Short On Resources, God’s NOT!

Pray:

God help me today to not look at my resources as limiting but freeing. My LORD and my God help me to trust that YOU are more than able to provide for me, for my family, for this city, for this nation, for this world! God help me to depend on You for EVERYTHING. God HELP me to see the world the way YOU do. Teach me to trust in YOU more and more. You arm is not too short to help me today. You are INFINITE in wisdom and understanding of my situation. I am begging YOU, the Mighty One, to provide in AMAZING ways for YOUR child today. You know exactly what my needs are, by YOUR grace may YOU meet those today. I love YOU. I love YOU. I love You.

Isaiah 59:1

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

It’s funny the “rules” we sometimes assign to prayer. Like you have to start with, “Dear Heavenly Father” or that we have to end with “Amen”. There’s reasons for both of those, but a lot of people don’t even know why we pray like that. Or have you ever felt like “you’re supposed to pray” for a certain amount of time? Like you can’t just pray for the food, but you have to sprinkle in a few requests for missionaries, your aunt Bertha’s goiter and your neighbor’s poodle who barks all night?

Unpredictable Lives

How predictable is your life? Do you do the same things over and over? Are you caught up in the same routines? I am not talking about being disciplined for Christ but doing mundane ordinary things. Sometimes the familiar robs us of unexpected joys that God wants to write into our lives. I want to encourage you to live magical lives.

Ones that embrace mystery.

Not predictable but unpredictable. Not unpredictable like you go do something dumb but you do something great that nobody would have expected from you.

Are you ready for God to do the impossible, in your life, in 2011?

 Part 3 Peter Walking on Water

To check out part 1 click HERE, part 2 click HERE.

This is the final part of Peter Walking on the Water. This is actually the part where they get back in the boat. It’s an amazing conclusion to the story. Imagine all of the emotions they felt in such a short time. First they are fighting for their lives in the midst of a hairy storm. Then they are terrified because they think they see a ghost. Apparently a ghost is scarier than a storm. After that, they discover the joy and fear that their teacher can walk on water. Their buddy Peter walk on the water. What is going on? Finally everyone gets back in the boat, the wind dies down and they worship Jesus!

32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." 

I wonder who led the worship. Was Peter on the guitar? Just kidding. Seriously, did they all shout out together–"YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD!!!" Or was it a silent under your breath type of amazement? Regardless of how they worshipped–they worshipped Jesus. It goes without saying that Jesus deserves our worship all the time, but what are you doing today to worship Him? What specifically can you do today to give Him honor, to give your worship to Him? The disciples worshipped Him in the middle of the night in a boat. Worship happens everywhere, at all times. Will you worship Him with everything you have today?

Peter Walks On Water Part 2

To check out part one click HERE 

This story is not just about walking on water but about obedience to the call. Jesus calls us into an unpredictable life of suffering mixed with joy, love fused with sorrow, and risk that embraces fear. It’s a life that experiences it’s fullness because it does not live in the apparent safety of the "boat" but risks everything by stepping out of the boat to be with Jesus. We can not demand of God to calm the storm, to clear the way and to make things "easy" so that we know we won’t fail. No! Jesus is calls us to deny ourselves, to pick up our cross and follow Him at all costs. He is looking for one person to step out of the boat and respond to His call. Will that be you?  You can make all the excuses you want. "I don’t have time." "I don’t have the skills." "I don’t have the ability." I don’t have . . ." Jesus is still calling you! Until you have faith to get out of the boat you won’t experience the power of God in your life. Today don’t just read this story. Take a step of action and get out of the boat!

Part 1 Peter Walking on the Water

Have you ever had a really hard day? I mean, a super hard day like your best friend gets his head cut off! That would be a rough day to say the least. That’s the day that Jesus was having. His cousin John was beheaded, he just had a full day of ministry (feeding 5000 people), finally He’s alone. He spends time talking with His Father. This is where our story begins.

²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.

Have you spent time with God today? You are exhausted from all of the work, from all of the storms and continually giving to everyone. It’s time to dismiss the crowds–the work–the stuff and go by yourself to be with your God. Just stop and discover the joy of being in your Daddy’s presence. It’s only in His presence that we are going to receive the power to live the life that He calls us to live. 

Have you ever heard some one talking about how God relentlessly pursues His children?  I love the story of the Prodigal Son because it speaks of God’s undying love and pursuit of His wayward children.  No matter how far we’ve run away from Him, one prayer of forgiveness reveals that He has pursued us on our departure and waits with open arms to welcome us back into His fellowship.  Amazing.

I love the prayers in the Scriptures. Part of what we learn as we follow Jesus is to make these prayers our own. Some are simple and short prayers and others are longer more heart-felt prayers. Try to make each of these your own prayers today. Let’s start with a simple one. 

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out,

“Lord, save me!”

 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?"

-Matthew 14:29-31