Dear Partners and Friends,

After spending time in study and prayer this morning, I really felt impressed to share this word with you all. I will be interrupting our blog series Be the One to give you what I really felt would be a blessing and an encouragement to you.

The Holy Spirit placed Psalms 27:14 on my heart this morning as I was praying for you.

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Let’s take this scripture section by section and look at what God is saying to us. First, “wait on the Lord.” For most of us, our first thought on waiting on the Lord is to sit quietly “waiting” on Him in a time of prayer. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will lead you this way, but this waiting on the Lord can also can mean to “hope” in the Lord. The definition for hope is confident expectation. In other words, have a confident expectation in the Lord during any situations in life that may come along.

How do we gain a confident expectation? Spend time in His word, spend time in prayer, and speak His word - especially the word that we need for that very moment of our life. Most of the time waiting is not a passive situation. It is an aggressive pursuit of what God has promised you! In this waiting on the Lord, you have a confident expectation that you WILL receive the promise of God that you are standing for.

The next part of this verse states, “Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart.” I love this part because God is very direct in what we are to do here. Our move is to be of good courage. The definition of courage is a mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. So, in other words, the Lord is telling us to stand strong mentally and morally. Keep persevering forward, withstand fear, and withstand difficulties that may rise before you. You do this by waiting on Him! Waiting on Him with a confident expectation that He will bring you through this situation at hand. When we do this, God almighty Himself, will strengthen your heart! We don’t have to figure out how to strengthen ourselves, God will strengthen us!
At the end of this passage, the psalmist reminds us again: “Wait, I Say, on the Lord!” In my own paraphrase he is saying, “if you didn’t get it the first time, here it is again because this is very important part, you must wait on the Lord”.  Hope in the Lord! Have a confident expectation in the Lord.

I want to share this very same verse out of the Passion translation:

Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be entwined as one with the Lord.  Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting—for He will never disappoint you!

Keep pressing forward, Champions! Keep holding onto to God and His word with a confident expectation that you will receive the end of your faith!

-Coach Brim

Hello Champions 4 Christ!

Today, we are going to continue with Be the One! If you are just joining Coach’s Corner, read the last three blogs to catch you up on what we have been talking about. We found out last time that to Be the One God has called you to be, you have to mix action with faith. The woman with the issue of blood had to hear about Jesus and then press through the crowd to get to Him. She put action with her faith. The moment she heard of Jesus, her faith in Him began. The moment she pressed through the crowd, she mixed action with her faith and received what Jesus had for her. She chose to be the one!  Any one of those many people could have been the one. They were right next to Jesus, but she was the only one in that multitude that day who was the one.

James 2:14, 17-18

14: What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

17: Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18: But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

In verse 18, James makes a bold champion statement. He’s saying, “We both say we have faith, but I will show you my faith by my works.” Work implies action. Another way we could read verse 18 is this: “But someone will say, “you have faith, and I have action, show me your faith without your action, and I will show you my faith by my action.”

James was telling us that you have to mix faith with action to bring forth the power!

It’s like making sweet tea to go with your meal. You have to mix sugar in your tea to make that tea sweet. You can pour that sugar in your tea but never mix it, and that sugar will sink to the bottom of your glass and your tea will remain unsweet. But, if you want the full benefits of the sweet tea, you have to mix that sugar in with the tea. You have to stir it up! You have to stir faith up by putting it into action in what you believe!

Action is the spoon to your faith - it stirs up your faith!

In the upcoming weeks, determine that you will put action to your faith. If you are believing God for more finances in your life, then speak the Word over your finances.  If you’re believing for better friends, then speak the word over your friendships. “I have the favor of God on my life, therefore, I am a friend and I have good friends.” Decide to be the one that steps out on God’s Word, holds onto it, puts action with it, and keeps moving forward until you reach your goal.

- Coach Brim

Hey Champions!

In the last two blogs, we set the stage for the Be the One series. If you haven’t read these posts, go back and catch up!

In John 14:12 the Jesus states, “He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also.”

Jesus is saying in John 14:12, “BE THE ONE because I AM THE ONE!”

Throughout history there are many examples of men and women who chose to Be the One. But, how do you do that? What do you have to put forth in your life to be the one God wants you to be and has already provided for you to be? Let’s take a look at several of these people and their stories, in very shortened forms of course, to see what they did to be the one.

1. Moses stretched forth his rod and parted the Red Sea.

2. Abraham left his family to follow God, and he was made the father of many.

3. The children of Israel marched around Jericho until the walls fell.

4. David ran and spoke toward Goliath and killed the giant.

5. Esther rose up and went before the king to save her people.

6. Naaman dipped seven times in the Jordan to get rid of leprosy.

7. Jesus told the man with a withered hand, “stretch forth and be whole.”

8. Peter told the crippled man to rise and walk, and the man walked.

You see, in all these instances, action mixed with faith, brought forth the power of God and the ability for each of these people to rise above the situation staring them right in the face and Be the One that received from God!

The two main ingredients in all of these stories is action mixed with faith. This brought forth God’s manifestation in their lives! The definition of faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In my interpretation of this scripture, faith is believing and trusting God, even though you do not see the results of it. You keep trusting. The definition of action is an act of will; the accomplishment of a thing usually over a period of time, in stages, or with the possibility of repetition.

Our will plays a very important role in being the one! It did with the woman with the issue of blood. So, in other words, when we put action in motion or our will in motion towards the expression of faith, then those two mixed together bring forth God’s power upon the situation.

Check yourself this week, as you go through things in life. Ask yourself, “is my will mixed with faith?” If not, get in the Word of God and start mixing, rearranging, and improving your will.

-Coach Brim