It's Not Easy, But It's Worth It

If anybody has ever told you that following Christ is going to make your life better, and your troubles are all going to go away is a liar. I'm not joking. Following God by faith is probably the hardest thing one will ever do. The reason why it is so hard is because you have to put your faith into somebody else besides yourself, and it's somebody that you don't see, but it is worth it. Read what Moses had said to his father-in-law, Jethro, after they crossed the Red Sea:

Exodus 18
Jethro's Visit

Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and His people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, "I have been a stranger in a foreign land")and the other Eliezer (because [he had said,] "The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword").

Moses' father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses' wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God. He sent word to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons."

So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been and went into the tent. Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the LORD delivered them.

Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel when He rescued them from the Egyptians. "Blessed is the LORD," Jethro exclaimed, "who rescued you from Pharaoh and the power of the Egyptians, and snatched the people from the power of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because He [did wonders] at the time the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel."

Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses' father-in-law in God's presence.

You notice that Moses talked about all the hardships and how the LORD delivered them? This was after Moses parted the Red Sea, and right before he gave the 10 Commandments. They had tried to leave Egypt because Israel had been in slavery there for the last 400 years, and Pharaoh would not let them go. Then Pharaoh did let them go and had a change of heart and took his best soldiers and his best chariots and came after them. It was going to be a blood bath. God even let the Egyptians camp right behind the Israelites. Can you imagine how freaked out they were? Anyway, the next day (most likely after a night of no sleep because of their terror) the LORD delivered them.

One thing I have found out the hard way from living by faith is that God will let you see your hardships, have you stare them right in the face, and let you know that there isn't a darn thing you can do about it. He will even let you stress out over them for a while - it may be a night, may be a week, may be a year, but He will show you how impossible your situation is and then He will show up.

God called us to Medicine Hat. It has not been an easy road getting there, but we are still on the journey. We had to postpone our move by 1 month and we were still wondering where the rest of the finances were going to come from. We move on February 2. Now we had enough money to move, but very little to live on, then the other night my wife checked our mail box and in there was a check that came from the most unlikely source for 4 times the amount for our move. I had been stressing out for the past week, not being able to sleep and throwing myself quite the pity party, then God showed up. This life of faith can be the scariest thing I know, but it is the most exciting and definitely the most rewarding. Is being a Christ follower easy? No, but is it worth it? Most definitely. God will make sure this isn't for my glory, it's for His. Jethro realized that God is God, the supreme God, the only God worthy of honour after Moses told him what God had done. So please don't think this is about the Wilks Family, it is about God and His glory. What hardships are you facing right now? Where is your trust? Is it in you or is it God, or is it in somebody else? I have told people time and time again, that Jesus wants to blow your mind. If you want to see the impossible happen, stop "having faith" and start living by faith.

Preteen Camp video

I just checked my email, and my wife asks me if I saw the Preteen Camp video for 2008 put on by the Tryon Evergreen Baptist Association. This is the same camp where I was rec director for a couple of years. When I saw the video, I got so excited, then realized I wasn't going to be at camp this summer and got a little down. It's an excellent video. Click here to see the video. Let me ask you - are you living the dream?

Let My People Go

If you have been keeping up to date with the blog then you know that I didn't have to work last night since I am done with night-shift altogether - Hallelujah, Praise the LORD! So I got in total about 14 hours of sleep last night. My first 3 hours were from 9 pm to 12 am, then from 4 am to 3 pm. I am still working on getting back to a normal sleeping pattern. It will take me about another 3 days to do that. Maybe you are dying to wonder what I did from 12 am to 4 pm, and if you're not I'm going to tell you anyway. I caught a mouse and read the Bible. Actually the mousetrap caught the mouse and I didn't read the whole Bible, just a little bit in Exodus.

As we start Pathway Christian Fellowship in Medicine Hat (we move in 3 weeks baby!)and part of our vision is that we will permeate a lifestyle of worshiping God. I was reading about some of the plagues in Egypt last night and found some really cool things.

1. God brought plagues on Egypt for Pharaoh to "Let my people go so they can worship Me."

2. God killed the firstborn of every family in Egypt (except for those whose door posts were covered in blood) so God's people would be released to worship Him.

3. God says to sin, "Let my people go so they can worship Me."

4. Jesus (God's First Born) died so we could worship God in Spirit and in Truth.

Here's the deal - Adam and Eve walked with God and they could truly experience worshiping God because He was right there with them - then sin came into the picture and that relationship was broken, and it wasn't until 6 generations after that until people started to seek God again.

Sin puts us into horrible slavery and our souls cry out to be free, just like when the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, they cried out to God for generations to be free. The only way we are going to be free from sin is if God does something about it, just like God did something about it with the Israelites. The good news is that God did do something about it. His name is Jesus and He set us free from sin by sacrificing His life on the cross so sin could let go of us and we could worship God and walk with Him. Everybody has this opportunity, and we are looking forward to bringing this opportunity to Medicine Hat so people can worship God by walking with Jesus at Pathway Christian Fellowship.