Tag Archives: faith

God Of Breakthroughs

In 2023 there was a young lady in Ohio who got accepted into the school of her choice. The problem was that she couldn’t afford to go there. She tried, but was unable to secure any scholarships to help pay for it. She prayed all summer about it. As the deadline was approaching, she was preparing herself to reject the offer. That’s when she got a letter stating that she got a full ride scholarship from a Christian organization she had never heard of. A month or two before she had mentioned it at youth camp. Someone heard and submitted her for the scholarship. God made a way just as she was about to give up.

In 2 Samuel 5, David had just become king when the Philistines came to challenge him. They spread out around the city he was in and surrounded it. David went into the stronghold and began to pray. He asked God if he went out to fight, would He give him victory. God told him yes, so he and his men went to fight the army that was surrounding them. They won a swift victory. Verse 20 says, “So David came to Baal-perazim, and he defeated them there, and said, ‘The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.’ So he named that place Baal-perazim (master of breakthroughs)” (AMP). Just like water breaking through a dam, God showed up and gave them victory at the right moment.

Isaiah 43:19 says, “Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.” I’ve learned that God answers on His time and not mine. I’ve also learned that His breakthroughs come swiftly and decisively. You may be standing in a desert right now wondering where God is as the time runs out on your situation, but keep standing and believing. He will burst through and give you rivers in that desert. He is the God of breakthroughs and breakthroughs start with surrender to His will, His timing and His way.

Photo by Gary Yost on Unsplash

3 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Obedience Brings Victory

Have you ever felt God leading you to do something that didn’t make sense? I’ve felt that way several times. Once I was facing a serious challenge to my character. My initial strategy was to go on the defensive and then attack. As I mapped out my plans, God had a different strategy in mind. It was to be still and quiet. It was the opposite of what I felt should happen. What I wanted to do made sense, and what God was asking didn’t. I had a choice to make. I could choose to do what made sense or I could obey. I decided to obey. What God asked me to do worked out better than anything I could have done.

In Joshua 6, the Israelites faced their first enemy in the Promised Land. Jericho had thick, intimidating walls. Israel didn’t have siege equipment or battering rams. I’m sure Joshua met with his military leaders to devise a strategy. Then he met the captain of the Lord’s army. He was told to simply march quietly around the walls for seven days. On the seventh trip around the wall on the seventh day, they were to blast trumpets and shout. It didn’t make sense, but Joshua had learned that victory comes through obedience. He followed God’s strategy, rather than his own, and God destroyed what had been impossible and intimidating.

Zechariah 4:6 says, “The angel told me to give Zerubbabel this message from the Lord: ‘You will succeed, not by military might or by your own strength, but by my spirit’” (GNT). So much in life depends on obedience to what God desires for us to do. However, we must first stop and ask what He wants in each situation. I don’t know what intimidating walls you’re facing today, but I do know that His strategy will work better than yours. It may not make sense or seem like the right thing to do in the moment. It might even seem crazy or counterintuitive, but remember that obedience brings victory. Follow His leading and plan, then watch the walls fall before your eyes.

Photo by Steve Douglas on Unsplash

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Having Confidence

Several years ago, we were in London, and decided to tour the Tower Bridge. They took us to the top and there was a glass floor high above the street. We had confidence in it and walked across it. On another trip, we were in New York City. We found a place called the Edge. It is the highest outdoor observation deck in the western hemisphere. When we walked outside, they had a glass floor as well. Again, we had confidence in the builders and walked on it. Then just this week, we were driving through Memphis and my son wanted to the observation deck of the Bass Pro Shop pyramid. When we got outside there was a glass floor. He asked, Lohengrin thick is this glass?” I answered, “Hopefully thick enough!” We then stepped onto it. In each case, your brain fights you from walking on it, but you have to override it by having confidence despite what it thinks.

In Psalm 27, David expressed his trust in the Lord as his salvation. He put so much trust in Him that he said he wouldn’t be afraid of anyone. Verse 3 says, “Though an army encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, Even in this I am confident” (AMP). Overtime he had learned to trust the Lord in whatever situation he found himself in. If he was outnumbered and his brain told him he should be afraid, he continued to have confidence in God. That’s a pretty bold statement and makes me reflect on how much I trust God. Do I allow fear to control my decisions or faith? Do I allow my circumstances to override my trust in God? David determined that even if he was surrounded by his enemies, he would still have confidence in God.

