It is no small thing to be a son of God. Paul says, repeatedly, that we are sons of God through faith in Jesus as the Son of God and our Savior. What does being a son mean? Sons inherit from their father. And we are not minor children. We are old enough to not only inherit but also to manage the estate. As Paul says, we have the full rights of sons. Because we are sons, we have clothed ourselves with Christ and received his Spirit into our hearts. Now we can call God "Daddy." (Galatians 3:26-4:7) So, we are sons, clothed in Christ, having the Spirit in our hearts, our Dad created the heavens and the earth, and He put us in charge of managing the estate, the kingdom of God on earth. For reflection: Daddy, thank you for making us your sons. You have given us great rewards and great responsibility. I'm glad that you have other sons and I am not in this alone. Help me to clothe myself with Christ, to put on Christ every day and to walk in your Spirit as I go about the work of the Kingdom.
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In the 3rd chapter of Galatians, which is certainly a difficult one, Paul contrasts the law with the promise given to Abraham and the law with faith in God/Christ. In both cases, the law is the loser. The promise to Abraham is greater than the law and faith in Christ is greater than the law. Let us pray. Lord, you have lavished me with your love St. Paul seems to me to be the great interpreter of what the life, death and resurrection of Jesus meant for both Jews and Gentiles. How is it that someone who never met Jesus in the flesh becomes the theologian who works out the applications of what Jesus accomplished? Paul himself says it was by revelation, not by the teaching of the other apostles (Galatians 1:11-24). When he writes to the Galatians to reinforce what he had previously taught them, Paul begins with the example of Abraham. "Those who believe (in God) are children of Abraham" (Gal 3:7). It's a simple statement, but with it Paul extends the promise made to Abraham to both Jews and Gentiles, and indeed to all who have faith. This was not generally accepted Jewish teaching. It was a revelation from God. "So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith" (Gal 3:9). But faith in God, lived under the law, as Paul will demonstrate, will only get you so far. The work of Jesus and faith in him is necessary. Let us pray. Thank you, Father, for bringing us to faith. We thank you for Abraham and Sarah, Miriam, Aaron and Moses, Saul, David, Solomon, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. We thank you for all the men and women who have listened to you over the centuries. We thank you for the promise made to Abraham and Sarah and the law given to Moses. We thank you for the bravery of David and the wisdom of Solomon. We thank you for your prophets who spoke your word at the cost of their lives. May we be inspired and graced to follow their example. The teachings of Jesus recorded in Matthew 5 are certainly counter-cultural. They were counter-cultural then; they are counter-cultural now. That's because we have never really put his teachings into practice. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44) has never been easy. It may even be the hardest. In October 2006 a man killed a number of girls in an Amish school in Pennsylvania. Then he killed himself. Some of those families buried their daughter one day and attended the funeral of the killer the next. A year later they were still helping to support the man's widow and his three children. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." This radical forgiveness stopped the community from being torn apart. The Amish live a counter-cultural life and they chose to follow the counter-cultural command of Jesus. Like the Rwandan people we spoke of on Friday, they took the road less traveled. They chose love rather than hatred and forgiveness rather than revenge. For reflection: "Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals - one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, 'Father, forgiven them, for they do not know what they are doing'" (Luke 23:32-34). Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Let's look at another prophet who didn't exactly make an excuse to God, but who recognized his deficiency before he answered a call from God. Isaiah has a vivid vision in which he sees the throne room of God Almighty with angels worshipping in full voice. The room shook and was filled with smoke. The magnificence of the vision terrorizes Isaiah, who cries out, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty" (Isaiah 6:1-5). One of the angels flies to Isaiah and touches a live coal to his lips as an act of atonement for his sin and remission of his guilt. Being cleansed, he is no longer a man of unclean lips. So when God asks, "Whom shall I send?" Isaiah is able to answer, "Send me" (Isaiah 6:6-8). Does Isaiah even know what he is volunteering for? Perhaps not. But by cleansing him God has equipped him to speak to a nation where justice is perverted, the poor are oppressed, idols are worshipped and the government looks to pagan nations for help rather than to God. But we see that just as God gave words to Moses and Jeremiah, God supplied words of prophecy to Isaiah. God does not call anyone without equipping them to do the job. For reflection: To what mission has God called me? How has God equipped me for that mission? Le us pray. Lord, we bow before your holiness and acknowledge that we too are a people of unclean lips. We see justice perverted and don't speak up. We see the poor oppressed and expect someone else to do something. We see our nation turn for help to anyone but you. Cleanse us of our sin, equip us with your words, and help us to proclaim your righteousness in the land. