6-22-2018

Good Morning All,

        Psalm 145:18; “The Lord is near to everyone who prays to him, to every faithful person who prays to him”.

    I remember watching Sesame Street with my sons many years ago.  I used to like the part where the two monsters taught the concept of near and far.  There was some catchy music and the monsters would show up near to the camera or far from the camera.  Sometimes the monster would be right in front of the camera saying “near” fairly loudly then soon he would be far away from the camera and you would barely hear “far”. 

    They learned the concept of near and far.  The problem with learning this concept is that as soon we understand near and far; many things seem to be far.  We seem to be far from our friends or far from being done or far from getting enough rest or far from being satisfied.  It seems like near is more about nearly lost, nearly broke, nearly empty or near exhaustion.  All too often, this is how we feel.  When we feel this way, it gives the devil a platform.  He stands near to us and whispers in our ear how far away God is.  In our sinful state, we listen.  In our time of being lost or wandering, we feel that God is far, far away.  We still see him as God but he is the great God who is far above the world far away from us.

    This is because our sinful nature doesn’t want to see God as being near; our sinful nature does not desire to have a loving relationship with God.  It only seeks to hold God in contempt.  As we do this we move far from God or so we think.

    But God is always near to us.  He is always calling to us.  He always wants to be in a loving relationship with us.  Even when we look at our world, at our life and we think God is far away; we may even be angry or hurt that God doesn’t care but he does, always has always will.  So how do we stop feeling so far from God?  How do we fix it?

    God gives us the tools to deal with this life.  One of the tools is prayer.  Prayer is a great gift of God to us.  It is half of that “holy conversation” that God engages in with us.  It is our part of the conversation.  God speaks to us through his Word and we speak back through prayer.  This conversation, this relationship is built up for us by God’s grace.  Prayer is never a “what” it is always a “who”.  Prayer is about talking with God and staying in close contact with Him.  The amazing thing is not that God gets nearer to us but that we recognize his presence in our lives and we rely on that nearness to give us hope to give us strength.  Our continuance in our prayer life, connected with our listening to God speak to us through His Word will keep us near to God and we will experience his love, his mercy, and his grace.  He is always near and with prayer; we will realize it.

Father of all mercies, your mercies are new to us each day and roll over us like a river.  Keep us aware of your nearness and the love which you have for us.  Guard us by your Spirit.  We especially ask that you send your Spirit with your Word to those who feel that you are so far away.  Comfort them with the assurance that you are near.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret