God Is Here

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 

What burden is weighing heavy on your shoulders tonight? What turmoil did you leave at home? What worries do you face tomorrow?

God has not promised us an easy road. Trials are inevitable. Pain is real and ever-present.

But, He offers comfort in our troubles.  Relief in our turmoil.  Stillness.  Peace.  Rest.

Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; 

I will be exalted among the nations, 

I will be exalted in the earth.”

So often I get caught up in my circumstances, in my worry, that I find myself spinning in a vicious cycle of stress and anxiety – moving faster and faster, trying to put all of the pieces back together, trying to fix, to solve, to move the mountain in front of me!


And I forget to sit in the stillness of my Creator. To listen to His comforting words of love, of peace. To allow the tranquility of the moment to speak to my soul.

God IS here. He wants to speak to the brokenness of your heart, to lift your heavy burden, to ease your pain. We just need to still our hearts and our minds, and listen. Whether it is here in our choir room, singing in the sanctuary, driving in our cars, or kneeling at home – He is here.

Isaiah 32:16-18 

The LORD’s justice will dwell in the desert, 

his righteousness live in the fertile field. 

The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; 

its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. 

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, 

in secure homes, 

in undisturbed places of rest. 

In this moment, in this sanctuary, allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. 

He is here.

Heartbeat

Who remembers the sermon at PFB on Palm Sunday 2003?  Erik participated in the speaking that day, as each of the pastoral staff took a turn sharing a part of the Easter story.  At the end of his message, he showed a video – a video announcing that we would be welcoming Baby Waage in October of that year.  The video showed the first ultrasound photo of our precious Claire, and our PFB family heard the beautiful, strong heartbeat that was confirmation of God’s miraculous work in our family.

I will never forget hearing that heartbeat for the first time. Joy, excitement, wonder, relief…so many emotions flooded my senses. Those beautiful whooshing sounds gave me hope that my dream of motherhood would finally be fulfilled.

2000 years ago, into a world desperate for hope, came the most precious baby whose heartbeat meant not just the physical life of a great teacher, but everlasting life for those who proclaim Him as LORD.

Isaiah 42:1-4 foretells this great hope: 

Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.

He is my chosen one, who pleases me.

I have put my Spirit upon him.

He will bring justice to the nations.

He will not shout

or raise his voice in public.

He will not crush the weakest reed

or put out a flickering candle.

He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.

He will not falter or lose heart

until justice prevails throughout the earth.

And his name will be the hope of all the world.

1 Peter 1:3 speaks of the hope that we have as believers: 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…

Titus 2:13 talks about our hope for the future:

…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…

Hope. We rejoice in its blessed promise for our lives both now and for eternity.  And we live in a world that is still desperate to hear that special heartbeat that can offer hope for the future.  What a gift we have to offer our neighbors, our friends, our families.  May we earnestly seek God’s leading to share His heartbeat – the promise of salvation – with a hurting world.

Jerusalem

Email to the choir from Bob and Barbara Stollmeyer:


The anthem for tomorrow, Jerusalem, speaks forcibly through its lyrics regarding the city of Jerusalem.

I want to rest on the banks of your river, in that city, city of God.

This is one of our favorite songs, and we'll be watching on streaming!


Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel; it is also the center point of our historical beginnings as Christians.  Jerusalem's heritage with God's nation of Israel spans a timeline of thousands of years.  Jerusalem, the song, reminds us to look again at the prophesies surrounding that wonderful city that God has sustained over these many years.



Thank you, Bob and Barbara for these thoughts about the beautiful city of Jerusalem!

Symphony of Praise

Isaiah 35:1-2

Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and flower—

Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom, a symphony of song and color.

Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift. Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts.

God's resplendent glory, fully on display. God awesome, God majestic. (The Message)

Everything that God has created shouts His praises. When I saw the dusting of snow on the mountains Sunday morning, I was in awe of the beauty of His creation. As I’ve been riding to work, I’ve been delighted by the occasional scent of rich jasmine and something else this morning – a tall tree with yellow-orange flowers that had a sweet scent as I passed under it. Claire just received a butterfly hatching kit and our whole family is excited to watch the miraculous transformation of a little caterpillar into a beautifully colored butterfly.

Miraculous.

From the tiniest cell to the largest star, everything was created to work in perfect harmony in this creative, beautiful, awe-inspiring universe.

Aaron G. shared an amazing article this week. It is actually an interactive scale of the universe that explores and explains the smallest feature theorized by scientists – quantum foam – to the largest known object – Sloan Great Wall – which is made up of other galaxies. If you have a minute (or 20), check it out here.  It is truly fascinating.

Psalm 19:1-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Day after day they pour forth speech; 

night after night they reveal knowledge. 

They have no speech, they use no words; 

no sound is heard from them. 

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, 

their words to the ends of the world. 

Just like the perfect symphony of God’s created universe, so His people have been created to work together in united harmony to bring glory to Him. Each of us brings our own God-given gifts together to further His kingdom here on earth. He is worthy of our best, and when we let go of ourselves and freely give, side by side with one another, it really is a beautiful symphony of praise.

Colossians 3:12-17 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Count Your Blessings

Ephesians 1:3 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. 

Are you a glass half-full or a glass half-empty kind of person? When trials come your way, do you look for the blessing or get lost in feelings of frustration and hopelessness? I often lose my way in worry when faced with trouble, and I am so blessed to be married to a true optimist – always able to help me see God’s positive spin on a difficult situation.

Romans 8:28 

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. 

All things. 

Not certain things. Not easy things. All things. 

Today was a hard day for our school staff. Several teachers were called up to the office individually to be told that they were receiving “reduction in force” notices – pink slips. The mood was somber. Some were so emotional that they couldn’t return to their classrooms. It was difficult to see anything positive in such devastating news.

