Floodgates of Heaven Devotions: Faith

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Who needs a boat?!?

Today’s Reading: Psalm 66-67, Romans 7

Today’s Reflection: Psalm 66:6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

Who needs a boat? Seriously, when you have God on your side, He truly is all you really need. Ordinary circumstances would have demanded ships by which the children of Israel would attempt to cross the Red Sea. However, there were simply too many Israelites (some estimate as many as 2.5 million), and so even if boats were available, they would be neither big enough or numerous enough to get them all across in time to save them from Pharaoh’s army.

In this particular incident, thinking one would need a boat would be a dramatic understatement of the hour. Which leads me to think; how many times do we with finite minds assess our troubles, then come to God with men’s recommendations on what we THINK we need to see us through?

Could it be that one of the reasons God has not given us our “boat”, is because He knows that our thinking is too small for the task? Maybe…just MAYBE…God thinks bigger than us…ya think? Here’s an idea; instead of trying to downsize God to our level of ingenuity, let us come to Him and simply talk to Him about our troubles that are too big for us, and let HIM do the thinking and the planning on how to overcome. After all, He JUST MIGHT have a solution that requires only HIS supernatural intervention!!

When Israel could not see a way out of their dilemma, Moses commanded them to “Stand still, and see the salvation of The Lord!” In other words, stop dead in your tracks, zip your lips, stand back, and watch God do what God does! So often God allows God-sized problems into our lives only to train us to learn by default to simply trust Him to see us through.

It is when we learn how to trust Him, knowing that nothing is too hard for Him, that He makes a way where there is no way. In this instance, He “turned the sea into dry land”. He parted the Red Sea with the blast of His nostril, and Israel walked across on dry ground. They literally went through the flood on foot!

What was supposed to overcome them, they overcame! What naturally was to destroy them, bowed down to the commandment of God the Father and made way for His children. And what was the end result? “There did we rejoice in him.” Friend, let God lead you through your trouble to the other side, where rejoicing awaits!

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How to get DELIVERED!

Today’s Reading: Psalm 31-32, Acts 23:16-35

Today’s Reflection: Psalm 31:1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

The Lord is righteous to deliver such as put their trust in Him! Moreover, The Lord would be unrighteous NOT to do so. For you see, His compensation for trust IS deliverance!  How often has our Lord promised in His precious Word that those who put their trust in Him shall not be ashamed? Let us consider just a few by way of reinforcement.

Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”
Psalm 2:12b says, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” And then 1 Chron. 5:20 says, “And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him.”

There are dozens if not hundreds more, but how many times does our Lord have to promise deliverance for those who put their trust in Him before we believe it? He need only say it once, but in His grace He repeats this principle over and over throughout the entire Bible. In fact, I’d dare say this is the overwhelming theme of redemption itself, and that’s what the Bible is ALL about!

Now, with that established, let me point out the mechanism by which He will deliver us. In our text, the Psalmist prays, “Deliver me IN THY RIGHTEOUSNESS!” (emphasis mine). You see, David knew that were the Lord to deliver him according to his (King David’s) own righteousness, it just wasn’t going to happen. He also knew enough to know that with God, faith is imputed (counted) for righteousness (see James 2:23). This means that even when we are guilty, if we will come to God with repentant faith, He will transfer His own righteousness to our account, and give us the deliverance that only He would or could deserve.

So, here is the good news; Child of God, quit pouting over your sins. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Quit just accepting your miserable state, assuming that God is and will continue to punish you because you deserve it. Do you realize that whatever trouble your sin has led you into, His righteousness can lead you out of? I cannot tell you HOW He does it, but I can assure you that He does, because He said so Himself! Lean on HIS righteousness to deliver you!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 203 of 365

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copyright © by Gary D. Caudill

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Expecting GREAT things!....

Today’s Reading: Job 3-4, Acts 7:44-60

Today’s Reflection: Job 3:25-26 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Expectation leads to realization. Here, Job admitted that what came upon him was exactly what he feared would come. In fact, he even put himself in harm’s way, lost sleep, and made a fuss over every effort to hedge himself against that for which he was most afraid, and yet, in spite of all of his efforts, trouble still came.

He was unable to stop that which he fully expected. I want to say that again, and I want to ask you to let it sink in; Job was unable to stop that which he fully expected!

Now, I can already hear the skeptic of this thought. I can hear one saying, “Oh, but haven’t you ever experienced any unmet expectations? Surely you are not saying that all you must do for things to happen is to expect them to happen!”

To this thought, I would readily agree that unmet expectations indeed happen every day, and faith is more than just a spirit of expectancy. In fact, James teaches us in the New Testament that faith without works is dead, being alone. No, my friend, expectancy alone does not produce results, but expectancy backed by supportive action steps indeed does produce results every single time.

That said, look at our text one more time. Job feared that trouble would come. This means that he expected it to come. It was something that he believed. However, he not only had passing thoughts about it, but he actually lost sleep over it, labored against it, and would not shut up about it, attempting to prevent it.

All of these action steps solidified his belief that trouble was coming, and he ended up getting exactly what he expected and prepared for.

Now, do I believe that Job was wrong to expect trouble? No! I would even say that he might have been foolish had he not expected it to come. Furthermore, all of the human race should know that you do not have to expect trouble to come in order for it to arrive.

However, I would say that we can invite specific troubles into our lives depending upon how we labor over them in stress, worry, fear, and preparation for them.

Now, I said all of that to say this; I propose that we spend more energy expecting, working for, preparing for, and talking about success than we do trouble and failure! Active faith WORKS!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 176 of 365

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copyright © by Gary D. Caudill

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What you call a weakness, may be your greatest strength!

Today’s Reading: 2 Chron. 10-12, John 11:30-57

Today’s Reflection: 2 Chron. 11:11 And he fortified the strong holds, and put captains in them, and store of victual, and of oil and wine.

As often as possible, I like to shed New Testament truths to Old Testament passages in an effort to make practical application for the New Testament saints. This will be no exception.

After reading our selected verse above, consider also what Christ spoke to His church in Sardis in Revelation 3:2, where He says, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”

Just as King Rehoboam was having to deal with a divided (and therefore weak) kingdom which threatened his ability to maintain peace and order, the church of Sardis was also struggling to remain strong and influential in their location with the Gospel message due to some of their spiritual flaws. In both cases, the remedy for such disarray was to fortify the strong holds, or in other words, to strengthen those things which remain.

In King Rehoboam’s case, to fortify the strong hold would mean to reinforce what was already deemed strong. In essence, it carries with it the idea of focusing on one’s strengths in order to survive.

In the church of Sardis’ case, to strengthen those things which remain which are ready to die, means to reinforce what was already deemed weak, and on the verge of dying.

Now, the reason I believe we can compare the church of Sardis to King Rehoboam’s kingdom, is the fact that the church of Sardis was actually fortifying their strong holds as well. Why would I say that? Because Jesus’ instructions to them were to strengthen those things which remain, implying that all else was already dead.

Now to my point; if there’s any life at all, and if there’s any breath at all; if there’s any hope or faith at all, strengthen THAT! You may be weak, frail, faint, and ready to give up and die, but the fact that there remains some strength in you at all (though small it may be) means that you can survive if you will strengthen what remains!

To let the weak say, “I am strong!” is to recognize your weakness AS strength when put into the hands of God. It is to understand that our definition of weakness is really just a smaller measure of strength. And all God wants us to do with our weakness (aka small measure of strength) is to give it to HIM and watch HIM rise up in strength for us!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 150 of 365

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copyright © by Gary D. Caudill

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Learn why God's "shall be" is still good enough!

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 8-9, Luke 21:1-19

Today’s Reflection: 1 Kings 8:26 And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou speakest unto thy servant David my father.

God spoke some promises to David His servant that King Solomon, David’s son, is seeing come to pass before his very eyes. At this point, Solomon has already praised The Lord for fulfilling the promise that He would raise Solomon himself up for the purpose of building a temple unto The Lord. In fact, Solomon had just completed this assignment prior to the prayer we are now observing and writing about.

But the promise goes much further than that. Ultimately, there is a promise that David’s seed will rule and reign on his throne forever. So, King Solomon is asking God to “verify” (that is, build up or support, foster, render firm or faithful, cause to be permanent, etc.) His word concerning the longevity of the lineage of King David’s heirs to the throne.

The promise he’s asking God to verify goes like this; “There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me.” The only question then, after careful observation, is this; WHEN can we expect this prophecy to begin?

King Solomon is praying for it to start “now”, is he not? Just look back at your verse. See how it starts? “And now, O God…” However, having the advantage of thousands of years of history behind us since this prayer was uttered by King Solomon, we NOW know that things did not happen as quickly as he had prayed.

Looking at the nation of Israel, they have been scattered throughout the world since then, and not until recent history have they even united back together, recognized as a nation again. So we know that the permanence of this promise has not yet begun. That’s why the promise uses the future tense word “shall”. And one of these days, King Jesus (right out of the lineage of David) is going to set up permanent rule and reign on Earth in the city of Jerusalem, on the throne of David, from which He will rule the world. Until then, we still find ourselves praying for “shall be” promises to come to pass “now”.

And this is where I want to draw application. Regardless of whether or not things happen according to OUR preferred timing, does not make God’s promises null or void. With God, if it still is a SHALL BE, then it still SHALL BE! Did you get that? Do not allow the devil to cause you to think that God missed His opportunity to make good on His promise. When you start thinking that the timing is too wrong to work, remember Lazarus!

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Floodgates of Heaven
Volume 2
Entry 120 of 365

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Decisions are easier when you know who you are!!

Today’s Reading: 1 Sam. 13-14, Luke 10:1-24

Today’s Reflection: 1 Sam. 13:14b …the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people…

Before David was promoted as king over Israel, before he was anointed as king by Samuel, before he defeated Goliath, and even before he was fetched from the shepherd’s field, young David got a glimpse of his kingly future.

At some point during David’s lowly assignment of keeping the sheep, he received a commandment from the LORD that he was to be the captain over Israel. Imagine that! Just a shepherd boy having such grandeur conversations with God Almighty while out tending sheep.

I wonder if at any point, he doubted the voice of God? I wonder if at any point he wondered if he was just imagining things, or if he was losing his mind? Regardless, what God commanded him to do, came to pass. Now, this begs the question, why did God let him in on that secret ahead of time?

Could it be because David would soon face Goliath, and would need an underlying understanding of the implications of a victory for himself and for Israel? Could it be that, without the knowledge of his destiny, he would have not been able to recognize and seize the opportunities for advancement that presented themselves to him? And could it be that, had he not been confident that he would end up promoted as king over all of Israel, he might have been a lot less confident, and a lot more timid, shy, and possibly weak and unable to win a victory?

Dear reader, when you know the end from the beginning, and you know you are on the winning side, it makes fighting a whole lot easier! When you know that this is a “fixed fight” you can go into the battle KNOWING that the victory is already waiting for you on the other side. You may not know exactly how, where, or when, but you just know! And I dare say, since David already knew that he would be king one day, he figured that not even Goliath could stop him.

Oh what confidence we too can possess as we fight our battles of faith today! We who are redeemed by the Grace of God are already declared overcomers of the world. We have absolutely nothing to lose! Why then do we sheepishly cower to the fiery threats of that old dragon the devil? He is under our feet!

We have the power in the name of Jesus! And if you’ll listen closely, God will not only show you the end from the beginning, but He will show you the moments between! The Spirit will show you things to come, and when God speaks of your future, look at your next opportunity through the lens of His promise!

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Floodgates of Heaven, Volume 2, Entry 99 of 365

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Doubting God = Resisting God

Today’s Reading: Judges 4-6, Luke 4:31-44

Today’s Reflection: Judges 4:6-7 …Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor…And I will draw unto thee… the captain of Jabin’s army…and I will deliver him into thine hand.

If you will do your drawing, God will do His! Our obedience to His specific instructions on where to draw toward will guarantee a victory; otherwise, we can expect only defeat. In fact, this is not the only place in scripture where we are taught how to win our battles on the draw.

It is also found in James 4:7-8, which says, “… Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. … purify your hearts, ye double minded.” So, again, we learn that if we do our drawing, God will do His!

And now for the word of caution; Before God told us to draw nigh unto Him, He first told us to resist the devil. This means there are two forces at work competing for our allegiance, and although the devil is no real competition to God, we are given the choice who we will resist, and who we will draw nigh unto.

What will your choice be? Before you answer quickly, let me also throw out another caution; James closed verse 8 out by saying, “…purify your hearts, ye double minded.” Could it be possible for some to either be drawing nigh unto both God and the devil at the same time, or resisting God and the devil at the same time?

Let me put it to you this way; wouldn’t it be fair to say that the way we resist the devil is through speaking the word of God, as Jesus did to satan? And, wouldn’t it also be fair to say that since we resist the devil with speaking the word, that we also draw nigh to God by believing the word, since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God?

Now, I want to make my point. IF we CLAIM we are drawing nigh to God while resisting the devil, BUT we are DOUBTING God’s word, then aren’t we really resisting God and being drawn to the devil by our own doubt? And, if that’s the case, it would seem that we ARE double-minded after all!

That said, know this; to doubt God is to resist God. We may not even be intentionally or consciously doing so, but that is what is happening when we let doubt creep into our hearts.

If we’re not careful, we’ll let the devil sow seeds of doubt into our hearts and minds, causing us to doubt God’s ability, and therefore causing us to spend endless hours trying to convince God to do something for us, as if He doesn’t want to, when the truth is, He would be delighted, if it wasn’t for our doubting Him.

So, let us truly resist the devil, by truly speaking AND trusting God’s word!

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Floodgates of Heaven, Volume 2, Entry 87 of 365

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You're stronger than you think you are...

Today’s Reading: Josh. 16-18, Luke 2:1-24

Today’s Reflection: Josh. 17:18b …for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.

God knows ALL that! Whatever you are concerned with, God’s promises are greater still. We as humans sometimes feel the need to inform God of all He’s up against, as if He were not already aware of it.

When God issues a promise, He seldom discloses the minute details of how He’s going to work things out; generally, He gives what seems to us to be a clear and simple promise. And when He doesn’t even reference the problems He’s going to have to address when He promises us victory, we sometimes think that it is our job to try to convince God that He’s got His work cut out for Himself!

Think about it. Joshua had already lead Israel through many victorious battles, and was fully aware of God’s covenant-keeping power. So, when the house of Joseph came to him, informing him of the sheer might and power of the Canaanites, Joshua already knew that the house of Joseph was still stronger, because Joshua remembered the covenant that God made with Israel.

Just because God’s promises sometimes seem to be a bit vague on the details to us, does not mean that He is any less aware of any and every detail involving the keeping of that promise. He knows your weaknesses, your insecurities, your obstacles, your enemies, and everything else He needs to know.

That still doesn’t change the fact that when God speaks, no matter how simple His Word is, it is all-powerful and will finish what God sent it to accomplish. We need only replace all of our worries about all of the details of our struggle with the promises of God’s word, remembering that He who is in us IS INDEED greater than he who is in the world.

We will never inform God of anything He doesn’t already know. God wants us to talk to Him, but it is not because we can teach Him anything. Rather, it is because He can teach us even when we’re doing all the talking.

How many times did God ask a question in the Bible, for the sole benefit of the one being asked? For example, God asked Adam where he was after he had sinned and hid himself in the garden. God did not ask because He did not know; He asked because Adam needed to know and confess.

In other words, God taught Adam a very important lesson by the words that came out of his own mouth in response to God’s question. In like manner, we can learn a lot about ourselves by just listening to ourselves talk. Had the house of Joseph listened to their own speech, they would have learned that they were losing sight of the promises of God. What is your talk teaching you?

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Floodgates of Heaven, Volume 2, Entry 83 of 365

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Preach, Rooster, PREACH!!!

Today’s Reading: Deut. 28-29, Mark 14:54-72

Today’s Reflection: Mark 14:72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

God instructed that rooster to crow two times, strategically in such a manner that the sound of the second crow would bring back Christ’s words to Peter’s mind and heart for the intended profound impact it would have upon him. And since the number 2 is the number of witness, isn’t it amazing how that while Peter had denied Christ three times, the rooster crowed twice as a witness to remind Peter of who he was and of who Christ was! In fact, 2 Tim. 2:13 states that “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” When Peter’s faith was too weak to stand, Christ abode faithful to him and ensured that His word (which is the seed of faith) should remain in him. Do you see the sequence? Peter denies Christ the first time; the rooster crows the first time; Peter denies Christ a second and a third time; the rooster crows the second time; the words sown in his heart by Christ were immediately brought back to surface in his mind as a way to ensure that his faith failed not. You know the story; Peter eventually came back around and served Christ with fervor and success until at last, historians tell us he was crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy to be crucified in the same fashion as his Lord. I’d say Christ stood by him, wouldn’t you? Dear child of God, 1 John 5:10 says, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself…” And just as God would not allow Peter to follow through on his denials and run away from his calling for the rest of his life, even so ye who are saved by God’s grace have the witness in you, that will not allow you to deny Him with your life. You may fall, but Christ will not deny Himself, and He will help you get back up again! Your seed will remain in you, just as Peter’s did (see 1 John 3:9)! I may be that rooster God has sent your way, to sound the alarm that triggers that word deep down in your heart and memory bank to spring forth as the morning with the fresh dew of the Holy Spirit upon it to bring you back into the place you know you supposed to be with God. God has a way of doing that, you know! I imagine for the rest of his life, when the rooster preached, Peter said amen! Peter said, I KNOW HIM…I KNOW HIM, I KNOW HIM!!! What about you? Have you heard the rooster preaching in your life lately, reminding you not to deny Christ, but to claim Him as your own? Listen to "I Know Him!" below and make this your battle cry!

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Floodgates of Heaven, Volume 2, Entry 75 of 365

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Don't Lose Heart!

Today’s Reading: Deut. 19-21, Mark 13:21-37

Today’s Reflection: Deut. 20:8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.

Fear is contagious. Remember the ten doubting brethren? Remember how they caused the hearts of the people to melt by bringing back an evil report from spying out the Promised Land? Instead of speaking faith, they chose to speak of the giants and the challenges and their doubts and fears. It was so contagious that it spread throughout nearly the entire camp, and as a result, those doubting never entered into the promised land. You’ll miss your blessing by giving heed to fears and doubts that cause you to become fainthearted in the battle. In our text, these officers were commanded that when they filtered through their potential soldiers for battle, that if one was fearful and fainthearted, he was to be sent back home. Why? Because fear is like a cancer, and it will spread if you don’t cut it out! And so it is with us; too often we form our expectations of what is possible by what our doubtful brethren have to say, rather than what God has already spoken. It would do us all some good if we would surround ourselves with faith-filled people, and keep ourselves (as much as possible) away from those who are always fearful and fainthearted. We must learn how to walk in faith, even if it means learning how to walk alone. We certainly don’t need any input into our spirits that comes from anyone of a doubtful or fearful disposition. Consider your sources! Determine not to be that one who is always questioning things and skeptical to the point of fear and doubt; and then, be sure not to hang around those who have this kind of faith-less demeanor. If you don’t take these precautions, it will eventually drain the very life out of you. Don’t allow anything or anybody to rob you of your faith, but especially not the brethren! It’s not worth it! I personally have observed first-hand the devastating and widespread effects that a fearful and fainthearted spirit has on a group of people; namely, the church. I am sad to say that in recent years many of God’s people have been SO fearful and fainthearted about what is going on in the world that instead of focusing on the promises of God’s word and the power of His Majesty, they choose rather to focus on the problems, just digging themselves deep into doubt and fear. SNAP OUT OF IT!! BELIEVE GOD!! BE STRONG AND OF A GOOD COURAGE!! GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL!! DO NOT FAINT!!

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Floodgates of Heaven, Volume 2, Entry 73 of 365

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The 10/2 Paradigm

Day 66

Today’s Reading: Deut. 1-3, Mark 10:32-52

Today’s Reflection: Deut. 1:28 Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

The latest news is not always the greatest news! Let us remember that The Lord had already promised a complete victory, and yet because of the lack of spiritual discipline to REMEMBER what GOD had already spoken, and the faith to trust His word, these men allowed their very own brethren to discourage their hearts. Question: who are YOU going to listen to? God, or the brethren? Oh, don’t get me wrong…the brethren aren’t always wrong. BUT, when they’re wrong, they ARE wrong! I see two fundamental mistakes that the people made in this verse. First, they were listening to what the brethren were saying over what God was saying, and second, they were listening to what the brethren were SEEING. God’s Word should have been ALL-SUFFICIENT. We live by faith, not by sight (see 2 Cor. 5:7). However, at this point I would also like to remind you that, among the 10 doubting spies who brought back an evil report, were 2 faith-filled men (Caleb and Joshua) who didn’t see things the same way the others did. I’d like to call this the 10/2 paradigm. 10 were walking by sight, while 2 were walking by faith. 10 were full of fear, while 2 were full of courage. 10 saw the giants, while 2 saw the grapes. All 12 saw the same things with the natural eye, but only 2 saw clearly with the eye of faith. What side of the paradigm do you find yourself? Are you with the 10, or with the 2? Need I go through the Bible to build a case to prove that in most cases, the majority opinion, though collectively decisive, were also collectively wrong? I suppose I’ll pass this time, but I would encourage you to do your own homework and see if you don’t come to the same conclusion that I do. Namely, that just as Jesus stated, few there be that find the way which leads unto life (see Matt. 7:14). In other words, just because the majority of the brethren agree on something, does not necessarily mean it to be based on actual truth. It could be that they have fallen on the wrong side of the 10/2 paradigm. If Christ were to come to you and inspect your life to determine whether you were living by faith or by sight, which side would He find you on? The answer to this question alone will determine whether or not you will ever experience the victorious “Canaan Land” experience readily available to all who decide to follow God rather than the brotherhood.

