Sunday, April 29, 2018

4-29-2018


Good Morning All,
         Psalm 91:1-2; “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
    We celebrated the 125th anniversary of our church about 5 years ago.  It was a nice day and we had two big tents up for people to sit under and eat.  After the meal, many just sat under them and visited.  The shade of the tent provided a comfortable place to sit.  With the sidewalls, the wind was blocked and you could sit pleasantly. 
     In biblical times, the tent or shelter was one of the first things put up and one of the last things taken down.  It provided shelter from the heat and the rain and the wind.  During the windstorm or sandstorm, it was all that would protect you from the pain and the grit.  It protected the occupants from excessive heat, poor weather, and provided a cool place to rest.
     In our Scripture verse, we see God’s mercy as this tent.  It shelters us from the blistering attacks of the devil.  The threats and the assaults that are sent our way to destroy our trust in God’s promises.  The devil would rather you were out in the heat experiencing the discomfort of the fiery blasts that he launches at us.  He wants you to see the mirages of his lies and to think these are the oases which we seek.  We follow the lies and distortions which tell us that we can manage all of life’s challenges on our own.  We are the masters of our lives and we don’t need anyone or anything; this is just another of the devil’s attacks to drive us from the safety of God’s shelter.   
    It protects us from blinding storms that the world blows at us.  It seems that the world tries to blow so much stuff at us in order to confuse us and to block our vision.  The world tries to drive us from god by the blinding and incessant lies that it pelts us with daily.  It tries to make it difficult for us to look forward to God by making it difficult to see anything.  The world distorts reality for all of us.  It twists and turns and deceives.    
     Our hope is fully found in the safety of God’s dwelling; in his shelter.  We are safe when we live safely in God’s holy reign and within the protection of his loving arms.  It is in his grace that we are safe.  It is in his mercy that we find our shelter.  The forgiveness of our sins provides us the refuge, that strong and impregnable fortress where we find peace and hope.  This is the place where we find our shelter.
Dearest Father, you provide for us the shelter as we face the storms of this life.  Father, we often fall short of trusting you fully and we seek to battle the storms and fight through the lies and the deceits.  Forgive us when we fail to trust in you.  Give to us the faith to hold onto your grace and to live in your shelter.  Send your Spirit of comfort to those who are in desperate need of your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret        

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