It Starts With Me Saying Yes

Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The Bible is full of examples of men and women who said yes to the call of God. Their journeys required faith, courage and bold obedience to God as they traveled to the places God called them to go and were transformed into the people God called them to be. In order to be the person God has called you to be, and to do all He has purposed for you to do, it starts with you saying yes and living in faithful obedience to Him.

Jesus has a plan for your life that is greater than what you are imagining right now. His plans and purposes lead to our joy and His glory, and they require us to have faith and trust in Him. He sees everything – the past, the present, and the future – and because we can barely see two steps in front of us, we need to trust that He has everything under control and that He knows exactly where He is leading us. We can put our future, our hopes, and our dreams into His hands because He is a good Father who only wants what is best for His kids.

God told Abram to get out of his hometown, He prompted Noah to build an ark, He led the Israelites out of Egypt, and He will guide you in the way you should go. Are you listening to Him? At times, where the Lord is leading us or what He is asking us to do might not make any sense, yet God sees what we can’t and knows what we don’t and because of that, we can trust that His plans are best.

Will you continue to follow Jesus even when it doesn’t make sense? Will you say yes and live in faithful obedience to Him, or will you try to reason with God and follow your own directions?

Take a look at your life and see what God asking from you, or where is He leading you to, that you need to reply with a yes even if it scares you or makes no sense?

Dear Lord, help us to start taking one step of faithful obedience after another. Help us to say yes and trust that You know what’s best for us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

God has a plan

Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Nick Vujicic was born without arms or legs, yet he travels around the world, enjoys fishing, plays golf, and even surfs. “I love living life,” he says. “And I’m happy.”

But he hasn’t always felt that way. When he was around eight years old, the teasing he endured from classmates caused him to feel broken, bitter, hopeless…so much so that he wanted to end his life, since he felt there was no point in living any longer.

But by age 13, his attitude had changed. His mother had made sure he met other disabled people, some with greater handicaps than his, which helped him realize he wasn’t the only one coping with challenges.

At first, Nick didn’t understand Jeremiah 29:11, which says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” But he began to realize he didn’t have to understand it for it to be true. “Just because you don’t see the plans God has for you,” Nick says, “doesn’t mean He doesn’t have any.” So, he gave up his anger and bitterness and began giving thanks for the blessings he did have.

Nick, now an adult, testifies to audiences around the world: “God has given me grace, strength, and comfort through my disability. You can have peace and joy in your life, even in circumstances that don’t make sense or turn your world upside down.”

His testimony has helped an estimated 140,000 people come to faith in Christ. Although some evangelists tell folks that believing in God will cause all their problems to disappear, Nick says, “God is more interested in changing your heart than your circumstances.”

Although Nick continues to ask God to give him arms and legs, he’s content, even happy, without them. “God has given me such a big, big ministry. It’s such a beautiful thing to witness people’s hearts being changed and transformed because of the testimony I bring of God’s glory, grace, and perfection.”

He has learned the same lesson the Apostle Paul learned centuries ago. Paul had something wrong, too, although Paul never said specifically what it was. He only referred to his problem as a “thorn in the flesh,” which implies discomfort of some sort.

Like Nick, Paul prayed for God to remove his problem, but God chose not to. Three times Paul begged the Lord to take the “thorn” away. But each time, God said to Paul, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Like Nick, Paul trusted God to work in his life, despite his problems. And God gave each of them a far-reaching ministry, one that permits others to see the power of God working inside a human body that can boast of little strength of its own.

Their lives, like those of many others, verify the truth of Jeremiah 29:11. God DOES have a purpose for you and me. He DOES have a plan to bring about good through our lives. It matters not whether we are crippled or able-bodied, poverty-stricken or rich, uneducated or a Rhodes scholar…God can use us according to the plans He’s had for us since before He formed us in the womb.

Dear Lord, we thank You that You have a purpose for each of us no matter the circumstances we find our self in. Give us the trust to put completely in You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

A Hoot of a Wedding

Psalm 60:4 (NIV)

But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner

    to be unfurled against the bow.

