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Tag Archive - God

Asking For Directions

May 10, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

A summer visitor was asking a local farmer how to get off Southport Island in Maine and find his way back to Boothbay Harbor. The farmer began to explain how to find the road back to the bridge.

The visitor insisted, “But I didn’t cross any bridge to get here.”

The Farmer looked at him skeptically and replied, “Well, now, if you didn’t cross any bridge, then you ain’t here in the first place, so you got nothing to worry about.”

Most of us, including myself, when faced with a particular situation or problem, want God to get us out of our mess. We just want some simple directions so we can get on our way. The problem is that God wants to give us a solution when we just want a quick fix. He wants to deal with how we got there in the first place and not just how to get us out. Whether it concerns our salvation or a need in our family or personal life, God wants to show us the root of the problem. However, we don’t want to face the problem of how we got into our predicament or what we really need to do. We just want our problem fixed.

Our God is not a dispenser of quick fixes or easy answers. He always wants to work on the heart of the matter. He does this because He loves us and knows what we really need. He wants to give us His best and not just something to get by.

So, the next time we ask God for directions, listen carefully. He might just know what He is talking about.

““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. ” (Isaiah 55:8, NIV)

Please Leave a Message?!

May 4, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

A little over two years ago, (March 2009), Dutch artist Johan van der Dong decided God needed a telephone number. So, he got him one. He bought a cell phone number and set up the voice mail to show that God was “available anywhere and anytime.” “In earlier times you would go to a church to say a prayer,” Dong said in an interview, “and now [this is an] opportunity to just make a phone call and say your prayer in a modern way.”

It seems a lot of people appreciate the opportunity Dong has afforded them with his “divine hotline.” Within one week, over 1,000 people left God a message.

There is a little irony with Dong’s idea. He set all of this up to convey that God was available, yet when you call the number for God, this is what you hear on the other side of the line: “This is the voice of God. I am not able to speak to you at the moment, but please leave a message.” And to make matters worse, Dong only kept the line open for six months.

How do you connect with God? Do you think that reaching Him is a lot like reaching a human in customer service? Do you think He so busy that He’ll have to get back to you? (If at all.)

I think we first have to remember that He is always available. We don’t have to leave a message. We simply need to understand that He is far more willing to hear our prayers than we are to say them. You don’t have to call or text Him. You simply have to turn to Him with a humble heart, willing to hear what He has to say.

“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV)

sources: Associated Press, “Dutch leave messages on God phone,” www.newsvote.bbc.co.uk (3-7-09), and Reuters, “Leave God a message at his Dutch answering service,” www.reuters.com (3-2-09)

Quick Fixes

February 23, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

Bob Curran was hurrying to work one rainy morning when his defroster suddenly quit working. Unable to proceed with a foggy windshield, Bob stopped his old pickup truck. He was not surprised to discover that a fuse had blown. He looked in the glove compartment and in his tool box, but he could not find a fuse. However, underneath the seat, he found a .22 caliber bullet. He had no doubt dropped it during a recent camping trip. To his delight the shell fit the fuse holder perfectly.

Congratulating himself on his ingenious solution, he hurried on to work with a clear windshield. He did get to work eventually, but he did have to make a short detour that morning. He had to go to the emergency room of the city hospital. It seems that he had to have a .22 caliber slug removed from his knee. Bob’s brilliant solution had literally backfired on him.

When it comes to the problems of life how often do we try to find quick fixes. Our hearts feel empty, so we try to fill them with the things this world says will fill them. We fill our lives with more and more stuff, more activity, more busyness, more of what the world says we need or deserve. These might work for a while, but sooner or later they backfire on us. The longing of our hearts is for God and can only be filled by Him. As Augustine, a leader in the early church, once said, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.” Acceptance by the crowd, material possessions, even physical pleasure can temporarily dull the gnawing of our souls, but only God can satisfy.

I suppose that is why Jesus told us in John 14:6,

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ” (John 14:6, NIV84)

Bargain Hunter

February 16, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

One day a man drove into a service station. He said he was out of money, out of gas and just needed to get to the next town a few miles down the road. The generous owner offered to put a few gallons in his car. The man hesitated and then asked, “Could you give me the money instead? The station across the street is cheaper.”

Even though we are not surprised at this fellow’s ungrateful attitude, it still bothers us that someone would be like that. I am certain that most of us would send him on his way without gasoline or money.

Let us not be so quick to judge. We at times come to God, broken and poor in spirit, and ask for help. God, who is compassionate and generous, offers to fill our lives with what we really need, His very self. Then we respond, “Really God, all I wanted was a little blessing to get me along. Just give me a little peace so I can go somewhere else where the commitment is a little cheaper.”

We need to be careful when looking for spiritual bargains. We could very well end up with nothing. Just as I think our friend probably ended up without gas or money, we could lose our blessings and God. Not because He gets mad and says, “Forget it!” It is because He cannot give less than the best and the best is Himself.

