This mornings sunrise was beautiful. It reminded me of our gift from Father. He creates such beauty and artistic expression in the Morning Sunrise and the Evening Sunset. How can anyone question the existence of our Creator when viewed from these events? Not even Thomas Kinkade himself could match the morning sunrise and evening sunsets for their expressions of light...and yet we call him the Master of Light Art. Yet he attempted to mimic that which our Lord and Creator alone could paint and imagine.
We as humans are incapable of perfection and so will never be able to truly immitate the perfection that we glimpse each day in our daily walk. We see grass and trees and flowers and other glimpses of God's creativity. Yet we do not truly see them because we are so very busy that we do not slow down long enough to truly look, or to smell, or feel, or touch nor allow any of our senses to just bask in the beauty that surrounds us in our lives. We get so busy with 'living' that we never see God's hand in our world. We are so busy that we wonder where He is and why He does not spend time with us as His children. Yet, He is here all the time and is as close as a simple quiet time. When was the last time that you just STOPPED. I mean really stopped all the noise that we put into our lives and got quiet. Sitting still and listening for Him. Seeking a moment of peace, no music, no phones, no computers, no external influences at all...just you sitting still listening? I forget to carve those times out of each day and then wonder why I feel so lonely. Why my Father has not been near me for so long?
Honestly, it is not God who is moving away from me and leaving me alone. It is me allowing my busy life to intrude into my time with Father. He craves and yearns for a closer relationship with each of us. One that is as rich and open as that He shared with David and Abraham. I was reading today the daily bible verse and it was from Psalms42 where David talks of his desire for God, "as a deer longs for streams of water so I long for you, O God." Yet upon reflection it felt empty. Why? Because I do not long for my Father as David did...I have too much other responsibility and distractors keeping me from what is truly important. How sad that I have allowed my other daily labors to distract me so much that I lost touch with that which should be number 1 in my heart! For just a moment, sit quietly now and think about that verse, feel it inside and own it in your heart.
That is my prayer for each of us today...that we would read it again and then meditate upon it's meaning. Each one of us to be able to FEEL as a deer who is thirsting after a cooling drink of fresh water following a mad dash from hunters or a predator. That deep longing and need for a quick refreshing drink.
Jesus promised us that he would give us the living water and all we had to do was ask for it. "Father bless your child this day with the Living Water that grants life. Open the flood geates and pour out Your Spirit upon this child and all who are your children that we will FEEL your Holy Presence in us." In Jesus Name, Amen.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Last Sunday we started a study into the book of Acts. It was a great start and while reading through it I was struck by the use of numbers and their significance in the bible.
You see Jesus after his resurrection was with his disciples for 40 days. Now, today that just seems a little over a month or almost 6 weeks or just a number of days. We do not place emphasis upon these things. However, to the people in the first century there was indeed significance in the numbers. The number 40 for instance was used 149 times in the bible and that number is associated with a period of probation, trial and chastisement, but also ends with a period of renewal, restoration, or revival.
So where am I going with this? Well think about the individuals who Jesus was with...all of them were downtrodden and dejected at the death of their Master whom they had put all their hopes upon for a return to the Kingdom of Israel of old. Some if not all started a return to their old lives. So here we have a group of followers who obviously did not get nor understand the true nature of their leader nor did they understand the changes that he had been foretelling even prior and up to his death. So they obviously never understood what was happening nor about to happen as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament.
Then suddenly their Master is alive and with them. Yet not only with them, he is living, breathing and eating with them for 40 days. This is a time where their faith is tested, it is a probationary period where Jesus is with them and with the Spirit's assistance begins opening the minds of his disciples so that they can finally start to comprehend what has truly occurred. That Jesus broke the bondage of death and was raised to life anew. It was this 40 days of time that was necessary for the disciples to truly begin the process of understanding and knowledge.
Yet it was not until they saw him ascend into heaven that the true power and change would occur. For Jesus had to leave and then the Holy Spirit would descend from our Father and bring true comprehension to these individuals. Yet that would not occur until after the period of probation...or testing. But Jesus told them that after he left another would come and help them. Once the Spirit came they would be His witnesses throughout all the world to all men. What we see is the restoration of his disciples as his chosen ones. They chose to remain in Jerusalem as directed and they chose to believe. They passed the test and because they were obedient they received the gift of the Holy Spirit renewing their relationship with Jesus and our Father.
Yes there are a lot of other significant things happening in Chapters1 of Acts and I am not diminishing those in any way. I was hoping to add more significance and clarity to some of the happenings of this chapter as we begin to look into more detail about the workings of the Holy Spirit in and through the disciples of Christ. May God give us a better understanding of how His Holy Spirit can and will make us witnesses to His glory as we delve deeper into these texts.
Mark
You see Jesus after his resurrection was with his disciples for 40 days. Now, today that just seems a little over a month or almost 6 weeks or just a number of days. We do not place emphasis upon these things. However, to the people in the first century there was indeed significance in the numbers. The number 40 for instance was used 149 times in the bible and that number is associated with a period of probation, trial and chastisement, but also ends with a period of renewal, restoration, or revival.
So where am I going with this? Well think about the individuals who Jesus was with...all of them were downtrodden and dejected at the death of their Master whom they had put all their hopes upon for a return to the Kingdom of Israel of old. Some if not all started a return to their old lives. So here we have a group of followers who obviously did not get nor understand the true nature of their leader nor did they understand the changes that he had been foretelling even prior and up to his death. So they obviously never understood what was happening nor about to happen as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament.
Then suddenly their Master is alive and with them. Yet not only with them, he is living, breathing and eating with them for 40 days. This is a time where their faith is tested, it is a probationary period where Jesus is with them and with the Spirit's assistance begins opening the minds of his disciples so that they can finally start to comprehend what has truly occurred. That Jesus broke the bondage of death and was raised to life anew. It was this 40 days of time that was necessary for the disciples to truly begin the process of understanding and knowledge.
Yet it was not until they saw him ascend into heaven that the true power and change would occur. For Jesus had to leave and then the Holy Spirit would descend from our Father and bring true comprehension to these individuals. Yet that would not occur until after the period of probation...or testing. But Jesus told them that after he left another would come and help them. Once the Spirit came they would be His witnesses throughout all the world to all men. What we see is the restoration of his disciples as his chosen ones. They chose to remain in Jerusalem as directed and they chose to believe. They passed the test and because they were obedient they received the gift of the Holy Spirit renewing their relationship with Jesus and our Father.
Yes there are a lot of other significant things happening in Chapters1 of Acts and I am not diminishing those in any way. I was hoping to add more significance and clarity to some of the happenings of this chapter as we begin to look into more detail about the workings of the Holy Spirit in and through the disciples of Christ. May God give us a better understanding of how His Holy Spirit can and will make us witnesses to His glory as we delve deeper into these texts.
Mark
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