Monthly Archives: October 2017

LET GO TO LIVE UP

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LET GO TO LIVE UP

MARK 8:27-38

 

Let it Go

It seems odd to think that it is only by losing that we could find something.

It seems intriguing to know that we can find life’s true value after we give it up.

It is unusual to tell that life meaning could be found only after giving it up.

The topic makes us curious as we go deep down to find that the essence of life could be better understood if we learn to LET IT GO TO LIVE UP.

The Message in Paradox

In verse 35 of Mark:8, Jesus said that whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses it for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Jesus’ statement is a paradox.

It is an illustrative statement of two contradicting, opposite, absurd statements yet it expresses a latent truth.

It might not be logical to the listeners but it points us to a truth that God wants us to understand. God’s wisdom is different from humans.

That is why we notice that in many of His statements He usually mentioned “those who have ears shall listen” and “Verily, verily I say unto you…”

There is a message hidden in Jesus’ statement that could only be grasped if we have those ears willing to listen and a heart wide open to accept His words.

Two Contradictory truths

 The world teaches us that to save means to keep it up and preserve its value.

So people save his life by keeping up something that would benefit him. Human exerts his effort to be able to control his surrounding that would sustain his life in his favor even if turns that he became selfish and self-centered.

The danger of man focusing his attention and energy to preserve his life is missing to understand that we cannot do anything.  After all of this, it will end in vain for what profit does a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his own soul.

The gospel of John says that without God, we can do nothing.

What Jesus teaching us is contradictory to what the world is teaching us.

We have learned in our lifetime that to be able to save our lives, we need to protect and keep them intact. By any means, we survive our life from any external threat. While there is an intriguing statement, we need to lose our life for God’s sake in able to save it.

He said that if we lose our life for God’s sake and of the gospel, we will find life.

The true meaning of life is when we hand over the control of our life into the hands of God.

We can truly discover the beauty that life brings when we let it go and let God shows us to see life from His perspective. The master designer knows best as He is the one who laid out the blueprint of our life.

DON’T PRESERVE THE TEMPORARY

Our human thinking is so limited that our perception of how to save ourselves might be enough, but we are wrong.

We should never preserve the temporary.

In one of the parables Jesus taught, the rich man said to himself “ I am rich, I have so much harvest that my storehouse is not enough. I will demolish it and build a bigger one”.

Preserving the temporary makes us foolish like the rich man in the parable. We concentrate on preserving what will not last. Keeping up things that can be stolen, rusted, and destroyed by moths, washed out by floods, blown by the storms, and can be burned by fire.

Don’t preserve the temporary because we deserve something that lasts. A life of eternity worthy to be longing for of which only in God we can find.

Focusing on saving the temporary losses our opportunity to experience a life that leads to eternity.

CROSSROAD OF CHOICES TO MAKE

Today we are being offered a lot of choices.

In fact, daily we are at the crossroads of choosing which one would be a better choice.

When you are at a buffet table and all the foods are enticing, it boils up your appetite. It makes your stomach roar.  There are times when you want to taste all of it but you can’t.

Like choosing a dress, my wife has that gift to meticulously cross-examine every piece, and fit it out back in forth inside the dressing room, from one store to the other while I’m waiting patiently as her “consultant” and “fashion show audience”.

Why, because there are a lot of choices and we have to pick the best.

If this law works in the physical round, then it should also apply in the spiritual round. We should never settle for less.

That is why we should not so indulge in the temporary but rather focus on something that lasts. Never so concentrated on the physical but also on the spiritual.

He wanted us to choose him. But God is a respecter of free will.

THE BASIS OF OUR DECISION

Jesus asked His disciples what people say about Him. And they replied that He was Elijah, some said he was John the Baptist and others said one of the prophets.

But Jesus asked them personally, who He was for them and Peter boldly said that He was the Messiah.

God wanted to hear what we know of Him. God wanted us to have that deep knowledge of Him not because this is what we heard from others but because this is our experience of Him

He is establishing an intimate relationship with us.

