Have you ever noticed the difference between dogs and cats?  When they want outside, and you open the door for them, dogs, full of excitement and anticipation rush out into the world.  Cats, on the other hand, sniff the air, look carefully from side to side, check to see if it is raining too hard, see if the temperature is favorable, and then turn around and come back inside where they can watch the world go by from their safe and comfortable perch on the windowsill.  People are like that too, aren’t they? Who are you more like?  More often than not, when God asks us to do something we respond like the cat. Find the verse that says if we wait for perfect conditions, we’ll never get anything done. Mike and I have been challenged during these forty days to take our family and go to a YWAM Discipleship Training School.  Last year, I’m convinced that, provided we were even willing enough to hear Him on this matter, we would have given God the cat response.  Yes, it would be a good thing to do, but what about our home, our jobs, our lives?  Then we would have said that we couldn’t afford to do it because how on earth would we survive?  What if our jobs weren’t there when we came back, what if we didn’t have enough money to live on while we were there? And perhaps the scariest question of all: what if God doesn’t want us to come back to our comfortable little life? Last year, I would have known all of God’s promises in the back of my mind: that He will look after all our needs, that He will never leave us, that He will lead us wherever we went, but I think that the “cares of this world" would have choked out his voice and we would have returned to our perch on the comfortable windowsill.  But God has been changing us over these forty days.  As I have been writing, God has been birthing something within my heart.  I will no longer be a slave to fear.  I will trust in my God because, well, because He is God. I will respond like the dog who bounds out of the open door full of excitement and anticipation to see what God has in store for us. I will have the attitude that if God wants us to go to a DTS, it’s only a series of miracles away.  And God just happens to be in the business of miracles.  I know that it is time for my family to get ready to cross the Jordan River, and I believe that He is saying the same thing to you too.  And as a church here at Southside, the call is the same.  We’re standing here on the bank of the river and around us are the many things that make up our present lives.  On the other side is a promised land full of miracles and fulfillment beyond our wildest dreams. The only thing in our way is the River.  Remember how the waters didn’t part for the Israelites until they waded in?  Today, on day forty of this journey of faith, is your moment of decision. You and I can wait for the waters to part before we step in, which will put us, like the cat, back on the windowsill. Or we can just start walking. Are you going to step out?  Are you going to let the tender sprouts of faith that have sprung up grow and blossom and produce fruit? Or are you going to stay where you are, hold on to your security and your ambition and let these new shoots wither and die?  What has God been whispering in your ear over the last forty days?  Whatever it is, obey it!! Let us make our way over to the other side where God will show us what He can do with a life that is totally and completely, wildly and recklessly dependent on Him.  It’s time to cross the Jordan River.

Prayer: 

Lord, I am ready to cross my own Jordan River.  I’m stepping into the water and trusting in You every step of the way. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Don’t quit praying for your hopeless cases just because the forty days are over!! Don’t give up!!  God hears you and He will be faithful to answer in His perfect time. Here is an encouraging story of how Jesus responded to another “hopeless" situation.  Be encouraged by it as you continue to pray!!

“When Jesus went back across to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. A leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, came and fell down before him, pleading with him to heal his little daughter. "She is about to die," he said in desperation. "Please come and place your hands on her; heal her so she can live."…While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?"
But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, " Do not be afraid any longer, only believe."

And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.
And entering in, He said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep."

They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child's father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was.
Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!").
Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And they were completely astounded.(Mark 5: 21-24, 35-43)