A Child's Faith1/24/2024 1 John 2:13 ~ "I write to you, children, because you know the Father." What a blessing it is to simply know God as our Father. As children, there is a precious recognition that is found when they know their parents. In a crowd, amongst the gathered multitudes of church, I have seen children weave their way through the forest of people to find that one person who they know--their father. And here, John writes a simple expression that carries a weight of wonder for all of us. For each of us started in that simple expression--we know our Father in heaven. The first statement made concerning children in verse 12 states simply, "I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake." What a blessed and wonderful knowledge to have, that our sins are forgiven for His name's sake. And that is where it all begins--in the forgiveness of Christ. Have your sins been forgiven? Do you know the merciful love of the Lord Jesus who died and rose again? He did that all out of love for you. He bore your sins and paid your debt before His Father, zeroed out your negative balance and gave you His righteousness in exchange for your sins. If you know your sins are forgiven--then the very next drop of knowledge is simply this: you have a Father in heaven. A child does not know much about their father when they are young. Truly they look to their earthly fathers with a simple view--he is their daddy. He guides and protects them, disciplines and comforts them, provides for their needs and loves them. Jesus, our Lord, said that we must come to faith like a little child (see Mark 10:15). So how wonderfully simple is a child-like faith. I recall the story of a young boy who had missed his bus to travel home and he was on the corner, alone, huddled in the shelter of the bus stop. Several strangers offered to help the child find his way home, but his only answer was, "my daddy will come for me." And, sure enough, he did. Rounding the corner, a rickety old truck rumbled up to the stop and with joyful delight the boy jumped up and hurried to his dad. Do you know the Lord God Almighty as--Father? Jesus said that we must. Even in our prayers we are to pray, "our Father" (see Matthew 6:9). The Lord also said that He was departing to go to His Father--and ours. "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'" (John 20:17). Do not despair, beloved. If your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus, then you have been adopted into the family of God. You have a new heritage, a new lineage, a new family--and a Heavenly Father. And if you are in His family, He will never lose one of His own. In His Grace, Pastor Michael
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That Which We Long For1/16/2024 2 Corinthians 5:2 ~ "For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling." All of mankind across the world walks through life stirred up with various longings in their heart and mind. Passions, hungers and desires fill up our pursuits. A hungry man longs for food. A lonely man desires companionship. A bound man craves to be free. David longed for the waters of Bethlehem. "And David said longingly, 'Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!'" (2 Samuel 23:15) The prodigal son longed for food. "And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything." (Luke 15:16) Jacob longed to return home. "And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father's house." (Genesis 31:30a) For those who are in Christ, there is a longing in their hearts to be clothed in the fullness of His righteousness, to put on our "heavenly dwelling." Is this what you long for? It will first be seen in your groanings against sin. Paul said, "for in this tent we groan." The "tent" he speaks of is our "earthly home" (see 2 Corinthians 5:1). But what does that mean? Is it referring to the earth upon which we walk? No... our current, "earthly home," is this body in which our spirit dwells. We are contained within this body of sin and groan against the continued presence of the sinful disposition. Consider what Paul said in Romans 7:24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" The Apostle recognized the reality that we still dwell in a body that is sinful, wretched and dead. He says in Romans 8:10, "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." And so we groan. We mourn over our continued sinfulness, longing to be free from the constant companion of temptations and the continued war against our fallen flesh. There will be those who groan against the judgment of God, longing for the pleasures of their sinful desires. But for the Christian--you, if you are in Christ--there is grief over the continued presence of sin, and we groan against it. But the believer does more than groan against sin, he also longs to be covered with the perfect righteousness of Christ, to be clothed with our "heavenly dwelling." We will someday put off our mortal nature for immortality as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:54, "When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” True longing changes the pursuit of the life. Those who long for something will set aside other, lesser considerations and be fixed upon that one goal. More than a wishful thinking or a minimal wanting of the heart, those who long for Christ and His righteousness have a passionate, intense craving for that which He will provide. So, what do you long for? Do you still desire to satisfy the cravings of the sinful nature or do you hunger for the righteousness of Christ? Remember, longing for something means that you have not quite attained it--but it is the driving passion of your heart. Remember the promise of Romans 2:7, "to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life." You do not earn your salvation. But for those who are saved, it will be seen in that for which we long. In His Grace, Pastor Michael Emergency Prayer1/10/2024 Nehemiah 2:4 ~ "Then the king said to me, 'What are you requesting?' So I prayed to the God of heaven." In the great dilemma of Nehemiah, as he was confronted by the broken walls of Jerusalem, he needed to gain favor from King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah, as cupbearer to the king, had the responsibility to keep a pleasant demeanor in the king's presence. However, this time he was sad--and the king noticed. Nehemiah's heart was grieved over the sins of his people and the condition of Jerusalem due to the disciplinary judgment of God. He could not hide his countenance from the king--but he could not depart to try and regain his composure. He was in a quandary. So what did the cupbearer do? He prayed. Before you go thinking that Nehemiah dropped to his knees before King Artaxerxes, he most certainly did no such thing. It would have been a direct affront to the king, and Nehemiah's life would be in peril at the instant. So, then, how did Nehemiah pray? We have no words recorded concerning this moment of prayer, no statement as to what he prayed. It was an "emergency prayer." In Nehemiah chapter one, when he received word of the dreadful condition of Jerusalem and its inhabitants, Nehemiah prayed then--and it is recorded in great detail. Not the prayer of chapter two however, that prayer was not recorded because it was not spoken. It was a prayer of the mind and heart--and