Colossians 1:27
“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, THE HOPE OF GLORY.”

Did you know that the reason people search for that pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow is because they are searching for their glory? God first designed man before sin and bestowed His glory on man. Man was truly satisfied but fell from glory when deceived by the lie that glory could be found on their own. Whenever we chase after glory outside of God, we make ourselves idols. How many times do we chase after idols? Whether money, success, praise from others, pleasure? And how often do we run to relationship after relationship chasing glory? Nothing wrong with any of those things, nothing wrong with glory either. Remember with glory comes happiness, meaning, significance, hope, fulfillment but when we stop chasing after glory through counterfeits and idols and seek Him first, giving glory to the one and only, guess what happens? The God of glory satisfies us and gives us His glory. The glory from the Father is more satisfying than anything that can come from our meaningless pursuits from other gods. The Psalmist says, “the sorrows of those who run after multiple gods will multiply.” But Christ in us is the hope of glory! He is the hope that will truly satisfy our souls as it was always intended from the beginning. Psalm 8:5
“Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with GLORY AND HONOR.” Let’s live to give our lives to God in praise and worship as living sacrifices, giving up our man made idols for a cheap imitation of glory and in return, we will be filled with more of Him, more of His best, more of His presence, more of HIS GLORY!!!!

Recently, I was reading the famous story of Jesus walking on the water to my four year old son Thomas.  After I was finished, I closed up the Picture Bible and asked him if he would actually like to walk on water someday. I even told him that in heaven that is one of my dreams, to actually take a walk with Jesus on the waves.  He seemed pretty excited about doing that as well but he then quickly warned me about the possibility of sharks. I laughed and told him that yes in heaven there will probably be sharks but they won’t eat us. They’ll probably come swim alongside us and maybe even talk to us for a while. Who knows, but later as I was processing what he said earlier about the sharks, it struck me how his response from a four year old brain, is not all that different from a grown up brain like yours or mine. In fact, there have been moments when I have been faced with a challenge or a difficult situation, and instead of trusting in Jesus like I should, I would make all the excuses in the book and tell God all the reasons why I couldn’t go out and join Him for an evening stroll on the ocean tide. “But God, how about a long walk on the beach? We can collect sea shells and feel the sand amongst our toes? Haven’t you ever seen Jaws?” Of course, He’d smile and reassure me with His loving promises “Fear not my son, for Jaws was a mechanical shark.”  Okay, okay God did not say that and we did not have that conversation together. Just to clarify but maybe you can relate with me? That despite His many promises not to fear, we allow ourselves to become afraid anyway.  We tend to want to keep to the shoreline and play it safe and in doing so, instead of walking on the waves, we end up missing out on the miracle God wants to do in and through us. The disciple, Peter had the privilege to jump out of the boat and for a while, he was actually walking on the water but when he saw the wind, that’s when he sank. The rest of the disciples just stayed in the boat. That’s typical of us isn’t it? We either stay in our comfort zones or we start off trusting in Jesus but then when things get tough, we often immediately take our eyes off Christ and instead of living by faith, we drown in our fears.  What we need to do is learn how to handle these difficult situations by learning from Christ Himself. For starters, before He walked on water, He actually spent time with His Father alone in prayer. Matthew 14:23 says,  “And after he had dismissed the crowds, ^(C)he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” How many of us before we set out to embark on our dreams, or  face a challenging situation, or make an important decision, do we actually spend our time waiting on God? Jesus often did that many times so why not us? We too should cultivate a spiritual habit to develop a prayer life so that when the waves of life seem overwhelming we can overcome because we are in His presence and this will help us to remember God is in control.  Not only should we learn to wait on God but also we can learn from Jesus to not wait for the perfect circumstances. “Whenever my business cards come in then I’ll start making phone calls” or perhaps you have heard this one?  “When I retire then I’ll go on that mission trip for God”.  Well, tomorrow is never promised and Jesus didn’t continue to wait on the shoreline just praying, and waiting for the perfect situation to develop. In fact, scripture says, in Matthew 14:24, “the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.”   Notice it says “the boat was a long way from the land” and notice the word “waves” is used and notice it says that “the wind was against them.” I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like those circumstances are favorable. No, these waters weren’t calm and peaceful; it was probably more like some kind of a storm. He didn’t wait for the wind and waves to die down though, instead He ventured out into the stormy seas. Now that is faith and that is the life God calls us to live as well. Let’s not fall into the trap of waiting for the right timing or perfect circumstances because that day may never come and before you know it, you’re living alone on an island of excuses stranded on the shoreline saying to yourself, “I wish I could’ve or I should’ve.”  When God calls us to come follow Him out onto the water, it’s not going to be easy but if it was, then why would we need Jesus? How could Jesus challenge or grow our faith?  Besides, would you rather play it safe and cross the sea in a boat or would you rather experience an adventure with God by faith? Wherever you find yourself in life and no matter what you’re up against, I dare you. I dare you to trust in how much He loves you. Yes, there are sharks in the water and there will be wind and waves but remember you’re not alone, you’re in His presence and He will never let you drown.

