Trust Archives – Brewing Ground

A Change In Course!

March 13, 2017

Life Happens!

Our plans don’t always work out the way we think they should. In fact, life doesn’t always work out the way we plan either. Despite the plans and preparations we make, something happens along the way to change our course. These plans could be anything – from the route we take to get to work, to something much larger that changes the course of our lives. This change in course could be caused by any number of different factors and maybe even a combination of factors. The change can also be either a good one, a challenging one, or maybe both. Regardless of the situation and the cause, the course has been changed. Now what? Let’s see what David did.

David’s Change In Course

So, David is now king. He gets word that people are coming to kill him. Well, this changes his plans and the course of his day in an instant. He quickly makes new plans, gathers men, and flees on a new course to hide in the wilderness far away. While hiding, he wrote a prayer that God made Psalm 61 in the Bible.

“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. ²From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. ³For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. ⁴I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. ⁵For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. ⁶Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations. ⁷He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. ⁸So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.” Psalm 61 KJV

There are some things we can learn from this prayer. While hiding, David knew that God was still with him even though he was far away. David was also clear that he could trust in God and His protection – he knew that God was in control! With this prayer, and throughout the Bible, we see that David continually thanked God during the good and difficult times in his life.

Now What?

Let’s face it, life happens! Your plans will not always work out how you want. You will get thrown an unexpected change in course. Maybe it’s just a detour in the road or it may be big and life altering. Just pray! Know that God is with you and you are under His protection. This change in course did not surprise Him. He is in control! Trust Him and allow Him to lay out your new course for you.

“As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.” 2 Samuel 22:31

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” Psalm 18:2 KJV

“The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Psalm 34:22 KJV

If you feel lost, God will meet you in the wilderness of your Brewing Ground and show you His path.

Let’s Brew in Trust!

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You Are Being Prepared!

February 20, 2017

The Winds of Change

I feel the winds of change brewing in my life – only I’m not sure what yet. But, I can feel it coming; a change in course. The problem is, I am a thinker and a planner. I want to know what I’m planning for, so I know how to plan. All I can think is “God, don’t you know that I need a plan! I want to be prepared!” God has whispered, “I don’t want you to plan – I want you to trust!” POW – right in the gut!

Welcome to my Brewing Ground – letting go of the plan (or trying to create one prematurely) and letting Him take over. This will be a challenge! So, my new prayer

is that God will help me to take things one step at a time and trust that He will make each step clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, when it is time. I pray He will clam my planning mind to be patient and trust Him. Also, I pray that I will take action when necessary without second guessing His plans and listing all the pros and cons first. He knows what’s coming! God brought me to a story illustrating this very idea.

The Players

Let’s travel back in time to around 480 B.C. God began to lay the groundwork and get prepared for the precarious situation the Jewish people would find themselves in. Let’s take a look at how God prepared two individuals to save the whole Jewish nation.

King Ahasuerus was currently on the throne. The story begins with him giving his Queen an order which she refused; so, he banished her. This began the search for a new queen. The king sent out an order for all the beautiful young women to be brought to the royal court. There was one woman the king was quite taken with. He chose her to be queen; her name – Esther. The king loved Esther more than all the other women. Now, Esther’s parents passed away years before and her cousin, Mordecai, took her in as his own daughter and raised her. Mordecai also happened to be working with the king as a government official. Haman was the king’s second in command.

The Plot Thickens

Haman let his position go to his head. In fact, everyone was supposed to bow down to him. Mordecai was a Jew so his allegiance was to God; Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman. Well, that did it! Haman was enraged and prepared a plan to kill Mordecai and ALL the Jewish people in the land. He convinced the king that the Jewish people did not follow his laws and should all be destroyed. So, the king issued a decree condemning ALL Jews to death.

When everyone found out about the decree, Mordecai asked Esther if she would “play her card” and talk to the king. This whole time she had kept it a secret that she was Jewish and Mordecai was her family. But, Esther was concerned; and for good reason. There was a law that she could be put to death for just going to court to speak with the king without him first asking her to come. Talk about a steep penalty just to chat!

The Calling

Well, Mordecai responded to Esther’s concern about her possible death.

