What’s More Important: Doctrine or Practicality?

I recently talked to a man of God who said, “I have never cared to look into the doctrine of soul sleep. Sometimes we can get so theological (in other words so caught up in doctrine) that we lose sight of what’s important: a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Is this a fair or accurate statement? Is looking into the doctrine of soul sleep distinguishable from your relationship with God? I think not. I and probably most people would not care to study what the Bible has to say about the after life (soul sleep) without Christ.

This statement also fails to recognize that God has specifically enabled certain believers with a hunger for the truth of the Word and then to use this truth to teach others. If God were not to give certain believers this hunger for the truth of the Word, how could we ever fulfill 2 Timothy 4:1-3:

“¹ I[Paul] charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus…²preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound^[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”

Do you see what Paul is charging us with? He is charging us with God as his witness to be ready at all times (in and out of season) with true teaching. In the future, people will not endure sound teaching. Does God care about sound teaching? Does God care if we know the truth? Or is this underneath His desire to have a relationship with His children? Certainly not! God doesn’t want your relationship with Him to be based off falsity, but truth.
John 4:23:
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

What is the Lord seeking? Is he seeking people to just worship him? Or to worship him in spirit and in truth? How do we discover such truths? Doctrine! Doctrine is not outside of our relationship with the Father and Son; it is an absolute necessity.

So how does this relate to an issue such as soul sleep? Jesus constantly talks about the hope to come. All of Christianity is based on the concept of the resurrection, i.e salvation. Is salvation in this life or the next? Therefore, understanding fully the hope to come is important. Lastly, if you want to declare for or against soul sleep you should be sure that your doctrine is correct, for James 3:1 declares:
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

God gives a greater strictness for those who teach the Word of God, because he is concerned with doctrine. He doesn’t want teachers misleading believers into worshiping God in falsity. See again that Paul prays for the Colossians in verses 1:9-10:

…[I] pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

He asked the Lord to fill his Colossian saints with knowledge of his will in all spiritual understanding (doctrine). Why? To fill us up with knowledge and not work? To become walking libraries? Absolutely not! The Word of the Lord says this knowledge or doctrine results in, or is supposed to result in, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. Notice that knowledge not only equips the believer to bear fruit in every good work, but it also is an end-state in and of itself “increasing in the knowledge of God.”

God wants his saints to learn about him; to care about him; to love him with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength,” — Matthew 22:37/ Mark 12:30/Luke 10:27

Doctrine is not about you. It is about the Lord almighty. The problem with so many Christians today is they are so wrapped up with themselves. They will not subconsciously confuse this. It is a practical reality for them– that they themselves are the center of gravity and God revolves around them. This could not be more wrong. God is the world and we are nothing more than a detail held within. The sun is a typology of God; the dust particle revolving around the sun is a typology of us humans.

This is God’s world and we are simply here to give God glory. Being filled with a mind full of knowledge of Him, and hands full of work for Him should be the goal we all strive for. Doctrine doesn’t take us away from the Lord, it only brings us closer.

Repentance: Change of the Mind or Change of Action?

The word of God states in Ezekiel 18:30:
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin.
In Matthew 4:17 Jesus says “ … Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” These are just a few of the many verses God speaks directly about repentance. God is very concerned about His people repenting of their evil actions, thoughts, and ways. This is a truth that, I believe, has fallen by the wayside in today’s Christian culture. I seldom hear Christians speak about repentance. I only hear, “believe and that’s all you need.” Is this a true statement? I would say yes and no.

I agree with Martin Luther and the reformers that your are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Amen, hallelujah! However, we must remember the caveat that they place on this statement that is so often excluded: “I believe in faith alone, but not a faith that is alone,” – Martin Luther.

What did he mean by a faith that is not alone? At first glance, it appears that Martin Luther is merely contradicting himself. However, after careful examination, one sees that Martin Luther was speaking about a great paradox in the bible.

James says that faith without works is dead. Faith needs works to be alive or existent. You, however, don’t need faith plus works. They are invariably interwoven. If you have faith without works, then the reality is that you don’t have faith at all. See James illustrates this in 3:15-17:
¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good^[b] is that? ¹⁷So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Take note to what James is saying: that faith without works is like a man saying go in peace and be warmed and filled without actually doing anything for him. This is ridiculous. This is not true concern or charity. This “concern” or “charity” lacks consistency. There is no substance found within.

