Not About To Abandon Us Now

 

"And do you not remember?

When I broke the fives loaves

   for the five thousand,

how many baskets 

  full of broken pieces

            did you take up?"

They said to Him,

            "Twelve."

           Mark 8. 18-19

Do we recall all those times

   when God did not just show up,

   but He beat us here,

       the table already set?

   Over and over again.

Even among His disciples,

Jesus had to point out 

they took up 

   twelve baskets of leftovers,

   ironically one for each of them.

God's faithfulness is so immense

  we can't even count that high.

God gives each of us

     a chronicle of His faithfulness

                        in indelible ink.

He is not about 

      to abandon us now.

Do not fear.  I am with you.

Even in the hard stuff.

O LORD,

You have taken care of us

        in the past.

You are caring for us now.

You carry us into what is next.

Help us to know

    You've also got us

         in this particular situation,

not with just barely enough,

  but twelve baskets full.

Finding Something More In The Midst Of It

 

Blessed is the one

   who considers the poor!

            Psalm 41. 1

The needy, the weak,

    the helpless, the lean,

appear in many dimensions,

even among those 

  we would never suspect.

The poor are not restricted 

to physical and financial lack,

but perhaps even more,

  to find oneself relationally weak.

That is where, when and how

  we can do something

        to strengthen another.

Not just to pay attention 

    to those around us,

    but attend to them

             (same root word).

Call and response.

O LORD,

Open our eyes and our hearts

   not just to need,

but how we can follow You into it.

Reveal our way through

   that we may solve, resolve,

   and encourage others

           out of the miry bog

           or pothole of despair.

You multiply kindness across the board

to aid the helpless and hopeless

   in their day of trouble.

And we find Your blessing there.

   

Hey, It's Me!

 

But immediately,

He spoke to them and said,

"Take heart.  It is I.

  Do not be afraid."

And He got into 

        the boat with them,

and the wind ceased.

            Mark 6. 50-51

For the 40 days of Lent this year,

I am giving up fear and anxiety.

And while it seems at first

   to invite even more worries,

God is leading me through,

  how to respond differently

  when they rush through the door

and take up every chair in my heart.

When we take Jesus at His word,

    "Hey, I'm right here.

     Do not be afraid,"

the wind ceases

  and He brings His peace to it.

O LORD,

We are caught in storms

  and struggles

  and what in the world

            is going on?

And You assure us,

   it is You working 

    something mighty here

of which we are unaware.

Help us to trust You in it

   and not be afraid of it.

Because fear distracts us,

and we miss out

     on Your wonders here.

Bake Extra Loaves

But He answered them,

"You give them something

              to eat."

..."How many loaves

                do you have?

Go and see."

       Mark 6. 37-38

We cry out,

"Oh God, do something!"

And He replies to us,

"I have.

 That's why I put you there."

The ancient saints

   are all depicted

   with something in their hands,

what marked their lives,

their way of ministering

   to those around them

and to whom God positioned

                on their paths.

God uses us to bless others

    and change the world.

What has God called me to

        in this day?

May we be aware of the loaves

   God has placed in our hands.

May we ask God's blessing

   on what we have, what we do,

and how we can love others,

  even in desperate situations.

And God multiplies exponentially.

How many loaves do we have?

In God's hands,

          more than enough.

O LORD,

Reveal Yourself to us, today,

in opportunities to bless others,

to feed them in their hungers,

to come alongside

    even in the everydays,

to bring Your blessing

  in barren places of the soul.

Help us to bake extra loaves,

    come prepared

and share generously

          Your love and grace,

no matter where 

    You guide us today.

We ask Your blessing.

But we also ask

     that we may bless You.

 

Don't Go There

 

....unclean to you.

        Leviticus 11. 4

Not the words we want to hear.

Yet perhaps the ones

    we need to hear,

despite all our excuses:

     No one will know.

     Everyone is doing it.

     It won't hurt me,

         nor anyone else.

And our adversary's favorite

          "It won't matter."

But yet, unclean to you

    or detestable to you 

is repeated 42 times 

  in the 47 verses of chapter 11.

Not all things are helpful,

  some will trip us up,

  some will enslave.

Be aware of ambushes.

When God tells us,

           "Don't go there,"

     stop in the name of love.

Our lives depend on it.

And so does our witness.

Trusting God builds strength

to resist the shiny distractions

  and avoid crater-size potholes.

O LORD,

We are so blind to the 

   consequences of downright sin.

We call our rebelliousness 

   a lot of things,

like mistakes, misunderstandings,

   accidents, or I-didn't-mean-to's.

What is unclean to us

   -- the next wrong thing--

impacts not just us,

but generations after us

and our witness among others.

LORD, grant to us Your strength

   to walk with You

through this day,

       our eyes on You.

That which is good and gracious

 and honorable in Your sight

      reverberates forever.

Right Here In The Boat With Us

 

And they woke Him

and said to Him,

"Teacher, do you not care

  that we are perishing?"

And He awoke and

rebuked the wind

and said to the sea,

"Peace!  Be still!"

And the wind ceased,

and there was great calm.

He said to them,

"Why are you so afraid?

Have you still no faith?"

        Mark 4. 38-40

The disciples asked Jesus

the most ridiculous question:

    "Don't you even care?"

And Jesus replied

      also with a question,

"Why are you so afraid?"

He's right here in the boat with us.

Faith is not a chosen list of beliefs,

but conviction 

and confidence in the Almighty.

He asks us, "Did you think

I would not take care of you?

      Trust Me in this."

O LORD,

You do not promise us

   that life will not be hard.

You did not say

   that we will be in control,

            but You are.

You are with us,

even in all manner of storms.

Help us to sleep like You.

 

www.nightlytea.blogspot.com

The Grand Imprinting Of Our Souls

 

And Moses and Aaron went

      into the tent of meeting,

and when they came out

  they blessed the people,

and the glory of the LORD

appeared to all the people.

         Leviticus 9. 23

Worshipping God matters

          in all forms

whether in our work,

  our service,

  how we treat others,

or even in going to church. 

When we worship the LORD,

we cannot help 

    but be changed by Him,

even in the very act of 

            worshipping.

Worship is a coming before,

a submitting to,

a trusting in,

and communing with 

          the Almighty God.

He refreshes

  and aligns our hearts with His,

and thereby blesses all those

   around us and through us.

His glory infiltrates the day.

O LORD,

At the start of the day

and all the way through,

when we worship You,

we are not just mindful of You,

  but You implant in us

  the mind of Christ.

Whatever we worship changes us.

       May we worship You.

We see circumstances

    with a new heart.

We treat others with

   Your love and grace.

Worship is manifest

  in our comings and goings.

We see opportunities

       to serve You

in whatever we do today.

 

www.nightlytea.blogspot.com