December 23, 2016 WWJWMTD by Steve the son of John

Pinball Machines

What does faith and a revival spirit have in common—pinball machines. I am not kidding. Often we avoid the simple things in life to communicate and explain the awesomeness of God.

I like playing pinball machines. They have been around for decades and are a favorite means of arcade entertainment for young people. They are simple yet challenging, and most of all, we like to compete against a machine.

Consider, God being the player, you the ball and life the pinball machine—you now have the ingredients for how faith works in your life. I know fully well that believing, hope, and trust are prerequisites for faith. The more you believe, hope, and trust the better your faith will work, and these three attributes move our faith along.

However, Faith simply is your response to the will of God. A true definition of Biblical faith is: God’s perfect will (His purposes, action plans, and requests) that impact your life, and it is your response and the depth of your response to His will that connects and implements God’s desires in every situation and decision you find yourself having to make for His glory alone.

This is why the negative attributes of doubt, fear, and unbelief inhibit faith from working. You will not make a faith response to God if these three qualities deter you from responding to God’s will. You find this scenario throughout the Old and New Testaments. God warns His chosen people and Jesus His disciples to make the right decisions, that is, to have faith—to respond to what God desires.

One either responds to God or does not respond to God—you either have faith or you do not. A speck of faith can move a mountain—the right response to God changes everything. It is just that simple.

It is like playing a pinball machine. Here are your choices: One, allowing God the option of placing you in play—striking you (you are the ball) and moving you toward God’s will. Two, facing the pins straight on—hitting/striking all the obstacles—not avoiding what God expects for you to score in doing His will. Three, to allow yourself to stay in play and be willing to continue to do God’s will, as long as God keeps you in play, by sending you (the ball) to once again do His will and connect with the pins scoring points for God alone.

God is looking for the persons who love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength to play ball—to play His pinball machine of life. Faith operates out of your love for Christ—God know this. That is why the Bible says, “Without faith, you cannot please God.” (The depth of your decisions of faith comes from the depth of your love for Him.)

Will you exercise your faith—will you decide to score for God? The decisions are yours, in every step of your walk with Christ. Sure you will be knocked about, and it is not easy to stay in play. God will always be asking you to continue to ‘stay in play’ but that is who God is, and we either chose to play or allow ourselves to ‘bottom out’ of the game of doing His will. I rather choose God or should I say, “I rather play ball.”

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.