December 23, 2017

Going Home with a Story of Grace

xmas dinner One of my favorite (preachers is Charles Spurgeon (that’s why we named our dog Spurgeon!). He, Charles, was called “The Prince of Preachers” during his long ministry in London, England. Recently, I read a blog by Tony Reinke about a sermon Spurgeon preached to his congregation on December 21, 1856, when he was just twenty-two.

(You can go to: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-share-your-story-this-christmas to find the blog or go to: https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0109.cfm to read the entire sermon).

Spurgeon, like pastors today, knew many would be spending Christmas with family and friends. What a great opportunity to share the gospel at those festive meals. Spurgeon said, “For my part, I wish there were twenty Christmas days in the year”!

So, Spurgeon wanted to help his congregation take advantage of the season to share their faith in Christ. He took as his text Mark 5:19: “Go back home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how kind he has been to you.” This is the story of the demon-possessed man who lived in a graveyard. Jesus delivered him and sent the demons packing in the pigs which then ran to the edge of the cliff and threw themselves into the sea. The grateful man came to Jesus wanting to follow him, but instead, Jesus told him to “go home” and tell his family and friends what grace and mercy he experienced from Jesus.

Spurgeon’s insights from this story in Mark gave him the opportunity to give wise counsel to help his congregation when they interacted with family and friends. Here are five bits of helpful advice from the “Prince of Preachers.”

Share the story of God’s grace at work in your life and how you have experienced it. “You are not to repair to your houses to preach. You are not to begin to take up doctrinal subjects and expatiate on them, and endeavor to bring persons to your peculiar views and sentiments . . . Go home, young man, and tell the poor sinner’s story; go home, young woman, and open your diary, and give your friends stories of grace. Tell them of the mighty works of God’s hand which he hath wrought in you from his own free, sovereign, undeserved love. Make it a free grace story around your family fire.”
Tell your story to encourage the believers.
Tell your story to unbelievers, but not in a group; tell your story one-on-one. In a group, you might lose the attention of your listeners. However, with a single individual, you are more likely to get a more serious hearing from them as they consider your manner of telling the story.
How should you tell your story? Remember, you’re not in a doctrinal debate, it’s all about grace. So, tell your story humbly (you didn’t deserve grace and you’re no better than your hearers), truthfully (don’t embellish, it’s a good storytelling of God’s good work; nothing can improve that!), seriously (that is, earnestly) and with evident gratitude toward God.
What to expect: it won’t be easy especially with those who have known you a long time. Expect some tension but pray for opportunities. Having prayed for opportunities, look for them and be ready. Overcome fear motivated by your love for Jesus.

Christmas is a great time to have gospel-conversations with our family and friends. Get prayed up, expectant and wait for the opportunity God gives you!

October 30, 2017

Does Your Faith have a Chip in it?

If you’re like me, you are probably able to relate to the picture of my coffee mug. After I made my coffee one morning, I set down the mug and grabbed a book. I didn’t see the chip until I picked it up for my first, warm and savory sip. When I did see it, it seemed to say to me loud and clear, “your faith has a chip in it!” I thought, how fitting. Of course, it does! FAITH

My faith often lacks the quality that would get Jesus’ positive attention. I fit in with the disciples, “Oh you of little faith.”

Then I read Paul’s statement to the Colossian church:

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister? (1:21-23)

I like the way Eugene Peterson put it: “You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned into the Message, careful and not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message – just this one.”

To “continue in the faith” isn’t an “iffy” thing as if we can walk in and out of the faith that saved us. It’s something that Christians do for other Christians on a regular basis.

There are three ways to continue in the faith so no one walks away from a gift like that.

