Living a 220 life

Kids Corner: Faith smaller than a chocolate chip

By Audrey age 10

Have you ever heard or said somthings impossible?Like mabe a math problem in school, or a hit in baseball.Well nothings really immposible even as big as moving a mountain!Right now your probley saying to yourself “What’s she talking about”?But in the gosspel of Mathew 17:20 It says we can have very little faith,but can go up to a mountain and say move and it will move.The amount of faith it says we have to have is as big as a muster!Thats smaller than a choclate chip!That’s really small! That shows us that with the powers of God we can do anthing!

Are you following from a distance?

As I was reading in my quiet time this morning I had a realization that many of us are placing ourselves at great risk by our actions. The ironic piece of the puzzle is this: we live our lives as Christians very cautiously, trying not to make any waves and be a good person, but this caution is the very aspect putting us at risk. I’ll explain through the example of three people: Peter, Judas Iscariot, and Joseph of Arimathea.

The realization hit me when I read Mark 14:54, “Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance…” Now, I got it, Jesus had just been arrested and it’s a really scary time. I mean, I’m pretty sure Peter understood his life could be on the line and he was pretty brave just for following Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard but, he still followed at a distance. He was cautious and hesitant. He wasn’t completely committed to following Jesus even if it meant death. Peter’s distance resulted in denying that he even knew Jesus. Now hear me on this, the ultimate result of Peter’s distance is found in Mark 14:72 where we find Peter broken and weeping. Peter thought he was preserving himself but in fact had destroyed himself inside. You see, the pain Peter had inflicted on himself was the same pain Judas inflicted on himself.

Yes, the situation is a bit different between Judas and Peter. Judas sold Jesus to the Pharisees so they could kill him. However, at the core of the issue, both Judas and Peter betrayed Jesus and both Judas and Peter were extremely remorseful of their actions. Both men followed at a distance and both men fell greatly. Please understand, this pain was self inflicted through actions they thought were self preserving. They thought following at a distance was safer than following the “radical” Jesus. They were wrong. Let me give you an example I witnessed just this morning with my son.

Last night we caught a baby snake outside our house. The snake is very small and barely even has teeth. My youngest son has become very interested in snakes and wanted to keep him as a pet, so my wife and I agreed. Well, this morning we opened the cage so my 5 year old son could attempt to get the baby snake out all by himself for the first time. His hand went in very confidently and with great excitement until… a slight movement by the baby snake. The snake barely moved but all confidence ran out of my little boy’s body while his hand and the baby snake had a stand-off. He hesitated because he didn’t want to get bit. However, due to the hesitation the snake became more defensive of the intrusive hand and eventually bit. He quickly pulled his hand back and was clearly freaked out by the incident though the bite didn’t even draw blood. I immediately stuck my hand in and grabbed the snake with no issues. The snake didn’t even make a sound; he just simply curled around my finger and went for a ride like a good little boy. The point is, my son’s hesitation gave rise to the altercation just like our following Jesus from a distance gives rise to our downfall.

Joseph of Arimathea gives us a great example of taking a risk to follow Jesus. In Mark 15:43 the New Living Translation of the Bible says, “Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the kingdom of God to come.) Jesus was still hanging on the cross so obviously being a follower is not yet a popular thing. Clearly Joseph is potentially risking his life by requesting Jesus’ body from Pilate but he’s also risking his career. Joseph was a respected member of the high council, a council which was certainly filled with people who just crucified Jesus. Joseph DID NOT follow from a distance but risked his life and his career to follow His Savior.

