Trusting someone enough to do hard or seemingly unachievable things takes real faith. It really does. Saying yes when yes makes no sense is not easy. It really isn’t.

My college football coach convinced his teams to work harder than they wanted to work. He saw the potential and didn’t want it to go to waste. At the point in preseason summer camp when every guy was sore and tired, questioning why we were doing this, and the heat and humidity were unbearable, Coach would invariably say, “Anybody can be at the beach, only special people can be here.” Despite mumbling under our breath, “Okay, Coach, whatever,” we bought into the hard work because we knew the rewards far outweighed the blood and sweat. We trusted the coaching staff implicitly. We had faith in them. During those four years we won almost 75% of our games and played for a state championship as well as qualifying for the national playoffs.

I know a pastor who regularly preached without notes. That method is not the norm. Most pastors spend lots of time researching, prepping, writing, revising. Some might call this pastor unprepared since he did very little of that. He would simply get up and read whatever scripture passage he picked for that day and then begin to expound upon it. I am told that his wife was nervous each time he preached. But this pastor seemed completely comfortable with his style. This pastor always asked the Holy Spirit to guide him in his preaching, and because the Spirit had been faithful in doing so time and time again, there was a complete trust that the words would come.

The Lord is faithful to those who trust in Him, even when it makes no sense. When we say, “Direct me, Lord,” and we truly mean it, He is faithful in doing so. I see this occurring in several ways. Sometimes Jesus says to us, “Come, follow me,” as He did when calling the first disciples (Matthew 18-21). Other times, we are simply told to “Go,” as was Abram (later Abraham) – The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).

There are also those moments when God wants us to take the first step and trust that He is standing right behind us, saying, “I will be right here behind you.” When Judah (one of the twelve tribes of Israel) turned away from God and began looking to powerful Egypt for their deliverance, God rebuked them. God also then promised that if they turned back to Him, He would restore them and bless them with His guidance. Here are the words of the prophet Isaiah – Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” (30:21).

You might be familiar with the story of Peter walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33). While in a boat on the lake, amid a dangerous nighttime thunderstorm, the disciples freaked out when they saw what appeared to be a ghost coming toward them on the water. It was actually Jesus – “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” With that, the impetuous Peter replied, “Lord if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” The story tells us that after hearing “Come,” Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water. When his eyes were looking at Jesus, he walked on the water’s surface. But when he began to have doubt, he started to sink. Jesus reached out his hand to catch Peter. I believe it was Peter’s littleness of faith that endangered his life, not the violent winds or raging sea.

When God calls us to do something, even something as crazy sounding as walking on water, my question is this – Will we, do we, say yes? When He says “Come” or “Go,” will we, do we, say yes? A faith not tested is a faith not trusted.

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Have you ever witnessed a thunderstorm over the ocean? We enjoy spending time at the beach. And when we go for any extended period of time, we stay in an oceanfront hotel. When at the beach we hope for sunny days to relax in the sun, sand, and surf. But also, there is something fascinating about seeing lightning out over the water as the wind blows across the ocean and the ominous clouds pelt the sand and sea with rain, especially those storms that occur at night.

Experiencing a thunderstorm from the safety of a hotel balcony is one thing, but to be out in the water during that storm, not the place you want to be. It would be very dangerous, maybe even life threatening. The waves would be rough, the winds fierce, the skies dark, the rain heavy, the saltwater stinking your eyes.

Maybe right now you find yourself in the midst of a storm. It could be you are facing a serious health issue. Your finances are a disaster. Your marriage is on the rocks. You have aging parents that need constant looking after. The constant rhetoric surrounding the upcoming presidential election. All things that as you look out over them, cause the seas to look stormy. You are fearful that the storm is (or could be) too big for you to handle alone. You feel as if the water is rising quickly and it will soon be over your head. The good news is that you are not alone!     

Amidst that storm I want to offer a bit of hope. Scripture tells us that regardless of whether the storm you are facing was forecasted or it came as a total surprise, one thing remains – Jesus is with you and is your anchor in the storm. Jesus calls us to have faith in Him, to put our complete trust in Him. He is able to keep you steadfast despite the turbulence of the storm, He is your mooring in the changing tides of life. 

Hebrews 6:19-20 declares this promise – “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Those verses say two things. First, like an anchor holds a ship from drifting away, our hope found in Jesus keeps us safe. He is a steadying anchor in the whole of life.

And second, the inner sanctuary language takes us back to the tabernacle in the Old Testament, where a curtain separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place; that very place where God resided. But the people were not allowed to enter it. Only the high priest was allowed to enter once a year (On Yom Yippur, the Day of Atonement) on behalf of the people. On that day, he burned incense and sprinkled sacrificial animal blood to atone for (theological word is expiate) for his own sins and those of the people of Israel. When Jesus died on the cross that curtain was torn in two (see Matthew 27:50-51) giving us personal access to God, no longer needing someone to enter on our behalf.

