HONEY ISLAND

Ask yourself: In what way, today, have I invited God to speak to me? At what point have I not just said but behaved as though I am listening? A crucial element of our faith is to be receptive to God. If, like Paul, you found yourself shipwrecked on a small island in the middle of a stormy sea, would you have the faith to discover hope and purpose in the situation?

It is easy to answer yes in the metaphorical sense. But when life leaves us stranded in a situation we did not foresee and do not want to be in, hope and purpose are usually lost to us. The shipwrecked crew in Acts 28 had just personally experienced the grace and power of God that resulted in the retention of their lives. A little sea-beaten but alive in faith and fresh off of the rescue, God was able to exemplify why, out of any island, the one they had come to was honey island.

• HONEY ISLAND

Paul and company discovered themselves to be preserved and on new land... albeit shipwrecked, on an island called Melita, "honey". So often is that the result of our fight in faith, feeling shipwrecked in a new place. We wrestle to subdue the parts within and around us that are not in alignment with God's word and find ourselves on new, unfamiliar ground. But the truth is: that ground is holy, that ground is honey.

In Psalm 119:30 God's word is described as sweet as honey; and throughout the Bible, honey is a representation of faith and health, and the wisdom and love of God. And so to arrive on honey island after a literal and spiritual battle is to arrive into blessing. Honey island is that haven faith brought you to just before you lost or gave up completely. Honey island is the place where God is most efficiently able to heal and restore you, because you have finally arrived in a place where you invite Him to do so. 

The men aboard the ship with Paul had just submitted themselves to God's will. Before God would restore them to voyage, they needed time with Him. To bask in His love and instruction, to become strong enough to retain their faith once restored to their original purposes. From this we can understand how important it is to have the special, isolated time with God. He won't simply send us back out into the world on flimsy faith. We need to build the relationship, experience life from His perspective and observe what is is to operate in accordance with His will. 

• NO LITTLE KINDNESS 

Unforeseen arrivals in an unknown land, Paul and the crew could fully expect not to be welcomed by the island's inhabitants. The opposite happened: all surviving men of the shipwreck were met with extreme kindness and care. They were cold and wet and without bribe or even request were warmed with fire. 

The process of building strength, even spiritual strength, requires time. A new commitment, even a wholehearted one, is often weak and in need of coddling. We have to build our relationship with God. Trust is not an on/off switch. Love is not a well. We can't simply fall into it and remain. Each is a voyage, a process. And thus it is only through walking that we begin to build and grow those things.

What we can expect is that will provide the fire. Cold and wet or weak as we may be, God supports us in that time. New in faith (or in the renewing of faith or a new area of faith) we are seen by God as a fawn or hatching. A small thing in need of support and nourishment. That is the word and will of God. So dependent on it, we must ask ourselves if we have been receptive to it. God is providing, are we receiving? 

• BECAUSE OF THE HEAT

Faith formed in our lives is a fire. Faith ignites inspiration and courage within it. It ignites our determination and passion and purpose. And when we are fired up in such things, it makes sense that the injustices we begin to contend with will bite. 

Paul did a good thing. No matter where he was: on the road; in a prison; or shipwrecked on a island, Paul brought people to God. It was the work and purpose of his life. As the fire grew hotter and began to warm the people around it, a venomous viper came out and bit Paul in the hand. The bite has spiritual implications. 

In the fight for justice we will meet resistance. In the preaching of scripture we will face rejection and even hostility. And that rejection and hostility will always intend to stop our work. To bite our hand, to ultimately thwart our purpose. And that viper, in whatever form it comes in, will  have the power to do so... if we have not been receptive to God. 

The inhabitants of the island were certain that Paul would die. A bite from such a danger could not be survived. And they were right. It could not be survived... without God. There is so much that we cannot do and cannot survive if we are not accessing, through faith, the power and strength of God. But Paul had been receptive to God; he was accessing those holy storehouses and therefore he was impervious to the bite.

God wants us to understand that when we are doing the work of the Kingdom of God we may be confronted by enemies but will never be subdued by them. When we are plugged into faith, we have the nourishment to persevere through derailment. God's protection over us will astound others: the islanders thought Paul a supernatural being because of he survived.

But as God's children, we know the truth. God has told us:Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you, James 4:7. As Paul did, shake the enemies off and continue to preserve in spiritual purpose: in loving others, in providing for family, in assisting strangers and supporting the weak. 

There is an insufficient number of people working such causes! Matthew 9:35-38 tells us so:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

God will protect the laborers because they are few and desperately needed. Those who have welcomed the power and love of God into theirs lives are best able to project it into the lives of others. God's purpose has always been to perpetuate the kingdom, to gather its members and care for them. When we join in that work, our survival is not just crucial but also arranged by God. And when we do eventually come to an end here, as all on earth must do, we will have provided many others with their start. We need not fear the bite of the viper.

