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Today in church the pastor talked about miracles and that often times our miracle is just waiting for us if we just go ahead and receive it. He used passages found in scripture like Galatians 3:5 Then does He Who supplies you with His marvelous [Holy] Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you do so on [the grounds of your doing] what the Law demands, or because of your believing in and adhering to and trusting in and relying on the message that you heard? (Amplified Bible) And James 2:26 Faith without works is dead. (NIV) I believe in miracles, in fact I went down front so that I could be prayed over for a miracle I want to see happen in my own life.
But the question I find myself asking quite a bit is why don’t we see more miracles in our lives. Is it because we don’t truly believe that God can perform miracles, or is it that we don’t ask because we don’t think our request is truly miracle worthy?
For me, I think we don’t ask sometimes because we may be scared, that God may just give us that miracle. That sounds strange I know but think about it, if God answered some of the things we would like to see happen in our lives it shock the socks off us. I also think we sometimes don’t ask for some miracles because of the responsibility that would be required on our part. Maybe your miracle hasn’t happened yet because you haven’t acted out in faith.
Faith is a huge part of miracles. Think about that for a minute, a miracle is performing something that is beyond human capabilities, something out of the ordinary. That takes a huge amount of faith.
So maybe the question shouldn’t be why don’t we see more miracles happen today, but how are we when it comes to our faith. Are we stretching our faith enough to allow God to do something worthy of a miracle or we just playing it safe and only asking for the things we know will happen anyway?
I try to pour into my kids lives every opportunity I get, hoping my words and actions are teaching them to be Godly boys. Last night I saw that they are actually listening to what I have to say.
Last night as I was in pain from what I thought was another kidney stone, I hear Nole say from his bed, “Daddy, what is wrong?” Knowing what had happened to me the last time I had one he said, “ouch, I hope it doesn’t hurt too bad”. Then about five minutes latter he calls out to me again saying, “Daddy, I have been praying to God that you would have any more pain”. From that moment on, I really didn’t worry whether or not I had another kidney stone because I was so proud of my son for taking the initiative to pray for someone else other than himself.
I was bubbling over with joy that my kids are actually getting it! What Alison and I are trying to teach them is not going in one ear and out the other! It also shows me that they are starting to acknowledge that God is real and that He cares for his children. “Rock On” Nole with your bad self “Rock On”!
Here is a Sobering quote that I ran across the other day. “Only one thing haunts me more than the sins of my past: What sins am I blind to today?” Philip Yancey A quote like this will make you stop and think for a minute. Any comments on this?
Have you ever thought to yourself, man if I could only change the way that person views life. I think that person is so off base in their beliefs. I just wish they could see what I see. But if you stop and think about it what makes us right – how are we so sure that we are right and someone else is wrong?
James Sire the author of “The universe next door” gives one of the best definitions of what exactly is a worldview. “A worldview is a set of presuppositions, (assumptions which may be true, partially true, or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic make-up of the world.”
Until just a few years ago I was under the false pretense that if you did not view life exactly the way I did you were wrong in your thinking. A lot of this had to do with being immature I know, but I also believe a lot had to do with my lack of understanding of God’s worldview in the Bible. I, like many people, just took for granted that what people told me was pretty much the truth, especially if it were a pastor. But what if they made a mistake, what if they were miss guided by someone?
Most people’s worldview is not something that they have thought out and wrestled with on their own, rather it is something they have accumulated over the years. Our view of the world is shaped by our parents, the culture in which we live , our religious traditions or lack of, the type of education we received, the media, and much more. All these things influence our thinking and how we view the world and our place in it and the sad thing is we don’t even realize that these things influence us. I heard it stated like this once, “ we learn more than we create; we accept more than we reject. So concisely we do not formulate our on worldviews, we simply regurgitate what we have already been taught.
This to me is very sad, because if this is true then very few people are able to rise above their cultural prejudices, or the cultural norms of society. We may like to believe that we are free thinkers independent of the influences around us, but were not. If you think about it, it is quite frightening how many incorrect assumptions we have adopted as our own. For many they are quite contented not to dig deeper or try to think more independently. We like to believe that our worldview is correct. And if we are challenged with another person’s worldview that does not line up with ours we usually get defensive about it. Instead of taking the time and ask questions and wrestle with their answers we throw condemnation their way.
