LAST GENERATION "Good News" EARLY MORNING FEATURED DEVOTIONAL #4 Thursday April 12 2012 Nisan 20, 5772

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Decision Making: Use Your Muscles of Faith by Rick Warren “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. . . . Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” (James 1:6, 8 NLT) After God gives you a dream, the next step for building your faith is decision — God challenges you to do something about your dream. Nothing is going to happen to that dream until you wake up and put it into action. You have to make the decision to go for it! For every 10 dreamers in the world, there is only one decision maker. A lot of people have dreams, but they never get to step 2 — making the decision to trust God and follow their dream. James says, “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. . . . Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do” (James 1:6, 8 NLT). Faith is a verb. It’s active and not passive. It’s something you do. Decision making is a faith-building activity. You use your muscles of faith. Faithful decision making requires two things: You must decide to invest your time, money, reputation, and energy. You lay it on the line; you take the plunge. You say, “God, you’ve told me to do this, and I’m going to be faithful to do it!” You have to let go of security. You cannot move in faith and hold onto the past at the same time. You have to move forward. Moses had to let go of his position in Pharaoh’s kingdom in order to do God’s will. Nehemiah gave up a secure job in order to go build a wall around Jerusalem. In other words, if you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.                          God brings you to a point of decision so your faith will build as you move toward the dream God has given you. Talk About It  What step will you take today to work toward the dream God has given you? What do you need to let go of so that you can move forward in pursuing your dream?   Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and most influential churches. He is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. Rick is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors. This devotional © 2012 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Comments [0] 1 2 3 4 5