Sweet Fellowship
Yesterday Juda & I had our last Sunday with the people of Vineland Road Christian Fellowship in Winter Garden. We started the first Sunday of March & told the people we'd be with them as long as they needed us. What started as a couple of weeks turned out to be four and one half months. So much happened in those months that it boggles my mind.
Last evening the people were encouraged by brother Keith Butts, leading church deacon & head of pastor-seeking committee, to stand and tell what our ministry among them had meant. Words fail me here but suffice it to say Juda and I were greatly humbled and blessed by the comments, (many of them made through tears,)made by the members of the little flock. After the Morning service a luncheon was held and the people presented us with cards that put their feelings in writing, as well as generous gifts.
Juda & I are still processing all that happen yesterday & we both agree that we don't remember in our combined experiences ever feeling the outpouring of love that we received from the people of Winter Garden. We will carry the glow from the services yesterday with us for as long as we live.
In the book of Acts we are given a picture of how those early Christian enjoyed fellowship.---They joined together with other believers & devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings & fellowship, sharing in the Lords' Supper & prayer....and the believers met together constantly & shared everything they had....they worshipped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lords supper & shared their meals with great joy & generosity---all the while praising God & enjoying the good-will of the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
The people of Winter Garden are very much like these people in the book of Acts. They love God & each other & dearly love to fellowship. But they also have great hearts of love that can reach out to others, embracing them & enveloping them in the Christ's love. Again Juda & I would like to say to those wonderful people, Thank you Vineland Road Christian Fellowship. As you continue to love & enjoy the people of God, He'll do for you what He did for that primitive fellowship. He'll add to your group those who are bereft & in need of the love you have to share.
John & Juda
Monday, July 9, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
When Women Finally Caught A break!
By John Stallings
Numbers 27:1-11
Recently I read the top ten reasons God made woman.
10. Adam seemed to always be lost in the Garden.
9. Adam needed someone to hand him the T.V remote, not to see what was on but to see what else was on.
8. When Adam needed a new fig-leaf he’d never order one without a wife.
7. Adam would without question forget garbage night.
6. Adam would never make a doctor's appointment for himself.
5. Adam would have never gone through the pain of childbirth.
4. With Eve Adam would have someone to blame if things went wrong.
3. Men left alone get into all kinds of trouble.
2. Adam would never remember where he kept his garden tools.
1. After making Adam God said, “I can do better than that.”
In Numbers 27, after the forty years in the wilderness, & toward the end of Moses’ life, there is a fascinating story of five sisters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, the daughters of a man named Zelophehad. This man was of the tribe of Manasseh who died during the wilderness journey. He had five daughters but no sons. In order to perpetuate their fathers name by means of the allotted share of the Promised Land that would have gone to him, & then to his sons if he had any, Zelophehad’s daughters approached Moses & asked if the land might be given to them instead. Up to that time there was no provision made in the law for property or possessions to be passed down to women when there were no living male sons.
These daughters were facing the stark reality that the system & its policies were set up in such a way that some were going to be left out of the promise from the very start, & that included them. They came because Israelite customs threaten to erase their father’s memory. Their claim is both affectionate & courageous.
The story is interesting first of all because it wasn’t customary for women to approach Moses in this way. These women came to petition Moses to change things, indeed to if necessary make a new law that would do away with this injustice which in truth made second class citizens of women. These young women were women of faith & came to Moses in such humility & presented their case so convincingly, that Moses had to take the matter to God for directions on how to handle it. God told Moses the women were right & that a new law should be written to see to it that in such future cases, women would receive the same benefits that man received when it came to family inheritance.
Let’s consider five specific stand-out principles that could work for us all when it comes to seeing change effected in our lives & our world. The first thing about these daughters of Zelophehad was;
1.THEY KNEW THEIR IDENTITY.
They not only knew who they were from a human standpoint, they knew they were daughters of covenant. They knew who they were in God & they knew God is not a respecter of persons. They were daughters of the Most High God & approached Moses with Faith.