He wanted that we choose Him not because of fear but because of love.

Loving Him cause us to obey and follow Him but he gave us the condition that if we desire to follow Him, there should be no more turning back like a man flowing his farm in the field.

Our decision to follow and obey God should be founded on truth and the relationship He established in us.

NARROW ROAD

Narrow is the road that leads to a path where God is. Many choose the wider road as these are more comfortable, with fewer hassles. It’s a freeway where everybody is going.

The decision to choose God is a tough decision because we have to lose our life for God’s sake and in obedience to the gospel.

To follow God is to follow Him on the narrow road away from the trance where many love to walk.

To embrace God is to walk with Him on the road less traveled.

In verse 34 Jesus said to His disciples, “if you want to follow me, deny yo

urself; carry your cross and follow me.

To serve God and save our life is costly because we need to exchange all that we considered as valuable. What He demands is not just what is available but He wants all.

Are we willing to lose our life for the sake of the gospel? Then we have to continue reading this article.

DECISION TO FOLLOW

Now that we assess the demand of following God and His gospel, our journey starts.

Like a man who builds his house, he built it on the rock so that flood comes it will not be washed away.

DENY YOURSELVES

In verse 34 Jesus said to His disciples, “if you want to follow me, deny yourself; carry your cross and follow me.

If we are deciding to follow Him, we have to deny ourselves. We must be ready to disown and reject anything that makes us too proud and brags about who we are because of our position, our possessions, our gifts, our talents, and our connections.

It is denying ourselves when we are elected to a public office and for us to reject any outside influence or any opportunity we know that it could make us wealthy yet we choose to live a life of integrity because we know that it is not our money but it’s the money of the people we serve. That it’s not your money but by the owner of the company. That it’s not yours but by the ministry you serve.

Is it not renouncing to oneself when Zacheo the chief tax collector went down the sycamore tree and was convicted to return more than twice of his wealth to anyone whom he defrauded?

Are you willing to hear from your friend that your fool if they tell you “sayang naman, palay na ang lumalapit sa manok”. Anyway, your spouse is not here and nobody could see. Is it not renouncing yourself when you have the opportunity like Joseph rejected the offer of Potiphar’s wife to have slept with her?

Is it not denial when you are lower than your ego and pride because you forgive the person who rejects you. Those people who talked about you.  Is it not denying when David has the opportunity to get even with King Saul when he had that chance to kill him?

A follower is no greater than his master. Jesus denied himself and accepted the will of His Father even on the cross.

How much more of us are willing to follow Him?

CARRY YOUR CROSS

Carrying the cross is the consequence when we deny ourselves.

When we decided to renounce what is due to us it becomes our burden, it becomes our cross.

There is always sacrifice when you choose to forgive. You deny yourselves when you lower your pride just to be reconciled with your loved ones. You carry your cross when you sacrifice to accept him even if the past continues to linger in your mind. The wound is still there but you sacrifice because you choose to love.

You carry your cross when your life is not that plenty because you reject the opportunity to open the box. It hurts to see sometimes your children don’t have that much luxury even if you have that chance by using your position and connection to corrupt other people’s money.

You carry your cross when you send that “balikbayan” box to your family even if it takes you months to fill it and patiently wait for “Sales”. You sacrifice so that others might live.

Is it not carrying your cross when you take care of other children?

miles away from your own just only to make sure that they live, experience a life you have not experienced before, and that they may pursue their dreams.

It’s a sacrifice to follow Jesus when you take his burden as our burden. When we choose to serve God by serving His people without waiting for neither reward nor consolation.

FOLLOW ME

We can only truly follow Jesus when we deny ourselves; we carry

that cross and yet continue to follow even if that cross is still on our shoulders.

We cannot follow when we carry our cross yet we have too many complaints. It does just make the cross heavier.

We follow Him with the awareness that there might be an inconvenience; we may not be having that luxury yet we still continue to walk with God.

Even if that past continues to haunt your relationship, you continue to move forward because you choose to forgive, you choose to love.