Strength training. Believers need regular doses of faith strengthening and encouragement in the gospel because life is a war zone against the soul. That strength comes from the word and we remind each other of it so we can correct our wrong thinking about God. C. S. Lewis reminds us through his two devils, Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood, it isn’t the things the devil puts into the thoughts of humans that is so effective as it is the things he keeps out that cause trouble. Lots of distractions will keep us from the word that encourages strong faith. And besides, Christians “leak”! (See Acts 14:22).
Make the effort. Yes, believers are safe in Christ. Yes, God keeps his promises. But that’s no reason not to show up for work! Christians can’t leave all effort behind. We can and should leave behind the self-saving part. That’s a dead-end street. But we are responsible to join the Spirit’s training program with effort. The “if” that begins the sentence is a real warning to be heard. This isn’t an “iffy” condition as if God or Paul expects the believer to walk away. No. He expects a good outcome. The “if” is a “goad” to kick us into gear. But it is still true that the outcome is good only as we have a hand in preventing our shifting away from such a good gift. If we shift, did we really belong? Stability comes as we put in the effort.
Fulfill your calling. Second Timothy 2:15 is long on a controversy that I’m not taking up here. Suffice it to say, the bottom line for Paul in that chapter is that Christians have a calling and are to fulfill it. Like some doctors are trained for brain surgery and others for foot surgery, the rule of thumb in the medical community is to “stay in your modality,” your field of expertise. All Christians are dedicated Christ followers. All Christians are gifted Christ followers. Stay in your calling in Christ and your giftings in the Spirit.

Don’t waver, don’t deviate, continue in the faith. Serve as you can and whom you can. You are a gifted witness and can serve the believer and those not yet believers in ways they might never expect.

October 23, 2017

Continue in My Word

continue How many times do you remember being told, “If you keep doing that . . .” something good or something bad will happen? If you keep crossing your eyes like that, they’ll stay that way!” Or maybe you said to your daughter, “If you keep crying, I’ll give you something to cry about!” Or “If you keep saving your money, you’ll be a millionaire someday!”

We like to continue doing things that bring pleasure or relaxation or achievement but we don’t like to keep on doing things that bring pain! Almost sounds like Paul in Romans 7: some things that I’d like to stop, I find hard to stop! I continue doing them even though I don’t like doing them. Or rather, we should say we don’t like the outcomes.

The Christian life is no different from any other in this regard: it is meant to be lived continually. The difference is that living christianly is a matter of living convertedly. It’s living the new life of a disciple every moment of every day and growing in that ability. There are things we’re to continue doing and things we’re not to continue doing.

In my recent devotional reading, I discovered at least ten things we are to continue doing and a couple we are warned against continuing.

The first one I discovered was to continue in the word. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine” (John 8:31). In other words, if we live out the things Jesus said to do, we will verify ourselves as Jesus-followers. A synonym for continue is “abide” or “remain.” Important words for John.

The practice of continuing in Christ’s word transforms our lives so that we look like Jesus in our own skin and personality (Rom 12:1-2). The fuel for continuing is God’s saving action in our lives. Jesus made it clear that being “of God” enables the disciple to “hear the words of God” (v. 47). Hearing is just another way of saying “doing.”

Continuing in the word of Jesus means an intentional life-long commitment to the study, meditation, reading and memorization of the word. This is the means to capturing the power of the unfolding universe of truth in Jesus that saves, restores, and transforms the soul increasingly reflecting the character of Christ in brighter and clearer ways.

So, what does that look like? At least these five things:

It’s the mark of true, genuine and earnest Jesus-follower.
It’s the discovery of the truth that sets us free from slavery to sins.
It’s the realization that we are the spiritual descendants of Abraham.
It’s the joy of being the children of the Father and no longer the children of wrath (i.e., the devil).
It’s the privilege of hearing God’s word because we are his children.

Don’t let a day pass without the in-take of God’s word. And ask God to keep you from the vanity of “egg-head” knowledge. Enjoy learning new things from God, but ask him to prevent you from becoming “puffed up” in your accumulation of knowledge. It’s not about you! Ask the Spirit to use the word to do some heart-renovation so that your life radiates with the light and life of Christ and you become a valuable asset to others in your spheres of life.

September 11, 2017

“O Death Where is Your Sting?”

If you’ve ever been stung by a bee or wasp you know it can be momentarily painful. The most painful and deadly sting is from is the poisonous jelly fish, the “marine stinger.” According to one website, 5,568 people have died from its sting since 1954. These jelly fish have fifteen tentacles yellow-isreali-scorpion which extend up to ten feet. Each tentacle has about half a million-darts full of venom. The venom causes cardiovascular arrest within minutes. Victims may die in incredibly intense pain even before the venom strikes.

