Wonder
Alicia and I were on our way back from the grocery store to pick up some odd and ends for our family last week. And I did something that I do not recommend to just anyone. In the middle of our conversation, I hushed my wife. I said, shh shh shhhhh Hold On!!!! Now you can probably imagine at this point. You’re saying to yourself, Pastor, your lucky she didn’t just slap you over the head.
And maybe lucky for me I was driving. but she knew what was going on. My wife has been married to me long enough to know when the Lord is speaking to me, and when he calls me to hear, she has learned what that looks like and to just prayerfully wait with me until I hear all he wants to say to me. Oh it’s so tender and sweet when your wife knows your relationship with Jesus and she knows and respects your deep love for him.
As I was driving home, and praying over Habakkuk’s words, “I am going to wait to see what the Lord says to me. I am going to wait to see what the Lord says to me. I am… going to wait to see… what the lords says to me… I grabbed my phone, and typed this word… “Wonder” Habakkuk is there on this tower and he he finished his reply to God like this, “I am going to wait to see what the Lord says to me.“ and to me is sounds to me like Habakkuk was in a moment of wonder and awe.
Like, Lord, I can’t wait to hear for you! I cant wait to see how you’re going to answer this prayer. I wonder how God, you will answer this prayer that the Holy Spirit is praying within me. I wonder in awe over what glory God will bring to himself out of the strange difficulties I put myself into. I am in absolute awe over what you will do and say.
I’m in wonder on what kind of provision he will give out to overcome this situation or the next. I just wonder! I believe in todays culture and age we’ve lost that wonder. Listen to what I’m saying , we get so consumed with daily life that we have lost that child like wonder at being in awe of God. Yesterday I was walking across the parking lot and I looked up to the cross on the steeple and I prayed a very intimate prayer..
I said Lord, Im willing to pray for anyone and everyone. I make my self available to everyone. But it just seems like I have no one to pray for me or encourage me. Please send me a fresh anointing of your presence. Five minutes goes by while being in the church and two people walk in and say, We’re here to pray for you. Like wow God! When I ask for presence you send relationship.
I am just blown away by his goodness. No one seems to be in this great awe over the majesty of God. We live in a world where it seems that everyone is always sighing. Everyone is always coming in with downcasted faces and going oh ho hum. They are always sighing, they seem to have mental and spiritual inflammation and nothing in this life or the next seems to arouse them.
there is no child like spirit about them. There’s no Joy! After the fullness of Pentecost the Spirit roused a few people in an upper room and when they came out of that room full of fire nothing would keep them down. After that great day of Pentecost the sword came and along with the sword and persecution they were all scattered abroad, but nothing could stop them from preaching the word.
They went out with this hilarious shout of joy. I think we look at the big things in life like sun sets and sun rises and stop dead in our tracks and we marvel over them. We look up at the moon and stars and go wow! God you’re so amazing. We look at the mountains and we marvel at the grandeur of how amazing they look and how they captivate our attention!
But what about the little things in life? When was the last time something small and insignificant has captured your attention and led your heart and mind to be in a moment of worship, awe and in wonder of God. Not only that but do you live a life of sowing one small seed at a time? When covid came in 2020 I began a ministry that still continues today. I began a texting ministry…
Covid has made it hard to visit with people so I text you encouragements. I let you know that I am praying for you. Did you know there are people i have text for two years, who not once, have they said anything encouraging to me. Now, I’m not looking for validation, I'm just laying the groundwork for communication. Unity comes by communicating with one another. It cant just be one sided.
Can you appreciate the little things? We all can be mesmerized by snow cap mountains, Looking at the stars and marveling over the realities that were just a dot in the expansion of the universe. but I think we over look the little things because of the busyness of our lives and because we dont tend to gravitate and appreciate the little things. And so, I wrote in my journal this week at prayer retreat this heart filled reminder, “Being in wonder is a daily task of wondering over the little things too!” The things we consider small and insignificant, God uses them to accomplish great things.
Think about what the Bible teaches us….. The mustard seed of faith The Lords approval of the widows mites. The little boys lunch in feeding the 5,000 The Small coin in the mouth of a fish His eye is on the sparrow. He even counts the hairs of ones head Pastor Matthew’s insignificant small little texts.. lol its not in the Bible but they are meant to encourage you. All of those things began as something insignificant and small and then, God did something amazing with those things to show his power and His glory.
I just wonder… wouldn’t he want to use what we might think is insignificant in our life to do something amazing for Him? So, how can we learn to have this child like wonder over even the little things? What’s two practical things that go together Like two peas in a pod that we can do right now to help us see and appreciate the little things in life? Well it is this, “Practicing Gratitude and Generosity will teach us to appreciate and see the little things in life” Most of you, if not all of you have gotten some sort of text message, letter, email or have received a card from me.