So, today if you have not yet put your trust in Jesus, pray and ask Him into your heart and accept all that He has for you. If you are already a follower of Jesus but find it hard to calm your inner soul, then right now pray and ask Jesus for a peace that passes all understanding, a peace that is stronger than the storm, a peace anchored in Him.

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A number of years ago we had an inground swimming pool at the house we lived in at the time. One summer the vinyl liner began to leak due to a small pin-sized hole. At first, the leak was small and undetectable. Soon we were losing enough water that we knew there was a leak. We put a patch over the hole and for a number of months the leak was minimal. Slowly the hole in the liner grew bigger and bigger until eventually the pool lost almost all of its 28,000 gallons of water. The following spring, we had to replace the entire liner. What started as a small hole slowly grew to become a bigger hole, and finally, a hole too big to fix.

That pool liner leak often describes our lives. We begin to neglect “little” things (behaviors, attitudes, habits, etc.), or we find ourselves in “little” sins, and over time if we do not make changes to those attitudes or actions, they become “big” things, and we wonder what happened.

What I am referring to can be called “drift.” It is that slow migration from good into not so good, little by little, often without really noticing, until the pin-sized leak becomes a gaping hole. We drift in many areas of our lives, and we rarely, if ever, drift in a positive way. We naturally drift away from everything holy and everything wholesome. Think about your health, relationships, thoughts, desires, finances – without intentional and committed effort they tend to simply drift, a slow erosion, into something less than what they could be. And how about your relationship with God? That, too, drifts in a negative direction unless you purposely strive to become more like Him.

We need to be checking in with each other and checking on each other. Why? The drift starts in our heart. And nobody knows, unless somebody has access to us. The Bible gives us the prescription to avoid drift. Here is what we read in Hebrews 3:12-13 – “Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that none of you have an evil, unfaithful heart that abandons the living God.Instead, encourage each other every day, as long as it’s called “today,” so that none of you become insensitive to God because of sin’s deception” (CEV).

As Jesus-followers, we are called to encourage and build one another up. We find these words from the apostle Paul – “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). What if people from all walks of life, from all belief systems, did this? What if we focused on building others up and not tearing each other down? Imagine the positive impact it would have in this polarized environment in which we live.

The Greek verb (parakaleó) in both verses for encourage is not just rah, rah, rah; it means exhort, plead, urge, appeal to. And the word daily literally means day after day after day. It’s an ongoing thing. It’s a relational thing. Jesus used the related Greek noun paraklétos for the Holy Spirit, one who is called alongside to help (John 14:16, 26). Both the noun and verb come from the same two root words: para (beside) and kaleó (call, invite).

In modern day language, we have the word para-medic, whichis someone who comes alongside us to help, having our best interests in mind. Again here, para comes from the Greek for beside, along side of.

So, I ask you today, are you flying solo, or do you have others who can see your pin-sized hole before it becomes so big that your liner must be replaced?

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In 1949, after being re-elected for a second term as President, Harry S. Truman told his staff not to pay attention to the criticism over their appointments. When pressed by his staff, Truman said – “I’ll stand by you, but if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Does your loyalty to God depend upon your circumstances or do you remain faithful (loyal) even when the heat is on?

In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we find a story (Chapter 3) of three young Jews who remained faithful to God even when the heat really got turned up, literally! The story begins when the king issues a decree that everyone must bow down and worship a gold statue made in his image or be thrown into a fiery furnace. When the three men refused to obey the king’s decree, he was furious and summoned them, giving them two choices, either bow down to the gold statue or be thrown into a blazing furnace.

They refused to worship the statue, and here is what we read, verses 16-20 – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.

About now, Shad, Mesh, and Benny were probably wondering where God was as they were bound and thrown into the fiery furnace (v.21). This fire was so hot that several of the king’s soldiers were killed by the flames as they put the three men into the furnace (vv.22-23). After some time, King Nebby had his advisors check on the status of the three men, no doubt convinced that they were cooked to “well done” by then. But guess what, the three men were seen walking around in the fiery furnace, unbound and unharmed. Plus, a fourth man (vv.24-25) was in there with them! Say what? How did he get in there?

How does the story end? Not only were the three young men rescued by their God (vv.26-27), and promoted by the king (v.30), but an entire province was instructed to have faith in this God.

Just who was that fourth person? King Nebby described him as “a son of the gods,” an amazing insight from a once pagan king. Remarkably, he then goes on to proclaim what we know today: Jesus is the Son of God (vv.28-29). He is Immanuel – God with us (Matthew 1:23).   

How do we know King Nebby had a change of heart and began to worship God? In the very next chapter, he confessed his sins to God and professes this – At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation (4:34).

If you get nothing else out of today’s writing, I want you to at least hear these six words, found in v.18… “But even if he does not.” Scripture might not contain more heroic words than those.

So, right now, I ask you, and I ask me – Do you have the unwavering “I know God can but even if He doesn’t” kind of faith? Are you still faithful even when the heat is on?

