesses that miraculously with spiritual growth in our lives and in the life of our church family.

We must be careful not to ever think that it is our work alone, our efforts alone, that bring the growth. We must never think our efforts are the bigger part of what is happening in the Kingdom of God. Our faith, our efforts, are tiny mustard seeds that when sown, God gives phenomenal growth. Reading the Bible apart from God is confusing. Loving your neighbor apart from God is tedious and can become a way to satisfy a prideful desire for recognition. Apart from God, sharing the Gospel can become a way to satisfy a prideful desire for recognition for a church or denomination… “look at all the people we got saved.”

As an expression of our love for the Heavenly Father, we go and do what we are called to step out in faith to do. We are filled with wonder and awe when we see the Kingdom growth that God mysteriously and miraculously produces in our own lives and in our churches. By joining our Heavenly Father in what he is doing in and through us, we come to love him more and more.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for calling me to your love through your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for the mysterious and miraculous Holy Spirit at work in my life. Help me to step out in faith to experience more of your love and power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

January 27 – Matthew 28 – Making Disciples

The end of the Gospel according to Matthew gives a clear understanding of what Jesus expected us to be doing until he returned. In Matthew 28 the resurrected Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew28:18–20NIV

These verses are often called The Great Commission. In them we recognize the authority given to Christ. He is in charge of everything, as “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to [Jesus].” He is the one who had the authority to send the original disciples. He has the authority to tell us what to do. We are not in the business of making members, or recruiting givers, or looking to build magnificent buildings. We are to “make disciples of all nations.” We are to baptize “them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded us.

This can be a daunting commission if we think about accomplishing it in our strength and wisdom. However, this commission contains a fact that is empowering and comforting. Jesus said, “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Through the presence of his indwelling Spirit, Jesus is strengthening us and giving us the wisdom to make disciples of all the nations. The proof is in the pudding. The church has been growing since the time of Christ and will continue to do so until he returns!

Prayer:

Loving and gracious Lord Jesus, I am glad all authority has been given to you! Help me to remember I am called to make disciples. Help me to rely on you for strength and wisdom in reaching others with the Gospel. Amen.

January 26 2023 – Hebrews 4 – Our Great High Priest

In Hebrews 4, two things caught my attention. The first was when the author of Hebrews quoted David from the Psalms. “…Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews4:7NIV  I grew up in a very evangelistic tradition. We were always inviting people to be saved. I can remember hearing preachers pleading with people at the end of the service altar call. “If you hear Jesus calling you, do not pass up this opportunity… be saved today!” There was the implied and sometimes spoken idea, that the Spirit of God may not come back around to you again. You hear that idea in the song Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior.

There is something else in the words of David quoted by the author of Hebrews… the idea that we can and do harden our hearts to God. The warning is not so much that God isn’t calling, rather don’t harden your heart. That can be cherishing sin and refusing to repent or it can be as simple as hearing God’s will and saying not today. The burden of responsibility in that statement is on us. “…Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews4:7NIV

The other thing in Hebrews 4 that caught my attention is at the end of the chapter. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews4:14–16NIV

In these verses we learn than not only did Jesus pay the price for our sins, he knows exactly what we are going through when we are tempted. Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way, yet without sin. When you struggle with sin, know that Jesus endured the same temptation and did not sin. He knows what you are going through because he was tempted in every way just like you.

Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit to be able to resist temptation. Because of Pentecost you have the Holy Spirit living in you. That same power that was able to deliver Jesus from temptations is available to you. When you feel overwhelmed by temptation, go to Jesus in prayer. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews4:16NIV

Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for atoning for my sins! Thank you for being able to understand and empathize with my weaknesses because you were tempted just like me. Lord help me to yield my will to you when I hear your Spirit and not harden my heart. Amen.

