Then Came Jesus

Matthew 8:1-3

“When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.  2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

Jesus had just finished his Sermon on the Mount. His words were spoken with an authority and power that none had known before.  It had been a long time since a prophet had entered the land of Israel and spoke the oracles of God with such power.  John the Baptist had come preaching but even his powerful preaching could not compare with the power behind the words that Jesus spoke.

I have often wondered what it must have felt like to have been there to hear Jesus speak.  What power and anointing there must have been in His voice!  This was God in the flesh, not just a mortal man.  I believe that the closest we can come to that experience is when we hear the Word of the Lord preached and taught under the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

I think that it is a shame that many people today do not regard the preaching of the Word as important as they should.  I often wonder how many miracles people miss out on because they aren’t close enough to see them, how many blessings they miss because they aren’t hungry enough for them, or how much anointing they’ve lost because they didn’t give place to the leading of the Holy Ghost.

As he descended from the mountain to enter into the city of Jerusalem, the crowds pressed into hear and see what he would do next. Would he perform some great miracle?  Would He heal a sick body, or maybe even raise someone from the dead?

When the Holy Ghost is moving and people are being healed, set free from sin, delivered from the oppressing powers of hell, being saved by the Blood of the Lamb, and the Word of God is preached with the anointing power of God upon it, you won’t have to beg people to come. They will come just to see the fire burn.

As he walked along there came a leper and fell at his feet with a humble spirit, seeking to be healed and cleansed.  From a natural perspective, there was no hope for the leper.  He was trapped in a prison of rotting flesh and was slowly dying. No doctor, no priest, or any power on earth could release him from this death sentence.

But then came Jesus!  Oh how I love that phrase!  When all things seem impossible and all hope seems lost, I have learned to lean upon that phrase, “Then came Jesus.”  The disciples were out in the middle of the sea in a raging storm, then came Jesus!  There was a woman with an issue of blood, then came Jesus!  Three Hebrew children were thrown into a fiery furnace, but then came Jesus!  Lazarus was dead and buried in a tomb for days, but then came Jesus!  I was lost, had thrown my calling aside, most everyone had written me off, but then came Jesus!  He can do what no one else can.  He is your answer, not some man.

The leper was unclean! According to the Law of Moses he could never enter the gates of Jerusalem for it was the Holy City, dedicated to God. That leper had to get to Jesus before he entered the gates and so he came as fast as he could. With every step he took, faith would grow a little stronger! With every step hope grew stronger!  Hope – that little 4-letter word that carries such a powerful meaning.

Hopelessness is a terrible empty feeling.  And hopelessness is what those who are held captive by the chains of sin face every day.  There is no hope for a better life, no hope for eternal life, or for deliverance from the bonds of sin that have trapped them to their lifestyles.

The Alcoholic is taught that he will always be an alcoholic!  The drug addict is taught that he will always be a drug addict!  The thief is taught that he will always be a thief!  All the world can do is attempt to control how much alcohol, drugs, or criminal activity that people do. The world does not have the power to set men free from anything!

But then came Jesus – there’s that little phrase again!  Jesus can set them free, and Jesus will set them free!

When that leper, representing the absolutely hopeless condition of the sin-sick soul, came to Jesus and fell down before him, and worshipped the Lord, and confessed that Jesus was the only one who could set him free, and cast himself upon the mercy of Christ, he was showing us just what it takes to be set completely free from all the bondages of sin that hold us back.

You can’t whip the devil on your own, but Jesus has already conquered him! You can’t defeat all the powers of darkness in your own power, but Jesus’ blood has already beaten them once and for all.

We must cast aside everything that holds us back. Cast aside your pride! Cast aside your own abilities! Cast aside your hopelessness! Cast aside the teaching that you can’t be delivered that has been given by the world! Cast aside every little weight and every sin that so easily drags you down and then worship the Lord Jesus Christ!

I believe that Jesus not only has all power in Heaven and in Earth to set you free once and for all but I also believe that it is his perfect will do to just that!  Jesus looked back at that leper and said, “I will, be thou clean!”  

What power there was in those words! Instantly the prison bars of leprosy were broken!  Instantly, that leper was a leper no more! Instantly he was made whole!  He may have been told, “Once a leper, always a leper,” but Jesus set him free!

