Is Today, This Year, Your Watershed Moment?

Pam Farrel is a hope-builder. Through her writing and speaking, Pam encourages Christians to ground themselves in God's Word, and watch how He uses them to accomplish His purposes. In this Faith UPGRADE, Pam writes about watershed moments God brings into believers' lives.

"The Bible is full of promises," Pam says. "These promises become moments of personal choices of belief: a watershed moment that vitally impacts our future."

I (Dawn) learned what a "watershed" is in college. It's a land area that channels rainfall and snowmelt into creeks, streams, and rivers, and eventually it swells to outflow points like reservoirs, bays, or the big, wide ocean.

For a Christian to experience "a watershed moment" is to be so suddenly and deeply moved by something that it changes the believer's life and/or ministry.

Pam continues . . .

I was eight months pregnant when an invitation to a free marriage retreat arrived from Forest Home Christian conference center. Bill was a youth pastor at the time, so I leapt at the opportunity for a rare cozy weekend away for us.

At the Saturday evening session, we experienced a God-ordained watershed moment listening to the story of God giving the covenant promise in Genesis 15:5-6: (NIV)

"Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Abram believed the Lord."

One of the preeminent watershed moments in the Bible was when God asked Abram to bring a sacrifice that was symbolic of the life and death commitment made in a covenant between two parties.

So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”  Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. …

"As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, …

"'In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here...”

"When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram” (15:9-18a).

God knew Abram was human and would fail, so He made a promise with HIMSELF to keep the promise.

The promises in the Bible are as good as the One making the promise.

God used this covenant process because it was familiar to the culture.

People knew that if a person broke the promise, the other could slay him as punishment.

God was proclaiming the same type of agreement. Because God made this promise, if He failed to keep it, He would have to die. But God cannot die.*

Revelation 1:8 says of God: “Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (NIV).

Because God is pre-existent and self-sustaining, He was never born, so He can never die—so He is fully able to keep every promise.

In OUR watershed moment, as we sat in a chapel at Forest Home years ago, Bill and I recommitted ourselves to be used, as a couple, to share God’s love and equip people to love wisely.

Others' Watershed Moments

Many others have had watershed moments at that same conference center: Forest Home. The founder, Henrietta Mears, brought young leaders to the mountain.

One of her famous quotes is,

“There is no magic in small plans. When I consider my ministry, I think of the world. Anything less than that would not be worthy of Christ nor of his will for my life.”

Years later, many former students—now leaders—assembled for a recommissioning and vision-setting gathering. They represented more than 50 Christian organizations.

Billy Graham—while a speaker at Forest Home at the start of his evangelistic ministry—laid down his Bible on a stump in his watershed moment.

He prayed, “Father... I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.”

Weeks later, Graham preached at the Los Angeles Crusades. More than 300,000 people heard the gospel, sparking the evangelistic crusades that defined the rest of his ministry.

Christ brings each of us to a watershed moment to make a choice to believe in Him, in His Word, and in His ability to keep His promises.

He brought the disciples to Caesarea Philippi, where worship of many false gods including the Greek god, Pan—half man, half goat—was taking place. Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say the son of man is? … Who do you say that I am?” 

It was their watershed decision point.

Peter rose and replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13-18 NIV).  

Hebrews 11:1 calls us ALL to this decision point: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (ESV).

• Faith is to have a solid conviction, to be fully persuaded
• Assurance is the picture of a land deed.
• So, faith is like the legal title to hope.

The definition of hope I formed when writing Discovering Hope in the Psalms is “to wait expectantly for God to show up and show off for your good and His glory.”

Hope believes God keeps His promises—even in the waiting.

Today can be YOUR watershed moment.

Are you fully persuaded that God loves YOU? That God’s Word is a love letter of truth to rescue, redeem and restore YOU?  Why not take a moment to write a declaration of your faith belief. Then hang your heart on the God who keeps ALL His Promises.