Matthew 14:22-33

Every once and awhile I love listening to some old fashioned love songs. One of my favorites is the Righteous Brothers, “Unchained Melody”.  I love that song, great melody, so romantic and emotionally moving, I could listen to that one over and over.  Recently I was just thinking that one of my favorite books of the Bible, the Psalms, is actually like a collection of beautiful old fashioned  love songs, put together and written to a perfect God from an imperfect people. David, the main author, was a murderer and an adulterous person yet God still loved David and chose to include his words in our Bibles today, inspired by the Holy Spirit and God breathed.  The Sons of Korah, also authors of many of our Psalms today, came from the line of Korah, a rebellious and sinful man who revolted against God and Moses. Yet God by His great mercy chose his descendants to have the special privilege to carry out and to lead His people in temple worship.  There are many Psalms that express great joy praising and declaring the faithfulness and compassion of our God and then there are Psalms of great discouragement.  The book of Psalms is raw and filled with all kinds of emotions.  Sometimes they display the author’s fears, sometimes his anger, sometimes the words come out of loneliness and great sorrow and sometimes from a place of great joy.  Yes, I think that’s why I like the Psalms so much. Not simply because of the beautiful written passages like the “Lord is my Shepherd”, or “As the deer pants for water,” but simply because of the people who wrote them, people like you and me. They were people who were flawed, people who at times felt depressed like all was lost, people who committed horrible sins, people who questioned things and even doubted God’s love.  Yes, these were people that if we’re honest with ourselves, are a lot like us but the good news is, God allowed them to come to Him with all their humanity and He never turned His back on them. In fact, if God showed compassion and used these flawed individuals to inspire and encourage us today, don’t you think He can take measly old sinners like you and me and use our weaknesses to accomplish His greatness?  Yes, He can and yes, He will.  So, the next time you read the Psalms, ponder this.  You don’t have to come to Him as having everything altogether, just come to Him as you are, whether sad, glad or mad, it doesn’t matter. Just go to Him in all your imperfections and find comfort in this truth, that you are made perfect in His eyes already and He will love you and fulfill His plan for your life not because you behave perfectly but simply because you trust in Him, a loving and perfect God.  His perfect plan will prevail and you will find yourself singing along to this old fashioned love song,

“ My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.

  Let every creature praise his holy name

  for ever and ever.”

Psalm 145:21

Remember always that you are God’s Masterpiece, a work of art that He has started and that He will finish. Sometimes the process is not easy and sometimes it will require discipline to sit still so that He can finish His portrait. But it’s in those moments that instead of complaining or wishing Him to rush, that we learn to be patient and when He tells you to adjust a position, do it, when He reminds you to lift up your chin, hold it high and learn to enjoy the simple fact that you are in His presence. When the great artist God is finished and He finally calls you over to view your portrait, don’t be surprised if at first you don’t recognize yourself. You will see the beauty of your soul, the person inside of you that God always knew you would become. And as you look closer you will begin to realize that the portrait of your soul bears the striking resemblance of His one and only son, Jesus Himself. And all you had to do was simply trust Him and just be still.

