Voice Of Jesus - John 11: 32-44 and John 20: 1-18

    I'm an avid church sign reader. Most of them make me cringe as they try to be cute with scripture teaching or holy days, but there is one near my house that says something to the effect that there is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone - in particular Jesus.
   I would take that a step further - there is a difference between knowing someone and trusting them. There is so much trust in today's scripture lessons. Specifically trusting the voice of Jesus in our lives. I have to wonder if Lazarus would have come out of the grave in the same way if it had been Jesus's voice he heard. I have to wonder how Mary would have reacted if someone else would have called her name and told her Jesus was alive.
   How do we respond when the voice of Christ comes breaking into our hearts and lives? Do we trust Jesus enough to respond? And how can we grow in such trust day by day?

Easter Devo

March 27th, 2016

Devotional

“The Grave Robber: The Seventh Miracle” - John 11: 32-44 and John 20: 1-18

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “Where He Was Laid” - John 11: 32-37

Mary believed - she believed that Jesus could have saved her brother when he became ill - in fact that was one of the reason she and Martha sent for him to come. But, Jesus didn’t make it in time. Now she was getting her feeling out to Jesus “if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.” You can almost hear the passive aggressive nature of what she was saying because of her grief piercing through her voice.

But Jesus didn’t confront her on that. Instead, he asked to see where the body had been laid. And he wept. The shortest verse in scripture but arguably one of the most powerful - Jesus wept for the one he loved and lost. 

Have you ever felt like this with Christ in your life? Like if Jesus would have just showed up the first time you prayed that everything would have turned out differently? Have you ever thought about Jesus weeping for you because he loves you so much? 

Have you ever felt like God’s timing wasn’t right, only to discover that God’s timing was perfect?

Have you ever gotten passive-aggressive with God? How have you dealt with those tendencies? 

Prayer: God of resurrection, all too often, we confess that we believe that our ways and timing are better than yours. Help our unbelief, O Lord. Help us to trust you more each and every day, especially in the face of difficult circumstances. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Come Out!” - John 11: 38-44, Romans 10:9

If someone told you the story of Lazarus for the first time, how would you respond? Sometimes we let the familiarity of Bible passages wear on us and we forget how radical and beautiful they can be when we hear them for the first time. How would you respond if you were gathered in the crowd that day and Lazarus came out of the tomb, bound in over one hundred pounds of cloth and preservatives? How would this reveal to you the glory of God?

I believe that we see the glory of God around us each and every day in a variety of ways, but we often ignore it, because we have come to expect, if not even demand, that God provide for us in these ways instead of seeing them as blessings from God. How can you renew in ourselves that sense of awe at the glory of God? 

What do you think God is aiming for in our lives?

What is God calling you out of?

What is the difference between confessing with your mouth and believing with your heart in Jesus? 

Prayer: Almighty God, you do not force us to believe in you - instead you allow us to choose each day whether we will see you, glorify you, and follow you. Help us to respond anew to you, O Lord. Help us to believe in you fully. Amen. 

Wednesday: “They Have Taken Him” - John 20: 1-8

I’m not the most athletic of persons. In fact, I have successfully managed to avoid most gym classes and foot races. But I remember when I was a child that you ran simply because everyone else did. If others were running a certain direction, they must be going to see something - something you didn’t want to miss.

The disciples also ran in today’s scripture passage. They ran not because there was something that they didn’t want to miss, but because they had just heard news they didn’t want to believe “They have taken the Lord.” Ironically, the Roman guards had been scared that it was Jesus’ followers who would steal his body and now, as if a mean joke has been played, it seems like someone else has taken and hid the body of the one they loved.

We too face questions at the face of the empty of tomb. In fact, some of us may have even come to worship this morning driven by the question - is this even true? Or how is my life changed by the risen Christ? Why does this day matter? The claim of a man raising from the dead seems questionable itself, let alone to say that man was truly God.

What questions do you face when you look at the empty tomb?

What questions have drove you to worship on Easter morning?

Prayer: God, we cannot begin to grasp all of the questions and emotions that Mary and the disciples felt when they discovered the empty tomb. The who, what, where, why, and how. Lord, as we stand facing the empty tomb today, we have the benefit of knowing about your resurrection, but we still come with questions. Meet us in our time of need and reassure our questioning hearts, O Lord. Amen. 

Thursday: “Why are you Crying?” - John 20: 11-15

It doesn’t matter at what point in our life we looked into the empty tomb, saw, and believed. It doesn’t matter if we have all of the facts straight in our head or can recite every Bible story. What does matter is that we, too, believe. Believe that Christ’s mercy and grace triumph all. Believe that death doesn’t have the final word. For over the years many people have come to faith by looking into the empty tomb. We have faith in the seemingly unbelievable. But in the words of Pastor Clayton Schmit, “Faith comes first as a gift. Sorting it out comes later.”

Mary stands up, still crying and is met by another person she thinks is the gardner. He took asks her why she is weeping and she begs him to tell him where he has taken her Lord. But then Jesus calls her by name, “Mary” and she grabs him, clinging too him. 

Sometimes looking into the empty tomb is not enough to start our faith journey. Sometimes we are so caught up in our own pain, that we cannot see the message of hope through our own tears. We too are asked “Why are you weeping?” and have so many answers that we cannot give voice to. So much that is blocking our ability to see and believe. 

What thoughts do you have concerning Clayton Schmit’s statement “Faith comes first as a gift. Sorting it out comes later.”?

What do you weep over? Does it draw you closer to him or distract you from seeing him in the world around you?

Prayer: God, we have tears that need to be released this day. We weep for the pain that we carry around that others do not know about. Weep for loved ones gone too soon. Weep for a world at war. Weep for children that go to bed hungry. Help us, dear Lord, to see you through all of our tears. Amen. 

Friday: “Mary” - John 11: 16-18

We need Jesus to call us by name. We need to listen for the voice of Christ, when coming to see is not enough. That voice may sound different for each of us. It may be the voice of a friend inviting us to serve on a mission trip. Or a spouse inviting us to come and worship with them. It may be the voice of a teen asking if there is more to life then what we weep over in the world? Questions and invitations may be placing us in the path where Christ can meet us and speak to us. We may not recognize his voice at first, but slowly and surely over time, we notice that it is a voice that is unlike any other. The voice of our teacher that speaks to us in a deep way.

Rather we see and believe or hear the voice of Christ speaking our name, we are left with the same question  - are we going to go, like Mary, and proclaim the good news, “I have seen the Lord! He is Risen” or are we simply going to return to life as usual? Are we going to live as Easter people who follow God, no matter how many questions we may have, or are we going to return home and pretend that today never happened? Are we going to go out and let our voices ring? Are we going to live as if we are empowered by the Lord? Will we go on to live victorious? Will you live like the resurrection means something for your life?

Easter people know that while we live in darkness, weeping now, its not the end of the story. Easter people know that while we have questions, they drive us to look even more closely at the tomb that proclaims of the resurrection. May we go forth as Easter People, going forth to proclaim, “He is risen, indeed!”

How did you come to believe in Christ? How has the claim that “He is Risen” transformed your life?

How are you going to live into being an Easter Person? What does being an Easter Person mean to you?

Prayer: We want to be Easter people! We want to be people who prayer prayers that proclaim the power of your resurrection. Help us to respond to you calling us by name, precious Lord, and help us point others to your transformative truth and power. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Finding Rest in God - Pt 1” - Genesis 2:2-3 and Exodus 16: 23

Family Activity: Build an empty tomb out of play dough together. Many families have crosses in their homes. Put the empty tomb you make somewhere you can see it. What does the cross remind you of? What does the tomb remind you of? How can you celebrate Jesus’s resurrection together this week?

John 9 - Never Say Never

     Healing is one of the most difficult things for me to talk about as a pastor. I think my discomfort traces back to a seminary class I had on able-ism or discriminating against those who are differently- abled. For this particular class we had discussion groups that met afterwards, and my discussion group got into a heated discussion about whether people who were different in some way or another needed to be healed.
    I have several friends who others would label as disabled, but that is not how they would describe themselves at all. Instead, they have embraced what has made them different and often say that it is exactly through that trait that God is using them to bring God honor and glory.
    I think sometimes we get too caught up in the idea that the only way for God to be glorified is for healing on our terms, but is that true when we examine our lives? Or can God's glory the ultimate goal not the healing itself? Pastor Mark Batterson in his book the Grave Robber states that Sometimes you need to hold out for a miracle and sometimes you need to accept the new normal - recognizing that this is an opportunity to glorify God. Jesus doesn't define our ability to glorify God on our terms. While, yes, in this particular chapter of the book of John the man born blind from birth is healed, in the end that was to bring God glory. Let us seek out ways each and every day to glorify God, traditional healing or not. 

John 9 Devotional

arch 20th, 2016 

Devotional

“The Grave Robber: Never Say Never” - John 9: 1-12

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “From Birth” - John 9: 1-2

Sometimes when we read Bible stories it is hard for us to fully place ourselves in them. Maybe we don’t understand some of the Biblical words and what they mean. Or maybe sometimes we don’t understand the context because it is so different from ours. Other times it may be because we can’t put ourselves fully into the character’s shoes - as I would guess is the case with this particular story.

When the story tells us that Jesus saw a man who was blind from birth - this man who had never seen a single thing. In the words of Pastor Mark Batterson, “The man born blind had as many words his vocabulary as we do, but zero images”. It is hard to imagine having words but nothing to connect them to. It is hard to imagine not having the receptors in your eye connected to the synapse in your brain. Yet, it was exactly this man who Jesus was going to heal. 

What about this Bible story prevents you from fully placing yourself in it?

What comes to your mind when you hear words such as sun or lake? What would have come to the man blind from birth’s mind?

Prayer: Gracious God, help us to place ourselves fully into today’s Biblical text. Help us wade through what we do not understand and what is hard for us to imagine to get to the heart of your gospel message. Let it resonate in our lives so we can proclaim your good news. Amen. 

Tuesday: “They Haven’t Sinned” - John 9: 3-5

I fear that sometimes we label others as sinners because we do not want God to expose the sin in our own lives. Jesus’s disciples had been brought up in a culture that told them that some physical disabilities were directly linked to sin - perhaps sin from generations back in a family, but sin none the less. 

In today’s gospel text, Jesus takes what the disciples had learned about blindness being a result of sin and turned it on his head, as he proclaimed that this man’s blindness existed to bring God glory. What does this text look like in our own lives? When things don’t go our way, do we look for something or someone to blame or do we seek to see how our current circumstances, however unpleasant, can bring God the glory? 

How has God redeemed the circumstances in your life for Kingdom purposes?

Prayer:  Lord, we thank you today for the gift of our eyesight. But we also ask that you help open up the eyes of our hearts. Keep us, O Lord, from looking to blame you or sin for those circumstances in our lives or the lives of others, when this is not the case. Open up our hearts to seek your will and your purposes, even when we do not fully understand them. Amen. 

Wednesday: “ Go” - John 9: 6-7

Each of Jesus’s healing stories are a little different. For some he simply spoke a word and they were healed. In this particular case, healing was messy. Jesus bent down and spit into the dirt, making mud that he covered the man’s eyes with. Then he sent him off on a mission - go to a certain pool, a pool that he may have heard of but would have never seen before and wash. Why would Jesus go about healing the man in this fashion? Why wouldn’t he simply heal him right then and there? How would you react if you were the man who was born blind? 

One of the prayers I sometimes have folks pray when they are going through a difficult time is for God to open a door. But often for God to open one door another must be closed. The man in today’s scripture had a choice, to seek a new door or to have things stay the same. 

Why would Jesus send the man on a scavenger hunt for healing?

When is a time Jesus healed you? What was that experience like?

Prayer: Lord, often we want things to be simple. We want every door to be opened to us. We want everything to go as we expect so we can have our way. And yet, you often show up in the most unexpected of ways, Lord. Help us to fully live into who you are calling us to be and the opportunities you are presenting us with. Amen. 

Thursday: “Isn’t that guy that Guy?” - John 9: 8-10

We’ve all that experience haven’t we, when we saw someone we thought we knew but we weren’t quite sure. In fact, we may have even convinced ourselves that surely the person we are seeing isn’t the person we are thinking about. So it was with the blind man’s neighbors. After the man washed where Jesus sent him, he was able to see. But his neighbors couldn’t believe it. The man in today’s scripture isn’t even given a name, simply called the man blind from birth, and that is probably how his neighbors saw him as well - as his disability. Now they are presented with the opportunity to see him as a whole person and they couldn’t believe it. 

The neighbor’s seemed to miss the message that nothing was too big or impossible with God. God is the God of second chances that change everything. God changes how others see you. And God redeems all of your life for the purpose of the Kingdom. 

What are some of the differences between a true miracle and one that you tried to make happen?

How has God redeemed your life for God’s purposes?

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for times that we have not seen other people as you see them. Open up our eyes so we can truly see. Let us not be held back by judgments or misperceptions, but be freed to celebrate the opportunities that you give our neighbors. Let us seek and celebrate your glory! Amen. 

Friday: “Who is This Man?” - John 9: 11-12, Gen 21: 1-7

After the man who was once blind recounted how Jesus opened up his eyes so he could see, the first question the crowds asked was “who is this man?”. 

Who is this man? Who is this God? Who can do these things? All questions we ask when extraordinary things happen - be in opening up the eyes of the blind or allowing the barren to conceive in their old age. We worship a God who does the seemingly impossible, all for His honor and glory. 

Are their situations in your life when God has done impossible things?

What effect does contentment have on our attitude and outlook? How does contentment prepare us to be generous?

Prayer: God, we confess this day that you are sovereign. That you make the blind to see. That you do amazing, unpredictable things in our life. Let us always praise you, O God, not just for what you have done, but for who you are. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “The Grave Robber: One Little Yes” -  John 11: 32-44 and John 20: 1-18

Family Activity: Some people see things different then you. Draw a picture of what you think it was like for the blind man to see for the first time. 

The Storms of Life - John 6: 16-21

    Many stories about Jesus are found in multiple gospel, just told a little differently. This text from John also shows up in the other gospels but talks about the disciple Peter getting out of the boat, in the storm, to walk on the water.
   In my home office I have a little action figure that depicts this scene. Peter in the boat. Jesus outside of the boat with his arm outstretched.
   Sometimes when the storms of life are raging, we need to do the unthinkable - we need to be like Peter and get out of the boat. Of course, this is the least logical thing that we could ever do. Why would we get out of the boat when it offers us our only protection? Because perhaps the boat is also holding us back from finding healing and having the waters around us calmed.
    The problem of course is fear. We often want a guarantee, before we are willing to risk trying something new that it will be worth trying. And it may not be. Because Jesus does not make guarantees. Jesus, instead offers to walk hand in hand with us, as the one who's very presence can calm the seas.
   What are the storms in your life and how can Jesus hold your hand during them?

