God uses the story of Rahab the prostitute to teach us that no matter who you are or what you've been through, God can and will use you. God's love is not contingent on your behavior. Instead, just like Rahab, God sent Jesus to forgive your past and redeem your future.

What do we do when what we see doesn't look like anything God has said? Joshua was confronted with this exact question when he and his men marched around the city of Jericho for 6 straight days with no answers. What we need to realize is that God is at work all 7 days, not just the day the walls fall. God is not only taking you somewhere in those 7 days, he's making you into someone.

The Israelites found themselves in the middle of an unsettled freedom once they escaped slavery in Egypt. Change was hard for them, just like it is for us today, and they wanted to go back to the comfort of what they knew, even if it wasn't what was best for them. That attitude is a lot like the one we have today, isn't it? When life is unsettling we crave "normal," even if normal wasn't healthy for us. But God's promise for the Israelites is the same for us today: he will be with us in the storm, in the unsettling, no matter what.

The story of Joseph in the Old Testament is one of unexpected problems leading to unprecedented opportunities. Joseph faced many problems throughout his life, but through it all he never compromised. His leadership shows us that crisis doesn't make great leaders, it exposes them. What does your leadership look like in the midst of crisis?

The story of Abraham and Isaac is one of real faith—a faith that's caught, not taught. Through Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his one and only son, we see that God cares both about the process and the destination. Ultimately what God is concerned about is drawing us closer to himself.

Most of us know the story of David and Goliath. But there's so much more to this encounter between a teenager and a giant than we were taught in Sunday school. Through this story we learn that courage is rooted in more than a sling and a stone—it's rooted in faith—and age, well that's just a number. The only reason the giant falls, the only way we're going to see a victory over the giants in our own lives, is through God and his power.