One in a Million

Another amazing book that I have read recently is "One in a Million" by Priscilla Shirer. If you haven't read it and are looking for something to read this just might be it.

It really went along well (unintentionally) with my daily bible readings that I was going through at the time. The books discusses how to be "one in a million". When approximately two million adult pilgrims of ancient Israel left behind their slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness for an entire generation, only two made it safely to the Promised Land. That's One in a Million who were brave enough to put abundant life to work no matter where they were, no matter how easy it became just to blend in and be average. (taken from the back of the book - I mean she says it so much more eloquently than I ever could have.

Here are a few random highlights I made while reading and studying this particular book.

"The power of sin was broken at the foot of the cross. We couldn't go break it ourselves any more than the children of Israel could negotiate their own liberation pact. As Romans 5:17 says, we don't go out trying to find deliverance; we receive Christ's abundance of grace, His gift of righteousness, His ability to walk free from sin's enslavement.

"But make no mistake: It was for freedom that Christ set us free."

While the Israelites were complaining and missing the days of their enslavement and wanting to return to Egypt. "Like us, they tended to forget that Pharaoh's (or Satan in our lives) only reason for infusing any form of enjoyment into their day was to make his slave population strong enough to be useful in building his storage cities".

"Looking back keeps us from looking forward"

While discussing the manna from heaven that God provided them while in the wilderness - "The question is not whether a good God could possibly be so restrictive as to confine our path of redemption to one available option. The better question, after all that we've done to resist and reject Him, is why He chose to open the one path He did."

"God never fails to bring about abundant living in those who receive His gifts with confident gratitude...we must accept His ways, knowing that they are designed as much for our good as they are for His glory."

"I want to be one who listens for His voice and expects to hear it, who believes what most others are only willing to wonder about."

"Reaching Canaan was reserved for those willing to make changes."

When trying to make a decision I learned this:

Fear does Not come from God, the scripture plainly tells us (2 Tim. 1:7). In fact, one of the ways I determine His will for my life is like this; if discerning His will means making a decision between two options, and the only reason for being suspicious of one of the options is that I'm afraid of it, I know this is probably the choice He's wanting me to make. If fear is the ONLY reason I'm resistant to follow, I can assume the enemy is trying to keep me from doing what the Lord wants me to do. I'm learning that fear is a spirit given by the enemy to divert us from God's will.

My final thought from this book is Always Expect a Miracle, something the Israelites did not do, even though they were privileged enough to see so many with their very own eyes. And that is why only two in two million made it to the promised land. Would I have been one of the two million? Unfortunately probably not, but this is definitely something I am working on - always have Faith and always Believe and Expect a Miracle.