For Faith
St. Paul wants us to, “make the most of the time….” He has some suggestions about how to do that. First, what not to do: don’t be foolish, don’t look for your answers or your healing at the bottom of a bottle or in any excesses for that matter. The lift you need, the lift that is your inheritance from God, isn’t in those places. “Sing,” he says. In fact, “fill yourself” with songs. Make melodies to the Lord in your hearts. Sing. All of us can sing, and it is music to God’s ears to hear God’s children sing. I can’t tell you how many times in my life I was in a discouraged place-a weary and disoriented place-and a song came to my spirit. And that song stuck in my head like the best and most catchy jingle. Ultimately I am not sure if I was singing the song or the song was singing in me. What I do know is I owe more to songwriters than to preachers. What is your favorite song to God?
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Canta
Peter takes a moment to look back. His looking back takes him to the time he looked up and was changed. He was changed when he saw Jesus’ radiance and heard a voice that comforted and challenged him. Peter was an “eyewitness to God’s majesty.” Like Peter, we are also eyewitnesses of God’s majesty. Majesty is just a fancy way to say major-ness as in God is greater, finer, foremost and supreme. We would do well to be attentive to this major-ness, like those who “see a light in the dark,” Peter says. God’s major-ness isn’t only on vivid display in nature, God’s major-ness is on display in the peace we experience that is beyond understanding. It’s on display in our God-inspired endurance, purpose, forgiveness and joy. Recognizing and enveloping yourself in God’s major-ness puts everything else in life in its proper place. What part of God’s major-ness are you an eyewitness to?
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Testigo
“You are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” A beautiful fact is on display in this simple sentence. Just as the disciples were with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry, so Jesus has been with us from our beginning. God in God’s genius and perseverance has been with us from our beginnings. Even from the beginnings that gave birth to our beginnings, we are being accompanied by God. To be dressed up in flesh is to be clothed in grace and mercy. From this life, through death, to life again, this is our testimony.
John 15:27
This For Faith was originally published on November 1, 2019
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Testimonio
Faith is keeping your head up even when you’re standing in a valley. Faith is looking beyond the hills that try to intimidate you. Faith is the lens we look through to understand God’s text messages to us. Faith is knowing God is real, able, good and generous. Faith is how we walk out of the valleys we find ourselves in from time to time. Faith is what we can lend to others trapped in valleys. Faith is knowing there is a gracious Somebody beyond the cold hills we face. Faith is knowing this Somebody is an advocate and sustainer.
Hebrews 11: 1
This For Faith was originally published on June 30, 2017
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Fe es…
Most folks have a God story. Most are reluctant to tell theirs for fear of seeming weak-minded or childish. Yet, we have them. The Resurrection of Jesus is a God story. It will never be more than that. It will always shake hands with doubt. Still, that God did the impossible dances around us like butterflies around a flower. All my God stories have the same fragrance as the Resurrection: God refuses to be dismissed. God forgives our rejection. God reconciles us to ourself and others. God gives us a story to share.
Lucas 24:13-46
This For Faith was originally published on April 28, 2017
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Historia de Dios
He lost all his wealth. His children were murdered. His marriage was broken. His friends were enemies. In a desolate season of life Job said, “I know my Redeemer lives….” It would have been easier for him to say: “I’m suffering. All I know is pain. I’m forsaken. God is absent, deaf or dead.”
What do you say in the middle of life’s tragic seasons? Can’t say I have been like Job every time. But, I want to be. How about you? Every time God guides us through a difficult or tragic season we could pledge to have a more sturdy faith in the next difficult season. God deserves that. The world needs that. Jesus did that!
No better evangelism than someone suffering faithfully and publicly. Having been comforted, blessed and provided for in difficulty and desolation, we speak and “…celebrate the memorial of our redemption.”
Just like Job.
Job 19:23-27
This For Faith was originally published on November 8, 2013
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Fuerte
“Somehow Isaiah hears God pose a two-part question. ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ In that moment, Isaiah consents to a partnership with God. A partnership that has always been available to him. But now, because grief and grace have conspired in a particular way, Isaiah says yes to God living at the center of his altar at the heart of his inward sea. If ordination is anything, ordination needs to be that, an interrogation of the inward altar and the most genuine consent we can offer to our creator, redeemer and companion God. Why? Because ever-evolving expressions of consent to God is true worship: The fulcrum of our identity. Our most generative now and our brightest possible future.
‘Send me,’ Isaiah says in response to God’s question. How amazing! At the same time both a naive and wise response. Naive because in that moment he had no idea what he was really consenting to. Wise, because God is the only one worthy of our most full-throated yes.”
An excerpt from Bishop Wright’s sermon for the Ordination to the Priesthood.
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Envíame a Mí
Faith is many things, but at its base, it’s consent. And, consent is agreement and actualization. It’s more impactful to understand faith in this way than faith being simply intellectual assent to the likelihood of God’s existence or denominational affiliation. Agreement and actualization are about our relationship with a true and living God. It’s about who God has been and what God has promised to be and do. Consent is about offering our “inner authority” and the “fluid area of our consent” to the only One who is worthy of it! Whether it’s a parent with a dying child or a woman with a chronic illness, both offered their consent to Jesus. Both believed that if they could meet Jesus in that authentic place of agreement, something life-saving could happen. How about you?
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Consentimiento
“The concern which I lay bare before You today is:
Whatever disaffection there is between me and those who are or have been very close to me— I would seek the root or cause of such disaffection, and with the illumination of Your mind, O God, to understand it. I give myself to Your scrutiny that, whatever there may be in me that is responsible for what has happened, I will acknowledge. Where I have wronged or given offense deliberately or without intention, I seek a face-to-face forgiveness. What I can undo I am willing to try; what I cannot undo, with that I seek to make my peace. How to do these things, what techniques to use, with what spirit— for these I need and seek Your wisdom and strength, O God. Whatever disaffection there is between me and those who are or have been very close to me, I lay bare before You.”
Prayers for Today
Howard Thurman
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.
Dejo Ante Ti
Many preachers are scared of John the Baptist so they dither about with what he ate or what he wore rather than what he did. What he did was to co-create moments with God so hearts could change. What he did was refuse to placate people or reduce to pablum the notion of true repentance. What he did was model the freedom that comes uniquely by the Spirit. John scared the clergy then and he scares the clergy now. It is easier to mock him as a zealot than be transformed by his zeal. John was Jesus’ big cousin. Their mothers had been pregnant together. Their mothers bumped bellies in a doorway long ago and sang songs to each other of God’s fidelity. John and Jesus had been in dialogue since before birth. It was John who was Jesus’ revival preacher. John preached with power, but he also lived that power. Even Herod was afraid of his power. John had moral clarity and because of that he had moral authority and that produces courage of conviction.
Matthew 14:1-12
An excerpt from Bishop Wright’s sermon for the Preaching Excellence Program.
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
The podcast expands on Bishop’s For Faith devotional, drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus to answer 21st-century questions.