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jeremiah, like Moses, made objections to God's call. Jeremiah's excuses were "I do not know how to speak" and "I am only a child" (Jeremiah 1:6). I don't know how old Jeremiah was when God called him, but being young seems like a good reason to postpone being a prophet. However old he was though, God did not accept that as an excuse. In fact, God said, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you" (Jeremiah 1:7-8). As with Moses, God promised to tell him what to say. As with Moses, God promised to be with him. As with Moses, God sent him to a hostile audience. God did not promise that Jeremiah would not suffer for being a prophet, but he promised to rescue him. "Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," he assured Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:18-19). On the outside, it might look like Jeremiah was a failure because, on the whole, the kings and the nations did not listen to God's word through him. But in God's eyes he was successful because he completed the task God gave him; he fulfilled his calling; he was obedient. He did not let his original excuses - I don't know how to speak and I'm too young - hold him back. For reflection: How obedient am I to answering God's call? Do I trust God to give me the words to speak when I need them? Let us pray. Lord, here I am. I trust you not to call me to do anything you will not enable me to do. I place my trust in you. Let's return to the post of a few days ago about "Big Air". I'm still pondering the questions I posted for reflection: What is the new normal to which God is calling me? Where have I settled for less than God wants? What new moves does God want me to develop? Personally, I don't have any answers for those questions yet, but I feel like they are coming. I just need to be persistent in asking those questions of God and the answers will come. The scary thing about a new normal is that it means change. We always hope change is for the better, but sometimes it is not. Life changes bring a new normal: graduations, marriages, children, divorces, deaths, new jobs or no jobs. Storms can bring a new normal too, whether it's a tornado, hurricane, flood or drought. I believe, though, that we can trust that any new normal to which God calls us is ultimately for the better. For reflection: Let us continue to listen for the new normal to which God is calling us. Where does he want us to soar when we have only walked before? "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19) Let us pray. Jesus, to what new things are you calling me? I want your normal to be my normal. Snowboarding, free skiing and other events have been added to the Olympic games in recent years. These are sports that only developed recently. People invented these sports. They invented the equipment; they invented the moves. Someone did it first and then spread the word. Usually these innovators are young people who are willing to try anything. They don't have a fear of failure (or many times a fear of death). When they get to a certain age, they retire from the sport to get married, raise families and pursue other dreams. They settle down; live normal lives. I'm not sure as Christians that we should settle down and live normal lives. We should be the ones trying new things in the Spirit, finding new ways to achieve healing, working miracles to feed the hungry and house the homeless, even raising the dead. We should be the ones soaring above the earth in the Spirit, being transported supernaturally to other places, getting "big air". These are radical things in the Spirit today which for Christians should be the new normal. For reflection: What is the new normal to which God is calling me? Where have I settled for less than God wants? What new moves does God want me to develop? Let us pray. Jesus, in you all things are possible. I want to know you and the power of your resurrection. I don't want to settle for less than you have planned for me and will enable me to do. I want to keep pressing on toward that to which you have called me. With you I have no fear.(based on Matthew 19:26, Ephesians 3:10, 13-14 and 1 John 4:18). "He'll have to change his mindset for this race," the speed skating commentator said as another group prepared for a qualifying race. The young people in the Olympics are often described as envisioning their entire routine before they take to the ice or the slopes. They've been taught to picture themselves perfectly executing their routine, their race, their downhill run. If they can't picture it, they won't attain it. To return to the sports world, for many years no one ran a mile in under 4 minutes. It was thought to be impossible, until someone did it (Roger Bannister). The bar was raised and runners began to think in terms of less than 4 minutes. We too can raise the bar of what we expect God to accomplish through our lives and in our world by putting on the mind of Christ and remembering that he can do more than we can ask or imagine Of the 12 sons of Jacob, 9 had conspired to sell Joseph into slavery. Another one participated in the cover up. It was a terrible sin, but they were forgiven both by Joseph and by God. From those 12 came the nation of Israel. God did not choose 12 men who were without sin, he chose 12 who knew the power of forgiveness. Forgiveness restored the relationship of the brothers to Joseph. Forgiveness restored the relationship of the guilty sons to their father. They had lied to their father and kept it secret for many years. No doubt if Joseph had not forgiven his brothers, his father would not have forgiven them either. Forgiveness saved their lives. Had Joseph not forgiven them, they never could have gotten the food in Egypt that saved them from the famine. For reflection: Forgiveness still has that power today. It has the power to restore relationships and save lives. It has power across miles, across generations, across time, death and eternity. Whom do I need to forgive? Let us pray. Father, I thank you for showing me the way to forgiveness. It is possible to even forgive people who have tried to kill me, or who wished me dead, or who have lied to me for years. With your help, I choose to forgive. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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