• YE ARE GODS 

The islanders were so amazed by Paul's survival that they thought him a god. In John 10:34-35, Jesus referred to God's children as gods. Not because of any power we have of our own. Not because we are better or smarter or more valued but because we have welcomed the power of God into our lives, our hands, our efforts. Our impact on the world is godly because it is done by God through us. Without His wisdom, strength and courage we would fail. 

Paul, the other apostles and disciples were able to heal in immediate and visible ways. The way we heal now is a little different. The same God is able to conquer the same illnesses but spirituality has become more complex. We are stronger now, made able to thrive despite illness. The healing we receive now is of the spirit. We are revived, restored to life. Sometimes we heal in physical ways, like Paul healed the father of Publius in this chapter, and sometimes we do not. But either way, we are a message. A strength, meant to exemplify to others the power of the Spirit of God with us.

Honey island now, is a personal and spiritual experience. We are healed of everything we bring to God, and then are abundantly supplied for our journey back into the world to live, preach with our lives of the honey that is God's word and love.

• BOUND FOR HOPE

The machinations of men, the enemies of Paul, would have made his journey to Rome entirely nonsensical. Paul was innocent and certainly not worthy of death. They had no truthful claims against him. But because Paul was an agent of God's will, there was purpose in the journey.

Paul explained "it is for the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain, (Acts 28:20)" God will ensure there is purpose in every day that we live for Him. We need only to be receptive to what instructions He has for us each day. Broadly, we are meant to love others, uphold justice, and support the weak. What that looks like in detail is particular to the individual. 

Take heart that whatever chain you bear, God use it to benefit you and others and then will break it. 1 Peter 5:10 states:

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

We must have and endure the journey of the struggle in order to build the spiritual muscle to come out of it stronger. Wiser. More perceptive and objective and just and compassionate. That time of suffering is packed with nutrients we need to grow in faith, and strength and character. It is packed with the seeds we need to grow great things. That time prepares us to move the mountains God has said we would move.

Although they feel real, the chains in our lives are like play handcuffs. They are temporary, removable and God has the key. To unlock them, we need only to listen to and trust and follow Him to where the key is kept. And in the meantime we must live as Paul lived:

Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

We must live quite undeterred in our mission to perpetuate God's love and receive it also for ourselves. The journey for Paul could  have been ridiculous and a waste of time. It could have been a depressant and an end. Instead Paul kept His eyes on God, his life on track, and his faith forward. His life resulted in blessing.

EUROCLYDON

"When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called Euroclydon." Acts 27:13-14

It began a difficult journey: a ship bound for Rome, and the apostle Paul bound in chains. Paul had been apprehended for preaching God's word. Paul's scripture-based preaching infuriated the Pharisees and Sadducees, two sects which denied the resurrection of Jesus. Fearful of their loss in power, as Paul's preaching was converting many away from their doctrine, they sought to capture and kill Paul. They accused him of sedition (noun. conduct or speech inciting or causing people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch). 

Paul's Roman citizenship meant that his captors had to hold his trial in Rome (Acts 25:10-11). Not only did this preserve Paul's life, his supposed crimes might have gotten him killed in Jerusalem, but would not qualify for death in Rome, but it also fit neatly into God's plan. God had previously informed him that He intended Paul to be in Rome: "the Lord stood by him and said, 'Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome'" (Acts 23:11).

And so they set out for Rome, but the waters were tumultuous and dangerous. It was immediately apparent to Paul that the voyage would result in disaster: the loss of the cargo and possibly the lives of those on the ship. But the centurion (commander) decided to take the advice of the helmsman rather than that of Paul.

They sailed right into the Euroclydon winds, a cyclical, tempestuous wind. Control of the ship was lost as it tossed in the sea; the crew did all they could to keep it afloat. Days passed of the fight to stay alive. Storm clouds blocked the sun and stars and stifled the hope of the men on the ship. As the winds and waters continued to beat down on them and their ship, no longer did they believe they would survive.

Meanwhile, Paul appealed to God through abstinence. If the journey was to be survived, Paul knew that it would be by the Hand of God. Paul's fast allowed him to review the situation, reflect on the decisions made that led to it, and hear with clarity God's plan of restoration out from it. From here, the journey documented in scripture helps us to survive the Euroclydon winds in our own lives.

• NEITHER SUN NOR STARS

Hopelessness and defeat are perhaps the most able to extinguish a person's faith. Sometimes the darkness of the storms in our lives are so comprehensive that we lose sight and even remembrance of the light. The crew on the ship were not like Paul. They followed the advice of men rather than the plan of God. Their rejection of God's plan may have been inadvertent but the result was the same. 

Sometimes our desire to do something or for something to be done is so fierce that we ignore common sense in favor of impatience. Like the men on the ship, we have it in our minds that we must be certain places at certain times. Things to do. People to meet. Money to make. Prospects to take. We want all of it to occur on a timely schedule, a schedule in accordance with our impatience rather than God's plan.

