Prepare for Easter

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Luke 11:9-13 NASB

This Scripture from Luke is so often abused! We want it to say that we can have whatever we want, whenever we want it. After all, if God is our Father and if everything belongs to him, can’t we justify asking? And doesn’t it say that everyone who knocks, seeks, or asks gets what he is asking for? Sorry. That isn’t what it says.

Jesus wants to give us something amazing, but before he can, he wants us to ask. That something is really someone, his Holy Spirit. Before Christ was crucified, he told his disciples that he had to go away so that the Father could send the Holy Spirit. He knew hard times were ahead and the disciples needed every strength that could be mustered for them to survive, strength that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

After he was resurrected, he told them they’d receive power from on high. The word translated from the Greek dunamis as “power” is the word from which we get our word dynamite! Jesus said that his Father wants us to have dynamite power, the Holy Spirit, to teach us and empower us for day to day living. All we have to do is ask!

An important part of the business God had set for Jesus was to send his Spirit back to us after he returned to heaven. Our job? To ask.

Father, We sing, “Come, Holy Spirit, dark is the hour. We need your filling, your love and your mighty power…. Come Holy Spirit, revive [our hearts] today.” Amen

Come Holy Spirit by John W. Peterson

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church
of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Monday, March 30, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20 NASB

During the difficult days when we were trying to get aid to our friends in Haiti, I had some logistical problems to resolve, and though I had fervently prayed for help, I wondered how I’d manage. Then God intervened, and resolved the entire matter. I was so excited. With tears – not just in my eyes but running down my cheeks – I went to Pastor Mark’s office to tell him what had happened. I was thrilled, and he rejoiced with me as we thanked God for this answer to prayer. The moment was filled with joy!

That must be a taste of how the disciples felt. Jesus had sent them to minister to the needs of people, and miraculous things had happened. They came back euphoric that even the demons obeyed them! Jesus offered a mild rebuke.

He told them he knew Satan, had seen him fall from heaven. He wasn’t surprised that the disciples had been successful. But he reminded them the miracles were nothing compared to the fact that their names were recorded for eternity with God! That was the real miracle! And don’t forget that he said this in anticipation of his ultimate defeat of Satan at Calvary!

Father, forgive us. We forget the real miracle is that you have reconciled us to yourself for eternity, writing our names in your Book. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church
of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Sundays are typically not counted
in the 40 days of Lent.

Enjoy today.

Focus on the Lord.

Prepare for Easter

Saturday, March 28, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

                                                  

”Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 NASB

We know that Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, was a carpenter and that Jesus learned carpentry from him. Rabbis or teachers (as Jesus was often called) had to do more than just teach in the synagogue. All men had to work to support themselves. Jesus was a carpenter. Recently in Sunday morning Bible class a couple of people said they assumed he made things like furniture or chairs. But there is evidence that he had a specialty. He made yokes, such fine yokes that people came from miles around to buy them.

Yokes are shaped to fit the animal who will wear them, and must be carefully constructed so as not chafe. Like shoes, if they don’t fit well, they’ll pinch! Oxen work in teams; they share a yoke, and if one is uncomfortable the other is hindered. Also, the older, more experienced ox bears most of the load, so the fit of his side of the yoke is particularly important.

Now read the verse above. Jesus invites us to come and share a yoke with him, one he has made to fit well. He will bear most of the load, so the burden will be easy for us.

Paul expands this thought and says we can be “yoked together with God in Christ.” Isn’t that a lovely thought? Plowing made easy with the greatest of all companions, wearing a yoke crafted by the Master yoke maker!

Father, we know oxen work in pairs. Yoke us with Christ that we can learn what your business is now and learn from him how to do it well. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church 

of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Friday, March 27, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.

Luke 8:1-3

This is one of my favorite Scriptures.

Wallace and I had a most unusual friendship at Western Kentucky University. He had been something of an agnostic, and we had a small part in his coming to Christ. He was a scholarly type, always studying or writing and about as liberal as anyone on campus. We, on the other hand, were rather atypical members of that campus and about as conservative as anyone there. Yet we were good friends. When I came across this Scripture above, I called our friend, read him the passage, and said, “Jesus is still doing the same thing today. He gathers about him the most unlikely people and then goes about telling others that this is what the Kingdom of God is like.”

