Power of Faith

Faith Actually Does Work

2012-01-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

When the apostles saw Jesus curse an unproductive fig tree that soon withered in response, they where amazed at this sight. Yet the Lord goes on to make the point that faith can in fact work this kind of wonder and much more. We must understant that this ideal measure of faith is what in the Master caused amazing things to happen. He goes on to say, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew (21:21-22). Jesus here is trying to persuade his apostles of the reality that belief holds great power. And all that is merely required is too deeply trust God to work these wonders. Yet that trust seems the chasm holding so many back from experiencing dramatic Heavenly intercession. So the take away here is to devote oneself to absolute confidence that God can heal and rescue.

Our holy Father, we pray that you would instill in us a deep faith and trust in your ability to solve our problems. In Jesus name, Amen.

The Anger of Jesus Strikes

2012-01-28T05:40:00.000-08:00

This passage in Matthew 21 is sobering. No other time do we see the Lord physically express his fury toward people like this time when he accosts the sellers of doves in the temple. One would think there is little wrong with these guys selling doves as people needed to make sacrifices. But in the Master's eye's the temple is sacrosanct, not the place for commerce. And his unbridled move to set matters straight must have upset some people: "He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[f]” (Matthew 21:12-13). But here it seems Jesus does not care what people think; he is destined to bring purity to the temple. It stands to reason that this glimpse of the nature of the Master should cause us to pause and wonder how he feels about any unjust behavior in the world. Surely he feels angry at many things, like this, that might seem slight to us. So that begs the question what behaviors in our circle drive him crazy?

Lord Jesus, we ask that you would show us what we can do to live a more pure life that pleases you. In your name, Amen.

Keep Pressing into Jesus

2012-01-27T04:21:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a prevailing apathy in the church that always seems to sustain the status quo. We leave passion to Muslim terrorists who have deep religous zeal that leads them to kill soldiers and scream praise God. Yet we just approach faith "ho hum." This when the rewards of passionate faith are so extreme. Fortunately, we get to see passion for Christ in two blind men who simply persist in obtaining healing. It says when they asked the Lord for healing 31 "The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” (Matthew 20:31). So even though they get "rebuked," they passionately press into to Jesus and find instant healing. We must live life with this very passion for the Master.

Our Jesus, we pray that you would stir our hearts and increase our passion for you. In your holy name, Amen.

Jesus Calls us to be Servants

2012-01-26T08:56:00.000-08:00

In Matthew 20 we find the mom of two of the apostles begging the Lord to put her boys at his right and left in Heaven. You have to give her credit to fully understand the majesty of the Master as she kneeled before him. Yet Jesus explains to her and the other apostles the more important goal. He says, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-27). He beckons her and his boys to think in eternal terms. What that looks like is living the life of a slave, always seeking that opportunity to care for others. Of course this defies common sense and our natural leading of self preservation and self adoration. Nevertheless, the message of the Creator here is that he himself has decided to give his very life as an offering. Don't know anybody who has endured his level of pain to rescure us: having the sins of the world placed on his body under crucifixion; fasting for forty days (ouch!); enduring the abuse and harrasment from Pharisees and Romans. So Jesus is obviously entitled to call us to a life of servanthood.

Holy Master, we pray that you would transform our hearts that we might become dear servants like you. In your blessed name, Amen.

I plan to build a rapidly growing church in Houston. Please let me know if that would be of interest to you. My email: rosupplee@gmail.com

Jesus Has Mercy

2012-01-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

In the parable of the vineyard,the Lord shows that he is prepared to care for anyone no matter when they respond to his generosity. In other words, someone can live their lives apart from him and still choose faith in their last days. He explains it this way: “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20:13-14). Of course I am led from scripture to believe that those who devoted their lives to him longer will get a sweeter reward in Heaven than the ones who put out less. But the bottom line is that all will enjoy the rewards of Heaven who ultimately choose him. This reveals the unworldly mercy of the Master that flys in the face of the typical reward. And it is our task to share this vision as we seek to care for others.

Dear Jesus, we pray that you would help us to show kindness to others with your level of mercy. In your name, Amen.