Our problem is, to paraphrase C. S. Lewis, that God wants to give us more and we too often settle for less.

Unconditional Love

February 11, 2011 in humor with 0 Comments

Maxie Dunnam tells the story of an elderly man who began spending a significant amount of time with an elderly woman. Neither had ever married and had lived alone for many years. Gradually the old gentleman recognized a real attachment to her but was shy and afraid to reveal to her his feelings. After many days of anxiety and fear, he finally mustered up the courage to declare his intentions. He went over to her home and after a few bumbling words, in a nervous frenzy blurted out “Let’s get married!!”
Surprised, she threw up her hands and shouted, “It’s a wonderful idea to think about, but who in the world would have us?”

With Valentine’s day coming next week, when our thoughts are supposed to turn to love, let us remember that there is one who will love us no matter what. Even when we cannot find someone that will have us, God will. It matters not who we are or where we’ve been or what we’ve done, God loves us and is willing to have us if we turn to Him.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ” (Romans 5:8, NIV84)

Magnets

November 20, 2009 in Daily Faith, General with 0 Comments

Electromagnet

In the book, Arabian Nights, Sinbad the Sailor warns his shipmates about a great magnetic rock in the Indian Ocean that is so powerful that it draws all the nails and bolts out of passing ships. The ships literally fall apart and sink. Sinbad tells his shipmates that they were to steer clear of that rock lest they lose their lives.

This world has a magnetic pull on us as Christians. It draws us away from God’s heart. The world distracts and entices us. Gradually pulling us out of the circle of God’s loving embrace. It draws us away from Christian fellowship and from spending time with God. The influence of this world loosens the nails and bolts that holds our lives and our families together. Our lives are pulled apart.

However, there is another magnet. When Christ resides in our hearts, we have an internal magnet that can pull us together. That magnet is stronger than the pull of the world’s magnet, but it’s like an electromagnet. It has to have a power source. And worship is what powers that magnet.

The magnet powered by worship pulls all the pieces of our lives together. Public and private worship holds us together in a world that wants to pull us apart. Worship is not a waste of time. Worship is what makes the rest of our time make sense. It holds together all our loose ends of our fragmented lives.

Don’t let the world pull you apart. Spend time with God in worship and your life will hold together.

ARE YOU PUZZLED?

November 11, 2009 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

puzzlePiece All afternoon a little boy tried to put together a puzzle, his birthday gift from his father. Some of the pieces were bright, some dark; some seemed to go together, others seemed to fit nowhere. Finally, frustrated, tired and with nothing to show for his efforts, the boy gathered the pieces, put them in the box, and gave it to his dad. “I can’t do it,” he explained. “You try it.” To his amazement, his father assembled the entire puzzle in a few minutes.
“You see,” said the boy’s father, “I knew what the picture was like all the time. I saw the picture in the puzzle, but you saw only the pieces.”

Our lives are full of pieces. We have our work, our family responsibilities, our children’s activities, community activities, church and about a million other things that demand our time and energy. Life is demanding, exhausting, and can be very frustrating. Then, on top of all this comes the unexpected and the unplanned. The car breaks down, someone gets sick or tragedy happens.
I believe that the exhaustion and frustration of life come not from the busyness of life, but rather on our focus. We stare at the pieces: random and scattered. None of it makes sense because nothing looks like it goes together.
We need to realize that, just like the boy’s father, our Heavenly Father sees the whole picture. He understands how it all fits together. Trust in God is not just about going to Heaven. It’s also about making sense of the pieces of our lives.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28

Don’t Miss the Game!

October 28, 2009 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

Don Larsen

When Leith Anderson, a pastor from Eden, Minnesota, was a boy, he was an avid fan of the former Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1956, Leith’s father took him to game 5 of the World Series between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited that he would finally get to see his beloved Dodgers defeat the Yankees. Leith’s hopes were crushed as he watched the game. The didn’t win. They didn’t get a run. They never even got on base.
Years later, Leith was conversing with a man who was virtually a sports encyclopedia. He spoke of his disappointment with the game. The man responded to Leith’s bemoaning with amazement and enthusiasm. “You were at that game? That was the game in which Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in all of World Series history?”
All those years Leith had so focused on his own disappointment, he failed to realize the significance of what he had seen. He was there, but he missed the game.

As we look at our lives, too often we focus on what is going on in our lives. Our only interest is in what God is doing for us. Our concern is in how He is meeting our needs or working in our lives.
The reality is that what He is doing around us might be of more significance in our lives than we might imagine. Quite possibly what God is doing around us may be more important that what He is doing for us. And by focusing on ourselves, we miss something incredible. Our disappointment in what God is not doing for us may keep us from seeing the wonder of what He is doing in our world.