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Rediscovering Sabbath - Winds Across the Water

Posted by Gary Brennan on August 30, 2011 at 20:50

Rediscovering Sabbath - Winds Across the Water

Genesis 7:24 - 8:1 (NASB)

24 The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days. 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.

Hurricane Irene arrived in New England yesterday. In my little corner of the world it was entirely uneventful, not like in some parts of New England that experienced tidal surges, heavy rains and wind accompanied by river flooding. We were mostly on the windy side of the storm. And as you can see below, Irene produced tiny little whitecaps on our quiet little lake.

Our morning began with a hummingbird flying in front of our sliding door, perhaps hoping that our living room would provide safe haven during the storm. At that juncture the wind was starting to kick up along with intermittent driving rain.

I've always enjoyed watching the patterns of ripples or waves caused by the swirling winds on our lake. I don't know what it is about it, but I find it kind of whimsical, and I am thoroughly entertained by it. Now don't get me wrong, having lived on Cape Cod all my life I have witnessed the tremendous power of the raging Atlantic. I understand that is just a glimpse of God's power and I am totally awed by it. That being said, even the midst of Irene, I experienced something different. Something unexpected. I experienced the peace of God along with an invitation to come and sit in His presence.

We lost power around 9:30 in the morning. That removed all the electronic distractions that invade my spirit. I could no longer watch endless loops of hurricane reports. There would be no views of newscasters standing near sea walls telling viewers not to venture near the sea walls like they were doing with the ocean waves roaring in the background. There would be no viewing the circular patterns of the hurricane on the weather channel's radar. No internet. No checking email. No Red Sox baseball. Rather I was given the opportunity to observe the reality of my immediate world around me in the "quiet" of a hurricane! It was a Sunday without church responsibilities. It was an enforced Sabbath.

I realized I've never done Sabbath very well. For years I've carried several responsibilities at church. Even though I have been deeply blessed, at times it has felt like a second job. But this Hurricane Irene Sunday would be different.

There were a couple of things that I observed and kind of marveled at. One was that all the wave action and current seemed to go upstream on our river fed lake. It was like God was saying, "I will do the unexpected, like part the sea so my people can safely cross." Another thing I observed was that while all the other wildlife we enjoy on the lake took shelter, the ducks seemed completely unfazed by all that was going on around them. They swam, they flew, they spent the day feeding in the lake in front of our apartment. What makes them so different from all the other fowl on the lake? I just drew a real peace from watching them. It was like they understood what God meant when He said, "Be still and know I am God." Or in Psalm 23, where David says, "He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul."

Noah and his family along with his precious cargo aboard the ark witnessed the complete devastation of 150 days of rain. Then ...

1 ...God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. 2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.

Genesis 8:1-3 (NASB)

Sometimes God uses wind to bring about change. This was a different Sabbath for me. I was reminded of how He longs to have fellowship with His children. I believe He has called me make some changes in my life. I need to experience true Sabbath more often.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Pleasantly Surprised

Posted by Gary Brennan on April 12, 2011 at 22:57

Acts 3:1-12 (NIV)

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

Well, today marks the end of a long journey for me. Today I had my final checkup after several months of recovery and healing from eye surgery. No more lying completely still, face down. No more eye drops several times a day. The healing process is declared complete. The doctor was "pleasantly surprised" at how well everything healed. He was "surprised" at the quality of vision I have in the repaired eye. My vision in that eye without glasses is "better than expected."

For my wife, Lynne, it raised some questions, like, "What did you expect?" But for me, I could only smile because I knew God had touched me and therein lies the "unexpected" result. I had so many dear friends go to the throne God to ask for full restoration of sight. Thank you so much.

What did I expect? I think my answer would be, "Something unique." I have learned in the last few years that it is not about me. It really wasn't about my eyesight. Rather it was about how God would display Himself. How would He be glorified?

Was I surprised? No, I don't think that is the word for it. I don't really have a word for it. I know that once again, today, I was touched by God. Today, He touched my spirit.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NASB)

20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

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Posted By Blogger to Gary's Devos at 3/31/2011 08:15:00 PM

What I Learned in 2010

Posted by Gary Brennan on December 31, 2010 at 17:38

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Matthew 21:21-22 (AMP)

21 And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a
firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has
been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be
taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done. 22 And whatever you ask
for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.