Jesus doesn’t deliver halfway! If we aren’t completely delivered it’s because we are holding something back ourselves! We can’t expect Jesus to set us completely free if we aren’t completely surrendered and committed to him.   All too often we come to the Lord seeking deliverance, but all we want is just enough deliverance to make life tolerable again. We don’t want to commit fully so we just take what Jesus will give and go back to doing what we want to again.

It’s so wonderful that Jesus is full of grace, mercy and love, so much so that he will reach out and touch us sometimes, even when we really don’t mean what we say! But he knows the heart, and if we will fully surrender, then he will fully deliver!

I’m not saying that every Christian who has a problem in some area of their life is lost. I’m not saying that they won’t make Heaven their home. What I am saying is that, until they are fully committed to serving the Lord, placing him first in their lives, they will never know what it is like to be completely delivered and fully walking in victory!

What do you need from the Lord right now?

Healing?  Jesus says I will - Isaiah 53:5, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Rest?  Jesus says I will - Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Deliverance?  Jesus says I will - Isaiah 46:4, "And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."

Encouragement?  Jesus says I will - Deuteronomy 31:6, "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

Salvation?  Jesus says I will - John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

Cleansing? – Jesus says through the Apostle Paul, I will - 1 Corinthians 6:11, "… but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

Wisdom? – Jesus says, I will - James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Faith? – Jesus says I will - Romans 12:3, "For I say… to every man that is among you… God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

Power? – Jesus says I will - Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you..."

Guidance? – Jesus says I will - John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth..."

Jesus says I will meet your need but don’t just focus on the miracle, focus on the Miracle Worker and give it all to me.  The leper was in a prison that he didn’t choose and didn’t want but one that he could not get out of, but Jesus had the key.

What do you need from the Lord right now?

Are you willing to cast yourself at his feet in total surrender?

If you are willing, then Jesus will give you the desires of your heart!

Set Us On Fire!

Proverbs 30:15-16 (KJV)

"The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough."

Hebrews 12:29

 "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. "

This verse in Hebrews means that our God is never finished. He never reaches a point where He says you're holy, spiritual, disciplined, or cleansed and purified enough. God's fire is never finished in your life. God's will and purpose for our lives go far beyond just touching us; He wants to consume our lives with His holy fire.

Hebrews 1:7

"And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angel's spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire."

God has not just called us to be ministers on fire, but he has called and anointed us to be ministers of His holy fire.

1 Peter 4:10

"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

Ministers and stewards are the same thing; their purpose is to manage or oversee the goods of another; they are responsible for distributing what has been placed in their care to meet the needs of those they serve.

God has given us the blessing of the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, and in doing so, He has made us stewards and ministers of His fire. He has placed His holy fire in each of us and thus has "Set us on fire," but we are not just to be on fire for him; we must become distribution centers from which his fire is released and poured out as a blessing on those He has chosen for us to minister to.

God and fire are inseparable. Fire has always been a symbol of God's divine presence and power. There is a three-fold operation of the fire of God concerning our lives: The fire of God to you, the fire of God in you, and the fire of God through you.

I am a diabetic, and I am supposed to take four shots of insulin each day, and if I do, my life is manageable. But if all I do is open the door of the refrigerator and see the vile of insulin in the door, or if I pick up the vile of insulin and touch it for a few seconds, then put it back and shut the door, my life slowly becomes a wreck, and I quickly become a burden to my family instead of a blessing. I have to inject the insulin into my body, or it does me no good, and I am no good to anyone else.

Anyone can see the fire, but it's not the fire you see that changes your life; it's the fire you receive. We can read about the power of God in His Word and go to church and see the transformational power of the Holy Ghost service after service. Still, it is not until you open your heart to the inward sanctifying, cleansing, and purging fire of God's presence that your life changes, and you become a vessel fit to carry the anointing.

It's not what we say about God that changes lives; it's the quantity and quality of the presence and character of God that is manifested through us that changes lives. Let me say it another way: You must be infected before infecting someone else. You can talk about a virus or disease and how contagious it is, but unless you're infected by it, there is no danger of the person hearing you being infected. It's the same with the fire of God. We can talk about the Holy Ghost and power, but until His presence consumes us, no one around us will be consumed.

