Father God,
In Galatians we read; But when the set time had fully come, God
sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem
those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are
no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God
has made you also an heir.
Oh Father, how wonderful, how amazing, how astounding that you
would love us so much that you would send your only son to
redeem us, to save us, to reconcile each of us to you. That by the
finished and complete work of Christ we can have a loving
relationship with you, a relationship with the creator of all things,
with Almighty God Himself; a relationship so intimate and close
that we can call you Abba Father.
What a gift you have given; by your love and amazing grace, no
matter our backgrounds, no matter our shortcomings and failures,
no matter the baggage we carry, we are no longer slaves to our
circumstances, but now we are your children, we are heirs for all
eternity.
What good news; news so good that we are filled with Joy; that we are overflowing with Joy. News so good that we are filled with your steadfast love; a love that is so stunning...Abba Father, we live in a time where the
world needs a little love; help us share your love with the world,
help us share your love with our community, help us share your love
with our next door neighbors.
So Father, as we approach Christmas, let us do so with joy and love, let us
rejoice and sing praises, thankful that Christ was born; our true
hope, full of love and grace and truth and Father, as we approach Christmas let us do so with the
expectant hope of things to come.
Abba Father, we love you and pray in the most beautiful name of
Jesus Christ...Amen!
Grace and Peace!
Just this morning I started on a 10-day prayer journey. The journey is part of Scotty
Smith’s book; Every Season Prayers. On this journey we will pray through John 17
the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. As I started there was this reminder; “any prayer
Jesus offers on our behalf will be answered affirmatively." And we are also encouraged to
capture our thoughts as we travel on this journey.
Day 1 – has me meditating on John 17:4-6
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
We were asked to consider this from the
perspective of the accomplished, complete and finished work of Christ on our behalf. Scotty Smith
provides some excellent thoughts and commentary on this and reminds me (us)...
“Let us cease from our strivings and doubts, beloved.” That struck me; beloved
means a much-loved person, precious, adored, cherished, prized – Wow (me?). And
this also reminded me that I must cease striving, cease doubting and let myself be
loved.
There are also some thoughts and questions designed to help guide my prayer this
morning...
“As I consider your finished work on my behalf, I am...” my thoughts: amazed,
astonished, surprised, in awe, so very happy, so very thankful.
There are many other thought provoking and probing statements; statements that
just move me deeply, but the days journey ends with the question: "Father, why do I
remain allergic to your grace?"
Oh this caused me to spin. Thoughts come crashing in – that in our culture we are
taught, we are conditioned to believe you only get what you earn in this world, that
we must pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, that we get what we pay for and my
final thought was that there is nothing in this world that is free.
As I dwelled on these statements, as I was asking to hear from God on this, as I
meditated in silence the tears started to well up and it occurred to me (God
speaking???) that how easily I forget when I am in my self centered mode rather
than being Christ centered, how easily I forget that my salvation was not free; that
Jesus paid it all. He gave his all so this prodigal son could run into the arms of my
Good, Good Father much-loved, precious, adored, cherished, prized; as a beloved child of God.
Abba Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit – thank you and I love you too!
Grace and Peace!
Father God, in the 23rd Psalm we read. The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green
pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his
name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod
and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my
head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I
will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Father, in this short Psalm we see your promises, your provision, your sovereignty. We see that no matter what may
be going in the worldly valleys of life we have the promise of your very presence, your comfort, your love and grace and
mercy and as if it could get any better we will dwell with you for all eternity.
Father, we come confessing that in this world so busy, so full of distractions, so full of noise that we sometimes forget, we
sometimes take for granted your amazing grace. Father forgive us and help us to take heart as the good news is
that by the finished work of Christ we are forgiven, we are restored, our very souls are refreshed.
How amazing you are that we can come to you as broken and messed up as we are, that we can come knowing
and experiencing your grace, that we can come knowing and experiencing your love and as such we are truly free; free to
offer grace and love to others.
Father, you are truly wonderful beyond words and as such we thank you, we turn our adoration and worship to you, our
Father in heaven, this day we celebrate our very relationship with you.
Abba Father, we love you and pray these many things in the most beautiful name of Jesus...Amen!