God's Heart for the Poor

2012-01-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

We must understand an underlying reason Jesus calls us to help the poor is because he has deep feelings to help these people. For that is God's nature. If you read through the Psalms you find many times God saying he cares for the poor and David too. Remember that King David was about the wealthies, most powerful ruler in his day yet he is taken with providing for the impoverished. And of course he was a man after God's own heart. So just that should compel us to become folks who find ways to accomodate the needy. The nice thing is how easy we can find the poor and figure out ways to touch them. The last couple of days I was travelling on a bus and seemed to bump into hungry people all over the place. Given that God's glory lingers on me I often find them approaching me as a source of help. Yesterday a hungry homeless guy reached out to me and we became friends. He was broke and hungry so I bought him dinner and shared my faith with him. Watching all these reminded me what a great location bus stations are to meet the poor. You can do this too by bringing a pack of cigarrettes and dollar bills, and gospels of Mark to a bus station and be ready to serve. Cigarrettes help because most of the poor smoke. At one place I had four requests for cigarrettes and when I pass them out this opens a door to become friends and share my faith. Even better to smoke with them as sharing a smoke is a sweet form of fellowship to the hungry. Or you can hang out by homeless shelters and there meet many poor people. And remember the reward with living this life. Jesus explains, "everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." (Matthew 19:29). So always remember that caring for the needy builds a wonderful reward in Heaven for us.

Lord Jesus, we ask that you would help us to be like you and David and constantly look for ways to love the weak. In your name, Amen.

The Wealth Threat

2012-01-23T02:29:00.000-08:00

This discussion of Jesus with the rich man warrants further study because it holds such eternal consquences for us all. The Lord explains further his position: 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24). The reason this indicts us is because we are Americans, the wealthiest people on earth. And because we live among lots of wealthy American religious people who could care less for the poor. Yet here the Master says how truly difficult it is in fact for wealthy people to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now I do think wealthy people devoted to God can get there but I also suspect their reward will be slight. Heaven, yes. But the lite version. So a broader interpretation is certainly called for here. I would say that view is that most Americans may have a tough time getting in through the Pearly Gates or once in find they missed the big time enjoyed by those devoted few who cared for the poor. So that certainly ought to give us pause to ponder. And the obvious conclusion to Jesus' teaching here is he plainly longs for his people to deny themselves and readily share with the needy that these his people may one day enjoy a glorious eternal taste everafter. Pretty tough stuff, huh? But I am sorry I do not find a life caring for the poor hard at all. Sure, at first it hurts to part with your sweet cash to put it into the greedy hands of a wanton person. But over time all I can call it is joy and delight and freedom. I must confess I have this awful habit of praying to God, "OK, Father, I am asking you to put people with needs into my life so I might serve them." And guess what happens, people just start appearing right and left asking me for money or for me to pray for them or do something else. And the odd thing is like a desperate girl who accosted me a couple of days ago when I was one out of a hundred people downtown but she purposely went to me for help and told me her tragic story. At another time someone I did not even know out of the blue asked me to pray for them. I wonder who is behind these curious moments? Dah, even I can see God moving there. So our job is to step aside and welcome the Lord to place needy people in our paths that we might do his mighty work and care for them.

Holy Father, we again ask that you would soften our hearts that we can become your people who love the poor and freely share with them. In Jesus, Amen.

Wealth is Risky

2012-01-22T04:50:00.000-08:00

A guy asks Jesus how he can get eternal life. But he has some internal issues that get in the way and in typical fashion the Lord addresses these immediately, Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19: 22). Very Sad. What a tragedy as all the Master is asking is for him to start living and care for the poor. But this guy is so typical. He wants to be religous without living the faith. I find this approach to the faith so typical. I know how wrong this is because God has helped me understand this great need to care for the needy and so I often give money to the poor. Just the other day a desperate woman approached me for money to buy a bus ticket and some food. She was hungry. Of course I gave her $25 to care for her. Yet I know I am the odd guy out as nobody cares at all for the poor. I live in a city of half a million that is the Jerusalem of America. There are over 1,000 churches here but nobody cares for the homeless. Whereas I tend to rescue homeless people and invite them to my house I find that I am alone. Others consider me a fool to ask God to bring me needy people and he often dumps them in my lap. So they regularly ask me to help them and I do. What about you? It is time for you to start living the real faith and share with the needy. And I must tell you such a life is a joy and a delight to find Jesus put the needy in your path. But will you decide to start living the real walk, the genuine faith and start sharing? Probably not. For some crazy reason everybody wants to go to church and say stupid prayers all the while abaondoning the poor. Trust me, religion is worthless unless you become open to living the real faith that means caring for the desperate souls who just need your attention.

