What Say You?

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

John 7:37-39

The word ‘flow’ is defined as –

a smooth uninterrupted movement or progress.

It is a picture of unimpeded movement.

But much in our lives can impede the flow of the Living Waters Jesus spoke of.

Doubt, fear, unbelief, skepticism, unforgiveness (to name just a few) are some examples of what can block or interrupt the flow.

The word ‘stagnant’ is defined as –

 without inflow and outflow

One could legitimately say that the definition of stagnant is the opposite of flow.

Is God’s Living Water flowing through you to others like water flowing in a stream or has your spiritual life become stagnant like a pond?

God wants to remove from you whatever is impeding the flow of His Spirit through you.

Does He have your permission to do so?

Yes, to be sure – He will not move against your will.

It comes down to you.

What say you?

Listen to Him and not to him

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

Romans 8:1

Have you ever done anything wrong?

I know – dumb question!

Forgive me for assuming – but of course you have.

Haven’t we all?

Have you repented from what you did and still find that you have this sense of guilt or shame?

Far too often that is the case for many of us.

We live in this place of condemnation and allow the enemy to continually beat on us.

We listen to him more than we listen to Him!

That is, we sometimes listen to the enemy with greater faith than we listen to the Father!

We even believe that God now looks at us differently.

But look at today’s verse.

Do you see those words ‘no condemnation’?

Go ahead and say them out loud.

Repeat them a hundred times if you need too in order for the truth of those words to sink into your spirit.

Are they a license to sin?

You know better than that.

They are words that can set us free from the condemnation of the enemy.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Do you believe those words?

Is He faithful to do what His words says He will do?

Then know this: When we sin, we can confess and repent and be assured of His forgiveness.

No more condemnation.

No more shame.

Let me repeat it – Listen to Him and don’t listen to him!

Worship and Wait

“Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month. Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain.

Bring in the table and set out what belongs on it.

Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.”

Exodus 40:2-4

Do you know that God wants to meet with you?

He really does!

Do you know what He told Moses the Tent was called when He gave him instructions on the Tabernacle in the Wilderness?

It was called the Tent of Meeting as we read in the verses above.

So God had a meeting place with His people. His desire is to meet, to fellowship with you. You are important to Him and He loves you.

Usually, the “tent of meeting” was used as another name for the Tabernacle of Moses. However, before the tabernacle was constructed, God met with Moses in a temporary tent of meeting. We read about it in Exodus 33:7, 9:

“Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting.’ Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. . . . As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses”. 

Now, we can be sure of one thing:

We cannot meet with God and come away unchanged!

Exodus 34:29-35

29 It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.

30 So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

32 Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

34 But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded,

35 the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him.

As I said a moment ago, and as the scriptures bear out - When you meet with God you cannot come away unchanged.

Face shining – just a taste of what a meeting with God will do.

Our purpose or motivation in meeting with God is to worship and to wait!

Moses was instructed to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground.

When we meet with God, it is a holy time – we may not be able to speak, perhaps it is worship from our spirit because words are just inadequate.

We also come to wait. To wait on God. To hear what He will say. So often we chatter away not ever listening for His voice. It more often comes to us as a whisper in our spirit and not as thunder.

When we meet with God our purpose and motivation is that:

We worship and we wait. 

Psalm 130:5

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”

Well aren’t there other reasons to meet with God?

Perhaps; but none more important than worshipping and waiting.

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

In day camp when I was younger we would always have a small part of our day for announcements,

It was an important part of the day in order to communicate the next day’s plans, information that needed to go home to our parents, reminders about this or that and so on.

But prior to a day of fun and games or following a day of fun and games announcements were always seen as:

So much “Blah, blah, blah!”

So our day camp staff tried to make even this part of the day’s schedule fun and usually began this portion with a single line song with this single word:

Announcements, Announcements, Announcements.

And, our part, as the campers?

We had a refrain that went like this:

What a terrible death to die,

What a terrible death to die,

What a terrible death to be talked to death,

What a terrible death to die.

While it was a humorous routine we followed each day in camp; I think many of us have grown up with the same feeling toward meetings we jung ‘ens had toward announcements.

We just plain don’t like them!

Many times meetings are only slightly more enjoyable than a root canal.

And some might even prefer the root canal!

Listen to what some have said over the years concerning meetings –

“A meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours are wasted.”

James T. Kirk

“Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.”

