Pastor John’s Blog

There are times when we are actually abandoned by people we love. Please notice that I didn’t say that we “feel abandoned,” but that we are actually abandoned. This happens when we go through trying circumstances that require investment, commitment, loyalty, sacrifice and risk from others. For some it is easier to walk away from a friend in need than to stick around at a personal cost. Paul knew what this was like. Several times, over a period of years, he had gone in and out of prison for preaching Christ. On one such occasion he faced a trial where if convicted he would be given the death penalty. Of this experience Paul writes “The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them” (2 Tim. 4:16, NLT).  As already stated, when friendship requires investment, commitment, loyalty, sacrifice and risk it is easier for some to just walk away, and this is what some of Paul’s friends did. As a result of this we hear pain mingled with forgiveness in Paul’s words “May it not be counted against them.” Abandonment leads to scars. But this abandonment served to magnify the reality of Jesus presence to Paul for he says in verse 17, “But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And he rescued me from certain death.” Christ did for Paul what his friends chose not to do. He gave Paul strength and delivered him from the death sentence because Jesus Christ is the best friend and lawyer that we will ever have!

We never stand alone. Abandonment only serves to emphasize Christ’s presence with us and His faithfulness toward us. He will never abandon or forsake us! So take a moment today to acknowledge the presence of Christ, and thank Him for always being there!

You may think that you don’t have a gift that is good enough for God to use. But this is not the case. God can use anything that we are good at for his glory. Take for example a woman found in Judges 4 named Jael. She was a homemaker and she had the gift of hospitality, a gift that God would use to bring an enormous victory to Israel. You see, God sent a Canaanite king by the name of Jabin to oppress Israel for twenty years on account of Israel’s grievous sins. However, God heard the cries of His people and sent them a deliver by the name of Barak. Barak raised 10,000 men to fight with him against Sisera, the commander of King Jabin’s army. As Barak gained the upper hand in the battle Sisera ran and hid in Jael’s tent for Jael’s family was on good terms with King Jabin. Using her gift of hospitality Jael asked Sisera to lie down, and as he did she covered him with a blanket. When he asked for something to drink she offered him a glass of milk and then covered him again as he went to sleep. Judges 4:24 tells us that “…when Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him with a hammer and tent peg in her hand. Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died.” God did not use Barak with all of his weapons and expertise in fighting to win the war. He used Jael’s gift of hospitality to win this great victory for Israel.

So today, take a hammer and a nail and…just kidding! Take whatever natural gift you have and place it before God. He has a way of using that which is mundane to bring about great things!

I am sure that you have noticed that after we gave our lives to God troubles continued coming our way. But there is a difference. Now that we have God in our lives we have the ability to pick ourselves up each time troubles knock us down. Proverbs 24:15-16 says it this way:  “Don’t wait in ambush at the home of the godly, and don’t raid the house where the godly live.¹⁶ The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked” (NLT) These verses state that trouble will come to the righteous and even cause the righteous to stumble. But it also declares that the righteous will not stay down. God helps us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and keep going. God has placed within each of us a winning heart. And he continues to help us get back up. Contrast this with the person that does not know God. One disaster can be their downfall. So today, if trouble has knocked you down, then pick yourself up. You were meant to remain standing!

As we engage daily challenges we go into fight mode. Our adrenaline starts pumping to help us accomplish challenging tasks and meet important deadlines. The problem is that when the crisis, the challenge or the deadline is met we still remain in fight mode. As the adrenaline continues to flow our muscles in our neck, shoulders and back begin to tense up making it hard to relax. This happened to Eleazer son of Dodai after he stood with King David and killed a large number of Philistines. 2 Samuel 23:10 tells us that “He [Eleazer] rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day…” (ESV). When it says that “his hand clung to the sword” it means that his hand and forearm muscles were so tense from the fighting that they froze, causing him to be unable to put down his sword.

This also happens to us. We tense up as we take on challenges and meet important deadlines. But afterwards we don’t know how to relax and put down the sword. This is when the words found in Hebrews 4:10-11 are helpful:  “For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world.¹¹ So let us do our best to enter that rest” (NLT). Take a moment today to do your best to unclench your hand, put down the sword and enter the rest that God has for you.

Have you ever been so caught in a moment that you lose track of time? Joshua seemed to experience this often with God. Exodus 33:11 tells us that “Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting” (NLT). Moses would finish with God and would then return to his responsibilities in the camp. But Joshua would get so caught in the moment with God that he would lose track of time. The interesting thing is that God’s presence would not leave Joshua. The two stayed together. This tells us that when we enter God’s presence in worship and prayer He is not the one to leave. He will stay with us until WE leave. This reveals how much God longs for us to get caught in a moment with Him. So starting today, make it a point to set aside more time with God. Like Moses, your responsibilities will call to you. But like Joshua, set everything aside to be with God. You will be so blessed because of it.

To have God’s presence manifest itself at church requires that we show up before the service starts in order to pray, and that we have an attitude of praise as we walk through the doors. But it also requires that we live a life of obedience to God. Leviticus 9:6 tells us that Moses addressed the Israelite community that was standing at the gate of the tabernacle, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you” (NLT). This verse tells us that there is a direct correlation between our level of obedience and the extent to which God’s presence is felt throughout a church service. If we remove the foul language from our mouths while on the way to church, and purge our bad thoughts while on the way to church, and make nice with others while on the way to church and adjust our bad attitude while on the way to church we are not going to feel much of God’s presence because He wants obedience all week long so that “the glory of the Lord may appear” to us. Then, as a result of not experiencing God’s presence we leave saying “I don’t feel anything in that church!” When in reality it’s not the church but the people that attend the church!

So if you are hungry for God’s presence start living in obedience to God now. Commit to following his ways. If we do this, plus show up early to pray and enter through the doors ready to praise God, something powerful is going to happen!