Lord Jesus, we pray that you could change us to be willing to care for the poor and actually live out the real faith you call us to. Please help us be generous like you. In your magnanimous name, Amen.

Magic of Marriage

2012-01-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

Once again the Pharisees try to stick it to Jesus regarding divorce. They want him to explain how it is right for divorce to happen. To their dismay, the Lord explains that marriage runs far deeper than they think: "and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:5). Our Master tries to steer their thinking toward the mysterious ethereal notion that marriage actually transforms two people into one. This of course is beyond them and I tend to think beyond the reach of so many couples. But if we consider the fact that God designed a man and woman to be so trancendently compatible the idea of them becoming one is not that far unreachable. That, of course, is the ideal our Saviour exults here. Indeed, to me I simply find stirring magic within the union of a man and woman. And so Jesus here tries to ask that we might get our arms around his sweet vision of that nirvana possible within marriage.

Dear Jesus, we pray that you might enable us to understand your regard for marriage. Allow us to see what potential is found between a man and woman becoming one. In your name, Amen.

Children Precedence

2012-01-10T04:20:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why we have kids among us? They can be such a pain with all the whining and trouble. But I think God's call is that we might see their enormous value and all they can teach us. Jesus addresses this in Matthew 18 as he shares his fondness for children by saying, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3). So we have reason to pay attention to the magic of kids if we ever wish to please the Lord. I think what the Master sees is their innocence, joy and curiosity that causes him to place boys and girls on the pedestal as the Christian ideal. And that gives us easy insight into what the believing life should look like. I believe Jesus wants us to adore kids and ever look for times to be among them and simply enjoy their wonder. If you know a kid aged 2-12 you have a treasure to carry you toward experiencing the closest connection to the Lord. Always remember that the prayers of a child tend to be the most effective as God is terribly attracted to them for they are like Him.

Holy God, we pray that you might change us to become like children. Grant us open hearts that we enjoy kids as much as you do. In Jesus name, Amen.

Healing Faith

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Jesus is struck by a quandry that frustrates him a great deal. A dad brought his possessed son to the apostles and they could not heal him. This situation became troubled as in Mark it records that when the Lord arrived they were "arguing." You must understand the pain this parent felt here because there is little in life that hurts as bad as seeing your child suffer. I suspect this kid suffered from a curse that we call autism today, an affliction that propelled him toward water and fire.. Instead of recognizing demon possession for what it really is, we have a new way of classifying such an affliction to call it autism, a mental illness. And that is a central problem. For I am sure this dad thought his kid had mental problems but fortunately he had the insight to seek the right kind of help. Tragically, few do that today. Fortunately when the apostles found themselves unable to help, they had Jesus there to bring instantly healing. After expressing his extreme frustration with this failure, he addresses how healing can happen: "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.” (Matthew 17:20). So what is missing in the heart of the apostles is a decent sized faith. And the Master spells out the solution. He says just a little faith the size of a mustard seed can work miracles. Does that mean there is barely any faith among us? I think so. But the hope found here presents a huge opportunity for anyone willing to press into God for a bigger faith.

Our precious Jesus, we pray that you would breathe faith into us now and increase our faith by the power of your Spirit. Please have mercy on us and enable us to feel a searing pain until we can gain a big faith. In your dear name, Amen.