No self-respecting Jew would have traveled about with a bunch of women. Ye he did. Those women would not have traveled with each other; some were high born; others were not. Yet they did. And to top it all, Jesus and the disciples let the women finance their ministry. Unheard of!

He’s still doing it. Look around you at the diversity in our congregation. Aren’t we an unlikely bunch for Christ to choose to build his church? Amazing God to choose the likes of us!

Father, I love your courage to choose the likes of us to build your church. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church
of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Thursday, March 26, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

“Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.  

Luke 9:44-45 NIV

Sometimes I think about how I would have responded to Jesus had I been among the people of that day. Would I have recognized him as the Messiah or would I have been skeptical? Would I have understood that his Father’s business was not to set up an earthly kingdom but one for eternity?

I think it’s kind of funny that the disciples were afraid to ask him what he meant by his statement in this verse. Yet in the next passage we see them arguing about who would be the greatest in his kingdom. I find it ironic that they might ponder their own greatness when they couldn’t even figure out his parables or his directions to them.

Lest I get too critical of these men, I think about my own position with regard to the future. The Scriptures hold lots of information about the Second Coming and the end of the age. But suppose Jesus comes again in a way that is not what I am anticipating? Will I be surprised? Will I recognize him? Will I be ready for him? Will I have done the Father’s work adequately so that others are prepared?  

Father, Help us to be humble. Help us to do your business and to be ready for whatever the future holds. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

by Patience Fort

Prepare for Easter

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  

Luke 10:2 RSV

In 1977, Wallace and I came to Florida on Spring Break to get away from the snow in Kentucky. We visited a former student in Kissimmee, then a student in a college in that area. He lived in a garage apartment in the middle of an orange grove, rent-free. His only task was to alert the owner if any problems arose in the grove. It was a wonderful spot, and we slept with the fragrance of oranges in our room every night.

From the little porch on the house, we could reach out into the trees and pick oranges, and we did! Really fresh OJ for breakfast every morning. I asked our friend when and how they picked all that fruit, for as far as we could see there were oranges. He said it was sometimes difficult because the manual labor was hard and harvesters were often scarce.

How like the above Scripture that story is. As far as we can see around us as we drive or shop or eat out or golf, there are people who do not know the Lord. Their lives are often in turmoil, and the harvesters are few (Jesus said it, not I). Are we helpless to do anything about it? I think not.

Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers. Pray for God to send workers to reach our neighbors and friends. But don’t pray that unless you are willing to be the harvester.

Father, we’re almost afraid to pray this prayer because we feel so inept. But you wouldn’t have said to go if you didn’t intend to prepare us for the job. So, send us, Lord. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church

 of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

Luke 11:5-8 NASB

Persistence is not a trait we often see today. We are a society of immediate gratification. If we don’t get what we want now, we go on to something else pretty quickly. In this passage, the Lord is encouraging persistence.

I had a lesson in the need for persistent prayer recently. Someone I love very much had for years resisted the Lord. I could see her great need for him, but she seemed totally disinterested. We talked on more than one occasion very seriously, yet she never seemed to hear. I prayed for her for years, knocking on God’s door to plead for her life, but it seemed hopeless.

Then one day I got a call, and in a very excited voice, she began telling me about some dramatic changes in her life. Our conversation took a decidedly different direction than usual, and she finally told me that she had never known such peace in her life. Her commitment to Christ was so dramatic, after years and years of resistance! I may have been close to giving up, but Jesus was not! Like Thompson’s poem, “The Hound of Heaven,” he had pursued her until she yielded! She has gained eternal life through her new faith, and I had a lesson in persistent prayer.

Father, Teach us to not give up. Teach us to keep on! Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church 

of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Monday, March 23, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

And he said to his disciples, “…I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body than clothing…. And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span?”

Luke 12:22-23, 25 NASB

Much of the Father’s business was about our relationship with God and others and he gives little to no attention to what we wear, how we travel, or how successful we are in business.

The world – advertisements lining the highways, slick product promotions in every newsstand publication, 24-hour a day news coverage depicting all the bad things that happen daily, and even the innocent chatter of our friends who have fallen for all the media propaganda – challenges us to worry about how we are going to survive. The above Scripture does not mean that we should not work to take care of our physical needs – a home, food, clothes. It simply means that we should not fret about “things.”