They knew before the verse was written the meaning of 1 Peter 2:9—But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an Holy nation a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
THEY WEREN'T CONFUSED ABOUT A GENDER GAP.
What an example they set for women & as a matter fact all people. It’s always been sad to me to see women who feel somehow they're second class citizens. To be frank, in the 21st century, women are in many quarters, underpaid, under valued & under appreciated. You see women almost everywhere wearing t-shirts that carry the message that they are sexual objects. They seem to feel that if they don’t pass the test of sensuality they need to have re-constructive surgery so that they can measure up to what men & society think they should be.
Sadly many young men also seem to be plagued with an identity crisis. Though I’m not an expert on the subject I’ve heard that the style of wearing their trousers hanging so low they seem in danger of falling off came from prisons where the men have to wear hand-me-downs. Another explanation for the style would be, God forbid, it transmits to other males their availability for sexual contact.
I doubt that the naive kids who style & profile through the Malls have the slightest clue of where the style they are wearing really comes from. But again it points to a confused generation of youth who haven’t a clue of who they are & were meant to be.
These five daughters of Zelophehad knew who they were and set a good example for all women to come by recognizing who they were as daughters of God, made in His image & commanding every bit as much respect as men .
They knew the meaning of Galatians 3:28……..For in Christ there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ.
Romans 8: 16-17 says,-The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs; and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
They understood;
2 Corinthians 5:20 which says,--Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ……
They understood;
1 Peter 2:9,--But ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people……
2. THESE WOMEN TOOK THE INITIATIVE.
The five sisters saw a challenge when they realized that property rights were passed on through males of the same ethnic clan. They saw that whatever was about to be celebrated by the allotting of land to the people, it didn’t include them. When their father died, if they had been sons they would have inherited his portion of the land. If they had been brothers they’d have been able to share in their brothers’ land. If they had been married they’d have gone to live on their husband’s land. If they had been widowed their husbands family would have taken care of them. But being that they had no father, no brother, no husband & no in-laws, they had no rights to any land. They were coming into the land of promise but it was clear that they didn’t count for anything & they’d remain forever disconnected from the land & from sustainable life.
They looked through the dark foreboding window of the future & realized that they were invisible, at least when it came to possessing any earthly goods.
They approached Moses & Eleazar the priest at the door of the Tabernacle in front of the congregation. What makes this so spectacular is that there was no forum for Mahlah, Noah, Milcah & Tirzah to voice their grievance. A woman’s place was in the home. For them to act outside the system was to take a great risk, the risk of being rejected by the rest of the community. Even Moses’ own sister was stricken with leprosy for daring to question her brother’s judgment as God’s spokesman.
Some might have seen this request as confrontational, out of order or disrespectful but God judged their motive. They were doing their part in preserving the inheritance of their father.
How did these girls know their rights as heirs to their father’s inheritance? I believe it was because they spent time at their father’s feet as he shared with them the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. God had promised to preserve the legacy. They were assured of their birthright because of the time spent with their father. Zelophehad had built faith in his daughters that God would keep His word.
They understood Hebrews 4:16 before it was written,--Let us come boldly therefore the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
These five sisters with no precedent, no rights, no authority & no testosterone go ahead & take action & initiative. They had the right stuff to go before Moses & take on the legal system in the most public place possible with imagination & grace.
Everyone heard them plead their case to Moses. These women respected the Shekina Glory in the tabernacle but it didn’t cause them to be intimidated. They knew they were right in what they were requesting so they proceeded.
INITIATIVE MEANS SEEING A NEED & DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT WITHOUT WAITING TO BE PRESSURED.
They approached Moses with boldness not arrogance & with confidence not pride. They didn’t have the attitude of militant feminists nor were they presumptuous.
· A little boy had played in the mud until he was almost covered with it from head to toe. As he entered his house his mother playfully asked, “Who’s that little boy coming in my house?” The boy answered, “Well the lady next door was right. She said I was so dirty my mother wouldn’t recognize me.”