The path might not be the road many traveled but this is the road that many missed. It’s the road to eternity because where God is leading us, He will surely bless us.

LET GO TO LIVE UP

In verse 37 what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Are we willing to give up earthly things to receive the heavenly things?

Are we willing to deny everything that is fleeting and temporary for the sake of eternity?

Unless we learn to let go of ourselves we will not live up to what God has in store for us.

For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul.

May you have the courage to let go.

Mikesendon

 

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WHEN WE COME TO OUR SENSES

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WHEN WE COME TO OUR SENSES

Luke 15:17-24

 Senses

It is odd to think to exchange something valuable for something that never lasts.

How many times do we neglect to value what is important in the exchange for what is really essential?

We follow our desires; we chase our dreams only to realize that they are just fleeting things.

It seems odd to understand that we forget our first love because we found someone that we thought they are better than the latter.

 Regret is always at the last. We will only realize what is really important when we come to our senses.

The Fate of a Prodigal Son

It’s one of the renowned Jesus parables of a younger son who asked his father for a share of his estate. So the good father decided to divide his wealth between them and not many days later, the younger son gathered everything and started his journey away home. He squandered his shares with extravagant living.

Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be penniless; he started to work as a helper feeding the swine. But the income he had is not enough that he even shared with the pods that the swine were eating.

But he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger.

What We Exchange

We can relate to the story because, in so many instances, we tend to exchange something better for temporary things.

We put more value on ownership rather than relationships.

We laid more weights on the worlds rather than in His Words.

We pay more attention to the things that are just trivial rather than what is essential.

We fight for our own rights but neglect other’s need and their plight.

We defend and stand with our pride but fail to understand the feeling of the other side.

The son chooses his freedom to do what he desired to do with his life and spent the rest of his life with people whom he thought would help him.

Is it funny to realize that we more we desire to be free but yet the more we trap in the rat race?

The more we desire to make life easy and simple, the more it becomes complex.

The more we settle with our selfish ambitions, this always leads to our own destruction.

What are those things that we regret today because we choose to exchange them for something less?

Choose what is best

Is it not wise for a man to exchange something better for a lower value?

Will we exchange our dollar for a peso less than its current rate?

This is what happens when we choose to serve only ourselves rather than choosing to serve others.

Anything we do for just personal interest will not bear fruit and serve its best.

We cannot live in immorality but when someone speaks the truth, we feel not guilty; yet we tell that person that he should understand our personality.

The younger son already living the best in the presence of his father. They have slaves and everything.

He was living in abundance yet he still desires to live free away from his father, thinking that by being away he could have better control of himself and can be able to do exactly what he wants.

Little do we realize, that we tend to live away from the presence of God thinking we could do better and do exactly what we desire to do.

But the more that we distance ourselves from His loving presence, the more we detached ourselves from the provisions and move away from the shadow of God’s protection.

Psalm 91 is an assurance for those who choose to dwell in the shelter of our God Most High.

Away from Him, we can do nothing. If we decide to live apart from Him is like a branch detached from its vine. The blessings stop and the branch dried up.

The son began to be impoverished so he decided to hire himself out as a helper of the swine.

Walking away from the grace of God will slowly make us poor not only materially but the worst is in our spirituality.

The more we deprived ourselves of the presence of God, our spirit and our soul becomes dry.

Even we work things out; the material needs and people that surround us are not enough to fill the vacuum that was left empty because it longs for the presence of our loving Father.

Choose our God and we choose the better part.

When we come to our senses

Our situations and the conditions we are in might be horrible is not a punishment but a mere consequence if we walk away from the Father.

But the consequence should be the jolting point for us to realize that we have gone far.

It’s a bumper for us to be an awakening point from our sleep and be aware that our conditions are not permanent.

We have to come to our senses.

This is what happened to the younger son. He became aware that his suffering was not a punishment but a turning point to return back to where he really belongs.

That his afflictions were not borne but the consequence of his unwise actions.

We are not born with suffering, but most of it was the result of our foolish actions and decisions.