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The culture in which we live continues to be a steady stream of negative, tending to suck the life right out of us. Maybe it is not the culture that has you feeling dry. It could be that you have experienced something of immeasurable hardship. Alone. Isolated. Trapped inside walls that seem to reach to the upper limits of the sky. Wondering if anybody, even God, knows, or cares, that you are in there. Any glimmer of hope is like the sun as it rises in the morning, hidden behind the spectacular color of the autumn leaves. Its beauty lessened in the mist, often hard to see. 

Does your soul feel dry? If you are like me, when I find myself parched, it is sometimes hard for me to experience the closeness of God. Are you having a hard time feeling the presence of God? Has it been weeks, months, maybe even years, since you experienced God’s sweet intimacy?

Psalm 13 is a short six verse lament in which the psalmist (David) feels forgotten.

v.1 – How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

2 – How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 – Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

4 – and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 – But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 – I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.

The first two verses reveal what David sees as the problem. Do you see the depth of David’s despair? Four times in these two verses he cries out “How long?” Maybe right now you find yourself crying out, “How long God must this go on?”

In v.3, David petitions God in desperation – “look on me and answer” and “give light to my eyes.” Can you hear the urgency in David’s voice? Maybe you have that same urgency today.

V.4 has David seemingly feeling defeated. And if losing wasn’t bad enough, the sting of hearing the victor boast after the victory was almost too much to bear. One of the hallmarks of David’s psalms is his awareness of both God and the enemy.

Yet we see in v.5, despite his agony, David declares God’s mercy. Even if he can rejoice in nothing else, here we see David rejoicing in God’s salvation, just possibly in that moment the only solid ground David is standing on.  What are you rejoicing in today?

David began this psalm by pleading and in v.6 we see a huge transition. David’s pleading changes to praise! Amid David crying out to God, his eyes were enlightened, and he moved from a place of woe is me to a place of praise, from a place of pessimism to a place of proclamation!

So, today, amid whatever it is that you are facing (and we all are facing something!), will you allow yourself to sing Yahweh’s praise because He has been good to you? Your situation might not change, but your perspective will change. You will begin to move from pessimism (despair) to proclamation (declaration). Maybe not immediately, but keep singing Yahweh’s praises, and eventually you will experience the presence of the One who can change you.

I will end with these words from the hymn “Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat” (written by John Newton). Allow God to speak to you in these words – “Poor tempest-tossed soul, be still, my promised grace receive; ’tis Jesus speaks; I must, I will, I can, I do believe.”

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Have you ever looked over toward your neighbor’s house and wished you had that perfectly manicured lawn with the beautifully landscaped flower beds? You wonder why the grass is always greener in their yard. All you see in your own yard is brown grass with an occasional blade of green grass. You might say, it makes you “green with envy.”

You look at other people’s social media posts and perhaps feel a little jealous of their “perfect life.” Boy do they ever seem to have it all together. In their posts all you see are well behaved smiling kids, beautiful Caribbean vacation pictures, romantic dinners at five-star restaurants, but in your “picture book” of life all you see are stinky diapers, piles of unpaid bills, leaky plumbing, and bags under your eyes. Don’t be fooled by the “perfect lives” you see on social media. I can assure you; those lives are not perfect.

If we are all honest, we do at times feel envious or jealous of someone else. The Bible calls this kind of attitude both harmful and sinful. We find this in Proverbs 14:30, “A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.” In the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, he gives us two lists. The first is works of the flesh that arise from our sinful desires, whereas the second are the character traits (the “fruit”) that the Spirit produces in the life of a believer. Included in the sinful acts of the flesh is jealousy. To read this extended passage, click here.

Did you also know that God calls Himself a jealous God? In the second of the Ten Commandments God says this, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for, I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5). Wait a minute; didn’t you just say that jealousy is a sin?

Let’s look at jealousy in two ways. It is important to understand how this word “jealous” is used. Its use in the passage I just referenced from Exodus to describe God’s jealousy is different from the way in which it is used to describe sinful behavior in Galatians. God is not jealous or envious because someone has something He needs or wants (like your neighbor’s lawn, their well-behaved kids, that promotion, etc.), but rather, God is jealous when we give to someone or something what rightfully belongs to Him – we are to worship God and God alone. The first commandment (Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 5:7) is “You shall have no Gods before me.” Jesus says the same thing. In Luke 4:8 He says this, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”

Jealousy is a sin when we desire (envious of) something that is not ours. On the flip side, worship, praise and honor belong to God and God alone, so God is rightly jealous when we give our worship to people or things (idols.) Only God is truly worthy of our praise. In Psalm 145:3 we read these words, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”

So, today, I ask you this – Who or what are you envious of? Who or what are worshipping that is making God jealous? God wants all your praise, and He is worthy of all your praise! Let go of those things that make you green with envy. Instead, turn your heart and mind to God and worship Him and Him alone!

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