Are you willing to take a risk for the Lord? A risk is when there is a chance of loss of something. King David was willing to risk losing his dignity and the respect of the people of Israel as he danced before the Lord and the people of Israel in his under garments [2 Samuel 6:14]. Now I am not proposing you go to church in your underwear. Yet, I am encouraging you to step out of your comfort zone and take a risk trusting God to be God.
One of my all time favorite stories of risk taking in the Old Testament is the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal found in 1 Kings 18:19-29. Ahab and Elijah were discussing how Ahab had turned from the Lord to follow the Baals. Elijah threw out a bold challenge to Ahab to test and see who the one true god was. Not only did he draw a line in the sand by throwing out the challenge, he dug a trench so to speak. He made the circumstances impossible, except for God, by soaking his sacrifice with water three times and then called down fire from heaven. Elijah didn’t just do this before Ahab. He was before 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah and all of those who came out to see what was going on. He was willing to risk because he trusted God to be God.
What about you? Do you trust God to be God? I’m not asking you to risk your life like Elijah, but are you willing to risk your dignity or reputation like King David? Would you take a step and pray for someone to be healed? Would you be willing to approach the person you see in public trying to hide her tears and tell her that God loves her and wants her to know it and then pray for her?
We are called to be risk takers for the Lord. The fun and excitement in the Kingdom isn’t on the sidelines. Your faith isn’t stretched on the sidelines.
When you are willing to step out in faith into the hard places, the places where God needs to show up or you will look like an idiot, you’ll see God in a whole new way. What’s the worst thing that could happen? What if you did pray for healing and someone wasn’t healed? You would know you did all you could. What if you reached out to the crying person and they rejected you? You would know you did all you could.
God has chosen to partner with mankind to change the world we live in. Don’t sit on the bench hearing stories of God’s amazing works in others; engage, jump in, risk. When you take a risk for God, it will never be wasted. So what are you waiting for? Trust God to be God!