When we come to our senses, we will realize what more relevant things are.

It will bring us to an awareness of who we really are, and how God values us more than any other.

If we come to our senses, it will lead us to come back to the presence of God who never stops waiting for us for our return.

Second chance

God is giving us second chance, a third chance…

He allows us to stand up and walk past where we fell.

Never be so stuck in our sin thinking that we cannot rise again.

Never thought that we cannot correct our mistakes.

When we come to our senses, think that God is giving us another chance.

God’s arm is wide enough to embrace us again. His mercy is far greater than our sin.

He patiently waits for our return.

Call to Repent

Luke 13:1-9 is another parable where Jesus expounds that we need to repent.

Coming to our senses makes us repent of our sins.

We cannot judge others that they are more sinners because of their fate or their situations because unless we repent, we will all perish.

Unless we come to our senses, we will not mend our ways but will continue to walk to our death.

God wanted to see the fruit in us. Like the fig tree, without finding any fruit after how many years is destined to be cut down.

Better be humble down before God than be cut down in our relationship with God. Before the blessings are cut down and stop it from flowing. Before the sun goes down leaving us un-repented.

Dig around and put Fertilizer

The owner of the fig tree asks a favor from the owner of the vineyard to give him chance to dig in and put fertilizer hoping that the tree will eventually bear many fruits.

Time is given to us each day, a chance to dig deeper into ourselves and check our relationship with others and with our God.

We have to dig deep into our hearts what are those things that truly matter and are essential.

We need to put in fertilizers to eventually grow us more in our relationship with our God.

We need to add more value to our time with people who really matter to us.

God is giving us more time but not on our terms but on God’s terms.

When Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh to repent for their sins,

God has given them 40 days.

They humble themselves and wore sack clothes and sit on ashes to show that they were sorry for their sins.

What are those things that we added to strengthen our relationship with Him?

May we come always to our senses and our life live in its full,

Mikesendon

 Senses

When Giving is Not Enough

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WHEN GIVING IS NOT ENOUGH

MARK 12: 41-44:Giving

 

 What if we are told that what we are giving is not enough?

Maybe you already gave your best, you have given everything, but are we giving enough?

How we could truly measure our giving?

Because the gauge of the world of how much you give is on the amount, it’s the quantity, it is on the range.

The world recognizes that you are a giver because you are known, you are exposed, and you are popular.

But God defies the norm of this world in giving but let him teach us that it is not in the amount of what we give but rather how much value we put on what we give.

THE WIDOW STORY

In the reading of Mark 12, Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and he began observing the people putting money into the treasury, and many rich people were putting the large sum.

A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which could amount to a cent.

But it was interesting that the poor woman found favor when Jesus highlighted to his disciples that among all the people who put money into the treasury, it was the poor woman who gave the more.

GOD’S EYE ON THE GIVER

Our giving cannot be hidden from the eyes of God. He is observant.

Every penny, every offering, every giving that we are doing is known to the Lord.

That is why, whatever we give in charity with a smile, cheerfully, and coming from the heart will not be put in vain.

He knows how much we give and the more, He knows how we value every act of giving we are doing.

QUANTITY OVER QUALITY

There are two important characters in the story. The rich who have given a large sum and the poor woman had given only two copper coins.

At first thought, we can say that it was the rich man who gives more. Because in comparison to the amount, the rich put in more.

But let us understand that God doesn’t look into the summation but at the percentage. How much percentage are you giving? Because if we will dig down into it, maybe you are only giving a portion, an excess from the whole bunch of what you have.

But the percentage of what the poor woman gave was 100 percent of what she owned, out of her poverty, put in all she owned.

God looks at what you have and what you give to determine the level of your giving.

A ten dirhams from a poor man is a sacrifice but this ten dirham is an insult from a rich man.

That is the reason Jesus was impressed with the giving of the poor woman because she gave without reservation.

She had given everything, with trust and dependence that her God is the God who is more than enough.

Because in giving, the measure is not on the quantity but rather on the quality.

