You got out of the boat for the same reason Peter did

Listen:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/3f1b9422/you-got-out-of...

"Welcome" to several new readers! We are in a conversation about living a life that matters, introduced through a peek at my childhood family boat, motoring across the white caps of the San Francisco Bay. While the waters got rough, I could always look off the back of the boat at the wake left behind. Something about that steady wake reassured me as a little girl, but over the years, I have come to think of the boat wake as a metaphor for life.

Question: What 'wake', what legacy will you leave behind when you come to the end of your boat ride? 

[Resilient...are you? https://conta.cc/44tLGI9]

For a long time now, one Old Testament figure, Caleb, has been a role model for living a life of value, of thriving and resilience.1 Caleb was resilient because he believed God-- that the land God promised He would deliver. Caleb believed God, so he trusted him; then he disciplined himself to stay strong of body, mind and spirit until an old age, so that he was ready and could do great things for God!

Then from the pages of the New Testament and the history books of Europe, came the radical life of Paul of Tarsus, whose indomitable spirit changed the world. His charge to the Corinthians: “Run in such a way to win the prize."2

Your attention? There is no thriving or flourishing without thinking well, which is why Paul said to 'take every thought captive.'3 We can do this by replacing our anxious, envious, destructive, self-critical thoughts with truth, especially the truth of God's promises.

But listen - those right thoughts,

those promises are only as good as the Promise Giver.

Which leads us to another boat. We find this boat on the rough waters of the Sea of Galilee at night.4 When Jesus comes walking toward the disciples, (yes, on top of the white caps), Peter gets out of the boat to walk toward him for one reason: Peter trusts Jesus.

Peter trusted Jesus because he knew him. He had spent a lot of time with Jesus - heard his teaching, saw how he loved, watched him do the miraculous..

Here's the thing: what you believe about God will set the course for your life. While replacing our anxious, destructive thoughts with promises of God, like 'if we trust him, he will lead us and show us the way to go,' is a positive thing to do, the fact remains that

the promise is not valuable or true unless the One

who made the promise is good and right and true.

Therefore it all comes down to this: what do you believe about God? Who is God to you? Do you have the right view of the God of the Universe? hmmm....

Yesterday I had the privilege of praying with a mother whose young son is in the hospital, struggling mightily, after a psychotic break, brought on by an underlying medical condition. I prayed for healing, of course, insight for the doctors, but I also prayed for peace for her and her husband, concluding with this prayer of Paul's,

"May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace

as you trust in Christ,

so that you may overflow with hope,

through the power of the Holy Spirit."5

Now this mama ('Emma Grace' on the phone) trusts God fully because she has had a relationship with him for many years. But friends, many people believe in God, they may even believe in Jesus--who he is and what he did—but genuine faith requires we put our trust in Jesus, and submit our wills to him.  Then, we can experience his peace and the only true hope to be found.

But we will only entrust ourselves to God if we have a proper view of Him!

Hit 'reply' and tell me who God is to you,

and why you love him...

why you trust him.

One of the best illustrations of what trust looks is immortalized in the French tightrope walker, Charles Blondin. One day (1859) he stretched a tightrope across the Niagara Falls, and before a large crowd, walked across and then back!6. The second time he pushed a wheelbarrow filled with a large sack of potatoes across and back. Again, the crowd cheered. Blondin asked the crowd if they thought he could safely push a man in the wheelbarrow across and back. Many in the crowd said, “Yes!” 

Then Blondin went up to one of the men who said, “Yes!” and asked him, “Sir, would you get into the wheelbarrow?” Now, if that man truly believed in Blondin he would get in and trust himself to Blondin to carry him over the Niagara Falls. 

Genuine faith is exactly like that.

Peter trusted Jesus so he got out of the boat.

Just as Blondin trusted the tightrope to support him, so Emma Grace trusts the God of the Universe, and for that reason, his promises are carrying her in this dark and difficult hour with her 23-year-old son.

How about you?  Oh, I know that you believe in God . . . that is good, but more is required.  Paul said it so clearly, “You have trusted Him in a few things, and He has not failed you. Trust Him now for everything and see if He does not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever have asked or thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power, that will work in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed will.⁷ Paul?! Dang, that is so good. Perhaps, Friend, you need to read those last few lines again.

Let God really be God in your life . . . 

you see, truly trusting in God gives you an underpinning assurance that your Heavenly Father's got you.... a compelling reason to live life to the full. True faith, genuine faith changes us, emboldens and impassions us, keeps us resilient, and encourages others.

Check this out: what a song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fD1UZyMaD0

With my love and prayers~

Christine

no. 7, resilience

PastorWoman.net

1 - Joshua 14.6-13: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua 14.6-13&ver...

2 - 1 Corinthians 9.24-27

3 - 2 Corinthians 10.5

4 - Matthew 14.22-36, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 14.22-36&v...

5 - Romans 15.13

6 - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/june-30/daredevil-cross...

7 - Ephesians 3.20-21