By Faith, What more can I say?

Hebrews 11:31-32 NIV - : 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 32 And what more shall I say?

SO, for two weeks I have done my level best to communicate to you through  the accounts of the book of Hebrews...that BY FAITH is really the only way we can approach this thing called life.  Today, we are reminded of Rahab, THE PROSTITUTE, who by faith welcomed the spies, and her "faithfulness" was remembered when God decided to lay to waste the city, and she and her family were saved, a PROSTITUTE people!  The same one you want off of your corners.  The same one that you don't make to feel too welcomed at your church, your kids school (remember she too may have children attending there) or in your neighborhood.  Remember it didn't say RAHAB was a "former prostitute" when she demonstrated faith.  REALLY? REALLY!  So if GOD has grace, mercy, and forgiveness for HER, what does that say about you, and your past?  THERE'S HOPE FOR YOU!  Pictured is me posing, with a tank behind me.  Is your faith like a TANK behind you; powerful, intimidating?  Just think if I approached every obstacle with thinking my faith (the tank) is at my disposal.....what rivers I could cross, what...obstacles I could blast away, or crush.  How is your faith?  Is it enough to live on, so that you are making decisions guided by the SPIRIT in FAITH or you taking wreckless risks?  No matter what......THERE'S STILL HOPE FOR YOU (next week's title) and I pray you begin to LIVE BY FAITH, knowing that all things (not some, not a few or a couple...but ALL THINGS)  are truly possible in CHRIST JESUS, who strengthens you!

Are you willing to look Stupid doing the Stupendous, By Faith?

Hebrews 11:29-30 NIV - : 29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

So we all know about God using Moses to deliver the people across the Red Sea, and how amazing that was.  Imagine being on the shore seeing this great fete of GOD...and then be told....we can now cross, not knowing if the walls of water would come down on them and drown them out, but they had to have faith that this GOD loved them enough He woouldn't destroy them.   We too cross over the sea in boarding our flight to Lilongwe, and for many we'd never flown in a plane for that length of time (25+hrs total in flight) , and this is filled with post 9/11 fear, but OUR FAITH prevailed!

Many of my friends & co-workers expressed their fears in me going but had I given into their fears and not my FAITH, I would've never met these beautiful children pictured here.  Leaving the comforts of my home and everyday living appeared stupid but my feet falling on Africa soil was absolutely Stupendous, along with the work and relationships we established.  THANK YOU GOD!

And as if going once wasn't enough  WE WENT AGAIN, in 2011 but this time like marching around a wall, expecting something to happen...and it did, we went back thinking that in 12 days (mind you 4 were spent in traveling alone so 8 real daysin Africa) we could really do some good.    Not only did we witness GOD's power but His dominion here we are less than 30ft. from a lioness and her cubs in the middle of their habitat.  Some felt and still do think THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY STUPID...but I challenge you to see how STUPENDOUS it was because maybe you can visualize this type of encounter in heaven, but not on Earth without a life being lost or threatened.   So what about you?  Are you willing to look STOOPID cutting your neighbors lawn for free, or offering to babysit a single mom's kids to give her a break, or really GIVE til it hurts?    You get one shot at this thing called life....I HOPE YOU MAKE IT AN ADVENTURE!  You can start by LOVING the people you can't stand!

By Faith Giving Up, to Gain

 Hebrews 22-24-26: By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

This is a few of the kids from the Save Orphans Ministry Care Center that when we showed up to be with them, greeted us with song and dance.  Their emphatic worship of GOD led each of us to tears in 2009 because the song they sang in their native tongue said, " They have left the comforts of their home, Like Christ, to come dwell with us.  And We Praise You GOD!"  Never before had I looked at my life here in the U.S. like that, as if it were some cheap happy meal version of heaven, but the reality of it, is that really......it is.  We have our 2000+ square feet homes, in our well to do districts, with our current hip automobiles, and more channels on our TV than the primitive 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, and 30 dialed sets of old..  So we are privileges to come to Malawi, one of the, if not THE poorest countries in Africa, where there will be none of the luxuries aforementioned....but what we would find is meaning for each of our lives.   See Moses grew up with the best of the best, but his heart broke for injustice, so much so his deep compassion, led him to be with those who had been suffering, and mistreated.   So much so, Moses spent the remainder of his adult life with these same people, who complained and cause him much grief towards the end of his life.    But he didn't leave them, and I believe it was because he wanted to see people connect to the GOD he met in the desert, and he knew that if he could get them to KNOW HIM they too, would be willing to give up (the THINGS), to gain ETERNITY (with the KING)!

What about you?  Would you give up the promotion....to be with people that need the connection to the CHRIST you know?  Would you be BOLD enough to make feeding the homeless a priority?  Or sign up for a short term or long term missions trip?  What will you have given up by the end of  your life to gain (what)?  I hope you all are looking ahead.....to what's after this side of eternity, by how you are living today!

The Results of Disobedience, BY FAITH

Hebrews 11:23 NLT : 23 It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born.   They saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.

