Faith Over Fear: Pursuing God’s Calling

The calling of God’s work must be greater than our strength or it is only the work of a man. If it can be accomplished outside of God’s power, it is the mere work of man. The work of God’s kingdom is accomplished only by the strength and power of God.

Jesus said it very plainly in John 15:4-5 (NKJV). “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

When a person believes he has a God-given calling in His kingdom, he must see something beyond himself. With such a calling or dream, there are two possible outcomes. One, it is a miracle only God can do. Secondly, we look foolish. The fear of failure or looking foolish causes many to not pursue the work of God.

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How Much Does It Cost?

NOTE: This blog post was originally written and shared by me in 2018. I thought I would give it a quick edit and run it through the rinse cycle one more time!

How Much Does It Cost?

“How much does it cost?”, it is a question we ask when we shop.  But life is a series of questions of, “How much does it cost?”  It all comes down to value.  Everything has a value fixed at a different level by different people.  What do we really value?

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Understanding God: Insights from a Lifelong Journey

I will soon cross over into my seventh decade of life. There are a few things I know now. I did not know them when my hair was brown and my energy was like the battery bunny. The main morsel of knowledge I now realize is how much I do not know. The body of knowledge seems to be as vast as the ocean and I am in a row boat.

I have read the entire Bible each year for close to thirty years. I understand many truths of the Bible but I still scratch my head about some things. It is the Word of God. How can a mere mortal like me understand the vastness and the depth of it? The short answer, I cannot. Yet, I keep studying and praying for more understanding of the Word of Life.

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Purpose

I once had a conversation with a gentleman whose career for many decades was a department superintendent of a major manufacturer. His position had a high level of responsibility. He related with regret the times when he took his family on a vacation but had to leave them on location and return because of a work problem.

He did not outright say his career was a regret, but I could discern in his tone, “Why was it so important then, but now it seems almost silly?” Or “For what purpose?” I am quite certain when he retired, he was quickly replaced. By the way, the corporation no longer exists and his physical department is rust and dust.

Someone without a purpose is a lost individual. True purpose comes from somewhere outside of us. If we are just a blob of amino acids sailing through space, how could we have a true purpose? If there is no eternal purpose, then there is no purpose (or a very short-lived purpose).

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Pressing Forward

Difficulties and hard times can either be a ball-and-chain of the past dragging us down or a catapult to launch us forward into the future. We all have made bad decisions, took some wrong turns and yes, sinned.

All of us have had some hard knocks brought on by no fault of our own, some delivered by bad people meaning us harm and sometimes even good people making bad decisions.

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