Jesus told His disciples to go into the deep waters and let down their nets for fish. When they did, their nets were filled up with fish to the point of breaking. Being fishermen and businessmen, they may have been tempted to start doing business. I mean, think how much they could make!

But God had a different purpose. The disciples' occupation as fishermen was just a vehicle for God to demonstrate His great power and love. He wasn't blessing them with fish so that they would get excited about fishing — He was blessing them with fish so that they could get their eyes off their fishing and on to the greater call He had for them! Thankfully, they left the fishing business and went off with the Lord to do great and mighty things.

Too many of us are wrapped up in fish. We seek the Lord for His blessings, prosperity, and success. But true discipleship is focusing not on the blessings of the Lord, but on the Lord of the blessings!

We can rejoice in our blessings, but let's not dwell on them! Let's set our eyes on the Lord and the calling He has for us. When He sees that we have pure and willing hearts, He will be faithful to use us to accomplish His glorious plan!

Growing up, one of my favorite Saturday activities was watching ABC Sports. I can still remember the opening line — “The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat!” One of the greatest prophets of the Bible, Elijah, experienced his share of victories — but he also knew that sudden feeling of defeat. If you recall, Elijah was on Mount Carmel, the only prophet of the Lord standing against four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. (2 Kings 18) When it was all said and done, Elijah was absolutely victorious! But wouldn't you know that in the next chapter, we find Elijah under a juniper tree saying — “Lord take my life!” (2 Kings 19:4)

We’re so quick to forget the victories that the Lord has given us, aren’t we? There are countless examples of great men of God who struggled this way. If they can go from victory to defeat so easily, how much more are we susceptible to the same attacks of the enemy? We must remember that this is precisely what they are — attacks of the enemy upon our lives — attempting to draw our attention away from all that God has done.

If you are finding yourself in the midst of a valley — try focusing on the victories the Lord has already displayed in your life. And more importantly, focus on the power of victory you can walk with today!

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions.

1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

In 2nd Samuel Chapter 9 we read of the story of King David and Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of the first king of Israel, King Saul. After Jonathan's death, David went forth to show kindness to Saul's house. Mephibosheth had become lame at the young age of five — he had lived his entire life as a cripple. When David calls him forth, Mephibosheth replies "What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" His identity was completely based on his disability, when in fact he was the grandson of a king! He had forgotton his royal lineage and was wallowing in self pity. Yet David looked beyond his disability and recognizing who he was, offered him a place at the King's table.

How much time do we spend wallowing in our own self pity, groaning about things with which we struggle daily…so much so that it becomes who we are! The enemy would love nothing more than to keep us focused on our disabilities so that we are distracted from the calling of God on our lives. He wants us to have a "victim mentality". But let's not lose focus of the reality of who we are. In Jesus we are a chosen generation, part of a royal priesthood, and the King has offered us a place at His table! We are heirs of His great throne!!

In Him, we should have a victor mentality! Press forward — know who you are in Him and take your rightful seat at the King's Table.

Revelation 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

The word "midst", in the Greek, is 'meros' which literally means "the middle". In the 'meros' of the throne in heaven is the Lamb of God. The very focus of heaven — the center of attention — is the Lamb of God!

So often we receive emails asking specific doctrinal questions about this new "revelation" or that new "teaching", and the very first thing I must ask myself is — is Yeshua (Jesus) in the center? If all of heaven is centered on the Lamb of God, how much should every doctrine be centered on Him? And how much more should our lives be centered on the Lamb that was slain for us?

The Lord expects us to test all things (1 John 4:1), and see if they are of God. Let's not get distracted with doctrines in which He is not the center.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

D.L. Moody spent many hours praying for faith. He once said, "If all the time I have spent praying for faith was put together, it would be months. I thought that someday faith was going to come down and strike me like lightening. But faith did not come. Then one day I read in the 10th chapter of Romans, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." I now opened my Bible and began to read God's Word and faith has been growing ever since."

Much of what believers describe as 'faith' has nothing to do with Biblical faith. Our faith must not be based on emotion, or want, and not on the latest Christian seminar. But it must be centered on God's Word, on Messiah, His death and resurrection, His salvation. The Living Word is the eternal, everlasting love of God which has been poured out upon our lives.

Read, hear, apply and live the Word, and you will grow strong in faith.