I Corinthians 2:4-5

"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

The fire of God wants to come into your life and make you a minister of fire.

Isaiah 4:4-5

"When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense."

First, God shows the fire to you: It's beautiful to see somebody on fire for God. It draws you and creates a hunger, but even if you don't see it in an earthen vessel near you, you can see it in the Word of God.

Second, if you allow it, God places the fire in you: Purging, cleansing, and sanctifying. God's Holy Spirit is living in you and burning up all the clutter and the excesses, the selfishness and the sin, your habits, addictions, and attitudes.

And then, as God takes control of your will, you become a minister of Jesus Christ to others as He manifests the fire through you. You become that cleansed and purified vessel through which the fire can flow to others.

There are a lot of people who don't mind being touched by the fire, as long as it's containable, as long as they can determine its heat and intensity. But God will never be satisfied to simply touch you; He wants to consume you: Body, mind, soul, and spirit – God wants it all!

The most remarkable illustration of this truth in God's Word is the story in Judges 15. Sampson catches 300 foxes and sends them out by two into the Philistine's fields; the kicker is they have a fire between their tails. Those foxes were motivated. At the risk of offending some animal activist, I am sure the fire did not simply give off a pleasant glow as they ran through the Philistine's fields; those foxes were on fire.

The fire changed those foxes because the fire consumed those foxes. When the fire hit their flesh, the foxes had a mission: go into the world and spread the fire. The fire changed them and I am confident they were never the same again.

If there was ever a time when the church needed a fresh fire, it's today. We are surrounded by the most significant mission field of all time, but the Philistines are trying to claim it for themselves. It's time for us to be set on fire and set loose in the mission fields around us; it's time for the fire to hit our flesh and consume us with a passion to spread the fire until the fire of a Holy God touches all our world.

Cross Over Or Die In The Desert

Joshua 3:9-17

“So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.”  10 And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites:  11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.  12 Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe.  13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”

14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,  15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest),  16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.  17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.”

Moses had died and now Joshua is in charge.  Israel is at a very critical point, spiritually speaking, but they have been here before.  It is one of those moments when a choice has to be made.  Are they going move forward in faith, or let fear continue to dictate their future?  This is where they will either experience another breakdown or where you finally have your breakthrough. 

We all have to come to this place.  God has planted the seeds of hope in our lives, some of those seeds will come to fruition through faith, sadly however, many never see the light of day.  In each of our lives there is going to be a place that we will come to, a Jordan River, where we must decide if the hope that God has planted in our hearts is going to live or to become a victim of another spiritual abortion.  It is one thing to have a promise, a dream, but unless we move forward in faith and take possession of that promise all it will ever be is a dream.  Every dreamer will come to this place, it is here that dreamers either go over or go under.

An entire generation’s hope died at this place because they let go of their dream. At the edge of your Jordan there are only two choices, cross over into your promise, or settle down on this side of the river and give up your dream.

Your “Jordan” is a place that is God ordained for you.  It is a place of impossibility, a place of weakness, a place of helplessness, a place where all self-effort must die, and a place where we come face to face with our flesh.  You may face your Jordan during a time of sickness, a time of great financial difficulty, or a time of family turmoil.

God is not the author of sickness, disease, poverty, and hardship, but as we face these trials we come to an end of ourselves, and we can trust God and go over in faith, or struggle in our own strength and be buried in the desert of doubt. 

“Jordan” is a dividing line, it is the place where we are forced to decide whether or not we going to trust in the living God, or trust in the arm of the flesh and self-efforts.

Jacob wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord, during that wrestling match Jacob came face to face with his flesh.  He was forced to “come to himself” and to see himself as he really was: he was a deceiver, a manipulator, and a usurper.  Jacob’s cry, “I won’t let you go till you bless me,” was a cry to be delivered from self.  He was in essence saying, “Don’t leave me like this, I can’t live like this anymore, and I’m sick of my carnal self.”

That was moment was Jacob’s Jordan.

What does it take to get across Jordan?

The first step we must take to cross our Jordan must be sanctification: “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

Anything that would offend the spirit of God in our lives can keep us from crossing our Jordan.  So many have started across Jordan but because of some inordinate affection, some hidden sin, some secret self- love, they have come up short and were swallowed up by waves of despair, guilt, and condemnation.

