Something for Nothing: Lent Series – Week 6

For the last 6 weeks, we have been studying how God works miracles out of nothing. This week is Passion Week. We will finish our study as we remember what it meant for Jesus to take on our nothingness.

Reading for today: Matthew 28:1-10

Jesus felt the effects of our nothingness when his disciples deserted him. He experienced our nothingness when he stood silent before his accusers. He suffered from our nothingness, as he was condemned to die.

The culminating result of our nothingness occurred when Jesus cried out to the Father from the cross and heard… nothing. In that horrible moment, Jesus gave up his Spirit and died. He became nothing.

Yet three days later, as the Sunday morning sun broke through the darkness, look inside the tomb and you will see nothing.

But this sort of nothing is the good kind. It’s an empty slate. It’s our records wiped clean. It’s us having nothing to fear, because Jesus has risen. He has conquered sin and death and hell. And in place of our nothingness, he has filled us with himself.

In him, we have everything. Jesus made himself nothing so that he could give us everything.

Dear Jesus, You took on my nothingness; you created in me something new. Thank you for your never-ending mercy and love for me. Amen.

Happy Easter! Praise God for his Son, Jesus, who became nothing so that we could have everything.

Day 2 – Philippians 2:5-11; 2 Corinthians 8:9

Day 3 – Jeremiah 32:17, 27

Day 4 – Psalm 130

Day 5 – Romans 8:31-39

 

 

 

 

 

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Something for Nothing: Lent Series – Week 5

Reading for today: John 2:1-11

I used to teach adult ELL classes. One of my students (from India) told of a time his American professor had stopped by his home. My hospitable student offered his professor tea and coffee. His professor gladly accepted the offer, asking for coffee.

My student panicked because in his culture and in circumstances like this, people usually never accepted the offer for tea or coffee. Furthermore, he had no coffee!

As my student relayed the story to the rest of us, he laughed and said, “I had to send my wife out the back door to go buy some coffee.”

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus is at a wedding where the beverage of choice – wine – has run out halfway through the festivities. “They have no wine,” Jesus’ mother says.

In Old Testament culture, wine was a symbol of joy, hope, and abundance. And like our own culture, running out of wine at a social event would have been devastating and offensive to guests.

Jesus uses this moment not only to save the face of his hosts, but also to perform his first sign. From simple water, poured into large, empty, purifying jars, Jesus creates over 120 gallons of the best wine.

Later, Jesus will refer to wine as “my blood of the covenant, which that is poured out for many the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26: 28). Jesus’ blood, like wine, has become for us joy, hope, and abundance.

Dear God, You worked a miracle with water and wine. And you worked a miracle with your blood and your Spirit in our lives. Thank you for loving us so deeply. Amen.

Easter is coming! In these last two weeks, let’s read more stories of how God uses our nothing to work something big, specifically through Jesus.

Day 2 – Luke 7:1-10 – Healing of the centurion’s servant

Day 3 – Luke 7:11-17 – Raising of the widow’s son

Day 4 – Matthew 9:18-26 – Raising of Jairus’ daughter and healing of a woman

Day 5 – Matthew 17:24-27 – Provision of tax, and John 21:1-14 – Catch of fish

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Something for Nothing: Lent Series – Week 4

Reading for this week: Matthew 14:13-21

Jesus and his disciples had retreated quietly to a “desolate place.” A massive crowd of people (5,000 men plus women and children) followed them. Instead of finding another quiet place, Jesus had compassion on the people and spent the rest of the day healing them.

At the end of the day the disciples saw that the people were hungry. They said to Jesus, “This is a desolate place, and the day is over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves”  (Matthew 14:15). But Jesus responded, “You give them something to eat” (v. 16).

What? We have nothing. Only five loaves of bread and two fish.

But Jesus took the loaves and the fish and asked the disciples to have the people sit down. He lifted his eyes towards heaven, gave thanks, and distributed the food among the people. And distributed. And distributed. And distributed. Until everyone had eaten to their full. Then he had the disciples gather the leftovers, twelve extra basketfuls.