These five daughters didn’t have an identity crisis. They recognized exactly who they were & without being cocky about it, they took the initiative. They took action. And not only did they approach Moses with no fear, they were successful & actually got things changed. There was no anger in what they did. They weren’t all worked up & in a rage. Had they done that, nothing would have changed as a matter of fact they would have set their cause back.
James 1:21says –For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
1 Peter 3:4 says—But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek & quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price.
These women weren’t pushy & brassy. They had courage but they also were in possession of their emotions & they showed humility. Have you noticed that we can’t get much done of any consequence if we’re angry? Anger just makes other people angry. If you & I aren’t being successful in getting our ideas implemented we should stop & ask ourselves if we’re going about it in the right way. We also should realize that not much will happen in our lives until we move on our ideas.
I heard the story of an immigrant who came to America years ago. He’d never seen a cafeteria before so he walked into one & sat down, waiting to be served. A man was watching him & figured he was confused so he walked up & told him how a cafeteria worked. He could just go up to the buffet & get anything he wanted & then go pay for it. The man later said he then understood what America was all about. He could have anything he was willing to pay for but no one was going to get it for him. He’d have to go get it himself.
That’s what initiative is all about. Just do it.
3. THESE WOMEN BROKE WITH TRADITION.
There can be no question that while their father was alive, they were going to have an inheritance & they had probably dreamed about what their share of land would look like. However when he died, all that evaporated & since no mention is made of a mother, they were now no doubt orphans. The girls had probably spent a lot of time talking about their plight; this seems to me to be a valid female approach to dealing with things of importance. In their discussions it probably came up that the land was being given to Israel by God so in truth no one was earning their share. Grace was involved here much more than law, & they had faith to believe that God was going to work for them in the matter. But they were smart enough to realize that a few "sacred cows" would have to be slaughtered if they were going to have any chance at all in an inheritance. The definition of a sacred cow is: Once a rule is in place it's very difficult to replace that rule even though the original reason for the rule has disappeared."
It wasn’t customary for women to go to Moses. There was nothing in the law to pass an inheritance down to women so in essence they were asking that another law be written. How nervy can you get? Obviously pretty nervy. But it worked. They got Moses so shook-up that he had to go & pray about it. Long before women actually had any rights at all these women were asking for equal dignity for women. Long before the phrase was coined, they were asking Moses to “think outside the box.”
I read about a young married woman who was cooking a ham for her family. As she proceeded to cut the ham in two, her little girl came by & asked her why she was doing it. The mom confessed that she didn’t know but she’d go call her mom & asked why she always cooked ham that way. Her mother said she didn’t really know either; her mom had always cut hams in two before cooking them. The mother called the grandmother who was quite old & asked her why she’d always prepared a ham by cutting it two pieces & she answered, “Oh, the reason I always cut hams in two was because I didn’t have a pot large enough to cook a ham in one piece.”
So a tradition was born in that family & people were going through the motions not recognizing there was no longer a valid reason to be doing it.
These daughters of Zelophehad knew nothing had been written about their need so everyone was just following a tradition; a tradition that needed changing.
Sometimes people will pray for supernatural discernment when all that is needed is a little common sense. The sisters knew that there was the written law but there was also such a thing as the spirit of the law & the spirit of the law said they should be treated as fairly as anyone else. We can get so hung-up in our traditions that we don’t realize how silly we look doing things just because that’s the way we’ve always done them.
In 2 Corinthians 3:7 Paul said, “Who has made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter but of the spirit: for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.
Legalists will write a rule for everything. When that happens, everything gets in bondage & boxed in to rule keeping, consequently all joy evaporates. The Bible doesn’t speak on every little issue we face, if it did it would be so big it would take a box-car to carry it. What God expects us to do in those cases is use our sanctified common sense & follow the spirit of the law. If a person accidentally shoots another person & it is very obvious that it was an accident, a judge isn’t going to treat it like a murder. If its demonstrable that it was an accident the judge will use the spirit of the law to judge the person. Intent & motivation are always carefully examined.