Things didn't go according to plan at a wedding in Scotland one Saturday. A tame owl had been specially trained to carry the wedding rings and land on a perch beside the outside altar. It was supposed to be a wonderfully synchronized event. However, the piper began playing just as the owl was signaled to fly. A scared lapwing shot out of the bushes and the owl chased its prey up into a tree. The lapwing escaped but the owl remained perched on a branch. The wedding rings were still attached to its legs!

People at the wedding were heard to say: what a hoot! Eventually the owl was coaxed down from the tree and the ceremony continued. If Robert Burns had been around, I guess he could have penned the immortal lines: “the best laid schemes of owls and pipers gang aft agley.”

When the psalmist wrote about taking refuge in the shelter of God’s wings, he wasn't literally saying that God had wings. He was using a metaphor to describe his absolute confidence in God’s protection. In the midst of his personal troubles and crisis, he had the utmost faith in God’s guidance and deliverance. Even if all of the psalmist’s plans went haywire, he would be still be assured of God’s grace and love.

To me, this is what makes faith so important –it gives us a hope in God that He will not abandon us, and a love from God that can never be extinguished.

Dear Lord, thank You for allowing us to take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Thank You for granting us unlimited grace and everlasting love. In the midst of our problems and worries, we constantly rely upon Your Presence and Guidance. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Plans I Have For You.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

When Thomas Stevens was 22, he had a serious accident. He fell toward a window, and put his arms out to break the fall. Instead, his left arm went through the glass and he severed most of its tendons and arteries. His then-girlfriend, Sarah, had the presence of mind to make a tourniquet out of her blouse, tie it around his arm and call an ambulance. "Oddly," Thomas says, "I was somehow calm during all of this. Even though I heard the EMT telling Sarah that he didn't think I would make it to the hospital, I still felt well taken care of."

Once at the hospital Thomas kissed Sarah ("I did think I might not make it out of the hospital") and was rushed into Emergency surgery. He had lost so much blood that he could not have anesthesia so he was in a unique position of watching everything that went on. It was apparent that the operating team was working feverishly to reconnect all the arteries and tendons. Something else also held Tom's attention. "During the surgery, a rather small nurse with dark brown, almost black hair and green eyes held my right hand and just kind of stood beside me," he says. Apparently, this was the nurse's only job, that, and offering encouragement to Thomas. "She told me on multiple occasions that I had to fight because there was so much left for me to do," he recalls.

Once in recovery, Tom's family gathered, along with the physician who had performed the surgery. He asked to speak to Tom alone for a moment, so everyone else left the room. "Tom, you lost so much blood that you should have died," the doctor began. "You've been given a second chance at life now, and you need to make the most of it." Tom asked for details of the surgery, and what kind of rehabilitation he would need to regain the use of his hand. The doctor looked at Tom sadly. "Son, you're never going to regain any feeling in that hand---and you're going to need extensive therapy to even be able to use it."

Tom was shocked. He was so young, and this was a bitter blow. Almost immediately, he thought of the dark-haired nurse who'd held his hand during surgery and spoken so encouragingly to him. "Could I see her?" He asked the doctor.

The physician looked puzzled. "I don't know who you're talking about" he said to Tom.

"Small and dark-haired..she held my hand." Tom tried to explain, but the doctor was shaking his head.

"There wasn't any nurse in the room at all. Just me and the other surgeon."

Then Tom understood. The nurse had been right. There were many more things he had to do with his life, and God would give him the grace to do it all.

Today, Thomas has not only completely regained the use of his hand, but is married and the father of three small children. He has also been serving for the past six years in the Air Force, with no complications to his hand. "I do have a scar," he says. "It is about 8 by 6 inches, and is in the form of a cross on the bottom of my left forearm." It's a daily reminder that God did give Thomas a second chance---and he plans to make the most of it.

Lets make it our goal to work toward the job that God has for each of us. Keep seeking through His word and praying.

Dear Lord, we thank You that You have a special job for each one of us to do.  We pray that we would stay on task and accomplish it in your timing.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.