Jesus could have taken the disciples advice and sent the people away, exhausted and tired and hungry. Although it was late and they were away from any villages, they could have probably found something to eat, for themselves.

But Jesus had bigger plans. He wanted to show them how God can provide for his people out of nothing. He wanted them to see first hand what God can do when you obediently give him what you have.

 Dear God, You are the source of everything we need. Thank you. Give us your resources so that we may feed not only ourselves, but others as well. Amen.

The feeding of the 5,000 is one of my favorite Bible stories, because God takes our practically nothing and multiplies it into more than enough. This week, let’s spend time studying this story.

Day 2 – Mark 6:32-44

Day 3 – Luke 9:10-17

Day 4 – John 6:1-13

Day 5 – John 6:22-35

 

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Something for Nothing: Lent Series – Week 3

For these weeks leading up to Easter, we are studying how God works miracles out of nothing.

Riddle for today:

The poor have it. The rich need it. It’s bigger than God, and if you eat it, you’ll die. What is it? (Scroll down for the answer.)

Reading for today: 2 Kings 4:1-7

“And she said, ‘Your servant has nothing.’” ~2 Kings 4:2

Despair is that unanticipated moment where hope (that warm fire you had become accustomed to and may have forgotten was even there) has gone out (either suddenly or slowly over time), and despair (the lack of that precious warmth and light, and something that you never want to become accustomed to) threatens to be the only thing you feel.

The interesting thing about despair, though, is that it has the potential to be not an end, but a beginning. It has the potential, if you let it, to be the beginning of your search to find God and to cry out for his merciful, necessary grace. What else can we do, when we find ourselves with nothing, but to seek help from the only one who can give it.

The widow in our reading for today had no husband, and her children were about to be taken as slaves to pay all her debts. She had nothing left but a small jar of oil and a desperate voice.

Elisha, God’s prophet, told her to bring her “nothing” to God, and to go get lots more nothing (empty jars) from the neighbors. Then, out of her despair, out of her nothingness, God brought forth enough oil to fill every jar she could find. Enough oil to buy her sons’ freedom. Enough oil for a family of three to live on.

Praise God that when he chooses to rework hope into your life, he demands absolutely nothing but your willing heart to do it.

Dear God, make my hope strong. Send me to you if I despair. And give me a willing heart. Amen.

Let’s see what God has to say.

Day 2 – James 4:1-10

Day 3 – John 15:4-5

Day 4 – Philippians 4:4-7, 10-13

Day 5 – Psalm 55:16-17, 22

*Answer: Nothing

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Something for Nothing: Lent Series – Week 2

For these weeks leading up to Easter, we are studying how God works miracles out of nothing.

Reading for this week: Hebrews 11:8-11

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?” ~Genesis 18:14

Out of an unbelieving family, God called Abraham to be the father of all believers. Out of the old, barren womb of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, God promised a child. Out of nothing came generations, nations, kings, and blessings upon blessings.

Even though God promised to work a miracle through Abraham and Sarah, they laughed because they believed what God had promised was impossible. But their laughter was not from joy. It was from cynicism and doubt.

Abraham laughed and said, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?” Sarah also laughed and asked, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure [in a child]?”

Retrieved from – http://dohlesdevos.blogspot.com/

But God replied to their laughter with his own laughter, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

God forgave their mistakes, he worked through their limited understanding, and he brought forth a son from the empty womb of Sarah.

As she looked in amazement at the baby boy in her arms, she said, “God has made laughter for me.”

Praise God that when he chooses to work his greatest miracles, he does not require our understanding. He can work through our cynicism and doubt. And in his mercy, he can bring joyful laughter into a life that otherwise had nothing.

Dear God, I am able to do nothing, yet you have chosen to work through me, even when I get in the way or stumble. Thank you for your forgiveness and steadfast love. Amen.

God called forth a nation out of an empty womb. From that nation would come a Savior for all nations. Let’s read about Abraham and Sarah’s story this week.

