13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Genesis 6:13–14a (ESV)

After a recent visit to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky, I began to think more about the time when Noah was instructed by God to build and subsequently started building the ark. It seems to me that people around him probably thought he was crazy for building this massive ship on dry ground, and possibly not even near the coast. Notice also in Genesis 6 that God gave Noah very specific instructions on how to build the ship.

Think for a moment now about God’s power. God could’ve saved Noah, his family, and the animals that went on the ark through other means that wouldn’t really require any work or obedience from Noah – but God didn’t. He chose this way – and I’m sure it was perfect – evidenced in part by the reality that this story in the bible is certainly one of the better known stories, and many people have learned from it and God has received much glory through it.

Has God given you instructions in your life that seemed incomprehensible at the time but you decided to be obedient and do what God was asking? How did that turn out?

If you’ve never had a moment like this in your life, be sure that you are prepared for it. Be sure to also test that it is from God. If you determine that your instructions are from God, I encourage you to be faithful and obedient.

By: Marcus Steury

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.

Lamentations 3:25-28

This past weekend, we went to Shipshewana for our annual leadership retreat. It was a time of conversation, r&r and quality time focusing on God and His church. While we were there Jay led us to a beautiful park with trails, picnic tables, a small river and even a waterfall. We were instructed to spend about 3 hours in absolute silence praying, thinking and hearing from the Lord. We all walked to different locations all over the park and found nice little peaceful locations to spend some quality time alone with God. It started out as quite a challenge for me to calm my mind and solely focus on the Lord. But as I did this, I was able to rest my mind and give more and more of my focus to God. Being silent isn’t exactly my gift, but I found myself feeling so refreshed and at peace after such a long time alone with our Lord. He had many things to show me and my eyes were opened to some things I never thought of before. It made me realize the value that can come from taking time from our busy schedules and spending some serious time alone with God. God has so many things to share with us about the future and about major decisions that are going on in our lives. The world tends to drown out God and if we're not careful we can easily miss the things He wants to share with us. My challenge to you this week is to find a quiet place and spend some quality time with the Lord. See what He has to share with you and I guarantee, it will be worth every minute. 

By: Pastor Kevin Troyer

“Historians will probably call our era ‘The age of anxiety’.” Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and his will for us.” - Billy Graham. Billy Graham wrote this in 1965 and over 50

years later this is still an accurate description of this present era.

The news that we are bombarded with daily is not encouraging. Our world is in chaos and evil abounds. For some, this causes fear and anxiety to set in and the enemy uses it to distract us from our relationship with God. If we

allow it to, anxiety and fear will cripple us and take over our lives. But there is hope! 2 Timothy 1:7 says “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.”  This verse says God has given us power! We do not need to fear! Philippians 4:6-7 says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4:8 tells us what we are to be focused on: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.” If you read on, verse 9 tells us that if we put these into practice the God of peace will be with

us. 

Are you allowing fear and anxiety to control you or are you focusing on the things that are true, lovely, pure, admirable, etc? The circumstances in our lives or even in our world may look grim but we can choose what we put our focus on. We can choose hope and peace over fear and anxiety because John 16:33 tells us that Jesus has already overcome!

By Elton Gingerich