Vocation Bible School

Day 1

Discerning God’s Will

Psalm 40:8 says, “I delight to do Your will, my God, and Your instruction is deep within me.” So how can we discern God’s will? I believe when we truly delight to know His will, and we have spent time in His Word and with His people, it’s made significantly easier.

God’s will shows itself in different ways. Sometimes He just wills something and He will do it; no one can stop Him! (Don’t you wish it could be like this all the time?!) Sometimes His will is made known because He has spelled it all out in the Bible. (For instance, you don’t have to wonder if it’s God’s will for you to steal that item from the store. You already know because God’s Word has made it clear that that is sin.) Other times we have to search His heart to know what He desires for us, and we will talk more about that in a moment. I believe there’s also His will for after we have messed up His original will for our lives. What grace!! What a loving God to not just turn His back on us when we fail Him!

When trying to discern God’s will there are some questions that can help us out if we’ll ask them honestly, include God in the conversation and be willing to listen and obey.

1. Is this a wise decision? What are the consequences going to be?
2. Can I ask God to help me achieve it or do I already know that He will not want to be part of it?
3. Do I have peace about this decision? Is my heart calm?

When I bought my first car I was scared. I had no way of knowing if I would really be able to keep my job, if it was a truly good car, etc. So I prayed. I asked God to give me peace if this was the car I was supposed to buy. I felt like there was peace but I was insecure enough to not be totally sure. So I asked God to give me peace if I should just walk away and not buy the car. And there it was! I did NOT have peace about walking away. This was absolutely the car God had for me. And what a blessing it turned out to be. It was a 1993 Daihatsu Charade. Ever heard of that? Neither had my insurance adjuster. So when I totaled my car, he “ignorantly” gave me more than I had paid for it. Chris and I were getting married in less than a month and this gave us some extra cash as well as our being able to start our marriage debt-free. God had a plan and it was GOOD!

4. Can I do this and know that God will approve?

Are you afraid to ask God what His will is, or to read His Word? Are you afraid He’s going to call you out of your sin? He will! Praise Him, He will!

Pray.

5. If I am a born-again believer in the risen Christ and truly want what He wants for me, do I live like it?

Do I keep my speech clean and pure? Do I dress modestly, as is fitting the son or daughter of the King? (Deuteronomy 22:5; 1 Corinthians 6:20) Do I respond to people in a way that shows them respect (whether they “deserve” it or not) and shows Jesus’ love? Do my actions show Jesus to the world?

We live what we truly believe, not what we say we believe.

In D.A. Carson’s book, “Praying with Paul”, he says, “It is folly to pretend to seek God’s will for your life, in terms of a marriage partner or some form of Christian vocation, when there is no deep desire to pursue God’s will as He has already kindly revealed it.” In other words, God has already shown us many things that He expects of us in His Word. If we don’t have a deep desire to obey Him/His will in ALL of it, why should we think He should reveal only the parts we want His input in?!

6. Will this decision honor God?

Is the decision you are trying to make keeping you awake at night or causing turmoil in your heart? Ask yourself why. Ask God why. God loves you and He wants what’s best for you. He won’t leave you alone about making a bad decision. Just make sure you’re spending time with Him and listening to Him. Charles Stanley said, “God has your very best in mind. He works to get you to do the right thing.” So if you have unrest about this decision, maybe God is trying to hard to warn you!

7. Is this decision worthy of any reward from God?

This may be my favorite question. Not that God ever owes us, or that we could ever deserve a reward from Him, but He chooses to bless our socks off anyway. So do you believe that God would be smiling on you as you make this decision, do this activity, etc.? Everything in our lives should be focused on obeying God and bringing Him glory.

But praise Him, He knows we will fail and He loves us anyway. God is not disappointed in you. He knew, before you were born, all the things you would miss out on because of your disobedience. But make a commitment now to live the rest of your life as the best of your life, to God’s glory. Let God make the changes in your life that He wants to make.

This can only work if you have surrendered your life to Jesus and let Him be the Boss of your life. If you haven’t given your life to God’s Son, how could you ever expect God to lead your life?

In the Old Testament, people cast lots to help them make decisions. But in the New Testament, God sent His Holy Spirit to guide and instruct us. We must stay focused on Him to know how to obey Him. We must pray without ceasing and listen closely. And then we must obey.

