What work is God doing in the middle of suffering and hardship? Is all suffering due to sin, or is God doing a greater work? What are the works of God? How can we be open to, and participate in, the works of God in the middle of suffering and hardship?

In the gospel of John, chapter nine, Jesus’ disciples inquired about a man who was born blind and the cause of his blindness. They attributed the man’s predicament to his sin or to his parent’s sin. The disciples assumed God was judging this man with blindness because he or his parents had offended God with some kind of grievous sin and that God had made him blind.

The gospel of John tells us, “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:1-5, ESV).

Sometimes suffering and hardship happen because God is doing a work in us, and because God is doing a work in those around us. We must be open to God and we must be open to the works of God in the middle of suffering and hardship, recognizing God is always at work around us.

Are you thirsty? Are you spiritually thirsty? Do you look for water to quench your thirst when you are thirsty? Where do you go to drink when you are spiritually thirsty? When you drink deeply in your thirst, what is it like to be quenched of our thirst?

We all thirst and desire to be hydrated to live. Just like there is physical water that quenches our thirst, there is also spiritual water that quenches our thirst for the life God intends for us.

When the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, and were wandering in the desert toward the promised land, they thirsted and “the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’” (Exodus 17:2-3, ESV).

The people thirsted for water and life. They doubted Moses and they doubted God’s plan and they assumed their needs would not be met. The people grumbled and complained and cried out. God heard the people’s cry and instructed Moses to take his staff and to take the elders with him and strike the rock at Horeb with his staff and provide water for the people from the rock.

God said to Moses, “‘Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.’ And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.” (Exodus 17:6, ESV).

God provided water for his people in the wilderness. God quenched the people’s thirst and sustained their lives.

In the Prophet Isaiah God told his people not to fear. God made a promise to Israel, saying, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants” (Isaiah 44:3).

Later in the scriptures, in the Gospel of John, Jesus would tell a Samaritan woman at the well “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10, ESV).

In his Epistle to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul linked the water from the rock in the wilderness with Jesus, the living water found in John 4, saying, “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:2-4, ESV).

What does it mean to have been born? What does it mean to be born again? Have you been born again? What was your role in your birth? What was your role in being born again?

Just like we were born physically into this world, we must be born spiritually if we are going to see God and his kingdom.

In John’s gospel account, Jesus said to a man named Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, ESV).

Nicodemus said to Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:4-8, ESV).

Like in our natural birth, we are to be born of water, our baptismal waters. Just as we took our first breath after being born into this physical world, we must breathe the Spirit of God into our lives as we are born of the Spirit. As we were born physically, we must be born by the Spirit of God, we must be born spiritually.

What temptations do you experience? What tempts you? When does repentance begin? Does repentance begin before, during, or after temptation? Can you repent before you actively commit sin? Can you repent in your sin? Can you repent after you sin? When are you tempted and when do you repent?

What we do in preparation, before we are tempted, determines if we are able to resist temptation.

We can repent from our sin before we are tempted to sin. Temptation itself is not sin. It is not a sin to be tempted.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, said it this way, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:13-15, ESV).

In the fourth chapter of the gospel of Matthew, we see that Jesus was tempted by the devil to sin against God. We know Jesus is the Son of God and is without sin, but in his humanity he could be tempted to sin, just as we are tempted. It was not a sin for Jesus to be tempted to sin, because temptation to sin is not sin.

Jesus was first baptized and then he heard from heaven from God the Father that he was God’s beloved. Jesus resolved before temptation not to fall into temptation and he prepared himself accordingly as he led by the Spirit into the wilderness prepared, and in prayer and in fasting.

Like Jesus, we can resolve before temptation comes not to fall into temptation. We can repent of our sin before the temptation to sin arises within us. We can prepare in fasting and in prayer. We can determine not be “lured and enticed by our own desire” recognizing that “desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14-15, ESV).

What are the circumstances where you encounter God? What are the places where you encounter God? Can you encounter God in both good and bad circumstances? Can you encounter God in both high and low places?

Jesus’ disciples, Peter, James, and John encountered God on the mount of transfiguration. Like these disciples, we encounter God in mountaintop experiences.

We also encounter God in the valleys of life. The mountaintop encounters with God which we experience prepare us for the valleys we experience in life.

God meets us in every circumstance and in every place where we find ourselves.

The gospel of Matthew tells us, “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” (Matthew 17:1-2, ESV).

The disciples encountered God on the mountain. As Jesus was transfigured before the disciples they heard from God the Father.

Matthew tells us, “And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” (Matthew 17:3-8, ESV).

What does the mission field look like? Where is the mission field? Are you being called to the mission field? Where is the mission field God is calling you to? What does God’s mission look like in your life?

Every believer is called to mission. Our immediate surrounding is our mission field.

At his ascension, when the disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem, Jesus said to his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV).

Our mission field begins with where we are. Our immediate surroundings, our “Jerusalem”, comes before we reach out in mission to “all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” If we are not faithful and effective to the mission in our own neighborhoods, we will not be faithful or effective in mission in the rest of the world.

Mission is essential for every follower of Jesus and the need for mission is great.

