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Asking God for Proof

by | Fri, Jun 4 2021

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In part 2 of Pastor Jeff Vines’ series called Wild life, we continue to learn how we can live impressive lives that are in closer connection with God. We’ll be looking at the life of Gideon from the book of Judges 6 as an example.

Jeff believes that what Gideon does is basically ask God for proof. Not of His existence, but he asks God if He’s really going to deliver the people. “Gideon says, God be patient with me, but I’m going to lay out a fleece on the ground. And I’m going to ask that when I wake up in the morning that the fleece has dew on it, but the ground is dry. And if you do that Lord, that I’ll know you’re going to protect us. And God did exactly what he wanted him to do.”

“But then Gideon says, now God don’t get angry, but can we do this again? Only this time can it be dew on the fleece? It amazes me that God puts up with this kind of unbelief, but because God loves Gideon and He’s preparing him for something great in the future, He’s incredibly patient. And the reason is because there is a giant that needs to be slain. And the question is, how do you slay a giant?”

“God will take advantage of every opportunity to build our faith and every opportunity to demonstrate His faithfulness to us. You have to learn to wake up every single day with this attitude.”

Jeff says that we need to wake up every day and say to ourselves that no matter what happens, God intends on using every unfortunate event in our lives as a faith builder, leading to the greatest accomplishments. “When God puts me in a position where I’ve learned His faithfulness in the past, I know He will be faithful in the future. God is an opportunist. He looks for opportunities in our lives to take what others meant for evil and turn them for good. But the manner in which we respond to them makes all the difference.”

Jeff points out that we all have to make up our own minds about God. “There’s only one of two options in this world. Either you have been created by God, you are in his image and there is ultimate meaning and purpose in your life. The other option is there is no God, and therefore no meaning.

God wants to take all of the events in your life, especially the unfortunate ones, and build into you a type of faith where in the future, He can do something fantastic where people say, man, that is wild life! That is wild living! God basically says, we can do this one of two ways. You can go at it alone and you will fail, or we can do this together.”

Jeff believes that if God does have a grand purpose for us, then He wants us to live the wild life. “He wants us to know that He’s going to take everything that was meant for evil, from the gossip someone says about us to the disease we’re diagnosed with, and He’s going to bring it together for good. So that in that given moment for which we’ve been created, somewhere off in the future we will respond the right way and greatness will occur.”

Jeff says that Jesus Christ was the greatest example of this. “The most unfortunate event from a human standpoint was the death of Jesus on the cross. But He was being prepared for greatness because now he sits at the right hand of the Father. And you and I, because of his work on the cross, can be saved by grace through faith.”

“Get up tomorrow morning, and write this down in your Bible, or put it on your refrigerator. Put it where you’ll see it. ‘Every day I am going to look at every event that happens in my life as God building me or building greatness into me for a future event where He needs me to stand firm. I will do what He asks me to do so that something eternal might be built, something that will last forever.

God says He is going to build in you a faithfulness for the future, if you will remain faithful with every new day in Christ’s name.”

Listen to part 2 of Pastor Jeff’s message on living a ‘wild life’ below.

Listen to ‘Today’ with Pastor Jeff Vines weekdays on Vision Christian Radio.  Find your local times and more messages here.

Feature image via Shutterstock.com

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