I don’t know if you’re like me in this regard, or not, but sometimes I can get all in a tizzy. Anybody? Just me? Well anyway, I might strongly blame it on one thing but when I take the time to really get at the heart of an issue, I realize it is a completely different thing altogether. Be careful that you understand… fully understand… your emotions before you try to make a decision. Are those emotions from God or from your own desires?

Use logical thinking.

Aren’t you glad that God promises to freely give us wisdom? James 1:5 says, “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God – Who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly – and it will be given to him.”

God uses the circumstances of our lives. If I sang “Amazing Grace” and then stopped after the first two words, what would probably come to your mind? You probably thought “how sweet the sound”. God used previous circumstances from your life to lead you to the next words.

In the summer of 2018, Lora took a position as a camp intern for Camp CUMCITO (City Union Mission Camp in the Ozarks), in Warsaw, MO. She loved it! So much so that she went back the following summer as an intern. The next summer she decided to try something different so she went as a stage host with Student Life Camps. In January of 2023, she got a phone call asking her to apply for the Camp Specialist position with Camp CUMCITO, a full-time missions job. She hadn’t known during those summers that God was training her to take the position where she has the potential to reach literally thousands of children and teenagers for Christ; to make an eternal difference in their lives. (It was also abundantly clear that God sent her to Belmont University to get a Theatre Performance degree. We are still waiting to see what God will do with that. I 100% believe He has a plan in that!) And God is training you, too. Look around and see what God has been doing in your life in the last several years.

But do be reasonable. A cloud in the sky that looks like a UFO is likely not a sign that you need to take a trip to space. God DOES make sense!!

Don’t be too prideful or lazy to talk with mature Christians about your thoughts and concerns. Proverbs 19:20 – “Listen to counsel and receive instruction so that you may be wise later in life.”

Sometimes, when someone is speaking, or you’re watching a movie, or a song comes on your playlist, etc. a certain, specific line or idea can reach out and grab you. Pay attention. Ask God what He’s trying to say to you. God used one sentence from a speaker at a conference I was attending to call me to write vOcation Bible School. I don’t know what else the speaker said because I was writing down everything God said to me about vOcation Bible School for the next two hours. But I do know that He wasn’t speaking about anything to do with vOcation Bible School – that was all God!

Again… do be reasonable. Don’t try to twist people’s words to say what you want them to be saying. It won’t do you any good in the long run.

As you read God’s Word you begin to know Who God is, His character and His heart. As you know Him you don’t always need a specific “Do this” or “Don’t do that”. You begin to know if things are line with His character and His heart. We must desire God’s will and God’s way more than anything else in this world. If not, our hearts can far too easily sway us to what we truly desire.

Day 2

Submitting to Authority

Romans 13:1 is very clear and straight-forward on this matter. “Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.” Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “Bloom where you are planted”. Or the verse in Esther 4 that says, “Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.” Both of these are saying that whatever circumstances led up to where you are now, God is in control. He put us here and the authorities that are over us, well, He is in control of them, too, whether it seems like it or not. We, as Christians, are responsible to do our best where God has planted us. This keeps coming back to our testimony for Christ and its utmost importance. Maybe our submitting and respecting the worst authority figure in our lives will make them see Jesus through us. Maybe that’s exactly why God put us there, for such a time as this. And if it’s hard and feels never-ending, just imagine how Christ felt His last few days and hours before His crucifixion. He is worthy of our shining His light to a lost and dark world!

Please know that the authorities God places over you isn’t necessarily over every area of your life. The police officer is over enforcing the law, not over what you can eat or do for entertainment. Your boss has authority over what you do during the hours he pays you, not during your off time (there are obviously some exceptions to that statement). Your parents have authority over your life as long as you live under their roof!

Day 3

Praying with Power

When a small child, say two or three years old, wants something but they can’t be bothered to use their words, what do they usually do? They point and grunt. Can I be honest with you? That irritates the crud out of me! Not only are most children at that age capable of saying a few words and getting their point across, they also really need to practice communicating. And pointing and grunting or whining is NOT communication, as far as I’m concerned (not if they are able to speak). Anyway, I wonder if that’s the way God views us when we want Him to act on our behalf but we don’t take the time to ask Him for it.

God knows exactly what we want long before we actually ask Him for it. But do we really know what we want? We think we do. We want an escape from the pain, we want an immediate answer to our question, we want healing, etc. But here’s what God wants to know. Do you want HIM? Or do you just want what He can give you? That’s a really big question. One we really need to dive into, answer honestly and then learn to trust God with His BEST answer!!

