Author: amerrill

My dad is my hero. He is the greatest preacher I have ever known. He has been a faithful husband, father, brother, son, and minister for more than five decades. When I was growing up, my dad had the uncanny ability of knowing everything. Maybe your mother or father was the same way. You’ve heard a parent or teacher say he or she had eyes in the back of his or her head, right? Well, I’m certain my dad had two sets of eyes in the back of his head because he always knew exactly what was going on among my four siblings and me.

One day, my youngest brother, Deano, and I were playing basketball outside in the front driveway with a couple of friends. We used to play every day before and after school, and we usually spent more time arguing about the other person’s biased calls than actually shooting the ball.

On this particular day, I decided that I was going to wear my dad’s brand-new Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers while Deano and I played basketball. Those shoes were sweet—a vanilla-colored canvas with bright-white rubber toes, sidewalls, and laces. I was wearing them without my dad’s permission of course, but he was never going to find out. You see, I put on three or four pairs of socks so that if my feet became sweaty, the moisture wouldn’t leave a stain. Then I swept off the driveway perfectly. I eliminated every grain of sand, pebble, and twig because I didn’t want the sneakers to get scuffed. Let me tell you, I had never looked so cool walking onto that pristine driveway with those brand-new Chuck Taylors laced up.

[Photo credit: Schröder+Schömbs PR https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/]

So my brother and I were in the middle of our basketball game, and we started fighting as usual. I don’t remember what I said or did, but he got really angry and stormed into the open garage. I continued playing with my other buddies, and the next thing I knew, someone yelled, “Look out!” Deano threw something at me. As it hurled through the air, I could see from the corner of my eye that the thrown object was large and shiny. It looked heavy, like a piece of equipment of some kind. The mysterious item landed two or three feet in front of me. He missed. Phew! Crisis averted . . . or so I thought. It was a can of paint, and when it hit the ground, the lid popped off—spraying black paint everywhere.

I looked down at my feet, and one of my dad’s shoes was covered in solid black paint. I knew at that moment I was a dead man.

I looked down at my feet, and one of my dad’s shoes was covered in solid black paint. I knew at that moment I was a dead man. When my dad came home later that evening, you better believe I received a well-deserved consequence. Dad would always find out what we were up to, whether it was easy to cover up, or not so easy to hide…like black paint all over his brand new white sneaker.

As much as I believed my dad knew everything when I was a child, I know now as an adult that our human knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are completely inadequate when compared to God’s omniscience. The Lord alone knows all things. He knows the measurements of the universe, the lifespan of each star, the rotation of the planets. He knows the temperature in Minnesota, the temperature in the earth’s core, and the temperature on the moon. He knows the price of tea in China. He knows the number of hairs on your head—even if that number is zero like mine. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight,” attests Hebrews 4:13. “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

[Photo credit: Gilzpics https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/]

God knows concepts and information that our limited human minds could never grasp, things that are impossible for me to write about. And beyond all that knowledge, He is wise. There’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Beyond having an acquaintance with facts and principles (knowledge), God is the supreme authority in discerning what is true and right (wisdom). He knows what will bring fruitfulness and what will bring destruction.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Romans 11:33

Our Heavenly Father knows what will bring success and what will bring failure. And He has shared much of this wisdom with us in His Word, the Bible. God’s wisdom is freely available to us within those sacred pages, which is why we need to have our noses in the Word every single day—especially when we are experiencing difficult times.

In His omniscience, God knows the ins and outs of the wall you’re up against and how to bring it down. This truth leads you to trust not only in His knowledge and wisdom but also in the strategy He has already prescribed for your victory. How awesome that we serve an omniscient God who is willing to share His knowledge with us so that we can conquer the impossible obstacles in our lives!

Have you ever wondered if the Lord had only showed up on time that perhaps things would have turned out differently for you? Perhaps you had some bills that were past due, or problems with a spouse or a child, or a loved one who was sick.

Mary and Martha found themselves in this exact situation when their brother Lazarus was dying. We find this story in John chapter 11 in the Bible. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were dear friends of Jesus, and when Lazarus became very ill, the two sisters sent word to Jesus who was in another town at the time. They had witnessed the Lord Jesus heal the sick, give sight to the blind, and restore the disabled, so they probably thought He would rush to be at Lazarus’ side.

However, we learn in John 11:6 that Jesus stayed where He was for two more days before going back to Judea to visit his friends. And in that time, Lazarus died.

Has there ever been a time when you asked the Lord where He was when you needed Him the most? Or why He didn’t help you when you were crying out to Him?

One answer to this question is that God wants us to be patient. We don’t like to wait on anybody or anything for any reason. We’re always in a hurry. We want everything fast. If we need to have a medical procedure, we want outpatient surgery. If we need financial help, we’ll use Quicken or TurboTax. If our cars need a tune-up, we go to Jiffy Lube. We want our breakfast in a hurry so we’ll make instant oatmeal or pick up fast food. If we need to lose weight that has taken us years to gain, we use Slim Fast.

