Friday, January 11, 2013

Trust

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.  Jerimiah 17:7-8

I have been typing and deleting my opening lines of this Gmail for about 15 minutes.  I am trying to find an eloquent way to convey a simple truth that I have been learning this past year, but have experienced acutely this past week. God is faithful, worthy of our trust, hope and confidence!

I know it’s not lofty, but there are times when the basics just need to be heralded, and it doesn’t get any more basic than God’s faithfulness.  Yet in all honesty, I am ashamed to confess how hard it is to personally grasp this aspect of God’s character.

Mark Batterson in his tremendous book entitled The Circle Maker writes:  There is nothing God loves more than keeping His promises.  He is actively watching and waiting for us to simply take Him at His word.  He is watching over each and every promise, and if that doesn’t fill you with holy confidence, nothing will.  Praying hard is standing on the promises of God.  And when we stand on His word, God stands by His word.  His word is His bond. There is nothing God wants to do more than prove His power by keeping His promises.  But we don’t ask God to extend His hand because we don’t know his heart.”

My prayer for us as a community in 2013 is that we would grow in knowing God’s heart and believe God for His power to be displayed in and through us to a hurting and broken world like never before.

Would you pause right now and ask God to raise within you a pure and simple trust in Him, in His character?  Would you ask Him what placing your confidence in His character would practically look like? I know there are many hopes, big hopes and burdens that you carry and I know the struggle to keep hope alive when circumstances seemingly betray God’s character. Would you ask God to fill you afresh today with His eternal perspective and to renew hope within you?

This weekend will be unprecedented for two churches on the Peninsula.  Central Peninsula Church and Peninsula Covenant Church are doing a pulpit swap!  Mark Mitchell, Senior Pastor at CPC and a personal hero of mine will be preaching at PCC at all our services and I will be at CPC preaching at all their services.  You are in for a treat with Mark – he is a time- tested pastor and gifted communicator. 

I love being your pastor!