In terms of how to pray powerfully, I’ll have to defer to children’s Bible Drill. I had felt for years that my prayer life was just not really what it should be. Yes, I prayed without ceasing because my heart and soul were desperate for communion with God. And yes, He graciously answered my prayers. But I felt like they were lacking something; like I somehow just wasn’t doing it “right”. Then in 2013 I was teaching Children’s Bible Drill at my church. The lesson was on prayer and they took the Lord’s prayer and made the out line of it simple enough that a child… indeed, even I… could take and use. Basically it was whole body prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13 –

9) Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in Heaven, Your Name be honored as holy.

Begin your prayer time (at your head) with praise and adoration. Praise Him for Who He is, not just what He has done. He is El Roi (the God Who sees you, when it feels like no one else does), He is Jehovah Shalom (your Peace), Elohim (the Creator), He is the Great I Am!!!, El Shaddai (God Almighty), Jehovah Yireh (your Provider), Jehovah Rapha (your Healer), El Elyon (He is Supreme) and many more. He is so good and so worthy!!

10) Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Move to your heart. Our passion should be to see people come to know Jesus. Pray for those you know who don’t have a right relationship with Jesus. Don’t just list names. Pray personal, deep, desperate prayers for them. There is nothing more important for their lives! Then move into all the other requests you have, acknowledging that you won’t God will more than you want the prayers to be answered your way. That’s REAL power right there! For God to do things His way – we can know that it will be right and good. Spend time pouring your heart out to God and then listen to what He has to say about it. When you understand His heart, it makes it a lot easier to understand and take it when God says no or wait. He may not give you a reason for His no or wait answer, but He can speak peace into your heart when He says it.

11) Give us today our daily bread.

Hold out one hand. God knows your need even before you ask it. So ask boldly. He is our Provider and if it is a true need, He promises to meet it. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” He may not answer it the way you think you want it answered but again, He does know best and He loves you like crazy, so you don’t have to fear His answer or His ways. Receive what He has for you.

12) And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Hold out your other hand. Some would argue that repentance should be at the beginning of a prayer. I’m not going to disagree with that. Certainly, repentance should be AS SOON AS we realize we have sinned!! But sometimes there are sins that we commit that we didn’t realize were sins, or that we haven’t yet acknowledged as sin. I believe this part in the prayer is an excellent time to ask God what He wants you to repent of. How wonderful it is to be truly pure before God! I want to reiterate the fourth sentence of this paragraph. The very second you realize that you have sinned against God Almighty – whether the world would see it as a “big” sin or not – is the very moment you need to tell God you are genuinely sorry and ask for His forgiveness. He’ll give it. He promises!

And as you experience God’s gracious and undeserved forgiveness, think of those you need to forgive. With your hand open, let the anger, bitterness and hurt go. Give it to God. And forgive that person because they haven’t done more to you than you have done to God. And God freely forgives you, when you repent. If they don’t ask for forgiveness remind yourself that your forgiving them will be freeing to you, and forgive them anyway. Also, God says He won’t forgive us if we don’t forgive those who have hurt us. Matthew 6:14&15 says, “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.” I don’t know about you, but that thought terrifies me!!

13) And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Here we come to your feet. Ask God to direct your steps each day. Ask Him to protect you from temptations. And when you find yourself being tempted, ask Him to give you strength. Ask Him to lead you to someone who needs to hear about His great love for them. And then tell them about His great love for them. Ask Him to lead you to someone you can be a help or an encouragement to. Ask Him to show you what steps He wants you to take today toward the life He has planned for you.

And then go back to your “head” and finish your prayer with thanks. Thank Him for all the ways you’ve seen Him work, both in your life and in the lives of others. Thank Him for being the same God Who killed giants, shut the mouths of lions, parted the sea to provide a way of escape, etc. Yes!! That’s the same God we serve! What power and love!!!

If you will follow the outline of the Lord’s prayer, you WILL see more power in your prayer. Because the One you’re praying to is more powerful than we can even comprehend!

And on that note, let’s talk for just a moment about how Jesus began His prayer. He said, “Our Father”! That’s Who we’re talking to. What a treasure that He is our perfect Father. Talk to HIM! Forget where you are, who is with you, who is watching – and focus on God! Take a minute, if you need to, before you begin to pray and come to the throne room. Know that it is God to Whom you are praying. He’s not interested in your empty words, and He’s sure not interested in what the people within the sound of your voice are hearing. Talk to God! The focus is on Him, not you!

