How to Exit a Storm

07 Friday Dec 2012

Tags

becoming word believing Christians, faith is believing God told the truth, God is refining gold, God's promises, going over to the other side, increased faith is the goal, Job, Job 23:8-10, l've got my flashlight, live beyond the dictates of circumstances, locate your faith, religious your way through it, ride it out, row your way out, the word works but you have to work your word, waking up your words, why doe God wait until the last moment, word of faith

Have you ever been so scared that you weren’t sure what action to take next? How do you handle the storms of life? This was the situation which a little boy found himself. He had diligently rehearsed for his role in the Easter play. His one line was, “It is I, be not afraid.” He kept saying it over and over again to himself. “It is I, be not afraid.”
On the day of the program he was a nervous wreck. His stomach churned as his teacher reviewed the line with him one more time backstage. Finally he stepped in front of the glaring spotlights and peered out at the silhouettes of dozens of faces. He panicked and his mind went blank. Finally he blurted out, “It’s me, and I’m scared to death.”

How do you get out of a storm? If I had been one of the disciples, I think I would have pondered several solutions:

Row Your Way Out

Far too often, when we get into the storms of life, we expend all sorts of energy and effort to physically man-handle the situation. In other words, we use our own human effort to move us beyond the storm’s reach. But, when it is God who orchestrates the storm… there is nothing we can do to help. If increased faith is what the Father is looking for in our lives, then human solutions will only increase our time in the eye of the storm… and increase our frustration level.

Ride It Out – SURVIVE!

Some have wrongly concluded, “If I just sit still and try not to worry, maybe the storm will go away. Hang tough until it is over.” The old saying goes, “This too, shall pass.” But if the purpose of the storm is to increase our faith, how will this help?

Religious Your Way Through It!

Prayer is always a good option, unless you already have your word of faith which you are supposed to be standing upon. You can do all those religious things others have done… but the storm continues to rage. Here is what Job concluded somewhere in the middle of his storm. Maybe you have been there.

Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him: On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold him: He hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him.” Job 23:8,9

You know, there will always be times when we may not feel like God is near. It is in those times when we can’t feel God’s presence that we need to trust Him.

Jesus later asked the disciples about the “location” of their faith? Jesus sure knows how to get to the heart of the matter. It is interesting to know that our faith goes somewhere. Has your faith ever dissipated in the middle of a storm?

I quoted verses 8 and 9 of Job 23, but verse 10 is the verse I really like. Job said, “But He knows the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” This is the way to view and survive a storm. We need to realize God is making gold. He is not making tin foil or using Lego’s. God is refining gold! In a sense, Job was saying, “Come whatever, I’m still going to trust God and be gold.”

Why Does God Always Wait Until the Last Moment?

One of my favorite quotes is: “God may not be early, but He is never late.” How could He just sleep peacefully as all hell broke loose around Him? How could Jesus repeatedly hit the snooze button? I have asked my kids in the past how they could sleep so soundly during an overnight storm. “Was there a storm?” they would ask.

Why didn’t the Lord come to their aid? Because the only way our faith will be increased is when we realize that God has already given us the solutions to our storms. He wants us to learn that while we might be able to row our way out or ride out the storm, it is much easier to trust and lean upon His last words first!

The lesson Jesus would have us all learn is THE WORD WORKS, BUT YOU HAVE TO WORK YOUR WORD! The disciples had seen Jesus “the Word” heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out devils. But on this day Jesus wanted them to learn how to believe the word for themselves.

To do the word is to live beyond the dictates of circumstances.
To do the word is to act like God told the truth even when it looks like He didn’t.
Doing the word does not ignore the circumstances…. it just looks beyond them to something greater… God’s promises to you.

“Let us go over to the other side.”

If they had been believing the word, when the storm came they would have just lifted their hands and their voices and said, “Praise God we’re going over… come hell or high water we’re going over.”

In the end, these fearful disciples decided to wake-up the Word when their faith failed. They woke Jesus (the Word) up from His nap. Have you ever had a word go to sleep on you? Sometimes our only course is to “wake up our words.” For you and I today, this means to stir up that Word, begin to read the word, confess the word, and to praise God according to His word.