If you want to see a depressed group of people, go into a church that’s bound up by laws, rules & regulations & you’ll see the saddest sight you can imagine. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty & joy in the Holy Ghost. There’s no need for God’s people to get all bound up with legalism when all we have to do in cases where there’s no written direction is read the intent of God’s law.
If you want to know what legalism really looks like read Matthew 23 & you’ll not only read the best description available anywhere about what makes legalists tick, you’ll also see Jesus excoriating the Pharisees until you can almost smell the hide burning. He scolded them because all they could think about was their traditions. If you haven’t read that chapter lately you should re-read it.
In the book of Revelation we hear Jesus speaking to the seven churches about hearing-- “what the spirit is saying to the church.” Yes God’s written word is true. Yes it’s all written under the Spirit’s directive. Yes it’s all profitable to living victorious lives. But Jesus is saying that God is still speaking to the churches in the 21st century & we need to have keen listening ears.
These women motivated Moses to think & to pray. You have probably observed that women have a talent for building fires under men.
4. THEY MOTIVATED LEADERSHIP
When these women got through presenting their petition, all Moses could do was go pray. When I think about these sisters I can’t help but think about Barak & Deborah. Mention is made of Barak in Hebrews eleven. When I think about them it also brings to mind Abigail & the way she confronted David when he was on his way to kill her weak husband & probably all the males in her family. Abigail confronted David & taught him mercy, saving him from untold regrets.
· In 1859 a woman by the name of Sarah J. Hale petitioned the Government to have a special day of Thanksgiving. She had to jump through a lot of hoops but the bottom line is that today we men have a full day of eating turkey & watching football because of this woman.
· My mother was, by any standards a very strong woman. When my sister & I were in junior high & high school the pressure was constantly put on us to learn to dance. My mothers answer to that was, “you teach my kids reading, writing & arithmetic & I’ll teach them the social graces.” Though she was called on to confront several school systems in several different states she always prevailed & her children never graced a dance floor.
My wife Juda has taken my mothers place & she stands as a sentry in my life calling me to do more than I think I can do. She often throws me out of the boat and says “walk.” When you look at my life don’t give me too much credit. The credit goes to great women who saw in me more than I ever saw in myself & pushed me to excel.
How often have I heard the admonition-“you’re thinking too small?”
5. THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD'S ACTION BENEFITED OTHERS.
It would have been risky to approach Moses in private. It would have looked like they were trying to get a better, maybe secret deal for themselves. By coming to him publicly their petition becomes an action to effect change on behalf of the whole community. These sisters were using their heads & being extraordinarily creative, & along the way, filing one of the earliest law suits on record.
Notice that Moses came out of his prayers & announced- “These women are right.” What they started has benefited women across the ages up to this day.
· I think of Rosa Parks. In 1955 she’d had it up to her neck with being treated like a poodle dog so she refused to move to the back of the city bus. History will show that by taking the stand she took, all women were blessed. Frankly the entire human race was blessed because she refused to be treated like a second class citizen that day in Montgomery Alabama. Likewise, the daughters of Zelophehad didn’t do what they did for strictly selfish reasons. They knew what they were doing would help women of many coming generations.
These daughters knew that they and all others were priests under God & because of their persistence a new law was written not only for them but to secure rights to property for generations to come.
Thank God for women & thank God for the differences that are woven into our lives by our creator. Without these differences life would be rather lack-luster. Thank God for the woman’s touch even though it historically has been somewhat underappreciated. As for me, I’ve appreciated women since I first found out they weren’t men.
I recently wrote an article in my blog called-“I hope you dance.” It was inspired by the country song of the same name. Dancing in the song was really synonymous with being engaged with life, not sitting on the sidelines letting life with all its opportunities pass us by.