Paul presented the men on the ship with a choice: wait and have a smooth voyage, go and possibly lose your life to a difficult one. They chose difficult, and so often do we. But that sort of thinking propels us directly into cyclical winds too. We go around and around making the same mistakes, beating back the same fierce seas, desperate to stay afloat until we finally lose the hope that its even possible anymore.

The absence of sun and stars made it impossible for the crew to navigate the ship. They were tossed, lost and without hope. Which is a place many of us find ourselves to be in at times. Distress causes us to lose all ability to navigate the sometimes-rough waters of circumstance and emotion. Feelings of rejection, hopelessness, isolation, fear, anger, and impatience cause to behave erratically. That erratic behavior directly contradicts God's promises to us:

Rather than rejected we are chosen by Him, Ephesians 1:4. There is no such thing as hopelessness for a child of God, within the kingdom of God, hope is in constant supply, Malachi 3:10. We cannot be isolated from the presence or promise of God, Matthew 28:20. 

That erratic behavior directly contradicts God's instruction given to us: 

Do not fear, John 14:27. Do not be angry, Ephesians 4:26-27. Wait on the Lord, Psalm 27:14.

Extraordinarily, God has provided the emotional and practical instructions on how to survive the storm. Sometimes, in order to actually apply them to our behavior, we need to lighten the ship.

• LIGHTENING THE SHIP

Paul knew what to do in that darkness. Paul knew that he would make it to Rome because God had told him he would. Paul's advice and prayer and fasting was for the purpose of the preservation of the people with him. They were sinking. What do we do when we are sinking? We toss out the things that are causing us to sink. We remove from our ship, life, the things causing the water to weight us down. Paul did this through a fast. Sometimes a fast is about food, but other times a fast is the jettison of distractions. Secular distractions: attitudes, activities and other things that have no religious or spiritual basis. 

The world is full of secular distractions. The attainment of power and celebrity are cultivated by cultures around the world. The desire for control and admiration distracts us from giving and humility. The abundance and attainability of material wealth induces a desperate want of things. Our value of the material causes us to undervalue the actual substance of life. We corrupt the even the biosphere we rely on to exist in order to make and buy and have and use things. We neglect others' basic human rights and needs to pursue our own agendas, secure our own borders, protect our own reputation, clear our own day, have our own fun, claim our own rights and needs.

And so sometimes we need to jettison the things that perpetuate in our lives the distractions of our culture: the social media and music, biased news sources, commercialism and celebrity. We need to clear our lives of the distractions which cause the cloud coverage that blocks the sun and stars. The hope and the lighthouse that is God. We need to learn to be more aware of our susceptibility to the things our world says we should want. 

God is able to strengthen us. His love and instruction render us less vulnerable to the desperate desire of filling our bodies, souls and lives with those corrosive distractions. We need to clear the space, we need to jettison those things.

• TO TAKE NOURISHMENT

And then we need to be filled in. Once we have thrown overboard the distractions, we need to fill ourselves with something ordered and solid. We need meat and bread, that is: the deep and thorough word of God. Paul encouraged the crew to eat: "Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival..." Indeed this is for your survival. God urges us to stop ingesting empty calories. To stop taking in the secular world as though it could ever possible sustain us. 

Our souls need actual, spiritual nourishment. Things and fame and vanity are empty. The fruit of impatience is unsatisfactory and insufficient. Like Paul, fast the distractions and then take the bread. Live with gratitude for the One who pointed out the problem and then solved it. 

Paul cautioned that only those who remained on the ship would survive. The people who decided to solve their problems on their own would fail. God has capabilities that we do not; the impossible for us is possible for Him, Luke 18:27. The meaning of this is that we cannot leave  the kingdom of God and expect to thrive or even survive. It is God's path that leads to life and safety and blessing. We cannot just abandon ship (pun definitely intended) and expect to be nourished. All along God's path are the fruit and meat that nourish us. Away from from God's path, we might sustain ourselves but God has bigger plans than for us to be merely sustained. He has plans for us to live, thrive and survive. 

We must throw the junk out and fill ourselves with love and patience, humility and compassion. Easy as it is to give in to our cravings and binge on our temptations, we have to train, spiritually, until we are stronger than that impulse. The impulse to let loose our anger, feed our desire, act on our impatience. It is the nourishment that God provides which grows within us the muscle subdue the things, people and emotions that have power over us. 

God will get you to where you need to be. The storms become irrelevant when you choose God as your helmsman, the One to navigate your ship. Your life. You may not, at times, see the sun or stars. You may feel hopeless, but you must remember that God is the light. God provides the hope. Jettison the distractions and the clouds with dissipate, the sun and stars will be visible once again.

ENABLING GOD

Lately it seems the entire world battles some form or degree of anxiety and depression. The demands of our society, the complexity of relationships, the opinions, needs and actions of the people around all us all contribute to the reason why so many struggle with so much. To escape the pressure and desperation we do not need to actually step back; we do not need to step aside. We need to step into the grace God outlined for us. God anticipated that we would battle these emotional, societal, familial and physical pressures. We need only look into scripture to discover how He prepares us to endure them, to evade them even.

