Genesis 42:1-38 – Grain in Egypt

Unlike human promises, when God makes a promise, it will come to pass.  We all have opportunities in life to commit to things.  Whether it’s making dinner, giving someone a ride somewhere, being involved in an event, or even chairing a committee, we all make commitments every day.  Most of the time we keep our commitments, but sometimes things come up, maybe we have to work extra hours or we get sick, and we are not able to fulfill our promise.  But God always keeps His commitments, He always keeps His promises.

Our Scripture yesterday (Gen 37:1-36) spoke of a dream Joseph had that one day his family would bow down to him.  Because of this dream and the favoritism shown to Joseph, his brothers mistreated him and sold him into slavery.  But God had other plans.  God did not plan for Joseph to live out his life serving others; God wanted Joseph to serve Him.  God made a way.  God promoted Joseph until he was second in charge – only Pharaoh was greater.

Because God is in control, what was meant for harm, God turned into good (Gen 50:20).  Even when everything seems to be against us, God is in our corner (Rom 8:31).  No matter how things seem to be going wrong in your life right now, God is working.  He is working things out for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28).  Be encouraged!  Nothing is too great for God – nothing is too hard for him (Jer 32:17). 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy

Genesis 27:1-28:22 – A Place Called Bethel

Ah family.  You don’t get to choose which family you are born into.  You don’t get to choose your brothers and sister.  You just have to accept where God places you.  And sometimes, that is easier said than done.  If you want to read about a dysfunctional family that will make your family seem extremely healthy, read about Isaac and Rebekah and their two sons Esau and Jacob.  Isaac and Rebekah were married when Isaac was forty years old, but they did not have any children until Isaac was sixty.  I have seen the turmoil in couples wanting children and not being able.  In this day and age, testing as to what was going on…or to see what wasn’t going on wasn’t available.  All they had was certain shame from the community and hope in God through prayer.  Which He answered!  Not with one child, but with two.

After the children were born – everything came up roses…right?  Well, not so much.  Scripture tells us the parents did something no parent should ever do, they chose favorites.  Isaac loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.  I can only imagine how this favoritism played out as the twin brothers grew up. 

Today’s passage comes at the end of Isaac’s life, he was at least 100 years old (Gen 26:34 tells us Esau was 40 years old when he married and this couple became a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah, so Isaac must be at least 100.)  Rebekah overhears Isaac’s instructions to Esau, the firstborn of the twins.  Isaac desires a last meal before he gives his final blessings and before he dies.  But Rebekah desires that her favorite, Jacob receive this blessing.  Rebekah’s craftiness and Jacob’s willingness to go along (he was at least 40 years old…he knew what he was doing!) led to deceiving Isaac.

Through this deception, Jacob received the blessing.  Jacob had already bought Esau’s birthright (all children were given a portion of the father’s estate at his death, the oldest received a double share.  This is what Jacob bought from Esau.)…it makes you want to see Jacob as the villain.  Later in the account of Jacob, we learn that he gets a taste of his own medicine by being tricked by another family member…again familial dysfunction!

But when you get to the end of the account of Jacob, you realize that God’s plan wins out in the end.  No matter how much we try, God’s Will wins in the end.  He allows us to go through challenges and allows us to try things our way, but if we choose to let God be our guide, how much less pain would we endure?  God will sit back and let us do things our way only to find out we can’t do anything on our own.  When we submit to God and His will for our lives, we find peace and rest.  We no longer have to fight through the struggles of life.  Now, there will still be struggles in life.  It’s kind of like navigating through a jungle.  On our own we’ll hack through the vegetation and probably get lost several times before we get ourselves through that mess.  But when God is with us, He’s the perfect tour guide who knows the easiest path.  We may still stumble as we go through, but He won’t let us fall.

Seek God as you go through your day.  His way is best and you’ll come out the other side with less bumps and bruises!

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy

Genesis 11:1-9 – Let Us Make a Name for Ourselves

From the beginning, the city of Babel (also known as Babylon) desired greatness.  But they desired greatness in their own power and for their own gain.  They desired greatness according to their own will and plan…apart from God.  In today’s passage, the Babylonians try to dethrone God by building a tower that would reach the heavens.  This tower was not to glorify God, they were not going to give God any praise for giving them the ability to build such a structure, no – they were looking to make a name for themselves.

Living in today’s culture, it doesn’t take much to understand the motives of the Babylonians.  Daily we see others trying to make a name for themselves.  People try to outdo one another in order to get the big raise, they try to give better presentations so their ideas will be heard, they will do “whatever it takes” in order to be successful…and the person next to them is not.  People are sneaky, underhanded, and sometimes outright mean.  This is definitely not the plan God has for us.

Scripture tells us to love one another (John 13:34).  It is a command from Jesus.  He even becomes more direct by telling us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43).  When we get our lives in order and focus on loving God and then loving others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39) the recognition will come.  God will take care of us and provide rightful and deserved promotions.  We just have to make sure we give Him the credit and the praise. 

Remain in Him and you will bear much fruit, apart from Him you won’t be able to do anything! (John 15:5)

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy

Genesis 8:1-9:17 – Noah Built an Altar

When I wake up to dreary, rainy mornings like today I sometimes wonder how Noah and his family would have felt on a day like today.  Would they have run outside looking for a rainbow to make sure God remembered His covenant with them?  Or were they calm, knowing and trusting that God would not flood the earth again.  Was it a reminder of all they had been through, the long journey on the ark?  Or did they get as used to the rain as we are, not even remembering what God had done?

