God's Presence

In the presence of Jehovah God Almighty,

Prince of Peace troubles vanish,

hearts are mended. In the presence of the King

Cathy Goddard

Throughout my life I have been overwhelmed with the subject of God's presence. From a very young age I was taught that God is omnipresent, meaning that He is everywhere. That is clear in the Bible.

Think about all of the places people met with God: on a mountain, on the sea, in the desert, in the furnace, in a lion’s den, at the bottom of an empty well, in front of a burning bush, in the Temple, in a

tent, in a garden, in a dream, in trouble, at a wedding, at homes, at dinner, in the sky, in the heavens. He was seen, heard and felt. From the first verse of the Genesis to the last verse of Revelation "He is here"!

This truth has always been a source of comfort to me, and rightly so. Knowing that God is always with me is my source of strength, my comfort, my peace and my hope. Last week, my brother made a comment. He said something like, "As I walk through life, in every situation I feel like mom's voice and presence is there and that keeps me from doing things that she taught me not to do as a child."

Then it hit me like a two by four, I've often practiced the presence of God very one dimensionally. I've soaked in the comforting aspect of His presence in my life, but I have only grazed the other aspect of His presence.

When God "came near" throughout history, people not only got comforted, they fell down as dead men. If we, if I truly understood what it means that God is with me 24/7 how different would my life be?

Have I been so enamored with the God of peace and comfort that I've forgotten the God in whose presence one cannot be in without the fear of death?

What difference should this make in our worship and in our moment by moment lives? After Easter we will take a journey together and see what being in God's presence really looks like. Hold on, it might look very different than you've always thought and lived.

Blessings, MJ

Do We Really Trust God

“What you ‘talking ‘bout Willis?” I used to love hearing Gary Coleman in his character as Arnold Drummond on the sitcom “Different Strokes” say that when his brother Wills would say something that seemed outlandish and made no sense to him at all.

Have you ever felt like saying that to someone who requested something of you beyond your means or reasonable ability? Have you ever felt like saying that to God? Or like someone once said after hearing God tell them to do something, “is there anyone else up there?”

There are a few godly men throughout history that probably felt like saying that.

Think of Noah: It had never in all of history rained. God told him to build an ark, because it was going to rain. Noah’s response: “Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (Genesis 6:22)

Think of Moses: God said, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water (Exodus 14:16) Moses response: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.” (Exodus 14:21)

Think about Joshua: God told him to march around a fortified city, blow trumpets and shout, and that when they did they’d have victory. Joshua’s response, he obeyed God. (Joshua 6:1-27)

Each of these men had faith, not in their circumstances, but in the God over the circumstance. Not in their ability but in his ability.

Faith enables us to reach above what we see and sets us on the field with God’s perspective. However, faith without works and faith without obedience is no faith at all.

“Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle.

He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God,

Obeys God,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Father asks us to serve Him today and each day, moment by moment, choice by choice with our “everythingness”!

Today, this new day, may we worship Him by proclaiming that He’s worthy, by doing as Mary, the mother of Jesus said to the servants at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever He tells you!” (John 2:5)

“You just think about Noah toting’ his umbrella when there wasn’t

a cloud in the sky. All his neighbors would laugh at his pet giraffe

And they would snicker as he passed by.

But the Lord said, “Hey Noah, be cool, just keep building’ that boat;

It’s just a matter of time ‘til they see who’d gonna float.

You just keep doin’ your best and pray that it’s blessed,

Hey Noah, I’ll take care of the rest.” (Keith Green)

Trusting Him with you because He’s worthy, MJ

For God So Loved the World

16"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish,
but have eternal life.
John 3:16

Probably the most popular, most memorized and most quoted verse in all of Scripture, John 3:16 sums up in twenty six words the most incredible act of love and sacrifice in all of history, past, present and future.

By His own initiative, God the Father, sent his Beloved Son to this earth in order to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind and make a way, where there was no way, for the relationship between God and man to be restored.

It is a simple verse to memorize, yet a profound and difficult truth to comprehend to the fill extent. The offer is free to us, but cost God everything. Yet, He did it for you and for me. It’s that amazing love that we stand in awe of every time we gather together to worship.