Ephesians 2:10

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

You know that scripture that says “Honor God and He will honor you?” I always use to think it meant obey Him and He will bless you with good things, wife, job, good health whatever. Actually guys the blessings we seek are not found in any of those things. When we honor Him with our obedience we don’t get eternal life, no that’s a gift but when we honor Him with our lives we get the BLESSING OF HIM HONORING US WITH HIS PRESENCE. That’s the blessing. It’s hard I know because we want happiness in this life. I know it’s hard but sometimes the thing we are chasing for is and has always been there with us. Kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She was chasing after the end of the rainbow but everything she had and always needed was right where she was, home. May we as believers not forget this truth. That the God of the universe has made His home with us and is in us. May we be thankful and grateful just to be considered someone whom God wants to be with. Stop chasing the rainbow, seek His presence, be mindful of His presence, don’t take it for granted. Maybe instead of being entertained by Netflix we take the time to bask in His presence. So if you feel lonely, discontent, seeking outward circumstances to bring you the peace and satisfaction you crave, remember Dorothy. She had an amazing adventure but she never left home. Your adventure you seek, the love and comfort you need is right here all along inside you. In His presence is full joy and with God we don’t need to be singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. Instead, let us praise Him and enjoy His presence, and when the tornadoes strike, we will be okay because we’re with Him and He’s with us and there is no place like home, there’s no place like home!!!!

Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Hebrews 12:1-3
New International Version
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. AND LET US RUN with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I never was really good at track and field when I was in school but I remember competing in several races. I tried them all from short distance to long distance. In the short distance races, I never was quick enough and so would end up finishing last and for the long distance races I never had the endurance to keep up with the others and I would eventually run out of gas and end up in last place once again. But there was one race that I actually won first place medal for. It was for the relay race. I remember I was the second guy to run. The first guy started us off and quickly built a huge lead and when he passed the baton to me, I ran as fast as I could with everything I had and it was just enough distance that just when I was starting to feel gassed, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have the energy anymore to win the race because by that time, all I had to do was hand off the baton to the runner who had the fresh legs and he finished the race for me. We won that day and I’ll never forget what an accomplishment it felt to actually win something. Today, I met with the Lord and as I was praying, I reminded Him of all my shortcomings and my failures, my failed races, and I apologized for all those times I had burned out in the past. Well, the Lord is compassionate and He reminded me of my track and field days and He reminded me of this verse in Hebrews about how we are in a race and we are to persevere in running the race. But He pointed out the one thing that I had failed to see before and I have looked at this verse many times, believe me. You see, I have always known that it’s not up to us to persevere, God will do it right? But there was one thing I failed to notice before. This race is not an individual race. Let me repeat that, THIS RACE IS NOT AN INDIVIDUAL ONE, ITS A RELAY!!!! For He says, “ Let US RUN”, God didn’t say I want you to run, He is talking to US THE CHURCH. If you have been trying to run this race by yourself and you keep stumbling over hurdles perhaps it’s because you have failed to see that you are not in this race alone. Perhaps, it’s time to give up the baton to our brother and sister in Christ and let them continue the race for us and then as we rest in Christ, we will be ready and refreshed to take the baton back from them when they are fatigued, so we can continue to be on pace. Guys, Christianity is not an individual sport, we need each other. Are we actively pursuing Godly relationships? Are we just doing online church? When’s the last time you had a cup of coffee with another believer and just talked and prayed with each other? When we isolate, we put ourselves in a position to be defeated. Let’s remember this truth, we are not alone. We have God with us, we have the community of believers, “the cloud of witnesses”, those who have gone before us that we can learn from and those who are in the race that we can lean on when we are tired. If we run the race as a relay with God as our coach, we will persevere! Do you hear them? It’s the chants from the saints of old cheering us on, “WIN church, WIN!”