When we go through challenges with God how do we respond once the struggle is over?  Do we keep the journey in the front of our minds or does the memory fade away with all the others and we forget how God brought us through?  I think as we go through the trial, we often lean heavily on God and rely on Him to get us through.  When the situation has ended or things have been resolved, we praise Him and give Him the glory.  We share with others how faithful God is.  We tell others they need to build a strong foundation in Jesus so when their storms come, they will stand firm.  Then over time, the pain fades, the memories aren’t so strong, and the glory of God’s movement becomes faint in our mind.

We go back to living life forgetting how awesome God is…until the next struggle comes along and the cycle is repeated.  My challenge?  Let’s not do that!  Let’s remember what God has done and live life remembering how powerful He truly is.  Noah built an altar to the Lord so he could sacrifice, but also to help him remember.  I’m a big advocate of putting reminders around the house – things to help us remember on the refrigerator or the bathroom mirror.  And when we “stop seeing” our reminders, because anything in one place for too long begins to blend in, we need to change it up so we don’t let our faith begin to settle in.

How has God gotten you through trials in the past?  How do you remember His faithfulness?  Be intentional in your memory or unintentionally you will forget.  Oh that we will never forget!!

I'm praying for you!

Pastor Amy

Galatians 5

Galatians 5:13-15  For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  ¹⁴ For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  ¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

I’m super excited!  Today is officially the first day of my new schedule.  Monday and Tuesday I get to focus on the church and Wednesday and Thursday I will head to my “other ministry” job.  Part of me feels as if I only have to work two days a week.  My “work” for the church includes Bible study, prayer, planning, administration, and being with people.  For some, I suppose this would be boring or tedious, but I’m overjoyed!

Now, it would be easy to “hole up” and busy myself with the administrative side of my work and lose sight of the most important side – you.  This new found freedom of time is a big responsibility and I need to remember to “serve one another” in my time.  So – I need your help!  Give me a call or shoot me a text or an email…let me take you to lunch or coffee (I’m doing better at this “early in the morning thing” so if breakfast would be better, I can do that too!)

I want to hear from you, learn about you, and support you in any way I can.  Maybe you’re looking to start a new chapter in life, maybe you just need someone to talk with, or maybe we can spend some time in prayer.  (and if I don’t hear from you – I will be in touch) ;-)

And with this in mind – maybe we all need to be better about being relational.  Be intentional about taking a lunch break and spending time with a coworker instead of working through.  Take time to talk with a neighbor when you get home from work instead of rushing inside.  Give a relative a call and chat a while instead of crashing in front of the television.  We are called to love one another – let’s get out there and do just that!

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy

James 4

James 4:13-15  Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"--  ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

With what I do, I meet all kinds of people.  Some are down and depressed – and rightfully so.  The folks I see often have major physical limitations, are on so many medications they seem to have a private pharmacy on their kitchen tables, and relationships are strained due to feelings of “this isn’t what I signed up for” (and then the guilt for feeling that way).  But lately I’ve been seeing several people who take all this negative and somehow muster a positive attitude.  They have made a choice.  They can wallow in despair (and no one could blame them) or they can live each day to its fullest.

When your health is good, most of us assume tomorrow is promised.  We make plans for next weekend, next month, for Christmas, assuming we will be able to enjoy our commitments.  But truly as James reminds us, we do not know what tomorrow will bring…so do it now.  Let your loved ones know how you feel – every day.  Make that phone call you’ve been meaning to make.  Share Jesus with your family and friends today because tomorrow may not come.  Or if you have been waiting to accept Jesus as your Savior, why not today?  It’s as good as any!  And tomorrow may not be an option.

On a side note – how did “early in the morning” go for you today?  Keep it up!! Or recommit for tomorrow J

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy

Joshua 3:1  Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

Mark 1:35  And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

I didn’t sleep well last night.  I kept waking up and checking the clock to see what time it was…mostly to see how much more time I was going to get.  This morning I started teaching a 5:15am class at the gym.  It’s kind of crazy – I’m not much of a morning person.  If left to my own desires, I’d stay up late and sleep in late.  Unfortunately, my schedule doesn’t allow for that.  And this morning definitely did not allow for that.  But now that I’m up and have been awake for a couple hours, I’m enjoying the quiet of the morning.

“Early in the morning” is a phrase found in Scripture over and over (37 times in the ESV/23 times in NIV).  People in Scripture got up early in the morning to meet with God, to share with others what God had said, and to obediently follow God’s instruction.  Sometimes I think people got up early in order to follow God and “get it over with” or maybe they did in order to complete their assigned task before losing their nerve.  Jesus even modeled getting up “very early” in order to pray.

Getting up early is no easy task for many of us, but greeting God early puts Him first in our day…before the day gets hectic.  How many of us have good intentions to get to prayer and devotion time “a little later” only to find the day is over and “later” never happens.  When we get up to be with God first thing, maybe with coffee in hand, we will always have time.

Now more than ever we need our time with God – time to fill up with His Spirit, time to fill up with His knowledge, time to fill up with His energy.  We need to seek Him for direction – in our own lives and in the life of our church.  I believe God has much to tell us…we just have to consistently give Him our time.

So – challenge time!!  I know today is Wednesday – so Thursday and Friday this week and Monday thru Wednesday next week – I challenge you to get up earlier than normal.  Maybe 15 minutes maybe 30 minutes so you have time to be with your Lord.  Put in on your calendar as you would any other appointment.  Don’t be late!  It’s the most important appointment of your day J  Make sure not to stand up your best friend!  And let me know how it goes.

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy