Overwhelmed and Overcoming

I hope you all had a good Mother’s Day yesterday.  I know that this holiday, as with all holidays, is often experienced by people with widely different, powerful, and complex emotions.  Please know, that however you experienced yesterday, God is with you. 

During our worship services we commissioned our Haiti mission team.  We (Heather Collins, Denise Klaus, John Janosik, and me) are excited to head south and to get to work.  This week will be one of preparation and last minute arrangements.  (For instance:  Does the guest house have bedding?  We don’t know, so we’re trying to find out!)  Please keep us and our families in your prayers.  Also, keep your eyes open for a prayer service on next week’s Wednesday so that you can participate in it, too. 

In yesterday’s sermon, we talked about how sometimes we begin to feel overwhelmed by the challenges and struggles of life.  Sometimes the pains of life – health issues, family conflict, political injustice and the like – drive us to despair.  In reality, they should drive us to prayer.  There are times that the best answer is to throw our hands up and pray, “God, this is too much for me!  Have mercy and help me through this difficult time!” 

Those are not magic words though.  Prayer is not an incantation that forces God to do what we ask.  Rather, prayer is the cry of faith. 

We boldly cry out in prayer because of our faith in Jesus.  It is in Him that we know that our sins are forgiven, because His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness.  It is because He said, “I will come again,” that we know that this world will end, and we live in anticipation of that Day.  It is because He was given to death for us that we know God’s love in our lives.  Indeed, “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”  Therefore, it is in Jesus that we overcome the world and its problems. 

Christians are sometimes accused of being utopian, “Pollyannas,” and people who do not understand reality.  People slanderously speak of us as if our faith was fantasy and our hope was only hokum.  They do not understand that Jesus deals with reality and He acts in real time … even if it is His timing, it is still real time. 

John highlights the earthiness of our faith as He talks about the testimony God has left us in water, blood, and the Spirit.  God does not deal with us only by spiritual means, He also deals with us physically.  Water and blood are very physical matters.  Water and blood are present at birth, reminding us that Jesus was truly born, fully human, and able to understand our need.  Water and blood also remind us of Jesus’ death, for when the soldier pierced His side, blood and water flowed, showing that He truly died and paid for our sins.  And we experience the water, blood and Spirit’s testimony in Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the Word of God. 

Life can be overwhelming sometimes.  But we have overcome the world through Jesus.  Let that drive you to prayer, too, as you rejoice in His salvation and ask for the power to share the hope you have in Jesus with others. 

Question to Ponder:

What in life makes you feel overwhelmed?  How have you prayed about this? 

How do we show our love for God?  What does 1 John 5:3-5 say about this? 

How can we say that God’s commands are not burdensome?  What role does Jesus’ salvation play in that?

What do you know about your own baptism?  How can you refresh your memory of the promises you received that day? 

When you come to the Lord’s Table, what runs through your mind?  How do the words, “Given and shed for you,” impact you? 

When have you experienced God in the midst of very earthy experiences?  How does knowing that God works in the physical part of life impact your view of work?  Family life?  And other aspects of life in this world?