Since the focus is not on you, the communication is not affected by your righteousness, or lack thereof. We can have confidence at God’s throne because Jesus made the way for us by dying on the cross and coming back to life. It has nothing to do with us, praise God!

Hebrews 10:19,22 – Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus – let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Pastor R.A. Torrey said, “We should never utter one syllable of prayer, either in public or in private, until we are definitely conscious that we have come into the presence of God, and we are really speaking to Him.” What irreverence for God, to speak words “to” Him, that are not really to Him. We have great need to get back to a reverence for God. We have strayed way too far from reverence.

The definition for reverence is: regard or treat with deep respect. That’s one reason I get so angry when people play around saying, or singing, God’s or Jesus’ Name. I promise it’s not funny to God! Does anything else matter?

One last thought on all of this. Several years ago I heard a precious young lady sing a song, the lyrics of which have stayed with me. The chorus says: “God forbid that I find You so familiar; that I think of You as less than Who You are. God forbid that I should speak of you at all, without a humble reverence in my heart.” Think about those words for a moment and let it sink in. Ask God where you are not showing Him reverence. And if you’d like to listen to the whole song… they lyrics are great and thought provoking… you can find it on YouTube. It’s Point of Grace – “God Forbid.”

Day 4

Time Management

Somebody help me to understand why busy-ness is seen as such an important thing!! I fall into this trap and I feel pretty certain you do, too. Somebody asks us to do something and we proudly tell them that we already have something else going on; that we simply don’t have time. Because if we said we didn’t have anything going on, that our schedule is free, we would seem unimportant somehow. So we overplan, overschedule, overwhelm!! This is the only life you get and I firmly believe we shorten our lives when we have too much going on. And we definitely lower our quality of life!! You DO NOT get your time back!

Time management professionals will teach you tips, tricks and hacks to get more done. But what if we just stop planning/scheduling too much? Figure out your non-negotiables/the things God has called you to and let the rest go. And if you’re “too busy” to daily spend time with God, you’re too busy!! You MUST drop something to make time for Him. Also, if you don’t have time to do something you enjoy, you really need to rearrange things sometimes to fit it in. Never having free/enjoyable time will lead to anxiety and overwhelm.

If the phrase, “Time is money” resonates with you, there might be a problem. Do NOT let money, or the making of money, become more important to you than people. Roman Philosopher Seneca said, “If we think of time as money, we’re actually valuing our time very cheaply.” We’re not going to live forever. We are going to die! (unless we are raptured :)) So a far better quote is, “Time is life!” You only get a certain amount of it so use it wisely! God DOES have something to say about how you spend your time. Ask Him what He wants for you. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” That’s a promise (and it’s good for every area of your life!!)

Ask meaningful questions about your time. If you were to die right now, what would be the hardest thing to leave behind? That just might be what you’re living for, in reality. Was your answer money or possessions? Was it family or friends? Or was it not having the ability to share Jesus with the unsaved anymore? Perhaps our answer should convict us and help us seek God’s help in realigning our priorities with His.

Think about it… “I don’t have time” is a lie. We just have too many options for how to spend our time available to us. But you do have freedom to choose your time options in many cases. Whatever you do with your time is on you.

We can’t have it all. We have to make sacrifices. You can either sacrifice or make excuses. Which of those will help you live more meaningfully? And let me assure you that a selfish choice will never bring you the fulfillment, peace or joy that we all long for. (Please don’t be a member of the “better offer club”. If you already said you would do something, and a friend asks you to do something you think you would enjoy more, have some integrity. Do what you said you would do. There will likely be other opportunities with your friend. If they turn their back on you for saying no, they were never your friend in the first place!)

All of that said, though, there are of course things that we can’t just drop or reschedule. Church attendance should seem mandatory to you (Hebrews 10:25). Work is very important (though not more important than obeying God. For example, I’ve never understood the argument that “You can’t find a job if you’re not willing to work on Sundays.” Do you understand that God is all-powerful?). Family and friends should be non-negotiables in your life. Having a reasonably clean house/space/area is actually important to your mental health, just as it is to your physical health. So how do we fit it all in?

