jump

Your toes touch the edge. Heart pounding you look down. Catching your breath you take a quick step back. not yet... "i'm not ready you think to yourself."

Your body is filled with mixed feelings of fear, relief and regret all in one.

Furrowing your brow with determination you say, "No!" And you step forward again till your toes almost go over the edge a bit. A rock moves and tumbles below you. Hitting the bottom of ravine a deafening "click" on the bottom of the ravine. 

Without thinking another thought your feet are off the edge, the feeling of soaring through the air nearly takes your breath away...the air fills your lungs like you've never felt for. Electricity pulses through your veins. What a rush. You looked fear in the face and you told it "NO." And you jumped.

The ropes of course caught you like they told you they would. It's hard to put your faith in something that is hardly visible. But as you found when you jumped, you were saved. Just as you were told you would be. Glancing back up from where you jumped from, you shoot your fist up in the sky as a victory cry escapes your lips...I'm not afraid you say.

There is only a step between faith and fear. One little step. 

And almost every person comes to a place at least once in their life where they have to make a choice. "Will I jump?" SO what edge are you standing on today? Is there an impossible situation you've faced? Has someone asked you to do something you think is impossible?  Have you faced a scene that seems done? A brick wall? 

The other night as I sat in my own little storm, I felt the waves crashing everywhere. Threatening to tip my boat over. I felt the freezing cold water on my face, and I thought of all the possible things that could go wrong. The boat felt safe, but I knew that I couldn't stay in the boat forever. 

"do you trust me?" I felt Him whisper over me...

"Yes Lord..." I whispered back.

I knew what He wanted me to do. I fought Him. For several nights I fought Him. I grabbed my fears back into my arms, stuffed them in my pockets and went back down below deck to try and sleep. 

SO then the next night He met me again. The storm was even more violent than it was the night before. It really felt as though my little boat was going to sink.  And then He called out to me again.."Do you trust me?" 

My heart pounded. I knew this was moment of truth. With my heart pounding nearly out of my chest I looked at Jesus and nodded.

Smiling He looked at me with a hand extended to me from the sea, and said, "what are you waiting for then?"

It was then that my heart leaped from chest and I literally jumped out of the boat like a hunting dog leaping for his masters kill in the water. I leapt. 

And do you know what? He caught me.

As I stayed there out in the unknown territory, what once felt so unsafe, now felt like the best place to be.

I knew I was right where He wanted me.

There is only one small step  that stands in the gap between fear and faith.

Has God asked you to move? Has He asked you do something that your flesh is fighting? Our flesh wants to stay where it's comfortable and safe. God may not always be safe, but in the center of His flame is the safest place you can be.

"The fear of The Lord is the beginning of knowledge." Proverbs.

If the fear of The Lord, is the start, then I have spent the first half my life just getting ready to start. 

I need not fear anything because God is the one who is in all, and by Him all things are held together.

HE works all things for the good of those who love Jesus and He is my blessed assurance.

He preserves me, and He is sustainer. 

Have I anything to fear? No. 

For He who is in me is greater than the one who is in the world.

If you are not assured by His presence, ask for His presence to be yours. If you are not comforted by Him being the only one you need to fear then ask Him to meet you at your point of fear. Ask Him to give you the courage through Him to step out, and leap through the air.

It may be only One step, but it's one step you cannot take in your own strength.

Every night I whisper prayers over my children to fill them with the peace of Him who holds them all night.."Fear not for I am with you..." -Jesus.

I'm in the center of His will, and it's not where I thought I'd find freedom, but jumping off my safety platform was the best (His best) I've ever experienced. 

When you read the scriptures with this mindset, it makes them come alive. When your starting point is fearing Him only, there is nothing to make you fear, and HIS word will ignite  in you what only He can. True life starts here.

No place I would rather be. But here in your love. 

It's not safe, but it's perfect. 

jump. 

