"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to listen than the fat of rams."

Many times we forget that there is a way to love others.

Our default is to love how we desire to be loved and not learning how that person actually needs love.

The same goes with God. He has laid out a way that He desires us to love him.

In today's episode I want to dive into how he has called us to love Him.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

Sometimes a verse becomes so familiar… so woven into our Christian vocabulary… that we start to treat it like background noise. 

We know it. We’ve heard it. We could recite it in our sleep.

But here’s the thing... nothing in Scripture is “filler.” 

Every word Christ spoke, every line the prophets penned, every letter Paul wrote to the early church, it all carries the weight of eternity. 

Every stroke of the pen, every phrase, infused with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, speaking from eternity past into eternity present.

In today's episode I want to zoom in on one of those “familiar” moments, one you may have read or heard a hundred times, and look at it with fresh eyes.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid...

Sometimes it may feel like storms and trials were crafted specifically to test and expose the weak areas of our walks with God?

… and that’s because it is. 

James 1:2-4 reminds us that trials are there for the perfecting of our faith… to sharpen us… and to remind us who to put our faith in… because let’s be honest, without constant realignment, we struggle with forgetfulness.

We forget that God is God… that He is the one we lean on…

… we sometimes fall into an illusion that it’s OUR works… OUR ideas… OUR environment… so God has to disrupt our environment… destroy our ideas… and put us in a place where it is ONLY Him and us.

In today's episode, I want to dive into how we respond when God calls us out of the boat. When He calls us out of our safe place and the storm is raging around us.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: 

     Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.

     The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; 

     may the name of the Lord be praised.”

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

How do we handle life when everything seems to be collapsing around us?

Failing relationships… Struggling with family sufferings…

Can’t get ahead at work… or just feeling lost and wandering around in life without purpose…

Or maybe all of this is happening at once… and you don’t understand the reason… and all you can do is look up and cry out

“WHY ME, LORD?”

In today's episode, I want to dive into how we respond when our world crashes around us. When everything seems to go wrong and we don't understand. In those moments, how do we come to God? DO we come to God?

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, 

'Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses....

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.' "

Moses has died… The Leader of the children of Israel is gone, and the promise is still unfulfilled.

Everyone’s looking around confused like, what do we do now?

Who is gonna step up?

God has reached into your life, just like with Joshua, and called you forward to lead in a God-sized way… how will you respond?

In today's episode, I want to dive into being strong and courageous nd walking the path God has called us to. He's called you out of the crowd and onto a God-sized path.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“For you formed my inward parts;

    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

    the days that were formed for me,

    when as yet there was none of them.”

If you've ever gone through a tough situation where it’s felt like your life is unraveling… believing you're on God's mind is a very very tough notion…

In today's episode, I want to dive into how our unraveling can be for our own good.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“...Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told."

Who’s progress is tied to your obedience?

Are there people who need your obedience to unblock, or unlock the next step in their journey?

Your obedience is never just about you.

You are a part of God's larger design, and just like a gear in a car, or a clock, the moment it decides to fail or delay working, it can cause other parts to break and even destroy the whole system.

In the same way, you not being obedient can cause someone else's delay or breaking down as they wait on your calling.

In today's episode, I want to dive into how our calling, our obedience can unblock and possibly even save the lives of others.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

"... and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey”

We enter the story with God telling Moses about the land of Canaan… the land flowing with milk and honey… 

But as we continue through the story in their journey to the promised land, we see a common theme, “Moses, we are over it out here in the wilderness, let us go back to Egypt… because at least in Egypt there was certainty.”

Now that’s crazy work.

Let us go back to bondage, because at least bondage had certainty.
And every time I read this story, or even reflect back on it I get mad at them because I am baffled by their mindset…

… but then I realize that, so many times, we hold this same Egypt mindset.

We prefer the comfort of certainty over the discomfort of uncertainty, even when certainty comes in the form of bondage… because at least we know what to expect.

How many times have you chosen a situation you KNOW was wrong for you over the freedom of the blessings God has for you?

In today's episode, I want to dive into how God calls us to let go of Egypt, and walk with Him to the Land flowing with Milk & Honey.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

One thing I’ve learned is that imagination is a beautiful gift which can be very dangerous when not kept in check.

When submitted to God, it can bring forth the most amazing and wonderful ideas… but when combined with our oftentimes controlling nature, it can create anxiety and worry in us.

Because I can imagine ahead… many times I have to stop myself from stressing ahead… worrying ahead… and running ahead of God.

But in order to do that, I have to first get out of my own head.
But how do we even begin to get out of our own heads?

God lays out a response for us in Matthew 6…

In today's episode, I want to dive into how God calls us to not just let go of worrying, but to replace it with something so much better... HIM.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven 
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

So many times I’ve wondered why I haven’t turned a corner… walked into my next season… or overcome a storm

… and you may be asking yourself these same things.

What I've come to understand is that it’s because God knows that my next season, your next season, requires consistency.

Many of us have no problem starting strong in obedience and on fire… but somewhere along the path when dealing with the “ups and downs”, the new revelation of God asking us to give up ANOTHER thing in our lives, and just the general timing and having to be patient in the midst of all of that, we lose our excitement… the flame dies out… and we trail off the path and back to the comforts of our old ways… and God knows that that recurring cycle isn’t going to cut it for your next season.

In today's episode, I want to dive into how lack of consistency can prevent you from being effectively used by God, and sometimes not used at all.,

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.