I suppose there are probably many ways to figure this out. There are apps that are designed to help you track your to-do lists and schedules, and some of them can sync with other’s calendars so you always know what’s going on in each other’s lives. Some of the best I’ve heard of are:

• TimeTree (for personal use)
• Toggl Track (for work schedule)
• Trello (for multiple people)
• Todoist (for task lists)

As a Christian, we are called to live our lives differently from the world. Praise God, He sent us the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us figure these things out. We are able to seek God in every decision and plan we want to make. And since He’s always right, it is always beneficial to us to seek Him. Ask God to show you what is most important to do that day. It might not be what the rest of the world would tell you is important. Ask God to keep you from being idle or procrastinating.

Ephesians 5:15-17 – Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Psalm 90:12 – Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 – So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Proverbs 6:6-8 – Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise. Without leader, administrator, or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

Proverbs 16:9 – A person’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.

Matthew 6:33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Psalm 37:5 – Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act,

Proverbs 14:23 – There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.

Personally, I am a very structured, routine oriented person. I find this very helpful in being productive (though I am never as productive as I would like to be. Is anybody?). I prioritize each day the things that MUST get done, then the things that I really want to get done and then the things that have been on my list for years but I just can’t ever seem to get to…

You’ve probably heard to eat the frog first. In other words, do the activity, chore, responsibility, etc. that you’re dreading, first. For me, that’s almost always the “big” chore for the day. I break all the cleaning chores down into doing one each day of the week (not weekend) so that I don’t have to spend hours on Saturday, like my mom always made us do. I hate cleaning so I choose one a day and generally, right after my prayer time, I get it over with. The relief that floods over me when my bathroom has been fully and deeply cleaned… and I know I don’t have to do a full, deep cleaning again for another week… is energizing! I then have energy to do the other, many things on my list! Next up in my routine is getting the kitchen cleaned up after breakfast because if my kitchen is not clean I literally feel unwell.

These priorities will be different for everyone. But once you have figured out what absolutely must be done today versus what you would really like to get done today versus what needs to be done but could wait for a while, then tackle each list in order of what you dread the most. It really does work wonders for how much you are able to get done.

You time is important. But guess what! Other people’s time is important, too! If someone sends you a text inviting you to do something and you don’t want to, stop just ignoring the text!! How incredibly rude! Are you really not mature enough to tell them you’re sorry but the answer will have to be no this time? Chances are, they’re not just sitting there wringing their hands hoping you’ll say yes. But if you’ll go ahead and say no, they’ll have time and opportunity to invite someone else. Just not answering… What is that?!?

Day 5

How to Strengthen Your Faith

I want us to talk about two times when our faith needs to be strengthened. First we’ll talk about how our strength can be strengthened, even when we’re going through hard times. Secondly we’ll talk about how we need to be letting God strengthen our faith EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. OF. OUR. LIVES!

When we are going through hard times it is easy to let a sense of panic overtake us. It’s hard to figure out how to “Stop fighting, and know that (He) is God” (Psalm 46:10 csb). It requires getting out of God’s way and CHOOSING to trust Him and let our worries go. I mean if, for some disturbed reason, you want to pick them back up after you’ve been still and focused on God, I guess you can. But time REALLY spent with God will give you the peace you so desperately need. So here are three steps you need to take:

1. Pray! Fall on your knees before a holy God! Are you having trouble finding the right words? Not to worry. In Romans 8:26 we learn that (in the same way the Holy Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings”. God obviously knows exactly how we should pray. And when we find ourselves in situations where we just feel desperate and frozen, He prays perfectly for us. And He knows how desperate we feel; I love that He “intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings”. He cares when we’re hurting, scared, lonely and desperate! I’ve said many times that I just need a bigger vocabulary. For instance, when I get truly excited about something I often lose my ability to speak beyond the most basic words. “Oh, it was so good!” “Oh, I loved it so much!” Oh, I just don’t have the words!”, etc. This fact makes me even more thankful that the Holy Spirit knows how to speak for me; that He’s not bound by earthly words that would never really get my request/need across. Ask Him to help you pray. He is so good! (See? I just got really excited about God and all I could say is “He is so good!”!!) After seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your prayer, pray Scripture over yourself. As you find passages that speak to you, try praying them over yourself. This will help you remember the passage, stay focused on the truth of God’s Word and grow in your faith.
2. Meditate on the Scriptures. I’m not talking about clearing your mind, which lets the world and all its deceit slip in. It’s about clearing your mind of the things of the world and focusing on God. Think about God and His Word, dive in deep and do what you need to understand it. Choose a passage and memorize it. Study it, using a theologically sound Bible commentary. If you’re not sure how to choose a commentary, do what you should do about every decision… seek God. Ask Him to guide you. Ask your pastor which ones he likes to use. I usually google a commentary for the specific passage I’m looking for. But you do have to be careful doing this. Make sure you are “prayed up” and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Some commentaries can be so well written that it’s easy to believe what they have to say, even if it’s 100% incorrect. Be careful!
3. Remember that the God Who was, STILL IS TODAY! In other words, go back and read the stories of God saving His people over and over and over again. Read of His grace and ready forgiveness every time they returned to Him. Realize that we serve the same God and He is POWERFUL! Watch Him prove Himself faithful EVERY time and let Him grow your faith.

But maybe you’re not going through a particularly hard time right now, you just want a stronger faith. Praise God and good for you! Let’s talk about that.

Have you ever thought about what it does when you don’t believe God? It shows great disrespect and dishonor for one thing. But every time you give in to those thoughts it hinders your faith growth – your relationship with Jesus growth – until you get it under control and acknowledge that God has never failed you and will never fail you. We OWE utmost respect and honor to our King!!

So many things are vastly impacted by our faith, or lack thereof. Our prayer life is either powerful or it’s puny. Our giving is either generous with the assurance that we are safe and taken care of, or it is greedy. Our relationships are either flourishing and loving and fulfilling, or they are failing. So what gets in the way of our faith?

Oftentimes people get in the way. Maybe we’ve heard from God but the person we shared our good news with responds critically and unbelieving. If you know that you heard from God, please keep reminding yourself that what God says is all that matters. If you’ve heard from God, He WILL bring it to pass if you obey.

Maybe we get in our own way. Maybe what He’s asking seems impossible. Don’t you think it seemed impossible to Joshua that he would march the army around the walls of Jericho and then after seven days God would knock the walls down when he blew the trumpet? Don’t you think it seemed impossible to Noah that water would come from the sky, and would come in such abundance, that it would flood the whole earth? But they acted in faith and God protected them, provided for them and took care of them. There are so many stories like this. God is very much a God of the impossible!

Or if you’re like me, you let your feelings get in the way. Feelings of inadequacy. Feelings of not being good enough to be used by Christ. (I could write a whole book on this one!) The grace given us… we’ll never be good enough but Jesus is!!! His grace covers us and I will never get enough of pondering and meditating on this. I love my Jesus so much!!!

Are you letting the fact that you can’t see the whole plan stop you from trusting God and obeying Him? 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us we live by faith and not by sight. In Joshua 3, God told Joshua to tell the priests that when they got to the water’s edge they were to step into the water. They needed to cross to the other side but could not walk through the water. But He told them that when their feet touched the water, God would part the waters and they would cross through on dry ground. They had to have faith first. And is it really faith if you can see all the answers before you get started?

The next three, I believe, are at the heart of all that I have just said on the subject.

1. You’re not reading your Bible daily. Look, the Bible is your fuel. You cannot run without it! It reminds us of all God has done before us, in us, through us. We can know that He will continue to work It’s too easily forgotten when we don’t spend time with Him.
2. You’re living in sin. I’m not talking about the fact that you sin. Everyone sins. The righteous repent and are justified. But if you are choosing to disobey God, even at one point, and refusing to turn away from that sin, you are living in sin. God will not use you to your fullest if you are living in sin.
3. You’re listening to satan and he’s planting doubt. Listen! If you’re not believing God, who do you suppose you’re believing? There’s only one other option and it’s not a good one! Who wants to believe stupid old satan, anyway?!! I would much rather believe my good, gracious, kind, loving, merciful Father!

Everything can look good on the outside of your life. But if you are struggling with doubt, you know it. Don’t let it overtake you. It will ruin and destroy you very quickly. Never doubt that satan is good at what he does. And he is bad!

Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. And Hebrews 11:6 – Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. Did you catch that? It is IMPOSSIBLE to please God if we don’t have faith. I don’t know about you, but I desperately want to please God. My heart is so in love with Him and His goodness. How could I not do my very best to please Him?!

Our goal should be to have perfect faith. Read Matthew 8:23-27.