Let's be the ones who...
Hey there! Glad to have you stop by my blog today!
I'm excited to share this post with you!
The other day my sister, who lives in Illinois, sent me a letter! (Isn't it fun to get snail mail these days?!) Her letter was full of encouragement, but the last couple of lines really stood out to me and I've had them on my mind, with excitement! This is what the letter said, "Praying for you as you claim and go forth abiding in His life-giving, victorious ways! Let's be the ones who step out of the boat, give Him our bread and fishes, walk boldly in the wilderness, stand when others won't, laying it all down for the joy and peace of gaining Christ and living in the freedom in which Christ has died to set us free!"
Talk about a powerful note of encouragement right?! It was such a dynamic "pep talk" for my faith walk! I took each of those examples she used and read in the Bible those true stories of faith and it did my heart so much good today! I thought I'd summarize them to encourage you as well, but I definitely recommend reading the detailed accounts in the Scriptures - I'll list the references for each one below!
...Step out of the boat! (Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21) Jesus' disciples were on a boat headed toward the city of Capernaum and Jesus was up in a mountain nearby. A storm arose and the ship carrying the men who, important to note, believed on Jesus was being tossed around. They then see the figure of a man walking on the water in the midst of the waves and wind and they are afraid and think it's a spirit of some sort. Jesus voice says, through the storm, "Be of good cheer! It is I; be not afraid." And of all the men that believed on Jesus in that boat, only one said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Jesus said, "Come." and Peter went. He got down out of the ship into that storm and walked on the water to Jesus. He believed and trusted. His fear did not drown his faith at that moment. He was focused on Christ! He did start to sink, however, when his eyes saw the reality of the waves and his fear took a greater hold over the reality of Who told him to "come" out on the waves. But, even then Jesus' reached down His hand and saved Peter! I want to be the one to call on Jesus and step out of the boat and I desire to keep my eyes steady on the reality of the power of the One Who has called me!
...Give Him our bread and fish!
(Matthew 14:15-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-14)
There were multitudes of people that flocked to a desert area to hear Jesus teach truth and there wasn't any food markets nearby. Was that a problem for Jesus? No way! He tells his disciples to see what they have in the way of food and they find a young lad with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. I wish I could've been a "fly on the wall" and observed Jesus' interaction with that young boy - I can imagine the boy was eager to "help" such a man as Jesus! Jesus could've made bread from stones if He wanted to, but He wanted to use what that boy had and that little boy in his willingness saw a great miracle that day - his normal loaves and fish in the hands of Jesus multiplying and multiplying until everyone in that huge crowd was full AND there were leftovers! I want to offer what "little" I have in every moment to the hands of Jesus to watch Him do miracles with it!!!!!! What a wise investment that boy made and I can't even imagine the unmentioned blessings that he obtained because of his sacrifice and willingness to give!
...Walk boldly in the wilderness and stand when others won't!
(Numbers 13:1-33; Deuteronomy 1:22-40) God's people the Israelites were captives in Egypt, but God delivered them and lead them out of Egypt, with a promise of a land that they will obtain and live plentious in! The key here is that God delivered them and gave them a promise, but the Israelites after a short while focus on a small ridiculous part that they hadn't obtained/reached the promised land yet - they didn't focus on the key that God is their perfect Provider!
(There's so many more neat details to this story - so you totally should read it in it's entirety! Just sayin! ;) Ok, so fast forward a bit and the Israelites come into a land and send scouts to search out the city in the land God had promised and come back and report to them their findings. 10 come back with fearful reports of giants in the land, but two scouts names Joshua and Caleb come back with passion that the land can be conquored, because of God's blessing and promise! (And just as a note - the promise was pretty wowy!! Get this, "The Lord spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you, and take your jorney, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale..." "Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto you fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give unto them and to their seed after them!") And yet, even with that promise from the same ONE and ONLY powerful God that delivered them from their Egypt captivity - the thoughts of giants and "possible" defeat scared the people from claiming God's promise! God punished their fearful distrust and disobedience by sentencing them to never experience the promised land, except for the young children and Caleb and Joshua! I want to walk boldly in any "wilderness" in my life and walk with trust in His ! I want to walk with faith in His promises even when I can't see the tangibleness of them and not doubt when the way of obtaining them is not what I imagined! I want to stand in bold fearlessness in God's truth!