This is how faith without works is. It lacks validity. How can you say Jesus is Lord, and not do his will (works). How can you say Lord not my will but your will be done (works) and do only your own? You my friend have a dead faith, which will produce nothing.

Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven

What is Jesus saying here? He clearly states that not everyone who professes faith (Lord, Lord) is truly saved. It’s not the one who professes to have faith and has no works, but the one who does the Father’s will.

Can you do the Father’s will and not believe in him? Of course not. As Martin Luther said, “Faith alone, but not a faith that is alone.” How much works do you have to have? There is no such requirement given in scripture. If you truly have faith in Jesus Christ, you will be born again, and your new redeemed person will have works.

One of these works that will result from your new redeemed life is repentance. God will give you not only the desire, but also the power to repent of your former ways. Philippians 2:12 :
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

So who then is doing the work? Is it you or is it God? The Word of the Lord says it is God. So whether it is faith (Ephesian 2:8 …it is a gift from God…) or your work (Philippians 2:12 …it is God who works…) it all comes from the Lord. Therefore, if you are in Christ, you will have no problem doing Jesus’ command, “to believe and repent,” for both of these things will be given to you.

This is all, however, God’s perspective. Man’s perspective is that you need to believe and repent — work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Don’t let any tradition of man rob you from the truth. It is not enough to simply believe. You must believe and repent, for this is true faith — the former will only get you to Matthew 7:21 “…Lord, Lord…” The latter will bring you to Revelation 21:1 “…a new earth and the new Heaven… “

Adam’s Choice vs. Fallen Man’s Choice

Very interesting; It is fascinating that you have taken the mystery of why adam sinned and consequently concluded that it is a mystery why anyone choose God. There is, however a fundamental difference between Adam (man in his pre-fallen condition) and man (in his post-fallen condition).

Adam before the fall was not contaminated by sin. Sin was not in his life. He had no sinful nature. Now what do I mean by a sinful nature? Do I mean that he had some entity outside of himself causing him to sin? Certainly not! The word nature here is meant in the following sense: genetically controlled qualities of an organism, or the inherent character/basic constitution
of a thing.

Now what does this all mean? Since words are nothing more then
symbols annotating meaning. I will give you a word picture:
The nature of a lion is to kill. This desire to kill and hunt for food is not outside of the
lion but an inherent characteristic of the lion.
Here’s another:
A doe naturally is a peacful animal. It goes from place to place grazing. It will only fight to
defend itself or family but does not seek other animals with the desire to kill
them.
Both of these animals are examples of how God created them with
particular natures.

Now, getting back to man…
Man before the fall did not have a natural inclination to sin. He naturally did not want to sin. Or did he? That is another question that I will leave for another time –for time’s sake. However, if you do say this, then your stating that God created man with a nature (desire/ inclination) to sin. This opens up a can of worms.

We do know that man(after the fall) is born with sinful desires in his heart. It is part of our nature to rebel against God. This passed down from Adam, thus resulting in a sin nature. Adam’s choice to sin without a natural desire to sin is nothing like our choice to sin because we indeed have a sin nature.

To illustrate this point is another word picture:
A doe choosing to kill another doe and eat it is wholly different than a doe eating
grass. The first doe is going against its nature by killing and eating one of it’s own. The other doe is only following its nature.

When we analyze how we choose our actions, this point becomes more clear. Man, or decision making entity, decides to act or make a decision. We only ever do what we want to do.

What does this mean? Well, let’s first examine what this doesn’t mean. This doesn’t mean that I am always 100% for an action– as in I even want to take that course of action, such as going to work. I don’t want to go to work. I would much rather do various other things. So then why do I go to work? Because I would rather work than starve. My desire to not go to work is less then my desire to starve. Once again, even in an action I am not completely for, I still did what I wanted to do.

If your desire to not go to work was 51% and desire to go to work was 49%, would you go to work? No, because you would rather not work than work. Very simple concept but yet very hard to truly absorb.