John Kenneth Galbraith

“People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”

Thomas Sowell

I think we’ve all experienced that one. Someone is put in charge of a project and the only thing standing in the way of accomplishing it are all those meetings the boss wants to have to ‘check progress’.

Even our churches are not immune from meetings with poor outcomes. This is something Paul wrote to the church at Corinth –

In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. I Corinthians 11:17

The Bible even suggests a meeting to avoid in Proverbs 17:12:

“Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly.”

Avoid meetings where fools are (as the Message Bible puts it) hell bent on folly. 

Ahhh - Meetings; We all have them - at work, at school, at home, at church as well as in other clubs and organizations we belong to.

And you always, always, always love them; right?

Of course you do!

But I want to talk with you this week about three types of meetings that are a regular part of all of our lives as believers. I want to share the purpose, the benefits and some of the outcomes of each of those meetings.

So, exactly what type of meetings am I talking about?

There are many different types, but I want to look with you today at three in particular.

Three types of meetings; (and Admittedly, I may be stretching the use of the word ‘meetings’) but the three types I want to look at with you are:

A meeting between a Christ follower and the Lord

A meeting between two Christ followers and –

Finally, a meeting between a Christ follower and a non-Christ follower.

As we look at each of these types of meetings we will ask (and answer I hope) three questions:

1.        What is the purpose or motivation of the two meeting together?

2.        What is the attitude of each as they meet together?

3.        What is the result or the outcome of the meeting?

Worthy God and Weighty Words

“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

    he is to be feared above all gods.”

I Chronicles 16:25

God alone is worthy of our praise.

The word ‘worthy’ can carry the meaning of weightiness.

Weightiness is something we ascribe great weight to, something to be highly valued and/or esteemed.

Often we can unwittingly ascribe weightiness or worthiness to things that are in direct contradiction to Gods’ purposes and plans for our lives.

Have you ever had a doctor tell you that a condition you have is chronic?

When we hear what is spoken we may be tempted to ascribe great ‘weight’ to that word.

But we must never give that word ‘chronic’ a worth above the declared word of God!

You do not have to continue to live with a condition when God has said He has healed you.

The enemy often comes in subtle ways to attempt to bring us into bondage or fear.

When we think “Oh, well – guess I have to live with it”; it is time to take it to prayer!

Often we hear people say that a diagnosis of cancer strikes fear in their heart.

But when we hear of a condition that is chronic we sometimes allow ourselves to accept what we do not have to accept.

We need not resign ourselves to living below Gods’ best for us.

Ascribe to God great worth!

Ascribe a ‘weightiness’, a worthiness if you will to His words over the words other might speak into your life.

Have you been told you have a chronic medical condition and just need to learn to live with it?

Will you believe God wants to heal you?

Don’t give greater worth to the words of men than you give to the Words of God!

Exercising My Gifts and Calling

To Apply the Word of God in my life I must

develop the discipline of exercising my gifts and calling.

Psalm 119:140 “Your promises have been thoroughly tested,

and your servant loves them.”

One way that Gods’ promises can be thoroughly tested in

our lives is by the exercising of our gifts.

Do you want to know if God can be trusted?

Step out in your gifting where you must trust that He has given it to you.

Do you want to see growth in your walk?

Step out in your giftings where you will see the

evidence of growth as you faithfully exercise it.

Do you want to confirm what you believe is a gift God has given you?

Step out by exercising it and the Lord will confirm if indeed He has given it to you.

Don’t wait for tomorrow.

Step out today!

Praying the Word

The Word cannot affect and impact our lives unless

we read and think about it regularly.

What is stress and anxiety caused by?

Usually it is by thinking and meditating on things we cannot change.

Rather than think on those things how about considering peace and protection, mercy and grace, love and kindness, joy and noble things as the writer of Philippians encourages us to do?

It is worth pointing out that the early church prayed Scripture.

As an example, the prayer of Acts 4:24–30 quotes Psalm 2.

Also Old Testament prayers like Ezra’s prayer in Nehemiah 9:6–37

are rehearsals of biblical history and biblical texts.

How do you pray the word?

Take a passage and pray through it –

Listen to these two verses of Psalm 51:12-13

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.”

Then taking those two verses into account ,

you might pray something like this as an example –

Lord:

Let the joy of your salvation well up in me to overflowing.

Let the joy of your salvation be contagious to everyone around me. 

I am sustained by you with a spirit that is ready, willing and,

by your grace, able to do your will.

Remind me over and over and over how blessed and filled with your grace I am because your salvation is given to me.

