Fishing takes a great deal of patience.
You must understand the place where you are fishing and who you are trying to catch.
Different men will bite at different messages.
Messages of love, grace and forgiveness are like worms, crickets and minnows.
The job isn’t done once the fish is caught.
The size of a person’s faith is not comparable to the size of their body. Be careful who you let go.
What Jesus went through for us was messy. For some the very mention of his blood is disturbing. Still, the shedding of His blood was necessary. People who enjoy the blessings of God but dislike talking about the blood are like those who order fish at a restaurant and enjoy it, but are disgusted at the sight of how their meal ended up on their plate.
Many people don’t even like fish. They don’t like the smell or the taste. Teachings about dying to yourself and offering your life to Christ are also not liked by many, but those who consume them will grow strong.
God’s word is needed to slice into the soul and clean out the stuff that is in the heart that makes us rancid over time if it remains.
Bad teachings are like a bad cleaning knife. They damage the men that God brings to us and make it harder to do His will.
If you receive God’s loving scriptures but never really allow him to draw you completely in and place your life in His hands, you are like a fish that eats the bait but leaves the hook.
A convicting scripture is like a hidden hook. It is painful. You can fight it to the point you rip yourself free but you will walk away with a scar.
Accepting Christ to enter heaven, but never really living for Him on Earth is much like being a fish who is caught and dies but never is used to feed others.
Leaders in the church who rejoice over Sunday salvations but are weary of investing the extra time required in helping prepare others for ministry are like fishermen who enjoy the catch but are tired of cleaning the fish. They miss out on a spiritual nutrients and rich insights that could have come from the men they caught.
Men are not meant to die in vain.
Sometimes those who are the closest to us, are the hardest to catch.
