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Exercising the Faith Muscle

Scott BosLeave a comment

Faith is a such a hard thing in our culture to grasp. We do not have many things in our lives that require us to have faith. We are blessed beyond our understanding with what we have at our finger tips. When we are hungry we go to a restaurant or the grocery store and by food, we stop at a gas station, insert our credit card and fill up our gas tanks, we go to the mall and have a thousand options of clothing we can wear and most of us already have more than we need. We have enough money to buy fertilizer to keep our grass green so that we are aesthetically pleased with our lawn, we care for our pets as though they were our own children. Simply said we are BLESSED beyond our comprehension.

By no means am I saying all this blessing is wrong. I am not trying to establish shame or guilt, all I am saying is that we are so comfortable in our blessing that we have forgotten it is a blessing. The danger of forgetting the blessing and the one that blesses us is that our faith muscles become weak. Faith is a muscle? Joseph of the Old Testament lived a long but challenging life. When he was young, when his faith may have lacked humility and his brothers took offense, throwing him in a well and leaving him for dead, only to be sold to slave traders and taken to Egypt. In Egypt he is thrown in jail for false crimes and accusations, only to come out of prison to lead the entire country through a famine, saving an entire people with the wisdom God entrusted to him. It was by faith that at the end of his life Joseph said these words, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Gen 50:24). Joseph walked in this confidence ONLY by walking a life of faith and practicing the faith muscle often and seeing God show up. Do you think that he sat in the bottom of the well and was afraid, or was questioning what God was doing when thrown in a prison because he rejected the advances of a woman that was not his wife? My guess is Joseph felt a host of emotions running through his veins many times throughout his life, but one thing is for certain, “Faith inspired Joseph and opened his eyes to see into the future, for as he was dying he prophesied about the exodus of Israel out of Egypt” (Heb 11:22). The muscle had been exercised for a lifetime and it brought hope to his people.

Faith brings a roller coaster of emotions within me. When Danielle and I felt the call of the Lord to take a few significant steps in our life and our family, there was a level of excitement and anticipation of seeing God show up and do His thing. In the spirit of transparency those feelings come and go and are often replaced by doubt and fear. When the doubt and fear arise, then I have to pick up the “weights” and begin to pray, read the acts of faith and God’s response in the Bible. I have to serve someone else. I have to go out and run and spend some time with my Father to gain His perspective. Lately I have felt as though I have stepped off the mountain and am suspended in mid-air right now, simply waiting for the Father to move the mountain and plant my feet on solid ground again. That is the thing about faith, it REQUIRES us to put ourselves out there and in complete reliance of our Father in Heaven, because if it did not would it be faith? Is faith really faith, if there is not some level of discomfort? Is it really faith if the flesh does not revolt and have a fear of falling? As I ponder faith this morning I have been drawn to my wife’s favorite chapter in the Bible, Hebrews 11.

  • vs 7 – “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” Noah practiced his faith in a crazy way!!! Who wouldn’t have thought Noah was a few sandwiches short of a picnic…or just flat out loony.
  • vs 8 – “By faith Abraham, when called to to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Hold on a second…Abraham moved his entire family and had no idea where he was going? Could you imagine doing that today? Sell your house, quit your job, and have no idea where you were going?
  • vs 10 – “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder was God.” This is flat out one of my favorite verses in the Bible! It is the cry of and the desire of my heart to pursue the things of the Lord. I know there is more and I will never settle as I know our journey of faith is progressive and as we are capable of receiving our Father will give abundantly. Abraham had a spark in his heart and soul that told him that God was worth the pursuit no matter the cost!
  • vs 17 – “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.” Abraham knew God would provide in the end, but do we not think that inside Abraham was in agony? By faith he walked the path regardless of his feelings.
  • vs 22 – By faith, because he had practiced all his life, Joseph prophesied to his people regarding God’s faithfulness to bring them out of captivity.
  • vs 23 – “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born” and then they put him in a basket and let him float in a massive river with crocodiles and pirahnas to be found and raised in Pharaoh’s home. I am sure Moses’ mother grieved and missed her son, but walked in faith regardless.
  • vs 32-34 – “How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions,  quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.”

Every one of these people put their faith in a God they had never seen before, in full confidence they walked, knowing He was and will be faithful. Was it easy for them? I highly doubt it as they fought the same flesh and worldly reasoning that we do every single day. They understood that when you practice and work out your faith muscle, the muscle tears a little bit and requires healing, you fall down sometimes, but the Father is there to pick us up…the journey of faith is not easy, it is not painless, but it is required if we want to understand and grasp the complete goodness of our Father.

I struggle in this walk of faith daily, it is a battle of flesh and spirit; my spirit longing to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the flesh revolting and trying to instill doubt and fear. I was reminded in our men’s group on Wednesday evening that it is only through the fire that we are refined. It is only by submitting ourselves to the Father and being laid out on the proverbial anvil to be shaped and molded into the person He created us to be. The fire burns a little bit, the shaping is painful, but the results are worth every little doubt, burn, or scrape along the way. I know without a shadow of doubt that the Bible is true…I know that faith the size of a little mustard seed will move a mountain, and I know God will move mountains on our behalf when we step out in faith.

