Resurrection Strength

Psalm 27:14 Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you! Be brave, stouthearted, and courageous. Yes, wait and he will help you. (the Living Bible Paraphrase)

How brave would you feel as a disciple following the resurrection? Although you had seen the Risen Lord, still in your mind was the trauma of Christ’s arrest and crucifixion. In fact, immediately  following the resurrection we read in John 20:19 “In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples had met together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood right in the middle of them and said, “Peace be with you!”

For those first disciples fear was uppermost in their minds into which Jesus shed his peace.

John Ortberg, a christian author has said, “What God does in us while we wait is as important as what we are waiting for”. If we truly understand this, we might be able to wait in peace. God knows what he is doing and he uses the time of waiting for preparing us for what is to come.”

Waiting in peace is possible when we surrender our plan for our lives to God and accept God’s plan and timing for us. We just need to know that God’s will for us is the ultimate good. No matter how long it might take.

Rest in God’s arms while you’re waiting. And know that you’re more than enough. You’re a beautiful child of God. Be filled with hope, faith, and love. Wait in peace and be strong, let your heart take courage.

Gracious God,
Forgive us for being impatient
and trying to manipulate you to give us what we want.
Thank you for loving us even when we try to force you to obey us.
We surrender our will, our dreams, our plans to you.
May only your will happen in our lives, Lord.
Enable us to wait in peace.
Pour our grace upon grace, hope upon hope,
and anything else we need to wait in peace and joy.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Resurrection Strength

Lamentations 3:25-26 The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Today, our text adds to resurrection waiting as to how we should wait; quietly. What is important is to realise that our God waits with us. In the Old Testament we have the verse that says, “Your God is present among you, a strong Warrior there to save you. Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love and delight you with his songs.” Zephaniah 3:17

The sound of silence can be troubling and unnerving. But the sound of silence is also necessary for our faith and confidence in Christ to grow and help us truly live for the Lord despite our circumstances.

Author Kathleen Norris used to play a game with primary-school children in which she would make a deal with them. “First you get to make noise,” she would bargain, “and then you’ll make silence.”

The time of noise was always predictable chaotic—shouting, pounding and stomping like a football team exploding out of a locker room. But the period of silence that followed was unexpectedly passionate and creative. When the children were asked to write about it, reflects Norris, “their images often had a depth and maturity that was unlike anything they wrote.”

One boy discovered that “Silence is a tree spreading its branches to the sun.”

One 9 year-old’s poem turned into a prayer, “Silence is spiders spinning their webs; it’s like a silkworm making its silk. Lord, help me to know when to be silent.”

And a little girl offered a gem of spiritual wisdom that Norris finds herself returning to when her life becomes too noisy and distracting: “Silence reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go.”

Prayer

Whispering God, who longs for us to hear your voice, and waits in the sheer silence for us to recognise your presence, meet me in this quiet moment. Silent my loud, tumultuous thoughts, and grant my brain rest. Help me let go of my distractions, and my desire to be distracted, to simply sit here with you. And, as the silence unsettles my spirit, let the waves of your peace and presence wash over me. Amen.  

Resurrection Strength

In continuing with this theme of this post resurrection waiting, we seek help from Paul’s writing to the Romans  where he gives some good advice, “Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. When trials come endure them patiently, steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer.” (12:12 J B Philips paraphrase)

It is how we wait that is important; patiently, steadfastly and prayerfully. What Paul is talking about here is to remain the kind of abiding Jesus spoke about to remain in him even is facing misfortunes and trials by holding fast to one's faith in Christ. It could be said that the very essence of staying focused is the avoidance of distractions. The culprit is not the obvious, but the subtle. The diversions we most easily rationalise are the most dangerous.

Martin Luther, a sixteenth-century monk, and a deeply pious man, led Christ’s Church into the Protestant Reformation. The collection of conversations he had with his students, entitled Table Talk, includes this quote about praying with ceasing as we are commanded in scripture. Martin Luther tells us that even the busiest of us can bolster our faith by remaining in God’s presence, even while working.

Luther said, “There is no Christian who does not have time to pray without ceasing. But I mean the spiritual praying, that is; no one is so heavily burdened with his labor, but that if he will, he can, while working, speak with God in his heart, lay before Him his need and that of other men, ask for help, make petition, and in all this exercise and strengthen his faith.”

Loving Father, thank You for the Word of God and the godly instructions that are laid out for the Church in the epistles of Paul. Please help me to rejoice in hope, endure in tribulation, and persevere in prayer, as I wait in the your presence. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Resurrection Strength

Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.

Much of a disciple’s devotion to duty can be found in those times where waiting is the task of the moment. The Easter Season is as much a time of waiting as that of Advent. Waiting can lead to a sense of frustration and a sense of impatience, but the secret of discipleship waiting is how and who we wait upon. 

The words for wait in the Hebrew bible have an interesting connotation. They can mean to bind together or collect; to expect or  gather together, even to look and wait  patiently, tarry.

A girl had a pretty little piggy bank. Her father wanted to teach her about saving, so he talked to her about putting her money into a savings account at their bank. He very carefully explained to her that when she put money into her account, the bank would pay her interest on her money and that her money would grow that way.

The big day came. They went to the bank. She gave her piggy bank to the woman opening her account. Then she just stood there and stared at the woman. "Is there something else I can do for you?" the woman asked.