The disciples first accused the Word of not caring about them or the storm. But the word cared! The Lord always cares, more than we will ever know. The Word already knew the truth. The only thing Jesus could do after He calmed the storm was to ask… “Where is your faith?” Sink, swim, pass or fail… we must locate our faith. Being real here… the only thing I usually think about is getting out of the storm.

Where is your faith?

Is it in the fair weather?
Is it in the boat?
Is it in your own abilities?
Is it in other people?

People who truly believe the Word are peculiar people to the world. Even many Christians find “word believing Christians” strange folk. They are from the Island of Misfit Toys. Why? These folks are always talking about their words and what God has spoken… even while the storm rages. These folks talk about their destination rather than their circumstances. Our destination is determined, but we must be determined to reach our destination.

Ann Beck of North Carollton, Mississippi, talks about the days when her husband and she taught two and three year old children in Sunday school. A Bible verse they helped the preschoolers memorize was Psalms 56: “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.” Their preschool son, Mark, was one of their pupils.

Well, one stormy night, as lightning flashed and thunder boomed, the electricity suddenly went off. “I’m not afraid,” Mark assured his parents as they groped in the dark for candles and matches. Expecting him to quote the Bible verse he recently learned, Ann Beck proudly prompted him, “And tell us why you aren’t afraid.”

Little Mark simply replied, “Cause I’ve got my flashlight.”

Who needs the Lord when you have a flashlight?

Blessings,

Pastor

How to Receive an Answer from God (Part IV) – Letting God Answer for His Own Purpose

27 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by eisakouo in How to Receive an Answer from God

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

blind man, challenging word from God, curse God and die, dead-end, difficult situations, higher prupose, higher purpose, Job, Job 1:21-22, leaders, lose faith, Luke 1, new destination, pilot, point the way to the Lord, prayer John Wesley, prophets, remained faithful, roadblock, seeing eye dog, teachers, Zechariah and Elizabeth

It is not unusual for Christians to hear a challenging word from God, only to take a step of faith to trust God, and then afterward experience even more difficult situations. During these times we can get very discouraged because it appears our very obedience is the reason for our difficulties. Why would obedience create more problems? Because, God has a higher purpose! The Lord has a higher purpose for your life as well.

Luke 1 reminds us God was looking for parents He could trust to bring John the Baptist into the world. Zechariah and Elizabeth demonstrated their trustworthiness, for they did not turn against God or stop serving Him when things weren’t going their way. Their whole married life they had been praying for a child, but were not able to conceive. Yet, they both remained faithful.

Job is another servant of the Lord who remained faithful in good times and bad. When events turned against Job…

Job fell to the ground in worship and said: The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job 1:21-22

Even Job’s wife told him “Curse God and die!” Mrs. Job must have been a lovely woman to live with! Job simply replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:9-10)

There is always a choice for us when things are not going our way. We can lose faith and turn from God, or we can totally trust Him. Someone said, “Sometimes a roadblock is not a dead-end, but a detour to a new road in life.” When we let God answer our prayers for His purposes we will probably experience a roadblock like those just mentioned. If we remain faithful to God’s larger purpose, we will discover it is not the end of the road. It is only a change in direction leading us to God’s new destination for our life.

Do you want to be used by God for His purposes? Do you want your prayers answered your way, or do you want something bigger and better which God has purposed for you? Zechariah and Elizabeth waited a long time and suffered disgrace and discouragement. But when their prayer was finally answered… it was their son who was chosen to point the world to Jesus.

I believe, more than ever before, we need people to point the way to the Lord. I am not talking about people who act religious. As I have stated before, the world is on to us.

A man was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane stopped in Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft, the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one gentleman who was blind.

The man noticed him as he walked by and could tell the gentleman was blind because his Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seats in front of him throughout the entire flight. He could also tell he had flown this very flight before because the pilot approached him, and calling him by name, said, “Keith, we’re in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?”

The blind man replied, “No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs.”

All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog!

The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!

Who wants to board a plane with a blind pilot! Likewise, we need real prophets, leaders, teachers, and preachers. We need the Lord to raise up real prophets like John the Baptist. In order for this to happen…we must be willing to let God answer these types of prayer in His Own Time, in His Own Way, in His Own Power, and for His Own Purposes. It will not be the easiest road because we will have to grow up in our faith and we will have to accept His plan over our own. Are you ready?

Blessings,

Pastor