Get out there and exercise that faith muscle!!! Accept the pain and discomfort and KNOW THAT HE IS FAITHFUL TO YOU!

Scott

Making Time for Memories…

Scott Bos1 Comment

Since we live in the frozen tundra known as Texas…I know for all my family and friends in Michigan you laugh at me for making that statement, but literally we have nothing to move the snow or melt the ice. So it simply compacts on the road and makes for a nice layer of, smooth as glass, ice.

This morning we ventured out on the ice rink (aka the road) and tried to find a restaurant that refused to close so we could get coffee and some breakfast. After driving past our favorite spot we found a business that has graciously given us a free coffee subscription for the past 4 months. We slowly parked the truck, carefully got out, and proceeded to shuffle across the second ice rink (aka the parking lot) into the restaurant. We ordered our food and sat down in some nice comfortable chairs for a morning of coffee, bagels, and Mad Libs…let the fun begin.

As Riley (female person in the room) and Sidney (female person in the room) enjoyed their beverages and crunchy (adjective) cinnamon (noun) bagels (plural noun), Danielle (female person in the room) and Scott (male person in the room) enjoyed their yummy (adjective) avocado (noun), tomato (noun), spinach (noun), and egg white (noun) breakfasty (silly adjective) sandwiches (noun), oh and hot (adjective) coffee (noun) too. While we enjoyed our breakfast, we decided to rewrite the History of the World, as is so popular to do today…enjoy the highlights of this ridiculously (adverb) enjoyable (adjective) morning (time of day) with my crazy (adjective) family (noun).

At one time man walked on four feet (Part of the body, plural), spoke in violent (adjective) grunts, and did not know how to make a nice fire. Here is the story of the day that changed mankind forever (translated from the fat (adjective) cave-speak).

Caveman #1: It’s colder than Rome (a place) in this cave. Even my warmest platypus (animal) fur won’t keep my finger nail (part of the body) from shivering.

Caveman #2: If only there was a way to make the cold toilet (noun) warmer. (shockingly true! if only the Bos Proverbs had been written yet…”blessed is the second person to use the toilet in the winter months” – Scott Bos)

…a few boring lines later

Caveman #1: We shall call this magical flaming poop (noun) fire!”

The end

-The Bos Family

More Historical Facts…

Benjamin Franklin was not only a founding pickle (noun) of the United States…

Johannes Gutenberg was a German booger (noun) who invented the printing press…

Thomas Edison was a cranky (adjective) inventor…

-The Bos Family

And a few more facts…

“That’s right: Earth is shaped like a stubborn (adjective) ball! For as long as any turd (noun) can remember, it has been widely believed that the Earth is as flat as a Bagel (noun).”

-The Bos Family

This is evidence of two things. #1, If you make time as a family, there is joy to be found even when it is tough to get around and you may be stuck at home or in our case, within a mile of home. And #2, even in a family full of girls and 1 boy, it is evident that the mind of a boy will influence the minds of the more polished and proper girls. I promise all the adjectives related to…you know, poop and boogers, was not all me! haha.

Seriously, stop being so busy and take the time to spend with your family. You will NEVER regret spending quality time with your spouse and your kids…Danielle, Riley, and Sidney are my favorite people in the world, I love them with a my mushy (adjective) heart, and I do not take these times for granted because we simply do not know what tomorrow brings.

Have a little fun, laugh often, smile, and give each other hugs.

Blessings!

Scott

Note: since we (Danielle 99.9%) homeschool our girls, this 100% counts as an English refresher.

Making Room For Faith

Scott BosLeave a comment

I am currently winding down my training plan for the Cowtown Marathon at the end of February. Yesterday was my second to longest run in the plan at 18 miles. I felt compelled, as I have for the past two long runs, to run by myself. If you have ever trained for a marathon or really anything that requires long and uninterrupted workouts, you understand it is nice to have a partner or a team come along for the ride. These two runs, I felt as though I needed to battle through them alone to fight the mental battle but also to process through some thoughts and ideas I have had lately.

Yesterday was all about faith. I woke up and really did not want to, nor felt like I could go out and run 18 miles. But, I had to put faith in the training plan that is in place and know my body will respond appropriately. As I was running I was thinking through something our pastor said a few weeks back on a Sunday morning. It was along the lines of “Our faith provokes God to action on our behalf.” As I was processing that thought a verse popped into my head.

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Matthew 17:20 NLT

Starting last November and up to the present time the Lord has asked Danielle and I to step out in faith and test His goodness in our life. We have made some pretty significant and drastic changes in our life; changes that for some reason the Lord does not want me to publicly disclose right now. These changes were somewhat out of the blue for us, but aligned with desires we believe the Lord was calling us too. They all had one common attribute; they were incredibly uncomfortable and not wise from a worldly perspective. As I was running and processing though these changes and this call to have greater faith, the thought crossed my mind…we were making room for faith in our life. Before some of these changes, faith was not a requirement in our lives which limited God’s access points to our family to do His thing. I want our Father to have access to all of our family: our finances, our relationships, our jobs, our EVERYTHING!

