God puts words in our hearts and minds to grow us and to share. I am not a theologian. I don’t have a Ph.D in biblical study, but I took CTI classes for three years. There I learned valuable tools to help in ministry. I rely on God’s spirit, prayer, and study to gain wisdom for life and ministry.

I am nothing special.

Much like Moses, Abraham, Noah, Elijah, Ruth, three Hebrew boys, Paul, etc. who were just people who put faith in God more than anything else. That is my goal. To understand as much as possible, sure. But, to have trust and faith to receive peace from God is more important.

The truth is I cannot and will never understand it all. The Bible, God’s wisdom, humanity, life, all have mysteries and questions. Some of those questions are hard and the answers to them are even more difficult to hear.

Imagine if God told you to sacrifice your son on a mountain but didn’t tell you why. Imagine being told to pack up and go to a new place that you have never seen. Imagine taking risks as a woman to protect people and generations to come in a time where you were supposed to stay quiet.

There was fear and concern and hesitation I’m sure, but faith can defeat those feelings. Faith is more important than feelings will ever be. Jesus felt many things on the cross, I’m sure, from physical and mental pain as well as spiritual pain from bearing our sins. I’m sure Noah felt embarrassed, when building a big boat for unlikely rain. Paul felt the ways he felt were right and knew a lot about how to share truth.

Feelings will hold us down or lead us to make wrong decisions. Faith and trust in God gets things done!

Jesus asks us to put our faith in Him, which is putting our faith in God as well. We are asked to deny ourselves. That can look many different ways, for example: our priorities, luxuries, time, family or friends, work, ministry (when it’s about you more than God), ideas, opinions, feelings, lust, desires, goals, money, sleep, comfort, rest, etc. So many things can get in the way of our relationship and faith with Christ.

When we deny ourselves, we then must pick up our cross. What does that mean? For some, it’s like pulling teeth to tithe or volunteer and serve others. Maybe it’s complaining that people wear different clothing than you at church or trying to mix the way of worship to lead people to partake more. Picking up your cross is so much more than that.

It’s a way to mimic Christ. WWJD? It’s striving to practice the fruits of the Spirit. It’s being kind to and helping others. It’s selflessness! It’s making sure Christ has our heart every morning and throughout the day, more than anything else does. It’s slowing down to hear from God for your purpose in the short term and long term. It’s not always going on a foreign mission. It may be stateside missions. It may be taking someone shopping, visiting the lonely, listening to the unheard, hugging the scared, or buying for the broke.

It’s putting others first. Jesus put you first, by going to the cross. God put you first by raising Him from the grave.  We are living in a season where good enough isn’t enough. The mentality of “I did my part” is giving up on the Kingdom. God wants us to help Him build His kingdom as much as possible before it’s time to reunite it with eternity.

The American church has been in decline over the years because the church hasn’t stepped forward. “He must increase, and I must decrease’’. We lost the vision of what we were created to do and saved to be empowered to do to help build the Kingdom. We get offended or distracted. We lose trust and time by not focusing on God enough!

Good enough is complacent. There is no time to be content with the Kingdom. The Kingdom has plenty of room because of a plentiful God. The world is speeding up and moving away from Him, and we need to chase people down. Love on people and show compassion. Put down your stones and sit down to feast with them!

Faith and trust in God are what matters, even when it’s hard, even when it’s scary, and even if you don’t understand or comprehend. Worship Him through it. Praise Him through it. Look for Him in the fire. Hallelujah.

About the Author: My name is Grant Johnson and I serve as the student pastor at Halltown GB Church in Portland, TN. I have a beautiful wife Heaven and a dog and a cat. I’ve grown up around ministry my whole life and the best thing to do is stay prayerful and obedient to Christ.