Hebrews 10:35 says, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!” (NLT) When you’re surrounded with no way out, don you still trust God? Can you step out onto that glass floor and trust that He will be faithful to His Word? In the next chapter, the author reminds us, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” There is a decision we must make to trust in God no matter what before we’re in the situation. If you’re surrounded right now, you can still put your confidence in Him o see you through. He will not fail you nor abandon you in those moments. Hold on tight and remain confident in Him.

Photo by Delano Ramdas on Unsplash

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Victory Over Giants

I used to teach a class on the psychology of fear and how it keeps us from being productive. At one point, I introduced an activity without any warning that involves one of the greatest fears most people have. As I kept adding to it, I watched people squirm in their seats. I would stand next to them, look them in the eye and act like I was going to choose them. Before I proceeded, I would ask, “What are you feeling in your body and mind right now?” People would have sweaty palms, upset stomachs, the need to use the restroom and more. I explained that our brain wants out of the situation and will do anything to take flight. I told them that when we walk away or give into the fear, we miss out on opportunities.

In 1 Samuel 17, the Israelites and Philistines were engaged on the battlefield ready to fight. Each side was encamped on a mountainside with a valley between. Before the battle started, Goliath, a giant about ten feet tall, walked out and yelled at the Israelites. He taunted them and challenged them. When the Israelites saw him, they gave into fear and ran. For forty days, they were stagnant in this routine of allowing fear to keep them from the opportunity of victory. That’s when David stepped into the camp. He heard the same giant, saw everyone panic, but had a different response. He was filled with confidence and trust in God. He stepped onto the battlefield, looked the giant in the eyes, told him God would deliver him and then ran towards him. God honored David’s faith and trust in Him and gave him the victory.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation]” (AMP). What opportunity or victory is fear holding you back from? God says, do not fear anything standing in the way of what He’s called you to. It won’t be done in your strength. He will help you, but you must step onto the battlefield, look your giant in the eye and trust God. His hand of power and victory will be upon you when you trust Him. Don’t let fear keep you on the sidelines indefinitely. Courage is being unsure of the outcome, but stepping out in faith anyway. God constantly tells us to take courage and to be strong. It’s time to quit being held back from opportunities because of fear. Trust in the Lord and slay your giant.

Photo by Анна Рыжкова (Anna Rizchkova) on Pexels.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

God With Us

There’s a story of how the Cherokee would perform a right of passage for all boys before they were considered men. To become a man, the boy would be led into the woods at night. His father would sit him on a stump, blindfold Him and then leave him. He was told that he had to sit there all night, but he couldn’t make a sound. When he saw the sun rays through the blindfold, he could take it off and find his way back to camp.

It was tough to sit there silently. With their eyes covered, their sense of hearing was enhanced. They heard ever twig break as an animal stepped on it. They could hear the sounds of all the animals in the forest that were out at night. I’m sure they could hear the sound of their own heartbeat as they wondered whether they would be attacked. In the morning when he removed his blindfold, he would see that his father was sitting beside him the whole night watching over him.

I love that story because it’s so much like what our Heavenly Father does for us. We often feel blind and alone as we go through this world. Our fears can get the better of us if we aren’t careful, but God is right there with us through it all even though we can’t see Him. Isaiah 7:14 says, “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (NLT).

Immanuel is one of my favorite names for God. It gives me hope when I feel blindfolded as I go through this life. When I’m unsure of how things are going to turn out, and I feel vulnerable and open to attack, I remind myself that God is right there with me. He’s watching over me, protecting me and caring for me. He has never left my side no matter how dark the night has been. He remains true to His name Immanuel. He is God with us.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Manna For The Moment

I’m in a men’s group that focuses on personal growth. At the first meeting, the leader asked each person to introduce themselves and then share one of their highest moments in life and also one of their lowest points. As each man shared, I began to see a common thread of seasons of pain these men had been through. One man said it was a lot easier to think of the hardest times in his life than the good ones. Jokingly he asked if he could share two low points rather than one of each. We tend to remember the times in our life when we’ve hot rock bottom or when we struggled to make progress. In the moment we weren’t sure we could make it through. However, looking back, we can see God’s grace was sufficient for the moment we were in.

