The Lord will Provide

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”- Genesis 22:13-14

In the midst of troubling times, The Lord will always provide for every situation and dilemma that arises around us. In the book of Genesis, Abraham is asked to offer up his only son Isaac to God as a test of his obedience. Abraham doesn't question God's plan and begins making the preparations. After his son is tied to the altar and Abraham's knife is in his hand ready to plunge it into the heart of his son, God stops him and reveals a ram that had become stuck in the thickets just out of view. Abraham then calls the place of the altar, Jehovah Jireh, The Lord Will Provide. We see God being referred this way in one of the most well known psalms, Psalms 23- The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul, He leads me in the path of righteousness for his names sake. Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely, your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. When we see God as our ultimate provider, we can rest assured knowing that he will never leave us without. He will never leave us with almost enough, and he will never give us something we don't need. It is encouraging to know that when God calls us to go somewhere or do something, He will put things in place ahead of time so that when we get there, we have all we need. People that have been placed in a spot waiting patiently for you and I to get to where God has for us. Provisions of things we didn't even know we needed until the moment arrives where the things we thought we needed fade away. It is usually these things that we realize were what we needed all along. Many of us are afraid to move forward with God because we have not been able to trust him with the details. It is time to believe that if God is calling you, he is also equipping you to go and do what he desires. Let us have obedience as Abraham did and go even when the provisions are not all in hand. 

Adam Semple- A Young Man on a Mission From God 

Okay, Here I Go

"Jesus created us to be untamed, to be wild, to be undomesticated for the cause of the King and His Kingdom, but we get into the cage of religion and we start to assume this certain persona. We become safe, nice and domesticated.” And then I heard Jesus tell me, "I did not give my life and rise again from the dead just so that you can live a nice, little, safe, comfortable, complacent, ordinary life. I called you to live a faith adventure. Your latter days can be greater than your former days, and the best is yet to come!" Jesus Christ is calling me and YOU onward to a faith-filled adventure!"- Christine Caine, 30 days to greater faith.

Well, it is a new year once again.The old year is behind us and the new year is upon. We have made our resolutions and we might actually keep one of them at least until March. But then what? Come February, the gyms become empty, the cigarettes fly of the shelf and that promise to God becomes just a passing memory full of regrets and maybe somedays. With the start of a new season, how do we truly commit to our desire to grow deeper in God? We have to start by stepping outside of our selves and look to God as our only anchor. The problem with "new year resolutions" is we are usually not willing to step out of our comfort zone because it is usually scary. I have spent the majority of my life in the shadows. I have always been "one of the crew", and it becomes very easy to just get comfortable holding up other people. But at some point, I know that I needed to go on a God adventure without my family around me in order to truly grow into the person that God has planned for me. Don't get me wrong, my family is awesome. Even though God has blessed me with a great family, this year I will try to push out of safety and walk into whatever God has for me. Wherever He leads me and whatever he instructs. I hope as you go into this year, you evaluate your walk with the Lord and ask him what areas of you life that need stretching and growing. I hope you journey with me as I pursue God's calling on my life. 

Adam Semple- A Young Man on a Mission