Life isn’t meant to be feared, it’s meant to be lived with gusto. I’m always amazed when I read Christ’s parable about the talents that a business man gave his servants. When he returned he expected to see that they had invested his money & made it grow for him. The servant who was given one talent went & hid it while the others immediately went & put the money to work to see an increase. When the master returned he commended the ones who’d wisely invested his money & chastised the one who’d played it safe & put the money in a hole in the ground.
The reason it surprises me when I read this parable is that you just wouldn’t think Jesus, being so spiritually oriented would have financial investments on his mind. Of course the parable, like all of Christ’s parables has many shades of meaning. Not only was He stressing wise money management, He was reminding us that God expects a return on the talents & abilities He’s given us, whatever they may be. If we don’t use what we’ve been given we’ll have to face God someday & explain why we allowed His investment in us to stagnate.
The daughters of Zelophehad were shining examples of being engaged with the realities of life. They had the courage & initiative to take the bull by the horns as it were & effect change, not only for themselves but for future generations. Mahlah, Noah, Milcah & Tirzah didn’t change everything but they did make a significant difference in their rights as well as others that would be beneficiaries of this legal change.
The book of numbers doesn’t record the reaction of the sisters when they won their case but I think I know what it was. Of course, they danced.
What is it you believe that God has called you to do? Have you been sitting at your father’s feet daily? Are you waiting for your next assignment? Don’t let any man, women or world system intimidate you or victimize you into believing you are only a woman. You are a daughter of Zion. Arise & shine for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you -Ish.60:1-2. Take your rightful place & claim your God given heritage. Your reward will be great because you’ll receive your inheritance & that will be time well spent.
In closing here’s a poem to mothers, wives, & all the loyal, loving hearted women who have graced our lives & made them richer; women who’ve indeed been- the wind beneath our wings. It’s called;
WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN’T LOOKING.
When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator & then I knew how proud you were of me.
When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw you feed a stray cat & I thought how wonderful it was to have such a kind heart.
When you thought I wasn’t looking I noticed you baked my favorite cake & I was so glad you were my mother.
When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw tears come from your eyes & I knew you had a soft heart & it made me love you more & I said I wanted to be just like you.
When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw how much you cared for me & all our family & I wanted to say thanks for all the things you did,
---when you thought I wasn’t looking.
Blessings,
John
Monday, July 2, 2007
SIX MYTHS ABOUT DEPRESSION
By John Stallings
….Whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul David took the Lyre & played
It; so Saul was refreshed. 1 Sam. 16:23
….For day & night thy hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to thee & did not hide my iniquity.
Psalm 32:5
To appoint unto them that mourn……the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness…..
Isaiah 61:3
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all experienced bad days from time to time. For some, these bad days can stretch into bad weeks, bad months or even bad years. Some people find themselves in a kind of funk sayings things like “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, my life is worthless.”
I’m not a stranger to mild depression, neither am I an expert. However it’s important to know some of the basics about it, because though we may not experience depression directly, odds are someone in our family will.
The story is told of a husband who noticed that his wife had lost her joy & did nothing but mope around the house. This went on for weeks until one day he suggested that she see a doctor. She was in agreement so the husband made an appointment with a competent psychologist in their city.
During the first appointment the doctor realized that the woman was suffering from a mild case of depression that he felt didn’t need medication. He walked around his desk & asked the lady to stand up. He stepped over to her, took her in his arms & gave her a warm hug. The husband watched with interest as his wife’s face lit up & she started to look like the woman he used to know. The doctor said, “Now see, this is all your wife really needs sir, a nice big warm hug at least three times a week, are you willing to do your part? The man said, “Yes sir doc, & I think it’s wonderful. I can have her here any day but Friday, that’s my golf day.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if depression could be cured that easily?
A doctor from UCLA says that if you want to know what depression feels like, just imagine you have the worst case of jet-lag you’ve ever experienced, combined with the worst grief you’ve ever felt, then throw in a migraine headache. Months could pass before it lifts.