What image did Paul have in mind when he quoted Hosea: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Did he imagine the bee that leaves its stinger behind in its victim and then dies? Or the wasp which lives to sting another day? Or the “Deathstalker Scorpion” whose powerful cocktail of neuro and cardiotoxins cause intense, unbearable pain, fever, then coma, convulsions, paralysis, and death?

Frankly, I don’t know. But, if I had to hazard a guess it would be the Deathstalker Scorpion native to Palestine. It also goes by the name Israeli or Palestinian Yellow Scorpion.

Paul’s image of death’s “sting” conjures something ugly and venomous and torturously painful injecting its victim with a venom that paralyzes the muscles, stops the heart and shuts down the brain.

Jesus absorbed the sting of death. Surely, the physical pain was great; movies try their best to depict the physical side of Christ’s suffering. But, for the One who knew no sin, it was the intensity of the sting of becoming sin for those who knew sin, that no filmmaker or screenwriter can imagine. Words and images fail to capture the pain of this sting.

However, Paul’s focus is not there. His focus in on the question. He looks death in the face and asks the question: “Death, where is your sting?” The answer springs back: “In the lamb who was slain from before the foundation of the world!” Jesus took in himself the sting of death and swallowed up its deadly venom for all time. Matthew Henry comments, “Death may seize a believer, but cannot sting him, cannot hold him in his power.”

I have more life behind me than ahead of me. So, the subject of my own death often flickers on the silver screen of my mind. When? Where? How? Will I know and be ready? How will I respond? Will I be able to look into death’s face and say, “Where is your sting? Oh yeah, I remember, it was absorbed by Jesus on the cross when he swallowed up your poison!”

Death died in the death of Christ.

August 24, 2017

Understanding “Understanding”

jigsaw-piece-understanding-sign Maybe it’s me, but it seems that our society is growing in its arrogance – if that’s possible.

I’m no photographer, but I enjoy nature and people photography. At the top of Trail Ridge Road in the Rocky Mountain National Park, I found myself standing next to a woman with a monster lens, the kind that NatGeo photogs use. I felt unworthy standing next to her with my 70 – 300 zoom lens. I said, “Now that’s a lens!” She rolled her eyes. Not worthy.

Later that afternoon, I read Ps 49. The short story of the Psalm is this: regardless of life’s circumstances – rich or poor, white or black, blue or white collar, the most important thing about a man or woman is that they have “understanding.”

I wondered: what is the “understanding” God has in mind that distinguishes a person. If a poor man with understanding is better off than a rich man without it, what does that mean?

A quick search limited to just the Psalms revealed ten benefits to the one who has understanding God’s way. The one who values understanding . . .

Discerns his errors (Ps 19:12). How crucial is that? How many people do you know who are completely ignorant of their condition before God? How many of them think that God loves and accepts them just because they are? They haven’t got a clue about why God would be angry with them at all. By the way, how often do you discern your own errors?
Values the works of God, including his rewards (Ps 28:5).
Receives God’s instructions and counsel about how to live life to the fullest and most enjoyable (Ps 32:8-9). This one is important!
Submits to God as the clay to the Potter (Ps 33:15). So it this one!
Fears the Lord and hopes in his lovingkindness (Pss 33:18; 107:43). Ditto!
Knows God’s eye is on him or her for good and refuses to be stubborn (Pss 33:17; 94:7). Help, anyone?
Knows righteousness will triumph over evil and so patiently, prayerfully waits on God (Pss 37:10; 73:17; 96:6-8). Comforting!
Walks in the light of Christ and hates the works of darkness (Ps 82:5).
Is teachable, obedient (and prays for help) and meditates on God’s word (Ps 119:27, 34, 73, 95, 100, 104, 125, 130, 144, 169).
Is known by God (139:2). Easily the best of the ten.

That day at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, I learned that understanding is better than a NatGeo camera lens any day.

August 14, 2017

Elephants, Giraffes and the Glory of God

What can a giraffe do when it’s most nutritious food is out of its reach? You might wonder can anything be out of reach for a giraffe. Not by a few inches, but feet.