What does God want from us? Have you thought about what God wants from you? What are you doing to give God what he wants? Is what God wants from us expected or unexpected? Is what God wants from us burdensome?

There are times when we think God wants from us more than he does. There are other times we think God wants less from us than what he does. There are times we think God’s commandments are burdensome. However, God’s commandments are not burdensome. As the first letter of John says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3, ESV).

What God wants from us can be way simpler than we assume. What God wants from us can be unexpected and practical. What God wants from us can be more profound than we imagine. What God wants from us can be freeing and life giving.

The prophet Micah searches out the question, “What does God want?” when he writes, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:6-7, ESV).

Micah gets into the thick weeds of a myriad of complex choices regarding what God might be requiring or asking of us. The assumptions of what God wants are endlessly intense and burdensome as he ponders the question: “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?”

What does a disciple of Jesus look like? Can a disciple of Jesus be any person, no matter what? Are there aspects of our past that disqualify us from discipleship? Can anyone be a disciple of Jesus? Can we disciple anyone to follow Jesus?

Discipleship is for every follower of Jesus, regardless of our past failures or life choices before we knew Jesus.

There are few greater examples of this “anyone can be a disciple” than the Apostle Paul. While Paul, formerly called Saul, maligned those of God’s household, God still called Saul and used him as Paul to grow his church, planting many churches throughout the Roman world, and to be a missionary to the Gentiles as he planted churches everywhere and made disciples of Jesus of every people and of all nations.

Jesus defined discipleship saying, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” (Matthew 10:24-25, ESV).

Paul had once been a persecutor of God’s church, and now he was obedient to Jesus’ call to build his church and to make disciples, just like Jesus did and taught us to do in his great commission.

What are you looking for? If you were following Jesus around and he turned to you and asked, “What are you seeking?” What would you say to him? And if Jesus said, “Come and you will see”, would you follow him?

We are all looking for something. We are curious and seeking more in this life. Everything we are looking for in this life is satisfied in Jesus Christ. When we come and see Jesus, we find everything else in him.

In John’s Gospel account, when Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, John the Baptizer saw Jesus and proclaimed to two of his disciples “‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?’ And they said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and you will see.’ So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.” (John 1:35-39, ESV).

John the Baptist’s disciples became Jesus’ disciples when they encountered the Lamb of God. These two men, most likely Andrew and John, were seeking Jesus. They were curious about Jesus. They wanted to know more about Jesus. They wanted to see where Jesus was going. They wanted to follow Jesus. They wanted to come and to see Jesus.

What is the significance of baptism? What can we learn about God through Jesus’ baptism? What is the significance of the baptismal waters?

God calls every believer to the waters of baptism. Jesus taught us to baptize in Matthew 28:19 saying, “So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus himself was obedient and was baptized.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us the significance of baptism and Jesus’ baptism. Matthew tells us, “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:16-17, ESV).

When Jesus was baptized the Spirit of God descended upon him and the Holy Spirit of God rested upon him as God the Father affirmed that Jesus is his beloved.

What or who are you seeking? What or who should you be seeking? What is worth seeking? When you find what you have been seeking will you be fulfilled and satisfied?

We are all seeking something in our lives. Not everything we seek is equal in value or importance. Some things are worth seeking and some things are not.

As followers of Jesus we are to seek Jesus and his life for us.

When we seek Jesus we find all that we have ever been looking for and more.

The gospel of Matthew tells us “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’” (Matthew 2:1-2, ESV).

After Jesus was born, wise men from the east came looking for King Jesus to worship him.

As the saying goes, “Wise men still seek Jesus.”

What is the relationship between love and obedience? Can we obey someone without love? Can we love someone without obeying them? How about in our relationship with God? Can we love God and not obey God? Can we obey God and not love God? 

Love and obedience go together. We cannot love God and not obey what God commands us to do. 

Joseph loved God and obeyed God even when it was difficult, confusing, and frightening. 

The Gospel of Matthew tells us “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18-25, ESV). 

Joseph was a just man who obeyed God in exercising justice. Even before Joseph heard from God and took Mary as his wife, Joseph treated Mary with dignity and care even in the face of the unknown and skeptical. 

Joseph awoke from his sleep and obeyed the angel, the messenger of God, and did what he commanded - “He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

What are you looking for? Who are you looking for? What are you looking to see and to find in your searching? Who are you hoping to find in your searching? What keeps you from seeking, seeing, and finding God?

Most of us feel like we are searching for something more in this life. We can find ourselves seeking and searching for God and God’s joy, God’s presence, God’s purpose, God’s hope, and God’s peace.

The people of the first-century were seeking the messiah who was to come and to bring the hope of God, the peace of God, and the joy of God and his kingdom. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah who would bring God’s hope, peace, and joy, fulfilling Isaiah as the voice who cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3, ESV). After his imprisonment, however, John doubted Jesus and questioned if he was the one or should they look for another. 

The Gospel of Matthew tells us of John the Baptist’s search for God. Matthew tells us, “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Matthew 11:2-6, ESV). 

When we are disappointed and when life does not go as we had planned or had hoped, it is easy to get discouraged and to doubt and to question God. John saw his imprisonment and circumstances and was blinded to the work of God and the person of God who was right there before him.

