Brown's Daily Word 6-6-11

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. It is going to be brilliant and beautiful. My wife tells me that she has only 4 days of teaching left for this year. I am planning to make a mega chicken BBQ this evening on wood fire (no gas no charcoal, just new York grown hard wood). We are having some friends from Kansas joining us for some authentic New York Style Barbeque.
The Lord blessed us with a full weekend of fellowship, worship, and witness. Our friend Terry Steenburg spoke during our Saturday Evening worship. He spoke on prayer, making reference to the prayer of Jabez, "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ’Oh, that You would bless me indeed’"( 1 Chronicles 4).
Our Lord Jesus declared to us, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" -- Matthew 7:9-11 Our Lord invites us to ask Him for good things, and He rejoices in granting those requests. Nothing pleases a loving father more than being able to give joy to his children. Just as we take pleasure in blessing our children and giving them good things, so also our Lord takes pleasure in blessing us and giving us good things.
Still, some people seem to think that when God gives us good things, He does so grudgingly. They suspect that deep down, He’d prefer that we suffer, or at least that we not be too happy. The natural tendency of mankind is to seek pleasure and possessions as ends in themselves, apart from God, but that violates the whole purpose for God’s gifts. Ultimately, what God is doing with His blessings is drawing us to Himself. He wants us to look beyond the gift to the Giver. The gifts are just the appetizer. The main course is the Lord Himself, and his desire is that we find our greatest JOY in Him. That’s what we were made for, and we shouldn’t be willing to settle for anything less.
I love the words of C.S. Lewis as he wrote, "Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." Those who seek the gifts without the Giver are far too easily pleased, and they inevitably end up degrading and polluting whatever they get.
I love the way Jabez prayed with such brevity, "Oh, that you would bless me indeed." Note that Jabez did not give a lot of specifics. There’s nothing wrong with asking for specific things, but sometimes it’s good to leave the details up to God, to say, "Lord, please just bless me as you see fit." If we do that, then He will come up with blessings, gifts, and good things that never would have crossed our minds. It is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’" -- 1 Corinthians 2:9
"[God] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" -- Ephesians 3:20
Let us note the words, "that you would bless me indeed". He did not ask for anything ordinary or mundane. Jabez was requesting something extraordinary, something big, something special. He would not be satisfied with something mediocre; he wanted something great! I think God loves that kind of prayer because it shows two things. It shows that you believe He’s a great God, powerful and mighty, and that you believe in his love and goodness toward you, enough to be bold and courageous in prayer.
God is no fan of timidity, hyper-caution, or people who never commit because they are afraid of making a mistake. God loves people who step out in faith and take a risk, who are not afraid of looking foolish. God loves people who take Him up on His promises, who dream big, and ask for big things, and attempt big things.
Jacob was such a man. "Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. . .Then [the man] said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.’’ But [Jacob] said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me.’’ So he said to him, "What is your name?’’ And he said, "Jacob.’’ He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.’’ . . . And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.’’ -- Genesis 32:24-30
This story, emphasizes that too often we approach God with timidity and fear, when we should be approaching Him with confidence and boldness, wrestling with Him for a blessing. We ask for small, relatively insignificant things, things that don’t stretch our faith, when all the time God is waiting for us to ask Him for something tremendous. Let us not miss out on the amazing blessings God wants to give us, just because we’re too timid to ask. Let us be as bold as Jabez and ask God to bless us indeed.
William Carey who sailed to India in 1793 made this audacious statement, "Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God".
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/RAyKmYD2Zg8

Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott

Saturday, May 28, 2011

6 PM Dinner (at First UMC Endicott)

6:30 PM Worship Service
Worship Music: Emma Brunson
Speaker: Rev. Bill Turner