On a night when my mind was fried from the day’s work, all I wanted was to watch something mindless on television. Lots of mindless things there to choose from! But I settled on a new NatGeo program about wild life in the Sahara. The show focused on the giraffe’s need for water and how they have adapted to living in a place that gets a mere two inches of water every year.

Of course, the foundation for adaptation was due to evolution, but that comes with the territory of nature shows. However, I watched through another grid.

Giraffes can go up to three weeks without water, but they still need to hydrate. Part of their need comes from the morning mist that coats the many low-lying plants with some moisture. And, I thought this was a clever bit of sleuthing, they follow elephants to watering holes. Smart, very smart. But leaves and dew drops aren’t enough for these huge creatures. They also need protein. But they are not carnivores.

The challenge is that the protein they need is literally out of their reach. They get this protein from peapod like clusters hanging from a tree that is above their reach. Not only that, but the pods are also filled with moisture for their thirst.

Solution? Call in the elephant to help.

Elephants come to these trees and use their heads and body weight to shake the pods lose from their stems so they fall to the ground. Then the dinner bell sounds and giraffes and other Saharan animals, along with the elephants, take as much as they need. When it’s elephant feeding time in the desert, it’s a feast for all.

This got me thinking about God’s glory revealed in this interchange of animals in his creation. God owns them all and takes the responsibility for feeding them all from his hand: “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps 145:16). “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power” (Job 12:10).

I’ve often wondered, but quickly quit, about what it takes to feed all living things on the planet in a single day. Massive job. But God does it, day in and day out – and we are included in that supply.

So, to feed the giraffe, God calls on the elephant to help out. As I watched, I imagined God speaking to the elephant and telling him it’s time for lunch and he is God’s “chef” to go to work providing food for the chow line.

How glorious is that? God opens his hand and provides food for all his living creatures. Give thanks over your MacDonald’s lunch today!

August 9, 2017

How to Pray for Those who Hurt You

Someone maliciousl enemy1 y and publicly ruins your reputation. You are deeply hurt and pay a heavy price for something that isn’t true. Everything in you wants to pray like David:

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow! May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit! May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil! Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children! May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation! May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out! Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth! (Ps 109:9-15)

Ouch! It hurts just to think of it. Your conscience cries out “No! Don’t go there! Trust the Lord. Don’t be a fool!”

Many have weighed in on the subject of a Christian’s relationship to the prayers of David that call down fire and hail stones on the heads of those who wound us. Sometimes they are unbelievers and we might be willing to let them off the hook. But sometimes they are sitting next to us in church Can we use David’s “imprecatory prayers” when we are deeply wounded by betrayal, lies or bullying of others? The answer is “yes” and “no.” The “no” part goes like this: remember that the substance of an imprecatory prayer contains wording that calls down curses on our enemies. You may feel like that will bring about the justice you deserve but it won’t. To this Jesus says us to love those who persecute us and to pray for them and even do good to them (Matt 5:44).

Can we use David’s “imprecatory prayers” when we are deeply wounded by betrayal, lies or bullying of others? The answer is “yes” and “no.” The “no” part goes like this: remember that the substance of an imprecatory prayer contains wording that calls down curses on our enemies. You may feel like that will bring about the justice you deserve but it won’t. To this Jesus says us to love those who persecute us and to pray for them and even do good to them (Matt 5:44).

The “yes” part is this: there is a legitimate way to pray about what’s happened to you. Here are seven things I’ve noticed about David’s approach to God in prayer about his enemies:

It’s perfectly legitimate to pray for vindication from God.
It’s perfectly legitimate to pray that my enemies are frustrated in their plans.
It’s perfectly legitimate to plead my innocence with God (if I am!) and make the case for vindication.
It’s perfectly legitimate to tell the Lord what I know and think about the characters and spiritual condition of my adversaries. (believe it – he already knows!)
It’s perfectly legitimate to pray that my opponents become ashamed of their work. An awakened conscience might lead them to repentance.
It’s perfectly legitimate to promise to rejoice in the ways God answers.
It’s perfectly legitimate to tell others afterward of the marvelous thing God has done for you so they can join the chorus of praise. (Do this without trash talking your enemy in the process).

