A Prelude to Greatness
Good Morning Deacons,
Southwest Florida is home to more retired CIA staff than just about any place on the planet. These would be spies did their research and after World War II and the Cold war came to the conclusion that Southwest Florida was a pretty good place to come live. Caleb and Joshua came to that same conclusion about the land of Canaan. A key part of helping them to make that decision was because of an enlightened perspective and spirit that sees a place not as it is but as it can be. Indeed, what one thinks one can do, one can do and what one thinks one cannot do, one cannot do. Surely many of those who researched Southwest Florida years ago would have experienced large alligators in the road and mosquitoes swarming as to make them seem as big as birds. Oh and yes hurricanes and rebel Indians now known as fierce football contenders. But for the Hebrew nation too many of the spies focused on the descendants of giants in Canaan. They were as deer in the headlights… armadillos and possums in the road, frozen by a particular focus and attentive only to a point in time. Our experience of God can be like that, stopping us in our tracks, but as Christians we are blessed to see beyond the present. Think of Lincoln, Churchill, and Martin Luther King and maybe even George Bush in time. It comes down to how we perceive the Master of the universe. It comes down to being willing to risk with God. And as Christians we are called to rejoice in the possibilities of what God can do to his creation…can do with us on the journey preparing us to be part of A Prelude to Greatness.
Scripture:
27And they told him, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan.’30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’
Numbers 13:28-30 (NRSV)
16A gift opens doors; it gives access to the great.
Proverbs 18:16 (NRSV)
3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near. 4John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed* us from our sins by his blood, 6and made* us to be a kingdom, priests serving* his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 7 Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. 8’I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 1:3-8 (NRSV)
Jesus said, “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. . . . Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.”
John 14:27 (TEV)
Message: From time to time I see alligators in the road on my way to Immokalee. I am not afraid of them. I am in a car, but those who came in ox carts years ago may have been anxious. Many people just decided not to come this far south. The initial reports were of mosquitos and swamps. But today it is a paradise with commercial developers even this weekend putting Christmas lights in the palm trees. Now I think the Biblical episode of Caleb, Joshua and Moses was recorded as a teaching example for us and our time too. The message is that life has its challenges but we are to have a spirit of courage in the face of even giants. So rejoice in the journey. Even the journey into the unknown. So in response today we rejoice in the Word made flesh…the Word of life that became human and lived here with us….the eternal Alpha and Omega. Today we are blessed by the thought of Christ’s return. Today as the lost world mourns His return, we rejoice. Today we anticipate His coming with the Spirit of Caleb and Joshua and it brings us joy not fear… People are going to anticipate His wrath or His love. So do not be afraid. The last pages of the Bible reveal the mystery. Do not be afraid, He holds the keys to the Kingdom…the keys of life and death. Do not be afraid for He was dead and is now alive. He holds the keys to our future. Believe you can face the giants.
Pray we
have a vision of the opportunities for the called out assembly of believers. Pray we make a commitment to crossover to experience greatness. Pray we realize there are consequences for not having the courage to be great. Pray that we be a people that conforms our lives to God’s wishes. Pray we make charity a habitual action. Pray that we offer ourselves in prayer each day as a community of priests. Pray that we shape our lives around a liturgy of the covenant revealed by God. Pray that we stand in the tradition of following the Word. Pray that we be one in the Spirit of this season of change… this season of transformation as witnesses to the coming of the Christ Child…as witnesses to the first born of the dead…as witnesses to the coming of the King of Kings. Pray that we believe for Christ is coming. Pray we have the right spirit. Pray we have the power of positive thinking. Pray we trust in God to help us overcome what we believe are challenges. Pray we not refuse the opportunity to be great. Pray we accept nothing less than victory. Pray we do not deny the God given abilities that we have nor minimize the gifts that God has placed in others.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 