Day 2 – Genesis 12:1-4; Genesis 15:1-6

Day 3 – Genesis 16:1-3; 15-16

Day 4 – Genesis 17:15-21

Day 5 – Genesis 18:9-14; Genesis 21:1-7

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“Hey! You Denied My Miracle”: 3 Studies on God’s Timing – Part 3

Reading for today: Luke 22:39-53

How many times have you asked God for a miracle? And how many times have you been denied? In our first two studies, Jairus and Lazarus’ sisters all asked for a miracle and got it. They struggled with God’s timing, but in the end, they all received a miracle, even better than they had expected.

What about when you, in faith, ask for a miracle but you don’t get it. What about when God chooses to deny your request? God answers your patient waiting, not with a “yes”, or a “maybe”, or a “later”, but with a cold, unexplainable “no”. When God says no and His timing seems to work against you, you have all the ingredients for despair.

So what better way to end a series on God’s timing, then with an example of Jesus’ own denied request. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus begged God to take away the coming cross and his death. And the answer he received was an unmistakable “no”.

Jesus denied? Up until this point, Jesus hadn’t been denied anything. He had asked for healing and got it. He had asked for understanding and received it. He had asked for miracles, and they came. He asked for the Spirit, and the Spirit was granted. But then one of his last requests was denied. Why? Because God’s timing for our salvation was right on track and Jesus’ request would have derailed God’s plan for us.

In his heart, Jesus knew this, so attached to his desperate prayer were 7 of the most important words ever uttered. “Not my will, but yours be done.” And thank God, that prayer was answered.

When you grapple with God’s timing in your life or in the lives of those around you, know that, like Jesus, you can ask God for wisdom, for clarity, for answers, and for a miracle. But also pray those 7 important words from Jesus, “Not my will, but yours be done.” It may not feel good, but God’s will being done is always best. Trust Him.

Dear God, Right now, I am asking for ___________________________. Not my will, but Yours be done. Amen.

Day 2 – Romans 5:6; Galatians 4:4-7

Day 3 – 2 Peter 3:8-9; James 1:5

Day 4 – Proverbs 3:5-6; Jeremiah 29:11-14

Day 5 – Matthew 6:9-13

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“Hey! You Withheld My Miracle”: 3 Studies on God’s Timing – Part 2

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21, 32

God’s timing is always good. It is always perfect. But the circumstances we find ourselves in are not always good and are never perfect.

The Raising of Lazarus by John Reilly

Reading for today: John 11:1-46

It was completely within your power to save my brother and you let him die. I asked you for a miracle and you withheld it from me. Why? We have poured our lives into you and your ministry. I thought we were friends. I thought you loved us. You said, “Everyone who asks, receives” (Luke 11:10). We asked for you to come, we asked for a miracle, but you were purposefully late! And now my brother is dead. I am so hurt and confused. I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.

Faith in God is tricky. When we believe, it’s not a matter of whether or not He exists. It’s a matter of knowing He exists, knowing He loves us, but feeling confused and hurt when His timing seems off. In other words, if God is so good, if God promises to hear us, then why isn’t He being good to me right now? Why isn’t He responding?

But God is responding. In His goodness, God’s response to our confusion and hurt is the same as Jesus’s response to Mary and Martha and the mourners. First, He hears us and is moved to compassion toward us. Second, He feels our hurt. But third, He challenges us to trust His sovereignty. Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? (John 11:40).

We believe God is able to work a miracle, but do we trust His timing? Do we trust His sovereignty? That is our lifetime challenge: To believe, even when we disagree. To trust, even when we are confused and hurt. And to know that He loves us and our answers are being worked out in His timing and for His glory.

Dear God, We believe! Help our unbelief. Grow our trust. But please, in your mercy, show us your perfect will. Show us your glory. Amen.

This week as you spend time in prayer asking God for clarity or for a miracle, also spend time thanking God for the answer that He is preparing for you in His perfect timing.

