Cast Your Nets, One More Time

This month my husband and I celebrate 19 years of marriage. I remember early in our marriage my struggles with cooking. I would try and duplicate something my mom had cooked, or even something on TV and it would flop. I was a bad cook. What went wrong? Why did every attempt to feed my husband totally fail? Easy I didn’t go to the source of success, a recipe.

I didn’t cook well, because I was doing it my way. The disciple Simon, had an experience with the true source of success, Jesus. In today’s passage. Jesus climbs into the fisherman’s boat and uses it as a place to sit and teach the crowd which had gathered. After he was done teaching, Jesus tells Simon to go fishing.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

I absolutely love how Simon says, “But because you said so, I will let down the nets.” Simon had been unsuccessfully fishing all night, but now he new it would be different. Jesus was the key. Just like a recipe was the key for me to be able to cook. Jesus was all Simon needed. Before he new it, so many fish were in the nets, his boat started to sink!

Is there an area in life where you are trying to do something without a connection to Jesus. It’s not going to work.  Perhaps you feel like it is working just fine, let me ask you…is your boat so full it’s sinking? Stay connected to Christ. Seek him first in all you do. And if he tells you to do something you have already tried without success, do it again, just because he said so.


Read today’s entire passage here. Luke 5: 1-11

A Faith that Fails

Jesus commends tiny faith

Matthew 17:14-21

 

 

Babe Ruth was known as The Great Bambino and the Sultan of Swat. But did you know that he had almost twice as many strike outs as home runs? 1330 to 714 to be exact! Based on these statistics, you could easily categorize him as a failure.

 

Speaking of which, here’s what Jesus had to say to his disciples when they couldn’t heal the boy suffering from seizures: ^17 “What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.”                       MSG

 

The passage today is about the failure of Jesus’ closest followers. After three years, their faith was not big enough to heal the demon possessed boy. Jesus had just returned from a mountain top retreat; The Transfiguration. Knowing that the cross was waiting for him in Jerusalem, he confronted his disciples. They had failed miserably! What would they do once he was gone?

 

When was the last time you failed? For me, it is every day! Jesus explains that all we need is a very tiny amount of faith, and “nothing will be impossible for you”. When was the last time you moved a mountain or healed a demon possessed boy? I don’t believe however, that we need to do miracles to use our “mustard seed faith”.

 

Hebrews 11 describes the faith of many from the Old Testament, none of which moved mountains. By faith, Abraham went to an unknown foreign country; Moses led the Israelites; Rahab mislead the spies. These were not miraculous acts, but the actions of ordinary people done by faith.

 

They had failures in their lives too. Abraham lied about his wife to save himself. Moses was a murderer. Rahab was a prostitute. Indeed, they had failures, but each one had faith the size of a mustard seed that moved mountains.

 

Following the list of faithful men and women in Hebrews 11 is this statement in chapter 12: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”       NIV

 

Despite having failures, God has called you and called me to “throw off the sin… run with perseverance… and fix our eyes on Jesus”. He doesn’t call us to miraculous acts; only to obedience based on faith.

Faith the size of a mustard seed. Faith in a God who is always faithful, always with us, always loves us and always forgives us. He forgives our faith that so often fails.

 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+17%3A14-21&version=NIV;MSG
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Matt.17.14-Matt.17.21


 

 

 

 

 

2 Timothy 3: 16-17

                 Looking for inspiration? “Google It!”

I did. As I read through the hundreds of inspirational quotes, it occurred to me that though not stated, a good portion of them were bible based whether the author of the message intended it to be or not. It is true that many quotes people think came from the bible,  have no biblical base, such as “God helps those who help themselves,” but to an extent it is good to know that God’s name is being referenced in the life of those who may not be truly committed. There are also verses spoken by preachers and teachers of the word that may not be directly taken from the bible yet reference how we are to live our lives based on biblical principles, like one of my favorites from Chuck Swindoll. 

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we are reminded: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 

If we are familiar with God's word, we can make reference to his teachings and help others make connections to the bible; our training manual for life, when we have the opportunity. Everyone loves to be inspired, so let's use our daily circumstances and interactions to direct others to His Word. What does the bible say?

1 Chronicles 28:20                    James 1:23-25
Deuteronomy 31:6                    1 John 3:18
Joshua 1:9                                Colossians 3:23-24
Psalm 27:14                              1 Peter 1:13
1 John 1:9                                  Hebrews 6:11-12
Philippians 4:13                         Daniel 11:32
Proverbs 28:13                          Luke 11:9
James 4:10                               James 2: 14-17
...and many more                      ...and many more

            2 Corinthians 5:17

            James 1:12
            Romans 5: 3-5
            Matthew 24:13
            Hebrews 10:36
            Acts 2:38
            Matthew 18: 21-22
            Psalm 32:5
            Luke 23:43
            ...and many more

The Positive Side of Failure Genesis 43

I have a phobia of failure. Ok, maybe phobia is extreme but I absolutely hate messing up. I understand I’m not perfect, but for some reason I’ll allow others imperfects long before my own. I’m learning though that life is about learning and growing when we fall short.

A couple days ago we saw Judah running from his failures only to turn around and do wrong again. Today Judah is taking responsibility and is willing to suffer the consequences if his youngest brother does not return home when they go to get food from Pharaoh. It’s refreshing to see some integrity from one of these brothers.


Then Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life." Genesis 43:8-10

Judah grew during the years of failure that he incurred. He wasn’t living with integrity when he sold his brother into slavery, or lying to his son’s widow, but he did realize his mistakes and changed his behavior. For those of us who are in Christ, we are a new creation the old has gone and the new has come. Our past does not have to haunt us, and through God’s wisdom we can learn and live differently.

Read the entire passage on Biblegateway Genesis 43