Touching Heaven

2012-01-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

Ever the surprising one, Jesus leads his apostles up a mountain that Heaven might visit. Now this was one of the most powerful invasions of Heaven on the earth. It says when the Lord connects with the Other Side that "2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." (Matthew 17:2). Here we find a deep contrast between eternal surprise and earth bound humans. Peter comes on about creating shelters to honor their visitors. Shelters? What is up with this? Of course shelter building to welcome God stood as typical Jewish understanding of how to corner God. But here the enormity of God's closeness so swept beyond any need for that. And God goes on to say regarding his Son, "Listen to him." It says the apostles were terrified and hit the ground. So once again we get to see a faith shortfall within them that prevents a proper response. They so should have been about soaking in this glory of God around them and welcoming his visit. Instead, they shrink back to pull away from this appearance. Yet this remains the human response to God's eternal wish to visit his people. He stands outside church assemblies as all we can do is think about newer carpet for the building as that would honor God. But what about God himself? Forget the decorum of the apostles here. Accept that God longs to invade our assemblies and change hearts. He scans the gathering seeking faith that welcomes him. But always holding back due to all the faith he can find is the shallow faith like the apostles here. Shall we be like the apostles and ever shrink back from his glory? Or instead step off the cliff and embrace faith so big His visit inspires?

A Comforting Cross

2012-01-07T02:32:00.000-08:00

Jesus tells his apostles that he will soon go to Jerusalem and lose his life at the hands of the Pharisees. This of course troubles them and Peter puts his foot down and proclaims this shall never happen. The Lord strikes back and even calls him Satan. Yikes! Don't think I ever want to hear that from God. But the Master goes to say,

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24).

Pain. That is the calling of our savior. Yet within this crucifiction we should find life. Ever the paradox from the Lord. But that is his very point here. Indeed, later he says that people will be rewarded in measure to the measure they use in caring for others. So the idea Jesus seeks to communicate is that the Cross actually should bring eternal comfort. Apart from everyday experience that says pain ought to turn us in a different direction, the Creator states that we should welcome cross suffering as this ends in eternal triumph.

Our Jesus, we ask that you would help us understand the glory of pain carrying your cross within our lives. Enable us to lift that cross always and rejoice in the nails. In your name, Amen.

Hearing God

2012-01-06T03:26:00.000-08:00

One of the more challenging things the apostles must face is what to think about Jesus. It seems the outlook around them is he is some kind of prophet worthy of admiration. But Peter comes out with the truth, saying, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). What stands out here is that the Lord says Peter learned this from God. So Peter has arrived at that place where he can understand the message God is trying to pour out on him. No wonder he went on to lead the church and change earth history forever. Peter was merely a human with such a humble heart that he could grasp the eternal truth God wished him to understand. While his friends remain stuck with the idea that Jesus is something less.
That dynamic still occurs today for God still loves his people and forever whishes they include him in their thinking. So as he speaks to us shall we listen and respond? Be willing to do his work even if that means we end up crucified like Peter?

Holy Father, we ask that you would open the eyes of our heart that we might hear your voice and respond to you like Peter did. In Jesus, Amen.

Pollutive Yeast

2012-01-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

As Jesus traveled about with his apostles he found them wrestling with what to think of all the food he had created. And their minds got stuck on the role of bread to provide what they need. Yet the Master turns their thinking onto something far more important. He says, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6). His appeal is that their minds might remain purely devoted to his teaching versus the more common dogma of the Pharisees. So he calls them to remain focused on the teaching within the narrow road. Less accessible than the Jewish stuff. And that remains his call to us. We get flooded with so many "answers" on how to live life better. The pastor persona calls us for him to be out example. Yet I have seen a number of them fall into sin horribly. So the better path within the Lord's appeal is for us to stay gripped by his compassion and edicts. Untarnished by outward yeast we can in fact enjoy pure teaching from the Lord's guidance within scripture.

Lord Jesus, we pray that you would enable us to remain fully focused on your teaching and somehow not be captured by the yeast around us. In your name, Amen.

True Worship

2012-01-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

After his encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus goes on to address their heart problem. I find it worth considering that he calls their worship in vain. You know they were doing church stuff and acting terribly religous. Yet their empty worship draws the Lord's scorn. Here the Creator presents worship as key to religion that should lead us to think the same way. And that might push us toward a place of seeking meaningful worship that actually connects with the heart of God. So we should take a position opposite to what the Master implores: "They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules." (Matthew 15:9). So what does true worship look like? I believe humility is at the core of real worship. Proper worship should be all about adoring Jesus and the Father and the Spirit and entirely not about us. And that can be accomplished with a proper selection of songs and an accompanying approach all about pursuing the presence of God. The outcome should always be people weeping and repenting and feeling the surge of God in their midst. I have been there so many times to see this occur and I have taught groups how to worship effectively and sure enough when they carry on this way God appears and people get changed forever. Indeed, on one of the groups I taught a doctor became so touched she quit her job and moved to Guatamala to care for the poor where she remains today. So your goal must be to so adore Jesus that he cannot resist you and he comes down from Heaven and invades your gathering to the extent that people lose touch with the everday and so connect with him. I find that most gatherings have not this quality. But if you just insist on songs of adoration for God and then constantly call for his joining you I know that in time you can experience God sweeping through your assembly and the life changing results.