In Exodus 16, the Israelites had been set free from 400 years of Egyptian slavery. God had promised them a land of their own and they were on their way. They had seen the mighty hand of God moving on their behalf to set them free. They had walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, yet they found themselves in a wilderness that made them want to return to their pain and suffering. They began to complain to God asking for food. In verse 12 God told Moses, “I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites; speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God’ ” (AMP). God gave them manna for the moment they were in. It was sufficient for the day. They were to take what they needed and nothing more. God did this until they reached the land He had promised.

In Matthew 6, the disciples had asked Jesus to teach them to pray. He began reciting what we call the Lord’s Prayer. You’ve probably prayed it thousands of times, but there’s something right in the middle of it that reminds us of that manna. In verse 11 He prayed, “Give us this day our daily bread.” God has always given us what we need for the moment. Jesus taught us to pray for it without complaining. If you’re standing in one of the low points of your life right now, I want you to know there is grace to sustain you in this moment. Like the Israelites, you’ll need to go to God to get it daily. Use this time to lean on Him and to learn to trust in Him. If you’re in one of the higher points or have come through a low point, don’t stop going to Him for your daily bread. The manna He gives is fresh every day and is provided for you to keep trusting Him as you go through this life.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Pushing Past Fear

Have you ever been afraid to do what God asked you to do? I have. When God asks you to speak to someone, speak to a group, give something away or whatever, it can make you feel uneasy. I usually question if I’m hearing Him. I woke up in the middle of the night once and felt the need to reach out to a person I barely knew. The message was a hard one calling them out on sin. I brushed it off and tried to go back to sleep. I wrestled with it all night, but couldn’t shake it. Finally at 6:00 AM, I gave in and sent the message. Immediately they replied asking how I knew. After explaining my night, they had a choice to make: they could stay in sin or repent. They chose the latter which caused them to uproot their family and move. Even though I was afraid to deliver the message, I trusted the voice of God.

In Judges 7, God had told Gideon to build an army to fight the Midianites. His army was just over 30,000 and going up against one over 100,000 strong. He was leading them to the battlefield when God Told him he had too many warriors. He let all who were afraid leave, and 22,000 headed home. Then God told him he still had too many and needed to weed out some more. At the brook, God had him separate the men who cupped their hands and drank and sent the rest home. He now only had 300 men, and a mind full of doubt and fear. God told him if he was afraid to go to the enemy’s camp and listen, which he did. He heard two men share dreams which confirmed the Lord was with him. He trusted the Lord, attacked and won a great victory.

Psalm 56:3 says, “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you” (AMP). Do you trust what you’re hearing from the Lord or what you can see with your eyes? Often what God asks us to do either doesn’t make sense in the moment or moves us from our comfort zone. God understands that to get growth out of us, we must be moved from where we try to stop on our journey. He also is looking for people to give His message to someone or to share His love with them. You and I are often that vehicle and it can be scary to think about. If you’re standing in that moment now, don’t let fear win. Trust in God no matter what you feel. You can also be like Gideon and ask God for confirmation that you’re hearing Him. It’s time to step out in faith. Victory is on the other side of obedience.

Photo by Caleb Frith on Unsplash

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

The Feast Of Shelters

I was reading recently in II Chronicles 7 where Solomon was dedicating the temple. During the celebration, they celebrated the Feast of Shelters. I wasn’t as familiar with that feast as Pentecost, Jubilee, Rosh Hashanah or others. I looked it up to find out more about it and found something interesting. To help Israel remember how their ancestors wandered the desert for 40 years as nomads, they would live in temporary shelters for seven days. Some would sleep on the porch of their homes, others would camp out, some would build lean to shelters and some would build temporary booths.

The shelter they stayed in needed to make sure they were exposed to the elements. If it got cold, they shivered. If it rained, they got wet. If it was hot, they sweat. All of this to remember that their ancestors didn’t have permanent dwellings like they did. It was meant as a link to their past, but for me, it’s a link to our future. These bodies we live in are our temporary shelters. We live like nomads in them moving around all over the world. We think they’re our permanent home, but like the Israelites, we look forward to going to the Promised Land and getting our permanent homes.

II Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in Heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself” (NLT). Paul referred to our bodies as tents which is what the people of Israel lived in while they wandered the desert. It’s a temporary home. The problem is that we have lived this way for so long that we’ve forgotten it’s temporary and have made ourselves comfortable in them. We are only wandering here making our way to our permanent home.

