My Soul Thirsts For The Lord

"As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
    the face of God?"
                  Psalm 42:1-2 NRSV

Life can get pretty confusing at times. Which way to go? When I get like this, and I do at times, I remind myself to seek the Lord. There is only one way to go and that is to the Lord. I long to see His face more fully; to hear and understand His Word and His will more completely. I long to be more fully in His presence; to see Him face to face.

There is only one who can satisfy our thirsty souls. Seek the Lord and His Kingdom and He will show you the way to eternal peace in His presence.

God's Peace - Pr. J

John 7:37-39 Thirsty?

John 7:37-39 NIV
"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me." (vs 37)

Is there anyone who is not thirsty? Jesus came that we might all drink of him; that all of our thirsts might be satisfied. But, I am warning you... if you drink of him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, from your heart there shall also flow living waters to help quench the thirsty souls of others. You will no longer have to or want to be seeking those things that do not satisfy. You will not be wasting time chasing false gods. You will want others to have what you have. You will want them to have and to know Jesus. Have a blessed day and drink deeply of the water and eat of the bread which satisfies the longing soul.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Hosea 4 - Hear the Charge of the LORD....

"Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
    because the Lord has a charge to bring
    against you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love,
    no acknowledgment of God in the land.
There is only cursing, lying and murder,
    stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds,    and bloodshed follows bloodshed." (Hosea 4:1-2 NIV)

God, through His prophet, reproves the people. When I read this chapter this morning, I couldn't help but be reminded of how so many things are today: no faithfulness to God; no love, except for self; so very little acknowledgment of God in the land; and lots of cursing, lying and murder. 

Our young people don't even know what it means to curse. You can teach them. But, they refuse to learn. "Everybody does it," I am told. "It means nothing. It's just a way of talking." I've heard lies which we justified later with these two letters "JK." They were Just Kidding! And... adultery! No one even seems to have a clue what adultery is because so many participate in adultery that it is common practice and is "just the way it is."

Where has this all left us? In turmoil and chaos, looking for something. Always hungry. Always thirsty. Put aside your false idols that cannot satisfy and turn to the LORD who loves you; then you will be satisfied and will live in His peace.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Job 38 - 39 - God's in Charge - Not Job - Not Us

Out of the storm, the LORD speaks to Job.  He reminds Job that it is He who is God, not Job.  He puts him (and us) in his place.

Sometimes, we all need reminding that it is God who is in charge.  It is God who created and continues to care for all of creation.  Sometimes, we forget this and start thinking we know better than God how to care for ourselves, for our congregations, for His whole creation.

A rule of thumb that I have for doing ministry is that if it does not bring glory to God, if it does not help, but rather hinders the growth of the church, then it is probably our will and not God's that we're doing.

We are not gods to be served and to be given everything we want.  We are servants of the Most High God.  It would do us and the whole world well to remember that.  It's not about us.  It's about God.  It's about Jesus.  We're not the center of the universe.  God is.  Remember that it is He who should be first in all things. We are called to serve Him and most often we are called to serve Him by serving others, by bringing the Good News of the Kingdom in Jesus Christ to a hungry and thirsty world.

I'm rambling this morning.  Sorry.  Here's a good place to remind everyone of the purpose for this blog.  It is simply to help you on your journey through the Holy Scriptures. We read it together daily.  The blog is only my immediate response to what I have read. What I think is not the end all. What is important is that you sift through what you have read in God's word and get to know this God of ours a little better, even a little more intimately.

May God bless your day and grant you His peace - Pr. J

Job 22 - Search Our Own Heart

Eliphaz makes some very good points here.  But, we don't know Job.  Even if we were there, we wouldn't truly know Job. Like Eliphaz, it's not our place to figure out why Job is enduring such hardship, but to help him in his time of need.  It not our place to judge Job.  We can't know Job, what is in his heart.  But, we can know ourselves.  Do we demand interest from our relatives, adding hardship to hardship?  Do we leave the hungry without food and the thirsty without water?  How are we treating the widow and orphan these days?  How are we helping?  How are we hindering?

At Zion, our annual Toys 4 Tots Concert will be held on the last Sunday of October.  We have so much fun at it - bringing toys and raising funds so that all of the children of Baraga County (one of the counties with highest unemployment in the country) will receive gifts this Christmas.  This will be our 10th Concert for the children.  In all that time, I have never seen or heard of any strife coming out of the concert or in the organizing of it.  It is, for those who participate (the music is great!) and attend, a joy to be able to reach out and give to the children. 

As we search our own hearts, and maybe our pasts.  When was it that you were most happy?  In giving?  In reaching out to others?  Or in serving yourself? It is not in our job descriptions to judge our neighbors.  We can only search our own hearts and following in the footsteps of Jesus reach out to our neighbors in need.

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."  (Matt 35:36 NIV)

God's Peace - Pr. J