Let that joy spill out on others so that those who do not know you ask

about why I am so joyful and turn those moments

 into opportunities to teach others about you.

May I see friends, family and even strangers come to

know you because of your joy so filling me.

Amen!

That is all it is.

It is simply taking His Word and so esteeming and honoring it that we make it part of our prayer back to Him.

It is a wonderful way to learn and meditate on His Word and develop in us the discipline of applying His word in our lives. 

Hanging on by a Thread?

“...Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Luke 11:28

To say you are a believer and to not allow the word to transform your life and inform your decisions and your behaviors is to be a believer on life support.

You are hanging on by a thread.

Let me repeat Jesus’ words – He said:

“'Man shall not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

His Word is life to us and that word feeds our spirit just as bread feeds your body.

When we fail to apply the word in our lives we fail to reflect Christ to others.

We become hypocrites rather than men and women of integrity.

People easily see past our false declarations.

But when we allow the Word to truly transform us it has the power

to transform those around us as well.

We can see it over and over in the Book of Acts.

I want to give you a discipline to develop that will help

you to apply the Word of God in your life.

We must develop the discipline of self-examination.

Psalm 119:59 “I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.”

This is essential to our walk and it is not only to take place at the Lord’s Table.

In Galatians 6:3-4, Apostle Paul writes, “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

As you examine your life ask the Holy Spirit to show you where He wants to work in your life and what areas He wants to concentrate on. Ask Him to give you scriptures to meditate on in the process and to remind you when you face these times of growth.

Let’s say God is dealing with you about honesty in your life and you have asked the Holy Spirit to remind you at moments when you are about to be less than honest so that you can repent and turn from it. A few days later you are at work and you are about to lie to a co-worker about something he just asked you. Before you can speak the Holy Spirit reminds you of your conversation with Him. You now have the opportunity to change course and be honest rather than lie.

Will you do what is right?

Craving the Word

““Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,

so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,”

I Peter 2:2

The Bible is both a road map and an instruction manual for life.

It was written by men under the inspiration of our Creator.

If I had a question on an Apple iPhone, who would I ask?

The geniuses at the Apple store!

How much more, then, if I have questions on life and purpose would I go to my Creator and to His Words to me?

That alone is a very good reason to study the Word.  

That word ‘crave’ in the verse above is interesting.

It means to want greatly or to yearn for.

The Word of God is more than just a passing fancy or the occasional diversion.

Have you ever wanted something greatly?

How easily were you dissuaded?

Probably it was a constant focus of your attention and devotion.

Is that what the Word of God is to you?

Or do you simply squeeze in reading a chapter when you have nothing else to do.

Dig into His Word.

Spend more than a few moments.

Study, memorize and meditate.

It will pay enormous dividends in your spiritual life. 

Look Carefully and Listen Closely!

 “The Lord said to me, “Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations and instructions regarding the temple of the Lord. Give attention to the entrance to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.

 Say to rebellious Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says”

Ezekiel 44:5-6a

Let me point out to you four commands given to the Prophet that we can take to heart, put into practice and learn from when it comes to studying the Word of the Lord. He was told:

First: Look carefully

Second: Listen closely

Third: Give attention to everything I tell you.

Finally: Say to!

You can speak only after you have done the first three. How much trouble would that keep us out of if we really followed these steps in the order they are laid out in this passage – look, listen, give attention and only after those three does He command the prophet to – speak! You know what has been said before – God created us with twice as much capacity to listen as we have to speak; two ears but only one mouth. Many a truth is spoken in jest!

What I want us to understand is that if you go to the Book of Ezekiel you will see that there was a “shift” at Chapter 40 and going on from Chapter 40 to the end of the Book at Chapter 48 God shows Ezekiel great detail regarding the Temple, the Tribes, The Land Inheritance and the priesthood for the later time when the nation is restored to the land. It is 8 chapters of very specific detail. You will also find that God directed Ezekiel more than once to write down what he saw. He simply could not have remembered all the details revealed to him.

Have you ever received a word from the Lord?

Did you esteem it enough to document that word and to study it?

Have you studied God’s word?

Have you dug deeper than the newborn whose diet consists only of milk?

If in fact you desire to grow in Him then study of His word is not an option.

It is your nourishment.

It is your food. 

Because You ARE a Teacher – Be a Better Student!

“Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.”