These tents we live in have us exposed to the elements of life. They don’t really protect us from tragedy, problems, storms or outside forces. We feel the full force of things and hurt deeply. When we get our new bodies, our permanent ones, we will have shelter from those things. Knowing that a day is coming when we’ll have protection against such things should give us strength and courage to move forward instead of being stick in the past. God wants each one of us to move forward and to think about the future He has for us. He told us about such a time because He knew it would give us hope, and hope is a powerful thing in a temporary storm.

Photo by Rahul Bhosale on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Obedience Matters

I heard the story of a man who had just e tied a plane at the airport when he felt he heard God tell him to do a headstand. He thought it was crazy and kept walking when he heard it again. It got to be so loud in his mind that he couldn’t concentrate. So finally he stopped next to a wall and did the headstand. When he looked forward, a man came out of the men’s room shouting at him asking him why he was doing that. He felt weird saying it, but he told the man God had told him to. The other man broke down in tears saying, lI was just in the restroom and told God, “If you’re real, prove it. Have someone do something crazy, like a headstand, and I’ll give my life to you.” Right then and there, he gave his heart to the Lord.

In John 2, Jesus and the disciples attended a wedding in a village near where He grew up. Weddings typically lasted several days. At some point, His mother Mary came up to Him to tell Him that their friends had run out of wine and we’re going to be shamed. After pushing back, verse 5 says, “But his mother told the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you’” (NLT). Jesus then told them to get water and fill six stone water jars. It didn’t make sense to them at the moment, but they obeyed. Then He told them to draw water and take it to the master of ceremonies. Again, it didn’t make any sense, but they did it anyway. When he lifted the cup of water to his lips, it changed into wine and the friend’s reputation was saved. Jesus Himself was obeying the Law because a stone jar is the only type of jar that could have two different liquids in it, one after the other, without being ritually purified.

1 Samuel 15:22 says, “But Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.’” I don’t know what God is asking you to do, or will ask you to do, but obedience is necessary above all else. He has the information you’re missing. He knows what you don’t know. In the moment, and even after, it may not make sense, but follow Mary’s advice and do whatever He tells you to. Hopefully it’s not to do a headstand in an airport, but if it is, follow His voice. When we obey whatever He tells us to, He opens doors that have never been opened before.

Thanks to Gabriel Encev on Unsplash for the photo.

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Holding On Tightly

If you could go back in time and watch anything in the Bible happen, what would it be? Watching the walls of Jericho fall would be high on the list for me. I wonder what the people on both sides thought as they marched around the walls. To hear the trumpets blast and the people shout because God had given them the city would be incredible I think. Then to stand there in awe as the walls collapsed and feel the earth shake from it would be the experience of a lifetime. I have read that story many times since I was a kid. I have even marched and driven around situations praying for spiritual walls to fall and for breakthrough. I’ve experienced the miracle of God moving in the moment like He did that day, but I’ve also experienced standing there waiting for the walls to fall. How do you respond when you’ve done everything you can and the walls remain while breakthrough eludes you?

In Mark 5:25-34, we read about a lady who had done everything she could, but her breakthrough never came. For 12 years, she had suffered with an issue of blood that made her unclean according to the Law. For 12 years she had gone to every doctor she could find only to get worse. For 12 years she faced disappointments and set backs. Think about where you were and what was going on in your life 12 years ago to put that into perspective. Somehow this woman kept marching around the walls praying for them to fall, when one day she heard about Jesus. She thought if she could just touch the hem of His garment, she would be healed, so she snuck up behind Him in the crowd. When she touched it, her breakthrough came and she was healed.

Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (NLT). It’s hard to keep holding on when your breakthrough doesn’t happen or is delayed, but like that woman, we can’t let go. Our hope is not based on the moment we’re standing in, but in the promise of the Great I Am, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Our faith must be greater than our feelings if we’re not going to waiver in those times when we’re staring down walls we’ve prayed would fall. Like the Israelites we need to keep marching and thanking God for the victory that’s coming. Like the woman we must seek out the hem of His garment when everything else has failed. We can trust in God’s promises and who He is because He’s been faithful. I don’t know when your breakthrough will happen, but I know you must keep holding on tightly to your faith in Him no matter what.

Photo by JJ Ying on Unsplash

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized