I have learned so many things since I re-committed myself to God and so many things that I started to love about being a part of Him. One thing was the parallels and connections that started to transcend during the time I re-committed until now. Pinterest was a key source where I found a lot of these parallels and connections. I remember right before I gave myself to God again, there were two quotes that popped up in my feed, "It all connects," and "better things are coming." To you this probably means nothing, but to me it meant everything. It all connects, everything I have gone through and went through it connects. But why? because of one thing, a creator, God. If there was no God, the world would be chaotic, meaningless, and above all coincidental instead of purposeful. So what did it mean to me that better things were coming? A friend told me this in the midst of our coffee meet-ups. She said she saw a work in me and thought something good was coming for me. Coincidental or purposeful?

This same friend got me hooked on these sermons on YouTube by Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church. I have been binge watching these sermons for a few days now and one series that hit home for me was "How To Be Brave". This series for me was all about the parallels and connections. So what did God reveal to me, teach me, show me, and connect with me through the sermons? I'm going to tell you in a two part article and my hope is that something clicks in you. That it will help you and that maybe God has something he wants you to learn through this.

How to be Brave:

Week One and Two recap: "Brave the Waves"

and "Hold that Thought"

Brave the Waves: Philippians 4:6-7, "be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. If you are following after God you have no reason to be anxious about anything. Be anxious for nothing. What you need to learn is how to discern the idea of what is genuine concern and what is needless anxiety. We need to know how to discern because sometimes He will send us storms to re-route us.

The example of Jonah was given. God sent a physical storm to a complacent Jonah to re-route him. Jonah was complacent. Mark 4:35-41, "That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, 'let us go over to the other side.' Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?' He got up and rebuked the winds and said to the waves, 'quiet! be still!' Then the winds died down and it was completely calm. He said to His disciples, 'why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' They were terrified and asked each other, 'who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!'"

Jonah was complacent, but Jesus was confident. He said, let us "go to the other side." He knew full well that they would make it to the other side, but the question is, why lead them through the storm in the first place? To teach them that there will be storms in life. Wind and waves could be seen as a white board to show them the waves of life are not always the circumstances we face, but the waves we create ourselves. James 1:6 says if your paraphrase, calming the waves within. He calmed the storm, now it is the disciples turn to calm their storms within. Be anxious for no thing, but with thanksgiving, ask Him for help.

The disciples approached Jesus the wrong way, asking Jesus if He cared, instead of JUST asking for help. We just have to ask for help. However, sometimes we make our own storms and our own waves. The first one being our words. Sometimes we say things out of anger, doubt, etc and we have to go back to fix it. We also cause waves through our approach. This is the way we go through what we go through. For instance, traffic on the way to work puts you in a bad mood and you end up having a crappy day at work. However, you don't wake up earlier to avoid that traffic and if you did then your wouldn't blame work because you approached it differently.

Voices, the third wave, we need good information on certain situations, but sometimes we get too much information and it clouds our judgment. Expectations, we make our own expectations of what people should do or say and often times we get let down because of it. Lastly, shame, this is a big one. We're worried that our secrets will be brought to light and often times these are things that God already forgave, but we keep bringing it up and thinking about it.

Be anxious for no thing.

Discern between genuine concern and needless anxiety.

Don't accuse God of not caring, ask for help.

Avoid making your own storm.

Hold that Thought: Philippians 4:8-9, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace with be with you." Often times we see faith and fear as opposites, however, they both strive from the same place. Faith and fear both strive from focus. Negative focus or positive focus. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "we destroy arguments raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey God." So, let us us the thoughts that torment us, that our against God and demolish them. Take captive the thoughts of what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.

Creating your own storm:

1. Words

2. Approach

3. Voices

4. Expectations

5. Shame

Instead, hold that thought:

Whatever is:

1. True

2. Honorable

3. Just

4. Pure

5. Lovely

6. Excellent

7. Worthy of praise