Faith and Obedience
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The bald tire story
When Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, first launched Saddleback Church, they faced some lean times financially, but one man’s obedience touched their hearts with a shining example of uncommon faith.
“When we started Saddleback we had no money,” Warren recounted at the Finishing the Task conference December 5th. “When we needed a vacation, Kay’s parents had a little trailer outside Flagstaff, Arizona, sitting on a piece of land. So we drove up there for a week.”
They traveled to Flagstaff in a 25-year-old station wagon showing its age. During the vacation they decided they would visit the Grand Canyon. As they headed north toward the popular tourist destination, they were suddenly pulled over by a police officer.
As the officer approached the car, Warren wondered what he had done wrong.
“Sir, your left rear tire is so bald it’s going to blow any time,” the officer informed them.
“Where is the nearest tire place?” Warren asked.
“There isn’t any.”
“What about a gas station?”
“There’s only one, about 30 miles up the road, but they’re not going to have anything,” the officer replied.
Rick and Kay decided they would keep going, hoping to find the service station before the tire blew. “We found the gas station and pulled in in the middle of nowhere. There was nobody around.”
“Do you have any tires?” he asked the attendant.
“No, we don’t have any tires,” the man replied.
Warren’s heart sank and he began to fill his gas tank.
At that moment a car coming from the Grand Canyon pulled in on the other side. A man got out and started filling his tank. Warren noticed he had Mississippi license plates.
“Oh, you’re from Mississippi,” Warren began, as they engaged in small talk.
“What do you do?” the man inquired.
“I’m actually a pastor,” Warren said.
“Oh, I’m a deacon in a Baptist church in Mississippi.”
“Is that so? Where have you been?”
“We’ve been all the way to Seattle and now we’re coming back through Arizona and heading back to Mississippi.”
“Well, since you’re a Christian I’m going to ask you to pray for me. I have to get a tire,” Warren said, explaining the seriousness of their situation.
“Wait just a minute … let me check,” the man said. He went to the back of his station wagon and pulled out a tire.
The tire perfectly fit Warren’s car!
Rick and Kay were amazed as the man explained the provenance of the tire. “When we were going to Seattle from Mississippi,” he began, “as I was going through Missouri, God said, ‘I want you to buy this tire.’
“It doesn’t even fit my car. But I carried it on this entire vacation—a tire that doesn’t fit my car. I carried it all the way to Seattle, went all the way to the Grand Canyon, and I just happened to pull in when you, a pastor, needed a tire.
“I feel like I just have to give it to you,” he added sheepishly.
Warren marvels at the man’s obedience to God’s direction. “Would you have enough faith if you were on vacation and God said to buy a tire in Missouri and carry it all the way to Seattle and bring it back to Arizona, and I’m not even going to tell you why you got it?
“That’s faith. Faith is obedience.”—Mark Ellis1
Faith to obey
It takes great faith to believe something that the Lord has said, especially when it goes against your natural reasoning or human nature. But having faith to obey is what made the way for God to save the lives of Noah and his family, what proved Abraham worthy of his promised seed, and what enabled God’s anointing to fall on Moses to lead his people.
The examples in the Bible of what faith and obedience wrought are endless. Faith and obedience have brought supply and miracles for God’s people all throughout the ages, and those same spiritual principles are in play today. God will never fail, if you trust Him and do your part.—David Brandt Berg
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Your faith is going to grow as you exercise it. Even if you feel like the widow of Zarephath with just enough for each day, just enough for each meal, as you keep going and keep exercising your faith, it’s going to grow. As long as you keep doing what the Lord asks, stepping out in obedience, your faith is going to keep growing, and it’s going to be enough for whatever the Lord has in mind for you.—Maria Fontaine
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This is a pattern that God is in the business of repeating: “Here’s My plan for you. Step out by faith to obey, and as you persevere, I will not fail to meet you and guide you in every situation.”
When we do what God shows us to do, when we follow God, it works. God has never been defeated or beaten. His will has never led His children down the wrong path. His plans won’t go awry. His power is almighty. He’s in control.—Peter Amsterdam
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When God asks us to do something, we are in charge of obedience. God is in charge of results.—Jennifer Dukes Lee
Published on Anchor November 2019. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
Music by Daniel Sozzi.
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