II Timothy 2:15 Amplified

Maybe you’ve read this verse before and dismissed it by thinking to yourself, “Well, I’m not a teacher so it really doesn’t apply to me. After all, doesn’t James 3:1 say: Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

To that I would answer, yes James 3:1 certainly does say that.

But in context it speaks of those who teach from the office of a teacher.

The reality is that all of us, in one way or another, are teachers.

Are you a parent? Then you are a teacher?

Are you an sibling? (particularly an older sibling) Then you are a teacher.

Do you have charge over anyone where you work? Then you are a teacher. Does anyone who does not know the Lord know that you do? Then you are a teacher.

Every action, every word, every behavior of ours teaches others.

In most of these cases it goes beyond that of simply being a role model.

You are teaching others.

Even if you refused to acknowledge that you are a teacher it does not excuse you from being a student of the Word of God and rightly dividing it.

I know you will recall the words in Acts 17:11 “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

The Bereans were not examining the scriptures because they were suspicious that Paul was a heretic.

Rather, they wanted to confirm for themselves the truth of what he taught.

When was the last time you opened your Bible and studied a topic that you had questions about?

When was the last time you looked into the Word for answers before you went to someone else?

When was the last time you took home the outline from Sunday morning and dug deeper in the scriptures?

When was the last time your spirit had something to eat that you prepared? That is one very important way that we grow.

The parent can hold the babies arms but the baby must take the step.

That is how we move from being an infant to becoming a mature believer. Step-by-step!

Write it Down!

Is it o.k. if I take a few minutes and harp on something?

God so values His word that He often commands those He is delivering it to, to write it down.  What do you tell yourself – if something’s important and you don’t want to forget it – what do you do, you write it down?  We document our marriage by writing it down on a license, our graduation on a diploma and the final wishes for our estate in a will. While each of these may be personally important to us, what can be more important to all of us than God’s eternal word? After all, it will outlast your marriage, your education and your estate.

Let’s look at this idea of writing it down in scripture –

Exodus 17:14

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”

Exodus 34:1

The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Jeremiah 30:1-2

1 “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.

Revelation 1:10-11

10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

I hope you are getting my point – God esteems His Word and often commanded His leaders, Kings, Prophets and Priests to write it down! God’s word is to be esteemed and what we esteem, we approach with more than just a casual, cavalier attitude.

What we esteem, what we honor, we often, actually write it down.

Honor the Word, Honor Jesus

The word ‘esteemed’ is defined as:

highly regarded; to set a high value on: regard highly and prize accordingly

Some synonyms of the word esteem would be: admiration, appreciation, favor, regard, respect.

In other words – the Word of God is to be highly valued and is of great worth.

It is to be admired, appreciated and respected. 

Especially, and particularly, by those who call themselves Children of God.

If you believe God is worthy, then so too should His words be worthy to you as well.

Isaiah 40:8 tells us just how important Gods’ words are:

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

So what about Jesus, did He esteem the Word of God? Well, just listen to what He says in a verse familiar to most of us:

Matthew 4:4

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

We are to esteem the Word of God even as Jesus esteemed it.

 In it we find life and nourishment for our Spirit.

We are to esteem the Word of God and of course the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus was and is the Word of God! It is not simply esteeming letters on a page. The Word became flesh!

In other words when we esteem the Word of God we are honoring Jesus Himself. 

Need more evidence of that?

Revelation 19:12-14

“His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.

He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.

He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

Feed Your Spirit and Starve Your Flesh

Let’s take a moment and think of people we honor, those that we esteem.

Let’s name names.

I was born and raised and live in the greater Rochester, N.Y. area

So we honor those who have done great things for the city or region or maybe those who went onto bigger and better things but started out right here in Rochester.

We could name, for instance, Nathaniel Rochester, Frederick Douglas, and Susan B. Anthony, George Eastman or Henry Lomb or the Strong family.

They are all notable for their deeds and are long remembered for their contributions to this community.

We erect statues and name bridges, buildings and institutions after them.

Why?

Because they are highly regarded, they are respected, they are admired.

In a word they are esteemed.

But let’s not forget that they are only human too.

Each of them is flesh and blood just like you and me.

How much greater then is the eternal Word of God to be esteemed?

In our personal lives the Word of God is to be esteemed.

Job 23:12 tells us:

 “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips;

I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”

Could it be that Job was sorta, kinda, maybe encouraging fasting from food for his body in favor of food for his spirit?

God’s Word, one might say, is our spiritual food.

There is an old saying “Feed a cold, starve a fever.”

