December 1, 2009
2 Chronicles 15:7-8 (New Living Translation)
But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.” When Asa heard this message from Azariah the prophet, he took courage and removed all the detestable idols from the land of Judah and Benjamin and in the towns he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, which stood in front of the entry room of the Lord’s Temple.
This verse pretty much describes what God has been saying and showing to me in the past couple of weeks. It’s actually been pretty awesome. Ever since we got back from Cincinnati God has been challenging me with different things and the common theme has asked, “am I being bold in my faith?” and “Am I doing all I can to have the best relationship with God as possible?”
The greatest things I’ve ever experienced in my life have been directly attributed by my willingness to step out on faith and let God run the course for me. I decided to follow God in leaving my first Graphic Design job to go out on tour and be a witness to people all over the U.S. That was truly one of the greatest and most priceless experiences of my life. I stepped out on faith on leaving that very same band to commit myself even more to AYM, college and worship ministry. I can’t even begin to talk about the abundant blessing and spiritual growth I’ve gained from that, and now there is another huge event in my life, but you know, I’ve hesitated to step out on faith with this one. I think I may have grown to comfortable and to careful with this next step. God may have been pushing me and hinting to me that its time to move forward, but I kinda put up a stop sign with God. Thats totally not how God wants us to live. God needs us to be bold and courageous, and in that He will reward us, but I took my eyes off the prize. I couldn’t see the goal any more. But some of your other great youth leaders spoke a great deal of wisdom and challenge into me, and ya know, im realizing that its time to step up, its time be bold, and its time to regain that walk by faith mentality I’ve had. I love moving when God says move, I love jumping to action the moment God says go. Shame on me for hesitating, but Im done sitting down, Im done playing safe, Im moving forward with this.
Now without going into great detail, most of you guys know that I’ve been job hunting for ever and ever. I pretty much made it into an idol in my life. I kept saying, “when I get a good and steady job I’ll be able to accomplish __________” you fill in the blank. I’ve made it such a big deal in my life that “I” find a good job so “I” can provide blah blah blah, but ya know, thats totally not the case. What I ended up doing was robbing God from what possibilities He had to bless me as my soul provider. I was, in essence, saying “God, I don’t trust you to take care of me” and when I really finally figured out I wasn’t trusting in God like I should have, and saw how I was acting and what kind of idols I was starting to create, it was hard to swallow.
But after encountering this verse it totally describes how my comeback needs to play out. I need to stand bold and courageous in my faith, not afraid to face anything because I have the strength and power of Christ on my side. I need to destroy all these idols I’ve been building up and start to repair my faith just as Asa destroyed all his idols repaired all the alters of the Lord. What does your faith look like? Are you stepping out, being bold in who you are in Christ? Are you focusing and building up your faith in Christ? or is it in Idols in your life like “the american dream” college, a job? Maybe its time for a change. Maybe its time to be big and bold in your faith, because that is what make a faith look beautiful.