In Genesis, we know that God regards the offering of Abel rather than of Cain. Because Abel’s offering was the best and God pleases with his act of worship to the Lord.

GOD SETS THE BAR

The woman illustrates what God has done.

God has given everything without reservation, without regret and hesitations.

He has given us His only Son because of His great mercy and love for mankind.

God set the bar. Jesus has given us an example of what a true measure of giving is.

God’s giving was a sacrifice. Jesus became the sacrificial lamb for many.

He loves the world so much that He gave his only begotten son.

Giving all that you only got and so dear to you is painful. It’s hard to let it go.

Giving is a sacrifice. Every sacrifice in the olden days entails the shedding of blood on the altar.

If you are giving without any feeling of pain, then think about it.

That is why you feel pain every time you give because what you are offering means a lot to you. It’s enough to augment your other needs, but you need to give it anyway because it is a sacrifice.

And sacrifice is not only about money. Maybe you are a mother waking up so early to prepare food for your children is an act of sacrifice. It’s giving your time.

Maybe you’re a priest, a minister, a religious, or a public servant. You are truly giving your time, talents and even your treasures to help is a pure giving without expectations of any material returns, or people’s appreciation.

But when you give, you don’t give to people. Your giving is being seen and counted by God. He will be the one giving you the reward.

GIVING TO GOD AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP

Many of us thought that to worship is just to sing and exalt God during a worship service.

But worship means to honor God and acknowledge His worth, His value to us.

If we know whom we value, if we understand that honor belongs to God, then it should not be difficult for us to give what is due to God.

Giving should be a joy that we are giving out from what we received from Him.

But it is sad to say that instead of joy, it becomes a burden for many.

Understanding what tithes and offerings mean should give us light to understand that it is not for God’s benefit but for our benefit.

WHAT ARE TITHES

Tithes are the tenth of our gross income. Tithe means tenth.

In the old bible testaments, they don’t deal with money as a form of commerce. They deal with their products like wheat and their livestock, their oxen, a bushel of corns and etc…

During that period, when they give, they set aside one ox for every ten oxen, a bushel of corns for every ten bushels of corns. A portion of every product they had.

What they set aside is considered holy unto the Lord. It does not mean it is clean alone but it is consecrated and become exclusive for God’s use.

God has exclusivity on every offering that belongs to Him and He takes it seriously.

In fact, when we use the tithes, the scripture says that we have to return them with interest.  It is one-fifth of it or 20 percent. Does this mean God is so concerned with the money? No, but He wants to re-emphasize that it is” mine” and this is not “ours”. Lev 27:31

In addition, He emphasized that not giving tithes is robbing Him and curses is upon those who do rob him.

Lev 27:30-33 the Lord says that all the tithe of the land of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree is the Lord; it’s holy unto the Lord. for every tenth of the herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. He is not to be concerned whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it, then both it and the substitute shall become holy. It shall not be redeemed.

Do not think that we are helping God out. If you don’t have money and I give you one hundred; then I said to you give me the ten does not mean that you act like a rich and you enrich me since, at the start, the hundred is mine.

The same principle applies, God owns everything and God is asking us to give him back the tenth of what we received from Him. But rather, we act like we own it.

We become loyal paying our taxes but not giving back our tithes.

Tithes teach us the discipline and faith to be true disciples. This gives us the ability to have accountability for every penny and every blessing we received.

TEN NOT LESS

Ten is symbolic of the whole.

Ten is the minimum but not limited to.

Our numerical system is based on ten. The highest number we can count is up to ten. When you count from 1 to 10, then 11 to 20 means you start again to count another set of 1 to 10. Then twenty-one means you start again from one and so on…

If you can count one to ten, then you can count even up million. Because millions are a group of tens.

The tithes are symbolic of the whole. The ten represents the ninety, and the ninety is in the 10. God consecrates the ten and He blesses the ninety.

It is in this principle that Jesus represents all. When He died on the cross, he died for all and when He resurrected, we all have life because of Him.