“¹³Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. ¹⁴For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14 KJV

Mordecai basically says, “You can’t think about saving yourself at a time like this! If you live but all the rest of your people don’t and you didn’t try to help – can you live with that!? Think of the greater good and about our positions here. If we don’t help our people, then who else can? God may have placed us here for this very reason. Seize the Day!!!” Quite the pep talk! So, Esther agreed and prepared; she put a plan together and took action quickly. The story continues to reveal God’s hand in making the plans work. Fast forward to the end. It was revealed that Haman was actually the one scheming against the king for personal gain. The king ended up hanging Haman and reversing the decree to kill all the Jews.

You Are Being Prepared

Don’t think for a minute that your Brewing Ground isn’t God’s prepared plan for you. Also, don’t think for a minute that your Brewing Ground isn’t preparing you for His plan. Sometimes things happen in our lives and we have no idea why. It doesn’t always make sense. Esther initially had no idea why God put her in the position of queen. But, God knew what was coming. Eventually, she knew why God made her queen and knew it was time to take action. Then she quickly made a plan and followed through. God orchestrates our lives in such a way as to set the stage and get us in the right place, at the right time, and get us prepared for what is to come. Will you seize your moment, as Ester did when the time comes?

Let’s Brew And Be Prepared!

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Facing Giant Life

January 30, 2017

Giant Life

Well, let’s face it, life happens. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes awful, and sometimes full of giants. Now, I know that there has been or will be giants in your life. Whether it is a giant mountain you have to climb, a giant illness, giant situations, giant decisions, giant changes, or an actual giant. My point is…giant will happen. This is our Brewing Ground. This is where God’s refining fire and life come together for our good. To refine us like silver and create a beautifully, unique masterpiece; hand forged by God Himself. So, when giant happens what do we need to know? Let’s learn from the story of David and Goliath.

David and Goliath is one of those Bible stories that we learn as children. When I went back and actually read the story, God pointed out several small but very significant details that don’t necessarily get mentioned in the story we hear as children. These details were the ones that God used to whisper his message.

David Enters the Picture

Saul is currently king over Israel. Throughout his reign, he has continually sinned and rejected God. Now, God has rejected him and his line of descendants from being king over Israel any longer. As 1 Samuel 16 begins, God puts His plan into motion to change the reign of Saul’s line as king. God sends Samuel to declare and anoint the new king.

“16 And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.” 1 Samuel 16:1 KJV

So, Samuel went and looked at each of the sons and rejected each. He asked if there was any other son. The youngest was in the field with the sheep; Samuel told the father to bring him. This is where David makes his debut in the Bible.

“¹²And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. ¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” 1 Samuel 16:12-13a KJV

God allowed Saul to remain king until his death. God used this time to prepare David to be king.

David’s Wisdom

Now, a war began between Saul’s army, the Israelites, and the Philistines. War strategy then was to have each army send its strongest warrior to fight each other. The Philistines had a giant in their army, Goliath; he was 10 feet tall. The war was at a standstill because no one from the Israelite army would fight him.

David’s brothers were members in the Israelite army while David remained home to tend to the sheep. David’s father sent him to the battle to take food to his brothers and the other troops. Once he arrived, he found out what was going on. David responded,

“…or who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 1 Samuel 17:26b KJV

David was the only one who seemed to remember that they were God’s army. He told Saul that he would go and fight the giant. Saul responded by saying that he could not win because he was only a boy. David responds,

“³⁴Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: ³⁵And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. ³⁶Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.” 1 Samuel 17:34b-37 KJV

David’s Battle

So, Saul tried to lend David his armor and swords; but they were too big for him. David knew they would be the death of him and removed them. David once again used wisdom by going into battle with what he was proficient with, despite the opposition; he took 5 smooth stones and his sling.

After being threatened by Goliath, David responded.

“⁴⁵Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. ⁴⁶This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee;” 1 Samuel 17:45-46a KJV

And, the battle began. As the giant headed for David,

“⁴⁹And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. ⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

” 1 Samuel 17:49-51 KJV

Well, it was over and before it even began! However, did you catch the fact that the stone actually sunk into Goliath’s forehead? Think about the force and power needed to make a small stone actually crush skull and sink into the bone with a sling shot! Only divine assistance could produce these extreme results.

Facing Giant Life

So, when giant happens – here’s what we need to know?

