I met a new friend this week and we were having breakfast together yesterday.

And he was telling me a story about how he stepped out in faith in this particular situation. And he saw God show up in really big and even like miraculous ways. I'm purposely being vague because I actually want him to come on the show and share some of those stories with us. They were really encouraging. But as he was sharing those stories, I was thinking to myself, like, dude, I want to see God show up in big ways. like, I want to see God show off his glory and do miracles.

And then I was thinking to myself, like, dude, I want to see God show up in big ways.

Like, I want to see God show off his glory and do miracles.

And then I was thinking, like, how many times do I actually put myself in a situation where I need God to show up? Where my only hope is that he will do something miraculous or show off his glory or do something big. Remember that story in First Kings where Elijah is basically having this, it can feel like a schoolyard argument with like boys where boys are saying, my dad can beat your dad up. No, my dad can beat your dad up. It's obviously much more holy than that. But essentially, these worshippers of Bale are saying to Elijah, my God's better than your God. And Elijah is basically saying, no, the God of the scriptures, Yahweh is better than

your God. He's the only God out there. And so then they do this thing where it's like, well, whoever can make this pile, this altar burn up in flames will prove who the real God is. And so Elijah and faith just, he so believes that God is who he says he is, that he says, not only is God going to consume this alter this this, this wood with fire, but I actually believe he can do it even if the wood's soaking wet. And so he tells him, bring jars of water. And they just cover the wood full of water. And then he says, all right, let's watch my God show off. Yahweh show off. And God, of course, consumes the wood, completely dries up the water. And they realize, okay, Elijah's God is the real God. I think if most of us were in that scenario, we would secretly tell them, like, hey, go fill up some jars of gasoline. Like, I trust God to do his part, but also I'm going to kind of move some things around. I'm going to kind of shuffle the deck a little bit just to make sure that things go my way. And I think what that would look like practically is like, God, I trust you with my finances, but I'm going to just kind of move some things around and kind of get things in order. God, I really am wondering if I should take this new job, but let me just kind of like make a couple deals, make a couple phone calls. And I'm not saying, don't be wise. But I am saying, like, when's the last time you've just stepped out in faith?

It's like, all right, God, I don't know. I, like, I've heard as clearly as I can hear from you,

and I believe you to be God. And so I'm just going to step out. I am going to have a hard and

potentially embarrassing conversation with a stranger because I feel like you're telling me to

pray for them. I'm going to talk to my wife about some things I've been struggling with because I know you really want me to have health and intimacy in my marriage. I'm going to confess some sins to my brothers, even though that feels really scary. I'd rather kind of shuffle things around and make myself look a certain way, but I'm just going to trust you to do your thing. Like when's the last time you gave kind of ridiculously? It didn't really make sense. Or you confessed or you had a conversation that you were

scared to have. Like, when's the last time you just were like, all right, God, I believe you can show up and I believe you're going to do big things. In fact, I believe it's so much I'm going to pour some water on. Like the only way for us to know God is really in this is for it to be kind of crazy. Instead of like managing every part of your life and then saying all right god show up and then people are like

well was that god or was that just you just being creative and clever and i don't know if i can give really specific examples here but i wonder if the holy spirit is working through you as a christian right now is something's coming to mind it's like dude i'm scared to do this and there's part of me that feels like i have to manage this situation but i wonder if i just literally completely surrender it to the Lord and say, God, here's the wet wood. You be the fire. You consume it. And at the end of the day, the only one who's going to get the glory here is you. The only one people are going to be surprised by God is you. Not me and my wisdom or how clever I am or how good I am with people or how I move some

things around so that this would go in my favor. But God, just you, Lord, would just you show up in ways that only you can show up? I don't know, man. I hope that that's clear and helpful for you. Hopefully the spirit of God is kind of stirring up something in you right now, where he's hopefully telling you like listen you're trying to control this too much i want you to surrender it to me have faith

that i can show up in ways that only

i can show up you give god the wet wood you let him be the consuming fire i love you brother i'll see you

next time