Day 2 – Luke 11:9-13

Day 3 – Psalm 40:1-3; Psalm 69:13-17

Day 4 – Psalm 103

Day 5 – Isaiah 40:27-31

 

 

 

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Hey! You Stole My Miracle: 3 Lessons on God’s Timing – Lesson 1

Read for today: Luke 8:40-56

“Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any more.” Luke 8:49

 

Lesson 1: God’s timing is never too late.

Jairus knew Jesus could heal his dying daughter. If he could find Jesus, then there might be a chance.

As if God had heard his desperate prayer, there was Jesus! Pushing through the crowd, Jairus threw himself at Jesus’s feet. Please come, heal my daughter. Desperation gave way to hope as Jairus led Jesus through the masses. Oh God, let us make it in time.

And then, out of nowhere, Jesus stopped. He began to search the crowd for something or someone else. Who touched me? Jesus asked. Nobody responded. Jesus continued to wait, looking around. Precious time ticked by.

There are hundreds of people all around, why are you stopping to ask “who touched me?” Then a woman stepped out of the crowd, revealing that she had touched Jesus and because of it, was healed from a twelve-year-old disease.

Twelve-year-old. The age of Jairus’s daughter. The daughter who also needed Jesus to touch her with his healing powers. But now it was too late. Men from Jairus’s house came and said, Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the teacher any more. It’s over. This hemorrhaging woman had stolen Jairus’s miracle! While Jesus had stood there commending her on her faith, Jairus’s daughter had died. Her life was over. They were too late.

But God’s timing is never too late. In fact, it is perfect every time. However, our response to His perfect timing is usually one of four reactions: fear (as in Jairus), annoyance (as in the disciples), cynicism (as in Jairus’s household), or faith (as in the hemorrhaging woman).

God’s timing is about getting us to that place of faith. His seeming delay afforded one woman another chance in life, healing her body and strengthening her faith. To a scared family, their cynical household, and a frustrated group of disciples who all wanted a healing, God’s timing allowed for a bigger miracle: a resurrection.

As you go through this week, what are you waiting on God for? Instead of responding with worry or fear or frustration, ask God to give you faith. Remember, God loves you and He has a plan for you. He will bless you abundantly and make you a blessing to others. Trust His way. Trust His timing.

Dear God, It is so hard to wait for you. Make me fearless and give me the strength to believe that you have everything perfectly timed. Amen.

This week read about the blessings of waiting on God’s timing.

Day 2 – Jeremiah 29:11-12; Psalm 27:14

Day 3 – Romans 8:28-32

Day 4 – Isaiah 30:18; Lamentations 3:22-26

Day 5 – Psalm 130

 

 

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Face the Sunshine

I thought I would share this post from four years ago as encouragement for this week.

 

Originally posted on 5/23/2012 my blog, http://801seminaryplace.wordpress.com

The last few international women’s Bible studies that I led were about understanding what Christians mean by faith or belief. The last two stories we studied were about the healing of a demon possessed boy and the resurrection of Lazarus. Both stories illustrate not only the amazing power of Jesus, but also the two-sided coin of Christian belief.

In the account of the demon possessed boy (Mark 9:14-29), Jesus had just been away on a mountain. While waiting for his return, a man had approached Jesus’ disciples for help in healing his boy who was possessed by an evil spirit.  The disciples were unable to heal the small boy and because of it, they and the Jewish scribes had gotten into a heated argument.

It is at that point, Jesus returns and asks what they are arguing about. The father explains his son’s dire situation and then asks Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus responds, “If I can! All things are possible for one who believes.” To which the father immediately cries, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Likewise, in the story of Lazarus (John 11:17-45), Mary and Martha (Lazarus’ sisters) call for Jesus to help their dying brother. Jesus tarries and when he finally arrives, Lazarus is already dead and buried, and the funeral procedures are well underway. Both women come to Jesus privately and express their confidence in Jesus’ ability mixed with their disappointment in his delay. Martha says, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Later a distraught Mary also says, “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.” Jesus promises Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” Yet when Jesus asks them to move the stone of Lazarus’ tomb away, Martha questions him saying, “Lord, by now there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” In other words, “You are too late to do anything.”

