The Wind and The Waves: Where Feet May Fail

"We can never cross the ocean unless

we have courage to lose sight of the shore"

- Christopher Columbus

There are many storms each of us have gone through in this life...a loved one has passed away, there is a bill that you cannot pay, the company you work for has gone bankrupt and you may lose your job,  your about to lose your home but you have children to take care of, maybe your child is sick or you were diagnosed with an illness, maybe your anxious and fearful all the time...I don't know what storm you are facing currently, but I do know that there is only One who can calm that storm.

22 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. 23 After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. 25 About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” 27 But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” 28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. 31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” 32 When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.

Many of you may have heard sermons be preached where the pastor is telling you to "step out of the boat!" and step out in faith and do what God has called for you do to. Today, my pastor told us that TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN...as soon as you give your life to Christ as your Lord and Savior...the clock starts ticking. God has an assignment for each one of us here on this earth, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of those in our community, in our families and in our circles. Who is in your circle? What is your assignment? Many Christians aren't walking in their purpose for a few reasons:

1) It may simply not be time because God is preparing them for the calling on their life. He may be giving them little things to be faithful in before He can give them more and bring them where He wants for them to go. (Luke 16:10; Matthew 25:23)

2) Some Christians simply have not asked God, what is my purpose? At the end of the day, our sole purpose is to bring glory to God because we were created to worship Him, but we also have a specific assignment here on this earth to fulfill. So, just ask because God knows what He has designed for you during a time such as this. God has need of His children to walk in their God given purpose to be the light and salt of the earth.
James 4:3 "You have not because you ask not" 

3) Many Christians are looking for a supernatural purpose. We are looking for this purpose to roll out of the sky and crack the heavens open. We have purpose from the moment we wake up, to the moment we go to sleep. Sometimes Christians fall prey to the lie of the enemy thinking they have no purpose because they have no platform. Your family is your platform, your school is your platform, your workplace is your platform. Regardless, we should not be seeking a platform we should be seeking Christ.

4) We can't see our purpose because we are so busy looking at everyone else's. If I am honest, this is a recent conviction for me. I grew discontent with what God has called for me to do. Why? Because I began to look at what He has called others to do and I began to crash into their lane instead of simply driving in mine. Too many of us try to be someone we are not. We want to be the head when God has called us to be the feet. We want to be the feet when God has called us to be the mouth. We all have a specific role and purpose to play in the body of Christ, and we often forget we are members of ONE body (1 Corinthians 12:12) When ONE part of the body is sick, the WHOLE body is out of alignment. We need to learn to encourage one another in the different works Christ has called each of us to do. I will be the first to admit this is an area that I struggle with. There are moments I will think, "God, can't I just?..." The answer will always be NO. God will not change MY assignment simply because I don't want to do it. That's like a science teacher telling their student, "oh you don't want to do your science assignment? Ok, here is a history assignment!" Uhmmm....what?

5. Some of us have so many gifts and talents that simply have not been unfolded yet. OR...we have been given gifts we refuse to use. God blesses us and gives us gifts not just to boast in our own glory, but to give Him the glory that He deserves and be a blessing to others and draw them to Him.

So, getting back to the scripture we read that the disciples were caught up in this crazy storm and they were terrified, yet Jesus already knew what was happening and came to meet them in their NEED. He came to them before they even cried out to Him for help. God sees and knows everything we are going through before we even reach out to him...(Matthew 6:8)

Soon, we find out that the disciples were terrified of Jesus walking towards them on the water and Peter questions Jesus, "Lord, if this is really you tell me to come walking to you on the water" so what does Jesus do? Tells Peter to come on over, to walk out on the water...Peter takes that step of obedience to walk out on the water to meet Jesus and in the midst of it all, the waves became more visible and real than ever and he began to sink when he took his eyes off Christ.

Sometimes when God calls us to step out and do something, the first wave we encounter is doubt. Look at Gideon...he questioned God twice regarding the call on his life to rescue the Israelites (Judges 6:36-39). Then, as we eventually begin to step out of the boat of our comfort zone and onto the water, the waves of fear, insecurity and anxiety begin to creep in and we lose our focus. It's so easy to begin to focus on the storms of this life rather than the One who can calm the storms. When we focus on the waves crashing around us, we begin to sink as Peter did. However, in the midst of his sinking, He called out to Jesus and the bible says, Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. Jesus didn't wait a few extra minutes or take His sweet time in rescuing Peter, but He immediately reached out and grabbed him. (Yes, the SAME Peter that would later reject Jesus 3x and Jesus already knowing that moment still came, reached out and GRABBED Peter in the midst of the storm)

I don't know about you, but when the storms of this life come I am glad that God already sees them coming and has a provision for me...that provision being His son with me inside of my boat. We don't have to go through the storms of this life alone, even when it feels like we do. Jesus understands. He faced the same temptations we face, yet he never sinned. (Hebrews 4:15) He understands our weakness and He bears with us through them. It's so easy to be in a storm and think that no one understands, forgetting that Jesus is not just 100% God, but also 100% man. There is no storm in life that you are facing that He has not already faced.  He has braved the winds and the waves for each of us. We can rest assured that when we invite Christ into our boat, He will calm the raging sea or give us the strength we need to fight against the waves so they do not overtake us.