My friends, let me ask you this: Are you confidently following close to your Savior or are you cautiously following from a distance? If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ the opportunity will arise every day to associate yourself with Jesus. Do you? Do people even know you’re a Christian? Now I’m not implying you need to be an abrasive, in your face, Bible thumping zealot only concerned with your own goal of proselytizing the world. No, I’m implying you need to be a follower of Jesus who is so in love with your Savior that you identify with Him every chance you get and you lovingly share Him with everyone you can. I’m also implying that you, like Joseph of Arimathea, risk everything to follow your Savior. Joseph gave his time, money, devotion, career, and potentially his life for Jesus. Are you willing to do that? Remember, if you go through life cautiously following Jesus from a distance it’s only a matter of time before the baby snake bites you. Confidently stick your spiritual hand in the cage and follow Jesus as closely as you can. AMEN!

Kids Corner: Standing up for your faith

220 Life Ministries will be starting something new…a KIDS blog! That’s right, devotionals written for kids BY kids. These blog posts will be identified in the title and will be linked to a kids page on the 220life web page. I hope you enjoy and feel compelled to offer your comments.

This post is by Audrey, age 10.

Genesis 6:9-22

No one likes it when they get laughed at or bullied at school just because of their faith. But we as kids have to stand up for our faith no matter what. For example, when God told Noah to build an ark and to bring two of each animal on it how do you think Noah felt? He got called mean names, laughed at, and bullied but did he stop? NO! He kept on building the ark. After the 40 days and 40 nights God gave Noah a beautiful blessing of a rainbow. That shows us that if we do as God asks he will return us with a great gift. So next time someone starts to make fun of you for your faith just remember Noah. Never stop believing in Jesus because you get picked on, bullied, or anything at all.

Faith in Action for KIDS

TAKE A PENCEL AND PUT IT NEXT TO THE WALL. TRY TO MAKE IT STAND UP ON ITS OWN. IT CAN’T DO THAT, RIGHT? IT HAS TO LEAN AGAINST THE WALL. WELL THAT’S JUST LIKE US AND GOD. WE HAVE TO LEAN UP AGAINST HIM TO MAKE IT THROUGH TIMES. ALWAYS LEAN ON GOD, HE’LL NEVER LET YOU DOWN.

Faith that moves mountains

Friends, how do we experience the miraculous power of God in our lives? I mean, Jesus told us in Matthew 17:20 that if we have, “faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” I don’t know about you but moving a mountain sounds pretty impossible to me. However, Jesus really meant what He said and really meant for us to believe what He said. So how do we get even a tiny mustard seed size faith that is large enough to move mountains? Romans 10:17 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.” In other words, if you want your faith to grow you must spend time in the Word of God. Therefore, Romans 10:17 sets us on the pathway to gaining a miraculous faith able to move mountains by telling us to get into the Word, but the question still remains: What is faith?

In Matthew 6:30 Jesus asks His disciples, “Why do you have so little faith?” Now the guys He’s asking this question to have recently left everything they own to follow Him. These guys certainly believe Jesus is the Son of God. They believe! So why do they have little faith? The answer stems from the definition of faith. You see, faith reflects at least two ideas: trust and belief. Trust is a personal reliance upon the Lord for all sustenance and protection. Belief is an affirmation of truths. So, the disciples believed but hadn’t learned to trust Jesus yet. They had little faith because they had little trust. Ultimately, little faith results from our failure to understand our value to God and the extent of God’s protection of us.

Peter began growing in trusting faith the longer he spent time with Jesus. One of the most incredible stories about Peter comes from Matthew 14. Now remember, Peter was a normal guy who messed up all the time. He wasn’t Jesus, the Son of God. Peter was normal just like you and I. However, in Matthew 14:28 Peter yells out to Jesus, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” Then guess what Peter did…yep, you got it, Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. Wow! That amazes me every time. How do we get that type of faith? We trust Him! As our trust in Him grows our prayers will change. You see, prayer isn’t meant to inform God about our needs, it’s meant to express our trust in His provision.

Friends, if you want a faith that moves mountains you need to trust Jesus to provide the power to move the mountain. When you pray, you must understand that “Nothing is impossible” if you believe and trust. Now remember, faith comes from the Word of God. John 15:7 says, “If you remain in me and my Word remains in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.” My dear friends, abide in Christ daily through His Word and then confidently climb over the side of the boat so you can walk on water. NOTHING is impossible for us when we are abiding in Christ! Trust and believe Him. AMEN!