I don’t know about you, but this season in history has left me stunned, confused, frustrated....dare I say
near tears. I am torn by the divided nature of this country and it occurs to me there is a
hardening that has taken place which prevents us from seeing any good or all that we have in common. We
are blind to paths forward unless it is our path. I am sick of advice, tired of biased journalism, astonished at the so-called experts of this age. I am so
exhausted by the politics and culture of “I’m right and your stupid.”
Not sure if you have heard, but we have an election coming up; an election to the highest office in the
land and if you are following this election, it only highlights the divided nature of this nation. The debates left me
shaking my head and wondering/praying/crying out about this choice or lack thereof.
There are plenty of places to look for guidance...evangelicals; theologians, media, social media, your
neighbors, there are polls and surveys and the list and opinions go on.
So you might ask what is a person (like me) to do? Well it took the birth of my first grandchild for me to
see a little more clearly. It took me holding that child in my arms (yes, with tears in my eyes) realizing
how much I loved this little man. It took me seeing a choice – I could become frozen with doubt, worry
and frustration about the mess or I could love...I could love God, my family, my friends and neighbors
with all my heart, soul and mind. The choice is so clear.
And as a Christian, I can do one more thing I can trust. Yes, I still plan to vote and honestly I still don’t
have clarity on that vote...I have heard all I really want to hear and now I plan to search...search my
heart, search the Word of God, I plan to make up my mind on my knees praying to my ever-loving, ever-
faithful God. I plan ask God; “what would you have me do?”
And then I will trust! Brennan Manning wrote an incredible book titled “Ruthless Trust” and in it he
says; “Ruthless Trust is an unerring sense, way down deep, that beneath the surface agitation, boredom,
and insecurity of life, it’s gonna be all right. Ill winds may blow...character defects may surface...but a
stubborn, irrefutable certainty persists that God is with us and loves us in our struggle...”
Psalm 22:28 reminds us that “kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over all nations.” Job (Job
42:2) says to God; “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
Jeremiah 17:7 tells us; “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
I don’t know about you but my trust is the LORD. Trust; my friends trust.
Grace and Peace!
Even though things have slowed way down for me (a good thing) and I find myself
happier and way less stressed, there are times. This morning I found myself heading
out on a great journey to the fitness center and as I was driving along in morning traffic someone in front of me decided to turn without using a
turn signal.
Now I had plenty of space to slow down so there was no real issue, but I could feel
the rage coming on because this person interfered with my smooth and expert
driving skills. My “Peaceful Easy Feeling” (our Pastor uses numerous musical
references so it must be contagious) was gone and it had been replaced by “Highway
to Hell”.
As my temper was about to exceed the boiling point, something grabbed my
attention. It was the clear blue Florida sky and the beautiful sun climbing mid
morning. Something whispered to me do you really want to be that angry?
Something else came to mind – What if Jesus got that angry with me every time I
made a mistake. Do I really want to be overcome by anger? Or do I want to be
overcome with joy and happiness realizing all Christ has done; all Christ has secured
for me.
As joy began to clear my “Angry Eyes” I was able to begin to pray. I think I will use a part of that prayer for a while as part of my morning prayer or a devotional or simply a reminder
of how to approach my day...
Abba Father,
Help me this day to be of good spirit knowing the Holy Spirit is with me;
Help me to overflow with joy amazed by all Christ has done for me;
And help me to love because you first loved me...
Amen and Amen.
Grace and Peace!
So I will confess, I am not huge into social media – in fact I feel it is like the old
commercial – social media is the next best thing to being there. I am sure there are
many positive things about social media and I must admit that I do have a Twitter
account.
I find this to be a good way to journal, share thoughts and ideas all within 140
characters – short is good. Anyway, there are statistics and it is so tempting to get
drawn into a mode of saying something – I mean tweeting something and then sitting back and watching to see just
how popular that becomes. So for me it could be very easy to begin thinking a lot of my abilities and my popularity; to become proud of my tweet-worthiness...
There is this term; going viral. Urban Dictionary (which I do not necessarily
recommend without caution) defines going viral as when “an idea, concept, product,
video or other cultural meme exponentially increases in popularity.”