Phillipians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

When we think of a good citizen, we probably think of a law-abiding, productive contributor to society who takes pride in his country. I'm sure all of us would like to be thought of as good citizens of the countries in which we live. My wife has dual citizenship, she's both Israeli and American — I guess that means she has to work extra hard at being loyal!

We, as believers in Yeshua (Jesus), have to remember that we also have dual citizenship. We must become good citizens of both Heaven and Earth. How do we do this? We love God with all our heart, mind and soul and love our neighbor as ourselves. We become productive contributors in our local assemblies and/or in our local communities, and we continually give our best to the Lord, living our lives for Him and for His Kingdom.

So often we forget that we are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Hebrews 11:13), but let's remember that while we make our pilgrimage in the flesh here, we are ambassadors of the King of Kings, and citizens of His Heavenly Kingdom!

Genesis 26:18-19 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

There are times in our lives that we are going through a spiritual valley and we want to get victory — we want to have answers — we want God's power to flow through us again.

In this passage, Isaac found springing water after digging up the wells of his father Abraham again. In Hebrew, the phrase springing water is "mayim chayeem". It literally means "living waters".

Jesus made us a promise, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." – John 7:38

We, who are believers in Messiah, have those living waters within us — but we must clear out the obstacles in our lives that prevent them from flowing! The Lord promises us rivers of living water — not a puddle, not a pond, not a lake — He said rivers! These waters are not meant to be stagnant and not meant to be dammed up! They need to be flowing — unrestricted!

If you feel as if your spiritual walk has grown stagnant — let's dig up the wells again! God has a great blessing to pour upon us!

Failure is never a pleasant feeling. It isn’t enjoyable to lose a job, see a relationship falter, or fail a test. But the disappointment we feel when we face defeat can be turned to joy if we look at it the right way!

Thomas Edison was busy working in his laboratory at 2 o’clock one morning when an assistant came into the room and noticed that the inventor was smiling broadly.

“Have you solved the problem?” he asked. “No,” replied Edison, “that experiment didn’t work at all. Now I can start over again.” Edison could have such a confident attitude because he knew that the road to success is often paved with disappointments that serve to extend the road — not to block it. Each failure brought him a little closer to success.

Living a life of victory is not about being perfect — because we are human — and will always make mistakes. The key is learning how to get up after we have fallen. It’s natural to make mistakes — but it’s supernatural to learn from those mistakes and move forward!

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I could tell you about countless difficult and drawn out circumstances over which we have tried to stand firmly in faith until they finally came to pass. Sometimes we made it and sometimes we were weak and began to doubt. But God mercifully came through for us on most of these things, despite our lack of strength to stay faith-ful.

There are some things in our lives that take alot of prayer and a lot of faith to overcome. But why is it so hard sometimes to stand in faith for those things?

D.L. Moody spent many hours praying for faith. He once said, "If all the time I have spent praying for faith was put together, it would be months. I thought that someday faith was going to come down and strike me like lightening. But faith did not come. Then one day I read in the 10th chapter of Romans, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." I now opened my Bible and began to read God's Word and faith has been growing ever since."

Much of what we believers describe as 'faith' has nothing to do with Biblical faith. Our faith must not be based on emotion, or want, and not on the latest exciting conference or revival. But it must be centered on God's Word, on Yeshua (Jesus), His death and resurrection, His salvation. The Living Word is the eternal, everlasting love of God which has been poured out upon our lives.

Let's read, hear, apply and live the Word today, and we will grow strong in faith! There's so much work to be done!

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

I ran across a profound story that shows what happens when the family structure breaks down — but this didn't have to do with people — it had to do with elephants.

In Kruger National Park in South Africa a group of adolescent bull elephants whose family members had been gunned down during a culling operation were transported to another wildlife reserve. While at the other reserve, the young elephants embarked on a killing spree that lasted several years leaving more than 100 animals dead, including 40 white rhinoceroses. To stop the killing, a strategy was implemented to ship in older male elephants from Kruger to establish a new male hierarchy which would keep the adolescent elephants in check. Thus the killing stopped.

Like human society, the elephant family defines established roles for training and discipline in family life. And like humans, young elephants require a prolonged period of nurture with family units to prepare them for adult life. Damage and loss in family life will produce painful and sometimes devastating results. In this situation the loss of the mature males was catastrophic.

Many of us in the body of Messiah have not had healthy parental role models, and some have had none at all; but our life as a believing family will generally begin to improve, correct, and heal the results of broken family life which many suffer from. Mature believers ought to be role models and examples, not only to our children, but also to younger believers.

Ideally, Christian leaders will be healthy role models, but many are themselves, deficient and unhealed in certain ways. We all ought to have grace when it comes to this area of body life. Our expectations will not always be met and may even be severely disappointed. Our saving grace — and it is truly an amazing one– is that we all have a Heavenly Father who is a perfect parent, and who can love and nurture us in both male and female ways, and who is also able to provide human role models and healers to help bring us to wholeness.

Be thankful for any good parenting you have received; forgive all that was negative or deficient. Then ask your Heavenly Father to parent you by His personal parental love and providence in your human relationships. This will free you from deep resentment and bitterness, and will begin to move you toward maturity and peace, and will prepare you to be a good parent and role model for others.

Read more Christian Devotions on: Adversity, Appreciation, Catastrophe, Forgiveness, Maturity, Parenthood

Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

We are big Casting Crowns fans around here; And they have a song called "Stained Glass Masquerade". Ever heard it? The lyrics are so good… here are a few lines.

So I tuck it all away, like everything's okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I'll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation's open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

This song talks about the struggles many of us face deep down but can never show it in the church. How sad is it that we can't be real with one another among brothers and sisters in the Lord!? Church should be the one place that we CAN show what's inside!

As many of you know, one of our ministries in Israel is hospitality — having a "church" of sorts in our home. People flock here from all over and our family rarely gets time alone. So among other things, when we have a disagreement, we have succumb to vocalize it for all to hear. Yeah, I know that might make people feel uncomfortable at times but since our house is always full, it's almost inevitable — we're forced to keep it real!

God wants to tear down the barriers between our home life and our church life! He wants us to be transparent with one another. He wants us to love one another as He has loved us and receive one another as He receives us when we fail. This is how we grow individually and as a body. It might be a little uncomfortable, but it's so necessary!

Let's get real and keep it real, brothers and sisters! There's so much work to be done!

Read more Christian Devotions on: Character, Fellowship, Maturity, Transparency

How do we produce much fruit? What is the Lord saying?

In the modern world, the work ethic is, achieve and produce by working longer and harder! The focus is on getting results through human effort — we've become product oriented and the bottom line is……the bottom line! But God's way runs contrary to this approach — His way is much more oriented toward process and relationship rather than performance and production. He IS interested in results which He calls "fruit"; but not by pushing or egging us on to work harder or longer.

The Lord's way is to work with and through us so that every result or product comes out of our abiding in Him, since without Him WE CAN DO NOTHING.

This is opposed to of the culture we live in today, and to human nature in general. Think about it — we're constantly bombarded with self-help books promoting self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-control — our society is all about SELF! But God's way of success produces the results which He values; results which are not produced by self-effort, but which grow out of an intimate relationship with Him, in which we seek to constantly abide.

The only way we can become abundantly fruitful is to understand the Lord's fruit-bearing process. As we lay down self-effort, our natural human independence, and seek communion with Him, abiding in the Vine, then His power, His will, and His desires will be realized in our lives, which then, will bear fruit that remains throughout eternity!

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions.

A story is told of Peter Miller, a plain Baptist preacher of Pennsylvania, in the days of the Revolutionary War. Near his church, lived a man who maligned the pastor to the last degree. The man became involved in treason and was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. The preacher started out on foot and walked the entire way to Philadelphia roughly seventy miles away to plead for the man’s life. George Washington heard his plea, but he said, “No, your plea for your friend cannot be granted.” “My friend!” said the preacher. “He is the worst enemy I have.” What!” said Washington, “you have walked nearly seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon.”

Like this precious pastor, although we don’t go out looking for enemies, we somehow seem to acquire them just by doing the work of the Lord! Many of you know how many times we've been attacked by hackers since we moved to Israel. These people probably spend weeks — not hours, not days — but weeks or even more trying to figure out pass codes and configurations in order to destroy our sites and all the work of the Lord going on there! It can be extremely upsetting to see someone steal away years of your hard work like that. You just want to know who?! and why?! and what did I do to deserve this?!