Instead of rebuking John, Jesus encouraged John with the joy and the hope that was before him and invited him to see what he was looking for—Jesus the Messiah. Jesus was inviting John to see that he was the fulfillment of the Prophet Isaiah, who John was also fulfilling.

How are you preparing the way for peace in your life? What does preparing the way for God and God’s peace look like?

We are called to prepare the way for God and God’s peace in our lives.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the word of God tells us, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:1-3. ESV)

There are many obstacles and barriers to God’s presence and peace in our lives and in this fallen world. The pathway of God’s presence and peace can be crooked and uneven.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to repentance and to making the path of God’s presence and peace straight and level.

Are you waiting on the hope of God? What hope are you waiting for God to bring?

We can all find ourselves looking for hope at some point in our lives. We can feel hopeless in a sinful and fallen world. We long for something more and something better than this broken world.

C.S. Lewis said it this way, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world” (C.S. Lewis).

We have a homesickness for another desire and for another world where there is hope of something better and a hope for more satisfying realities. We hope for God and God’s coming kingdom of hope.

The Prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Isaiah 2:3-5, ESV).

Fanning the Flame of Faith

Where did you find the faith? Where did your faith come from? How are you fanning the flame of the faith that has been entrusted to you?

Our faith in Jesus is a legacy of faith that has been passed down to us through the generations. Because we have been entrusted with this faith, we should be fanning the flame of the fire of this faith and pass the torch of this flame of faith to the next generation.

In his letter of 2 Timothy 1, the Apostle Paul wrote about this truth to his young disciple, and partner in ministry, Timothy, saying, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:5-7, ESV).

Like Timothy, our faith in Jesus was passed down to us through others in our life. We are to boldly and courageously proclaim this faith through the power of God’s Spirit and with great love.

May we fan into flame the legacy of the faith that has been entrusted to us as we cultivate our faith in Jesus and pass the torch of faith to the next generation.

A Collect for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, or the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 22): “Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in continual godliness, that through your protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly serve you in good works, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

Happy Thanksgiving from the Pruitts! 

We are praying you have a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving with family and friends. 

The Psalmists wrote of giving thanks, saying, "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" (Psalm 107:1 and Psalm 136:1)

Giving thanks was so important to the early church that the Apostle Paul wrote the churches in Ephesus, Thessalonica, and Colossae, encouraging them to be thankful with these words: 

"Always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20). 
 
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). 

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17). 

We hope and pray you have time to enter into thanks this Thanksgiving week as you share all that you have to be thankful for with family and friends and as you turn those thanks back to God in worship and praise as you "give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" (Psalm 107:1)

We are thankful to God for each of you! 

Thanksgiving blessings and peace,

The Pruitts

A Collect for Thanksgiving Day, Canada and United States of America: “Most merciful Father, we humbly thank you for all your gifts so freely bestowed upon us: for life and health and safety, for strength to work and leisure to rest, for all that is beautiful in creation and in human life; but above all we thank you for our spiritual mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019). 

Do you see your faith as work? Are you a worker of your faith? Are you working on your faith? Is the work you are doing approved by God? Are you a worker approved by God?

We have been saved by grace through faith, see Ephesians 2:8-9; however, our faith requires work.

Paul wrote the church in Ephesus saying, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV).

The Apostle Paul wrote the church in Philippi expressing this truth when he said, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12, ESV).

Dallas Willard expressed this theological truth in The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship, saying, “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.”

While we do not work to earn our salvation, we do the work of our salvation as we obey God and as we do the work of our faith, living out the will of God, studying the word of God, and putting the word of God and our faith into practice in our daily lives.

What motivates how you live? What motivates the choices you make or do not make in your life? What are you moving away from and what are you moving toward in your life? What is your primary mover, your purpose, your driving force, your why, or your motivation for your life?

As followers of Jesus, we are called to move away from what brings about death, judgement, and loss, and we are to move toward what brings about eternal life and gives eternal purpose.

In his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote to his young disciple Timothy, encouraging him to live in light of eternity, saying, “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:11-12, ESV).

Not all opportunity and choices are equal or have the same weight of eternal purpose or the lasting reward of eternal life. We are to flee from meaningless pursuits, empty decisions, and damaging choices that bring about death and judgement and we are to pursue that which brings about eternal life and eternal purpose.

Have you ever lost something important or valuable? How have you responded to loosing something that you love? What makes loosing something or someone so frightening or serious? What is the appropriate response to loosing something or someone important?

Most of us have experienced loosing something or someone important or valuable to us. Some of us have even been lost ourselves.

The important thing about lost things and lost people is they can be found.

In Luke chapter fifteen, Jesus told the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons in response to the tax collectors and sinners who were all drawing near to hear him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” (Luke 15:1-2, ESV).

In The Parable of the Lost Sheep, the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep and finds the one lost sheep. Jesus says, “And when he [the shepherd] comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:6-7, ESV).

In The Parable of the Lost Coin Jesus says, “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?” Jesus concludes the parable saying, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8-10, ESV).