In contrast, here are five illegitimate things:

It is illegitimate to go first to others and tell them about your enemy’s hurtful actions or words. First, to God and leave it with him.
It is illegitimate to be disappointed in the way God answers.
It is illegitimate to renege on the promise to praise God.
It is illegitimate to get impatient with God; so, admit it and ask for help!
It is illegitimate to gloat when the answer comes; be ready to pray for them the way God directed Job to pray for his “counselors.”

For your own further reflection check out Pss 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 140. Then pray for them the ways you would want others to pray for you.

July 21, 2017

Heaven’s HR Department

Human Resource departments fill three necessary purposes f Hr dept or the workplace: compensation, staffing and designing work. The goal is to “maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees.”

Heaven has the perfect HR Department.

Paul was on his way to strengthen the churches he and Barnabas had previously seen take root in Syria and Cilicia. From the familiar places, he and his teammate Silas wanted to press on to unfamiliar places: Asia, Bithynia and further, Lord willing. He wasn’t. In fact, the Holy Spirit forbade Paul to “speak the word in Asia.” Wow! Turning to Mysia with his target Bithynia, “the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” Again, wow!

What’s going on? Doesn’t the Lord love people in Asia and want to save them through the gospel? Are they not part of the Great Commission’s instruction to disciple the nations?

Yes, heaven’s HR Department, headed by the sovereign Spirit of Jesus, aims to maximize the work of the church in the Great Commission. The Spirit always directs the right resources to the right places at the right times. After being told “No” twice, I can imagine Paul planting himself on a park bench with Silas and saying, “OK, Lord. We’ll just wait for your next assignment to come to our In-box.” It came that night. In a vision. Paul saw a Macedonian man appealing to him with a special invitation: “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Paul and Silas left immediately and made it to Philippi. And what an assignment it was! The Lord opened the heart of a business woman who immediately became a believer. A demon-possessed girl, a money-maker for her occult masters, followed Paul around like an annoying, yapping puppy: “These men are the bondservants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” Paul was miffed; annoyed actually. A lot. So, he turned to the spirit in the girl and in Jesus’ name commanded the spirit to come out of her. He did! She was delivered. She became a believer. She quit her day job.

But her masters were even more annoyed because their money stream dried up as quickly as the demon took flight. They stirred up the chief leaders of the city. Paul was arrested, beaten with rods (punishment due for all but Roman citizens) and thrown into prison. Sitting in the bottom of a dank jail cell, singing hymns of praise to God with Silas, entertaining all the prisoners, God provides an earthquake to remove chains and doors and set the prisoners free.

The Roman guard knew what this meant: The Roman HR Department would dispatch him to Hades, the Roman underworld for losing his prisoners! He was about to fall on his sword when Paul stopped him assuring him they were all still present and accounted for. A quick word about how to be saved and another Christian was spiritually born.

The grateful guard took Paul and Silas to his house, cleaned their wounds, fed them and they had a baptism service for the whole household.

The membership of Philippi’s first Christian church was three unlikely people: a business woman, a formerly demon-possessed girl, and a near-retirement Roman soldier.

But here’s why the Spirit of Jesus blocked Paul and moved him to this city.

When the city fathers found out that Paul, a full-fledged Roman citizen, was illegally beaten with rods, a punishment reserved to all non-Romans as second-class citizens, they sheepishly and quietly asked him to leave town through the back door. Paul wouldn’t have it. He wanted a public apology from the Magistrate, not his intermediaries, and a Magistrate’s escort out of town in full view of the city population.

Pride? Revenge? Christian demands for justice? No. You see, Paul wanted public recognition that the new church was not a threat to the Empire. He used his Roman citizenship as personal proof that Christianity isn’t about breaking laws or making trouble for the city. Christianity saves lives and improves cultures. The public apology and escort by the magistrates calmed fears and put the church in a positive light.

Peter, John, James or the other apostles could not provide this legal cover for the fledgling church the way Paul could. Heaven’s HR Department knew that and sent the right man, at the right time, with the proper credentials and competencies to secure the future of the Philippian church.