God promises us that we will have TROUBLE throughout our lives here on this earth, but He also promises throughout these troubles that He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

Be encouraged and take heart!

Love,
Beth

Picture from over the summer...I miss summer; winter would be OK if I actually got snowed in once...yes, I would like to get snowed in! #Don'tJudge

When The Promise Land Doesn't Look.....So Promising!

The Lord had promised to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land He had promised to their ancestors. This is a land described as: 

"A good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as a stone, and copper is abundant in the hills" (Deuteronomy 8:7-9)

I don't know about you, but that is a land that sounds more than good. Just reading about it gives me such a sense of peace and security, knowing that the plans God has for me are truly what He says, plans to prosper me and not to harm me (Jeremiah 29:11) I can just see myself in this land dancing with the Lord as He takes hold of my very hand and holds on tight, because although it's the Promised Land...there's about to be some HUGE giants I WILL need to face!

God told the Israelites their time circling around Mt. Sinai was over, it was time to peace out and get a move on. So, they obeyed and left mount Sinai. Normally, the hard part is leaving all that you know to be brought into something new, while the easy part is receiving the blessings of God like a little kid in a candy shop, however it was different for the Israelites. When God told them to leave their lives at Mt. Sinai, no problem they left. When God told them to enter into a plentiful land of milk and honey where nothing would lack or run out, they refused to enter. Why would ANYONE ever pass up an offer like that?

Deuteronomy 1:21 "Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors has promised you. Don't be afraid! Don't be discouraged!"

Alright, so...this awesome land God had placed right in front of them...all they had to do was MOVE IN to their new place, into the new land they were blessed with, but they decided instead to check it out first and spy. They sent out some scouts to explore the land and the scouts came back even reporting it was a good land....but hold on cause' houston we have a problem! Ever know that God was elevating you? He was moving you from one place to the next? He was moving your spiritual address and all of a sudden everything seemed to go haywire? Recently I have had that happen to me, and although I am not at my final "Promised Land" I am in a season where God is doing some new things, and with those new things came some new giants I sure wasn't expecting. Sometimes the promises God makes don't look so promising. These times are a test of faith where God is asking...I promised you this but it doesn't look the way you expected it to look, do you still trust me? Do we still trust the promises of God even when they don't look so promising? Maybe that is why God tells us walk by faith and not by sight, because our vision has a way of deceiving us. We don't see what God sees. He see's us conquering the giants we face with a slingshot and rock as David conquered Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:49) As soon as we face a problem, we start running from what God has called us to do. God was calling the Israelites to move forward, to enter into a great land. But they couldn't believe beyond what they could see...

What situation is happening in your life that is hard to see past? Can you see yourself on the other side of victory? Can you see yourself relying on the strength of God to overcome? Make sure you are seeing things with faith and not with fear. Fear has a way of crippling us and I will be the first to tell you. There are times I have missed out because of fear, there are times where I have almost missed out because of fear and it's not a fun place to be. Fear is one of the most deceiving schemes of the enemy because it just seems so real, but fear is really False Evidence Appearing Real. 

One of my sisters in Christ today said this:
 "...the only way to capture fear is to become knowledgable about what makes us afraid" (Jenny Geffrard)

 Make sure to check out her blog! <--- click HERE

So, the Israelites grew fearful and began to sink. They began to doubt and question God and even ACCUSE him for bringing them into this land saying that God must hate them. Ahhhh, wait what?!

"....The Lord must hate us. That's why he has brought us here from Egypt - to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered" (Deuteronomy 1:27) So, God brought them out of slavery, delivered them and then they accused God of hating them because they faced some problems. But...how many times are we just like the Irsaelites? Things are going well, then we face a problem and all of a sudden we start blaming God instead of trusting God. I know there are times where I have been there, even though Jesus promises us that in the world there will be trials and tribulations (John 16:33) Well, the Israelites ended back up in the wilderness...stuck in the middle. They were not longer enslaved in Egypt, but they refused to enter the Promise Land which the bible actually says is rebellion (Deuteronomy 1:26). It's rebellion to not pick up what God is putting down. It's rebellion to not receive what He wants to give you. This is a good moment to thank Him that He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve!

As we come to an end...this is what gets me the most!

 Ezekial 20:6 "I took a solemn oath that day, that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them - a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the best of all the lands"

Before God brought them into this land, He Himself EXPLORED it. To explore means: to travel through a land or place in order to learn about or familiarize oneself with it. God went before them and explored this land and made sure it would be safe for His beloved CHOSEN children to live there. God wasn't going to place them in danger. Beloved, God loves you SO much that He goes before you and checks out every new thing He is bringing you into. He has already checked out that place He is moving you to, so when He says to go in and occupy that Promised Land and you see some giants, let us decide together that we will choose to trust God beyond what we see. God has already discovered and explored your land. He is calling us to trust Him in our circumstances that regardless of what we see, He will make a way.

Love,
Beth


Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your promises. Please help me to believe beyond what I can see even when the Promise Land doesn't look so promising. Give me the faith to trust you as I step out where my feet could potentially sink. Thank you for caring about me and keeping watch over me. Thank you for discovering and exploring the land you have called me to. In Jesus name, Amen.