I suppose in the sphere of social media this is the mark of success. At the risk of
causing much laughter, my best tweets typically get between 40 and 50 views; so
yes I do keep track. Recently, however I crafted a tweet and my truly artistic efforts
went viral; over 500 views. I must also admit that I started feeling pretty good
about my abilities as a master tweeter. As I started to think I had truly arrived in the
realm of social media, something started tugging at me.
Here is my tweet:
@Scobb8Cobb
Ps 100:5
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to
all generations.
#goodnewsday
So you see, all I did was send out a Verse from the Bible. And then it hit me, it wasn’t me,
it is not my wisdom, it was not my twitter expertise. It was the Word of God...and I
knew at that very moment God was teaching me a lesson in humility. It wasn’t a
harsh lesson; it was filled with grace, which impacted me even more; just a gentle
and loving reminder.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own
doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace and Peace!
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God,
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
My Church is in the middle of a summer reading plan and today we read Acts 7. A
chapter so rich, so full, so emotional. Theologian William Neil says it is a “subtle
and skillful proclamation of the Gospel.”
I must admit that even though I have read this chapter on more than one occasion, I
was emotionally impacted this morning. I was just particularly struck by the last
passage; verses 54-60. I was taken aback by the anger and fury (can’t we see that
even today), I was so moved by the faith of Stephen, I was amazed at the grace and
the seeds of grace planted that day (Saul), and I was just emotionally crushed (in a
good way) to see Jesus standing at the right hand of God (not sitting)...and for the first time I began to
wonder why was he Standing?
Some say that Jesus was led into the presence of God to receive authority and power
(Daniel 7:13-14), some say he stood to welcome Stephen the first martyr, some say
he stood as Stephen’s heavenly advocate. F. F. Bruce says; “Stephen has been
confessing Christ before men, and now he sees Christ confessing his servant before
God.”
Since we are not clearly told the reason, I am sure it is a transcending, surpassing blend of all of this and even
more...but what was laid on my heart this morning, what brought a tear to my eye
was to know that Jesus was there in the midst of this suffering. Even though God’s
will had to be done Jesus was with Stephen, He loved, He cared, and what came to
my mind was a couple of verses from John 11. Verses 35 and 36: Jesus wept. Then
the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
I honestly don’t know if this is theologically correct, but it was clearly placed on my heart this
morning. That no matter the circumstance, no matter the trial, no matter the
suffering, that Jesus is there with us, that His amazing love is there for us and out of
that love, when we suffer He stands up for us; dare I say He weeps...For me it was: Oh my, see how He loves us.
Jesus, I love you too!
Grace and Peace!
Father God,
I come before you brokenhearted and troubled by the recent tragedies...a young boy
tragically killed in an accident right here in our community, young men tragically killed in
Louisiana and Minnesota and law enforcement officers tragically killed in Dallas.
Oh Father, I come confused, I come sad, I come broken. I come not even knowing exactly what
or how to pray, but I come crying out from my heart. I pray for understanding and wisdom to
prevail, I pray for Gospel transformation and change in us all, I pray for ideas, solutions and
paths forward. I pray for action rather than the divided inaction of our day, I pray for the
ability as a nation to discuss these tragedies in a way that does not divide, but moves forward, I
pray for the impacted families and communities, for your comfort and healing and peace. I
pray that we as a church will mourn with those mourning and weep with those weeping. I
pray for revival and for this nation to collectively turn to you. I pray that we all remember that
we are one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Mostly I pray for love
because without love we are nothing.
I pray as you tell us in Romans; that our love would be sincere, that we would hate what is evil,
that we would cling to what is good. That we would be devoted to one another in love and that
we would honor others above ourselves, that we would never be lacking in zeal, but that we
would always keep our spiritual passions, that we would serve the Lord. That we would be
joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer...that we would share with those in need
and practice hospitality. That we would bless those that persecute us, that we would rejoice
with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn, that we would live in harmony with one
another, that we would not be proud and that we would be willing to associate with all kinds of
people and never be conceited.
And in addition to all this, I pray that this you help us see and know and feel your grace and
love and tender mercies; to feel your very presence with us. Help us know and trust and rest
in you, help us to know that our all powerful God is upon his throne and will make all things
new, help us to truly rejoice, help us to be forever thankful for the one true hope that is Christ
and help us as a people, as believers to always sing praises to our almighty, loving, tender,
merciful, and sovereign God.
