Roping Religion: All are unique yet part of God

Many of the ideas and scriptures for this article are from the devotional “God Wants You To Win!” by world champion calf roper Jeff Copenhaver.

In life you get what you settle for. I have been encouraging the flock at the Ark to expect God’s best. God is no respecter of persons. God doesn’t get fooled when we wear masks and try to hide our true selves from Him. He knows all about us and He still loves us and has good plans for us. He has a future for us. He wants us to prosper and be in health. Wow.

God loves me and wants His best to come to pass in my life even though I have failed many times. The Bible instructs us that though a righteous man falls seven times the Lord God picks him up each time. I just cannot exhaust God’s grace in my life.

We are unique. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are created in the image of God. We have destiny and purpose inside of us. We find real life by losing our lives. In order to obtain God’s best we need to activate the measure of faith that God has given us.

If you continue to expect nothing you won’t be disappointed. God delights to give good gifts to His good kids. Our job is to humble ourselves and receive our instructions from Him. He wants us to love Him and to love one another. He wants us to operate in faith. Someone has said, “We should work as if it all depends on us and pray as if it all depends on God.” That sounds good to me.

Why would a farmer plant a kernel of grain in the ground if he didn’t have faith that the kernel would die, sprout, break through the ground, drink in the rain and the nutrients and produce a crop? He would just be wasting time and money. We need to believe that God will meet all of our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. When we pray for healing we need to believe that God wants us well. When we pray for provision we need to believe that God will meet our needs and give us wisdom to steward that which He entrusts to us.

Often times we make up excuses as to why God won’t heal us. Then we remember the interaction Jesus had with an excuse maker. Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” I ask you the same thing. Do you want to get well? If we lived in health, we would not need so many healings. Because we are in this world of sin we have a limited time on this earth. We can make some choices to improve the quality of our lives but when our number is up we need to make sure that we have a relationship with Jesus and are ready to go home.

Let’s begin today to expect God’s best. I have often told the congregation that one hundred times zero is zero. You have to do your part in this seed, time and harvest thing. If you sow sparingly you will reap sparingly. If you choose to sow generously then you will reap generously.

Heart attitude has a lot to do with both the health of our bodies and the health of our finances. You can’t make terrible choices and then expect great results. Ask God for wisdom so that you will treat yourself and others the way you want to be treated. Ask Him for wisdom as to how to manage His resources. Develop a stewardship mentality rather than an ownership mentality.

You may have to take a few risks along the way. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Being faithful with little positions you to receive more from God. When Jesus calls He may ask you to change careers or He may heal you and command you to stay in your community and tell others what the Lord has done for you.

Our lives belong to God. Our times are in His hands. He is a Father Who knows what is best for His children. I encourage you to seek God’s direction for your life and then let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. If God is for us who can be against us?

May God bless you big.

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This is the 10th in a series of columns by Kevin Barsotti, pastor of Ark Church in Havre.