Are you insane?

I am dropping the challenge flag today like they do in football. If a coach wants to question the decision of the referee on any given play, they have to throw a red flag on the field. And they better be pretty certain their challenge is good because if they’re wrong, they have something to lose…a time out.

I don’t really have anything to lose by throwing my flag down, but I really want to challenge this. This is something I have said myself. It’s something I’ve seen in a different light lately. It’s something that will take a fearless boldness on our part to actually do.

I am challenging the definition of insanity.

If you’re like me, you’ve heard it said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result.”

My challenge is that this does not define insanity. This defines faith!

I mean, really? Haven’t you had anyone look at you like you’re crazy for standing in faith? For the same thing? For so long? Why don’t you try doing something different anyway?

In Judges 20, there is an interesting story of Israel going into battle. They inquired of the Lord, He told them to go, and they got defeated. Badly.

The next day, they inquired of the Lord, He told them to go into battle again, and they got defeated. Very badly.

The next day, they inquired of the Lord, He told them to go into battle AGAIN, and they…….

What would you have done? Wouldn’t fear try to take hold? Wouldn’t common sense try to reason with you?

“Hello! You have gotten beaten…badly…twice. Call it a day and admit defeat. You’re never going to win!”

Wouldn’t your friends look at you funny?

“Ummmm….you are crazy, aren’t you? What do you think is going to be different this time? You’re fighting the same people with the same skill set and the same weapons. What makes you think you can win this time?”

But this time it was different. They did win. They did the same thing and got a different result. It wasn’t insanity. It was faith!

When you have the Word of God on something (like they had the Word to go into battle), it’s okay to be a little crazy. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done the same thing a hundred times before with no results. If God says do it, you can bank on it that if you stay faithful to obey, you will see a different result.

Our problem is that we give up too soon.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. (Luke 5:4-6)

I’m sure the guys in the boats next to them wondered what in the world they were doing. Their empty nets were probably hanging up for all to see. Not a fish. Not a single one. One translation says, “We didn’t even catch a minnow.”

But because you said so…it takes faith to do that. It takes some boldness to step out doing THE EXACT SAME THING THAT DIDN’T WORK LAST TIME and expect a different result. But, there is no other way to see how faithful He really is.

I wonder what was going through their minds. “People are going to think we’re crazy. We did this all night long and got nothing. What’s different now?”

But they came back with that boat-sinking catch, and everyone around could see it was a miracle. It was not because of their ability or talent that they caught those fish. It was because they obeyed the Word of God.

What has God spoken to you to do that will require that kind of faith?

Maybe you’ve been standing for healing and think to yourself, “Why do I keep speaking and believing…it’s not doing anything?”

Maybe you’ve been trying to step out into what God has called you to, but there seem to be no open doors. “What now Lord? I did what You said, but nothing is happening!”

What now? Just keep obeying. He is faithful. If He spoke it, it will come to pass. Don’t quit too soon……your boat-sinking, net-breaking catch is right around the corner.

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