“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil 1:6)

For those who want further Scripture reading each day here are a couple of suggestions:
-Read one Psalm a day and meditate on it.
-Read the book of Acts and focus on the idea of faith.

My growth group this week challenged me so much.  In the course of our study, this question was posed: “How far are you willing to go for God?"  As we sat in silence contemplating our answers, I found myself thinking about Abraham.  In effect, God asked him this same question when he told him to sacrifice his son.  Abraham’s son Isaac was not one child of many, he was his only child.  And a promised son for whom Abraham had waited for decades.  So what did Abraham do?  Did he wait and hope that God would change his mind?  Did he argue and bellyache? Did he try to figure out why God would ask this of him? No. He didn’t even hesitate.  The Bible says that he got up early the very next morning, loaded his donkey, and with his son and a very heavy heart, set off toward the mountain.  I wish the Bible told us what Abraham was thinking on that journey.  One member of our group said maybe he was thinking about all the times God had shown Himself faithful over the course of his life. Perhaps this is the key.  Abraham looked back, saw proof over and over and over again that God was faithful and so he obeyed. There is another person in the Bible who was also faced with the question, “How far would you go for God?"  His name was Judas. This man was with Jesus throughout his earthly ministry, witnessed first hand His love and compassion and saw the amazing miracles He performed. He sat beside him as they ate and slept alongside him under the beautiful stars of heaven.  He was one of Jesus’ twelve closest friends on this earth, and yet he betrayed Jesus for thirty measly pieces of silver.  Do you find yourself baffled by Judas’ actions? How could he have done what he did?  What was Judas thinking?  Perhaps Judas was beginning to realize that following Jesus was going to cost him too much.  Perhaps he had been following him with the hope of getting something from him and when push came to shove, he chose to cut his losses.  As we compare these two men, let us ask ourselves how we will answer the question that was posed.  How far are you willing to go? Like Abraham, Judas had ample evidence of Jesus’ goodness and love and power, yet he chose to betray him. So, before we answer this question for ourselves, let’s look back and see if we can find any evidence in our own lives of God’s faithfulness.  Then let’s ask ourselves if, based on the evidence of his faithfulness, we think we can trust Him.  Then as you face this question in your own life, perhaps you will see that knowing that God is faithful and believing that He will never leave us is what will give us the strength to climb whatever mountain God asks us to.

Prayer:
Lord, help me to trust you no matter what you are telling me to do.  Help me to rely on your promises that never fail in those times that I don’t understand.

In faith: 
Spend some time praying for your “hopeless cases."