Proper preparation prevents perspiration

A friend of mine recently went out on his first shark fishing trip. He loaded up his boat and sped some 40 miles out in the ocean. As he prepared the bait and got the boat into position he suddenly realized that he did not have any hooks. In his haste to get fishing he had left all of his hooks on the front seat of his car. A long and silent boat ride in and back out again followed as the group of fisherman paid the price of not being properly prepared for the day of fishing. The trip ended well as the fisherman caught several sharks and they sped home with a cooler full of fish, but they also learned a valuable lesson to always be prepared.

It is important that we as followers of Christ properly prepare ourselves daily for the battles of life we face. It makes for a long day when we face our world unprepared to stand up to the temptations or even to be ready to bear witness of what Christ has done in our lives.

The truth is that we can never be totally prepared for everything that we may face in a day, but we can prepare ourselves to handle many things that may come our way. I would like to share with you four ways that we can make sure that we are prepared to face the world each day.

Prepare yourself with the proper attitude.

If you enter each day with a proper attitude then you can face whatever comes your way. A great attitude to bring to each day is that of God being each charge and therefore there is hope. Philippians. 4:19 tells us that God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. This means that everything is not always up to us. God can bring hope to any situation because he causes all things to work according to his good for those who love him.

This attitude of hope should be one that anticipates God working throughout your day and through your life. We can persevere in all situations because, as Romans 5 tells us, “perseverance produces hope and hope does not disappoint us.” Entering each day with the attitude of hope will assure that no day will be disappointing.

Prepare yourself with the proper purpose.

Purpose to glorify God and accomplish his purpose. We should seek God’s glory not our own. Often we go through needless stress and struggles because we spend more of our time making sure that we are satisfied and happy rather than seeking God’s honor. Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Seeking God’s honor will energize you in your day because you are looking for ways to please him in all that you do. We are here for God, he has great plans for our lives and many things he wants to accomplish through us every day. We need to remember this and keep on his page. Doing things his way rather than ours may bring some surprises to our day as he may have things for us to do or people to speak with that we never imagined.

Prepare yourself with the proper conditioning.

I have heard it said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it gets our body going right. The same can be said for our spiritual life. If we fail to take care of ourselves spiritual we are entering each day weaker and not as able to accomplish what God has for us. If we fail to seek God each day through His word and through prayer we have nothing to offer our world except for our own wisdom, knowledge and counsel. We need to always be ready to share what God has been teaching us and showing us. It is his strength that will keep us going, if we do it on our own we will eventually tire and quit. 2 Timothy 4:2 – “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;”

Prepare yourself with the proper tools.

Make sure that you have the proper tools for accomplishing God’s purposes each day. This takes some forethought. Just as my buddy needed to have the proper tools with him on his fishing trip we need to carefully evaluate what we may need.

We should seek to know how to share our faith. We need to have a personal testimony to share with others. You need to have information ready to share with people so that you can invite them out to church. We cannot prepare ourselves for every situation that we may face, but there are basic things that we can have with us at all times. Get a small Bible that you can keep in your car or purse. Keep tracts handy. Know of some good website where you can get information to help answer questions about Christ. You don’t need all the answers, but you can at least know a place to look for help.

I have been challenged by 1 Peter 3:15 – “but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Again this doesn’t mean that I need all the answers but I do need to be ready to share Christ with others.

A Fishing Lesson from the Master

They had been fishing all night without catching so much as a guppy. They were tired, frustrated and probably in need of a good shower. As they approached the shore they encountered a crowd listening to a man teach. The man made sense, he spoke in easy to understand ways and he spoke with authority.

When he had finished speaking, he turned to this exhausted group of fisherman and said, "Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets, and you will catch many fish."
The boat’s captain named Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, we'll try again.”

Let’s look at the situation. Here we have a group of professional fisherman. These are men that had fished that body of water everyday for probably their entire lives. They had seen it all. They knew how to catch fish. They had had great days and had learned to accept bad days. They may have thought, “Who does this stranger think he is? He doesn’t fish here all day. Doesn’t he realize that we were just out there fishing all night? When we tell him that there are no fish we mean that there are no fish.”

These fishermen may have thought these things, but there was something about this man that caused them to step out of their own abilities and knowledge and obey him. Look at the result of their obedience…

"And this time their nets were so full they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.”

Now that sounds like a great time!

Sometimes, when God calls us to obey, it means that we must step out of our comfort zones into the unknown. The first disciples were asked to go back out fishing and try again – even though they had fished all night. They were comfortable in the knowledge that they had fished and tried their best but to know avail. However, Jesus had other plans for them.

This story, taken from Luke 5, speaks of Christ’s first followers, a group of fisherman. They were taught a very important lesson that we, as disciples, should remember – when God calls his followers to obey it is always well worth it.

God may be calling you to obey him in an area where you must step out of your comfort zone. This may be speaking with friends, neighbors or family about Christ or standing up for what is right at work or school. It may even mean going to be a missionary. Whatever God is calling is calling you to do – obey Him, you won’t be disappointed.