Pictured is my niece/god child Olivia.  She doesn't look like your son, or your daughter, she is uniquely made.  Actually according to GOD she isn't even ordinary....much like Moses.  Now don't think I 'm insenuating that she will part a sea, but she like Moses, and many of us were an idea in the mind of GOD, long before our parent's "hooked up".  When you really slow down and think about it, if this is true that Moses (and each of us) was no ordinary child, and there is not one thing that is created by GOD that is ordinary, then she is, he (Moses) was, and you included are extraordinary beings, purposed to do something great.  Now, whether you do anything GREAT, may depend on your ability to take risks.  It's a risk to figure out how to live your faith out, at a work place that asks you not to (disobey in FAITH).  It's a risk to to live a simpler life than aim for the riches of this world (disobey in FAITH).  It's a risk to even to TRUELY LIVE for CHRIST by losing yourself in Him, as opposed to "Doing it My Way" (disobey in FAITH).   It's a risk to have a baby.....but when you consider the possibilites of God's purpose for that child for this world and for Him....how can one consider abortion......Let's really lay ourselves, our agendas aside....and live for one another, as Christ did.   In order for someone to be saved, someone has to be willing to be sacrificed!   
DISOBEY TODAY in FAITH, actually LOVE GOD, and really....not act like it...but rather JUST DO IT, love ALL PEOPLE!

Are You Ready to Sacrifice In Faith, so that you may Have more?

Hebrews 11 17-19: 17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only. son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. 
So God promised Abraham in his old age that he'd have a son, and that by that son He'd become the father of many nations.  Then he asked Him to offer up that same son......what about you?  Are you ready to give up, what seems to matter the most to you, to recieve the promises of God?  Isaac was deeply loved by Abraham, but not more than GOD.   For many of us we have to wrestle with the truth that WE AREN'T THERE!  We love a few things (our children, our spouses, our jobs, or luxuries) mre than GOD...and that can't be, or continue to be.  WE have to make, and put GOD first in our lives, so that when and if we should lose any of the aforementioned.....WE will be alright because we got the greatest gift, Him!  Pictured today is a lush and beautiful garden and mountain view, in Africa.....yes...in Africa....but you'd never experience it, if you wouldn't be willing to give up, the comforts of your home here....
What do you need to give up or move so that GOD is first?  My prayer is that you TRUST GOD and experience the FULLNESS of JOY by making Him First!  It says to LOVE GOD (first) then LOVE PEOPLE! (not a suggesting but rather a commandment)

Living for Eternity or Not

Hebrews 11:13-16 NLT - : All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
SO we made it....it's Friday, we had a short week due to the holiday on Monday, and many of  you are SO thankful for a short week, but guess what .....NEXT WEEK IS A FULL ONE...so how will you make it?  I'll tell  you how....BY FAITH!  All this week we were reminded of how ordinary people of GOD made it into the Hall of Faith.  Each one of them were living life in the proper perspective....eternally minded.  You can too, if you always keep in front of you that THIS IS NOT YOUR HOME!  GOD has prepared a place for you in eternity.  If you messed up (and you will, and probably have) get up and remember there's still time. 
I pictured this 757 plane because I remember doubting at one point Cherilyn and I were gonna be able to go to Africa, but as you can see I didn't let my doubts win, I wrestle with them yes, but in the end it was TOTALLY BY FAITH that I found myself standing before this plane, being on this plane, and feet resting in and on the soil of GOD'S CONTINENT...AFRICA.  
So please live today in proper perspective....look at your circumstances with your ETERNAL LENSES and you should see beyond them, to realize that you have to say BYE to DOUBT, and continue to live BY FAITH.  (hint hint....next weeks title, btw we aren't done in Hebrews 11)
LGLP

BY FAITH, IN FAITH you GO!

Hebrews 11:8-10: It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. ⁹ And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. ¹⁰ Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God

Pictured is the LIGHT of the LORD breaking through the African Skies as we completed walking into, dwelling amongst, and praising GOD with the people of the Tsilitza Village.   I have marked the road we traveled by calling it the "Hard Walk" because the terrain was unforgiving and the sights seemed to rip the roots of consumerism (the desire to get, gather, and gain MORE) from my soulish fabric.  No matter what planning you can do, going to a place like Africa....you will always be blown far away by the sights, smells, and experience of the LOVE of GOD in such a place.   Abraham didn't know what it would be like to go, where GOD had commanded him to.  As a matter of fact he didn't even know WHERE that was.  And honestly based on the 10 verse I don't think it mattered because he knew 1) GOD SAID IT, 2) GOD wouldn't leave him, 3) and no matter what his final destination he was sure of....the CITY WITH ETERNAL FOUNDATIONS built 100% by GOD.  Can you say the same regarding GOD's movements in your life?   I never dated my wife.  We met in December, I proposed after our February and begun planning a wedding that occured in May, BY FAITH!  I was ministering at The Temple Non-Denominational Church over 10years, GOD told us our work was done....and directed us to Calvary (more than 15miles from my home) and We have been ever since...and have a beautiful family that HE provided...BY FAITH. 
WHAT WILL BE SAID about your life.......will your biggest decisions be marked BY FAITH, or because you called all the shots?  MAKE A DECISION to LIVE LIFE AT WORK, AT HOME, and IN COMMUNITY BY FAITH!