Let me start off by asking you a question:  do you know what trials are?  You may think, THAT’S a dumb question, of course I know what trials are, seems that’s all I have these days.  Perhaps I can help you look at trials in another light, sort of like the half-full or half-empty glass, depending which way you see things.  Nobody wakes up in the morning asking God to give them trials.  Ever wonder why that is?  As near as I can gather, we all like to be comfortable.  However, trials are merely an opportunity for God to show Himself faithful to you, and if you look at it like that, you’re already on your way to victory.
    When the Lord Jesus was about to ascend back to heaven, the disciples didn’t want Him to leave.  Why not?  Well, because with Him, they suffered no lack.  If they got sick, He healed them.  If they were hungry, He fed them.  Jesus had called each and every one of His disciples to leave what they were doing and follow Him.  That was a hard choice then, and it’s a hard choice now.  By the way, several years ago I had a very successful business, and when the Lord called me to follow Him, He asked me if I wanted to be a business man, or a minister.  Naturally I chose to follow Him and be a minister, but I kept my job.  However, that wasn’t God’s plan for me.  He asked me some time later, To which of my disciples did I say, Follow me after you get off work?  Uhhhh, well Lord, none that I know of….Then you follow Me.  And I have ever since, minus my job of course.
    When the Lord Jesus told the disciples He was going to leave, they were not happy campers.  But let’s look at what Jesus told them:
Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Joh 16:9  Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Joh 16:10  Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Joh 16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
    As I said earlier, we all want to be comfortable.  The disciples wanted to be comfortable, you want to be comfortable, and I want to be comfortable.  That’s just the way the flesh is.  When Jesus called the disciples away from their jobs, don’t you think their flesh was a little bit uncomfortable?  Think about it, suppose someone walked into town whom you had never met, and said to you, Quit your day job and follow me, I’ll take care of you. 
   What would your reaction be?  Most people would say, Thank you, but no, I think I’ll keep my job.  Why?  They want the security of their job so they can be what??? Comfortable.
 I can’t find anywhere that Jesus promised “comfortable”, although He did say in John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  Most people associate “abundantly” with “comfortable”.  Yet, Jesus wasn’t offering us “comfortable”, but the “COMFORTER”, and no, I’m not talking about that fluffy blanket you throw on your bed.  I’m talking about the Holy Spirit which the Father gives to those who love and serve Him.
    Now, getting back to the job thing: I was comfortable in a very well paying job that I liked and got up each morning looking forward to doing.  Why? It made me cooooooommfortable.  However, when speaking to other ministers, they pretty much all told me the same thing; Don’t quit your day job, Jerry!  You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 11:14: Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. But I have to temper that with what happened to the Israelites out in the wilderness with Moses.  He spent twelve spies into the land of Canaan to check it out, and they came back and said it’s very nice, indeed the land flows with milk and honey.  Two of them said, let us go now and possess it, for the Lord will go before us, and ten said, no, we are not able to take the land.  So, as a result of a multitude of counselors, they missed the blessing of God, because they did not trust the faithfulness of God.
    I told you all that to tell you this: when God tells you to do something, the provision is already there to accomplish it, for God is faithful.  Am I telling you to quit your job because He told me to?  No!  But IF He is telling you to do something, it’s because He already knows you can’t do it without His help and unless He makes provision for it.  What God is looking for today is what He has always looked for: and that is someone who will obey Him without excuses, doubts, or questions.  God’s ways are so much higher than your ways, and His thoughts are much higher than yours.  Indeed, He has the perfect plan for your life, and you will live to see it fulfilled if you will only stop living in fear and make that leap of faith and obey Him.  Was it easy for me to give up a secure job when there was no other provision in sight?  No!  To this day we don’t take a salary for ministry, yet the Lord supplies us our provision through other means, and it’s not my job to wonder where our next provision will come from.  Our flesh wants to see a nice solid place waiting where our foot is supposed to land next, but God often waits until He sees we have stepped out before He creates that place.  He is seldom early, but never late.
    Remember the Comforter?  Father God gives the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us.  While our field of vision and understanding is limited, His is not!  He will sometimes require you to do that which defies your ability to understand, but He has already prepared the way for you, just like He prepared the way for the Israelites to take the land of Canaan.  The Israelites could have gone right into the land of Canaan and possessed that wonderful land, but the grasshoppers kept them out.  Grasshoppers?  Let’s read all about it:
Num 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
Num 13:24  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
Num 13:25  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
Num 13:26  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
Num 13:27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
Num 13:28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Num 13:29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
Num 13:31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
Num 13:32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
    So you see, it wasn’t the giants that kept Israel out of the Promised Land, but the grasshoppers.   And it’s the grasshoppers that keep us out of the promises of God yet today, it’s the fear of the unknown that stops many mighty men and women of God cold in their tracks.  On one side we have ALMIGHTY GOD, who is FAITHFUL bidding you come and take your land.  On the other side we have grasshoppers saying No, stay there.  You already know what it’s like where you’re at in your “comfortable” place that really isn’t so comfortable at all, and you know you really want to walk in the blessings of God.  So, what are you waiting for?  To me, the solution is right before your eyes, pick up those feet and start stomping grasshoppers on your way to your Promised Land.  Yeah, you will get your shoes messy, but would you rather stay in your “comfort” zone with clean shoes, or live in your Promised Land where God will trade your messy shoes for NEW shoes?   Your choice….
 But as for me and my house, we have spent enough time trying to be comfortable, and we find the Comforter has everything we will ever need, and He is faithful to get what we need to us, without fail.  If you don’t remember anything else today, remember, GOD IS FAITHFUL!