Between Two Crags and a Garrison

I've really had fun the last few weeks sharing with our church family about how God calls us out of isolation and fear.

So far we've looked at the story in 1 Samuel 14 about Jonathan and his armor bearer taking on an entire garrison of Philli-Bad-Guys. It's a story of faith, battle, and victory. Then last week, we looked at the story of Paul & Silas. Their story is a bit different. They launch out to follow God, but then get beat up and thrown in jail. But both stories end with an earthquake...

Here are some of the key points that I am holding on to:

• Take the Offensive – When you’re hiding in a cave of isolation and fear, the only way out is to confront the fear that’s keeping you there. You’ll never be certain that God is going to show up until He does (“Perhaps the Lord will work for us…” 1 Sam. 14:6). Faith is having the courage to launch out in spite of the uncertainty.
• Read the Bible – Time spent in the word is a process of “downloading” the mind of Christ (“let the word of Christ richly dwell within you” Col. 3:16). God’s Word rewires our brains and upgrades our operating system so that the virus of fear won’t crash our system anymore.
• Learn to Enjoy the Thrill – Following God always feels risky. The adrenaline rush of launching out when you don’t know how or when He will come through can be embraced as “thrilling” instead of dreaded as “frightening.” What starts as fear turns into fun once we see God’s plan come together.
• Become Defenseless – We can’t know that He’s all we need until He’s all we have. Like Jesus being led quietly like a lamb to the slaughter, God will call each of us into a similar position of absolute surrender and trust.
• Worship God, Especially When Life “Backfires” – When we’re following God and then we suffer, it can be tempting to quit. But God allows difficulty to come so that we can be strengthened and prepared to help other people. If life is only easy, the “unintended consequence” is that our strength and stamina will decay (i.e. in zero gravity bones deteriorate at a rate of 1.5% per month). On the other hand, the more problems you have, the more potential you have to help people. Like Paul & Silas in prison, when we choose to worship in the middle of our most desperate circumstances, God enables us to “zoom out” from the problem so that we can see Him again, and His power is released into the situation.

Thanks to Mark Batterson and his book In a Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day. Some of the word pictures I've used recently have come from his book. I think it's so important as we're leading and teaching to use images and examples that people can relate to. Jesus was the master of this. Everything was a sermon example for Him -- fishing, the wind & waves, sparrows, Roman coins, children, etc. Give Him anything, and He could use it as an example of how He made life to work. Since He made it all in the first place, I guess that would make sense... *smile*