Please holy Father, do guide us to only allow worship that adores you and always calls you to our gatherings. We so need your touch. Come Jesus, Come. Spirit we do earnestly invite you to join us. In Jesus, Amen.

Faith Power

2012-01-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

We find an amazing interaction between Jesus and the Cannanite woman in Matthew 15. What strikes me about this exchange is the way the Lord simply refuses her request to heal her daughter because she is not Jewish. Yet this lady persists and seeks to persuade the Lord to help her. And the Master's response says volumes about the power of one person's faith to convice the Creator to help her. In her steadfastness she actually persuades God to rescue her daughter. Indeed, our Friend says, “Woman, you have great faith!" (Matthew 15:28). It is rare Jesus exclaims this way about someone's faith. So the bottom line here is she simply turns his power to her plight through sheer belief. That must grip out hearts that our prayers can accomplish the same outcomes. To know that persistence pulls the heart of God toward our need must always demand that we keep asking.

Dear God, we ask that you would impress our souls about your willingness to respond to our prayers. In Jesus, Amen. And Amen.

Heart Purity

2012-01-02T04:55:00.000-08:00

After Jesus finishes the exchange with the Pharisees the apostles remain stumpted at what he is trying to say. I must agree with his sentiment, "Are you still so dull?" One would think they would gather the point of what he was saying. Yet they ask for a further explanation. The Lord says, "But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” (Matthew 15:18-20). We have heard this point before from the Master. So it should grab our thinking as well. This is why purity remains the priority of our hearts. And then always asking for forgiveness. For of course the Dark side constantly pulls at us to go for these things that defile.

Our Jesus, we pray that you would enable us to remain pure in our thinking. In your glorious name, Amen.

Honor Mom and Dad

2012-01-01T06:02:00.000-08:00

Once again the Pharisees come after Jesus trying to tip him. Yet the Lord strikes back right to the heart of one of their many shortcomings. Their trouble lay in their disregard for parents. Ever consumed with religion they miss what the Lord considers the central point to religion, caring for Mom and Dad: "Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’" (Matthew 15:4). Why this focus? I think because family strength is the heart of God. And that tie between kids and their teachers remains paramount toward stabilizing life itself. At the end of the day, don't parents offer wisdom? Of course they do with a way better perspective on life. But the Pharisees miss this priority while the Master appeals for devotion to wisdom. Can you think back to sweet memories of how your parents cared for you? I sure can. So our Friend's calling is that we might carry on with adoring our parents as that relationship offers lasting value.

Dear Jesus, we pray that you might enable us to always remember this emphasis on honoring our parents. In your name, Amen.

Faith Overcome

2011-12-31T07:07:00.000-08:00

When we see Jesus walking on the water in Matthew 14 we get an opportunity to see how faith can clearly work within the heart of a human. Peter grabs faith tight and begins walking to the Lord on the water. What a sight that must have been for his companions. We must give Peter credit here for having the gusto to step out with such faith. But of course he soon sees the storm about him and loses that precious faith and begins sinking. Yet that first stride walking accross the water must have put an amazing story into the minds of the apostles that they will tell for generations. And we get to see first hand the potential of faith and the consummate failure once faith is lost. What an illustration?! So it is safe to say if we can only keep our eyes fully fixed on Jesus we too might enjoy the progress of faith even better than this.

Dear Master, we pray that you would today breathe faith into us and build our faith by the power of your Spirit. Enable us to keep such a tight focus on you, the Source of life, that we can in fact move forward tightly with a lasting faith. In your name, Amen.

