You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘trust’ tag.
Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” John 6:8-9
How much is enough? A little boy once asked his father for a candy bar at the counter of a grocery store. Times were tough. The dad’s heart sank. Much as he’d love to give his son everything he wanted, the small amount of cash he had would barely pay for the families groceries. When he told the boy ‘not today’ the boy replied, “but daddy, it’s on sale. Appreciating the boy’s attempt at thriftiness, he replied, ‘Son, if it only costs a quarter but you don’t have a quarter it doesn’t matter how cheap it is.’
How much is enough?
The negative voices inside our heads answer that for us.
‘I’m not smart enough.’
‘I’m not thin enough.’
‘I’m not rich enough.’
And I love the ‘Christian versions’.
‘I’m not spiritual enough’
‘I don’t have enough faith.’
‘I don’t pray enough.’
‘I don’t study the Bible enough.’
Do a quick study of what the Bible says about how much is enough!
One day Jesus was teaching on a mountainside. It was getting late. The nearest town was a distance away. People were tired, the disciples were tired.
Then, Jesus suggested they all share a meal together. It was a preposterous idea! His friends looked at the situation and tried to explain it would take too much time. It would take too much food. There wasn’t enough.
A search for food turned up just five small loaves of bread and two fish, the perfect amount for small boy’s lunch.
What didn’t seem like enough to the over 5,000 people gathered ended up being more than enough when Jesus got involved.
What are the negative voices telling you? What don’t you have enough of? If Jesus can provide enough for over 5,000 people, I think he may just have enough for you.
Take the little steps. Trust him with the little things. Trust with the little things leads to bigger things! With Jesus, everything you have is enough.
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19
I love seeing stories of reconciliation. In particular, children being reconciled with parents who surprise them with a return from deployment. It’s basically the same story over and over, but I never tire of it. The child is busy with friends or class and when dad or mom appear they run into their arms, many times with tears of joy.
One thing I’ve never seen was a child looking at the parent apathetically. I’ve never seen the parent seem aloof. I’ve never seen the child being apprehensive of how peers may react to their tears. The focus of parent and child is on each other. The reaction is one of love, relief, joy, contentment.
Reconciliation is amazing! Sin has separated us from the love God has for us. Like a child without a parent we struggle with feelings of value, identity and security. Then God came to us through Jesus, offering us reconciliation. What joy!
Not only are we blessed with that reconciliation, we have the opportunity to share that joy with others. Reconciliation is an act of love not judgment. Reconciliation focuses on forgiveness and acceptance. If we have truly experienced reconciliation with the Father then we have the opportunity to share that joy with those in need of being reunited with their father…Heavenly Father that is.
Who can you help to be reconciled today. Reconciliation is the result of prayer, relationship and sharing Jesus with others.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
If you are like me and honest with yourself, there are times you’ve read today’s verse and thought ‘Yeah, right. Easy for you to say.’
It’s easy for someone who has no debt to tell you to get out of debt.
It’s easy for someone who has never been cheated on to tell you to trust.
It’s easy for someone who has dealt with their grief to say, ‘things will get better, keep your chin up.’
Reality is, when things are going well for you it’s easy to be thankful. When your kids are responsible, your marriage is sexually and emotionally fulfilling, your team is winning, thankfulness comes naturally. But when things go south it’s hard, but not impossible to show gratitude.
Here are some ways that may make it easier to show gratitude in difficult times, and especially now as we enter a new year.
- Spend some time in reflection. The fact that you are reading this proves that you’ve made it through the past! It may not have been easy. It may have been painful. There may have been times when you didn’t think you could go on. But you did! What lessons did you learn from your failures? What victories did you celebrate? How did you see God working in your life? Sometimes He shows himself best when we are at our worst.
- Set some realistic goals for spiritual growth. Start small. Perhaps get one or two close friends who can help keep you accountable. Ask God to help you in setting the goal, pursuing the goal and celebrating the victory.
- As you look ahead, see possibilities, not problems. Remember that God wants you to succeed and he has given you his Holy Spirit to help you accomplish it. Roadblocks will stop you, obstacles will strengthen you. Make every roadblock an obstacle by His grace.
- Pursue Praise. I can’t explain it, but in my own life I’ve noticed that the best way to destroy discouragement is to listen to or sing praise music. Why do you think the longest book in the Bible is a book of praise in the midst of adversity? Praise God for who He is, not for what you are going through.
- Stop listening to the voices. If you have accepted Jesus as Savior, Satan knows he’s lost. But he won’t give up easily. If he can’t get you to follow him, he’ll try to tell you lies. Don’t listen to the negative voices of others, social media or the voices in your head. Stop the negative talk, foster a positive mindset.
