Gone Fishing!

Yesterday I spent the day out on Lake Mindemoya on beautiful Manitoulin Island. Our main objective was to catch fish, any way that we possibly could. What a day of thinking and adjusting our methods of catching fish. We started out casting for pickerel with worms, then we tried trolling for a while with lures and worm harnesses, then we shifted to moving from place to place, to try and catch bass with the simple old reliable hook and bait method. We were unsuccessful most of the day until we found the perfect spot with the perfect bait. Within minutes I had pulled in a six pound bass (And that is no fish tale either) and within a few more hours we had pulled in several large bass and were enjoying them for our supper meal.

This morning as I was spending time reading through the Book of John, I came across the story of Jesus calling His disciples. Some He called and they simply followed, others He attracted in other ways, by miracles or even by telling them things that He had no way of knowing about themselves. He too was using different methods of calling people to himself in order that they could become disciples. As I was praying and thinking about what I had just read I realized that if we are truly to become fishers of men as Christ has called us to be we are going to have to do a few things.

1. We are going to need to learn to be persistent. A good fisherman never gives up trying to catch what he is after. so many times we give a halfhearted shot at trying to "catch" someone for Christ, but what God wants us to do is to keep trying different things to win that person that He loves!
2. We need to be creative. When we are out fishing we tried all kinds of different lures and bait before we ever landed the first fish in the boat. How are you using your God given creativity to reach people for Christ do you just try to thump them with the gospel or are you willing to explore different ways to build relationships with people so that they will open their hearts to you and the Christ that lives in you?
3. We need to pray! After being in the boat fishing for many hours with no success I began to pray that we could catch a fish. In so many ways we try to live our lives without a deep and intimate relationship with God, but the truth is that new life can only be birthed out of intimacy. so pray, or more simply put, talk to God so you can build relationship with Him.

Tomorrow is going to be an amazing day at Jubilee and I believe that as all of you gather together with a sense of expectancy that God will meet with you and do amazing things. So pray for the service in the morning, invite someone with you (It is not to late), and come with expectant hearts! Kristine and I will be praying that God will touch your lives! See you soon!