Legal Property

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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"Trust Me."

"Trust Me."

Oh, dear.

The last time God said this phrase to me this strongly was just before He made it clear He wanted me to move away from Phoenix. I loved Phoenix. I loved my new house. I loved my work. I loved my friends. And, I didn't want to leave my sons behind--they both attended college there in Phoenix. I had lots of perfectly logical reasons to stay in Phoenix, and I informed the Lord I was staying. So there.

And again He said, "Trust Me." As most of you already know, I wound up trusting Him and moving to Willows, California, where He makes it abundantly and constantly clear why He wanted me to move here and that He is, indeed, trustworthy.

Normally, just before being asked to preach, God begins giving me ideas for a sermon. This time, the request to preach has preceded the ideas. Soooo, I ask God what He wants me to talk about, and He says, "Trust Me."

"But God," I say, "I have to let the bulletin-meister know the title of the sermon and the songs and the responsive reading and the prayer. What do I tell him?"

"Trust Me."

"Do You mean You want a message about trusting?"

"No."

I began ruminating about what it means to trust. It means to have faith, right? Lots of people in the Bible stepped out in faith. Abraham, Moses, Peter, and Paul, to name a few. And post-Biblical: Constantine, Joan of Arc, and Mother Teresa come to mind. Surely they had mountains of faith.

But wait--Jesus said it only took a mustard seed of faith to move a mountain. We seem to think these days that we need a mountain of faith (and a little wind) to move a mustard seed.

Sometimes my mustard-seed-sized piece of faith is firmly in place. Sometimes my molehill-sized fear stops me from acting in faith. Or my mountain-sized pride. I mean, what if I prayed for someone in front of a bunch of people and no healing was evident--I could be severely embarassed. Notice the "I" part.

How do you get rid of the "I?" How do you get past the fear? Tell me, if you would. Let me benefit from your wisdom.

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