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Knowledge + Action = Faith
“Faith is believing in what you can’t see, following a voice you can’t prove you heard and living by principles that God says are true but don’t make sense in this world.” I can’t remember exactly where I found this particular quote, however, it does a great job of expressing who I am at my core and what I stand on as I walk through life each day.
I remember a discussion on the passage in James (James 2:14-26) about faith and good deeds with a group of elders at church many years ago. When asked what I thought the scripture meant, I explained good deeds where an outward expression of your faith in a loving God. They all looked at me and said no, that’s not it at all. I honestly don’t remember what their explanation was, all I recall is it seemed very ‘religious’.
Forgiveness Ensures Freedom
“Can you choose to forgive her”, where my words to a man I was counseling as I spoke with him about his relationship with his wife. He was mad and hurt and wanted restitution, restoration and for her to suffer as much as he had during their separation.
There is a spirit of bitterness we like to harbor in life. It seems completely ridiculous that a person would want to be miserable, yet so many folks choose to be that way. I use to be really bad about holding a grudge against people. I never did anything to impact them, other than be mad and have ugly thoughts about them. It only impacted me and those around me. Now just how dumb does all of that sound…very!
Alive in Jesus
As we have travel the last 5 years, we are seeing a growing mistrust of Christ followers in general. I believe we have brought this on ourselves because we have done a poor job of showing the love of our Savior to those around us through our daily activities.
A few years back, I read UnChristian, written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyon. While not shocking, it did open my eyes wide to how we are perceived in the world. It’s an honest evaluation of who we are and what we have become. Unfortunately their words have been echoed by many we have met. We realized we must change if we are to be a witness for the Kingdom.
Developing Our Heart for God
The Lord has always prized relationship with him over any other aspect in life. Through relationship, we gain valuable insight into the nature of God. While book knowledge is certainly important, relationship is paramount. Before I started to foster my connection with the Lord, I could read and understand the scriptures at the basic literal level. However, when I started to walk daily with Him, it changed what I saw in the scripture. It’s depth and beauty were revealed in ways I never though imaginable.
The story of feeding the 5000 is one small example. In the literal sense we see the miracle of how Jesus took a boys lunch and feed 5000 men and there families. Through the spiritual side, He showed me that He is inviting us to use our gifts, unique to us individually, to further the Kingdom on earth.
The Judas Test
We moved from Oklahoma to Delaware in early 1990. There was a new flying squadron standing up and I had an opportunity to advance my career. Unfortunately not everything would turn out as ‘I’ had planned.
While there were certainly good times during that season, it was 3 years of the most difficult life lessons I would have to learn. I was ‘promised’ a job by someone who did not have the authority to do so. I would realize sometime later it was ignorance on both our parts more than a betrayal of trust, but none the less a stinging defeat.
Harmony in Calling
We have always had a very eclectic group of individuals ministering with JAMA. They range from practicing Catholics to Baptists to Pentecostals. Some folks have asked how we blend such a diverse group of believers together to minister with one voice for JAMA, the ministry the Lord has given us charge over.
It’s really simple, we all agree on 3 things, 3 is 1 (God is represented by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), the Bible is the completed word of God and Jesus is the only way to heaven. I figure if we can agree on those 3 things, the rest is open to discussion. It’s worked for 14 years, don’t see any reason to change now.
It Will Happen, Crash the Chatterbox – Week 3
Our fears are fueled by worry. Playing out the ‘what if?’ scenarios of things outside our control and producing nothing more than anxiety and insomnia. But what is really at the bottom of our worst fears? In part 3 of our series Crash the Chatterbox, Pastor Steven teaches us through the story of Paul’s shipwreck in Acts to show us how to shift our fear to faith, and how, through Christ, we can face any situation with the promise, “God says He will.
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