This sermon comprises just two verses: Acts of the Apostles 2:46-47

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

For within these two verses, the apostles exemplified for us what it means to live with day-to-day purpose, contentment and happiness. Although there were many elements of life the apostles experienced that we likely never will, the nature of life was the same. They experienced fear and vulnerability, pressure and demand, weakness and fear, injustice and disruption. Yet they persevered; they lived and loved and changed the landscape of their generation and our own. Here's how they did it.

• CONTINUED DAILY WITH ONE ACCORD

Determine and establish your values and principles and pursue them exclusively. Let your every decision and behavior reflect what you have chosen. It isn't always easy to remain adhered to specific ideals but steadfast effort will prevent the down-spiral that results in emotional chaos and spiritual turmoil.

The apostles woke up everyday with a mission; to uphold their faith and to establish it in the world. God distributed different gifts and assignments to each of His children; you may not be an apostle but whatever your field is, do it well, consistently. Perhaps you're thinking: "that's well and good for the apostles, they knew what they wanted, that at least makes it easier to pursue." But essentially their mission was widely open-ended. There we no clear or ordered steps to follow. Like us, they had to strip their overall purpose down to something daily achievable. Stripped down, their purpose in life was to live each day learning to love people well. No matter what our job or profession is, a child of God has that same baseline: to learn to love people well. With our words, with our work and with our will. 

• HOUSE TO HOUSE EATING BREAD WITH GLADNESS

No matter what house they were in, they disciples were consuming bread. Think not of literal bread but of the bread of life: the word of God, the life of Jesus. Think not of a literal house, no matter what roof your are under, bring your faith into that place. Bring your gratitude for the people within in, for the God surrounding it. 

Every relationship, friendship, and encounter with another person is a house, a place to break bread. A place to unite faith and life. God's word teaches us how to cultivate the conditions of life we hope to live within. The apostles ate bread with gladness everywhere they went not for the sake of eating but for the purpose of exercising their faith everywhere they went. No matter where they were or who they with, they invited God and subsequently His grace into that space. 

They were glad because they traveled daily within the spirit of God. God's presence in a place changes the whole atmosphere. God's will in a relationship changes its trajectory. God's authority over a situation changes its outcome. So the apostles brought that bread, gladly, from house to house. 

Whenever we find ourselves in a distressing emotional state, we must ask ourselves whether we are consuming the bread or neglecting it. Because the bread of life is hope. The bread of life is peace. The bread of life sustains us, perseveres us, strengthens us. Sometimes it doesn't change the place or situation but it always changes us. It always changes how to look at it, how we deal with it. It always shifts the balance of power to our side. 

• SIMPLICITY OF HEART

Discover the value in the simple but fundamental elements of life. Your relationship with God is itself a marvel. A blessing. A reason for elation and wonder and peace. Focus your effort on the acquisition of compassion and love, wisdom and honesty. Pursue perspective rather than power, for perspective is power. Pursue wisdom rather than wealth, for wisdom is wealth. 

Life is riddled with jewels others ignore and pass by in order to obtain lesser things. The apostles had simplicity of heart; their pursuit was one of obtainable things: friendship, encouragement, compassion. A simple heart is a good heart, a fair heart, a free heart. The complications of life come when the heart is no longer simple; the complications arrive then the heart desires things not good or right or meant for it. Complications arise when the heart plots and hates and hurts. 

Life really is as simple as trusting God. He leads, we follow. He plans, we allow those plans to unfold in our life. He decides and our lives benefit from His decisions. The simple hearts knows that God is working the details into its favor, and it therefore stresses not.

• PRAISING GOD

We actually are the ones who benefit most from consistent acknowledgement of the majesty of God. He is present and active in every minute of our lives but we must take the time to perceive that. If we do not designate time to perceive Him, that time passes by ignorant of His presence, of His instruction specific that that time. What occurs during those times are consequently affected by the absence of our faith and exultation of our Father. 

So much of life distracts us from the most important relationship of our lives: our relationship with God. We pass right over Him; we remain ignorant of His instruction, opinion and comfort if we focus constantly on external things. Material things. Societal things. We give our attention and awe to things and people, objects of our desire or hate. But that time and attention can be devoted to God; the one who deserves it. With our life and mind focused on Him, on righteousness and spirit, we build a new framework for our day. A more constructive framework. We set up the kingdom within that day. 

• FAVOR WITH ALL PEOPLE

Of all that the disciples exemplified, this is likely the most difficult. It's easy if people seem to deserve our favor. But when people are harsh or unfair, we have to rely on God to settle that score. Your attention serves better elsewhere. Hebrews 10:30 reiterates the statement God made in Deuteronomy, He is the avenger. Our avenger. 

The apostles lived with an effort to relate to people, to understand people, to appreciate people. God wants each of us to endeavor to do the same. Even-temperament is a process; our emotions are not invulnerable to meanness and therefore our reactions will never be perfect. But it changes a life to wake up each day within that life with a valiant effort to be kind. 

People hurt us, sometimes. It is not God's command that we surround ourselves with hurtful people; but it is His hope that we will not succumb to their behavior. Sometimes the favor we give the people who've hurt us the most is to resist the urge to retaliate. We are not commanded to associate with people who have corrupt principles (indeed separate from evil!); we are not commanded to trust everyone... but we are commanded not to be like them when their behavior is cruel.

• ENABLING GOD

The most important decision we can make each day is to decide to enable God throughout each of those 24 hours. In every interaction, conversation, action, and thought enable God. Volunteer yourself to be an instrument of His will that day; in prayerful conversation invite Him to position you in situations where you can serve. Enable God to reach and gather with your arms and your hands, through your compassion.

Do you believe in God? Do you love God? If so, you must realize that you are not subject to anxiety and depression. They have no permanent hold on you. No claim on your life. You belong to God; His power is your power over fear and sadness. He has a daily plan to draw you out of darkness and ever deeper into the light. Proclaim God's authority over whatever evil thinks it has a hold on you. 

FOR COMFORT

In life, fear will work to invade atmospheres of peace. Anticipate its attempted intrusion and let it at the door meet full force conviction. The following are a selection of verses in scripture that help us to do just that: to dismantle fear's power and dissipate fear's presence with the conviction that our God is stronger, wiser, and more able than any foreboding thing, person or situation. 

While each of the following help us to restore peace, their greatest impact is made when they are deeply founded in faith. The more time we spend deep in scripture, in prayer and communication with God, the more powerfully we are able to dispel fear. The more faith we give God to work with, the more readily and systematically do we disassemble the machination of fear. 

If read chronologically, the Bible is essentially a tracking of mess to order. Through the lives of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and so many others, we can see God working arduously, skillfully within details to ensure a specific outcome. Revelation 21, all things made new; no fear, no tear, no death, no sorrow, no pain. Scripture is an example of how our God is able to work all things for good despite close and persistent threat. From an eternal perspective, lifelong perspective and day-to-day perspective God rescues us and solves our problems. Fight the panic and hopelessness of fear with the love letter God wrote specifically for you. 

• Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

God understands that our responsibilities accumulate here; there is so much we have to do and be to have a full life. In response to that, He teaches us to swap the burden of those responsibilities for this one opportunity: seek God. The sixth chapter of Matthew encourages us to pursue our relationship with God, for while we do, He will take care of everything else. 

God is able to wield and forge and arrange the details of our lives to culminate in the growth and betterment of our life and character. The more pieces we put into His hands with faith in His skill, the more comprehensively He is able to sculpt our lives.

• 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Fear will fight faith: can God handle it? Will God handle it? And if so, how? Fear is concerned about the journey but faith is secure in God's path. Faith is stalwart in the belief that He can and He will so efficiently that the how is irrelevant. God calls us to seek Him with our whole heart and whole soul; He understands that if we do give our entire attention to Him, we will need Him to take care of what is  unseen in our periphery and ahead in our path. 

• Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Quite simply, we do not need to fear because when we vocalize our distress, He rescues. In the Old Testament, Jehoshaphat is seconds and dozen spears away from death but because he used his last seconds to call to God, he was saved. The situation was literal for Jehoshaphat (see 2 Chronicles 17), but for us it is often metaphorical. Fear is oppresses, stifles, and pervades but use those last seconds before it closes in completely to call to God. It has been declared that He will answer and that He will save. 

• Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Find a haven in the fact that God has purpose for you, purpose He established in advance. He is intentional with your life when you allow Him to position His will within it. God has plans for you to do good work, not to sink or fail. Would God prepare failure or destitution for you in advance? No, that would not require planning. If that were His plan, He never would have even introduced Himself to us. He would have just let us flail about. Remember that God has made plans to craft your life for good. 

• Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

God is really talented. He is the original abstract-artist. He compiles unlikely materials and welds them into a masterpiece. From our perspective, our life might look like a pile of unusable, non-valuable junk. But from God's perspective, our life is a challenge He has already artistically mastered; to Him, our life is a pile of materials that only He can see the connections in. In desperate situations, when the outcome looks bleak, trust that God's artistry is more advanced than our limited view. 

• Matthew 6:8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Speaking of our limited view, Jesus stated frankly that God knows what we need better than we do, before we do. It's like driving only to suddenly find that the bridge is closed! We panic for an alternate route! But God knew that bridge was closed before we even buckled our seat-belt and planned accordingly, which is why it is so imperative that we have submitted ourselves to His plan! 

Jesus did not want us to be like the rest of the panicked world because as children of God, we have already been provided for. God has planned our course and therefore He has already accounted for it's turns and divots and barriers. Before we realize them and before we ask for help through them, He already has a plan through them. He will lead you forward, usually incrementally, at a pace that requires faith. He will deliver you directly into the provision you require. 

God knows what we need; He is an informed and attentive Father. He is fully prepared to fill our biological, emotional, and spiritual needs. He is fully prepared to compensate for our inadequacy, and supplement our deficiency, in friendship, relationship, profession and whatever else. If with live our lives with righteous intent, God will provide.

• Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

God knows what we need... and better than we do. Moreover, He emphatically pursues and creates and intercedes to ensure that we get it! God's wisdom is able to discern between what we think we want and what we actually need. In moments of fear, trust that God is interceding on your behalf. He knows what prayer will rescue you from your fear and utters it on your behalf. He speaks your rescue into the universe and into existence. 

We might think a certain circumstance would rescue us from a fearsome outcome; it would cause us to pray for the wrong thing. How blessed is it for us that God bats those nonconstructive thoughts away and replaces them with constructive action?

• Isaiah 43:1-3

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine. 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you. 

For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

We have been claimed by God. God will take care of what belongs to Him; He has promised to accompany us through our journey, its difficulty and its joy. He has declared Himself our savior. He chose the word savior because of our tendency to need saving! 

Sometimes humans adopt animals without understanding (or committing to) the responsibility of pet ownership. But God knew what the adoption of humanity would require and He committed to it. We are an accident-prone bunch. We need constant saving and so God became our savior. We have been adopted by God, He is going to take care of His family. 

But, Father cannot help us if we have run away from home. In time of fear (and also joy) return home to be provided for, to be saved.

• Jeremiah 29:11-12 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

God's intentions for our lives are pure. He designs a future we can look forward to. He takes our prayer into account; His blessings are tailored specifically to who we are as individuals. 

• Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

God delights in witnessing our joy. He delights in providing our joy. The life He plans for us is filled with people and circumstances that were planned by Him to make us feel safe and happy. In this verse, God affectionately soothes our fear. Take a deep breathe of hope and love, little flock, it gives your Father joy to shower you and protect you with the power and provision of His kingdom. 

The term of endearment is not random: God is our shepherd. We are His little flock of sheep. We are inherently naive and vulnerable (as well as beautiful and kind) and He loves us for our delicacy. He protects it at all costs. 

• Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

We can only truly bask in the promise of God's provision and protection if we feel eligible for it. Good news! Jesus told us how precious we are to God, how precisely we are loved. We are valuable to Him, worth the effort we require. He knows every minute and intricate detail about us not because He has to but because we wants to. 

God loves all of His creations, for example: the tiny sparrows in the trees. God has designed a planet to sustain them, too, has He not? The environment He created supports their provision and protection. God wants us to know that if He did it for the sparrows, He will certainly do it for us. 

• Psalm 116:1-11

I love the Lord, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord
In the land of the living.
I believed, therefore I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
I said in my haste, “All men are liars.”

Take courage from this psalmists relationship with God. From a hopeless situation, God restored. A desperate cry, God heard and answered. From trouble and sorrow God saved. From the lowest point, God raised. The psalmist had no one in the world to trust but had God and He was more than enough. 

God dealt bountifully with the psalmist's soul. God does not flippantly toss scraps. He blesses abundantly, intentionally. He rescues triumphantly. He loves emphatically. With conviction dismiss fear and allow yourself to be embraced by the perfect love of God.

• 2 Chronicles 20:12 For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

Jehoshaphat was surrounded. Out-manned. Over powered. Out-witted. In that moment of complete fear, he fixed his eyes on God. Though the moment sounds panicked, Jehoshaphat solemnly relied solely on his faith. When we lose our chance, our weapon, our hope and even the will to fight, we must finally fix our eyes on God. 

Sometimes it is only when we realize and accept our inability that we see the benefit of trusting God. God's strength and ability begins working for us the exact moment it is activated by our faith. Jehoshaphat knew that from God's perspective a way could be made. Surrender, never to your enemies but always to God. Put your weapons down and allow Him to become your defense. 

• 2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

God wants us to feel secure in His qualifications for our rescue and defense:

His omnipresence is vigilant, fastidious and alert.

• Nothing escapes His notice. His children are so valuable to Him that is present everywhere to support them.

His omnipotence is powerful, unmatched and undeterred.

• No force is able to contend with Him; He wins with ease. 

His omniscience is complete.

• He owns all wisdom, all knowledge, all reason, all logic, all science, all sides, all forms; whatever it is, He has both created and mastered it.

God wants us to have conviction in His ability to render the fear in our life mute, powerless and irrelevant.

• Luke 11:11-13 "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

When we adopt the Christian lifestyle, we are adopted by God. We were always His creation, but we become reclaimed. As claimed children, we have ownership within our Father's kingdom. We become possessors of His love and kindness, God's mercy and protection. We can expect our lives to unfold in accordance with His will. And God's will for us is good.

Jesus more than gave us permission to ask, Jesus encouraged us to ask God for our myriad of needs. He told us that we would receive. From Jesus we learned that we cannot expect that God will hear and respond with action and deliverance. For God's children know what to ask for; we ask for God. We ask for His will over our life. We ask for the peace and protection and provision He has promised. And Jesus assured us that God is fully aware of a good gift.

God has offered peace and protection and provision because He knows that ultimately, every need we have is stemmed from a need for those three things. When we ask God for those things, why would we ever expect or fear that He would answer with their opposites?

Azotus

The Book of Acts: scripture written about the birth of Christianity; a handful of apostles sent forth into the wilderness of the world. Their survival pack: the Holy Spirit; their map: faith.

Jesus resurrected after His death on the cross and returned to the Spirit. His physical body was no longer with His disciples. Upon the spiritual manifestation of Jesus, those disciples graduated into apostles. They graduated from students to emissaries. The apostles were the first, after Jesus, to preach the gospel. It was an immense responsibility and it took place on a road that had not yet been walked. But the road had been paved; Jesus' life blazed a trail through the wilderness that led directly to the fortress of God.

It became the apostles' opportunity to be available to God, to allow God to insert them as instruments whose work would cause the philosophy of God to course through the veins of society and pump directly into the hearts and minds of every individual they encountered. The philosophy of God, found within scripture, is God's ultimate purpose for us: to restructure humanity and the earth in accordance with His righteous will. It began with Jesus' delegation to the apostles. And importantly, continued with the apostles’ faithful willingness to accept.

The first apostles were special and necessary, and so are the apostles of every generation. Each person is a potential apostle of God, and no matter how they choose to preach God's will, through oration or action, they are a harbinger of the Kingdom of God. Today we hone in on a snippet of the apostle Philip's life to understand what it looks like to become an available instrument of God.

This excerpt of Scripture, Acts 8:26-40, exemplifies the manner in which we are called by God; the reason for which we are called by God; and the result of answering God's call.

THE MANNER IN WHICH WE ARE CALLED

Expect God to call you from a dormant state into an unexpected place.

Philip "arise."

Do not expect to be ready; God's call on your life at present will be the catalyst to your future. It might frustrate you, confound you, or scare you, but God chooses you in your rawest state. Because when he looks at you, He sees your potential instead of your presentation. Always.

We see the reverse: A humble person views their presentation as insufficient, and they are wrong. An arrogant person views their presentation as sufficient, and they're wrong too.

God chooses you in a raw and dormant state because He has plans to mine the potential out of you. He's an expert at it. He puts you into a position you are not ready for, but sustains and supplements you with His strength and His wisdom until you build the figurative muscle you need, the wear and skillfully utilize the toolkit that is faith.

If you think this doesn't apply to you, think again. God has apostles (and potential apostles) in all sectors across the globe: businesspersons, preachers, teachers, artists, engineers, parents, siblings, children, friends, co-workers, acquaintances. No matter who you are, you are in a position of potential apostleship. As soon as you render yourself available to Him: ready or not, here He comes. With a plan and a purpose for your life (and a rigorous but compassionate spiritual exercise program to prepare you).

The angel of the Lord visited Philip and charged him to arise and go... to a desert. God purposefully drew Philip into a desolate place. And perhaps most amazing of all, Philip listened. Philip allowed God to call him into a specific, but not a spectacular place. Will you consider it demeaning to be sent into such a place? Because Jesus was honored to walk into those places, to doctor the spiritually sick. We are led into the desert with the expectation that we will become thirsty… we are called to purposes that will present needs. The point is to enter the desert with the faith that when thirst develops, we drink from the living water, the well of God. We enter God’s purpose for us and faithfully consult with Him as our needs develop.

Do you need a platform and light-system to pronounce your work? Because Jesus was good with the sun on His back and rugged mountain under His feet. What if God’s plan for you is not to become a celebrity, or a celebrated anything, but a servant, like Jesus. Not a slave to any person, but a servant of God, assisting Him to help others. Will you allow God to draw you into that place? A place that provides the opportunity for you to shine on others, rather than to be shined upon. To be the light, as, through faith, God’s light shines through you.

You must be able to appreciate that God will frequently send you to a place or person that doesn't sparkle and shine... precisely because it does not sparkle or shine. He will nudge you to go, and then subtly press you to do something once you get there, and not a moment before.

What a faithless luxury it would be for God to present all of the details upfront: all the details of His entire plan printed, laminated and bound. No, if you choose to receive delegation from God, you will quickly find that His is a plan that can only be carried out by faith. In steps of faith. The Lord told Philip to arise and go, so Philip arose and went. Phillip listened to God without question or hesitation. He listened to God with confidence not in himself, not in the prospect of where he was to go, but with full confidence in God.