“Circumcise the children of Israel again”

The application for us is that we must die to our flesh daily, we must never reach the place of deceiving ourselves that we have conquered the self-life, and we must be vigilant and quick to take the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and cut away that which is of the flesh.

We forfeit a vast amount of God’s power when we allow our lives to become cluttered with things of the flesh.  The shortage and the failure is not on Gods part, He is ready, He is willing, and He is able.  But we must clear the way and open up the channel for the power of God through sanctification.

Secondly, we must have a vision of something greater.  No one will let go of what they have unless they have caught a vision of something greater.

Moses had a vision of something greater, Joshua had a vision of something greater, Joseph had a vision of something greater, Jesus had a vision of something greater!

Hebrews 12:2

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Third, in order to cross our Jordan we must be totally dependent upon God.  This where we are holding onto the ark, the ark represents the presence, the power, and the glory of God, we must understand that we cannot cross in our own power.

For years I struggled with the same issues.  Why?  I was depending on my own strength to overcome the obstacles and the sin in my life.  It wasn’t until I came to understand that I was powerless to overcome my sin nature in my own knowledge or my own strength, and I admitted that I was powerless and I needed God to deliver me, that I was finally set free.  Now I walk in a power that is not of my own making, but comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in my life.

“And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”

Fourth, in order to cross the Jordan, we must have bare feet.  Bare feet means that we have no personal agenda; all of our dreams must have at their core the glory of God and the promotion of His Kingdom.  If it is selfish in nature it is not from God, and it will be swept away by the raging currents of the Jordan.

Before God commissioned Moses to bring his people out of bondage, he first ordered him to take off his shoes, and when Joshua came into the presence of the captain of the lord of hosts, he took off his shoes.  The removal of the shoe in the Bible is more than just an act of respect or reverence, it shows a transfer of ownership.  By removing your shoes you are signifying the relinquishment of property rights.  You are saying to God, “My life is no longer mine to do with what I want from this point forward I belong to you.”

In order to see our dream come to fruition, we must surrender everything that we have, everything that we are, and everything that we will ever be to God.

Fifth, we have to get our feet wet.

It wasn’t until the priest’s feet were dipped in the water that the waters began to recede.  Nothing happened until they stepped in and got their feet wet.  They had to have enough vision of the promise, and enough faith in God to get them off the bank into the water.  Then as they stepped out in faith the waters fled before them.

One of our biggest problems is that we want to see victory before we ever get into the fight.  We want to see the end before we are willing to begin.  The promises of God are activated through faith, and most of the time, God operates on a need to know basis.  The Lord usually will only give you what you need to know to get you started, then as you move out in faith He reveals more and more with each step forward.

Sixth, we have to trust God’s timing:

Joshua 3:4

“Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: don’t come near to it, that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way heretofore.”

This is one of the greatest tests of all, and 2,000 cubits sometimes feels like a hundred years.  God’s timing is critical, in Gods timing we have the full measure of Gods power working for us, in Gods timing things and people are perfectly positioned, Gods timing usually doesn’t make sense from a natural perspective.

It didn’t make sense to try and cross this river at flood stage, this season of the year the Jordan always floods.  Didn’t God know this?  Remember this Jericho is on the other side and Jericho Is ripe for conquest.

Joshua 2:9-11

“And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”

God knows when things are in position, to delay would allow Jericho to regain their courage.  It may not look like the time, or feel like the time, or sound like the time, but God knows what we don’t know, He has inside information, so when he says do it, you can be sure his power will be available to bring it to pass.  And if we are willing and obedient we will eat the good of the land. 

If we are willing to walk in faith, we will cross the Jordan.

God on the Mountain, Is Still God in the Valley

Isaiah 40:29-31

“He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31 but those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

There are times when it can seem like the enemy is getting the best of us.  Sometimes it can be a serious struggle to maintain your faith and trust in God, especially when it seems like everything is going against us.  You know what I’m talking about, those times when we find ourselves in the middle of one of the toughest battles of our life.  But it is in these times that we need the Lord more than ever.  It is in these times that our faith and trust in God is really put to the test.  These are the times when the proverbial rubber meets the road in our walk of faith.

