Max Lucado by Facing Your Giants

When Luke justified the writing of his gospel to Theophilus, he said, “Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus” (1:3 NIV).
    Did you note the phrase “it seemed good also to me”? These words reflect a person standing at the crossroads. Luke pondered his options and selected the path that “seemed good.”
    Jude did likewise. He intended to dedicate his epistle to the topic of salvation, but he felt uneasy with the choice. Look at the third verse of his letter.
    Dear friends, I wanted very much to write you about the salvation we all share. But I felt the need to write you about some-thing else: I want to encourage you to fight hard for the faith that was given the holy people of God once and for all time. (NCV)
    Again the language. “I wanted . . . But I felt . . .” From whence came Jude’s feelings? Did they not come from God? The same God who “is working in you to help you want to do . . . what pleases him” (Phil. 2:13 NCV).
    God creates the “want to” within us.
    Be careful with this. People have been known to justify stupidity based on a “feeling.” “I felt God leading me to cheat on my wife . . . disregard my bills . . . lie to my boss . . . flirt with my married neighbor.” Mark it down: God will not lead you to violate his Word. He
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    God will not lead you to violate his Word.
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    will not contradict his teaching. Be careful with the phrase “God led me . . .” Don’t banter it about. Don’t disguise your sin as a leading of God. He will not lead you to lie, cheat, or hurt. He will faithfully lead you through the words of his Scripture and the advice of his faithful.
    You need no ephod or precious stones; you have a heart in which God’s Spirit dwells. As F. B. Meyer wrote a century ago:
    Each child of God has his own Urim and Thummim stone, . . . a conscience void of offense, a heart cleansed in the blood of Christ, a spiritual nature which is pervaded and filled by the Holy Spirit of God. . . . Are you in difficulty about your way? Go to God with your question; get direction from the light of his smile or the cloud of his refusal. . . . get alone, where the lights and shadows of earth cannot interfere, where the disturbance of self-will does not intrude, where human opinions fail to reach—. . . wait there silent and expectant, though all around you insist on immediate decision or action—the will of God will be made clear; and you will have . . . a new conception of God, [and] a deeper insight into his nature. 2
    You have a heart for God? Heed it.
    A family of faith? Consult it.
    A Bible? Read it.
    You have all you need to face the giant-size questions of your life. Most of all you have a God who loves you too much to let you wander. Trust him . . . and avoid the dog biscuits.

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    STRONGHOLDS
    P ETE SITS on the street and leans his head against a building. He’d like to beat his head against it. He just messed up again. P Everyone misspeaks occasionally. Pete does so daily. He blurts wrong words like a whale spouts salt water, spraying folly every-where. He always hurts someone, but tonight he hurt his dear friend. Oh, Pete and his quick-triggered tongue.
    Then there’s Joe and his failures. The poor guy can’t hold a job. His career rivals the Rocky Mountains—up, down; cold, hot; lush, barren. He tried his hand at the family business. They fired him. Tried his skills as a manager. Got canned and jailed. Now he sits in prison, future as bleak as the Mojave Desert. No one could fault him for feeling insecure; he’s flopped at each opportunity.
    So has she—not at work but at marriage. Her first one failed. So did her second. By the collapse of the third, she knew the names of the court clerk’s grandkids. If her fourth trip to divorce court didn’t convince