I’ve been really tempted recently because I drive a three-year old Toyota! The news about these cars gets worse every day! First it was the accelerator and the front floor mat (that one did involve my car). Then it was the brake that could fail and leave me helpless to stop. Several friends, with my best interest at heart, called to say, “Trade cars. Get a car you can trust.”

Wrong, says Jesus. Find out whether or not my particular model is safe, and if it is not on the recall list, go on about my business and trust in the Lord, knowing that I am as important to him as the birds of the air!

Father, help us to lay aside our anxieties as we learn to trust you with the big and the little things in our lives. To really trust you. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church 

of Homosassa, Florida

Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Sundays are typically not counted 

in the 40 days of Lent.

Enjoy today.

Focus on the Lord.

Prepare for Easter

Saturday, March 21, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

The news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Luke 5:15-16 NASB

Well, here is a lesson I have not learned well! Oh, I do pray. I prayerfully get ready for Sunday morning class, for other classes during the week. I pray with people who have needs or who share some new joy. I pray when I’m asked at staff meetings or at Council. I pray for my children or friends in crises. But do I “slip away to the wilderness” to give God my undivided attention, not only to talk to him but to listen to his reply? I’m sorry. I fail this test.

From what others tell me, I am not alone. But I must not take consolation in that. Why, when we see how important prayer was to Jesus do we fail to make it a primary part of our own lives? I think I have found an answer that helps me. I forget to envision myself talking to the living God, listening for the living God! I’ve been reading books on prayer by some giants in the Spiritual Transformation movement in our church. Richard Foster and Phillip Yancey are my favorites. They have been teaching me through their own words and the words of saints down through the ages to be still for a while, quiet my over-active brain, refuse intrusion, concentrate on some great truth of God that I appreciate. They’ve been teaching me to allow God to have a place in my prayer life.

I haven’t mastered their teaching yet, but when I manage to do as they suggest, I am overwhelmed at his presence.

Father, enter into our wilderness. Become a part of our prayer. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Friday, March 20, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

”…give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Luke 6:38 NRSV

Jesus was teaching what we now call the Sermon on the Mount, and some of the things that he says seem very difficult, but remember this is the Father’s business, and he runs it as he will!

If you saw the statistics and activity in our church that I see weekly, I believe you might think as I do that our church is living proof of the fulfillment of the above promise.

Through the Serendipity Group and some others, funds are being raised to support Our Father’s Table in Citrus County, working with four other churches to feed the lonely, needy, and hungry. Through Ed Loper and his amazing team of helpers and your generosity, dozens of bags of groceries go out every week to the needy in Homosassa. Through the UMW (United Methodist Women) Thrift Shop, attractive clothes and household necessities can be purchased for almost nothing. Through first your support of our Volunteers in Missions team and then your contributions to Haiti Relief, thousands of dollars go to those in need just a few miles south of our border. Through your support of the Woosters and the Henrys, two families are giving their lives to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to people we’ll never see!

These are only a few of the almost 100 outreach ministries our church supports. You give generously, maybe even sacrificially, and God pours blessing back on us! The Sermon on the Mount is lived out in Homosassa, Florida.

Father, Thank you for a church that is practicing what Jesus preached. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Thursday, March 19, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

…As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped…. But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:42-44, 46-48

Rachel used to sing a song from the 1972 musical, “Celebrate Life!” I think it sums up this passage so well.

“I Quietly Turned to You”

By Regan Courtney

There was no where else to turn and no where else to go.

My body knew all the pain a body could know.

Then I quietly turned to you; I quietly turned to you.

Help of the helpless. I turned to you.

When no one else could help and no one else could hear

My cries full of anguish, my cries full of fear.

Then I quietly turned to you; I quietly turned to you.

Hope of the hopeless. I turned to you.

I saw you standing there – I thought that I was surely dreaming.

For suddenly warmth and love and joy were shining through me.

As you quietly turned to me; you quietly turned to me.

Friend of the friendless. You turned to me.

Now I know such perfect peace; I feel such sweet release.

Your love let me live again; your love set me free.

Hope of the hopeless, friend of the friendless,

I quietly turned to you and you turned to me.