It is easy to live for God and trust in Him when everything is going well, but what about when it seems like the weight of the whole world is on our shoulders. Unfortunately it is during such times that a lot of believers abandon ship, they bail out on God, when the storms get rough.

If your life is in the middle of turmoil, if the waves are about to swamp the boat, then look up and put your trust in God for that is often the moment that God is putting your faith to the test.  That is the moment when your faith is built and your relationship with God will show its true depth.

I heard a story years ago about a Florida army training camp during World War II.  The daily training for the recruits included a run through an obstacle course.  The last obstacle on the course was a small pond of where they had to use a rope and swing across the water.  Under the blazing southern sun the water looked so inviting that the men soon developed a habit of only making it only halfway across the obstacle.  So an enterprising lieutenant made the pond the new home for a large alligator. From that day on, the recruits left the ground 15 feet from the water’s edge and fell sprawling in the dust on the other side.

Likewise, our behavior as believers must be shaped at times by the "encouragement" of unfavorable circumstances. Without God’s loving correction and faithful discipline we would never develop spiritual strength and endurance. If the Lord didn’t permit difficult circumstances to come into our lives, we would eventually develop feelings of self-sufficiency and become overconfident.

We must not forget that God has promised us that we would never be tempted above what we are able to bear, but with every temptation, every trial, every test, every trouble, He will make a way for us to escape and win the victory. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

God never promised that we wouldn’t have hard times. He never promised that we would sail through life without troubles. What He did promise is that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He promised that He would supply our every need. He promised in Psalms 55:22, "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."

In the passage above, Israel had become discouraged so God had to remind them of just Who He Is. God is still in control and those who would place their trust in Him would be renewed in their strength.

I don’t know about you, but there are times when my strength fails. I know that many of you suffer through these times too.  I know this because the most common prayer request I receive from others is for strength to stand for the Lord. There is nothing wrong with praying for strength. In fact, that’s the best thing you can do. But, if you really want to have more strength, God has already laid down the pattern for you to get stronger in Isaiah 40:29-31.

To most people it an seem like the trials they are facing are so personal and that no one else can relate or understand, but multitudes of people have faced, and are facing the same situations that you are going through. Your circumstances are no surprise to God. Your troubles don’t move God. He knew what was coming and He already has an answer for every one of them, but we will only see victory if we do it God’s way.

There is no limit to God’s ability to meet you need. There is no limit to His deliverance and provision for whatever you need. God never gets tired, never grows weary, and is always listening for the prayers of His children.

What will we do with the trials that face us?  Will we turn to our own devices and make decisions that will cause us to have less time for God, for the church, or even for our families?  Will we forget the Word of God and become depressed because we don’t have the faith to trust God’s Word.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Will we break the promises that we made in our times of victory?  Will we forget the commitments we made to Christ when all was well?  Will we forget the times in the past that God has brought us through some rough seas? Will we forget the blessings, the healings, the miracles and every good thing that God has done?  What will we do, and how will be behave now that things are not perfect anymore?

It is time to stop our pity party, quit acting as if it is the end of the world, and lift up our eyes to the mountains and see that our help is on the way, and that God is far above our troubles no matter how bad things seem at the moment, He will not allow us to fail if we will keep our trust and faith in Him.

So now that the test is on, the question is not one of survival, but whether you will pass or fail?  If you pass, your faith will grow stronger. If you fail, you will abandon the ways of righteousness, turn your back on God and put everything in your life at risk.

I have to admit, I have had it go both ways in my life.  Several years ago I went through one of the darkest times of my life because I didn’t trust God in my trial.  I was pastoring and I got very ill.  I was in and out of the hospital.  Over a period of a year I spent 7 months in the hospital.  I really wasn’t sure if I would live or die.  I became physically dependent on the pain medicine.  When I tried to stop taking it I became very ill.  I asked the presbytery of my denomination for help, their response was to take my church, and except for the letter I received in the mail a few months later, I never seen or heard from these men again. 

My response should have been to run into the arms of Jesus, instead I kicked him out of my life and invited the devil to come in and have a seat.  I abandoned the ways of righteousness, turned my back on God and nearly lost everything.  As I returned to old habits from before I knew the Lord of drinking and drugging.  My failure put everything in my life at risk.