I'm sure many of you are experiencing your share of enemy assaults too and can relate to what I'm saying! But how should we react to these assailants? Should we curse them and hunt them down to get our revenge? This pastor had every earthly right to be satisfied with this man's sentence. After all, this man probably destroyed his reputation — perhaps even his entire ministry! But this wise pastor saw right through the man. He realized that the offense committed did not originate with the man who slandered him. This man was merely a pawn in the hands of a cruel and crafty adversary, Satan himself. Clearly, it's our ultimate enemy, Satan, who is out to slander us, to steal from us, hurt us, lie, kill and destroy us and he'll use any means possible to do it.

In the same way, we must realize who is truly our enemy and come against him the best way we can — determine to press forward for God's Kingdom even more than before!

When we strive to do the work of the Lord, we will undoubtedly gain some enemies! But we must ambush our archenemy who is manipulating these people and situations! How? By praying more! Learning the word more! Sharing the Gospel more! Forgiving more! Becoming wiser and stronger in the Lord! Becoming more like Yeshua (Jesus)! Press forward toward the Kingdom of God today — your great reward will be with Him!

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions.

Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Just over four years ago, our second, Obadiah was born and he's grown so much! It's amazing to me how fast these kids grow. He has long since outgrown his newborn clothes and is now fitting into kids clothes, sheesh! Weighing in originally at just over 8.1 lbs, he's already pushing 40! He likes to eat — the kid can't get enough!

In this way, as we seek to serve the Lord, we need to love to eat His word. We need to be in a place where we can't get enough time with the Lord, worshipping Him, studying, praying fervently! We want to outgrow our spiritual clothes!

We have been given a calling by the Lord which seems all too huge — clothes too big! We are called to be part of a royal priesthood, set a good example to the world around us, love our neighbor as ourselves, share the good news of Messiah, and later to sit at the Lord's right hand and rule with Him! I would say that those are big clothes to fit, but this is the Lord just showing us that we need to grow into our calling — we need to grow into our royal positions! These tasks may seem too large for us but the Lord wants us to grow into the ministry He is calling us to!

Don't worry if your clothes seem to large now. Spend time in prayer and worship — leave sin and the power of sin over your life behind you — be filled in His power to live out your calling. You will soon fill the clothes that He has prepared for you! There's so much work to be done!

Ever use that phrase on your kids? "Come on, will you grow up already?!"

As our little three year old explorer, Elianna, is becoming more agile and able to communicate her desires, she's discovering more opportunities each day — climbing on the furniture, opening the refrigerator and asking for various items, reaching things she was never able to reach before, whew! She's experiencing her new freedom and we're experiencing major exhaustion! But we've noticed that with her new found freedom comes the desire to have even more freedom — and when something doesn't go quite the way she wants when she wants it, uh – oh, look out. Screaming, crying the whole nine yards. We are trying to teach her that this kind of behavior is not acceptable but it seems that she won't fully understand that concept until she "grows up" a bit.

One sign of maturity is the ability to delay gratification, or deny it completely. Wanting our way when we want it is childish behavior and doesn't work with God's plan for an anointed life! This may sound harsh, but I'm speaking to myself too!

There are no shortcuts to God. We cannot demand our way and our timing with Him. He has a perfect plan based upon His desires and His timing and if we want to go God's way, we must comply! And not only that, the things of God take time too — developing a strong and anointed prayer life takes time a focused mind and spent with the Father, it doesn't come overnight. Reading and understanding the Word and applying it to our lives, it takes time and much practice!

Let's grow up today. God wants us to be a mature bride — one ready to rule with Him when He comes! There's so much work to do!

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions

Yesterday, a good pastor friend of ours told us that his congregation was experiencing some hardships and division. How often does this happen among us? It breaks my heart — and I believe the Lord weeps over this too.

Aesop wrote a fable about four bulls who were the best of friends. They always kept close to each other so that in the event that danger came their way, they would face it together. They traveled together, grazed together, and lay down to rest together.

One day, a hungry lion who lived nearby spotted these four friends and became determined to catch one. He was no match for all four of them at once, so he would follow them and watch carefully, hoping to catch one alone. Every time he saw one lagging the least bit behind, he would sneak up and whisper to him that the others had been saying unkind things about him. This, he did with each bull until finally all four began to feel suspicious and uneasy around one another. Each thought that the other three were plotting against him.

When the lion succeeded in breaking the trust among them, the bulls went their separate ways……. and one by one, he devoured them.