The HR Department of heaven takes the long view of discipling the nations. Someone in their files would tackle Asia and Bithynia. China, Burma, and India had to wait for Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson and William Carey.

So, when you apply for that job in Texas and don’t get it but you get the one in Minnesota, it’s just Heaven’s HR Department doing what it does best. Sending the right man, or woman, with the right qualifications to fulfill heaven’s assignment.

July 13, 2017

The Decrees of kings and The King

Politics. Political parties. News cycles. I’m a news junkie, but sometimes . . .

It seems like our elected officials believe their reason for being there is to investigate the “other guys” who are there and shouldn’t be, in their humble defense of the Constitution.

Glad to read how God works behind the scenes of people in power. Ezra 6 gives us a glimpse of God’s awesome power and sovereign grace on the move. Here are ten snapshots from the chapter to calm the overly-politically-concerned person.

When resistance to God’s work arises, he uses even pagan (i.e., secular) governments to show favor to his people (vv. 1-12).
God is always at work, behind the scenes, aiding and assisting his people so we can do what is required, namely worship him wholeheartedly (v. 14b)
God’s leaders are the means he uses to influence his people to persevere in serving the kingdom.
With God, failure is never permanent for repentant and faithful believers. Renewed strength to persevere is available.
Joy isn’t self-manufactured; it comes from knowing God (v. 22)
God’s powerful grace turns hearts toward his cause. He can turn an unfavorable government favorable toward his people (v. 22; Prov 21:1). Point in case, he just moved a community organizer to use city funds to paint a large portion of our church!
God provides everything necessary to be his people in our community. If it’s a building he provides; if its things necessary for worship, he provides; if its possessions that have been stolen, he returns them no devil in hell or evil person on earth can withhold forever what God wants for his church . . . or your family (vv. 6-18).
God decrees that the Church prays and work for the welfare and righteous leadership of the city, state, nation so that these authorities rule well and so the church can peaceably advance the mission of the gospel of Christ (v. 10b).
To join Christ is to join the people of God and to separate one’s self from the corruptions of the world (v. 21) The community of saints band together to grow in holiness and fight the sins of the flesh. No drifting into holiness. No holiness apart from the assistance of brothers and sisters in Christ.
Be amazed at how God works. He works his will where he wants, through whom he wants, when he wants, his timing and ways are always perfect. God works for his cause and his people; it is his love in action.

So now, we can watch the evening news and sleep well!

June 1, 2017

10 THINGS ABOUT TRUE FAITH FROM 2 HEROES

Esther and Mordecai We all like heroes because they make us believe there is still some good in the world. We like heroes because they show courage in the face of crisis and exude confidence, even if they will admit later they were scared to death or they were just doing their jobs.

The Bible has heroes too; heroes of the faith. But they are also people like us, made of the same stuff. What sets them apart isn’t so much their courage as their faith. When a crisis comes, the residuals of the world and flesh are revealed and faith is proven for what it is. A crisis can call out the faith in us or deplete us.

Two such heroes are Mordecai and Esther. Faced with a genocide of the entire Jewish population in captivity, the two endured the crisis and revealed the nature of true faith. Mordecai said, “Esther if you don’t do something about this crisis, deliverance will come from another place. But how do you know that you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” Esther said, “I’ll do. You pray and fast, I’ll pray and fast and if I perish, I perish.” Sounds heroic, right?

Here are 10 things in now particular order about the crisis they faced that brought out of their faith:

True faith is both optimistic and willing to “lose.” They believed God and left the outcome in his hands.
True faith sees opportunities and expresses encouragement.
True faith is sensitive to God’s timing and willing to wait.
True faith takes risks for big things.
True faith is born of confidence in God.
True faith acts; it makes wise plans and executes them patiently.
True faith looks to God first in every circumstance; crisis or not.
True faith recognizes personal inadequacy and calls for the Spirit’s help; a sort of spiritual 911.
True faith is not afraid to alert others to the dangers ahead.
True faith rallies a network of help.

Father, we may not be facing a crisis yet but we have a situation for which we can’t plan well. Give us faith to face the changes we see on the horizon. Reveal your plans so we can walk in true faith. Father us into your will as you’ve done before.