Psalms 31:24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord.
When Jim Burke became the head of a new products division at Johnson & Johnson, one of his first projects was the development of a children’s chest rub. The product failed miserably, and Burke expected that he would be fired. When he was called in to see the chairman of the board, however, he met a surprising reception. “Are you the one who just cost us all that money?” asked Robert Wood Johnson. “Well I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won’t grow unless you take risks!” Apparently, Mr. Johnson wasn’t joking! Years later, Johnson & Johnson remains one of the largest multi-national manufacturers of pharmaceutical, diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical, personal hygiene, baby and biotechnology products.
Likewise, we believers are called to take some risks so that God’s Kingdom may grow! So often, we cower at the opportunities He makes available because we are too afraid things won’t go the way hope and others might be disappointed or sneer at our failure. But God wants us to go forth boldly, sometimes taking a risk or two, so that we may accomplish great things for Him! Yes, sometimes we’ll get it wrong and there may be a hard lesson to learn. But we will learn– and eventually great things will happen as result of our courage and persistence!
The time is short and there is so much work to do for the Kingdom! We cannot afford to stand in the sidelines any longer! Let’s ask the Lord to cause to us have courage and go in boldness! God’s Kingdom won’t grow unless we start taking some risks!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Toward the end of 1941, as the second world war was raging in Europe, the Japanese ambassador was sent to Washington D.C. apparently seeking peace; however back in Japan, the emperor was planning the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese empire sent their ambassador to D.C. as a distraction, so the sudden attack on Pearl Harbor took the United States completely by surprise.
The setting in 1 Samuel 14 is a war between the Israelites and the Philistines; and while King Saul relaxed under a pomegranate tree [1 Samuel 14:2], his son Jonathan along with his armor-bearer left the camp quietly to see if the Lord would fight the battle on their behalf. Jonathan had no idea what he would face out there, how many Philistines he would encounter, their battle skills or strategies. He only knew that if God delivered the enemy into his hands he would be victorious. And he was.
Between the years 1861-1865 the United States found itself in the midst of a bitter civil war over the issue of slavery, and several other serious disagreements. By the time the North won the war nearly 620,000 soldiers had perished. There were many in the North who were so embittered that the South had dragged them into such a deadly conflict that they wanted the South to pay dearly.
When I was growing up in the 1980's we had a rotary dial phone. You put your finger in a numbered spot on a circular dialer which clicked as it returned to its place and registered the 7 or 10 numbers you selected. It took a full 10 to 20 seconds to complete a call and was really annoying if the number had a lot of 8s or 9s! Then came touch-tone phones...
When Elianna was two years old, we wrote this devotional fifteen years ago that I believe is relevant especially as we celebrated Father's day around the world.
We have a cord-free, battery-free alarm clock -- we call her Elianna. Like clockwork, at 6:45 each morning our 2-year old daughter, Elianna wakes up and begins calling for us to come and greet her good morning. At this point, my wife and I have come to the conclusion that those 8-hour sleep nights we used to enjoy just aren't going to happen again --at least for a long, long time.
Just a few weeks prior to this incident, the disciples were trembling for their lives as their Lord was arrested and then crucified. They had all fled in the Garden of Gethsemane and then Peter, whose boldness was legendary, had denied him three times. The fact that they had been serving with Yeshua (Jesus) for three years, witnessing many miracles, including Peter’s amazing walk on the water…
While John warned against deception in the last days, and we should be mindful and discerning the times in which we live, keenly aware of the rise of the spirit of Antichrist -- he also gave us encouragement: "...you have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."