I'm sure you can see the analogy here. The enemy would love nothing more than to divide us and break the trust among us in the body of Messiah. He knows full well that if he can just get us separated, he can come in for the kill!

Let's not allow the devil to play out his wicked scheme! Be on guard! Don't gossip — overlook offenses — pray with one another and be determined to stick together, so that we may accomplish great and mighty things for God's kingdom! There's power in numbers — and there's SO much work to be done!

Did you know that on a rocket's journey, the most force is exerted at its lift-off? The amount of force that is needed to get that rocket off the ground is so fierce that it could easily blow the whole thing to pieces. Interestingly though, the further the rocket moves from the earth's gravitational pull, the less energy it needs to move farther along.

Isn't it true with us as well? Whether it's breaking a habit, losing those first few pounds or learning something new, taking our first step into a new thing is the hardest part. That initial step always takes the most effort, the most energy. If we keep pressing on, however, it becomes easier and easier to move ahead!

As many of you know, the fact that we have moved ourselves and our ministry here is nothing short of a miracle! God has sustained us as we have pressed ahead through all the difficulties of acclimating to a new language and culture, pioneering a powerful ministry, and living by faith for all our physical needs.

We have come to Israel with a vision and purpose that we truly believe is from God. That vision includes a number of endeavors such as a relief center for needy and hurting Israelis, a leadership training center and much, much more! In so many ways, we, like that rocket are just in our beginning steps of take-off. Please stand in prayer with us as we press ahead to bigger and better things for the Kingdom!

Perhaps there is something new He wants you to be doing! God wants us to get out of our comfort zones and take that first step of faith so that we can see just how truly awesome He is! Together, let's take our first steps into something new!

A father asked his son to carry a letter from their camp to the village. He pointed out a trail over which the lad had never gone before. “All right Dad, but I don’t see how that path will ever reach the town,” said the boy. “Well son, I'll tell you how. Do you see that big tree down the path?” asked the father. “Oh, yes, I see that far.” “Well, when you get there by the tree, you’ll see the trail a little farther ahead — and farther down you'll see another big tree — and when you reach that one you'll be closer and so on until you get within sight of the houses of the village.”

In the same way, I believe God wants to reveal the way for each one of us on our trails toward Him, one tree at a time. Sometimes we're convinced we need to see the end of our path, so that we can be reassured that there's something good down there, or that we're going in the right direction, or that we'll be able to see if it gets dark.

We know first hand how it feels to walk in the darkness here in the Land and not know where the end will be — and often how we'll have the strength and sustenance to get there. It's not easy to move forward and trust that God will light the path ahead and point us in the way we should go. But the fact is that it is a crucial step toward our growth and maturity in the Lord and we all need to get to there.

Let's give our hesitation and fear to the Lord. He will not fail us. He will be faithful to light our path and lead us in the way everlasting — one day at a time.

I remember when our little girl, Elianna, was just starting to nurse. Her mother's milk was the very essence of her growth. Would you believe that now, even at the ripe age of two, that Elianna still has much respect for that milk and asks for it often!

I am reminded of the story of Ruth. Naomi and her husband left Bethlehem in search for food in Moab. Ironically enough, Bethlehem means "house of bread" in Hebrew. Sadly, while they were on their quest for bread in Moab, Naomi's husband and two sons died. So Naomi went searching for bread, in a place other than Bethlehem (her house of bread) and ended up losing her whole family.

What can we learn from Naomi? Very simply– Messiah who is the very Word of God is our Bread of life and there is really nowhere else to turn for our essentials. We risk losing everything we have if we veer to the right or to the left and go looking.

Thankfully, as soon as Naomi heard, "The Lord has visited His people again, there's bread in Bethlehem!" she immediately returned along with Ruth. We must stay focused on the Word – for within the Word we can find a source of nutrition that will sustain you no matter what happens.

Let's never forget the basics of our walk with the Lord, and always be as newborn babes desiring lots of the sincere milk of the Word that is our source of nourishment.

"Don't worry about what you do not understand… Worry about what you do understand in the Bible but do not live by." — Corrie Ten Boom

It's easy to run congregations and give sermons, write books (even daily devotions, for that matter :-) ), and say all the right things. It’s not nearly as easy, however, to practice what we preach! But a much bigger blessing comes from the latter!

Let's start talking less and doing more! We all have a long way to go.