Praise the Lord for another day of grace and
blessings. It is going to very hot and humid here in Central New York,
the Empire State. I was visiting with one of the professors from
Binghamton yesterday. He was sharing with me that summer ends not on
September 21, when Autumn makes its official debut, but rather Summer comes to
an abrupt ending when the school buses begin their first rounds to pick
up the students for the first day of school. The buses in full gear
come out of the bus garages roaring like the Harley Davidson motorbikes, making
way onto the Highways and byways, collecting excited and anxious
students. Indeed, Summer comes to an abrupt ending when the first day of
school arrives. It is fascinating look at FACEBOOK as
parents post pictures of their sons and daughters with their
new school garb on the first day of school. I was reminiscing
about when our girls were in school, how Alice made all new clothes for our
girls for the first day of school and equipped them with all the required and
necessary School gear. Sweet memories, how they linger.
We
are getting ready for Sunday worship and celebration. Sunday, 9/11 is
"Back to Church" Sunday. Wherever you might be, plan to
gather in worship and witness this coming Sunday. We will meet for
Sunday school at 9:30 AM and gather for worship at10:30 AM. Please make a
note on the time change. We used to meet at 10:00 for Sunday school and
at 11:00 for worship. Starting on 9/11 we will meet for Sunday school at
9:30 AM and for worship at 10:30 AM. There will be a Coffee fellowship
hour following the morning worship service. Please plan to invite family
and friends for this special day. See you in church.
A
few years ago I was at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove,
California attending a conference. One of the speakers for the conference
was Bruce Wilkinson, who is the author of many books including a book
called "The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life". The book focuses
on a little known character of the Bible whose brief story is found in 1 Chronicles 4. Wilkinson,, says:
"Asking
the Lord to bless you is not self-centered. Why not make it a lifelong
commitment to ask God every day to bless you, and while he's at it to bless you
a lot? God's bounty is limited only by us, not by his resources, power,
or willingness to give. ."
I have a
copy of this book in my library. What I love about this prayer is that it
is right and good to ask God to bless you. God wants to bless you.
God is by nature generous and good and kind. Jabez said, "Bless
me." He also said, "Enlarge my territory" and "Let
your hand be with me." Jesus our Lord and friend says that we
can ask God to bless us with His choicest blessings . Our Father
God cares. There's no request too small or too trivial or even too
selfish. You can bring our needs to God.
Our
Lord's teaching doesn't stop there. It's linked to the following
sentence. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).
The
Catholic author, John Powell, had this fascinating statement. He said, "It's very hard
to love others when you have a toothache." When you have a toothache
you aren't thinking about anybody else. You're totally absorbed with that
side of your face that's causing you agony. I have found myself wrestling
with the "Tooth Aches" of divers diseases in my life several
times. Something happens when we are preoccupied with
what we need and want. We tend to stop thinking about
other people, focusing on our own wants and needs. We
don't think about God. We don't think about others. We just think
about what it is that we want and need.
When we
feel anxiety it means we have some wants or some needs that have not been
articulated and expressed to God. Don't be anxious about anything, but in
every situation where we feel anxiety rise, take our anxiety and turn it
into a petition, make a request for our wants and needs. It is
written, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) Through our prayer
and thanksgiving the Lord somehow deals with our anxiety. He gives us
grace and power over anxiety. Somehow He who is the Prince of peace
breathes His peace into our troubled hearts. It becomes like a river
flowing from the heart of Jesus in to our bruised and broken hearts.
We are
invited to come to the Throne of Grace with supplications and petitions. We are
invited to come to the Throne of God in confidence and boldness based
on the finished work at he cross and ask for blessings— not so God can
serve us—but so that we can have our wants and needs taken care of
and can get on with serving others, seeking first God's kingdom, God's
justice, and God's dream for the world as it should be.
Bruce
Wilkinson acknowledges this in his book when he talks about the phrase
"enlarge my territory." He uses that to say, "God, enlarge
my influence for you in this world." That's a beautiful prayer to
say, "God, one of the blessings I want most from you is that I can have an
influence for you. In my family, in my job, in my neighborhood, in my
social settings I can be an influence for you. Let that increase,
Lord. I can help other people get closer to you. I can help other
people learn more about you. I can help other people come into a
relationship with you and live more the way you want them to live."
In Christ the Winsome
Shepherd.
Brown
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