Just recently though, I started welcoming other peoples worldview not as my own, but to better understand people who hold different views of the world, so that I can engage them in intelligent dialogue. I also started going to the scriptures to see if what they are telling me lines up with scripture. As well, I am seeing if what I believe is lining up with the scriptures. I find myself letting go of those once sacred cows, I once held so tightly to. I am now asking God to make my worldview more like his, more open and not so closed-minded.
Lord, I pray that my way of viewing the world (in all that entails, my beliefs, my views on other dominations, the way I treat others, and so on) would be more like yours.
I was reminded the other day that Jesus was accused of being “a friend of sinners”. That was supposed to be an insult to Christ. But it turns out to be a great source of hope to all of us. We all know we are full of sin and fall short of God’s glory, but God is gracious. God in His grace allowed Jesus to hang out with unrespectable people. So I am just thinking here out loud, if our congregations are full of respectable people – then could it be said that we have not truly grasped the radical grace of God. Just a thought, any comments.
Following God’s voice sometimes can be a scary thing if you are not sure it is truly God speaking to you! Especially when you think God is telling you to make a life-changing decision. I often find myself second-guessing whether or not I feel God really talking to me, or just my desire for something to happen. I try to be sensitive to the nudges of the Holy Spirit, but I’m I sensitive enough? I hate to be that guy that says I have heard from God, latter realizing that it was just a bad taco from Taco Bell.
I don’t know what it is about me, but I love to play games with God. Like I will say God if you are really speaking to me, make this happen as a sign that it is really you speaking. Sometimes He complies and yet I still wonder if it is really God. There are other times I say to myself if this is really God speaking then this and this have to line up for me so that I know that it is of God.
Why do I second-guess God? I wish I were more like the men and women of the Bible. But wait a minute I am like them; all throughout the scripture people are second-guessing God. People like Moses and the disciples to name a few. But why, why do we second-guess God? Is it that we think we know more than He does, that we are better suited to handle our life than He?
No. I second-guess God because I am scared of the unknown. Scared of what God might do or might not do. Scared of failure because I did not really hear from God like I thought I did. So I need wisdom, wisdom to be able to discern when God is really talking to me and not just me wanting something to happen in my life. So, this week I pray for the wisdom I need to truly hear God’s voice in my life.
I take comfort in James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him”. I say Lord give me wisdom, please give me wisdom, I sure do need it right now!
My two sons are getting excited about the opportunity to go “trick or treating”. They are talking about what they want to go as. Nathan wants to be a good guy off of Star Wars and Nole wants to go as a bad guy off of Star Wars.
Yes my wife and I allow or kid’s to beat on total stranger’s doors to beg for candy.
Some people I know will not allow their kids to “trick or treat”. Instead they let them dress up as Bible characters and go to a “Harvest Festival” or “Trunks of Treat” at their local church.
I see no harm in either of these.
To each his own.
What do you guys think?
Did you get to go “trick or treating” as a kid?
Do you let your kids go “trick or treating”?
What does your family do on Halloween?
My God is jealous for me! Let that sink in for a minute, my God is jealous for me. I can’t help but wonder if we know the weight of that statement. Some thoughts that come to mind when I think of God being jealous; giving me his undivided attention, wanting to shower me with his love, possessively watchful of me, and totally loyal.
For the past couple of days now, I have been consumed with this thought that God is jealous for me and I am amazed at just how much God really loves me. Enough to allow his one and only Son to lay down His life for me! To me, that’s scary. I’ve never known anyone to love me that much.
Then I think how I treat Him, cold and aloof. Truth be known, the only real time I try to spend with Him is when I need something. Occasionally, I will tell Him that I love Him in a song or two on Sunday. But to really go after Him like He goes after me, well I must admit that I fail miserably at that. Sadly I see Him mostly as my go to God, I go to Him when I need Him to bail me out of something or when I want Him to make something happen for me.