Another well known psychiatrist likened depression to a window in a house. Most windows are dressed with some sort of shades or blinds. Then usually drapes or curtains are added. This lessens the starkness of the light coming through & is adjustable by the people in the room. The person with depression has no such window dressing, thus he or she lives constantly in the glaring light of “reality.”
There are dozens of faces to depression. There is clinical depression where medical intervention is called for. There is acute depression, manic-depression & situation- induced depression. I have no credentials nor training that would equip me to advise in those areas. Perhaps a more common depression is “walking depression,” a chronic condition like walking pneumonia. It’s so prevalent it’s called the “common cold” of emotional disorders. The person feels terrible but has no acute signs.
Listen to one young college woman describe her feelings;
“I’ve suffered from walking depression all my life. I think a lot of people do. Some people look at life as a glass half full & others see it as a glass half-empty. People like me who suffer from walking depression see life as a glass half empty. Without words it comes & suddenly, sharply, one is aware of being separated from every person in ones’ world. At one’s feet there are chasms that had been invisible until this moment & one knows their loved ones will always be across the chasms.
I never feel enthusiastic about anything. I have little faith in positive outcomes. I don’t believe in myself, I don’t trust anyone. I live my life in a fog. I stumble around unable to get motivated because I’m afraid of what I might run into. I feel too flat to do anything exciting.
Walking depression lives in your bones. It makes your bones feel like tubes of water-heavy & unstable. I’m always asking myself if it’s worth it to stand up. I’m never sure I have the internal structure to get me through a task. It takes so much effort.”
When it comes to the area of spiritual depression the word of God compels me to speak. This isn’t so much a clinical or deep depression, but rather a profound sorrow, sadness & gloom; a feeling of being “very down.” Some Christians try to deny its existence because it’s not necessarily a good advertisement for Christianity; but it does exist. Many people of my generation they don’t like the word depression & would never admit to it in their lives. Depression sounds too much like the devils work, & sometimes it is.
I’ve given the following advice to numerous people who wouldn’t admit to being depressed;
“If you have lost all of your joy, if the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup (if that’s going to be the best part of waking up, you might be better off in bed) if you haven’t smiled in so long no one can remember it, if you no longer enjoy the things you used to love, if you feel like God has gone to Key West & lost your phone number, if your face carries the message that you’ve been Baptized in lemon juice & weaned on a pickle, you’d better swallow your spiritual pride & call it what it is (depression) before it becomes something exceedingly worse.”
When was the last time you had this kind of feeling; like you might do something drastic? Truthfully this happens & it happens to the best of Christians.
Paul tells us in Eph.6:12—for we wrestle not with flesh & blood but against principalities, against powers, against the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.
This doesn’t mean that we go looking for a devil behind every mood-swing but neither should we ignore this truth.
For most of us, if we get into an emotional fog, we know it’s just a temporary feeling brought on us by certain circumstances. Sometimes getting out of bed is hard & people have no energy & can’t concentrate. These feelings usually lift but if they start interfering with our daily life very long it might be clinical depression & then a person should seek professional help. The music David played for Saul lifted his spirits temporarily but the spirit came back over & over again. I think that’s one of the reasons so many billions are spent on music; people are seeking to ward-off depression.
I’m convinced that shopping sprees are another way many people try to lift their spirits. They live with the idea that they’re one shopping trip from happiness. What happens is, they fill their houses up with things they don’t need & as soon as they “lick the candy” off their latest acquisition, they are right back where they started.
Then there are those who use food, alcohol or some other substance to lift their spirits but it’s a lift that doesn’t last.
Here are six misconceptions about depression.
1. WEAK PEOPLE GET DEPRESSED.
The truth is that it takes a strong person to bear up under depression. Saul stood head & shoulders above any man in Israel. He had broad shoulders & a strong constitution but he was still depressed.
Periodically we read about sports figures, people who make their living being stronger than the average person, admitting to depression. Anyone who’s ever read the story of Elijah knows that weakness in no way describes this Prophet, but he got depressed & begged God to kill him. No wonder, he’d just run over 100 miles trying to put distance between himself & Jezebel who’d threatened to kill him.
