Devotional 5-24-12

Pentecost--Breath of God
 

Lectionary Readings:Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b; Romans 8: 22-27; John 15:26-27 & 16: 4-15.
"When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force--no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them." (Acts 2:1-4 from The Message)

One of my favorite choral works is "Elijah" by Mendelssohn. It contains many special passages, but one that inspires me is a tenor aria with the lyrics: "If with all your hearts ye truly seek me, ye shall ever surely find me. Thus saith our God." God promises to be available, to be approachable, to never leave us comfortless. His very breath gives us life. His word creates anew all living things. He asks that we seek Him and wait for His presence to fill us.

That was the instruction to the disciples--to wait in the upper room for the promise of a baptism of the Holy Spirit. No one in that room knew how or when the spirit would be made known. Luke describes the scene as a wind that came without warning--filling the entire building. Then each individual was filled with the fire of the spirit which ignited their very souls. The "fire" ignited the birth of the church--the spread of the "good news to the world."

As "modern" Christians. we are not very effective in the art of waiting. We live in the instant gratification era--cell phones, I-pads, Instant messages, Insta-grams, etc. Waiting, according to Paul, should be like the pangs of pregnancy where the waiting increases our longing for delivery. The longer we wait, the higher our expectations are for a joyful result. But do we approach the Holy Spirit with this high level of expectation? Do we seek the challenge of a creating God who will mold us and re-fire us? Do we just take it for granted that the Holy Spirit is somewhere 'out there' and never seek a true baptism of its power in our lives? What would happen if we became seekers of the Holy Spirit?

There is a song by Michael W. Smith : (hear him sing this by doing a "you-tube" search)
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me

And I, I'm desperate for you
And I, I'm, I'm lost without you.

Are we desperate for this wind which is the breath of God? The Hebrew word is ruach which can mean "air in motion", "breath", "life" and also "spirit". The Greek word used in the Acts scripture is pneuma. Translated into English,pnuema means "a current of air", "breath", a "breeze" or "spirit". As an adult we normally breathe 12-20 times each minute. Our brain takes care of sending signals that cause the diaphragm and rib muscles to contract to create an inhalation. We don't have to think about it. We are dependent on the exchange of air during the act of breathing for our very life. If there is a problem with the breathing process, we become desperate for air.

God is waiting for us to seek His breath. The Holy Spirit is our promise of relationship with Him. Let us take on the task of waiting for the Spirit to fill us. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." (Psalm 150)

Jeff Taylor wrote this prayer and although I don't have his permission, I include it as our prayer for this day:

Dear God, by the Power of Your Holy Spirit, create us anew. Give us the breath to sing your praises and the faith to soar with you. Give us power to discern what you call us to be and to do. Come Holy Spirit, come! Amen.

Chyrl Budd

Devotional 5-18-12

A Day of Miracles

John 6:1-13

The crowd was thick.
Anticipation was heavy in the air,
Carried on the heat of the day,
And on the wings of the flies.
Something was about to happen.

Philip stood next to Andrew,
His eyes squinted against the sun.
"He wants us to feed all of these people."
They looked out over the crowd.
A sea of faces.
Expectant and hungry.
Hungry for bread.
Hungry for the Bread of life.
He looked at the coins in his hand,
And said, almost to himself.
"He asks the impossible,
We do not have enough."
Philip left to speak with Judas,
Still shaking his head.

Andrew stood at the edge of the crowd,
Feeling the weight of scarcity.
A small boy, who had been standing nearby,
Came to him, and tugged on his robe.
He held up his basket, grungy and dirty.
He said, "I have this.
Will it be enough?
You can have it all."
Setting it down at Andrew's feet,
He looked up.
He was missing teeth,
But his smile was complete.
Andrew smiled back,
Patted the boy on the shoulder,
And thanked him,
For his food,
And for his generous spirit.

After the boy ran off to rejoin the crowd,
Andrew picked up the basket.
He always took everything to Jesus --
People, questions, fears.
He supposed this was no different,
Although he felt like a fool.
Shaking his head as he argued with himself,
He carried the basket to where Jesus sat.
"A boy gave me this.
Five loaves, two fish,
I know it's not nearly enough."

Jesus smiled at Andrew,
And told him to have everyone sit down.
They shared the field,
They shared in thanksgiving.
They shared the food.
They all were part of a miracle.

When everyone had been fed,
Jesus had one more transformation to perform.
He sent his disciples into the crowd,
So that they could be changed.
So that their small faith, their attitude of scarcity,
Could be enlarged by witnessing abundance.
What had been small, had been changed to excess.
What had been the generosity of a boy,
What had once been the seed of love,
Had born the fruit of a miracle.
Where the disciples had seen the impossible,
Jesus had shown them more than enough.

It had been a day of many miracles.

Kim Matthews

Devotional 5-11-12

I have been thinking about Mark Conner's devotion about being tricked. (Read it here.) I think I am a good person. I do things everyday to try and make a difference to others. Yet I know I fall short as I am only hunan. I had never thought about Jesus being tricked as he walked through those palms and recieved those joyous shouts on Palm Sunday. He knew what was lying ahead for Him. Did the people around him? I guess not. They thought that He was on his journey to be glorified. Do I not think that being a good person and doing good things and having people think that I am great will glorify me? Honestly, I do, but is only when I hear about the difference that I have made as a result of my deeds that I feel good about what I have done. I like to call it a double blessing. If I have made a difference in some way and heard how it has made a difference, I expierence a double blessing. The goodness I have done comes back to me and that is when I really feel good about -- what I have done.It is contagious. The more I do, the better I feel and the better I feel, the more I want to do good things.

Jesus walking on those palms set the example for me to experince the double blessings everyday in my life. Granted He had to die for us to figure this out. He allows us to walk on palms everyday and to glorify ourselves through his example. The good feeling is just waiting for you if you are willing to walk on the palms with Him.

Jean Ramsey

Devotional 5-4-12

I would like to share with you a recent experience of mine which confirmed to me once again that God is always with us and cares about everything we do or think or feel.

It was the evening before the first anniversary of my husband's death and I was feeling low in just about every possible way, emotionally, spiritually, physically. Each day in the week before the anniversary I had remembered the time one year ago when Keith was in hospital, in ICU, a time when we thought sure he would recover. Some days there were encouraging signs, a day when he was able to be off the ventilator, the day when he was able to use an IPad. But recovery was not to be.

Now, one year later, where to turn for comfort and strength. I felt devastated.

The Upper Room reading for this day had been from the Gospel of John,Chapter 14. I reread it and at first could not find the help and comfort I was seeking.Then I realized that what I needed was staring me in the face, in V.1, ."Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me" and again in V.27, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid".

I began to feel energized, to get up out of my chair, to stop feeling sorry for myself, to expect God's help. Help came in the form of an email with photos of the newest family member, little one-year-old Alison, a bright and smiling example of God's love. Help came in the form of a telephone call with an answer I had been seeking. Help came in the knowledge that He is always there to give physical strength to comfort both emotionally and spiritually.

How blessed that our great Got cares about each one of us so much that He is always there for us to give us strength and hope and comfort. We just have to seek Him."

Jean Dean