Needless to say 2010 has been a very different year for me. For the first time,
really, I've had to deal with the frailty of the human body. The parts
sometimes wear out and need repair or replacement; like the frame on my
2001 Toyota. Or the retina (repair) and lens (replacement) in my eye.

In spite of it all, I don't think I'd ask for anything different or seek
to change any of the events of the past year. God has been good to me;
I mean really, really good. I've had lots of quality quiet time to
spend with Him. I feel like I'm just learning to study God's
Word and interact with it. This blog has been part of that
experience. If it has been a blessing to you, the blessing is from
God. My blessing doesn't mean much in the scheme of things.

If there is one big lesson I've learned, it is the correlation between
being a student of the Bible and confidence in prayer. I've learned
that often we don't know how to pray because we don't fully understand
how God acts or what He wants for us and others. I can easily fall into
the trap of making the will of God into a huge mystery. When we study
scripture, we know that we are naturally separated from God and that it
is His will to redeem us through the giving of His Son on the cross. It
is His will that we should love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind
and strength, and our neighbor as much as we love and care
for ourselves. It is God's will for us to meditate on His Word, and to
pray about everything with thanksgiving in our hearts. We are to
worship the Lord in spirit and in truth and speak the truth in love.

This is part of the revealed will of God. There is no
mystery here. He wants us to know clearly His plan for us. While God
has some plans that are still hidden from us, like when He will return
to earth, much of His will is made plain if we take the time to look for
it.

E. M. Bounds said, "Unless the power of prayer is supplied by God's Word, prayer, though earnest, is empty."

That is what I've learned. Knowing God's Word and prayer go hand in
hand. Knowledge of God through scripture breathes life into prayer.
Now the challenge for me is to know God so intimately that prayer
becomes second nature to me. To be at a place where I don't have to
wrestle with how I should pray is what I really long for. My desire for
2011 is to witness the power of God in answer to prayer.

I want to declare, "That's something only God can do. No plan of mankind could produce that result."

Have a Merry Christmas. God bless us, every one.

All Things

Posted by Gary Brennan on December 13, 2010 at 19:59

Monday, December 6, 2010

All Things

Colossians 1:15-20 (NASB)

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

We all have Christmas songs that we like to play on our stereos and iPods that remind us that "Christmas Time Is Here." That one that will do it for me from Charlie Brown's Christmas. Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas" is another. Music from the movie "Polar Express" will turn me into a kid in an instant and gets me pumped for Christmas. Moving from the secular to the sacred, I love Michael W. Smith's first Christmas Album. Ray Charles' rendition of the familiar Christmas song, "What Child Is This?" is running through my head as I reflect on the passage above that was part of my devotions this morning. If you are familiar with it it's probably in your head now, too.

What is the apostle Paul telling me and telling the church at Colossae about this child we know as Christ the Lord?

He tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The invisible is made visible. What we could not see or fully comprehend, we now can see and begin to understand. He was not created as we were. He was involved in the Creation itself. All of creation is for Christ. Paul refers to Jesus as the "firstborn of all creation." The hearers of Paul's letter would have understood this term not as the first thing God created, but as have the same rank, privilege and position of the firstborn. As we read our Old and New Testament we read over and over the value God places on the firstborn. So therefore, we can understand the statement that all of creation is for Christ. It's His. It was created for Him.

He is the head of the church. The church is His.

Not only is Jesus the image of God. All of God, "the fullness of God", dwells in Him. In our culture we place a lesser value on a copy of the original. We may find the copy to be interesting, but we don't value it as highly as the original. The fullness of God dwells in Christ, who was involved in Creation.

Jesus was not only fully God, He was fully human. In Paul's account we see the terms "fleshly body", "blood", and "death."

Colossians 1:21-23 (NASB)

21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

Here's the best part. The Firstborn, the Creator of all things, was given so that all things could be reconciled to Himself, the One to whom all things belong. He came to restore broken relationships with God. He came to restore broken relationships with His people, even though we "were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds." Though we were ugly and undeserving, He gave Himself through death "in order to present [us] before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach."

What a gift we are given! The God of all things is given as a ransom for us. This is reason to celebrate!