Venture Forth with Faith: An A-to-Z Guide to Relying on Faith Wherever Life Takes You

By Brenda Phegley

Do you feel like you live in a world filled with turmoil and tragedy, tainted by cruelty and corruption, and permeated by disease and death? In a world that seems to be falling apart, how can you keep your faith? Where do you turn for guidance? VENTURE FORTH WITH FAITH gives you an A-to-Z devotional guide filled with Scriptures and stories that will encourage you to boldly step out in faith each day. When you read VENTURE FORTH WITH FAITH, you will:

* Learn how to overcome your fear with faith
* Discover what actions you can take to strengthen your faith
* Realize that you can rely on your faith in every journey
* Believe that God is always faithful

As you journey through life, you need faith to lead you through chaos and strife. You need faith to guide through darkness and despair. VENTURE FORTH WITH FAITH gives you the encouragement and inspiration you need along your life journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: May 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662911750

Brenda Phegley

Brenda Phegley has taught English for over thirty years at Wabash Valley College. She received a bachelor of science degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and a master of arts degree from the University of Evansville. Brenda and her husband, Terry, reside in southern Illinois, and they have two married daughters and two granddaughters.

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Accept God’s Gift of Faith

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

–Ephesians 2:8

If you could not see where you were going, would you venture out on a journey? Would you be bold enough to step out in faith? Would you reach out for someone to help you along your way?

Bartimaeus was a blind beggar who boldly called out to Jesus to restore his sight. When the crowd yelled out for Bartimaeus to be quiet, Bartimaeus yelled even louder! Jesus told him, Your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road (Mark 10:52).

We must have faith like Bartimaeus and call out to Jesus to heal our spiritual blindness. Because we live in a dark world, we cannot always see what lies ahead of us. But praise God that he has given us the gift of faith to guide us through our life journey! Once we receive God’s gift of faith, we should be like Bartimaeus and follow Jesus. God’s gift of faith enables us to believe what we cannot see. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1 NKJV).

What does the evidence of things not seen mean? Even though we cannot literally see God, we believe that he exists. Even though we did not see the creation of the world, we believe that it occurred. Even though we did not see Jesus when he walked on the earth, we know that he was born in human form and died an agonizing death on the cross. God’s gift of faith allows us to accept what we cannot see.

Throughout our lives, we will receive many gifts. When we were children, we were so excited about receiving Christmas gifts. We got up early on Christmas morning ready to open our gifts, which were wrapped in pretty boxes tied with big bows. Even though we could not see what was inside the boxes, we knew that our parents would give us wonderful gifts!

Our Father in heaven has given us the best gift that we will ever receive—the gift of faith! We do not deserve it, and we cannot earn it! It is a gift that will not break, go out of style, or get stolen. It is a gift that will always fit, always work, and always fill us with joy! We simply need to accept it!

Even if we cannot see all of the gifts that God has blessed us with during our lives, we have faith that our gift of eternal life is waiting for us at the end of our journey.

God’s gift of faith shows us the way

That we must travel each day.

God’s gift of faith gives us our sight

That brightens our journey with eternal light.

God’s gift of faith is a blessing from above

That illuminates our lives with God’s everlasting love.

Anchor Your Soul to Jesus

We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, which enters the Inner Place behind the veil.

–Hebrews 6:19 (MEV)

Would you travel on a ship without an anchor? Would you be willing to be tossed around by the waves? A ship needs an anchor to ride out storms, so it is not blown off course. Even when a ship is in a harbor, it needs to be anchored so it will not hit anything. Whether we are in the storms of life or in a safe harbor, we all need an anchor for our souls. Because an anchor is outside a ship, we know that we cannot be our own anchors. If we tied an anchor to our feet and jumped into the water, then we would easily sink in the water and drown. Our anchor must be fastened to something permanent.

Many years ago, my husband and I rented a houseboat at Kentucky Lake. During the day, we would cruise around the lake, and in the evening, we would find a cove in which to spend the night and drop the anchor to secure the boat for the evening. One night, evidently the anchor did not fasten securely to the bottom of the lake, and the next morning, we woke up to discover that our boat had drifted away from its original location. We were so thankful that our boat did not drift into the river channel in the lake because large barges travel in the channel. We learned an important lesson from this experience—make sure that your anchor is secure!

An anchor that is always secure is Jesus. He is the steadfast anchor of the soul, which enters the Inner Place behind the veil. In Old Testament times, the high priest could only enter into the inner sanctuary once a year to stand before God’s presence and atone for the sins of the entire nation. However, when Jesus was crucified, the veil was torn, and Jesus became the sacrifice for all of us. When we accept Jesus as our savior, then our souls are anchored in heaven. God gives us the anchor; we must decide whether to use it or to drift through life.

