More Faith Steps

 We tend to get comfortable. We like security. Most people go out of their way to avoid risks. When I read scripture I see God leading people to do just the opposite. God called Abram to leave his home to go to an unknow destination God would reveal at a later time. [Gen 12:1] God called Moses to leave the life of shepherding sheep to become a deliverer for God's people leading them out of slavery. [Ex 3:1-12] God called the disciples to leave their fishing profession and families behind to follow Him. [Mark 1:16-18] 

Nothing about those calls was comfortable or safe. Each assignment required steps of faith. Each required God's help to complete the assignment for the tasks were bigger than their abilities. In each case, God intervened in powerful and dramatic ways. 

It appears to me that a great many Christ followers prefer to play it safe. They prefer the route of least resistance and with the most predictable outcome. Let's be honest. The church is filled with people who have small faith and a risk adverse mentality. Go ahead. Read [II Cor 5:7] and [Heb 11:6]. What do those verses call us to do? 

I just took three faith steps in the past ten minutes. I am not at liberty to tell you the nature of those steps at this time. Suffice it to say it required getting uncomfortable and taking some risk. Only God knows how it will turn out. Sometimes faith steps feel scary. That is only when our focus is not on God, His call, and His promises. I recently wrote about living to prove God hears and answers prayers. He is giving me the opportunity to prove that again. 

I'm not an advocate for foolish risk for risk sake. You will not find me strapped onto a bungy cord jumping off a high platform. I have no interest in sky diving. Nor am I interested in diving into shark infested waters. I look like a supersized extra value meal. 

I know God calls people to take faith steps that don't make any logical sense to onlookers. He has called me to take those steps many times and the naysayers criticized them every time. I've been forced to lean on God over and over again. I had no one else. Either God would come through or we would fail. There were some times we failed. Maybe I did not discern the call of God those times correctly. There have been more times when God came through. When He put the puzzle together. When He connected the dots. When He sent the right provision at the right time. Those happened after the faith steps. We want God to do the miracles first and then we will step out. God did not cut off the waters of the Jordan at flood stage until the priest set their foot in the water first. [Joshua 3:1-17] Miracles happen after faith steps. 

Do we really trust God? Do we really believe He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do? Sooner or later we'll all be tested. God will call us to something that stretches us and makes us uncomfortable. It might even look a little risky. By faith we will obey or disobey because of doubt. The choice is ours and there are consequences for either decision. It just might be time to take some more faith steps. 

The Dream Giver and the Dream Maker

 God planted a dream in me as a child to write. That dream has only grown over the past five decades. A couple of decades ago, I was introduced to the world of blogging. I realize most people today prefer podcasts. God called me to write and that is what I do. On this site alone, God has inspired over 1,600 hundred posts. This site has been visited by hundreds of thousands of people. 

Just a few short years ago, these blogs were only visited by less than a dozen people per day. I begged God for the day to come when this site would be visited by thousands of people a day from all over the world. God set that dream and inspired that prayer. He also made the dream come true. I can't explain it any other way but God. Now there are thousands of people who read these blogs daily all over the world. It is humbling and I give all glory to God. I'm thankful that He not only gives dreams, but He also makes those dreams come true. 

I pray these days for God to get two books I finished this year into print. I have been turned down by multiple traditional publishers. I am looking into self publishing. I believe that the same God who called and inspired me to write both books is the same God who will put them into print when and however He wants. My job is to write what He gives me. His job is to make them available to people. 

He planted the dream in me to write books long before I was even saved or called to preach. My primary goal in writing is to glorify God and to help people. In the same way He expanded the reach of these blogs, I ask Him to expand the reach of these books. To get them into the hands of tens of thousands of people all over the world. God can make that dream come true. 

I have not been inspired by God to write another book at this point. I wait on Him to birth books in me. When that happens, I will once again sit at this computer and put letters, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters on the printed page. I leave it up to Him what He does with them. Until then I keep writing these posts. 

I hope to leave a legacy in my writings. Things that point people to God, the Bible, prayer, faith, and hope. In my pastoral ministry, I can only be in one place at a time. When I die, my earthly ministry does not die with me through these blogs and the books God calls me to write. Many times I wonder if the writings make any difference for people. I hope they do. Writing was a dream God put in my heart as a child. He has only fanned the flame hotter into my adulthood. He gets to determines to the level that dream is realized. 

It's not about me. It's not about my name. It's not about my talent. It is all about Him. I adopt the attitude of the John the Baptist in John 3:30. He must increase and I must decrease. He is to be exalted while I am demoted. He is to be praised while my name gets forgotten. He is to be made a big deal of daily. I'm to be made a less deal of  daily. I do not seek fame or fortune. I seek to be His vessel. I sit in faith knowing that the God who gives the dream is also the God who makes the dream come true.