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Vision vs. Process

Day 59 (Category: Faith)

Today’s Reading: Num. 17-19 & Mark 6:30-56

Today’s Reflection: Mark 6:37a He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat…

Imagine that! Jesus places for the disciples what they considered to be a tall order! How were they to feed thousands with only a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread? I really like Jesus’ style. He gives them the instruction before He leads them through the process. In one sentence He gives both the vision and the assignment…. "Give ye them to eat." While He does so, He fully anticipates the participation of the disciples as He unveils, step by step, exactly how this is to happen. God will often show us the big picture first, and then lead us step by step from point A to point Z in the process of fulfilling the vision He gives us for our lives in His Kingdom. The key to fulfilling God’s will and being instrumental in the miraculous is to operate in simple obedience and faith, on simple step at a time. It is worth pointing out that Jesus was fully capable of pulling this entire event off Himself, but in this instance, Jesus was multi-tasking. Though He had compassion on the multitudes, and though He wanted to feed them, it really wasn’t just about the needs of the multitude. It was about the needs of the disciples. You see, Jesus was teaching and training them to operate in faith. He was showing them how to tap into Heaven’s resources through faith in an otherwise impossible situation. He was letting them know that the assignments ahead in their ministries would be impossible with men, but possible with God. He was building up their most holy faith. No doubt later when Peter came back to Christ after denying Him thrice, and Jesus instructed him to “feed my lambs”, he must have remembered this event fresh in his mind when Jesus asked him and his friends to feed the multitudes with nothing more than obedience, faith, and a meager supply. Jesus was giving them ammo. Jesus was preparing them for when they would need encouragement as they faced humanly impossible situations while preaching the gospel. It was imperative that they know that with each assignment is given the power and the supply to pull it off when they trust and obey. Admittedly, at first, they did not get it. But don’t you know that later on in their more mature years of ministry, that those seeds of faith came into full bloom and the lessons were finally learned, and not a minute too soon! Now, what about you? What are you avoiding that God has asked you to do, simply because you’ve looked at your limited supply instead of His endless power? If you’re in that place, simply take the first step of faith, and God will lead you step by step!

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It is time to WORK your faith!

Day 57 (Category: Faith)

Today’s Reading: Num. 12-14 & Mark 5:21-43

Today’s Reflection: Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

Wow! Has God ever given you a shout-out like that? “But my servant Caleb…” First, that God would distinguish Caleb from the rest as His servant, implying that all others who were of doubtful disposition were NOT His servants, is worthy of noting in and of itself! But He did not stop there. He goes on and tells us more about this choice servant of His, “…because he had another spirit with him…” Hmmm, another spirit? YES! A faith-filled spirit! Caleb REFUSED to adopt this foul-spirited, pessimistic, doubtful attitude that had infested most of the camp. He stood out above and beyond the crowd, so much so that in verse ten they wanted to stone him, along with Joshua, for being of this different spirit. Isn’t it amazing how so many people will join the band wagon of stoning anyone that dares to be boldly and courageously different in their attitude? ESPECIALLY those who are of the true household of FAITH! If you want the most enemies both in the natural and spiritual realm, just DARE to believe God, stay positive, and maintain a pioneering spirit with a courage that will not back down to the giants of normalcy and status quo. You see, Caleb was a mover and shaker. Just because things were as they were, did not mean they had to stay that way. Caleb chose to trust that obedience and faith in God would shift things around to where the things that were in the way, such as the giants, would be quickly removed and a new order would come into play. Caleb did not take the passive approach that things should just remain as they are. No, but instead, he insisted to effect positive change in the right direction, even at the high cost of effort and advancement. You see, the truth is, we want our faith to do all the work for us after we are saved, but honestly, “serving faith” is different than “saving faith” in that “serving faith” requires you to put some effort into that for which you trust God to help you accomplish. Israel, up to this point, experienced “saving faith”; that is, salvation by God and not of their own works. But now, after their deliverance, God wants to teach them how to implement work into their “serving faith” in order for that faith to be fully activated, functional, & fruitful. Caleb was now willing to illustrate his faith through his efforts, believing God to help him win the battle. He no longer expected God to just spoon feed him anymore. It was time to WORK that faith! May God help US to be of this same spirit!

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