God in His grace placed good people in my life that have helped me to recover and return to the path of righteousness and I have repented and once again have a deep personal relationship with Jesus.  I found the father running to meet me with open arms when I returned from my prodigal ways.  He was there waiting all that time for me to come to my senses.

Recently I faced a very similar trial.  I became sick, I had been losing weight for months and had gone from a size 40 waist down to a 36, and then the pain started.  I went to the doctors and after several weeks of testing my worst fear was realized, they told me that I had renal cancer. 

I wish I could say that I handled the news like a man, but I would be lying.  I was scared.  I didn’t tell my wife or kids because I wasn’t sure how to tell them.  But I told my pastor and enlisted him to pray for me.  I had the whole church praying for me too, even though they didn’t know what the doctors had finally told me.  I asked for prayer from my FB friends, also without sharing the details.  And I began to pray like I have never prayed before.

I never for a moment considered turning my back on God this time or blaming Him for my circumstances.  I didn’t allow myself to experience the pity and self-absorbed feelings that the enemy would have liked me to sink back into.  I prayed and I waited for the Lord to answer and my faith got stronger and my relationship with Jesus grew deeper as I became totally dependent upon Him.  And then the miracle happened, God healed me.

The lesson I learned wasn’t that if we trust Him that everything is going to go our way.  There are too many stories of people who are not healed for me to convince you of that lie.  But I learned that the three Hebrews that told king Nebuchadnezzar, “Our God is able to deliver us, but even if He doesn’t, we will not bow to your image,” understood that even if God does not remove us from our immediate circumstances He is with us and we can rejoice because He is still God and He is greater than our troubles.

“…there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”

I wish I could say that I understand why God allows some things to happen. I wish I could but I can’t. His ways are far above my ability to understand. I can only put my trust in Him with faith and know that somehow God will take care of everything.

God will give you the power to overcome. He will take your weaknesses, your failures, your doubts and fears, and He will turn them into miracles of deliverance. In fact, God often does not move until we have given it over to Him completely because He will not share the glory of your deliverance with you. It is all of Him or none of Him. God is our source of strength. God is our source of provision. God is our source of power. God is our source for everything we need! We can’t do anything within ourselves.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

We may pride ourselves in our ability to take care of ourselves. We in America, have such a pride in our freedom and independence that we hate having to admit that we need help from anyone, including God.

But this scriptures tell us that no matter how strong or independent we may be, we cannot do it alone. God often has to bring us to the place where we have to stop trying, turn to Him and say, “God, that’s all I can do, now it’s up to you.” God is waiting for those words but they often aren’t said until we have exhausted our own ideas with no results.

The longer I live, the more I realize that everything is in God’s hands. When I was younger I was more inclined to solve everything with my own ability. Now, after many years of trials, tests and troubles, I am just beginning to get a real glimpse of what living by faith really means.

Faith says that everything will work out when it seems that everything is crumbling around me. Faith says that my bills will be paid when I can’t see how they will in the natural sense.  Faith says that God will take care of me and that I must force myself to stop being overly concerned with the future.  Faith says that I know, that I know, that I know, that somehow God will work it all out and that when He does I will be blessed for having faced all that is happening right now.

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

This is a scripture that has been preached on so many times that I cannot count them. We quote it, we read it, we preach it, but do we really believe it?

Waiting upon the Lord requires true faith.  Waiting upon the Lord requires going through the fire sometimes and still trusting God to bring us through. Waiting upon the Lord requires that we believe in the impossible, look for the unseen answers, hope in the times of hopelessness and know, without knowing why or how, that God will take care of us.

The reason so many Christians fail the fiery tests of their faith is that too many are bankrupt spiritually.  When the trials come, there is no faith and trust in God built up in their spiritual account to draw strength from.  They have not spent time preparing and “saving up” our blessings for the “rainy day” of trials to come.  They haven’t spent time studying, they haven’t spent time praying, they not have fasted at all, and they have gone about their daily lives as though there would never come a time of trouble.

God won’t let you stay on the mountaintop for long because it’s in the valley that your faith and strength will grow.  There is a song that I love to hear that says this:

The God on the mountain, is still God in the valley.

When things go wrong, He’ll make them right.

The God of the Good times, is still God in the Bad times

The God of the day, is still God in the night.

That’s the God that we serve!

Isaiah 59:1

"Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear:"