So often, we don’t want to wait on God for His solution to our problem. Over and over again, the Bible instructs us to wait on the Lord. But we are impatient, and then become irritated, hurt, or offended when God doesn’t act according to our timetable.

So often, we don’t want to wait on God for His solution to our problem. Over and over again, the Bible instructs us to wait on the Lord.

And the reason why we are impatient and question, “Where is God?” when we’re struggling is because we fail to see the big picture. Whenever you are wondering, “God, where are You? Why didn’t You answer my prayer?” one of three things is happening:

1.) Growth – God is developing your growth; He is trying to teach you some things. He wants to grow and stretch you. I once heard the story of a boy who was born severely handicapped. His mother had done everything for him—fed him, dressed him, took care of him. One day, she laid out his clothes on his bedroom floor. She told him that he needed to get dressed on his own. The boy screamed, pouted, cried. He shouted, “Mom, you don’t love me any more!” Somewhere in the midst of his temper tantrum, the boy realized his mother wasn’t going to help him. So he started getting dressed by himself. It took him two hours.

Years later, he learned that his mother had been in the very next room. She could hear everything her child was saying. The entire the time boy was crying, she was crying! But she knew he needed to learn how to dress himself. The mother saw the big picture. The boy thought his mother had abandoned him and didn’t love him anymore, but the opposite was true. She was trying to teach him something important.

2.) Grace – It could be that during your trial, when you think God is silent, He is actually dispensing His grace to you. He is giving you grace to get through it. He’s hoping that when you have victory over your situation at last, you’ll look back and say, “Wow, the only way I got through this is because God sustained me.” Sometimes God might seem distant because He is trying to get you to depend upon His grace and trust Him.

3.) Glory – God is getting ready to display His glory in a mighty way. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He said to His disciples, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). When He finally arrived in Judea, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Lazarus’ sister Martha said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” The Lord said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). Later when Martha expressed doubt, Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” Then He called for the stone to be rolled away from the tomb and called Lazarus by name. The dead man was raised to life. His sisters’ sorrow turned into joy. In the trial, they grew in their faith, received grace, and witnessed the glory of God. In our own trials, may we patiently wait on the Lord!

One question I am often asked as a pastor is, How will I know what God’s plan is for my life exactly? I share with people that God reveals His plan to us in many, many ways. Some folks live as though God never speaks to them, but He speaks to us in a thousand ways. He communicates His plan to us through the Bible. By reading the Word, we discover that the Lord’s will involves you and me:

• fleeing from sin (Matt. 4:17);
• living a holy life (1 Peter 1:16);
• forgiving those who have sinned against us (Matt. 6:14);
• loving others (Luke 10:27);
• growing in the knowledge of the truth (Col. 1:10);
• sharing our faith in the gospel (Matt. 28:19);
• taking care of widows and orphans (James 1:27);
• feeding the hungry and clothing the needy (Matt. 25:34– 
40); and
• seeking justice for the oppressed (Isa. 1:17).

The Lord also communicates His plan to us through the Holy Spirit, counsel from other believers, lessons from experiences and failures, lessons we learn from watching others who’ve gone before us, every sunset, every rainbow, every hospital, every siren, every wave, every star. God trying to speak to you, trying to get your attention, trying to share His will with you. And, ultimately, God’s gift of His only Son—Jesus—was an attempt to speak to you, to communicate His plan and His love for you.

Sometimes God will speak to you in a small but audible voice that resonates within your heart. Throughout the Bible, we see how the Lord spoke directly to various people. He gave very specific information to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, the prophets, and Jesus Christ. His voice was heard from heaven at Jesus’ baptism, announcing His love for and pleasure in His one and only Son (Matt. 3:16–17).

But we may not always hear from God so explicitly. I understand that this can be problematic for a world full of people searching for answers to important questions. When people ask me, “How do I know what God’s plan is for my life?” I have come to understand that this question generally can be translated to mean something more definitive, such as, “Where should I go to college?” “What should I do for a living?” “Whom should I marry?” “How do I solve this problem?” “What should I do in this particular situation?” or “How do I get out of this bad predicament?”

It’s our human nature to want to know the entire game plan for our lives—right now. But our job simply is to focus on one day at a time.