Pam Farrel is a bestselling author of 56 books, and the co-author of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament: A Creative Bible Study Experience. (This blog post is adapted from this ECPA award-winning Bible study from Harvest House Publishers.) Download Infectious Joy 30 Day Creative Devotional for a simple 10-minute-a-day faith builder. The Farrels co-lead Love-Wise and the Living Love-Wise Community.

Graphic adapted, Courtesy of Sergey Pesterev at Pexels.

* For further explanation of the ancient covenant sacrifice that Pam described, you can read here. - Dawn

How to Rest from Fear and Worry

When I think of Debbie W. Wilson, the word "clarity" comes to mind. Debbie takes biblical truths and makes them clear and motivating, and helps readers see the Word of God from fresh perspectives. In this Faith UPGRADE, she points to many things we might fear, and one fear we might be overlooking to our detriment.

"Riots, the election, the coronavirus, and the general unrest in our country—not to mention the financial strain on those who still haven’t been able to return to normal work—are enough to strike fear in the most steadfast of heart," Debbie says.

"In addition to this, the normal challenges of life don’t take a vacation when a worldwide pandemic and national upheaval hit." 

Whew! As I (Dawn) read that list of upsets, I felt the tension rise! We really have been through a lot in 2020, haven't we? But we've learned a lot about how to respond too; and Debbie highlights a wonderful choice.

Debbie continues . . . 

The Bible tells us not to fear any of these things (Matt. 6:25-34). It does, however, tell us TO FEAR  something you may be overlooking.

God wants you and me to fear missing His REST!

Notice the warning.

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it (Heb. 4:1 NLT).

Say what? Missing God’s rest hardly tops my list of fears. But, according to God’s Word, it should.

So let’s look at how to find rest from our fears.

How Do We Rest from Fear?

Hebrews chapter 4 uses Israel as an example of how we can miss God’s rest.

The rest God offers us is different from the rest He offered Israel.

But both hinge on faith.

God delivered Israel from mighty Pharaoh and promised to lead the nation into the Promised Land. The Promised Land flowed with milk and honey and provided protection.

But Israel listened to their fears instead of heeding God’s promise.

As a result, instead of picking juicy grapes, they ate manna all day—every day—for 40 years as they wandered in circles in the wilderness (Heb. 4:2-3).

If only they had believed God!

Listening to our FAITH will protect us from our fears.

Listening to our FEARS holds us in a wilderness of unrest.

What is rest?

• In the Old Testament God’s rest was an abundant LAND.
• In the New Testament God’s rest is an abundant LIFE.

Where do we find rest?

• In the Old Testament rest was found in a PLACE.
• In the New Testament rest is found in a PERSON.

Today, fear and worry drive us harder than any Egyptian taskmaster drove the Hebrew slaves. At least taskmasters slept, whereas worry will wake us up in the middle of the night.

Unlike Israel, we don’t have to leave the country, our jobs, or our circumstances to find relief from fear and worry. We only need to run to Jesus (Jn. 10:10; Jn. 16:33).

As unbelief kept the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, so unbelief in our Lord’s daily care keeps us in restless turmoil.

Jesus used the example of a farm yoke to help us understand how our relationship with Him works:

Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light’ (Matt. 25:28-30 NLT).

Let Jesus teach you... so you can find His rest.

Are you listening to faith or your fears?

Debbie W. Wilson is an experienced Bible teacher and ministry leader. She enjoys equipping others in the areas of relationships, Bible study, Christian living, and discipleship. Known for her fresh insights and ability to make the Bible come alive, Debbie uses Spirit-filled encouragement to inspire her readers to trust God with their lives. Drawing from Hebrews 11, her latest book, Little Faith, Big God, shows readers how to live well and finish strong. Debbie enjoys dark chocolate, a good mystery, and the antics of her two standard poodles. Find free resources and connect with Debbie at debbieWwilson.com.