The 
Phases of Faith
Faith is the only way to grow in our relationship with God.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
6 Phases Bible Study Calendar
Daily Bible Study Menu
A note about online study
Read your Bible more in 2004!
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving me the ability to make decisions! While sometimes I get overwhelmed at the number of decisions I must make in a single day, the reality is the ability to think and make decisions is one of your greatest gifts to humanity. It is one of the things that make us like You. I pray that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit right now that I may receive the guidance and wisdom necessary to make excellent decisions. I pray that you will lead me past disappointments and dead-ends, delays and difficulties to the deliverance that only You can provide when my dreams seem to be in jeopardy. Lord, increase my faith that I may glorify You by my every waking thought, word and action. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Luke 14:28-30 NIV
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Reflecting on God's Word
Have you ever started a project that you were not able to complete for financial or other reasons? How did you feel? What did others say?
What does it mean to “pay the price” of following Jesus in your life right now?
A Deeper Exploration of God's Word
What decision does Jesus say a person must make if he or she is going to undertake a project? (14:28-30)
What does Jesus say may happen if a person doesn’t sit down to count the cost? (14:28-30)
Understanding God's Purpose
What are the spiritual implications of Jesus’ parable? What are the practical, everyday implications?
Applying God's Word to Our Lives
What is the most important practical application of today’s reading in your life right now?
Thoughts...Counting the Cost...
Jesus offers us an important principle for decision-making when it comes to fulfilling God’s dreams for our lives: count the cost and pay the price. Jesus uses an every day kind of example: if someone is going to build a tower, before he builds, doesn’t he sit down and count the cost to estimate whether he has enough to complete it? Jesus even tells us that if we start a project without counting the cost, so we can estimate whether we can pay the price that we may be ridiculed if we can’t finish it. So what does this mean for us as we seek to fulfill the God-given dreams in our lives? Does it mean that we sit down and determine how much it will cost to carry out ministry on all six inhabited continents, how much it will cost to have a “mission outpost” from which we can gather to worship, fellowship, disciple one another, minister and then be sent out in mission, add up the total and if we don’t have that amount all in hand that we never start the project?
We want to answer that question biblically, because that’s exactly what some people think. They think that unless we have “money in the bank” we ought not to attempt anything in the way of fulfilling God’s dreams for our lives. After all, we must count the cost and pay the price as today’s parable reminds us. The reality is Jesus started His ministry with no money in hand, and He ministered for three years out of the graciousness of some wealthy women. (You can find this in Luke 8:1-3) Jesus once invited 5,000 people to dinner, and He had no money or food when He extended the invitation. Jesus sent His disciples out into the highways and by-ways of Israel to share the Gospel, and told them not to take an extra coat or food or anything extra, but that their needs would be met along the way. So what does Jesus mean when He tells us to count the cost, to be ready to pay the price? He means that we must consider where our resources will come from, and whether they will be sufficient for the “project”—for the dream. Before we “build a tower,” which could represent any tangible or even spiritual dream that God gives us, we must sit down and consider—are we willing to give it EVERYTHING we have, and do we trust God to provide the resources that we don’t have? After all, God owns it all. There is no project or dream that originates with God that will lack resources IF we commit ourselves whole-heartedly to it, and we trust God to make up the difference. That’s a big IF. In real life folks rarely commit themselves that much or trust go so completely—but that’s our calling. For when we decide to count the cost and pay the price God do the rest to see the dreams become realities!