It’s our human nature to want to know the entire game plan for our lives—right now. We love predictability and guaranteed returns. In our secular lives, this desire makes perfect sense; as consumers, we naturally seek out the lowest mortgage rates, the biggest casino bonuses, and the safest mutual funds to lock in a secure, predictable outcome. It is entirely logical to want that same level of guaranteed certainty from God. But our spiritual job is simply to focus on one day at a time. That’s what Jesus told us to do, after all. He said in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Try this for a week: When you wake up each morning—before you leave your bed and before your feet touch the floor—pray earnestly, “Lord, what do you want me to do today?” Then spend a few minutes with your eyes closed, listening for the voice of God. See how faithful God is to answer you when you take the time to ask and to listen. He will let you know exactly what He wants you to do each day. It could be as general as “I want you to be a good steward of your time and talent at work today.” Or as specific as “Call this person and tell them you love them,” or “Forgive,” or “Stop by the coffee shop before work and buy breakfast for the homeless man you see every day.”

God has a plan, and He desires to share this plan with you. Ask Him. Take the time to listen. Wait for Him. If you don’t hear an answer right away, keep asking, seeking, and knocking until you hear from the Lord (Luke 11:9). You will be surprised by a whole new agenda—the Lord’s agenda—that will be revealed to you in time.

Trust is a prevalent theme throughout the Bible, appearing 186 times in the New King James Version. Trusting God is a vital element of your personal journey to conquer any impossible obstacle you are facing today. If you desire to bring God into the equation and expect supernatural results, then you have to trust that God has your best interest in mind—that, no matter what curve ball life may throw at you, your future rests in the hands of a loving, capable, all-knowing, all-powerful Lord. The word trust is defined as:

• reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
• confident expectation of something; hope.
• a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.

In whom or what do you put your trust, confident expectation, and hope? Your parents? Your spouse? Money? The government? Your teachers? Your talents and abilities? At the risk of sounding like a downer, I can say with certainty that every single thing under the sun will let you down at some point or another. Parents may disappoint or frustrate you. Spouses are imperfect. Money will run out eventually. Government officials are unreliable. Our own abilities will rust as we get older. Even the sun will let you down. It can burn your skin, melt your ice cream, or hide on your wedding day—and scientists predict that it will use up all its fuel and burn out altogether someday.

[Photo by: Art4TheGlryOfGod Photography by Sharon]

But God? He is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb. 13:8). The Lord will never leave or forsake you (Deut. 31:6-8; Ps. 9:10; Heb. 13:5). He alone is “is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does” (Ps. 145:13).

Joshua and the Israelites had to decide whether or not they would put their faith in God’s proven trustworthiness and faithfulness when He gave them strange instructions to march around the walls of Jericho for seven days in order to bring about the city’s destruction (Josh. 6:2–5). They obeyed God because they trusted Him, and they were victorious as a result.

Whenever we put our trust in someone or something, it is evidenced by a subsequent action. If you trust your parents, you will listen to them when they tell you not to cross the street until you’ve looked both ways for oncoming cars. If you trust your spouse, you’re not going to follow him or her around town to spy on his or her every move out of fear of infidelity. If you trust in money, you will place your identity and security in how much money you earn, and you will probably worry about your bills and choose to work excessive hours. If you trust in your own abilities, you might become devastated if you make a mistake at your job or suffer an injury on the athletic field.

If you trust in God you will obey His commands, which are found in His Word.

If you trust in God you will obey His commands, which are found in His Word. You’ve probably heard that “B. I. B. L. E.” stands for “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.” Putting your trust in God means that you will follow these basic instructions—just as Joshua, the Israelites, and countless faithful others have done. You will never ever go wrong by trusting God. Today, commit to memory Proverbs 3:5–6, which encourages us in this way: Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Oh, how comforting it is to rely upon a God who has the power to make our paths straight! It doesn’t matter if your path has been winding and crooked up until this point in time. All you have to do is trust in the Lord and He will correct your course with truth and righteousness. He will level it with love and plant security along its edges. He will remove from your path the weeds of confusion and fear. It’s up to you and it’s up to me to accept that He has a plan for our lives. And when we do, oh, what an adventure it will be! As Charles H. Spurgeon once wrote, “God has great things in store for His people; they ought to have large expectations.”

Valentine’s Day is approaching, and love is in the air. Everywhere you turn, you’ll see heart decorations in storefront windows and on greeting cards, and heart-shaped boxes with chocolate, candy, or jewelry inside. The heart is the symbol of love, but it has also become known as the source of a person’s intuition, emotion, and feeling.

How many times in your life have you been encouraged to follow your heart when you were faced with a difficult decision? While the heart enables us to experience noble virtues such as love and compassion, it is far from an accurate moral compass. Do you know what the Bible says about the heart? It’s pretty startling. Take a look at Jeremiah 17:9–10:

The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked;
who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind,
 even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. (NKJV)

Unfortunately, our actions are often the result of our feelings. But when we do whatever our hearts dictate in the moment, it leads to disaster. In Exodus 32, after Moses and Joshua went up to Mount Sinai for their 40-day visit with God, the people began to feel as though their leader would never return. They told Aaron, Moses’ brother, to fashion the golden calf for them so that it could be their god. Once the idol had been molded, they shouted and sang and danced around it, doing what felt good to them at the time instead of obeying God’s first and second commandments (Exodus 20:3–4).