We can find strength to step out in obedience to God by remembering two important truths.

TRUTH #1 – If God calls He enables.

We need to trust that God will not call us to do anything that he will not equip us to do. A trust that God knows what he is talking about is key here. Simon obeyed Jesus because he trusted him. He did not know how things were going to work out, but he knew that he should obey because Jesus had asked him to. We need to have this simple faith that says, “I don’t know how things will work out, but because you called me to I will go.”

TRUTH #2 – Faith grows when it is exercised.

Faith needs to be used to be strengthened. When we say that we don’t have enough faith to step out in obedience, we need to step out with whatever faith we have and our faith will grow. The disciples did not have perfect faith in Jesus, but they had enough to obey and go back out fishing. As they returned to shore with a great catch, their faith in Christ was MUCH greater than before. It was so great that they dropped their nets and followed Jesus. Our faith will continue to be strengthened as we see God proving himself as we obey.

The next time you are tired and feeling a little defeated and God asks you to step out in obedience, follow it will be well worth it.

Fishing is more than just catching

I remember the days when I used to work summers on the fishing boats down the shores. Each morning I would welcome fishermen and tourists as they came aboard the boat for a day of deep-sea fishing. As these people waited for the boat to leave the docks, they would often talk with me about fishing. Usually we would discuss how the fishing had been and what was biting. Sometimes these people would look at me and ask, “I know fishing hasn’t been great, but you guarantee that we’ll catch something, right?”

I would, as gently as I could, explain to them that the only guarantee in fishing is that there are no guarantees. I would also tell them that, if every time they went out and caught fish, then they would call it catching rather than fishing. I usually closed by informing them that there is much more to fishing than just catching so they should be ready to enjoy the trip no matter what.

When Christ walked the earth, He spent a lot of time with fishermen. These were men that had been through many fishing experiences and they were seasoned fishermen. They realized the truth that fishing is more than just catching fish.

As Christ walked along the Sea of Galilee one day, he called out to these men, “Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men!” The Bible tells us that these men left their equipment, families and livelihood and followed. These simple men were being called to something more than a fishing trip; they were being called to begin a journey to become all that God wanted them to be. They were being called to become disciples.

We are also called to follow and be made fishers of men. We are on a journey called discipleship. God desires to make us into all that He has made us to be and He will do it if we simply follow Christ.

We can learn a lot about becoming a “Fisher of Men” from fishing. Just as there is more to fishing than catching, there is more to becoming a fisher of men than leading people to Christ. It is about a daily commitment to follow Christ and allow Him grow us to look more like him.

Just as many fishermen miss the joy in fishing by thinking it is merely about catching fish, I think we, as followers of Christ, get too hung up on what we think God needs to do in our spiritual lives, rather than allowing him to work in and through us for his purpose. We often miss out because we put blinders onto what God can and will do. We forget to enjoy the journey, as we merely focus on results.

God desires to teach us a lot about himself, us, and how He works, but we must be flexible enough to put aside our agendas and allow Him to set His.

Here are a few tips to remember in our journey to become Fishers of Men:

Mark 1:17 (ESV)
¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men."

We are to follow Jesus

When Jesus called these first followers He simply called them to follow. He did not call them to make themselves worthy or do anything to “pull their weight,” rather He called them to follow. Following Jesus is not as easy as it sounds because we often make it more difficult. Sometimes we want to go ahead of Jesus and His plans. We do this because tend to get impatient. Other times we drift to the left or right as we follow, wandering off to something that looks or sounds interesting. We tend to do this because we tend to think we know better.

This call to follow means simply trusting Jesus for everything. We are to trust him with our identity, our safety, our present and our future. It is amazing how much easier life gets when we simply follow.

It is the power of God that changes us

This little statement by Jesus to his first followers is huge. He told these fishermen that HE would make them. The work of making us more like Jesus is work of Jesus. It is through his power that change comes to our lives. We place ourselves there by merely following, trusting him fully.

We miss the power to change that comes from Jesus because we tend to want to make ourselves through our own efforts. This hard work to grow is ingrained in our lives from an early age. We earn grades in school, earn acceptance from parents and teachers through right behavior, we work hard and we get ahead. This comes to our spiritual lives through certain accepted practices, Christian disciplines that guarantee growth.

God does not work on this economy. When we trust in his power and work, we begin to see his purpose – to show his power and glory in and through us so that all of creation would worship him.

Becoming a fisher of men is a process

Jesus shared with his first followers that this process of becoming more like him would be just that, a process. In following Jesus we are immediately changed into a new creation, but we are also being transformed to look more like Him. Change in our attitudes, values and actions do not take place over night, but over time in following Jesus. Just as a child grows into a mature adult, Jesus desires to mature us.

We can get impatient and want to grow up faster than we should. We need to remember we will grow at the pace God has for us as we trust and follow Him.

Good Fishing!