Lent 4 Devo

 March 20th, 2016
Devotional
“The Grave Robber: Never Say Never” - John 9: 1-12
Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “From Birth” - John 9: 1-2
Sometimes when we read Bible stories it is hard for us to fully place ourselves in them. Maybe we don’t understand some of the Biblical words and what they mean. Or maybe sometimes we don’t understand the context because it is so different from ours. Other times it may be because we can’t put ourselves fully into the character’s shoes - as I would guess is the case with this particular story.
When the story tells us that Jesus saw a man who was blind from birth - this man who had never seen a single thing. In the words of Pastor Mark Batterson, “The man born blind had as many words his vocabulary as we do, but zero images”. It is hard to imagine having words but nothing to connect them to. It is hard to imagine not having the receptors in your eye connected to the synapse in your brain. Yet, it was exactly this man who Jesus was going to heal.
What about this Bible story prevents you from fully placing yourself in it?
What comes to your mind when you hear words such as sun or lake? What would have come to the man blind from birth’s mind?
Prayer: Gracious God, help us to place ourselves fully into today’s Biblical text. Help us wade through what we do not understand and what is hard for us to imagine to get to the heart of your gospel message. Let it resonate in our lives so we can proclaim your good news. Amen.

Tuesday: “They Haven’t Sinned” - John 9: 3-5
I fear that sometimes we label others as sinners because we do not want God to expose the sin in our own lives. Jesus’s disciples had been brought up in a culture that told them that some physical disabilities were directly linked to sin - perhaps sin from generations back in a family, but sin none the less.
In today’s gospel text, Jesus takes what the disciples had learned about blindness being a result of sin and turned it on his head, as he proclaimed that this man’s blindness existed to bring God glory. What does this text look like in our own lives? When things don’t go our way, do we look for something or someone to blame or do we seek to see how our current circumstances, however unpleasant, can bring God the glory?
How has God redeemed the circumstances in your life for Kingdom purposes?
Prayer:  Lord, we thank you today for the gift of our eyesight. But we also ask that you help open up the eyes of our hearts. Keep us, O Lord, from looking to blame you or sin for those circumstances in our lives or the lives of others, when this is not the case. Open up our hearts to seek your will and your purposes, even when we do not fully understand them. Amen.

Wednesday: “ Go” - John 9: 6-7
Each of Jesus’s healing stories are a little different. For some he simply spoke a word and they were healed. In this particular case, healing was messy. Jesus bent down and spit into the dirt, making mud that he covered the man’s eyes with. Then he sent him off on a mission - go to a certain pool, a pool that he may have heard of but would have never seen before and wash. Why would Jesus go about healing the man in this fashion? Why wouldn’t he simply heal him right then and there? How would you react if you were the man who was born blind?
One of the prayers I sometimes have folks pray when they are going through a difficult time is for God to open a door. But often for God to open one door another must be closed. The man in today’s scripture had a choice, to seek a new door or to have things stay the same.
Why would Jesus send the man on a scavenger hunt for healing?
When is a time Jesus healed you? What was that experience like?
Prayer: Lord, often we want things to be simple. We want every door to be opened to us. We want everything to go as we expect so we can have our way. And yet, you often show up in the most unexpected of ways, Lord. Help us to fully live into who you are calling us to be and the opportunities you are presenting us with. Amen.

Thursday: “Isn’t that guy that Guy?” - John 9: 8-10
We’ve all that experience haven’t we, when we saw someone we thought we knew but we weren’t quite sure. In fact, we may have even convinced ourselves that surely the person we are seeing isn’t the person we are thinking about. So it was with the blind man’s neighbors. After the man washed where Jesus sent him, he was able to see. But his neighbors couldn’t believe it. The man in today’s scripture isn’t even given a name, simply called the man blind from birth, and that is probably how his neighbors saw him as well - as his disability. Now they are presented with the opportunity to see him as a whole person and they couldn’t believe it.
The neighbor’s seemed to miss the message that nothing was too big or impossible with God. God is the God of second chances that change everything. God changes how others see you. And God redeems all of your life for the purpose of the Kingdom.
What are some of the differences between a true miracle and one that you tried to make happen?
How has God redeemed your life for God’s purposes?
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for times that we have not seen other people as you see them. Open up our eyes so we can truly see. Let us not be held back by judgments or misperceptions, but be freed to celebrate the opportunities that you give our neighbors. Let us seek and celebrate your glory! Amen.