Sometimes people need to be caught in a storm before they decide to throw out an anchor. When the apostle Paul was held as a prisoner on a ship, he warned the Roman centurion who was guarding him that they would run into rough weather on their trip to Rome; however, the centurion listened to the captain of the ship rather than to Paul. A fierce northeaster wind pushed the ship off course, and the sailors realized that they had to drop four anchors into the water so their ship would not crash against the rocks. The men were afraid; however, an angel appeared to Paul and told him that none of them would lose their lives. Paul was calm because he knew that Jesus was their anchor!

Jesus is our anchor in every storm;

He will never forsake us nor leave us forlorn!

Jesus is the anchor that will not drift away

Because he is with us always every day!

Jesus is the secure anchor for each soul;

He gave his life to make us whole!

Anticipate Detours and Dead Ends

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye on you.

–Psalm 32:8 (MEV)

Sometimes as we are on our life journey, we will encounter detours and dead ends. Sometimes the detours are mildly inconvenient; however, other times we experience something extraordinary that would have never occurred if we had stayed on our original paths.

We all know what happened to the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul, who went by the name Saul at the time, was on his way to Damascus with a letter from the high priest of the temple in Jerusalem giving him authority to arrest anyone who belonged to the Way, meaning anyone who followed Christ. Saul truly hated Christ and anyone who followed him. As Saul was traveling, suddenly a bright light shone on him, and Jesus spoke to him. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (Acts 9:3-4). Jesus identified himself as the one Saul had been persecuting. Saul asked Jesus what he must do. I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ ‘And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do’ (Acts 22:10 NLT).

Saul acknowledged Jesus as Lord, confessed his sins, surrendered his life to Christ, and resolved to obey him. The choice to follow Christ was Saul’s. Even though Jesus was speaking to Saul and struck him blind, Saul had to make the choice to follow and obey. Because of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, the Good News of Christ spread throughout the Roman empire and beyond. Saul’s detour was a change of direction in his life—not a change of the physical direction he was traveling.

Everyone will not have a Road to Damascus experience. However, once God convicts us, we should choose to obey him. The detour that God presents in our lives is always the best path to follow. Sometimes we may resist what God wants us to do; however, when we follow God’s detours, we find the true calling for our lives. If we choose not to obey a detour sign on a road, we may end up traveling off of a cliff, we may end up driving through flood waters, or we may end up on a dangerous road. Even though we usually complain about detours and dead ends when we are traveling, we may finally see (as the apostle Paul saw when the scales fell from his eyes) that God knew where he was leading us.

Detours and dead ends may also allow us to experience a blessing from God. Even if we have to travel farther than we anticipated, God is leading us where we need to go. We understand this when we read about the journey of the Israelites. When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, ‘If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt’ (Exod. 13:17 NLT). God chose to lead the Israelites toward the Red Sea, so he could part the Red Sea and show his people the path to follow.

Detours and dead ends make us change direction;

They help us see that we need correction.

They may take us on a better road

That ends up in blessings upon us bestowed!

Believe in the Benevolence of God

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

–Psalm 145:9

Imagine losing everything in one day! Would you still believe in the benevolence of God? Would you still believe that God is always good? Would you question God for allowing bad things to happen to you?

We are all familiar with the story of Job in the Bible. Job was a righteous man, yet he suffered. In the course of one day, Job’s ten children, his livestock, and his servants all died. God allowed Satan to take away Job’s children and his wealth. God also allowed Satan to inflict Job physically; however, Satan could not kill Job. Job’s suffering from the death of his children and loss of his property never caused him to lose faith in the benevolence of God. Job stated, Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21 NKJV). Job’s wife told him to curse God, but Job did not. Job’s friends told him that he was to blame for what happened, but Job refused to believe them. Job never lost his faith in God even under the most heartbreaking circumstances, and Job never cursed God. Job believed that God was good even when bad things were happening to him.

Another man in the Bible who experienced suffering was Joseph. First, Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. Then he had false accusations brought against him, and he was thrown into prison. Despite Joseph’s dire circumstances, he continued to believe in the goodness of God, and he eventually became governor of Egypt. When Joseph’s brothers appeared before him begging for food, Joseph forgave them, and he told them, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Gen. 50:20). Like Joseph, we cannot always see the benevolence of God in our lives, but it is always there because God is good all of the time!

We live in a world where bad things happen to good people, and we cannot understand how God can allow this to happen. We question the goodness of God when a child dies and a murderer lives. We cannot understand why a poor person lives on the streets and a wealthy person lives in a mansion. We must remember that we cannot see the story from beginning to end, and we do not have access to the last chapter. We must simply believe in the benevolence of God. Even when everything around us seems to be bad, we know that God is always good!

God showed his benevolence to us

When he sent us his Son, Jesus.

We should praise God for his goodness

Because we know that he is always with us.

Even when we cannot understand suffering and pain,