How does this apply to the discussion at hand? Since man only does his greatest inclination at any given time, then he is bound by his desires. Therefore, if man does good then his desire was to do what is good over that which is evil. Likewise, if man does what is evil that means his desire to do what is evil is greater than his desire to do good.

Is man prior to being saved and receiving a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone evil or good? Before you say that is a false dichotomy… What if he is morally neutral? He could, theoretically, be neutral but by what basis does he choose right from wrong? He would have to choose based on an arbitrary decision or a decision outside of moral considerations. This would make his moral decisions meaningless and God’s corresponding wrath of his meaningless decisions unjust. If man chooses to make a moral decision it has to be meaningful.

Once again, how does he make these decisions? Based off of his inclinations or desires. How does he receive these inclinations or desires? Are they against his nature or from his nature.

If you answered they are against his nature, this is impossible. If they are against what he was, then he couldn’t possibly do it. If he did this, it would only prove that this was a part of his nature. It all goes back to you can’t do what you don’t want to do. You can’t use what you don’t have.

If man is morally evil, then it is impossible for him to choose good. His evil desires will always be greater than his nonexistent good desires. Even if man did have a 49% good and 51% percent evil, he would still never choose to do good. He would have to be morally good, or at least 51%
good and 49% evil, to choose good — I.E. choose the goodness of the gospel of
Christ. If this were the case, then all men would choose good. However, we know this is not the case.

What if man was 50% good and 50% evil? Could this be a possibility? Unfortunately, no. If this was the case, man would be unable to make a decision at all. This lack of a decision would be a decision to not choose God. Thus, all men would go to hell. This is not reflective of reality.

This brings us to the question: if all men are evil (at least 51% evil), then why would anyone choose good? According to my previous words he wouldn’t. This is an accurate assessment, and this is where Calvinism comes into play: God is the one who places that desire into man, giving him the desire to choose good over evil. God, which is his sovereign right, also allows other men to remain in their evil state.

Now, I am in no way trying to convince you of Calvinism through this analysis of man’s decision making. I am simply trying to say that Calvinism is completely logical, and the alternative is either undiscovered or illogical. I say undiscovered because it is a possibility. This is, however, highly unlikely. God has given teachers to the church, to discover and share His truth. Truth is important to God, and He wants us to worship Him in truth and in spirit. It is possible that God would not have revealed this mystery to one of His servants. But, it is unlikely that God would leave us in the
dark on such an important truth.

Remember, fellow servant of God, that He created logic. Without logic, there would be no way to interpret anything or put meaning on any of God’s Word. Logic is not a Christian’s enemy, but his friend.

Some things are beyond logic, but they are never illogical. Is man’s moral inability to choose what he doesn’t want to illogical? –quite the opposite Man choosing what he has no desire to choose is illogical.

In conclusion, we have to study the Word of God and see what it reveals about the condition of man. I see that the Word consistently teaches that man is evil and not that man is good. If this is true, you then match this up with understanding that man only does what he desires to do. The result is total inability. This leads to the question: how is anyone saved? And you have a mystery until you read the scriptures and find out about God’s sovereign election. Thus, the doctrines wee refer to as Calvinism.

Now, there is so much more I would like to say about why Adam, Satan, and the angels choose evil, but that would be too much for this one article. I would also love to show you in scripture where God talks about the condition of man and sovereign election, but this again would be too much for this article.

I hope this helps. God bless you; abide in the fear of the Lord and shun evil.

Shun Evil

In Job 1:1, the Bible records that Job is “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” The grammar is odd in this verse, which makes it unclear as to whether this is a list of characteristics such as: Job is blameless, upright, one who feared God, and shunned evil.” Or could it be understood as the following: “Job is blameless and upright, because he feared God and shunned evil.” The latter part of this sentence gives the explanation for Job’s righteousness. Either way, we can all come to harmony that Job was blameless, upright, a God fearer, and an evil shunner.

I have read this verse before, but I never zoned in on the fact that Job shunned evil. I was always too perplexed about the fact that Job was blameless and upright. What did this mean? I thought the Bible said that none were righteous, no not one. Did Paul forget about Job? Of course not. But, that is a totally separate subject that I will discuss in a future article.