But let’s create our own saying – Feed your spirit and starve your flesh.

 (and by ‘flesh’ I’m talking about the carnal nature)

Let’s be a whole lot better at fasting natural food than our spiritual food!

Esteeming God’s Word

God values His word.

He expects us to as well.

This command was given to Moses concerning future kings of Israel:

 “When he takes the throne of his kingdom,

he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law,

taken from that of the Levitical priests.

It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the

days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God

and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees”

Deuteronomy 17:18-19

Rest assured, this was not to be an assigned task pawned off to some lowly scribe in the kingdom.

It is very specific on God’s part in saying – “...he is to write for himself on a scroll.” This was not a menial or unimportant thing.

The King was to be a man of Gods’ Word.

As are we!

And there is something to be said about writing things down instead of just listening while someone else talks or listening and letting someone else write things down.

You retain so much more of what you write over what you merely hear.

So one way that God shows us just how much He values His Word is by requiring the King over His people Israel to write it down for himself on a scroll. 

Do you value, honor and esteem His Word?

Have you looked into His Word and sought it as if it were treasure?

Truth be told – it is of far greater value than any treasure you can find!

Taking the Risk, Camping on the Edge!

“Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there.

I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”

I Kings 17:9

 

How can you take advantage of opportunities to sow into the Kingdom of God and why would you want to do that?

So that God might bring the supernatural into your life and the life of the church.

The first step is to step out when God tells you to.

Just like Elijah leaving the brook and traveling to Zarephath.

So how else might we begin to experience the supernatural in our lives in order to impact the lives of others?

Be willing to take the risks that are presented by God.

What does that mean?

Remember in the Bible record that Elijah had been hiding from evil King Ahab.

Elijah was a ‘marked man’.

He had declared the word of the Lord that there would be no rain.

Of course, the King was not the only person impacted by that declaration.

It is probably not too far off target to say that most people had very little use for Elijah.

Here is where the risk comes into play.

There was no clandestine travel route from the brook to Zarephath that would help conceal Elijah.

It was all open plains and separated by 90 miles.

He would be a sitting duck – or at least a ‘moving’ sitting duck!

 God told Elijah He had provision for him in Zarephath.

He would have to risk the trip, placing his trust in Gods’ protection in order to get to the place of supernatural provision God had for him.

Don’t you wish sometimes there was an easier way?

Those who know me well; know that I am not a risk-taker.

  I am not comfortable ‘living on the edge’.

Left to myself I would camp miles from the ‘edge’.

 How about you?

Serving God faithfully with a desire to see the supernatural in your life demands you take the risks that God presents. 

An alternate way to say we are willing to take the risks would be to say we:

“walk by faith!”

Did God speak?

Are we willing to trust Him?

Are we willing to “take the risks”?

Do we believe He can and will keep His word?

If you answered yes, you are halfway to Zarephath already!

Stop, Look and Listen!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

 

When fear is what we sow, what we reap is bondage to the natural order of the world.

When faith is what we sow, what we reap is the supernatural order of the Kingdom of God.

Fear says: “Me first!”

Faith says: “God first!”

Fear sows in anticipation of getting.

“What’s in it for me?” is a question fear often asks.

Faith sows in anticipation of giving.

“How can I bless others?” is the question faith asks.

We often consider men and woman of great faith and presume they were always ‘that way’.

The truth is God did not suspend biblical principles in their lives.

They, just as we must, had to learn to sow and grow in faith.

It may sound cliché (or simply the lyrics from an old love song) but it is true - As I faithfully grow in my relationship with Christ I can say:

“I trust God more today than I did yesterday but not as much as I will tomorrow.”

Fear has the opposite effect.

Unchallenged fear shrivels up the faith of God in my life.

God moving in supernatural ways not only is less likely, it is also something I begin to desire less and less.

Elijah stepped out when God told him to.

He was willing to take the risk that the trip from the brook to Zarephath would mean.

He knew that in doing so, he would find Gods’ source of provision.

Elijah was a man of God who lived with the supernatural hand of God evident on his life.

Is that what you desire too?

Then ask yourself these questions:

God what are you asking me to do today that makes me rely on you as my source and not myself?

What are you requiring of me that demands I respond in faith and not fear?

How can I realize the supernatural hand of God working in my life today greater than it did yesterday?

Ask these questions, then follow the instructions of the signs that used to be posted at Railroad crossings:

Stop, Look and Listen!

God will answer!