Friday: “Who is This Man?” - John 9: 11-12, Gen 21: 1-7
After the man who was once blind recounted how Jesus opened up his eyes so he could see, the first question the crowds asked was “who is this man?”.
Who is this man? Who is this God? Who can do these things? All questions we ask when extraordinary things happen - be in opening up the eyes of the blind or allowing the barren to conceive in their old age. We worship a God who does the seemingly impossible, all for His honor and glory.
Are their situations in your life when God has done impossible things?
What effect does contentment have on our attitude and outlook? How does contentment prepare us to be generous?
Prayer: God, we confess this day that you are sovereign. That you make the blind to see. That you do amazing, unpredictable things in our life. Let us always praise you, O God, not just for what you have done, but for who you are. Amen.

Saturday: Preparing for the Word
You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “The Grave Robber: One Little Yes” -  John 11: 32-44 and John 20: 1-18
Family Activity: Some people see things different then you. Draw a picture of what you think it was like for the blind man to see for the first time.

Two Fish - A Math Lesson from God

    Math was not my favorite subject in school. Starting back in first grade I remember struggling with things like counting money and while I worked hard in school, math was never something I completely understood the whole way through the last math class I took, college calculus.
   But even those who do excel at math sometimes struggle with God's mathematics, because they are so different from what we are used to. Math equations should come up with a reasonable answer. But God's math is not reasonable, it is miraculous, which is much harder to capture in an equation. For God 2 fish + 5 loaves = enough food to feed over 5,000 men. To God a few dollars contributed by people in an offering plate, go on to support missionaries and build schools half way across the world when put together with other's offerings as well. To God one Sunday's worth of special offering can support a missionary organizations operation costs for an entire year. God takes what we have and multiples it while transforming it into something miraculous. When in your life have experienced God's math working in your life?

“The Fourth Sign: Two Fish” - John 6: 1-13 - Devo

March 6th, 2016

Devotional

“The Fourth Sign: Two Fish” - John 6: 1-13

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “He’s Coming!” - John 6: 1-4

Have you ever been excited at the news that someone you’ve heard of was going to be stopping near you? Perhaps it was a singer who was going to be at the Bryce Jordan Center. Or an author who was coming to Barns and Noble. Or a pastor who was coming to one of the churches near by. You heard this person was coming and you would travel whatever distance it took to be in their presence.

That is how some folks felt when Jesus came to a nearby town. The farther we travel into the Gospel of John, the more well known Jesus is becoming. People are starting to flock to wherever he is in order to learn from his wisdom and perhaps even experience a miracle or two of their own.

In today’s scripture passage so many people have shown up on the farthest shore of the Sea of Galilee that Jesus had to position himself on a mountainside so people could see and hear him. While we do not know the hearts of all who were seeking to be in the presence of Jesus that day, we do know that by the end of their time with Jesus their hearts would be touched. 

How far would you go to be in the presence of Jesus Christ? 

Prayer: Lord, give us the passion to seek to be in your presence daily. Use our time with you to transform our hearts from the inside out so that we can be sent to tell others of your Kingdom. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Where’s the Bread?” - John 6: 5-7

Poor Philip. Jesus looked out on the crowds and asked him how they were going to buy bread for all of the people present that day on the mountainside. Philip, like many of us, didn’t recognize that Christ was testing him, and instead immediately began to calculate how much it would take to feed the people around him. His answer is perhaps also similar to many of ours, too much.