Most times, recently I have signed that card with this one word… grateful. I do that because I really am grateful for Jesus and for you… I appreciate you. but I also do it to teach myself that being grateful over all things, whether big or small is really teaching my heart the attitude of gratitude. I want to appreciate all things, and I want to love all people and even when things go wrong and even when people are not being very lovable.
You’ll be surprised by how many people are hard to love. And you’ll be surprised at the look on people faces when you tell them you’re grateful for them. Recently, I like to go to fast food places and when I order they say thank you pull ahead and I like to do this… you’re welcome, I appreciate you… it gets me giddy every time… Do you know why? Because 99% of the time ill pull up to the window and ill see joy in thier eyes.
People want to feel loved.. they want to feel appreciated. Trust me, fast food workers are not insignificant. They have lives too, Jesus loves them too. Jesus peered into the life of the insignificant battered by life woman at the well who was drawing water alone and before long her heart was bursting forth in gratitude and generosity. Her joy lead her to lead an entire town to Jesus. I just believe we can love all people…
It’s hard, i know, but we can love even those we tend to not like or even our enemies by learning to sow seeds of gratitude and generosity in all situations and to all people. And I also believe that the little things count. Let me ask you. Can you be grateful to a waitress that you do not know that gets your order wrong? Or being bossy or inattentive? Can you have gratitude when you’re put down and criticized by others?
Can you be a person of gratitude when nothing goes your way? I’ve learned in ministry that It doesn’t take long and it’s easy for us to become ungrateful for a lot of the things in our life. As we grow from a child into an adult there is a sense of entitlement that begins to over take our mindset. Things like: I deserve better. I deserve to be served. I deserve more.
I deserve to have it my way. And when this mindset emerges in our life, what happens is that it diminishes our sense of appreciation for things. Of course I can appreciate those i love. Of course I can appreciate those people that give to me and my well being… but can you appreciate those who you might think have done you wrong? I’m so happy that Jesus teaches us to be grateful and generous in the New Testament.
Did you know that generosity goes hand in hand with gratitude. Think about it, showing gratitude to others must be through generosity. We give to those we love, yes, but if were going to grateful we’ve got to learn that generosity is for everyone.. even those who we deem to be our enemy or those we do not get along with. If we choose to allow the Holy Spirit to have his way in our lives, generosity and gratitude will characterize the way we live.
But of course there is also the other path we can choose to take. We can choose to refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in our lives, stinginess and dissatisfaction will characterize the way we die. IN the message version of Romans 12:1 as it talks about being a living sacrifice. Listen to how they paraphrase this verse to give us a realistic expectation of being grateful and generous.
“So here is what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life - and place it before God as an offering.” I want my everyday life to be an offering to God, not an offense to God. Even those who are leading beside me, for instance our board, Our Sunday school teachers, or even those who serve in some way behind the scenes.Thats the same desire Im expecting them to have as well.
None of us can lead if we not willing to come along side of each other, to pray and to give ourselves as an offering to God. When God places his thumb on my life two things will happen. I’ll either be a grape or a marble. Which one are you? Are you a grape or a marble? A grape when pushed gives all it has to the one doing the pushing and it gives up its life as an offering.
A marble when squeezed shoots off into the distance. When God places his thumb on me, I want to be like the grape. Aren’t you glad Jesus went to the garden to say to the Father, Not my will, but yours be done? He was a grape… Aren’t you glad that when Jesus’s mother asked Jesus to help with the wine at the wedding, Jesus obeyed his earthly mother and made wine for the wedding guest?
And then Jesus goes to the garden and he obeys his heavenly fathers will to be pressed into wine for the whole world?. Man! I just get joyful; knowing that. I get joyful because i realize that in that moment Jesus just proved to us all that relationships mattered. He generously poured himself out for you and for me. And we never deserved it…. So how can we expect that waiter/waitress to deserve it?
We know nothing about them. How many times have we already made the decision to lower their tip because they seemed unhappy, or messed up. All the while we sit at our seats, wear our crosses around our necks, we have on our church sweaters and maybe even pray at the table but we’re not known as people whom are willing to be generous and grateful for the sake of Christ.
church, I want you to remember that being generous and grateful are tangible realistic expectations taught by Jesus. And when your willing to surrender and be generous and grateful for those small things… I guarantee you will begin to be at wonder at how awesome our God is and how he truly does… supply our every need in life. So let our prayers be in wonder like Habakkuk’s, “I am going to wait to see what the Lord says to me.
Pray: Benediction “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God”. Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT*