NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Day 9 - Wake up and recover your life!

Scripture focus: And so this is still a live promise. It wasn't canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn't keep renewing the appointment for "today." The promise of "arrival" and "rest" is still there for God's people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we'll surely rest with God. So let's keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience. God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word. We can't get away from it—no matter what. Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let's not let it slip through our fingers. We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. Hebrews 4:8-16 (The Message)

One of the things big dreamers seem to adore is using their imagination. They love to shake things up. They embrace change.

At our house, we have a little inside joke. "McBeans fear change," we say to each other when we find ourselves fearing our dreams and doubting our beliefs. It's a little way of acknowledging our need to remember that our High Priest has ready access to God and is in total touch with our weaknesses. It's a way of confessing that although we think it sounds like a good idea to embrace our dreams, adapt, experiment and become a pioneer – we really prefer security and safety. Not so cool, but honest.

Here are some of the things we fear:

• We fear change because we like our life "as is" most days of the week.
• We fear change because it doesn't arrive in a memo, fax or email from God – all spelled out with a guarantee of satisfaction or our money back. (More on this false belief on day sixteen.)
• We actually prefer to paint-by-numbers because we doubt our creativity and ability.
• We like the idea of being on a team that facilitates needed change, but we're old enough to realize that saying "yes" to one thing inevitably means we've said "no" to something else – and we fear the cost.
• We realize that sometimes God calls us to bring change, but more often than not change is what we need. And, like I said, we fear change, especially when we're the ones that need to do it.

Isn't it great that even in the midst of all this fear, we can still be people who walk right up and get the good gifts God is so ready to give? God doesn't need us to feel brave before he equips us. He shows us how to act brave. May we all stand taller, love larger and dream bigger today, whether we fear change or not.

Recommended reading: Numbers 25-27

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