Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. 1 Timothy 4:16
Splash!
The Israelites had been wandering through the wilderness for forty years. It was the day they were going to enter in to the Promised Land. Moses called all of the people together to remind them of all that God had done for them.
Deuteronomy 8:4-10
4 For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell. 5 So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you to help you. 6 "So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with springs that gush forth in the valleys and hills. 8 It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, olives, and honey. 9 It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. 10 When you have eaten your fill, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
At the beginning of the year, I challenged the members of the Life Group I teach to join the “Bible Challenge” and join me to read through the Bible in one year. This was a part of today’s reading and as I read it, I began to weep as I thought of God’s love for me and for you.
As I look back on my life there were some very dark and very hard times. I’m sure you can say the same for your life. God allows us go through those things to mold us and shape us and turn us to Him. Hopefully, as we go through those hard times, we learn quickly that we are nothing without Him and that with Him, we have everything we need!
I’ve known other believers that seem to go through one crisis after another and never seem to ever get any victory in their lives. They may go for a month or two without anything bad happening but the first thing you know, they are getting slammed again with another tragedy. It breaks my heart to see them go through this but many times God is trying to teach them something and they are not learning the lesson or applying the answer to the lesson He is trying to teach them.
Jonah was a prophet and God told him to go to the wicked city of Ninevah to tell them to turn from their wicked ways or they would be destroyed. Jonah hated the people of Ninevah so badly that, instead of getting on a ship going TO Ninevah, he got on a ship going the opposite direction. Because of that, a great storm arose on the waters. All of the pagan sailors began to pray to their gods for relief from the storm hoping their ship would not sink. When that did not help, Jonah told them that he was the problem and if they threw him overboard, the storm would stop.
Most of you know the story, they threw Jonah overboard, the storm stopped, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, then spat back out and he went to Ninevah where the people repented and God spared them.
The moral to the story is, Jonah did not need more prayer, the storm didn’t need more prayer, the situation needed a SPLASH! The SPLASH stopped the storm!
What situation in your life doesn’t need more prayer but rather, needs a splash? What has God told you to do that you aren’t doing? What are you doing that you shouldn’t be doing?
Stop fighting God, obey Him, do what He says. His yoke is easy and His burden is light! When you finally make Him the LORD of your life you will enter into the Promised Land God has for you!
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