Irresistible People

2011-12-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

In Matthew 14 we find Jesus heading off to be alone so he could pray. Certainly prayer moments brought eternal magic into the life of Christ. It says in Matthew, "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it." (Matthew 14:23-24). What we must realize is the essence of God and Jesus is communion. This Connection is who they are. Hence Christ referred to as the "Word" in John. So when the Lord prayed he entered back into sweet fellowship with the Father that they had enjoyed forever. Now breaking that must have been painful. That is why my daily thanks to God is that he allowed Jesus to live on earth for 33 years; that distance must excruciating to them. So here as we know the Master felt delight in his talk with God, we must also realize the extent of his love for people. He somehow manages to break off that intimate conversation with God in order to attend to struggling people. It is this leap that we must always treasure. This selflessness within God that presents our plight as simply irresistible and calls him to us.

Our Jesus, we pray that you might show us the dept of your love for people that always seems to beckon you to us. In you, Amen.

A Delightful Meal

2011-12-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

When we find Jesus in Matthew 14 he is once again facing a huge crowd of 5,000 men and families. Yet in spite of his tiredness and I am sure weary from lots of healing, etc, it says, "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick." (Matthew 14:14). We must understand this is the nature of God, to Always feel for us when we are about him. He goes on to ask the apostles to feed these poor people. When of course they could not he created massive amounts of food out of thin air. You know the apostles were euphoric to see this surplus they passed around to the hungry crowd. And that seems to be the outcome anytime the Lord gets involved in life. People get cared for in surprising ways. So once again the Lord transcends physical limitations.

Our Master, we ask that you might give us a vision to see just how much you can do within our situations to satisfy our needs. In your name, Amen.

Elusive Faith

2011-12-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

When Jesus goes to his hometown he does not get a warm reception. He taught and sought to perform miracles there. Yet the people were entirely skeptical and went on and on about him being a hometown boy who could not really do anything of consequence. In fact, the scripture goes so far as to say they "took offense at him." (Matthew 13:57). Now that takes some doing. To be repulsed by God. And the Lord goes on to say something quite insightful and brimming with eternal power: "And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." So these sorry people missed the glory of God in front of their very faces due to a lack of faith. Hmm. I wonder how that plays out today? I suspect quite the same as faith is lacking all over the place. I feel like a lone ranger praying daily and at length for a bigger faith. That's because the pastor does not push that. But I wonder just how many delightful moves of Jesus in power are missed due to the more common faith absence.

Our dear Friend, we ask that you would breathe faith into us and increase our faith by the power of your Spirit. Please Lord, have mercy and grant us big faith. In your sweet name, Amen.

A Big Family

2011-12-26T09:49:00.000-08:00

Jesus speaks of his real family when someone asks him to attend to his true family. In response the Lord says, "For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." (Matthew 12:50). Hence it is fair for us to assume the same outlook. The idea the Master is sharing is the concept that everyone who believes is in fact our brother and sister and mother and father. Actually quite a nice arrangement to have a church full of family. But this is the manner in which Jesus wants us to relate to those people. As he pulls us toward intimacy in that circle. As so we must ever retain that outlook as we strech for closeness in his body. The beauty of such a view is that in time we might enjoy deep closeness in the church and that is the very goal of the Savior.

Lord Jesus, we pray that your mid would rule in our hearts regarding your church. Enable us to relate to them as siblings and we as children. In your name, Amen.

An Abundant Heart Speaks Good Things

2011-12-24T05:26:00.000-08:00

Jesus goes on to address the central problem or opportunity that resides in people's hearts. He says, "The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things." (Matthew 12:35). And of course it was from the wellspring of evil that the Pharisees made their lame accusations. Yet the Master here expresses the central truth that everyone has a choice if they are willing to go about storing good in a heart. For if one builds a life of good only good can flow from that soul. So it bears study to find the path to storing up good. I have found the easiest, most joyful way to do that. In the Psalms God says he enjoys the "sacrifice of thanks." So for one to build this storehouse of good an excellent way to get there is to be filled with gratitude to God. That means putting our minds to ever enjoying happy pure memories of family and friends. The remarkable result is such thinking pours joy into thinking that makes life better. Have a spare moment? Force your thoughts toward gratitude. Then you and Jesus get to enjoy holy peace that touches Heaven.

Dear God, come to us and turn our thinking toward thankfulness. Please prompt us to constantly offer you that "sacrifice of thanks." In Jesus, Amen.