Living Dangerously in the Hands of God

I came across a couple different things in the last few days that seem to connect as God's words to me. The first came from the daily Bible reading journal I've been using from the Bible League of Canada. The verse and thought of the day for yesterday was this:

2Timothy 1:7 "God did not give us a spirit of timidity."
"Go out on a limb for God today. 'But," you ask, 'what if the wind blows and the branch I am counting on breaks?' Yes, that could happen. You could just stay at the trunk of the tree. It is safe there. Still, go out on a limb today. Why? That's where the fruit is."

I am not a risk taker by nature. I have taken a chance when I've heard God's strong call in an area-for example- going off to Bible college with a wife and three small children. I have even found some of that fruit that comes from going out on the limb. But those instances are few and far between.

A couple days before I read that verse and comment I found a great story on precisely this thing of risking for the Lord. Two months after his conversion, Charles Wesley and another man asked to be locked up for the night in a prison cell of condemned criminals. Everyone in that cell was sentenced to die by hanging the next morning. These men had nothing more to lose by murdering a couple of evangelists! By God's grace, not only were the two evangelists spared, but everyone in that cell was converted to Christ! The article was titled Charles Wesley's Radical, Fruitful Risk. It's worth the read.

I can't help but think that that article and the devotional reading a couple days later are not coincidence. So I have to ask, what is God saying to me? What is He preparing me for? Where does He want me to risk for Him? As I was writing these thoughts down, another memory was resurrected. My Bible college grad theme came from a song by Steve Camp: Living Dangerously in the Hands of God. Very similar message. Check it out.

A couple ways you can respond to this post: Pray for me, that I will be a risk-taker for God and be willing to go out on the limb where the fruit is. And pray for yourself. What is God asking you to risk for His sake and His kingdom?

Dave