Father, We are all hurting in our own way. Help us to turn to you with unwavering faith and to gladly receive your help and hope. Amen.

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
by Patience Fort

Prepare for Easter

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

“Everyone who comes to me and hears My words and acts upon them...is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood 0ccurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it has been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Luke 6:47-49 NASB

Haiti has just experienced two earthquakes. One man said the damage is so severe that the entire country should be rebuilt.

Having witnessed the building process in that little country, I understand what he was saying. The concrete blocks are so thin that they cannot withstand strong force – water, wind or quake.

Jesus, of course, is not talking about actual houses in the above passage. He makes that clear when he says there are two different kinds of hearers: one listens and does as his teacher says; the other listens and ignores the directions of his teacher. The first one builds a life that may be shaken but is not destroyed by the circumstances of life. The second builds a life that crumbles when the big tremors begin to shake his comfortable dwelling.

As we watched the horrors of Haiti, we felt both sad for their suffering and thankful to be secure. But we must think about more than buildings. Are our lives built firmly on the teachings of Jesus? Do we even know for sure what those teachings are? His Father’s business was that he teach us how to live, and he has spoken clearly. Are we acting on what we have heard?

Father, help us to build wisely and well.  Help us to stand strong when difficulties come so that we can help those who have built poorly. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

                                                                         

And turning his gaze on his disciples, he began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor. . . who hunger. . . who weep. . . who are hated. . . who are ostracized. . . who are insulted. . . and who are spurned. . . for the sake of the Son of Man.”

Luke 6:20-22

I’ve had some interesting jobs and I remember that the first day of each job was a little scary and overwhelming. When I read the above passage, I realize that my first day was nothing like that of the twelve!

Can you imagine leaving everything that you know and can do well – mostly fishing – and going to work with/for Jesus, only to be told on the first day of the job that the pay was awful? Jesus called it “blessed” but being poor, hungry, hated, ostracized, insulted and spurned do not sound like blessings to me!

Many of us have stood where these words were spoken, and it’s easy to romanticize the moment and think about how excited they must have been to be the chosen twelve.

These good Jewish boys knew the importance of the number twelve, and they probably envisioned wonderful things about what it meant to be in that elite group. We know that they later discussed who of them would be the greatest, so we can be sure they had pretty high expectations. But the words Jesus is speaking in this passage don’t give them much hope for an exciting job! In fact, I’m amazed that not one of them turned and ran. Perhaps that’s part of what Jesus discussed with his Father on the mountain – who will stay when they hear what is ahead?

Would I have stayed? Would you? I wonder.

Father, help us to learn the meaning of “blessed.” That’s the only way we can face what is ahead if we are to be your real disciples. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida
Spring 2010
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator

Prepare for Easter

Monday, March 16, 2020

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called his disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles. 

Luke 6:12-13 NASB

Sometimes I must sound like a broken record, always playing the same tune. Maybe that is because I need to hear the tune more than anyone else! Whatever the reason, the tune God plays over and over is this: “When will you learn the importance of fervent prayer?”

Jesus was about to make decisions that would impact the entire world for eternity. He had to chose twelve men to whom he could entrust the good news of God’s salvation and of Kingdom living on this earth. Disciples were following him daily, learning the principles of God’s Kingdom. I imagine hundreds of them, intrigued by every word and every deed. The ministry was dynamic, and excitement must have grown as miraculous things happened. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of such a ministry?

But he could not train them all, not in the intimate way that he knew he had to work. His classroom was not a lecture hall for hundreds but the open spaces and small group wandering from spot to spot and learning from hands-on experience. He had to select twelve. No time for eenie, meenie, miney mo!

All night long he and his Father talked; which men would be faithful, which would not give up, which would go to their deaths to fulfill their mission? Jesus would not make such an important decision without careful conversation with his Father. After a whole night of prayer, the Scripture says matter of factly, “he chose 12.”

How unlike him we are. We never spend a whole night in prayer seeking God’s guidance, even about matters of his church.

Father, teach us the importance of prayer! Teach us that you are the head of your business, and that we must seek guidance from you always. Amen

About My Father’s Business:

A Lenten Devotional Guide

prepared for First United Methodist Church of Homosassa, Florida

Spring 2010

by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator