The phrase “no more swimming in the shallows” really struck me in church yesterday. It’s the idea that with faith although you obviously need to learn in the shallows there’s a point where you have to go deeper, let the river take you.
I do think we’re too timid sometimes, too willing to hold onto the sides and miss out on the excitement of being right in the middle of the water. Yes, it’s scary but it’s also exciting and it’s also living. God does have a current and wants you to follow it, but you have to let go first and take your feet off the bottom.
Later on at another church that night it was all about faith challenges and how to recognise them. Using biblical examples there are a whole host of nutty things people were asked to do that weren’t easy by any stretch, just because they were asked to and believe God would do the rest:
- Noah took 120 years and doubtless a lot of money to build a boat in the middle of the desert
- Abraham was asked to leave his homeland, relatives, etc at the age of 70, not to mention being ready to kill his son on request
- Esther had to stand in front of a King without being summoned and risk death to get him to reverse a decree to kill her people
- Moses took 140,000+ people to a sea, put a stick in it and waited (plus tapping a rock for water, getting manna, plaguing a Pharoh etc)
- Joshua had to walk round Jericho 13 times with his people probably feeling a bit dumb and then shout with trumpets and wait for the walls to fall down
- Joseph had to believe God was with him even when thrown into prison unfairly
- David had to believe that despite just being a shepherd boy the anointing to be king wasn’t just a big joke
Although those might seem like fairly huge examples, but they are just a few examples and all started out as pretty normal people. I hope we can all point to things in our lives where God has asked us to trust Him even though it doesn’t make sense. It certainly won’t be easy, in fact it’s highly likely to be uncomfortable, but God will be there.
I’ll give a personal example of coming down here two years ago to South Africa to start flight training. I’d done my sums and estimated roughly £10,000 were needed, yet all I had were some airmiles to get the flights for free. Thinking I’d use my previous and professional fundraising experience God knocked me back and said ‘just ask people to pray’, i..e don’t ask for money. So I did and I waited, time got closer and closer and only a tiny amount had arrived when I was on the plane down here. Two months of wondering where the money would come from and even having to obtain an interest-free loan on faith that I wasn’t barking and God was with me eventually resulted in all the money being given … and my faith being stretched and grown.
Anyway, here’s 5 points shared on Sunday on how to identify when God might be giving you a faith challenge, whatever that might be (changing a job, giving up a relationship, moving somewhere):
- Increased uneasiness with current situation
- Heightened curiousity of the challenge
- Detachment from current tangibles, i.e. not concerned about the salary drop or how impractical it all looks in relation to your current situation
- Increase in desire to obey God above all else
- An inability to turn the thought of the challenge off
How to start on it is pretty much say ‘yes’ and take the first step, worrying anymore than that and you won’t leave the shallows. Most importantly, you won’t know what it is or what to do unless you pray, and remember it’s in God’s timing, not yours, so be prepared to wait!
Originally posted on BlogSpot.co.uk
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