David was a mighty warrior & leader of men but even a cursory reading of the Psalms he wrote reveal his bouts with depression. For a whole year he didn’t write a song or tune his harp.
Certainly Jeremiah wasn’t a weakling but he got so depressed he walked into God’s office, laid down his prophet-credentials, accused God of lying to Him & vowed never to say God’s name again as long as he lived. From now on God would be “old-what’s-his-name-in-the-sky.” You will remember that Elijah couldn’t stick to that vow when he discovered that God’s words were-“like fire shut-up in my bones.”
Another wrong attitude about depression is;
2. IT’S A SPECIAL HELL RESERVED FOR THE FEW.
If you have been reading the popular magazines & newspapers in the last few years, or for that matter listening to the media you’re aware that we are presently living in the “age of melancholy.” The World Health organization says that by the year 2020, if present trends continue, depression will rank second only to heart disease as the number one disabler of persons. On any given day depression affects 18 million Americans. 12 million will go untreated. Chances are 1 in 5 of us will experience an episode of depression in our lives. The question is, if it strikes, “Where will we go for help?”
3. SOME PEOPLE THINK DEPRESSION IS A MENTAL ILLNESS.
Depression can be a chemical imbalance in the brain, but in truth many illnesses, mental & physical are caused by some sort of chemical imbalance. i.e. Diabetes, etc.
Loss can trigger depression. I’ve known people who had a great loss in their life, went into depression & never snapped out of it. This can happen with the loss of a spouse. Loss of any kind can trigger depression. Some people get depressed when they start getting older & grieve over loss of youth. Most of us snap out of it by considering the alternative.
Pain can also trigger depression. I read an article recently that in America, back pain is a leading cause of depression.
We are in a culture that so idolizes youth that today many teenagers & pre-teens are suffering depression because of the prospects of aging.
The pace of our modern day life also causes some people to be depressed. In my forties I kept such a rigid travel schedule along with being a pastor that I often had mild spells of depression. In 1981 I went to China & several other Oriental countries for three weeks & when I came home I thought I’d never get back to normalcy. People who are depressed will often say the world seems “surreal” to them. I don’t think we realize how jet travel, computers, cell phones & fast cars (all of which I use) have robbed us of the normal human scale of life.
Researchers say that cortisol; a stress hormone can also cause depression. It’s harmless in small doses but when stress causes inordinate amounts to constantly be pumped into the body it can rob us of energy, mobility, our sex drives, & our basic ability to feel human emotions. I read about a man who experienced this to such a degree that he lost all ability to love his wife, parents & his children. He had pushed himself so long trying to be successful that he was, in the vernacular, burned-out; so burned out that he no longer had real feelings. I hope & pray it was temporary for him.
4. ANOTHER MISCONCEPTION ABOUT DEPRESSION IS THAT IT’S A RESULT OF SIN IN ONES LIFE--& THAT DEPRESSION ITSELF IS SIN.
This is not so. Charles Haddon Spurgeon the great 19th century preacher often called “The prince of preachers,” the man God used to light the fires of the 19th century revival movement suffered from depression most of his adult life. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be away from his pulpit two or three months a year because of depression. I don’t know whether this is true but many scholars think that Paul’s “Thorn in the flesh” may have been depression. I will say however that if Paul wasn’t depressed he missed several good chances. After all, his kin, his race, & his people largely rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
And what about some of those churches? Maybe he was depressed by the failure of the churches he planted to live out their life in Christ. They were a constant anxiety to him. (2nd Cor.11:28.)
Abraham Lincoln; at the height of the Civil War said, “If the misery I feel was equally divided among every member of the human race, there would not be a single smiling face among us.”