When I read the holy Word of God this time, I noticed, as if in bold, that Job feared God and shunned evil. He shunned evil. What does that mean? Webster’s dictionary says to shun is to avoid deliberately and especially habitually. In my every day usage of the word shun, I have only ever used and heard shunning to people such as ‘Don’t shun me’ or ‘the Amish church shuns its former members.’ However, the idea of shunning evil itself is a revolutionary idea to me; it is also a concept I see is completely low and void in society and, most sadly, in the Christian community.

I joked with my wife, my more dearest fellow partaker in the work of God, the only thing I have seen is Christians shunning people who shun evil. We call them square, uptight, and self-righteouss; we unfairly accuse them of trying to earn their salvation. Surely no one who wasn’t trying to earn there salvation would work hard at actually doing the will of who we so piously profess is Lord and savior. Works have nothing to do with self-righteousness, if so then all of our church fathers, previous Prophets, and apostles were self-righteouss sinners who should have been more like the rest of us –abandoned, condemn homes.

Jesus Christ called the religious leaders of his day white washed tombs, for they look good on the outside but inside were full of dead man bones. Verily, verily I say onto you that at least they look good on the outside. Today we don’t look like “white washed tombs.” We look like open caskets . We can clearly see that nothing but a dead man lies in front of us.

Oh, dear God how long will you have mercy on men. How long will you restrain you justice and wrath.

My point here is not that we should be like the religious hypocrites of Jesus’s day; we should be better, not worse. We should be new creations in Christ’ old things passed away, all things new.’ Be clean inside and out. Shun evil. Fear God.

Is shunning evil mean that we entertain ourselves with it? That we watch movies, play video games, or bask in it all day ? Are we the local slander or do we buy any product they are selling. Are we walking pornography, or are we viewing it? Stand up men of God and be encouraged. Job was merely a man just like we are. WWJD – what would Job do. Sometimes it is hard to relate to Jesus due to his absolute perfectness and divine nature; it can seem impossible to match up or relate. However, Job was exactly like you. Actually, he is worse off because he didn’t have the benefit of having the full revealed word of God to encourage him. You do! Stand men of God. Fear God. Shun evil. Walk worthy of the Gospel you where called. Before your offended by this last statement read Philippians 1:27 (²⁷Only let your manner of life be worthy^[h] of the gospel of Christ). Follow God’s word not the traditions of man.

Praise the Lord. Let God be right and all men be found a liar.

Pastors Not Teaching the Way They Ought To

I was reading an article from a brother in Christ about how “entertainment, fluff, feelings-oriented[messages] dominated service.” He was frustrated with how pervasive of a problem this is in the Christian church. He asked with frustration if he was the only one who wanted ‘true, solid, expository preaching/teaching’ that is full of God’s word’s and not man’s. He asked if he was alone.

You are not alone, indeed. Neither was Elijah alone. God has reserved his elect for himself.

It’s funny that you say ‘this problem is so pervasive that to merely suggest finding another church is problematic’, because that is exactly what I was going to suggest.

Since this is not a suitable answer, I will suggest an alternative: It just so happens that I was talking to an army chaplain yesterday, and I asked him why he joined the ministry. He answered, “because I was tired of reading and gathering so much knowledge from the Word and not seeing it be taught or applied. So, I decided I was going to get into a position to change this.”

You are unique in the fact that God has revealed these truths to you. Most don’t even see it. Now the question remains: what will you do with this knowledge?

“God is not building libraries,” a Godly man once told me. He is building workmen/ slaves that know His will and do it.

Therefore, I encourage you to do one of three things:
1.) Share with your pastor about your feelings; if he receives it, praise the Lord. If he doesn’t, his guilt is off of your shoulders.
2.) Support a man of God who is teaching in a way that honors God, not men.
3.) Become that man of God and lead His people.

Many Start, Few Finish: Luke 5:12-15

In Luke 5:12-15 we find a man who has eprosy, a man totally in total desolation and completely; he needs a savoir
and known other. No one else but Jesus can cure this man of his incurable. All man is in this condition due to sin. It is just not as obvious or apparent as leprosy, but it is none less real.

