Step Off the Edge

I once read that faith was walking to the edge of all the light you have and taking one more step. I think that is so true. Sometimes in life we spend way too much time just standing at the edge and never taking that step. We know God is there, we know what His Word says, we know we should take that faithful step into the unknown, but something stops us. FEAR. We hear thoughts that say, "yeah, but what if God doesn't come? What if he doesn't show up? What if His Word was meant for other people, but not for me? We wonder if we can really give God the control over our lives that we so often hear we are supposed to do. Again, fear creeps in. What if God calls me to be a missionary? What if God doesn't find me a spouse? What if God asks me to do something I don't want to do? So we spend a lot of time at the edge. Sometimes years. Sometimes, we stay frozen at the edge; never growing as a Christian and we wonder why God doesn't do anything with our lives. Many times the enemy will use this scenario and whisper to us, "see, God isn't there, He can't be trusted". If the enemy takes this a step further he will say that not only doesn't God have your best interest in mind, but God uses other people, just not you! If we fall into this trap something worse can happen. We begin to move backwards away from the edge, away from our faith, and away from God. Not only are we not growing in our faith as Christians, but we are moving out of our faith. If we move too far out of our faith we end up living as though we are not one of the redeemed. The enemy then moves in for the kill telling us that God is angry with us and there is no sense in even thinking of talking to others about Christ because we certainly have no witness or testimony. We come to a point where we begin believing that God wants to have nothing to do with us. Afterall, we are horrible, bad, a sinner, and He cannot even use us. We question our salvation. We live crippled lives hardly making any kingdom difference. We're not even sure God loves us anymore. Did we ever believe that? We can't remember because it's been so long since we had that child like faith of the new believer. We throw up a prayer every once in awhile hoping that He does hear. Then God does something wonderful! He throws adversity and difficulty and sorrow our way until we are broken and spent and desperate and we desperately need and want Him.

Faith is walking to the edge of all the light you have and taking the next step. When we dare to trust Him and take that next step into the scary unknown, we find out that not only is He there with light for our steps, but we actually fly and before you know it, you are soaring. And your faith is raised a notch until the next push out of the nest. We go from faith to faith to faith. It is in those moments that we learn just a little more of how much He loves us and this love propels us into His will. We find that we want to tell others about Christ. We want to be hearers and doers of the Word. We have joy and peace. We are secure in our salvation. He loves us and we know it's true!

Don't be lukewarm and stay at the edge. Don't allow Satan's lies to drag you under as he tries to snuff you out. Take that step of faith. It's time to come out of the wilderness and into your promised land!

From Joni Ericson Tada

Three "Nuggets" from Joni Ericson Tada (check out her life story on the link above)

1. When you wake up in the morning, you're saying to yourself (about your life situation) --- "Lord, I have no strength for this... I'm so tired... but I know I have you, Jesus." And God tells you: "in everything, give thanks" and He tells you: "I can do all things" (Philippians 4:19) -- Ask God -- "Father, may I please borrow your smile today?" I need to learn to live in Jesus' strength - not mine!
Nugget #1: Begin your day needing Jesus desperately!

2. As you go out the door, search for His mission - Philippians 3:8-10. Nugget #2: Share in the sufferings of Jesus. Sufferings may be abandonment, persecution, betrayal, lies, slander, etc... whatever your cross is! It's not our natural inclination to follow God with suffering --- we want to follow God when all is going smooth. God permits brokenness, pain, addictions, in our lives because when we're broken and we are NOTHING -- that is when we need HIM most! Handicap people are those who live life on auto-pilot (cruise control) and don't need Jesus!

3. Nugget #3: Wisdom is trusting God even when you can't see things from His point of view. Philippians 1:1 ---> From my own life, being in a wheelchair FORCED me to lean more on Jesus ..." What situation in life is forcing you to lose yourself and to lean more on Jesus? We need to ask God to wake us up from our spiritual slumber. I Peter 2:21

A few words from Susana: "If you find yourself in a hopeless situation where there is no clarity and so much pain ... you find yourself numb to the life happening around you ... you're existing in life not living ~ turn to Jesus!!!! With all your "nothing" and with all your "pain" --- ask Him to embrace you with HIS Love. He will heal your brokenness and return the light to your life! Trust Him with all your heart and when you don't understand --- lean on Him even harder ... HE WILL NOT FAIL YOU!!!!