KICKSTART DEVOTIONAL
EVERY WEEKDAY AT 11 AM CST ON FACEBOOK LIVE
VISIT AND SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE
On every Mission Discovery mission trip, we begin the morning together in God’s word. One speaker is chosen to give the word of the day so that everyone else can meditate on the Scripture. Our hope is that volunteers engage in group discussions throughout the day and in their small groups.
Since the way ministry is being done has shifted, our goal is to serve by creating resources that will help others focus on God throughout the day, and influence family and small group discussion.
Join us every weekday as we explore God’s word together. We will have speakers from all over the US and the world. Here is today’s Kickstart Devotional.
Video: Dave Culbreath // The Father is in Control
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The Father is in Control
Mission Discovery Mission Trips with Dave Culbreath
Dave Culbreath is a busy dreamer and doer from Nashville, Tennessee. He has a strong faith in Jesus and mission work everywhere, especially Jamaica. He brings a well known verse to you today with a great lesson. And definitely pause and check out those flying skills he mentions.
Hello my name is Dave Culbreath. I’m joining you today from Nashville, Tennessee. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to do so. Thank you Nathan and the team in Mission Discovery. Especially you Courtney, for reaching out and allowing me to have the opportunity and inviting me to participate in this way. I’m very grateful. For just a few moments today I want to direct us back to the Father and our ability to trust him completely.
We’re going to start in the verse and we’ve all known for a long time. You’ve probably have a friend that has this in their house you may have it in a card in your wallet or on your desk. Proverbs 3 versus 5 and 6. Go ahead and say with me. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. And he will make your path straight.” Never before have we needed to trust the father more.
With the disruption and the change and all that’s unfolding globally. We are truly in an unprecedented time. Unprecedented is a word I don’t think that I have used hardly at all until about nine weeks ago. I’m running out of adjectives to describe all that’s unfolding. But one thing I know is that here, I have peace because I know who’s in control, you know who’s in control. Despite your plans changing or not unfolding like you thought they would.
The father is in control so as we think for a moment. I want to direct you just to think about your life right now. There may be things that are coming to mind even as you hear the word trust. There may be some things in life that you know right now you’re not trusting him enough. There may be things you need to let go and just trust that he will take care of them. If it’s work, if it’s a trip coming, you are leading you’re probably leading other leaders in a time of such tremendous change, it’s exceedingly difficult. It’s difficult to lead period. But when you’re informed, the information that you’re informed by, changes minute by minute, it makes it exponentially more difficult. So, trust yourself and trust the father to guide you. I love to fly. I’m a pilot, for fun. It’s been way too long since I’ve been in the left seat of an airplane.
But I love to watch YouTube and watch these pilots do acrobatics. Do crazy landings, fly to crazy airports, land in the middle of fields these bush pilots in Alaska. They may be the best pilots in the world. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this before if not, pause this, open up a new tab and google it. Category III ILS approach. If you want to get a really crazy, Category IIIC ILS approach.
Now that is a specific category of an approach that an airplane pilot, piloting an airplane will use if there’s limited or no visibility. You’re flying, those pilots, that you’ll see on YouTube and that you may know in life that you can talk to will be flying with virtually no frame of reference for what the outside world looks like because their view is completely obstructed. Most of the time by fog or bad weather. And they have to trust their instruments.
They have multiple souls, sometimes hundreds of souls onboard, they can’t see out the window they’re descending towards an airport. Sometimes they have flown for hours to reach and they cannot see where they’re going to land. Yet, they’re descending, with souls onboard, their lives in their hand, descending. There’s only a few instruments on the panel that they can trust to guide them.
Only a few instruments that they can depend on to know that they’re going where they’re supposed to be going and landing where there’s going to be a runway. And just a few feet, 50 feet sometimes, 75, 100 feet, off the ground. They will see the runway environment and they know they can descend. Sometimes they descend and they descend and they cannot see that. And they have to execute a go round which is a full power go around and try to land again.
That to me feels like life right now. I can’t see, my long term plan, may as well be used as kindling in my fire pit. But there are things in there that are not going to change. There’s things in your ministry, in your organization that you know are going to always be the constant. But the way that you’re going to get from A to B is probably going to be way different now. And that’s Okay.
In fact it’s exciting. Because we know who’s in control. We know where our trust is. We know the instruments on the panel that we’re looking at. Jesus is still the way. He is still alive and at work. He will still use all things for his glory. We are in this race, we’re going to finish it well. We’re going to live our lives, in a manner, that honors Jesus. We’re going to lead our teams, our families, well because we are trusting the father to guide us through this.
And what more can we do now, besides do the best we can and place our trust in Him. We may not be able to see out the window, we may not be able to see what’s coming, but we can trust, that our North Star, our compass, our instrument, the spirit alive and at work in you in us, pointing us to Jesus guiding us. Asking Him for direction. If there’s something you’re unsure about ask and wait and listen.
Keep yourself rooted in this. Right now more than ever we have time to get into this. Sometimes it even, still for me it means getting up early. I have three boys and there is never quiet time in our home. Other than when they’re sleeping. And find that time whatever it is for you. Make sure you’re staying grounded. And make sure your eyes, and your head is held high. Even in the uncertainty. Don’t let fear distract you.
Don’t let fear mislead you or interfere with what you know to be true. God is worthy. Our Father is worthy of our trust. He loves us, he cares. He’s at work. He’s at work in you. So as you lead and you other leaders. As you lead your family your team. Lead well and may peace be with you as you do so.