God hears those prayers too. A life and practice of prayer is of inestimable value for the Christian. A daily habit of personal engagement before the Lord in prayerful consideration of all that is happening in and through your life will be of more worth than you can even now know. If you have not done so, let me encourage you to begin developing a constancy of daily prayer. In Matthew 6:6 Jesus even tells us to pray in secret to your Father in heaven: "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." But emergency prayers will be of great worth to you as well. When Peter was about to drown after stepping off the boat (see Matthew 14:30), he had no eloquence of speech or lengthy time of prayer. Three little words sufficed: "Lord save me!" And even if you cannot utter a word upon your lips, your mind and heart can cry out to God in the moment of the emergency and He will hear your prayer. Then do what is right in the next moment, obey God with your next step, and trust that He will strengthen you to the task and give you the needed courage to do what He has commanded. In the Gospel of Luke 11:17 it said that Jesus knew their thoughts. So if God knows the thoughts of those who are wicked, surely He knows the thoughts and internal prayers of His children. Remember also what Paul said in Romans 8:26-27, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." Perhaps you're confronting someone at the grocery store with the gospel. Maybe you are standing before some formal review and must give an account. You might be at the bedside of an atheist as they face their final breath on this earth. You don't have time to kneel down for a lengthy prayer. Lift up your mind and heart to the Lord and pray to the God of heaven who hears your every thought. He will strengthen you to do that which is right, and be His witness in the moment that He gives. You can trust Him, even with your emergency prayers. In His Grace, Pastor Michael The Cast Lot1/3/2024 Proverbs 16:33 ~ "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." While working in the U.S. Air Force, I was temporarily serving near Las Vegas, Nevada. Several of us would go downtown to get dinner, and one man in our team would invariably stop at several slot machines, card tables and other gambling kiosks that availed themselves to those who would drift through. This young airman lamented often that he was very bad at gambling--so much so that when he went to the local ATM, it even refused to give him money. He came to me one weary afternoon. A look of anguish filled his eyes as he confessed to me that he had squandered all his savings and he didn't know how he would tell his wife when we returned to our primary base. Several of us took up a collection for him, and held it until we returned home and he was out of range of those dreadful temptations. And so he blamed all his woes on that miserable companion: bad luck. But was it merely "bad luck?" Is there such a thing? Let me ask you, my friends, how much do you trust the sovereignty of God? Consider the text above: "the lot is cast." Dice are rolled and do we believe that is it merely random chance that brings up the numbers? Many often live as if life is a circumstantial experience that is left completely to chance. Shuffle the deck. Are the cards sufficiently confused--or does God know each and every one, and actually placed them in that order? Mankind struggles on this side of eternity with what appears to be merely coincidental realities, for we only see the randomness of circumstance and the happenstance of experience while we dwell in this mortal frame. But you must move to the second portion of the text: "but its every decision is from the LORD." There is not one atom of existence outside of the sovereign will of Almighty God. From Him comes every decision of every throw of every dice. Now, before you go running off to flip a coin to decide every action you must take, understand the purpose of the text. It is not an encouragement for you to start gambling in order to determine the will of God. This is written to show you that everything--even things as small and innocuous as the casting of a lot--is under God's sovereign control. Believer, let this move you to trust Him more. Let this guide your faith to know that there is nothing that has happened to you that is beyond God's power or outside of His control. You have never been hit by a random set of circumstances. And though it might look like it from our vantage point, let us place our faith in the One who holds the universe together--the Lord Jesus Christ. God has purposes for everything, and you can trust Him. In His Grace, Pastor Michael The Mountain Remains1/2/2024 Isaiah 26:4, "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock." Years ago I lived in the midst of some beautiful mountains. Each winter I would gaze upon those snow-capped peaks and marvel at the majesty of those spires. Rugged and wonderful, they stretched like granite towers carved out by the finger of God. But as winter is so prevalent to do here in the Pacific Northwest, clouds rolled in and hid those encircling mountains. They were hid so well in fact, that if you had never seen them and only experienced cloudy days in that mountain town, you might believe that those mountains never existed in the first place. One Sunday morning, I asked the congregation where I served if the mountain was gone. It had vanished behind the clouds and surely the mountain had moved on and found sunnier skies where it could display its majesty. Of course, the silliness of that reasoning was obvious--just because you couldn't see the mountain did not mean it wasn't there. And, dear believer, I suspect that you have found out my point. Just because you cannot see God, and though the clouds of doubt, fear, anxiety, distress, persecutions and sorrows blanket the skies of your faith, does not mean the Mountain has departed. As Isaiah 26:4 declares, our God is an EVERLASTING rock! He does not depart, He will not forsake you. And though the clouds of suffering may hide your view of Him, He has always remained. Consider another passage from Isaiah 50:10, "Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God." Do you fear the Lord and yet it seems that you walk in darkness and have no light? Then do what it says--trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon your God. Do not give yourself over to the niggling doubts that creep into your thoughts when the way seems shrouded. Turn to His word and trust Him. Live out the life of faithful obedience and God will, in His time and for His purpose, dispel those clouds. They are there, even now, to test your faith--to show that you can trust Him, even if the way is dark. Consider what the Apostle Peter had to say in 1 Peter 1:8, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory." Though you do not see Him, continue believing. The clouds may hide the Mountain, my friend, but they can never, ever, remove Him. In His Grace, Pastor Michael From the Mountains to the SeaEvery step we take on this journey called life ought to be used for greater understanding. I've lived from the mountains to the sea, and this blog is my personal thoughts and observations with a desire for Biblical understanding. Welcome. Archives
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