Jesus’ act of sacrifice represents the whole body of the Church.

When we give the tenth of our gross, we declare that everything we received from Him is His; because the ten represents the ninety. But God is good that because of the ten He got as covered and there are promises on that.

The tithes become our covenant with God. God does not only blesses the tithes but even the ninety.

FROM GROSS OR NET

Many ask from where they will refer their giving, from the gross or from the net.

We understand that when we received our income, what remains is the available amount after deductions. There are deductions for taxes, mortgages, loans, and so on.

But frankly, when we applied for a loan or tax exemptions; we declare our gross income. It is only when we give tithes that we suffer from memory loss.

In Leviticus 27:30, God says that all the tithes of the land, of the seed of the land or the fruits of the trees, is the Lord; it’s holy unto the Lord.

It should be set aside; it is His and is exclusive for God’s use.

In Malachi 3:10 it says that we should bring the whole tithes into the storehouse so that there may be food in God’s house.

INTO THE GOD HOUSE

We have to bring the whole tithes into God’s house.

IT’S OBEDIENCE AND NOT THE MONEY

What blesses God is not the money but the obedience we have to God.

God is not broke and doesn’t need anybody’s money. He owns everything.

What He gets from our giving is obedience.

Because our obedience becomes an expression of worship.

Our giving becomes a sacrifice of worship because of our obedience.

Obedience to God proves our love for Him, demonstrates our faithfulness to Him, glorifies Him in the world, and opens avenues of blessing for).

In 1 Samuel 5:22 “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices / as much as in obeying the Lord? / To obey is better than sacrifice.” Why is obedience better than sacrifice?

THE PROMISE BEHIND GIVING

When we think that we took advantage by not giving what is due to Him, we are wrong.

In fact, it is we who steal the blessings that suppose we have to receive.

We deplete the grace that is about to release to us for our benefit because God has nothing to lose. It is we who have so much to lose.

It is the only verse I know that God is challenging us to challenge Him. In Malachi 3:10, He says that we challenge Him now on this.

He said to test Him, to provoke Him, put Him on the corner on this giving of tithes. And pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

He will open the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

We cannot outdo God in giving. But He is challenging us in this if He will not remove the barriers on your financial blessings, on the favors that are long-time stored for us.

Our obedience has a promise. It’s the key to opening the floodgates that were dammed out and closing the flows of blessings in our life.

A BLESSING OVERFLOW

God will pour out a blessing overflow.

He did not say He will pour out many blessings but said “ a blessing”.

There is one thing that God will give you.

It could be one favor, one person, one talent, one gift, one job, one business,  one opportunity that when it’s given will be the source of your overflowing blessings.

FINAL WORDS

Do not be stingy.

Never be so tight be your tithes because it is not God who losses.

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—1 Cor 2:9

Do not rob yourself with the blessing because if we only knew that “one” thing God could be able to give, we will be overwhelmed. We will be amazed because truly it is. No doubt that our God is amazing.

Believe me, it is for our good.

May your happiness be full,

Mikesendon

 

Walking on Top Where Everybody’s Sinking

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Walking on Top Where Everybody’s Sinking

MATTHEW 14:22-33

Walking

Do we want to see miracles that most people failed to see?

Do we really want to receive blessings that many missed receiving?

It seems surprising to know that God’s blessing is just around us and just within our reach.

It seems odd to know that you and I can walk on top of where everybody was sinking, and yet we don’t experience it?

Because Peter is a man just like us, with limitations, with many weaknesses yet experiences the miracles of a lifetime to walk on top of the water.

Who among us wants to walk on top of where everybody is sinking?

THE NEED FOR AN ANTENNA OF FAITH

It was not just long ago when most of us witnessed and experienced that to have clear reception of channels on radio or television, we need to have an antenna.

Is it not funny that before, you need to turn the antenna to every angle possible just to receive a clear reception of invisible power, unseen energy, that feeds the radio, the wireless telephone, and television with huge data or hertz to hear and see that are just around us?

Although this technology is now revolutionized into a more advanced technology using a fiber optic, the law is still the same.