This man approached Jesus as we all should: with worship and humility. In verse 12 ‘…saw Jesus he fell on his face and said Lord if you are willing, You can make me clean. ‘ Once he received his healing, verse 13 ‘immediately the leprosy left him’, He quickly became disobedient and forgetful of what the Lord commanded him. The Lord commanded, not suggested, that he was ‘to tell no one and but go show yourself to the priest…’ even though this commandment was
strange and was counterintuitive to the man, he was still required to be obedient to it.

Let this man be a lesson. So many of us start the race off strong but so few of us finish it. James 1:22 “… he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” Let us be better than this. Let’s not forget the men we were, and the men we are striving to become.

The Christian life is a marathon not a sprint. Many have started off strong, but few and finished the race they have started.

Finally, the cleansed man reveals to us sometimes God commands us to do things that we don’t agree with or seem strange, but this shouldn’t be surprising to us for the Lord said ‘my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not
your thoughts.’ Are job as his slaves is not to question Him, Our Master, but to obey him – regardless if we agree or totally understand. This is part the process of renewing our minds.

Philippians 1:12 & 20 & 28-29 – God works all things for his glory.

God bless you; be blamess, upright, fear God, and shun evil — Job 1:1.

Modesty

It isn’t easy, as a woman, to remain pure. We are surrounded by a culture that glorifies our immorality. Have you ever heard a man compliment a woman on her modest apparel? Or is it that you always hear a man complimenting a woman who is not so “covered up?” It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the girls who dress flashy are noticed, and the girls who dress modestly are ignored. It’s so extreme that our definitions of beauty revolve around our immodest dress codes. The girl wearing a tank-top and miniskirt is seen as beautiful, while the girl in an ankle skirt and sweater vest is just plain ugly. We are Christians living in the unbeliever’s world. To make things more complicated, our “main” goal as a woman is to get married and have a family (feminist movement will tell you otherwise- a whole different issue on its own).

How do we balance the finding of a mate with unappealing modesty? We all know the answer, we just don’t like to discuss it. As a woman, especially as a Christian woman, it is crucial to dress in a manner that will not cause a brother to stumble. There is something inherently disturbing about seeing a daughter dress promiscuously in front of her father. If it is an odd sight in this situation, shouldn’t it be considered even worse in public? If you are anything like me, you did not grow up with this modesty principal at all. My parents never governed my clothing choices, nor did they discuss that my body was a private matter. In the eyes of society I have been considered “normal” looking. My skin was covered; isn’t that the definition of being modest? It was too late for my parents to say anything as I grew older. Issues like this need to be instilled from the beginning. It was only by the grace of God that I was convicted on the subject of modesty.

How would I dress if I was going to stand before my Creator? All of a sudden my entire view on my wardrobe had been shifted. It isn’t just enough to have your skin covered. Are your clothes form fitting? This eliminates all of my jeans! Those form fitting “t-shirts” I bought from the mall are now out of the question. What about my big hoop earrings and my push-up bras? These things that were once so normal to me became an abomination.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you have to be so plain that you can’t even stand to look at yourself in the mirror. It feels nice to look and feel feminine. For those of us with husbands, it’s advised that we should try to be attractive for them (but ONLY for them). If you are “on the market,” I wouldn’t say not to wear those stud earrings or that pretty necklace you like. Of course, anything that could potentially catch the attention of the lustful eye should not be worn. Why wear a push-up bra if you aren’t going to be revealing that area? Does the shirt you wear show the curve of your body? How about your pants? How far above your knees are your shorts? These are just some examples of questions to ask yourself when you are getting dressed for the day.

In my opinion, one of the biggest motivators as a single person to dress modestly is that the way you dress will attract certain men. If you dress like Mariah Carey, all the men that walk up to you are going to be lust-driven individuals. If they lust after you, they will lust after others while with you. Dressing in this way also is a signal to any “quality” guy to stay away. If you dress modestly, you practically filter out the secular men. The most important thing to understand -again, just my opinion- is that God is sovereign, and His will be done on earth. If He has called you to marry, you will be married regardless of how “ugly” you look. As far as guidelines go, take a quick look at our celebrities and dress the exact opposite of them.