I Already Paid For That----- (The Flight)

Sometimes when a person views the Christian life, it simply can feels like a list of "do's"
 and "don'ts." And ironically, many believers can fall into the trap of living like it's just a list of "do's" and "don'ts." We are by nature people who like to pay for our own price. Most people have a hard time accepting gifts in the payment form. And we are not quick to take a "hand out."
That is what makes Jesus's death on the cross for our sins so radical. It's saying in essence, the thing that you hold so close, your very life, was paid for and redeemed by Jesus.
"You mean I don't have to do anything to get Him to pay my price?" And the answer is, "Believe in Me." John 14...
I always have struggled feeling like I need to earn God's love. Be better. Do more. Live perfectly.
Well it's true that His word says, "Be holy for I am holy." And in some translations that says, "be perfect for I am perfect." But that holy living is not done in the name of, "Earning His love." For I will never be perfect enough to pay for my own sins. And when I strive, and search, and grasp to be better, please Him by making "sacrifices" and striving to be a little better than the next guy, none of this will add to my payment for my salvation, or earn me "more love" from God. The bills been paid, and the love tank is eternally full. It will not run out, or run dry.
You see we often view heavenly things, from an earthly perspective. In our world we have to pay for everything and there "is no such thing as  a free lunch." SO surely there must be SOMETHING we must do to earn God's love?
The answer is simple. Believe in the One He sent.
Striving has ceased.
Works have ceased.

We surrender to the One who paid our debt, and took our place. This is what it means to believe. To say with our actions, and our words that He paid our debt.

So in here has lay my problem for so many years. I have always said with my mouth "Jesus paid my debt." But with my actions, I am always trying to earn His approval.
When in reality, all the approval I ever needed was given to me freely the day I accepted Jesus's payment for my sin.
I put myself under a microscope and if there is anything that appears unrighteous in my life, I take a tweezers and extract it. I try to be perfect. That is just not possible my friends.
Perfection is found in Christ alone.
I will never be able to act, respond, and be perfect.
Now I can seek Him for  holiness, because He is my example, but I will not have to strive. Because holiness relies on Him to refine me, I look to Him for this type of growth.
I don't strive endlessly in vain pursuit of something that is unattainable in my own strength.

It's like this. I can flap my arms as hard as I can, even visualizing wings on my arms, I can strive this way for my entire life, but no matter how hard I strive, I will never fly this way.
However, I can board  an airplane, calmly lay my head back on the seat, and take flight with no real effort, other than that a boarding pass had be paid.
SO it is with Jesus. He payed my boarding pass. I am on the flight. Were are mid-air because Jesus got me there. There is nothing I have to do stay there in the air except to remain on the plane. If I jump off the plane and start violently flapping my arms, well I will crash to my death. My striving will bring me nothing.

So keeping in line with air plane analogy, I realized the hard way that I was trying to lift myself off the ground with my own arms, and it was getting me no where. So I took the ticket that Jesus handed me the day I received salvation, I boarded the air-plane and here I am. Enjoying the flight. There have been bumps along the flight, because everyone faces turbulence in their lives. Sometimes great, sometimes light, but regardless...when Jesus sees the fear in my eyes, and comes and sits down next to me, puts His hand on my knee and says It's going to be OK, I'm in control.
My white knuckles release and I am able to lay my head down and rest again.

You see, nothing I sacrifice on this earth will amount to anything, unless it is a sacrifice He has told me to make. Nothing I strive with will add to anything, unless He points to me, and say, "I've got a job for you to do today!"
And then it's with excitement that I can jump from my seat knowing He has something for me! I love it when He does this.
We are to love our fellow passengers, and love our Pilot.
And even this, daily He will help us unpack what that will look like.
Striving has ceased.

I'm done flapping my arms. I feel like a chicken when I do this. Striving, working hard, and never really going anywhere near where I feel like I should be. Striving in the flesh will fill you pride, if you happen to lift off a few inches, it will tire you and it will also cause you to make a lot of sacrifices you would not be required to make had you just accepted His grace to lift you up high in the sky...

SO if you don't mind, you can now unfasten your seat belts and feel free to move about the cabin at your leisure, we have to now reached an altitude of  45,000 feet. Enjoy your flight.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith and this in not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8,9

"O Praise the One who paid my debt, who raised my life, up from the dead!" -song