Posted on by Pastor Poet

Kept by God? (3)

If I’m honest about it, some situations that I have been in have sent me looking for an exit. If I’m absolutely honest, there are many situations, I could’ve easily avoided if I were a bit more humble and obedient.

But then, there are many times that I prayed for an out, an escape, a deliverance from, only to find myself at an incredible impasse.  The LORD works in mysterious ways!

My experience has taught me that prayers for deliverance are not always answered the way we want them to be.   Sometimes deliverance comes through trials and struggles and not from them!  

When Jesus prayed his high-priestly prayer for His disciples – us – He prayed not for their/our escape from the world but for our endurance – not for our way out but our way through!   Get it?

How so? I’m glad you asked.

Jesus had the authority to ask for anything and expect an answer.  But, at His departure, His prayer was not to take us out of the world but to keep us from being overcome by evil – not an escape from the world but for the ability to endure and overcome the world through faith and by grace! 

In a word, Jesus prayed to the Father to keep us from evil, and then promised us His own Spirit as our Helper, our Comforter, and yes, our Keeper!  

In a strange and mysterious way the LORD works, His wonders to perform!  We are not always delivered from, but we are delivered through!  We do not escape every trial, but we faithfully endure.  God is our Keeper!

But don’t take my word for it!  Jesus prayed:

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 

John 17:15

Be encouraged, family.  While escape is not always the answer, we receive the gift of the Spirit that equips and enables us to endure faithfully! God is our keeper! This is our testimony…

“Oh, to be kept by Jesus! Lord at Thy feet I fall; I would be “nothing, nothing, nothing; Thou shalt be all in all.”

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Quiet

There are some times when the best thing you can do is be quiet.  People will say and do things and expect a reaction, even wish for one, but the best thing you can do is to be still and quiet.  Well, not totally quiet – but mostly.

Sadly, however, there are times when silence is not received as the grace that it is.  Some mistake silence for compliance or agreement.  Some even mistake silence as a weakness.  

In a world full of loudmouths and rabble, nonsensical rhetoric, and lies, sometimes the only response is silence because any response gives credence – gives air  to the foolishness. Watched the news lately?  

So today, beyond the words that I am writing this morning, I will practice silence.  I will resist the urge to receive and thus respond to foolishness.  

Instead, today, I will pray.  I will give my words, my frustrations, my disappointments, my pain, and yes, even my anger – I will give them to the LORD.  Because the truth is, most are not equipped to bear such weight, and it would be irresponsible to place this weight on another human being.   

Today, I take my cues from the Psalmist:

1In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
2Deliver me, O Lord,
from lying lips,
from a deceitful tongue.

3What shall be given to you,
and what more shall be done to you,
you deceitful tongue?
4A warrior’s sharp arrows,
with glowing coals of the broom tree!

5Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6Too long have I had my dwelling
among those who hate peace.
7I am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war!

Psalm 120

Good Morning, I love you all. 

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Sankofa…

Our ancestors endured tremendous hardships in the hopes of us being free. They lived and died with only dreams of what we now take for granted. They faced intense and overt violence and injustice with dignity and determination to not allow hatred to twist their consciences.  They made progress, slowly, and we are still here… 

The Civil Rights Movement that we often define as a social and political movement, was actually a spiritual movement that had its roots in the Black Church.  

While we are still here,our communities are struggling.  Our struggling communities stem from our struggling families.  Our families struggle most intensely when we devote ourselves to everything but GOD! When we neglect our sacred past, when we dishonor our ancestors, we forsake our future. 

When Israel entered the Promised Land, God gave specific instructions.  While the land was theirs, they would have to possess it.  In possessing the land, they were told not to ‘devote’ themselves to the stuff that the other people in the land did.  In the battle to take the city Ai, Israel abandoned God’s instructions and they were routed and forced to retreat.

They lost the battle because they took and devoted themselves to the things that God told them to destroy.  In a word, their values got messed up. 

I wonder if we as a people may be encountering some of this.  Have we, in an attempt to achieve the American dream, abandoned the One who truly makes and keeps us free? In our desire for material success and prosperity, have we abandoned the One who keeps and prospers us? What have we devoted ourselves to?  

12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

Joshua 7:12 (ESV)

What are we devoted to as a people? Who are we devoted to?

If it is not God, it will not stand… we will not stand.

ihs,

just adam