–The wife
———————-

God’s Word instructs far better than I can:

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” (1 Peter 3:3, 4 NKJV)

“in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.” (1 Timothy 2:9, 10 NKJV)

“Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30 NKJV)

Financial Infidelity

Money decisions dictate many aspects of our lives, from what you will eat to what your do for recreation fun. Money plays a role in all of these decisions — even mundane ones. In marriage we must recognize this and make decisions accordingly. Communication is key. Understanding each others spending ideology and concepts helps couples see each other perspective and compromise. This will limit potential fights and stress in the relationship.

Financial infidelity is when one person in the covenantal relationship is making financial decisions behind their spouses back. This includes spending more money than previously agreed on, buying things outside of agreements, treating ourselves continuously , and anything else that we do behind our love’s back.

This can be very damaging emotionally — let alone financially — to a marriage. Financial transparency is key to avoiding these pit-falls.

Sources: Focus on the Family With Jim Daly: Building a Secure Financial Future With Your Spouse (friday October 7, 2011)

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/focus-on-the-family/

God bless you; Abide in his Love – 10-10-11

My Lifes Work: Bible Commentary

I wrote an article today about the importance of not living a vain life. That we as Christians,in the end of our lives, should be able to reflect on our lives and be proud of our contributions. Well with this mentality in mind,  I am considering writing a commentary of the bible. Now I would divide this task into smaller chunks such as first just the gospel of Luke. Then possibly all the books of Luke. So forth and so on, until I finished the entire bible. This is a lofty task and will take no shortage of time but  I am considering it.

One of the primary reasons, I feel led to pursue this goals is because today when I wrote 500 words about 7 verse in Luke. It felt so right.  It felt like God has gifted me with the ability to… not quite effortlessly, but efficiently write about his scriptures. Every time  I read the Lord’s word I want to discuss and teach it. I feel that burning in my soul.  After I wrote about Luke 5:2-7 and read the next section, I wanted to write a exegete on the subsequent scripture. I refused the temptation – for I knew if I excepted it, I would have to write another 500 word essay. Laziness got to me. I didn’t want to. Lol.

Well, this might be another one of my many pipe dreams, or this may be the beginnings  of a life’s work I pursue – - only time will tell.

God bless you; abide in his love through obedience and sacrifice.

With Jesus All Things Are Possible : Luke 5:2-11

Luke 5:4 “… He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch, but Simon answered and said to Him Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; neverthelesss at your word I will let down this net,’ for you see, Simon in spite  for his circumstances was able to put his trust in the Lord. He had toiled all night fishing and yet he caught nothing. Now Jesus tells him to cast his net over the boat; he has a decision to make to react in unbelief and refuse to do what is counterintuitive or to the trust in the Lord.

Simon was a professional fisherman and he knew that the fish that could be caught with a night normally migrated to deeper waters during the day and return to shallow waters during the night: thus the reason he was fishing all night. Simon also knew that the Lord was sovereign over all creation and he was obedient to his command.  Luke 5:6 says, ” … when they [Simon] had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking…and they filled both boats so they began to sink.”

The results of following God’s plan was a blessing that was so great that there net could not contain it, even the boats where not large enough  to contain the blessing of the Lord , to the point that ships where sinking. This is how wonderful God is. When he gives you a command or promise he is able to fulfill above our wildest expectations. We just have to trust him and take him for his word.

Notice Simon Peter’s reaction in verse 8-9: “[he] saw it [and] fell down to his knees, saying Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he all who where with him were astonished.” We as believers in Christ know what Peter was revealed to at that moment: the deity and lordship of Christ. Those who were around him were astonished by what the Lord had done.

We should not be astonished by the fulfillment of God’s commands and promises in our lives. We should come to depend on them and to expect them. They shall come. Now we do not know the time or the season. We do know though that it shall come exactly at the right time — dictated by the Lord himself.

Finally, Christians with being equipped  with this knowledge should react as Simon, Peter, John and James did: “They forsook all and followed him.” We as Christians need to forsake everything that we our trusting in outside the Lord. We need to only put our trust in God and his promises. They are the only thing that is secure and trust worthy. Let’s walk in the light as our father does.

God bless you all; walk in the fear of the Lord and acknowledge that while man plans his ways, God directs his steps.