The little girl answered, "No, I’m just waiting on my interest!”

The girl didn’t understand that there was a delay between sowing her money in that account and reaping the harvest of her interest.

Vaneetha Rendall Risner, in the book  ‘The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us in Suffering’ writes “This is the most precious answer God can give us: wait. It makes us cling to him rather than to an outcome. God knows what I need; I do not. He sees the future; I cannot. His perspective is eternal; mine is not. He will give me what is best for me when it is best for me.” 

Father, thank You for Your promise that as I wait upon You, You will renew my strength with a second wind and enable me to rise up with wings like an eagle. Help me to shake off my weariness and take hold of Your strength. I declare that I am coming out stronger, higher, and better off. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.” 

 

Easter 4

 Glory to you, O Christ:

by your death you have destroyed death

and by your resurrection you have brought life and immortality to light

Jesus appears to the Two on the Road to Emmaus 

 The ones whose eyes were opened 

 

Risen Lord, though we have listened to the stories of your resurrection many times - walk with us on our journey and reveal yourself afresh in the fellowship of word and table.

Alleluia. Christ is risen 

He is risen indeed. Alleluia

1 The Highway of heartbreak 

The dirt track of doubt

The weight of each foot step

What is this about?

2 We’d followed the master

Hung on each sweet word

And now its disaster,

“Yet haven’t you heard?”

3 We’re joined by a stranger

Who seemed not to know

Of all that had happened

How we’d been brought low.

4 With wisdom relating

The stranger foretold

Of scriptures revealing

Of truths deep rich gold.

5 Our journey now over

Had come to an end.

The stranger made ready

His own way to wend.

6 We pressed him to join us

Our table to share

A morsel of comfort

Some modest affair.

7 He took bread in blessing

Our hearts then did stir.

It’s him, our dear Master

Our eyes now unblurred.

8 With that he now left us

Our joy now complete

We couldn’t run faster

Disciples to greet.

Resurrection Strength

Philippians 3:15-16 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.

Some of our deeds are of great value, especially those done in dependence upon God for His glory and honour. Some of our deeds are worthless. They accomplish nothing of eternal value and will be quickly forgotten after we are gone.

Matt Emmons had the gold medal in sight. He was one shot away from claiming victory in the 2004 Olympic 50-meter three-position rifle event. He didn't even need a bull's-eye to win. His final shot merely needed to be on target.

Normally, the shot he made would have received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal. But in what was described as "an extremely rare mistake in elite competition," Emmons fired at the wrong target. Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three. His score for a good shot at the wrong target? -- 0. Instead of a medal, Emmons ended up in eighth place. It doesn't matter how accurate you are if you are aiming at the wrong goal. 

Paul expects his readers to join him in pursuing Christ above all else. He believes so strongly that this is the correct approach that he leaves no room for excuses. If anyone did not agree, Paul's hope was that God would change his or her mind. 

These words are important for one primary reason. The goal of becoming more Christ-like does not apply only to Christian leaders.  It is to be the goal of every believer. The path Paul provided was the expectation for every Christian, in the church at Philippi, as well as our own congregations today. As believers, we are taught to consider everything in life worthless in comparison with knowing Christ and becoming more like Him. There are a variety of gifts and callings, but there is only one attitude to have when it comes to growing spiritually: pursue Christ above all else.

Father,
help us to understand the meaning
of your Son's death and resurrection,
and teach us to reflect it in our lives.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. AMEN

Resurrection Strength

Philippians 1:21 (Amplified Bible) “For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity]”

This verse offers some of the most memorable words in the entire Bible: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Regardless of whether the verdict of his case was life or death, Paul would remain faithful to God. He knew that life on this earth meant to live for Christ, but death would be even better because he would be in the presence of the Lord. Paul was in no hurry to die, since it was important to him to spread the gospel as far as possible.

On the 7th of September, 1850, seven British missionaries set sail from Liverpool. Under the leadership of Captain Allen Francis Gardiner — a decorated veteran of the Royal Navy — they were bound for Patagonia, at the southernmost tip of South America. They had six months of provisions and high hopes for the work of the gospel and the kingdom of God. Yet the trip ended in total failure. The natives were hostile. The climate was harsh and unforgiving. The resupply ship failed to arrive until it was too late. And the missionaries died of starvation, one by one. 

The party’s surgeon was Richard Williams, and when the search party found his body, they also found his diary. The last page he ever wrote was a testimony to his undying faith in Jesus Christ. We can picture him huddled up in the hull of his little boat, suffering from sickness, and writing the following words as his last testament:

‘Should anything prevent my ever adding to this (diary), let my beloved ones at home rest assured that I was happy, beyond all expression, the night I wrote these lines, and would not have exchanged situations with any man living. Let them also be assured that my hopes were full and blooming with immortality, that Heaven and Love and Christ, which mean one and the same divine thing, were my soul; that the hope of glory filled my whole heart with joy and gladness; and that ‘TO ME to live is Christ and to die is gain.’” 

God of the first and the last,

and all those in between,

Your grace reaches out to all of us—

life-long believers or newcomers alike.

You call us to live as citizens of heaven,

to work together with one mind and one purpose,

to reach out in love to those in need.

Strengthen us so that we might live in a manner worthy

of the Good News we have received,

offering our lives to the building up of Your upside-down kingdom,

where the last are first, and the first are last,

and there is grace enough for all. Amen