Abba Father, we love you and pray these many things in the most beautiful and loving name of
Jesus Christ – Amen and Amen!
Grace and Peace!
Our Pastor has been preaching a series on prayer. It is something I must admit I
struggle with from time to time. I feel like I don’t know what to pray or how to pray.
I worry that my words are all wrong, at times I might not even have words.
However, I do know just how important prayer is...many times it is the only thing that helps,
that soothes, that satisfies. I did a little research and found several “sound bites”
about prayer that have been helpful.
One of the most helpful and I can’t find the author so I apologize for not citing it
properly, but one person wrote they begin their prayers with;
“Father, I love you too.”
That just helps to center me – acknowledging to the Creator of the universe, to
the Great I Am, to the Almighty that we love Him, because he first loved us.
John Bunyan was an English writer and Baptist preacher best remembered as the
author of the Pilgrim's Progress once said;
“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words with out a
heart.”
That is so helpful for me; for those times when I struggle for words, to know that
crying out from the heart no matter the words, no matter the issue is ok. It is our
way of being in a relationship with our good, good Father in Heaven.
There is a small book that I once read called The Practice of the Presence of God
which is a collection of conversations with Brother Lawrence; a
monk that entered into a life of service and devotion to God and spent the majority
of his life working in the kitchen. Brother Lawrence once said of prayer;
“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of
a continual conversation with God.”
That is my hope (and prayer) for us all; that we might enter into a sweet and
delightful life of continual conversation with God.
Grace and Peace!
I retired last week after almost 32 years with one company. When you get to that
point, after 32 years of doing something day after day you can find yourself at a major crossroad
and it can be a very emotional time. You get a bunch of questions like what are you
going to do now and aren’t you afraid you will get bored? You know the typical
encouraging comments...but in reality this crossroad can lead you to questions, it
can point to uncertainty, it can leave you a little concerned, maybe even a little
afraid. I think life is filled with crossroads and while this in the scheme of things is
not huge it still can be consuming.
There is a passage in Philippians that helps me, it just sets me straight, it reminds
and encourages. For me it provides the answer to uncertainty as we face those
crossroads of life. Maybe some of you are at a crossroad now or will be at some
point, maybe you will not be sure if you should do this or that, to go this way or that
way, but to me you can take heart and be encouraged.
Philippians 3:12-24
Not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but
I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do
not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal
to wing the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
This passage speaks volumes and says so much.
However, it is not telling us to forget the experiences of the past, but it does tell us to
forget the attainments so that we can see that there is so much more to strive for; so
much more to attain. It is telling us not to rest in the accomplishments of the past,
but to recognize the exciting things that lie ahead; things like a deepening
knowledge of and relationship with Christ, a life of sharing the Good News with a
world so desperate for some good news; a life filled with grace and love.
James Hastings said that the perfect man of this passage “is the man that can see the
vast stretches before him to be traversed, the man that knows there are shining
heights yet to climb, that there are glories unspeakable ahead.”
Everyone, no matter your crossroad...press on in Christ Jesus...press on to shining
heights only possible through Christ...press on to the glories unspeakable that lie
ahead!
Grace and Peace!
Father God,
In Psalm 18 David reminds us in one verse that you are our
rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our refuge, our shield, our
salvation, and our stronghold. Father, we come before you
this morning amazed and filled with praise; thanking you for
being our everything.
Father, we also come this day humbly to confess our
shortcomings, our failures, our sin, our rebellion against you
asking for your forgiveness. And even as we confess we can
in the same breath thank you that by the finished work of
Jesus Christ we are forgiven, we are made new.
Again in Psalm 18 David tells us that you reached down from
on high and took hold of us, you drew us out of deep waters,
you rescued us. And Father, as if that is not enough, you
rescued us because you delight in us. How wonderful you
are and how thankful we are.
Father, as we realize and recognize the many blessing we
have because of who you are, because of your love, because
you are our everything we pray that our hearts might
overflow with our love for you, that our lives would be spirit
filled, and pleasing to you.
Oh Father, keep open our hearts and minds. Let us
continually hear of your great love and your amazing grace.
Abba Father, we love you and pray in the most beautiful
name of Jesus Christ... Amen!
Grace and Peace!