THE REASON FOR WHICH WE ARE CALLED

Your determination must not be dependent on particulars, God reveals in hints and tidbits His master plan.

Philip entered the desert. He had no specific instructions upon entry. He looked around. You will never be able to determine what God wants you to do until you train yourself to determine what God wants you to see. God calls you to widen your perspective in effort to render you a more effective and efficient apostle.

An instrument fixes something that is broken. A support upholds something that is weak. An educator ministers to something uneducated.

Learn to observe the areas in which your instrumentation, support or education can mend, strengthen or educate. Phillip was trained by Jesus, and so are we. From Jesus, Philip learned to enter an area, observe its need for the particular skill he could provide, and then humbly implement it.

God calls you to recalculate the course of His chosen ones in effort to guide them into the kingdom (and thus, gently hurl them into God's love).

The divine-nudge came from God: for Philip, it was in the form of a chariot. God instructed Philip to catch up to that chariot and hop inside. Philip ran. That chariot was about to be overtaken by the command of the Holy Spirit. And wherever it was headed, it would set out on a new course after He was done. Will you run in spirited response toward God's objective for you?

Inside that chariot was a man reading what might as well have been riddles, because he did not understand the book of scripture in his hands. The man was clearly frustrated, a great representation of the frustration of life without God. He asked Philip: How can I understand this unless someone guides me? A prudent question for sure! How can we expect the world to heal itself, educate itself, support itself unless it has help? Your apostleship, in whatever form is particular to you, is necessary.

That man in a chariot today is a child in class with dyslexia. It's an intern without the resources to develop. It's a person with a disability without the ability to thrive. A direction-less child in need of a parental figure. There are so many personal iterations of this "man in a chariot" that exist today and could benefit from having your expertise implemented into their life.

Perhaps you think you have no expertise. Incorrect. God distributed gifts to every person, 1 Corinthians 12. We are one body that operates via many parts. Whether you recognize your gifts or not, through your servitude to God, through your kind and intentional interactions with people in your day-to-day, they will reveal themselves in ways that assist other people.

That man's weakness was Philip's specialty and he offered his service charitably. Philip interpreted the scripture for the man, specifically the words of the prophet Isaiah who prophesied of Jesus' experience on the cross. Philip began to "preach Jesus," in other words, he spoke of righteousness manifested. He explained how Jesus outlined the path of peace and cobbled together the road of righteousness.

Philip acted as an instrument which offered new life to a man. And the man enthusiastically took it; he baptized himself at the first opportunity because the kingdom that was preached to him was one he definitely wanted to be a citizen of.

God calls you to perpetuate the kingdom. That man in the chariot happened to be a man of "great authority." Which means that what he believed, what he said and what he did influenced and impacted a lot of people. Used properly, his platform could benefit a lot of people. It could serve the kingdom of God. Suddenly God's strategy is as stark as it was obscure at the start. If he became a Christian, his platform would host the Lord and his audience would receive the word of the Lord. The benefit of a relationship with God.

You see, this was not a random man. He was a root system whose tree would benefit from what he chose to take in. Because of Phillip, he chose the word of the Lord. Philip's faith in God and assiduous ministry transformed that man and potentially, the lives of many others. By waking up when God called him to and going where God told him to, Phillip brought the lamp of Christianity into a man, a place that was formerly dark.

Wherever God sends you, to whomever He sends you, it is to perpetuate the kingdom. God is an eternal light. Once He lights your spirit, you carry that torch into the world to light others' spirits. This is a light we keep on sharing until every dark place has seen the light of heaven; the righteousness; truth; justice; and mercy that has been established as law by God across the creation.

THE RESULT OF ANSWERING GOD'S CALL

When we produce good and faithful work, God will expect us to continue to yield.

The more productive we are, the more frequently we will be trusted with new responsibility. Do not worry, God continues to build the spiritual muscle we will need to carry them. Our kingdom-work is purposeful and valued not just by God but by the people who never saw us coming, but will never forget we came. By the people whose faces we lit up in the dark. Do not expect God to waste that potential once it has sparked.

As soon as Philip finished his objective with the man in the chariot, God vanished him from there and placed him elsewhere to do equally important work. Expect God to keep swiftly moving us to places where we are needed (into locations, into situations, into friendships, into partnerships, into new opportunities and fresh ideas).

Quietly but definitely, God moved Philip into Azotus. Azotus was a place but means "a stronghold." Along our journey of apostleship, we will find that God wasn't just using us to lead others, He was leading us all along. Into Azotus. A stronghold. His fortress, His kingdom. We commit ourselves to apostleship and quietly but definitely, God moves us into His stronghold.Passing through Azotus, Philip "preached in all the cities" as he moved. He utilized every opportunity in order to continue to yield in faith. Spiritual-work ethic like that is the reason why a mere handful of apostles was able to spread a small, infant movement into a global phenomenon surviving thousands of years. The potential of our apostleship is no less powerful, as it too, is powered by God.