We live in a culture that tells us that we need to have a lot in order to make a difference in the world - a like of time, a lot of talent, a lot of money, a lot of resources. We forget that God can take whatever little we have and can multiple it exponentially. At my last parish, a very small group of us went on a mission trip to York, PA - by very small I mean myself and two others. While we were volunteering on a mission to help build home, we also didn’t have much skill in that particular area. However, we felt like God was still calling us to go, so we went. While there, we found that God used the little we had - in terms of people and talent - in order to touch three different families in the course of a week. More than we ever thought possible. Simply because we showed up. 

Tell of a time God used the little you had to offer to touch different people’s lives. 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you didn’t think there would be enough but God provided? 

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for the times we have thought that we have not enough or not are enough to be used by God. Teach us, O Lord, that your ways are not our ways, and you can take what we have to offer, and can transform it for your glory. Amen. 

Wednesday: “ Fish and Bread” - John 6: 8-9

While Philip blatantly doubted that the disciples would have enough to feed the crowd, Andrew seemed to also doubt, by asking how far the small offering of five small loaves and two fish could really go. The problem seemed too big and what was being offered seem too little.

After college, I spent eight month volunteering at the local women’s shelter. It came to my attention that one of the residents, who was expecting her first child, did not have anything for her new baby - not a single bottle or diaper. I presented the problem to the church I was serving at the time as an intern and asked if they could help. At first, there were questions about how much one congregation could help in the face of such great need. But the response that we got was enough items to help several women in similar situations. God took what was offered and multiplied it, even in the face of some asking if it truly would be enough. 

In God’s economy, 2+2 does not equal 4. What do you do when God’s economy does not add up in your mind but results in miracles? 

What are your “two fish” that you need to give to God and trust they will be multiplied? 

Prayer: Lord, we hand over our two fish, whatever they may be this day, and ask that your will be done. Ask that your provide for others out of our gift. And then we simply wait for you to act, however, you will, in your timing, O Lord, as an act of trust and obedience. Amen. 

Thursday: “Give Thanks” - John 6: 10-11, Jer 32:17

Before Jesus multiple the offering of loaves and fish to feed the crowd, he gave thanks. What does giving thanks look like in your life?

When we were little we learned a very simple prayer. As we got older we gave thanks to God in different ways, but it was around the dinner table that we first learned to be thankful.

Some of the purest prayers of thankfulness I have ever heard were over simple meals in Taize, France. Taize is a community were young people from around the world gathered for a week of prayer together. Our meals were simple - a piece of fruit and hot chocolate and some bread for breakfast - but for some of the brothers and sisters I met from other parts of the world - the simple meal to me was a true feast for them. They could eat until they were filled and they praised God for the gift they have received. How do you model being thankful no matter what your circumstances or how much you have (or don’t have)?

How do you give thanks and count your blessings?

Is there something you need to praise God for that has not happened yet?

Prayer: O God, sometimes we need a reminder that our cup truly does overflow with blessings. Blessings that we have not earned, O Lord, and can never truly repay you for. We can only humbly praise you and say thank you! Thank you, O Lord! Amen. 

Friday: “Left Overs” - John 6: 12-13, Luke 6: 38

In God’s economy nothing goes to waste. We are told in today’s scripture lesson that there were twelve baskets of bread left over after all had their fill. There aren’t any talents, gifts, or resources God has blest you with that are to lie dormant or be dismissed. Everyone has something to offer God for Kingdom purposes. What does God want you to offer this day, that you have cast off in the past? 

What do you do when the will of God doesn’t add up? Do you default to logic or do you believe God will multiply?

How do you remind yourself that you cannot out give God?

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where what God is calling you to do does not add up? How did you respond?

Prayer: God, help us see our time, talents, and resources as you see them - not by comparing ourselves to others and thinking that we do not have enough, but instead seeing all that we have as a blessing from you to be used for your Kingdom! Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Walking on Water” - John 6: 16-21

Family Activity: Keep a gratitude journal. What are the things that you are thankful for? What is happening in your life that is a blessing from God? What is one thing (at least) you can praise God for today?