“Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth! Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before Him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are His. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.” Psalm 100

One of my favorite hymns is “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. In fact, if the Lord decides to take me home before His return I want this sung at my funeral. They reason is simple...God is faithful. Not only that but when I have stumbled, fallen, & royally made a mess of things God has been there to discipline me, carry me, and forgive me. 2 Timothy 2:13 puts it this way, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” When we are born-again we are made children of God. We are joint heirs with Christ and therefore are joined to God through the blood of Jesus. Because of this He is not going to turn His back to us, He will not deny us or reject us.

Of course, this does not mean we grab forgiveness and then jet out the door towards the next sin. 1 John is very clear that when we are saved we no longer walk in darkness because we have been given a new nature and begin desiring the things of God. BUT, as we struggle and strive (imperfectly) in this Christian walk we can know that our God is there. He is empowering us in our weakness, providing wisdom in times of need & comforting us when nothing else will.

In short...GOD IS FAITHFUL

I have seen this most recently inside the Disciple Ship. We just went through two major conferences and a jump to three services. I had doubts but God was faithful, and so where several of you.

So now I ask the tough question and it may sting a little. Since God has been faithful to us...should we not be faithful to Him? God did provide people to help serve during the conferences, but many of them pulled double (and triple) shifts. Is it fair to ask just 10 out of 150 people to be faithful and serve above & beyond? The answer is of course “no”. I know some may have had legit responsibilities (and I am not here to belittle anyone) but let me challenge you to pray about other events coming up and how you may help. As God continues to bless CCOT we will need to step up and make sure we are being faithful with what we have because what we have is from the One who is always faithful.

The past couple weeks have been interesting. As a mere human I do not always understand the ways of God, but I simply have to trust that they are for His glory and my good. In the midst of this the Lord shared some pretty incredible insight with me through one of Emily’s homeschooling books. The book is based Exodus and follows a young Israeli girl as she and her family escape Egypt and head towards the promised land. In our reading yesterday she was watching the events in Exodus 17 take place.

“And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? (3)”

As some of you may know God finally directed Moses to strike a rock and water flowed from it providing water for His people. In the book we were reading there was a conversation between the main character and her brother. She was wondering why God, who could make water flow from a rock and provide meat, could not do that everyday. Why would he have the people go through thirst and hunger when He could provide it at a moments notice. After thinking a moment her brother responded saying that it is because God desires that the people stay dependant on Him and see Him as the One who provides. If they got water and meat everyday they would soon forget the One who provides it and would not seek Him.

As I read these words I was convicted. How many times do I take for granted the things God has given. Then, because of my comfort, I begin leaning on my understanding rather than His. I guess the saying is true, “when all you have left is God; you realize He’s all you need.”

As we head into three services aboard The Disciple Ship may we continue to lean on God and His wisdom and strength. May we not begin grumbling and complaining when we do not see immediate responses to our needs or when things don’t happen like we would see them happen. Even now we are impacting lives for all eternity.

In fact, just last week I was told about two incidents where parents had made decisions to come to CCOT because of The Disciple Ship. May God continue to use us to minister to these little ones as well as their parents.

Thank you all for your service. May the Lord bless you!