Spring 2000
Taking Us Beyond the Familiar
Pastor Dan Beaulieu

Have you noticed that whenever we begin to feel comfortable, the Lord disrupts our comfort zone?

"By faith Abraham ... went out, not knowing whither
he went." Hebrews 11:8-9.

Abraham had to leave the place where all was familiar to him, and dwell in tents, as he progressed toward the place of promise.

The Israelites were told,

“When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD
your God, and the priests the Levites bearing
it, then you shall remove from your place, and go
after it ... for you have not passed this way
heretofore.” Joshua 3:3-4.

At this present time, the Lord is disrupting many of our familiar resting places, so we will be able to appropriate our inheritance. We do not know where we are going, but we know that the Lord has told us to go.

But this we do know - we can trust His guidance and He will make a way for us. Jesus set the following example before us, to show us that He not only desires to take us further, but that He will first prepare us for this spiritual journey.

"And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed
upon Him to hear the word of God, He stood by the
lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by
the lake.” Luke 5:1-2a.

There are always two ships - His way and our way. The Lord ever seeks to move us from our ways, into His.

“But the fishermen were gone out of them,
and were washing their nets.” Luke 5:2b.

The Lord will respond to sincere seeking. He will begin by dealing with us in our present daily activities. The nets represent the means we use to get what we want. The fact that they were washing these nets tells that they were willing to cleanse the methods they used to receive.

“And He entered into one of the ships, which was
Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a
little from the land. And He sat down, and taught
the people out of the ship.” Luke 5:3.

He pushed out a little from the land. The Lord will begin to teach us from a place which many consider to be spiritually shallow.

“Now when He had left speaking, He said to Simon,
Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets
for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him,
Master, we have toiled all the night, and have
taken nothing: nevertheless at Your word, I will let
down the net.” Luke 5:4-5.

It is in the so-called shallow places of spiritual experience that we are made ready for the deeper things of God. The fact that they had caught no fish tells us that we are in the place of preparation, and that what we are becoming is much more important than what we are doing.

“And when they had this done, they enclosed a great
multitude of fishes: and their net brake.” Luke 5:6.

The net broke because Peter had doubted the word of the Lord. All that the Lord asks of us is simple child-like obedience.

Like Peter, the Lord’s purpose is to take us further - to launch us out into the deep. This will disrupt all that is familiar to us, so we will be able to embrace the deeper truths.

I experienced this very thing recently.

I heard Sharon Titian’s testimony of her ministry in Ghana and was amazed at what the Lord had done through her life. She found herself far beyond anything familiar - in a foreign land faced with frightening situations. She faced the unknown with a humble heart, seeking God, and interceding for those caught in the vise of evil.

As I listened to her testimony, I realized that my experience came far short of hers. I was still in the shallow places. She had launched out into the deep.

In the story of Peter, we see one who launched out beyond his own understanding and found that the Lord met him there. When the Lord comes into our boat and tells us to "cast out a little," we may say, "Lord I am very comfortable and I can hear you from here."

But the intent of the Lord is to say to each one of us, "Launch out into the deep - into the unfamiliar."

We can no longer be content with "playing Church." May our Lord quickly disrupt that. We must believe the Lord for a supernatural outpouring of His grace to enable us to leave the familiar, and enter into His last day purposes.

Are you willing and ready to go further?