Like them, our culture believes that life is one big party and adjusts its morals by its feelings. If lying or cheating or stealing or premarital sex or holding a grudge sits well with us, no problem! We justify our actions by saying, “Hey, everyone else is doing it!”

Unfortunately, our actions are often the result of our feelings. But when we do whatever our hearts dictate in the moment, it leads to disaster.

When I was writing my new book, Walls Fall Down, about the steps to victory we learn from the battle of Jericho in Joshua chapter 6, the aftermath of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal had erupted in the media. The US Anti-Doping Agency convicted the professional road-racing cyclist of using performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong was then stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling. Major League Baseball and other sports have had their own sets of issues with steroid use. So why do these popular athletes risk everything by disobeying the rules?

Lance Armstrong confessed that he used drugs because everyone else was using. He said there was no way he could compete and win if he didn’t do the same. I read recently that, “Of the 21 top three finishers in the Tour de France during Lance Armstrong’s victory streak, only one has not been tied to doping, according to the U.S. Anti- Doping Agency.”

The epidemic of cheating in the sport of cycling mirrors the same struggles we average folks face. We disobey God’s commands and the laws of the land all the time because everyone else is doing it. We think everyone else is having sex outside of marriage, drinking excessively, flying down the freeway well above the speed limit, or lying on taxes, so we follow suit. We start to believe there is no other way to get ahead in this world than to cheat as well.

I believe Joshua and the Israelites understood there were no shortcuts in God’s plan for their victory at the battle of Jericho. They didn’t rush through the task or skip a day. They didn’t employ their own tactics such as digging underneath the walls or inventing dynamite or a catapult system. They weren’t guided by their feelings and emotions; they knew God was in control. And they set their hearts upon simply obeying the Lord’s command, trusting that He was going to do what He said He would do.

Adapted from the book, Walls Fall Down, by Dudley Rutherford and published by Thomas Nelson. Copyright 2014.

I know there are many excuses for why people do not attend church faithfully. I know that as long as man is involved, the church will always have its flaws. I totally get that on any given Sunday, there are a thousand other things to do besides gathering the family to attend a local church. I also understand that it’s possible for you to actually show up at a church and feel as though you didn’t get anything out of it. (Just so you know, going to church has more to do with the praise and worship you have to offer God than anything you expect to receive.)

This feeling of disconnect often stems from how our daily culture operates. In a highly digitized society, we are accustomed to immediate feedback and flawlessly tailor-made experiences. Whether a person is streaming a customized movie playlist, unwinding at an online crypto casino, or managing an investment portfolio on a smartphone, the modern world is engineered to cater directly to our individual preferences. When we accidentally bring that consumer mindset into the sanctuary, we can easily miss the profound, selfless beauty of collective worship.

For what its worth (and in my opinion, this list is priceless) let me share with you just a few of the many reasons why I believe you should be in church each and every weekend. These are the benefits of belonging to a local congregation—a partial list of why church should be a priority. While this is a small list, it is powerful, because each one is reason enough to attend. Add them or multiply their collective value and you quickly discover it’s the ONLY place to be on Sunday.

1. God will be there. Enough said.
2. It’s where you learn God’s word…. What is that worth?
3. You are commanded to be there… Sorry, it’s true. 
(Hebrews 10:25)
4. Salvation is available and recommended… Why wouldn’t you want that?
5. You’ll discover God’s perfect and pleasing will for your life. Priceless
6. A place of prayer. You actually get to talk to God…Wow!
7. Communion is served each week, in obedience to Jesus’ request.
8. People are baptized there, each week, into Christ.
9. It’s literally belonging to the family of God.
10. You’ll find help in resisting all kinds of temptation.
11. It’s a place to use your gifts to serve the Body of Christ.
12. It is an investment in things that are eternal.
13. The best place to reinforce Godly principles to your children.
14. Worship that prepares you for worship in heaven.
15. When Jesus comes back, He’s coming for His Church, the bride.
16. You’ll find accountability in your walk with the Lord.
17. It represents what Heaven will look like.
18. It’s a place to find food for your spiritual soul.
19. God’s Spirit moves powerfully through the believer
20. It strengthens one’s walk with the Lord.

Why not make Church a priority, and instead of focusing on what’s wrong with the church, find a way to see what’s good about the Church? Instead of criticizing the church, why not love, defend, and embrace the church?

Don’t forget, she is the Bride of Christ and one day soon, Jesus is going to return for His Bride. Will He find you in the church or will He find you outside the church? I’m praying and trusting that Church will become a priority for each and every person.