He told me Sink or Swim

Exodus 4:10 And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

As most of you have seen from reading my blogs sometimes I am not the best at phrasing words. But I really love writing for the Lord. Trying to encourage others with my thoughts for God’s word. But as you can see from Exodus I am not the only that has had this problem. So does this mean that I should not do my best for the Lord? To me God word tells me to go forward and he will be with me.

Could you see yourself standing in front of a bush that was burning talking to God? Possibly you have a different problem that you have to over come. Maybe it’s not being able to stand in front of people to speak, or you lack self confidence. Maybe if I share a incident that happened to me it might help you.

I was at Paris Island going through boot camp in the Marines. We had a day we had to qualify in swimming and I was not that strong of a swimmer. I made it across the pool doing my best to stay afloat and was getting tired. I reached out to grab the edge of the pool and got a breath of air. When one of my drill instructors took a pole and pushed me under. I came back up and he yelled at me “sink or swim! No ones going to do it for you!”

After about the third time of him pushing me under I determined I was going to swim. I guess in his own way he was trying to help me qualify. And I did qualify that day. The same drill instructor told me I did good afterwards.

It the same with us in our daily lives but a lot different because when God calls us to do something for him, he does not push us under. Instead he is there to lift us up. It’s the same with me and these blogs or my preaching. I do feel God has called me to do this even if it only helps one person.

Hebrews 13:20-21 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Did you just read what Hebrews 13:21 says? That God wants to make you perfect another way to say this is he want to equip you for the job he has chosen you for. This is another reason we should keep trying. I remember when my wife Pam was thinking of starting to teach Sunday School. Her dad told her “how do you know if you can swim till you get into the water”. She has been teaching now going on 29 years. And you may ask what if I try but I fail? I don’t believe that stepping out to try to work for God is ever a failure. A person I know tried out for a church some years back and she did not get it. I could see it bothered her and I felt impressed to ask her how do you not know that God just wanted you to step out in faith? Shortly after that she was called to that same church and is still the pastor today. Some times we just need to step out. So to answer the question if you fail. To step out and try to do something we feel God has called us to do is not a failure, it helps us grow stronger. Let’s look at another scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

All Gods word is given to help us be better Children of God. It is give so that we may grow in his ways and be better at helping others find their way to the Lord. And that is another good point that I would like to touch on for a second. When we are born again, and we start our walk for God, there are others who watch us. So your walk for God does not only help you but may help someone else find their way to Jesus.

And this is another reason I keep trying to do my best at writing for the Lord. For one I love to write, I love the word of God, and I love to help others when I can. So all those years back when I was told to sink or swim, has also helped me in todays walk. Now I would not tell anyone to try to teach other how to be a stronger swimmer like I was taught. For one thing there was about 10 to 15 Marines around that pool ready to jump in when someone was in trouble. But you have someone that is better that a entire platoon of Marines and his name is Jesus.

May God Bless you and strengthen you in your work for him.