Pastor Rajiv's Mid-Week Message: God Does Hear; God Does Answer!

 

The Farmer's Prayer: A story by Crystal Ross

 

A while back I read a story of a visiting pastor who attended a men's breakfast in the middle of a rural farming area of the country.

The group had asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast.

"Lord, I hate buttermilk", the farmer began. The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where this was going. The farmer loudly proclaimed, "Lord, I hate lard." Now the pastor was growing concerned. Without missing a beat, the farmer continued, "And Lord, you know I don't much care for raw white flour". The pastor once again opened an eye to glance around the room and saw that he wasn't the only one to feel uncomfortable.

Then the farmer added, "But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits. So, Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than biscuits Amen."

Within that prayer there is great wisdom for all when it comes to complicated situations like we are experiencing in the world today.

Stay strong, my friends, because our LORD is mixing several things that we don't really care for, but something even better is going to come when HE is done with it. AMEN

Crystal Ross 

The Challenge

Yesterday we were challenged to change one thing in our life, to be in line with the 10 commandments, and present that sacrifice as a gift to the baby Jesus this Christmas.

At first glance at the 10 it seems we have adhered to all and there is nothing much to change anyway.

But a deeper look does throw up some interesting deviations. Lets look under the hood. 

Take for instance the 2nd commandment. Surely, we do not make nor worship idols. Now when we think of an idol, we envision a man-made figure of wood or stone, or something in nature that we worship. And of course, we do not do that.

Merriam Webster defines an idol as - an object of extreme devotion or a representation or symbol of an object of worship. The Oxford dictionary defines it as an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship; the Bible dictionary calls it an image or anything used as an object of worship in place of the true God.

In short, anything that takes precedence over God can be an idol. For example, say there is a game scheduled on a Sunday, where some top stars are going to play. Many people may forgo church, attend the game and generally have a great day. Do you think we have idolized the game? If we have, we may have actually broken two commandments - the 2nd and the 4th. Check it out. 

Anything that dilutes and defocuses our relationship with God is actually an idol. It could be our children, parents, our wife or husband; it could be a game, a habit, an addiction and something as simple as food. In today's world, I think the most common deviation maybe idolizing ourselves, our job, which though a blessing, can become an idol. And the most common one is Christmas itself. we have idolized it as an event!

When we look at the 2nd commandment with that perspective, see how guilty we possibly are?