this past weekend I spent my time at great wolf lodge. with 1500+ younglife leaders, staff, & high school seniors– talk about a blessing!! who would have thought that God’s presence could be so big in an indoor water park? the speaker of the weekend was the same speaker who gave a month of his life to share the gospel to hundreds of broken high schoolers who signed up to go to Saranac Lake in New York for the best week of their life. which I was able to personally experience as well. after this weekend & the week I spent at younglife camp last summer, I can confidently say that Rick Rogan has spoke a lot of truth into my life & he doesn’t even know my name. but even cooler is that, God was the one who spoke through Rick & God does know my name!!
those few days taught me a lot. I felt convicted. convicted but understood. understood by my leaders, by my senior & college friends, by people who I met for the first time & especially by God. Rick spoke of three main things this weekend- intimacy, faith & courage. intimacy with God. faith in God. courage because of God.
in matthew 14:25-31 it says this–
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
wow we kinda suck. we fear. we doubt. we ask Jesus to prove Himself. we have little faith. Jesus commands us to come. to put our faith in things only He can control. to come closer in trust & a relationship with Him. to be intimate!! but in order to have intimacy we need to surrender. surrender our fear. take the fear that we have & transform it to faith. faith in Jesus. trusting that He will provide for us & as a result, we have courage. in this passage He does exactly that. despite Peter’s fear, Jesus reached out to grab him when he was afraid. all of these things can seem like uncomfortable & unnatural feelings to have, but in this situation & in all of our lives He so perfectly paves a path for us to follow Him. it can be messy & hard but life is full when rooted in Jesus. full!!!!
fear is a scary & consuming thing. it has the tendency to take over & replace our courage. but fear can’t live with courage!! courage can literally be defined as “the ability to do something that frightens one” on google. fear paralyzes your spirit, but praise the Lord that His truth is stronger.
we don’t have power to see where we will be months or years from now, let alone what tomorrow will bring. BUT, we do have the power to wake up & start every morning in the confidence that faith in the creator of the universe will sustain us today & for all the days to follow. again surrendering to our fear & lack of knowledge.
2 timothy 1:7– “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
power! love! self-discipline! three things among many that God provides us with. in replacement of timid feelings. victories people!!
this stuff is easier said than done but my prayer to you & for myself is that we can wake up every morning with the plans to 1) become more intimate with God today– ask Him to show up & do things. 2) put ALL of our faith in him– not just a little but 1000000% ppl. & 3) that we can have major courage– be bold, take risks, & let God guide us.
once again, thank you to whoever took the time to read this– i appreciate it more than you know 🙂
