Tag: Jerusalem

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The Latter Rain: Celebrate Lent – Day 10

4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
    while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
    may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
    my highest joy.

Psalm 137:4-6

Do you have any hopes and dreams yet unrealized? I do. Sometimes I even dwell on them with an unhealthy attitude. If I am not careful my attitude starts to dwell on this life and all the comforts I do or do not have. That is why I love Lenten Fridays. Every Friday is a remembrance of Jesus giving His life on the cross, so that I may truly live. But, as long as my main focus is on this present world and all it’s affairs, I am not living life to the full…life such as Jesus died to give me.

On Fridays in Lent I like to turn my attention to the cross of Christ. All my hopes and dreams are realized in the cross, death, and resurrection of Jesus. No matter what happens in this world, as an apprentice of Jesus Christ, I am called to live as a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem and not this present dark world.

The early Christians knew this. They longed for the day when Jesus would reign in the new Jerusalem, not the one that was always being attacked by her enemies. The Old Testament children of Israel new very well what it was like to have peace and prosperity, only to lose it all to their enemies when they took the Kingdom for granted, and began to live as part of the fallen world around them.

“By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country…For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Hebrews 11:9-10

The life I really want to live…successful and safe, with a happy and blessed family, can only be found in relationship with Jesus Christ. When my focus is on Christ and keeping my service of Him first in life, then I am free to see everything through His eyes. I can see tough times as preparation for something better. I can see miracles in everyday circumstances. But most of all, I can see through the shadows of this world into the light of eternity.

Through the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting, I remember that this world really isn’t about me. I can learn to take my eyes off of my circumstances and focus them on my savior and His plan for my life. But it all begins with seeing the blessings in the rain. Rain can be refreshing or frustrating it depends on one’s outlook. God’s latter rain is always refreshing when we recognize that even sorrow and pain can be a blessing to help shape us into what He wants..

What is going on with you today? Are you focused so much on this life that you don’t see how what you are going through can prepare you for something better? It is not easy to have such a God-centered focus, but it is possible.

Let us not forget Jerusalem while we are living in Babylon. Let us pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…’

Shalom,

Pastor Brad

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Soul Food Anyone?

“Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

John 4:31-32

Read John 4:27-42 

Food is one of my great delights in all of God’s creation. There is such variety in the world. I love experiencing the culinary delights of different cultures. In January, my family and I were in Israel tasting the many delicious varieties of foods in the Middle East. Each year, the Lenten season reminds me of the inordinacy of my love for foods (especially carbs), as I seek to grow spiritually through the discipline of fasting. Here’s a picture of a street Bakery in Jerusalem. The bagels are incredible! Jerusalem Street Bakery

As I think about it, I don’t have to wait till Lent to be reminded. I’m reminded each time I step on my bathroom scales. Food is necessary for life. We need food to convert for energy to function the way a motor needs fuel to run. However, the typical American diet goes beyond the bounds of the necessary.

Jesus was well acquainted with the spiritual discipline of fasting. I’m sure His disciples often saw him fast in ways that amazed them. I find it fascinating that in seeing Jesus and His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, the disciples thought Jesus needed something to eat. They may have thought he was getting delirious from the hunger after a long journey. After all, why else would he be talking to a woman? And a Samaritan woman at that.

Jesus may well have been hungry, but He knew the satisfying feeling that comes from sharing hope with a lost soul. He knew that no physical bread could satisfy the soul like the very word of God. Jesus is the real “soul food”. Both He and the woman went away feeling filled, filled from knowing and doing the Father’s will. That is the filling we seek during the Lenten season.

We seek a filling for all of life, one that won’t fade away. During Lent, we take time out of our everyday routine of eating and drinking to fast for more of the only thing that can truly satisfy us – God. And, it is in that filling that we find the source of our joy. It is food for our souls to know and be known by our creator.

As you begin this second week of Lent, spend some time with Jesus at the well. I promise you won’t go away hungry or thirsty.

Shalom,

Pastor Brad

My daily Lenten prayer – “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit. ” NRSV