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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever been on a long road trip when suddenly, you come to an area that is so beautiful, that you pull off the road, and spend some time taking some deep breaths, stretching your legs in a short walk and filling your eyes with the beauty of the scenery, before getting back on the road again? Let’s do that this weekend together, my “Walking with Jesus” fellow pilgrims.
If you measure the summer season as being Memorial Day weekend, which this year was May 23-25 to Labor Day weekend which will be September 5-7, this current weekend is our midpoint. In other parts of the world, school is scheduled to begin again in only a very short few weeks from now. Regardless, let’s take some deep breaths and reflect this weekend, on the RESTORE journey we’ve been navigating in this chaotic time of the global pandemic confusion.
I hope we have learned that when we find ourselves in an extended, chaotic, tumultuous season, the first thing to do, if you want to gain God’s fresh perspective and experience God RESTORing you, is to find a quiet place to REMEMBER. Look back over your life and look for the evidence of God at work in your life journey in your past. Here’s what God says to help you: “Remember this, fix it in your minds…Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come, and I say ‘My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.“ (Isaiah 46:8-13)
God has been working His purposes, and if you’ll look closely in your past, you’ll see the fingerprints of God as He has included you, and your life story, in His larger, global purposes in your generation! That should greatly encourage you! In fact, may I urge you right now, to take a few moments and REMEMBER… and jot down in your journey, what God brings to your mind, about HIS work in your past.
The second step we’ve considered is that it’s only natural in very complex and chaotic times like the Coronavirus pandemic and the economic fall out, to find ourselves wondering if anyone really understands it all. We may even find ourselves thinking that God may not fully grasp all that is happening in our upside-down world? And thus we may feel we need to find our own way in this fog. But I gave you the word EMPATHY a few weeks ago, and urged us to consider that BOTH because God is Omniscient and has all knowledge and understanding of all things, AND because Jesus came and lived here on earth during an equally chaotic time, we can be confident that as we talk to Jesus and bring our concerns to Him, He receives us in His EMPATHY and He can guide us in His unlimited wisdom. Here’s a verse to help us: “…let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-18)
And then my friends, I also gave us the phrase Sovereign Shepherd to help us as we try to make plans for moving forward, even while the global chaos continues. Many times with life’s great storms, the long term effects are painful and disastrous. We’ve seen it with tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, forest fires, tsunami’s. We’ve seen it with civil war or terrorist attacks or gang warfare or even unbridled anarchy in mob riots. We’ve seen it with major business bankruptcies costing thousands of jobs or contagious disease outbreaks or even runaway inflation.
But God calls us to understand that He, Almighty, Creator, Sustainer, God is SOVEREIGN OVER all. He has all authority! And by the power of His Holy Spirit living in us who are in the chaos, He, God is SOVEREIGN IN all! And here’s a Scripture to help us embrace that truth…God says “Listen to Me…you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you, I will sustain you and I will rescue you. To whom will you compare Me…? (Is. 46:3-5) “So do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you…for I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your hand and says, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.” (Is. 41:10,13)
Finally this past week, we’ve been considering this remarkable truth: in the chaos, God is TESTing us. Here’s what God said to the Hebrews after their 40 years of desert wandering with Moses: “Remember how the LORD your God has led you all the way in the desert these 40 years, to humble you and to TEST you, in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. God humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with Manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to TEACH you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD…” (Deut. 8:2,3)
Now in closing my friends, I’m sure you’ve noticed the little word “Selah” off to the side of the Psalms often. It means… rest and refresh through reflection. That’s what I’m urging you to do this weekend with these Scriptures. Jot down what the Holy Spirit is saying to you, about the journey you are walking with Jesus in these chaotic weeks. Our pathway has been entitled R E S T O R E. I hope you are catching what God is trying to do in your life.
This next week we’ll look at the letter ‘O’ and the word “Opportunity” for in chaotic, confusing times, like we’re living in right now. . .God will lay strategic opportunities before those of His people that HE sees are ready to take steps of faith with HIM and be part of what God is wanting to accomplish in this time, for His great glory. Are you and I ready for that? Here are just a few Biblical examples to consider as you contemplate what that might mean for you:
* Noah was invited by God to build an ark which saved his family from a global flood which they could not have imagined.
* Abraham was invited by God to follow Him on a long journey and trust Him for a son in his old age, and he would be a great blessing to the nations.
* Joseph was challenged by God to trust Him for 13 years as a slave, sold by his own family. He didn’t know it, but God knew Egypt would need a leader who would follow God’s lead during famine.
* Nehemiah was so burdened by a report of calamity from his brother, in his 4 months of prayer and weeping, God gave him a vision for rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.
And what about you my friends…what might God be planning as His great opportunity in the days to invite you to participate with HIM in accomplishing HIS purposes?
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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