It's Labor Day and I have been at the local Labor Day Festival for the last two days. It’s great to get out and see people having fun, riding the rides, playing the midway games, winning a few stuffed animals, eating all kinds of food, and playing some bingo. On Friday I helped the local Church collect the money for Bingo because they were shorthanded. Amazingly, every table in my section won while I was working. Thank you, Jesus, for their fortune. It was fun to see them all
win. Numbers 3:5 - 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him. They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. They are to take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle." To take care of the tabernacle was their work. To offer worship was the work of Aaron and his sons. Anyone else who tried to approach the tabernacle was to be put to death (Numbers 3:10, 38). So I guess it is not so odd that when I sit down to pray I think of it as my work. I ask, What are going to do today, Jesus? And I think of that as working together. We are supposed to be co-workers, co-laborers in the vineyard, but I hadn’t thought so much about being co-laborers at prayer time. However, it is true that not everything is accomplished by physical work; much is also accomplished by spiritual work. So, Jesus, what are we going to do today?
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Just when you think you've hit rock bottom, someone will hand you a shovel. So says author Jill Shalvis in one of her books. And I find this to be true in life myself. Life has not been easy the last several months. I try to stay positive in the face of adversity of all kinds by reading Scripture, reading Christian books with a positive, re-affirming outlook, and praying regularly. But then someone will bring me down with a thud. All it takes is a little criticism, a little "you did what?", and I've fallen off that positive plateau. Someone has handed me a shovel and I'm digging myself in deeper with a whole series of negative, life-draining thoughts. But when I fall into that pity party pit, I climb out as fast as I can by pulling out my Bible, phoning someone who will be affirming, putting on some music or going for a walk. Why hang out in the pit when you can be on the pinnacle? "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of eveil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." Ephesians 6:10-13 In Mark's Gospel (chapter 4) Jesus tells a story about a mustard seed. Mustard seeds are tiny, but they grow into large plants. Jesus used the story to illustrate how the kingdom of God starts small and grows bigger. But the parable can also be applied to us. No matter how small in stature, or insignificant in life we may think we are, God can use us for big things. In fact, St. Paul says the same thing. "Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something" (1 Corinthians 1:26-28).
Put yourself at God's disposal through prayer. Listen to him. Let him lead you in what he wants you to do. I assure you he has an assignment for you. Many times I have heard people say that God cannot possibly love them. Scripture, however, tells us that is not true. God does love us. In fact, nothing can separate us from Christ's love. We may not feel Christ's love; we may not think we are worthy of his love; we may not think we deserve his love. He loves us anyway.
St. Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, reflected on this very matter. "What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35, 37-39 We may have done terrible things. God doesn't love the terrible things, but God loves us. His love endures forever. (Psalm 136) Rest in his love. Today the church celebrates Pentecost - the special visitation of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples (see Acts 2:1-41). This empowering by Holy Spirit made fearful men and women bold. It gave them a surety in their belief in Jesus as Messiah that they did not have before. They went from being followers of Jesus to leaders of men.
Peter, the one who had claimed not to even know Jesus, got up and gave a speech to an international gathering of Jews. He quoted a rather lengthy passage of Scripture from the prophet Joel which promised that the Spirit would be poured out on all people and those people would be able to see visions and dream dreams. Have you been filled with the Spirit? Do you have visions and dreams? If not, ask God now to send His Holy Spirit to you in a special way and empower you to see and dream what He wants you to see and dream. God is able to "to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). To Him be the glory. Often we hesitate to ask others for help. Speaking for myself, I am generally reluctant to ask for help, but I'm getting better at it. Really, there is no reason not to ask others for help. Even Moses needed help. Because he had a speech impediment, Aaron spoke to Pharaoh for him. Of course, that would look awkward in the movies, so the movies don't show Moses that way.
In Exodus 17, during a battle with the Amalekites, Moses got help again. Ex 17:11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up - one on one side, one on the other - so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. If Moses is not ashamed to get help from others, we should not be ashamed to ask for help either. In fact, I am quite grateful for the many people who have helped me over the last several months. Many, many have prayed (and continue to pray) for me. Some have made donations of money or given in-kind donations. Others have offered words of encouragement, or even just ask how I am doing. I appreciate all of them. If you would like prayer, I hope you will email me. I will respond with a prayer by email. I attended a conference last week, the title of which was "Embracing Grace". There were some reflections on grace, of course, but I didn't hear anyone define grace. To me grace is the empowerment of God. God gives us power to believe, power to accept salvation, power to pray, power to live as his disciples. Without his grace, we would be unable to do any of those things.
St. Paul mentions grace quite a bit in his letters. Ephesians 2: 4-9 is one notable example: Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God, by grace, made us alive when we were dead. God seated us in the heavenly realms with Christ. And having made us (for we are God's workmanship), he graces us to do good works. God's grace is the power to live, to believe, to do as he wants. Just as we are never alone, we are never given a task which we are unable to accomplish Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 Well, what a promise. No matter what is standing in our way, with the power and the love of Jesus, we can conquer it. What is separating us from God's full, complete love? For many of us it is something from our past - broken relationships, hatred, disappointment, or loss of love and respect. What is it for you? That person, or that situation, is not meant to separate us from the full, complete love of Christ. We must choose to forgive. Choose to let go by turning that person or situation over to Jesus. Then we can picture Jesus standing between us and that person or situation. Or we can ask Jesus where he is in a certain situation. He is always there to help us get closer to him. With him we are more than conquerors. |
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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