January 18 2023 – Leviticus 19 – Be Holy

The founder of the Methodist church, John Wesley, believed that we could become perfected in love in this life. The Wesleyan tradition places a lot of emphasis on holiness. Elders are asked at ordination if they are moving on to perfection and do they expect to achieve it in this lifetime. While not claiming we could be completely sin free (he still allowed we could sin accidentally or unintentionally), Wesley did believe that people could be perfected in love. That meant he believed a person could become so sanctified in Christ that every decision was made out of motivation to love God and others.

Even if you take the sin free aspect out of the equation it still seems like a tall order. Where in the world did he come up with such a notion? Wesley, believed that God would not have told us to do something that was impossible to do. In Leviticus 19, Moses is told by God to, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Leviticus19:2NIV

There are some interesting things to note. 1. The instruction was for the “entire assembly of Israel.” This was not just an instruction for the Priests or Levites. This was an instruction for everyone. 2. It was not optional. There were no qualifiers like, “if you feel like it,” or “if you can,” added. 3. We are to be holy because God is Holy. We are to be like God. When God became man and dwelt among us, that gave us an even more specific example. We are to be like Jesus.

Holiness is the goal because our God is a Holy God. It is not optional. It is not just for some of us, we are all called to be holy. So how do we, mere mortals, live up to such a high calling? We are not God after all.

We are not God, but we do have God with us. “For in him [God] we live and move and have our being…” Acts17:28NIV  Not only are we in God, but God is also in us. “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” 1 Corinthians6:17, 19NIV  We are in God and God is in us. The same God who gave us the goal of being holy, lives in us and is enabling us to do just what he commanded.

In our own strength, holiness is impossible. However, for the Holy God living in us, nothing is impossible. It is possible for us to be perfected in love in this lifetime, in as much as we depend on a perfectly Holy God to bring that about in us.

Prayer:

Holy God, thank you for your perfection. Help me to rely on you living in me to become like my Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

January 16, 2023 – Matthew 17 – We of Little Faith

In Matthew 17, Jesus fresh from being transfigured, his appearance changed, his face shone and clothes white as light, encounters a crowd gathered around his disciples. A man approached requesting that he heal his demon possessed son. In his request, he tells on the disciples that were not on the mountain top with Jesus. He says, “I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” Matthew17:16NIV

Jesus’ reply gives us an idea of why the disciples could not drive the demon out. He says, “You unbelieving and perverse generation…  …how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Matthew17:17NIV After he has driven the demon out and the crowd had gone, the disciples came to Jesus privately for more information. “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew17:20NIV

Once I attended a church that would give each member a mustard seed when they joined the church. That was a process. If you don’t know, mustard seeds are tiny. Trying to give someone one seed took a second or two. Also, if you put it in your pocket to keep it, it was almost irretrievable. It got lost in the pocket lint and took some serious searching to find.

If only mountain moving faith were as simple as having someone hand you a tiny mustard seed. I wish Matthew had given us more details. How do we develop such faith? Is there a program or a step by step process to developing this kind of faith?

I believe the fact that Jesus used something as small as a mustard seed and that it was, in fact, a seed gives us some ideas. We come to be saved by receiving the grace of God offered to us in Jesus Christ with the smallest of faith. If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans10:9NIV  “…Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans10:13NIV

If we take that seed and plant it and nurture it, it will grow. We nurture our faith by trusting God with our cares and concerns. We in faith offer those to God in prayer. As we see God respond and answer those prayers, our faith and trust in God grows. We nurture our faith by believing what Jesus has told us about this life we have been born into. Embracing the power and promise of new life in Christ, grows our faith. The more we nurture our faith by trusting God with our cares and concerns and the more we embrace the power and promises of new life in Jesus, the more our faith grows. If we don’t nurture our faith, it doesn’t grow.

Jesus said, “…The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Matthew13:31–32NIV We start with very small faith. However, if we plant that faith in our lives and nurture it, what started so small can grow to be as large as a tree.

We all have doubts and unbelief. When we doubt and our faith is small, nurture it even then by asking Jesus to help our unbelief.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank you for calling me to faith in you. Help me to take that small seed of faith and grow it by believing the power and promises you offer in my new life in you. Help me to nurture my faith by bringing to you every care and concern. Amen.