Let's be the ones of FAITH and teach future generations to be so too! Whether you're married and have kids of your own, or if you're single - maybe you have nieces or nephews (my niece is in the picture above! ;) or maybe you're involved in kid's ministry, but regardless, in any way God leads - we all have people that we can impact which then impacts the generations to follow! Live and teach what a life of fearless faith is my friends!!!!!
Blessings to you! I'm excited for how God is going to use you to impact eternity in powerful ways!
~Bri
Talk about a powerful note of encouragement right?! It was such a dynamic "pep talk" for my faith walk! I took each of those examples she used and read in the Bible those true stories of faith and it did my heart so much good today! I thought I'd summarize them to encourage you as well, but I definitely recommend reading the detailed accounts in the Scriptures - I'll list the references for each one below!
Let's be the ones who...
...Step out of the boat! (Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21) Jesus' disciples were on a boat headed toward the city of Capernaum and Jesus was up in a mountain nearby. A storm arose and the ship carrying the men who, important to note, believed on Jesus was being tossed around. They then see the figure of a man walking on the water in the midst of the waves and wind and they are afraid and think it's a spirit of some sort. Jesus voice says, through the storm, "Be of good cheer! It is I; be not afraid." And of all the men that believed on Jesus in that boat, only one said, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Jesus said, "Come." and Peter went. He got down out of the ship into that storm and walked on the water to Jesus. He believed and trusted. His fear did not drown his faith at that moment. He was focused on Christ! He did start to sink, however, when his eyes saw the reality of the waves and his fear took a greater hold over the reality of Who told him to "come" out on the waves. But, even then Jesus' reached down His hand and saved Peter! I want to be the one to call on Jesus and step out of the boat and I desire to keep my eyes steady on the reality of the power of the One Who has called me!
...Give Him our bread and fish!
(Matthew 14:15-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-14)
There were multitudes of people that flocked to a desert area to hear Jesus teach truth and there wasn't any food markets nearby. Was that a problem for Jesus? No way! He tells his disciples to see what they have in the way of food and they find a young lad with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. I wish I could've been a "fly on the wall" and observed Jesus' interaction with that young boy - I can imagine the boy was eager to "help" such a man as Jesus! Jesus could've made bread from stones if He wanted to, but He wanted to use what that boy had and that little boy in his willingness saw a great miracle that day - his normal loaves and fish in the hands of Jesus multiplying and multiplying until everyone in that huge crowd was full AND there were leftovers! I want to offer what "little" I have in every moment to the hands of Jesus to watch Him do miracles with it!!!!!! What a wise investment that boy made and I can't even imagine the unmentioned blessings that he obtained because of his sacrifice and willingness to give!
...Walk boldly in the wilderness and stand when others won't!
(Numbers 13:1-33; Deuteronomy 1:22-40) God's people the Israelites were captives in Egypt, but God delivered them and lead them out of Egypt, with a promise of a land that they will obtain and live plentious in! The key here is that God delivered them and gave them a promise, but the Israelites after a short while focus on a small ridiculous part that they hadn't obtained/reached the promised land yet - they didn't focus on the key that God is their perfect Provider!
(There's so many more neat details to this story - so you totally should read it in it's entirety! Just sayin! ;) Ok, so fast forward a bit and the Israelites come into a land and send scouts to search out the city in the land God had promised and come back and report to them their findings. 10 come back with fearful reports of giants in the land, but two scouts names Joshua and Caleb come back with passion that the land can be conquored, because of God's blessing and promise! (And just as a note - the promise was pretty wowy!! Get this, "The Lord spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you, and take your jorney, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale..." "Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto you fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give unto them and to their seed after them!") And yet, even with that promise from the same ONE and ONLY powerful God that delivered them from their Egypt captivity - the thoughts of giants and "possible" defeat scared the people from claiming God's promise! God punished their fearful distrust and disobedience by sentencing them to never experience the promised land, except for the young children and Caleb and Joshua! I want to walk boldly in any "wilderness" in my life and walk with trust in His ! I want to walk with faith in His promises even when I can't see the tangibleness of them and not doubt when the way of obtaining them is not what I imagined! I want to stand in bold fearlessness in God's truth!
Let's be the ones of FAITH and teach future generations to be so too! Whether you're married and have kids of your own, or if you're single - maybe you have nieces or nephews (my niece is in the picture above! ;) or maybe you're involved in kid's ministry, but regardless, in any way God leads - we all have people that we can impact which then impacts the generations to follow! Live and teach what a life of fearless faith is my friends!!!!!
Blessings to you! I'm excited for how God is going to use you to impact eternity in powerful ways!
~Bri
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