In the Little Things

Hello again....

Last night we met with our small group, which we love, and it had been awhile since we had all been together. Our pastor is doing a sermon series on Revelation (click here to check it out!) so we are spending our small group time in further discussion about the sermon.

We discussed the July 5 sermon, and we spent a great deal of our time talking about ways in which we "deny" Christ. Denial can take many different forms and we discovered that here in our plush, un-persecuted world it is very easy to slip by having to really "stand" for Christ. It doesn't help us either that as adults we have been trained and influenced by many different fears and ways of thinking passed onto us from family, experience and worldly pressures.

I am always quieted when my five year old asks someone if they love Jesus~ he hasn't been influenced to think that that is not a good idea~ he just thinks everyone should love Jesus. He is always so excited to tell a perfect stranger that he has received Jesus into his heart. Ah!~ The beauty of child-like faith. All he knows is that he loves Jesus and this is worth sharing!

Now, don't we know that same thing? Don't I have 26 years of experience with God's faithfulness in my life, His drawing me nearer and nearer to Him, His perfect provision always sustaining me as I walk in realtionship with Him? Yes! Of course I do~ but why do I sometimes act as if I do not?

Fear, doubt, denial.

So, where do I strengthen these muscles? Last night we all agreed that it was in the small things. Developing my faith and trust in God in the small decisions, strengthens me for trusting in the big things. When I can keep walking in full trust in the daily decisions and things that pull at me, then this is my default mode when the big storms come raging. As one friend last night said, "The storm is raging around me, but I am walking on steady calm ground."

God is big and He is actively at work right now. We read in His word about a burning bush, a talking donkey, a staff that turns to a snake and we think, "Wow! What it would be like to see such a miracle." Well, stop just a minute and think of a way He has divinely provided for you in this last week. Have you seen a baby in a mother's womb? Have you been able to forgive someone through Christ? Have you read anything about the modern day persecuted church around the world? God is still in the business of miracles and I believe in everyday kind of miracles.

Trust, faith, perseverence.

Let these be the words that define us and drive us towards living a life that stands more firmly for Christ. Do not deny Christ the glory due His name anymore. Live your life in such a way that it shouts, "I belong to Christ!" See what He might do through you to reach the lives of those living in the greatest denial, which is unbelief.