David KNEW that God was with him so he would not fail. God is with us!
Even though David was young, he knew that God had PREPARED him. You may think the lion and bear are the giants, when in reality, these are only the preparation. Either way, rest assured that God will prepare you.
Even the smallest things can be so powerful and have a huge impact when used by God.

Can you remember a time when God prepared you for a giant or used something small in a very powerful way? Comment Below!

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Let Brew in Victory!

Will You Trust or Question?

January 24, 2017

The Question

How can you do everything right and how can everything go so wrong? Welcome to your Brewing Ground! Let’s face it, sometimes this happens in life. This can be the case in any number of situations. Things can go wrong when you do everything right with smaller moments; or, this can happen with major life altering situations or events. Why is this? That is the real question. There could be a number of reasons why things don’t work or go as planned. Let’s explore these ideas a bit.

The Muffins

Let’s begin by looking at a smaller situation. Let’s say that you have decided to make some muffins. You search and find a recipe. Next, you gather all your ingredients. You make sure to follow the instructions in the recipe. Once you pull them from the oven you realize they look nothing like the picture. Well, that doesn’t matter if they taste good. So, on to the taste test. OHHH – They are awful! The question now arrises – What went wrong?

Being perplexed by this situation you go back over the recipe; maybe you missed something. Now, this is where you will see a natural division form. The first group will find that maybe there was an ingredient left out, or the muffins were baked at the wrong temperature, or they didn’t get mixed well, the list goes on. In this instance it may be operator error. Now, for the second group. After checking, all the ingredients are present and accounted for. You even followed the directions exactly. So, what went wrong? Well, sometimes there is just a bad recipe. It happens! Unfortunately, not all recipes are good recipes. Either way, despite our best efforts things went wrong but for different reasons.

The Life Changer

There can also be major life changing situations in which you can do everything right and everything can still go wrong. Job is a perfect example of this. In the Bible, the entire book of Job tells the tragic, yet glorious, story about the life of a man named Job. Job contains 42 chapters. Every chapter’s focus is on one particular life changing event in Job’s life when he did everything right but everything went wrong.

Job’s Story

Job was a Godly man. He had a wife and 10 children. Job was a very prosperous farmer owning thousands of livestock and having many servants. Job had it all, family, friends, wealth, possessions, and prestige; he was the most famous and wealthiest in all the land (Job 1:3). He also built his life on God. It all began in Chapter 1. Satan came to God and claimed that Job only loved and trusted God because he had everything; he said that Job would not feel the same if had nothing. Satan asked God if he could test Job. God’s response,

^“12And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.” Job 1:12 KJV

Quick Side Note: Did you catch what this verse is really saying. GOD IS IN CONTROL!!!

Satan tested Job in a very serious way. In one fail swoop Job lost ALL his children, livestock, and servants. Wow! Talk about a bad day!! But, Job still loved and praised God. God allowed Satan to further test Job with extreme physical pain. He still remained faithful! Now, Job’s friends heard of all what happened and came to be with him. All this only takes us through Job 2.

Job 3 begins the discussions between Job and his friends about his situation. These conversations take us all the way through Job 37. You will find a natural division here also. During these conversations Job’s friends question him. His friends believe that all Job’s tragedy was caused by sin; they urged him to confess. However, Job continued to defended his innocence. While his friends questioned that he was missing something, he knew that he had done everything right. Job knew that there was another reason this was all happening to him.

The Visit

Job 38 through 42 tells about Job’s next visitor – God! God finally spoke through a mighty storm. During His conversation, God addressed Job.

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, ²Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” Job 38:1-2 KJV

God himself had a conversation with Job – Woah! This conversation actually consisted of questions for Job about the natural world. His point was to demonstrate that we do not even have a full understanding of our natural world. How could we possibly be able to understand why bad things still happen when we do everything right – we can’t. God’s point was that it is more important to trust than understand. We may never be able to fully understand. But, God does heal and restore.

“¹⁰And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Job 42:10 KJV

God gave Job twice as much as he had before. He also blessed him with more children.

Biblical Truth

Even when we do everything right, things can still go very wrong. That is, wrong in our view. God has a plan and purpose to use these situations for our good. This is the whole reason for our Brewing Ground. Will you question God or trust Him?

Let’s Brew in Trust!

Have you experienced a situation like this in your life? Comment Below!