In Matthew 28:17, the disciples are watching Jesus prepare to ascend into heaven and it says, “And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some of them doubted.” The Greek word for “doubted” in this verse is distazo which means to waver between two points of view, to be uncertain at a crossroads, to vacillate.

To be uncertain at the crossroads. To waver between two points of view. Belief and unbelief occupying the same space. British writer, Adrian Plass wrote in his book Why I Follow Jesus, “Perhaps belief and unbelief are two sides of the same coin. You can turn the coin over, but you can’t make the side you’re not looking at go away” (2000, p. 7).

But that’s where Jesus comes in. Our worthiness for the gift of faith, or healing, or a miracle is not dependent on the excellence of our belief or the absence of our unbelief. No, our worthiness is completely dependent on Jesus’ merit.

To the father of the demon possessed boy, Jesus did not walk away affronted by the man’s lack of confidence. Instead, he turned to the boy, cast out the evil spirit, “took him by the hand and lifted him up.” To Mary and Martha, Jesus did not take offense to their limited and shifting belief in his power. Instead he wept with them and then performed one of his greatest miracles – he brought Lazarus back to life. To the doubting disciples standing on the mountain, Jesus did not withhold his blessing from them. Instead he gave them the ultimate job of making disciples of all nations, promising them, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So what do we do about the other side of the coin? What do we do about our uncertainty at the crossroads? How do we manage distazo?

We look to Christ. We cry out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” as the father did. We fall at his feet and pour out our hearts, as Mary did. We allow the stone to be rolled back, as Martha did. We accept Christ’s authority and his promises, as the disciples did. We persistently face the Son so that we cannot see the shadows.  It is in “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:2a) that we see where our strength of faith truly comes.

 “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” ~ Helen Keller

 

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The Power to Save: A six-week study on the powers of Jesus: Week 6

“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” ~Luke 24:5-6

Resurrection Morning by James Martin

Reading for today: John 20:1-18, 30-31; 21:25

The power over disease, evil spirits, and nature. The power to forgive sins and the power over death. And then, on Easter, Jesus’ revealed his ultimate power and purpose – the power to save.

Easter Morning by He Qi

For all humanity, Easter morning was the dawning of a new existence. New life offered at the very moment that Jesus rose from the dead.

For all the power he had, Jesus chose to save us. To save us forever from the clutch of sin, to save us from the fear of death, and to save us from the overwhelming darkness that pulls us away from our Creator God. We are saved for eternity, by the power of Jesus.

But underneath all this power, there is yet a deeper power that courses through the veins of God himself. It is the power that drove, from the very beginning, his unwavering commitment to our salvation. It is the basis of God’s every action through the person of Jesus. This underlying power is love –God’s steadfast love for us.

It is God’s love that first created us. It is God’s love that set his plan of salvation in motion at the Garden of Eden when humanity first sinned against him. It is God’s love that heard humanity’s cry, “Lord save us!” It is God’s love that sent Jesus as Immanuel – God with us – to earth. It is God’s love that set Jesus’ face towards Jerusalem and the cross, as people shouted Hosanna – God save us. And it is God’s love that sacrificed his only Son, to be the answer to our cries.

In love, God sent Jesus, with all authority and power, in order to make a way for us to enter back into his perfect love. And God desires that you not only accept his love in faith, but also extend it outward to those who have not yet felt its warmth. For he who is mighty to save, has given his power to us. God’s loving promise to save is now upon us and we have the power to share his love with those around us.

I want you to know all about Christ’s love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Then your lives will be filled with all that God is. ~ Ephesians 3:19 (CEV)

This week, spend some time basking in God’s love for you.

Day 2 – John 3:16-17; Ephesians 3:14-21

Day 3 – 1 John 4:7-12,16

Day 4 – 1 Corinthians 13

Day 5 – John 15:9-17

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