This is not a long post, but culminates with a couple of questions…

Are you giving God access to your life and your family through faith?

Are you making room for faith in your life or are you living the American dream of being independently successful?

The Lord has blessed Danielle and I so much in our 22+ years of marriage. The greatest blessings (and I mean not just physical things, but when our relationship is the closest with the Father and growing) is when we have made room for faith and stepped out into the unknown. I can easily look back over the last few decades and give Him praise for the mile markers that only He is able to create and build upon.

I can only speak for myself here, but when the Lord calls me to move a mountain, I want to be prepared to not only shift the mountain, but to pick it up and throw it off its foundation…for that is what my Father asked me to do!

Are you making room for faith in your life?

I love you brothers and sisters!

Scott

Chain Reactions

Scott BosLeave a comment

I read a post this morning on Linked in about the the quality of air that we breath and the effects of on your brain activity (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rexmiller_airquality-building-quality-activity-6891377025228042240-lCPI). Basically, the better the air quality the higher your brain function and the reverse. After I read that post I went out for a run, which is where my brain turns on, my creativity flows and I have the opportunity to spend time with the Lord; it is one of my favorite parts of my day. Getting outside to run and breathing the fresh air, starts a chain reaction in my life.

As I was running this morning, I had the desire to write, but nothing was coming to mind and I refuse to write for the sake of writing. I will not force content or ideas unless the Holy Spirit is prompting me with a topic. At the very end of my run this morning the thought popped into my mind, “chain reactions.” So many paths in our lives are a chain reaction that resulted from a small decision. Although they can, the big decisions do not typically alter our long term course. Think about it for a second…choosing the apple over the bowl of ice cream will lead to better health, choosing to read and absorb your Bible over spending time on social media with lead to a stronger relationship with the Father, choosing to go for a walk outside in the fresh air over watching one more show on Netflix will lead to more creativity, health, etc. It is the little decisions that we do and do not make which have a lasting impact on our life. They are the chain reactions that cause the good and the bad.

I was reading Roman’s this morning and this principle is so very clear.

“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.”

Romans 1:18-19

“Yes, they know God, but they wouldn’t worship his as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead because utter fools.”

Romans 1:21-23

“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things they should never be done.”

Romans 1:28

The first chapter of Romans is one big chain reaction. We push away what we know in favor of what feels good to the flesh, one small decision at a time, and before we know it we are knee deep in a situation that we have no idea how to get out of due to the self deception of our own mind. We are lonely and feel abandoned due to our own decisions. For some men It is a simple decision to look at that sexy Instagram post that turns into a path of searching and seeking out pornography online for hours at a time, which ultimately leads to a brain that does not function correctly and does not know what true intimacy is. For some women It is fictional love story story that turns into questioning why their husband does not measure up to the picture perfect man in her head. It is all a chain reaction that starts at a small little insignificant decision. A decision that leads to the death of joy, happiness, and relationships…and ultimately your self esteem and true identity as a son and daughter of the King.

The little decisions matter as they are what sets off the chain reactions in our life.

Oftentimes when we get too far down the road of bad decisions, it is can seem almost impossible to turn around and move in right direction. What it really requires is a quick reflection of what got me here today? It was the culmination of many little decisions that brings you to the place you are. It was one second spent staring at that sexy image, It was one calorie at a time that led to being overweight, it was one chapter read in that romance novel that you continued to read while the voice in your heart was saying put it down, it is but one small decision that compounds over time and leads to the poor result. If that logic works and gets us to the poor results, then all we need to do is reverse the process. We make one small decision to go in the other direction. We ask our spouse for forgiveness for our behavior, we seek out a counselor to help us slowly put things back to together, we put down the food that controls us, we get outside and walk an extra 100 yards every day, etc.

life is full of small insignificant decisions that cause chain reactions leading to life or death. What do you want to choose today? What change do you want to see in yourself and the world around you today?

Paul opens up Romans chapter 2 with this warning…”You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse!” As believers we are forgiven and our sin is washed away, but that does not mean we are perfect and we can sit here in this place of forgiveness and judge those around us. We should view the world through the broken heart of the Father and with every thing we have, reach out and serve each other…helping each other make better decisions, offering encouragement to those who need it, loving the ones that feel unlovable because of their decisions.

What are you doing today to make better decisions for yourself and that will inspire others to do the same. It only takes one small insignificant decision to chance the course of our lives and those around us.

So, be aware today and encourage someone who needs encouragement…and when and if that thought of “they got was they deserved” comes to mind…ask yourself “did you get what you deserved?”

Let’s start a chain reaction today of love, mercy, grace, kindness and see what happens in our areas of influence.

I love you brothers and sisters…be encouraged today and make a good decision!

Scott