One teacher who received a pink slip was my friend Judy. I shared her story last year when I wrote about the power of prayer. Her baby girl, Aimee, tested positive for cystic fibrosis as a newborn, but tests given later proved negative. The doctors wanted to continue monitoring and testing, and after several months of rollercoaster emotions awaiting test results and fearing that every little cough might be the sign of something more serious, they received very positive news – she continues to show no markers of the disease. 

And then today happened. 

With the district letting go of over 30 permanent teaching positions, she will likely lose her job.

I talked with her about this and asked how she was feeling. She said that it was hard to hear that news. She has faced this for the past few years as a temporary teacher, and always was able to be hired back in the fall; but this time, even though her position is now permanent, with the drastic cuts and increase in class sizes, it seems unlikely that she will return next year. She faces the loss of income and much-needed benefits. She faces an uncertain future in a should-be promising career.

But, as she was driving home today, she looked in the rearview mirror and saw her daughter in the backseat and her thought was “I could stay home with Aimee!”

Where is the blessing in losing a job? For Judy, it might be to gain precious time with the miraculous gift God has given to her.

John 16:33

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Trials will come. Troubles will face us. But we can take heart as we serve a God who has overcome the world.

Ezekiel 34:26

I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.

The Love of God

1 John 3:1 

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

What words could you use to describe God’s love for us? Awe-inspiring… amazing… breathtaking… wonderful... mind-blowing. Or as the song says, “rich and pure…measureless and strong!”  How about crazy? 

David Powlison, author of the book Seeing with New Eyes writes, 

God’s love is active. He decided to love you when He could have justly condemned you. He’s involved. He’s merciful, not simply tolerant. He hates sin, yet pursues sinners by name. God is so committed to forgiving and changing you that He sent Jesus to die for you. He welcomes the poor in spirit with a shout and a feast. God is vastly patient and relentlessly persevering as He intrudes into your life. God’s love actively does you good. His love is full of blood, sweat, tears, and cries. He suffered for you. He fights for you, defending the afflicted. He fights with you pursuing you in powerful tenderness so that He can change you.


God’s love for us really is a crazy love, and it is so beautifully conveyed in the words of our song this week.

Frederick Lehman, the author of this hymn, found himself mid-way through his life moving from the Midwest to Pasadena, California and working a hard manual labor job to make ends meet. Inspired by words he had heard at a camp meeting years earlier, he found moments of time during breaks from his job to pick up a stub pencil, push a lemon box up against the wall, and pen the first two stanzas and chorus.

The words that had inspired Lehman were the words to the third stanza. Originally longer and part of a Jewish poem written in the year 1096, the paraphrased words, powerfully expressed in the spine-tingling poetry we know today, were found penciled by a patient on the walls of an insane asylum after he was carried to his grave.

Lehman believed that this insane man found moments of brilliant sanity in which he recalled the crazy love of God.

Could we with ink the ocean fill 
And were the skies of parchment made,

Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill 
And ev’ry man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole tho' stretched from sky to sky.

George Sweeting, author and former president of Moody Bible Institute, is quoted as saying,

Down through the years God’s love has shined through misery, tears, and sin like a shaft of sunlight on a dark day. We see God’s love in His revelation, in His mercy, in His patience, and in His redemption. We see the love of God as the infinite One becomes an infant in Bethlehem’s manger. We see it in His life and ministry. And most of all we see it as He hangs on the cross, dying for our sins. 

To the world, it just seems insane. But to the believer, it is LIFE.

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

Francis Chan, author of the book Crazy Love writes, "God didn't just give a little for us; He gave His best. He gave Himself."

Oh love of God, how rich and pure! 

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure – the saints’ and angels’ song.

I Believe God

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Isaiah 43:10-12

"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.

Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.

I have revealed and saved and proclaimed - I, and not some foreign god among you.

You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God."

Belief.  Faith.  Little words that can be big obstacles when someone is considering the existence of God and His work in our lives.  The enemy so often sows seeds of doubt in our minds, but God's Word calls us to consider His past faithfulness, so that we might believe.

In John 14:1, Jesus comforts His disciples by saying, "Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me."

A friend recommended the devotional book Streams in the Desert - a book that offers daily wisdom and encouragement through scripture - so I ordered it recently.  It arrived the day I began writing this devotional and, before I opened it, I thought to myself, "How cool would it be if today's lesson was about 'belief'?"  So I opened to that day's lesson and found this:

"I have prayed for you...that your faith may not fail." Luke 22:32

Dear Christian, remember to take good care of your faith, for faith is the only way to obtain God's blessings.  Prayer alone cannot bring answers down from His throne, because it is the earnest prayer of one who believes that leads to answers.  Faith is the communication link between heaven and earth.  It is on this link of faith that God's messages of love travel so quickly that even before we ask, He answers.  And while we are still speaking, "he hears us" (John 5:14). 

What a special gift God gave to me to help strengthen MY belief.  And with that belief comes assurance, peace, and power in prayer.

Erik's great Auntie Grace went to heaven earlier this year at the age of 99.  Her funeral celebrated her belief in God and His work in her life.  She was born and spent most of her life on Vashon Island in Washington State.  While she was hospitalized in Seattle in the week before her passing, she told Erik's mom, "I want to go home."  Erik's mom responded, "Do you mean home to Heaven, or to your house on Vashon?"  She simply replied, "Either one."

As evidenced by those two words, her belief in her Savior gave her joy in her living and peace in her passing.


Consider all that God has done in your life.  All that he can do, has done, and will do.  And with that assurance, let your life tell the world - "I Believe God."


Cowman, L.B. Streams in the Desert. Edited by Jim Reimann. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan (1997).