On March 28, Palm Sunday, the choir and worship teams will be presenting 3:16 – The Numbers of Hope. This is a participatory worship musical based on the book by Max Lucado.

We want to encourage you to bring your friends and family who do not yet know the Lord, to come and hear and be able to respond to the greatest invitation ever given.

Between now and then, prayerfully think about who you should invite. And be praying that God will open the hearts of all who attend.

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. John 3:16 (NIV)

“If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all need the reminder.” (Lucado)

F.A.I.T.H. – Forsaking All, I Trust Him

What a powerful statement, one that is packed with truth, yet one that is not easy to accomplish. I was reminded several years ago of the need for faith as I saw a picture from New Orleans of a car with a bumper sticker that had the word faith in bold letters written on it, and right below the bottom of the sticker was about 4 and a half feet of water. The need for faith for those affected by Katrina was huge. But how do you have faith when all is lost? How do you have faith when there is not even the smallest glimmer of hope from the way that your present circumstances look?

True faith is indeed forsaking everything else and trusting completely in God, however, there is another requirement of faith that we must commit to. The disciples had to completely trust Jesus to feed the 5, 000, but they also had to pick up the baskets that were once empty, walk around and by faith begin feeding the people. Earlier in their ministry they had to have faith that Jesus could turn the water into wine, but they also had to pick up the containers and have faith that every cup of “water” would now be wine. Peter knew that he could completely trust Jesus to save him from drowning, but he had to step out of the boat and begin walking on the water. Noah had to completely trust God, because he had never seen this thing called rain, and he knew that God would deliver him, but he had to pick up the hammer and begin building the ark.

Faith requires complete trust, believing that even though you don’t see it now, that it is as well as done. But it also requires as some one has said that, “we are to pray as if everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on us.” We work believing that every action, every step is ordered by God to accomplish what will bring Him the most honor and glory. Abraham knew and believed that God would make him be the father of many nations, but that morning as he woke up to walk Isaac up to the mountain to kill him, his circumstances spoke everything but that. But forsaking all, he trusted God and he woke up early in the morning and went to the mountain to do business with God.

What are you trusting God for today? Where is faith an issue in your life? Is it your health, your job, your finances, your relationships, weight loss, etc? Lay down your doubts and fears and apprehensions and trust in the One who is not seen and ask Him to order every step you take to please Him as you await your miracle.

“…being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.”

Hebrew 11:1

Forgiven the Greatest, Loves the Most

“He, who is forgiven the greatest, loves the most.”
(See Luke 7:41-43)

I’ve always been intrigued by the story of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18. Think about it; here’s a man who owed his master a huge amount of money, more than he probably could have ever paid off. Pleading for mercy, he went to his master and was granted forgiveness of the debt that he owed. Afterwards, instead of humbly living a life that was filled with an attitude of gratitude that extended to others, he went and found someone who owed him relatively little compared with what he’d been forgiven of and treated his friend harshly. Unbelievable! Or is it?

As I write this, I’m aware of the depth of gratitude I owe because of the sins that God has forgiven me for. My debt is huge, but by His grace, love and mercy, I’ve repented, asked for forgiveness, begged for mercy and have been forgiven. Hallelujah! However, at times when I’ve been wronged I’ve gotten angry, held grudges and let it be known that it was not going to be easy for me to forgive or forget what the person had done. Even after God had “forgiven my sin and cleansed me from all righteousness” and had “cast my sin as far as the east is from the west” and “remembered my sin no more”, I still had trouble forgiving.

In light of my being forgiven greatly, I should always forgive greatly. Anyone who has any idea of the magnitude of their sin against God, after having been forgiven should by the power of the Spirit be the greatest forgivers.

In addition to this there are times we must also seek forgiveness. However, there are times we seek forgiveness from others so that our circumstance will change and we’ll feel better. Seeking forgiveness from God paves the way for the changes to occur in us first and then by God’s grace our circumstances will follow through a journey of repentance, reconciliation and restoration, all of which begin with God first.

The next time you find it hard to forgive go back and read about the cross of Christ (Isaiah 53:5) and realize it was for you that died. Realizing that should help us in our decisions to forgive our offenders.