- Spread the Joy. It sounds ironic but it’s true. The best way to defeat discouragement, fear, worry and a host of other negative emotions is to help others. Paul tells us in Corinthians to comfort others with the comfort we’ve received. Helping others can be a great way to lift others up when they are down and it can give you opportunities to show the grace God has given you.
Make this year the year you focus on being thankful for all God has given you and share the lessons you are learning with those who are on this journey of life with you.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:13-14
“What was I thinking?”
Has that thought ever gone through your head? Maybe you’ve even said it out loud to yourself or others listening. We all have those days, those times when we look at ourselves from the outside and, frankly, can’t believe the action we’ve taken, the words we’ve spoken or the thought/attitude that has crossed our mind.
Let’s face it. Our humanity fails us. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Romans 7, where Paul expresses his own personal frustration with himself. ‘The things I hate I find myself doing, the things I desperately want to do or be known for I fail to do…daily!” (My paraphrase)
So, how do we move on? What steps can we take to remedy the situation? After all, we know there will be some who will take our failings as an opportunity to judge us and to constantly hold our failure against us.
I love what Paul says in Philippians regarding failure. Basically, (again my paraphrase) he is telling us, ‘Stuff happens, we fail, sometimes miserably. People will judge us, condemn us and criticize us, but move on.’
It amazes me how many Bible people failed. They were dishonest. They lied to cover up their own mistakes. They were cowards. They ignored specific commands of God to try to further their own agenda, oftentimes at the expense of others.
Paul isn’t saying we don’t try to make things right. When we’ve wronged others, we need to try to make amends. When we’ve failed we need to put boundaries in place to keep us accountable and protect us from making the same mistakes. But then we need to move on.
The new year is a great time to look back over the previous year and evaluate the path you have taken. What things can you do better?
What things need to be corrected?
What relationships need to be mended?
What relationships need to be ended or at least put on hold?
Are you closer to Christ now than you were a year ago?
When Paul says, ‘forgetting the past and looking forward’ I don’t think he said that flippantly. I think he looked back at the past, made up a plan to make corrections and then he moved on. He didn’t dwell on his failures, he used them as stepping stones to a better tomorrow.
As the calendar flips to a new year, what things do you need to learn from? What things do you need to let go? How can the Holy Spirit help you? Who can you seek out as an accountability partner to walk through life with you?
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
I’ve been accused from time to time of being unobservant and I have to admit I’m guilty as charged. Sometimes I miss trivial things. I’ve never been able to find Waldo. He’s MIA in my book. Those ‘magic eye’ pictures. Yeah, no. Sorry.
While not being able to see pictures in a puzzle is a trivial thing, with no real damage done except to my pride, sometimes we can miss things of importance if we aren’t careful. A hunter needs to keep a keen eye out for whatever he is hunting, especially if they are camouflaged against the background. When driving at night in my neck of the woods it’s wise to keep an eye on the ditches for wildlife that may wander onto the highway.
We can miss a lot in life if we don’t pay attention. Automobiles have a large windshield and a small rear-view mirror for a reason. It’s important to keep an eye on where you’ve been, but more important to see where you are going.
The prophet Isaiah paints a great word picture for us going into in the new year, or any other new situations we may face. He gives us a challenge and a promise to take with us as we move forward, which by the way, is what God intends for us. As one writer stated, in the Christian life there is no standing still. We move three steps forward, or we move two steps back.
Our ‘challenge’ as we move forward into the unknown is to look carefully for how (not if) God is working.
Our promise? The way is already started. He provides a path through the wilderness. Not an interstate, not even a back road. A path. I love to hike and while some trails are easy to follow and even paved, some are nothing more than game trails through the forest. But I’ve also noticed that in many cases, the more obscure the path, the more beautiful the scenery.
God offers us a path for a purpose, so we can see the wonder of what he is providing for us. He also will provide for us in the wilderness. He provides a stream, not a well. A stream can be followed and offers continual refreshment, a well is a one-time stop. A stream allows you to move on. A well requires you to stop or even camp out.
I’m a worrier. Not proud of it, but it’s a trait I constantly battle. The reality I can rest on, even when the enemy of worry attacks, is that the path God has for me is already complete. Mine isn’t to blaze new trails through the brush, mine is to look for his way in the wilderness and drink from the stream he provides for the journey.
As you move forward into whatever wilderness you may be in, look for the way God has for you and enjoy his provision along the way.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 