By Faith: 04/08/2011
 
In the book of Hebrews Chapter 11 we see the words "by faith" Abraham, "by faith" Isaac, "by faith" Moses and the list goes on and on. These men of faith stepped out of their comfort zone and followed God not knowing the outcome of their adventure or future but they all had one thing in common "they stepped out by faith" and did not question and did not look back. These were people who followed God and was willing to suffer the consequences of their family, friends and co labors to do what God had asked them to do. I can only imagine what their emotions were like, excited; nervous; butterflies in their stomach; anticipation of something new and different; would they be accepted for the decisions they made, and would people pray for them and encourage them or would they discourage them and point fingers at them. We read about their adventures all throughout the Bible and we learn that God guided them, protected them, and they even saw God work miracles before them in order for these who lived "by faith" could see the end result of their "stepping out by faith". We learn through these who lived "by faith" that what ever circumstances they went through God always got the VICTORY! in every situation.

Our lesson that we can learn by these who lived "by faith" - is when God asks us to do something even though we may not understand it at the time, we need to "step out by faith" trust Him in every step we take and He will see that we will accomplish what we started out to do. The end result will always be God getting the VICTORY!


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Dreams Come True 04/08/2011
 
 After 2 1/2 years on the road raising support to go to Zambia, Africa, I have seen dreams come true in many ways. I have seen God's beauty in the mountains, watched His grace in the streams, Seen His power in the rivers and heard His voice in the forest.
When my wife and I first were married my dream has always been to travel with her to see America and God's beauty. I have seen and experienced a lot of America in our travels in the past 2 1/2 years and even though I have not seen every thing that America has to offer, I have seen enough to know that there is a God who loves us and has given us enough opportunities to know Him on a personal level. Outside of knowing God personally and having that experience of His love, I have seen a dream come true in having a wonderful wife to share in this dream and children and grandchildren who have been not only a part of this dream but have been the joy of my life.
Another dream that has come true is that I have had the privilege of being in several other countries and it has made me realize that God is so Good in that He has given me this wonderful opportunity that I do not take for granted.
There is only on more dream that I have that will complete my journey and that is the dream of being in the presence of my Lord.
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As Janet and I travel from state to state and visit many of God's wonderful people, I still get amazed at the beauty that surrounds us in this great outdoors God has created. The majesty of the mountains, the grandeur of the landscape and the mighty ocean that we have had the privilege to see.

We can not forget the best creation of all and that is the creation of God's people. When God takes a sinner and transforms that person they become the sweetest person on earth. Through our travels we have met many people from the East coast to the West coast and God has planted in our hearts many wonderful people, people that will never be forgotten.

When we think upon these things that God has created it brings to mind what we find in scripture found in Psalm 72:18-19
vs 18 "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things." vs 19 "And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory, Amen, and Amen."
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  What is it that makes it so hard for us to wait on God?

God’s  word says “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” 1 John 5:14-15

However, it seems sometimes our prayers aren’t answered; we wait and don’t see the answer that we expect.

It is likely that this thought is one of the most perplexing of all times.

 We know that His word says; He hears us, and we will have the petitions we desire of Him. Do we believe His word?    Maybe we don’t really know what we want, or is it merely that God knows what we “truly” want, so He withholds those things we ask for and delivers a far more excellent reply to our petitions.    After all, He alone knows our heart and the desires within. Maybe we need to trust that He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think”, above all that we ask, what a concept. He who knows us better than we know ourselves wants to give us more than we ask for or expect.

We truly serve an “awesome God”.
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As one lives each day given to him by God, he lives it either by faith trusting in God's provisions or by self trusting in what he can do. When one trusts God to meet his daily needs and desires, and night falls upon him and those things that he trusted God for did not come as he expected then his faith begins to waver. I wonder during those times of wavering faith if one begins to question whether God has heard his prayers or if he really cares for his children.  

The days go by and the things that one really expected God to come through on seems to fade away, it looks as though God has said, No! Then all the sudden, God blesses beyond measure, because of one faithfulness. Now the one that God has blessed feels so inadequate, knowing that he was not faithful in his trust with God.

I wonder how many go through the same routine, we pray and then give up just short of God's blessings to us. When he does bless us then we kick ourselves and say "Why is my faith so weak, He has taken care of me thus far why would he not take care of now and in the future?"

May our faith in God continue to grow stronger everyday of our lives.
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Reading through the book of Job and reflecting upon the conversations between Job and his friends, reminds me to be an encourager and not one who discourages when a person is going through a difficult time. My words need to be bathed in prayer and allow the Holy Spirit to lead, not allowing the worlds philosophy or ways of thinking  influence my decisions or the way I perceive the situation at hand.
In other words I need to think before I speak. 
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I Corinthians 1:27-28
As I was reading these verses in my devotion it became clear to me that God not only uses the foolish things and the weak things to put to shame the wise and mighty (vs.27).
What I found in verse 28 was probably more astounding than vs. 27 in that God has chosen to use those things that are "insignificant" and "despised" to glorify Him.
In other words God uses those people whom the world rejects and throws away.
God uses people who are simple minded, those who's lives are not in high places of authority or have multiply degrees behind their name (although He can and does use these people for His purpose, but few are called). He uses people who are humble, and willing to serve Him without any recognition or power.
These are the ones God uses to put to shame the wise and the mighty.

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