His love is all encompassing, mine is so one sided. Sometimes when I call upon His name, I picture Him saying OK what do you want this time. And you know what I am sick of it, if I were God I would have said long ago, “you are dead to me, this one sided relationship that you have with me I done, don’t come looking for me anymore”. Thankfully though He is a jealous God and does not give up on me that easily.
Lord I want to know you better; I want to know you like you know me! I want you to feel the love that I have for you, like the way I feel your love! I want my mind to be consumed of you! I want you to know just how beautiful you are to me!
Lord, hear my cry and accept this broken vessel. I have made a mess of this life you have given me, but I am giving you my broken peaces wanting you to put me back together the way you intended it to be. Lord I know you love me and that I am yours. Grab hold of me before I sink to the deepest depths of despair – I know it is not to late for me. Lord thank you so much for loving me the way you do.
In fact, Lord help others see the love that you have for them, let them see that you truly are a jealous God and that it is not to late for them to hand over their peaces to you. Help every one of us see that your grace is big enough even for all, for Christians and sinners alike!
“1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” This passage of scripture shows God’s amazing love He has to His wayward people. It seemed at first that Jonah did everything he could to resist God’s calling the first time around, after Jonah repented God called him again. God chose to do this out of his grace and mercy.
It is very interesting that God in verse 2 tells Jonah to preach the message that I tell you. Suggesting that Jonah does not know what he will be delivering to the people of Nineveh. God simply tells Jonah to go and wait for instructions. It’s funny for I see God working like that a lot in my own life and my flesh often times finds it very irritating that He does.
The story of Jonah demonstrates why God so often leads us one step at a time. Because when God told Jonah the first time in chapter 1:1 what to say, Jonah discarded the call. So often times God only will tell us what He thinks we can handle at that time. Then in verse 3 Jonah realizes that resisting God is useless and can get you into a lot of trouble. Thus Jonah goes to Nineveh, obeying God’s call.
Then in verses 5-9 we do not see the actual word repentance being used, but we can see through the passage that is what they did in their fasting and wearing sackcloth. Repentance starts with believing God. And repentance is turning away from your evil ways, which is what the people were doing. These people were so serious about their repentance that they even made their animals fast.
Then finally in verse 10 we see that God honored their repentance, even though their sin was reason enough for harsh judgment. The people in their repentance appealed to God’s mercy and grace and not his judgment. I am so thankful that God acts more on his mercy and grace than He does on his judgment. For where would any of us be if it where not for is mercy and grace.
In Jonah 1:17, we see Jonah is swallowed by a large fish, it does not say a whale – but a fish. I think this is very import to note for a couple of reasons. One being when I think of a whale, I think of a large stomach with lots of room inside to move around. A fish on the other hand, from the pictures I have seen, even the large fish have a small stomach in comparison to a whale. So to be in the belly of a fish must have been extremely tight and uncomfortable. I can only imagine the scene that Jonah lays out for us in chapter 2, where the seaweed is wrapped around his head. Imagine also the stench inside the fish’s stomach, with all the other dead and decaying things the fish has eaten, mixed with the fish’s stomach acids. The stench alone would make one cry out to the Lord for help. Then to make it even worse not being able to move around, lying prostrate on your back, not able to move your hands or feet. Being in total darkness and feeling every jolt and move of the fish had to be a horrifying experience. Jonah must have truly thought he was going to die in the belly of a fish.
God is giving Jonah here a HUGE wake up call in his disobedience. Like Jonah we got to understand that God responds to disobedience by making conditions oppose us. God knows what will grab our attention, what will cause a change in our hearts and behavior. Jonah must have been one stubborn man if it took this to make him realize the sin he committed in his disobedience. Then I think of the times that I can be stubborn and realize that it would take a real attention grabber to make me change my actions as well.
It just goes to show that God will go at whatever the cost to grab our attention, when we veer of the course that He has set for our lives. To me this shows that God loves us so much that nothing but his pure and holly plan is what we deserve, not the leading of our own frail and limited mind’s plans.
To really grasp the agony of Jonah read chapter 2 in the Message or New Living Translation Bible. These two versions really capture Jonah crying out to the Lord. You can go to Biblegateway.com to find these two and many more.