The question now is, do we have that antenna for us to receive these things, these blessings, these revelations, and these miracles that are just around us?

Do we have the FAITH to see what others don’t see?

Faith is an antenna to receive and tap into the power that many missed to possess and experience.

The miracles and blessings of God surround us, but we don’t experience them because we don’t have the device to claim and received them, we don’t have an antenna of faith.

It’s just like your swimming in a vast ocean with countless fish but you cannot fish because you don’t have the net to catch them.

That is the faith Peter had, he saw Jesus walking on top of the water and when he Jesus invited him to come, he believed that he can walk too on the water.

FAITH is like a WIFI, it is invisible but it can connect you to what you need.

In faith, there are no dead spots in God because we will always be connected in faith

In Hebrew 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

FAITH MAKES YOU EXCEPTIONAL

When you have faith, you become exceptional.

Peter became exceptional as he walked where many could sink.

He was the only disciple who had the experience to walk on top of the water.

Our faith makes us special as we can connect to where most can’t connect.

By faith, it makes us among the list of halls of fame in heaven, who gained favor and pleasing before God.

Because by faith, we can please God.

By faith, Enoc please God and took him up without seeing death.

By faith, Noah being warned by God of things not yet seen prepared the ark for the salvation of his household.

By faith, Abraham became the father of many nations.

But all of them were human too like us, and what happened to them can come to reality in us if we have faith.

Your FAITH in God can make you exceptional too.

Why? Because their faith and our faith when we fully practice can please God.

Shout that you are exceptional.

Declare that you are extraordinary.

  • Your faith can move mountains
  • Your faith can connect to where many can’t connect
  • You can tap on the power where many missed
  • You have the lenses to magnify the unseen
  • With faith, you have the edge over your adversaries
  • With your faith, you dare to face your enemies
  • With faith, we can touch the heart of God
  • With faith, we can be part of a miracle
  • With faith, our prayers could be heard and answered

Because you are exceptional.

A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.

No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.

-Psalm 91:7-10

WALKING ON TOP OF WATERS

Matthew 14:29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter goes out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

God allows us to experience walking on top of the water to show us that whatever is impossible could be possible.

That all of us can rise above where people are afraid to walk off.

That we can overcome our fear and have the courage to endure what others feared to face.

So that we can step outside our boat and live away from our own comforts and start to trust God’s provision and power.

WALKING EVEN THERE IS A STORM

But seeing the wind, Peter became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out “Lord save me!”

Like Peter, he already walked on the water but he was distracted by the strong wind that he saw, and he slowly sunk down. Jesus told him how little was his faith.

Don’t expect God to be sensual in our storms.

Because we may not see or feel Him physically, but with faith, we will know that He is always in control.

That is the reason why we must walk by faith and not by sight.

Storms should increase our faith as faith could be the best practice in our storms.

Uncommon faith brings uncommon results.

The presence of storms in our life does not mean that God is not with us. In fact, the presence of God is with us.

In fact, it is the presence of God that sustains us in battle the strong winds in our life.

Psalm 46:1 says our God is our very present help in times of trouble.

God is present in our tribulations, in our sufferings, and in our struggles because He is a very present help in our times of need.

Call upon the name of the Lord and he will be with us.

It does not mean that when we are being shaken by the strong wind, God is absent.

GOD ALLOWS YOU TO SINK TO HUMBLE YOU

Never be so proud that we are on top of the water always because sometimes God allows you to sink.

It is when you are on the top of everything that he allowed us to sink to understand that we need Him to help us.

Our walking on top of the water is not ours to brag about but rather to understand that we experience it because it is a grace.

Don’t be so proud that you are walking on top of waters and overcoming all your storms that you lose sight of the hands that call you.

Because sinking allows makes us call the name of the Lord for help.

Sinking allows us to understand that we need Him always in our life.

Sinking diverts our attention and focuses again on the hands of the one always willing to help us.

And it is Jesus.

May your happiness be full,

Mikesendon