When life becomes too much

Have you ever found yourself is a spot where you just don’t know how you’re going to make it another day? Perhaps you’ve found yourself looking at a stack of bills while your empty bank account screams failure at you. Or maybe you’ve lost your job and you’re left wondering how in the world you’ll make it through the next month. My friend, if you haven’t faced a time like this let me assure you, it will come! Our Father in heaven will most certainly take you to the edge of human certainty where trust in your own strength falters. He’ll do this not because He enjoys watching you squirm, but because He enjoys watching you grow in faith.

In Mark 6:35-44 we have an amazing example of the Lord creating a situation that would make most people squirm. In verse 35 the disciples come to Jesus late in the afternoon and tell Him they need to send the crowd away to the nearby farms and villages. The disciples are making a very prudent recommendation to Jesus. They identify the need for the crowds to eat late in the evening and they also tell us there are villages and farms nearby. Certainly no emergency of starvation exists and the disciples are merely making an administrative recommendation. However, Jesus responds with, “You feed them.”

Now my friends, the disciples seemed to have a good plan and had things under control…until God created a problem with their plans. Jesus gives them directions that were very different from what the disciples had in mind. Have you ever felt like God is doing this in your life? Yep, Me too. The disciples respond to Him with the rational question, “With what?” They continue, “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” You see, what the disciples were doing at this point is they were searching their rational, human ability, data base to figure out how they were going to take care of this problem. Friends, we do this too. This seems to be our default setting however, this is where our stress comes from. You see, we can’t fix this problem, God creates the problem so we can’t do it.

We have a human paradigm, or a box of human abilities, that we use. This box holds all the possibilities our human strength can potentially muster. When we are faced with a problem in life we can go to this box and dig through it until we find the way we’re going to fix the problem. The longer we toss the God problem around in our human box the more we begin to get panicked because we can’t find a solution. Friends, it doesn’t exist! I’m telling you now; you won’t find the solution in your box! The disciples were searching their human abilities box when they asked Jesus how they were going to feed the masses.

Jesus encouraged them to search their human abilities box in verse 38 when He said, “How much bread do you have?” Then He says, “Go and find out.” Jesus wanted them to know exactly what was in their box. He wanted them to completely know they didn’t have the means necessary on their own. The disciples come back and report they had only five loaves and two fish. You can almost hear the desperation and frustration in their voices…Jesus, we only have a little bread and two fish, now let’s send them away. Jesus then gives direction that goes completely contrary to what the disciples were telling Him, “…have the people sit down.” You have to imagine the disciples were thinking, “ok, maybe He didn’t hear us clearly…Jesus, we don’t have any food!”

Jesus takes the small amount of food they had, blesses it, distributes it, and everyone ate as much as they wanted. The disciples even picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. My friends, Jesus allowed the disciples to worry a little while they searched their human box only so He could reveal the God box. When you’re faced with troubles in life do you search your human box or do you search your God box? You know, when you’re a believer in Jesus you’re given access to the God box for your problems. How foolish we are to continue using our own box when we have access to His. Why is it you continue using your own box? Do you not know you have access? Do you not trust that He’ll allow you access? Do you think your box is better? Do you enjoy worry and stress? What is it? Why do you do it?

My friends, if you desire a life filled with the peace of God, you must begin using His box for your life. Are you facing a trial right now? Are you short on money? Have you recently lost your job? Are you facing uncertainties that worry you? Search your God box for solutions and trust Him to fix the problem. He wants you to use your God box all the time and will feed the masses in your life in order to build your trust in Him. Friends, as you face your trial listen to His direction even if it makes no sense to you. Have the masses sit down and allow Him to multiply your loaves and fishes. When you do, get ready to have your world turned upside down; you’re no longer living in your human abilities box, you’re living in your God abilites box. AMEN!