Tag: Faith

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Thoughts on Thanksgiving

GiveThankstoYouThis morning, I just typed “thank*” into my Bible’s search engine and began to scroll through 100+ places where the word is used.  One in particular made me take pause. Here are some lyrics of a song which was written to praise our God:

“All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord,
And Your godly ones shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
And talk of Your power;
To make known to the children of men Your mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.”

We see that it is good to thank and speak praises about our God to others. Not only is it good for us, but all of creation will thank Him (yes, that is what “all of Your works means”)!
Sometimes we think it is enough to just be thankful in our minds and hearts. I tend to be in that place and continue to have my faith be deep, but muted. This Psalm really challenged me to open my mouth and speak aloud about the greatness of our God and His Kingdom!
Won’t you take the opportunity this weekend to “speak of the glory of God’s Kingdom” or “talk of God’s power” or “make known to children God’s mighty acts”?  That is what blesses our God!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Jump In: Amazing Things Happen by Joe Caruso

In short, when Joshua was leading the Israelite people into the land God had promised them, they had come to a point where they needed to cross the Jordan River in its flood stage.  The Ark of the Covenant, the key item that symbolized the presence of God, was carried by the priests into the river and the water stopped flowing so that all of the people could cross on dry land.  Incredible.

The lesson of this story?  Amazing things happen in the river.  Not on the ledge, not with toes in the water, but when you’ve jumped in.  We often think, “God, hey, you do something awesome to prove you’re in this, and then I’ll get involved.”  That is not faith, and God very rarely operates this way.  God would say, “Have faith in me – jump in – and I will show up in powerful ways.  You have to jump in to see what’s amazing.”

jump-in

We see it over and over again.  “Noah, build an ark.”  “Moses, approach the most powerful leader on the planet and give him the what for.”  “Joshua, walk around this city for 7 days.”  “Gideon, take less guys and grab some jars.”  “David, yeah you – the teenager – go grab 5 stones.”  “Daniel, pray even when it’s illegal.”  “Peter, leave your nets and livelihood behind and follow me.”  And EVERYTIME, God did what He promised.  He shows up.  He delivers.  He takes care of business.  He transforms the lives of those involved and of those impacted.

We need to get our toes out of the water.  Did God intend for us to just be slightly better versions of humankind?  Did He intend for us to just be more civilized?  To do the same thing year after year, after year, after year…

Or did God intend for us to be a part of something supernatural?  Of something impossible, awesome, and dream-worthy?  If this is it, then He calls us to jump in the river.  Otherwise, we’ll “miss it” and faith will be boring.  It will be same old vanilla day-to-day, and we’ll call it “walking with Jesus.”  Of course, in reading the scriptures, it doesn’t seem like walking with Jesus was very boring.  It seemed, well, impossible, awesome, dream-worthy, and supernatural.  Why should we expect much different?

How do we jump in?  Get involved in the inner-city.  I don’t mean look for a semi-annual project, I mean jump in and get involved.  Watch a kid’s life change because you and Jesus connect with them consistently over the next months and years really loving them.  Invest in the lives of those around you that are exploring Jesus or those that are completely lost.  Check out the roundtable discussions coming soon on how we can work together in ministering to the homeless and those locked into human trafficking nightmares.  Start believing Jesus’ words that “where your treasure is, your heart is also” and give to his kingdom work – the church, local partnerships, or missions.

Break the staleness of normalcy, and jump in.  Your best years are NOT behind you.

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Thanks to the always insightful Joe Caruso.
Article reposted from the GiveItAway Blog of Grace Church

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Faith in God is so important…

faithinGod

“Faith in God is so important. Am I letting him direct my steps? Westerners (and I include myself here) are such driven people. We rely on statistics, we rely on technology, we rely on news and we rely on our experiences and gifts. But we are not always good at learning to wait on the will of God. I have learned and seen true faith in some of these leaders who are being persecuted and have nothing. They truly understand Paul when he writes, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).“


– Paul Borthwick

from Western Christians in Global Mission: What’s the Role of the North American Church?

(Link to my blog of quotes from the book)

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Rahab and Real Faith

Joshua was perched on the edge of entering the promised land and he sent 2 spies ahead into Jericho. They actually end up in a brothel, at Rahab the prostitute’s house.

Somebody ratted out the spies and the King of Jericho sends his sends some troops to capture these spies. Rahab helped misdirect the troops and the spies escape back to Israel.

Rahab knows about the reputation of Israel and the NAME of YAHWEH. She trusts in the powerful God of Israel–the God of Heaven and Earth–and in His name asks the spies to spare her life. She trusted in the God of these men and therefore trusted them (See it for yourself in Joshua 2:8+).

When the spies return and give the news that the people of Jericho are shaking in their boot, the Israelites are filled with courageous and confidence. Not how they were 40 years earlier!!

We know the story of the conquering of Jericho, but we focused on the reality that Rahab and her family are the first Gentiles brought into the nation of Israel!  The Scriptures remember her faith fondly.

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Also in the book of James, amongst a discussion about real faith, it states:

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
James 2:25

Real faith is evidenced by real actions!! Rahab, an outsider, believed in our God…and she put feet to her faith!.

Beyond that, our great and welcoming God moved this woman from the fringe into a quite prestigious place in the nation of Israel. She became the great, great, great grandmother of King David and part of the line of the Messiah!

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These thoughts were spawned through the message on Joshua 2 that Phil Helfer gave at Los Altos Grace Brethren Church on Sunday Jan 20, 2013

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Arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed…

“Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications. We arrange things so that we can get on well enough without Divine aid, while at the same time ostensibly seeking it. We boast in the Lord but watch carefully that we never get caught depending on Him . . . . Pseudo faith always arranges a way out to serve in case God fails it. Real faith knows only one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped of any second way or makeshift substitutes. For true faith, it is either God or total collapse.”
-A.W. Tozer, “Root of the Righteous”
(thanks Maurice Smith & J. Guy Muse from their Facebook pages)