The Bible tells us that Moses, Jeremiah, Job, & Elijah all had bouts of depression. I have a feeling that some of the best people suffer from depression. The truth is life is not always a stroll through a rose garden. There are mountains & valleys. There are many downward slopes. I have known pastors who didn’t want to take Mondays off because they were still stressed out from Sunday & they didn’t want to feel that bad on their day off. They could enjoy a day off later in the week much more. We should learn to see these depressed times less like a pit to climb out of & more like a tunnel to pass through.
But we can’t blame all depression on things like the pace of life, stress & chemical imbalance. We mustn’t overlook the possibility that unrepentant & unconfessed sin is a major cause of depression.
Saul had every right to be depressed. God had anointed him to be king of Israel but he disobeyed God & gradually backslid. God ended up giving the kingdom to David. Saul, the man with all the potential in the world ended up committing suicide on Mount Gilboa.
When David’s baby died he was able to throw it off but when it came to his sin with Bathsheba & the murder of her husband, his writings show us it continued to depress him. I suspect that a lot of people would get rid of depression if only they got rid of their sin.
You could say it like this; ---when we grieve the Holy Spirit by our sin, He turns around & grieves us back.
Another myth about depression is that;
5. DEPRESSION IS ALWAYS BAD.
In Saul’s case, God was dealing with him causing him to be depressed because of his wrong doing. There is only one thing I can think of that is worse than depression & that’s for a person to become so dead to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit that they can totally ignore Him. When that happens we are beyond help because it’s impossible to repent. This is what Jesus meant when he said the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the unforgivable sin. (Matt. 12:31)
According to Hebrews 12:6-- “God chastens whom He loves.” We are convicted of sin & righteousness & judgment. (John 16:8) We ought to take a measure of hope if we are in sin & its depressing us. There remains the possibility that we will humble ourselves before God & receive His aid & forgiveness.
If we’re experiencing depression we should ask ourselves questions like; am I harboring bitterness toward another person? Have I addressed the sin in my life? Am I feeling guilty about something? Have I turned away from God? Am I being a faithful Christian? And so on.
6. FINALLY, SOME DEPRESSED FOLK FEEL THERE’S NO HOPE FOR THEM.
This is a myth. If the depression is a chemical imbalance, there is prayer & there are also medications that can do wonders. Many other depressed people can be helped by a change of diet, rest or by taking up a hobby for physical activity. I read somewhere that it’s impossible to actually be depressed while exercising. I’ve known people who always had headaches & were so sick it kept them constantly depressed. A trip to the doctor revealed they were eating too much sugar or other bad foods & when this changed they were different people.
One of the best ways to fight a mild case of depression is to do something. We don’t feel our way to a different way of acting, rather we act our way to a different way of feeling. If you wake up one morning & feel depressed, talk to depression like you would a person.
· “O.K depression, I see you are here & that’s alright but you have to understand I’ve got a lot to do. I’m getting out of this bed depressed. I’m going to shower, if necessary depressed. I’m going to eat breakfast depressed. I’m going to work depressed & I’m going to work all day depressed if that’s the way it has to be. Then I’m coming home depressed. I’ll eat my supper depressed & I’m going to church depressed.”
It’s possible but not probable that depression will still be there when they sing the first worship song. It could possibly still be there after the second song. But if you’ll keep on singing & praising something will happen & depression will have to go for James said “Draw nigh to God & he’ll draw night unto you.”
In all the years I’ve been preaching, I’ve rarely felt like preaching when I first started. But after I’ve been preaching about 5 minutes, something happens & I start feeling different. Then I don’t feel like stopping. Many people over the years have been grateful that I don’t go by my feelings.
If a person’s depression is spiritual in nature, the result of sin, that person can find release by turning to the God who loves them.
Psalm 32 continues;
5. I acknowledge my sin to you, O, Lord. & I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord; then you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6. Therefore let every one who is Godly offer a prayer to you; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not be reached. 7. God, you art a hiding place…..
There isn’t a “twelve step program” for avoiding depression, but there are however some steps we can take if we’re facing it.
We should ask ourselves the questions; do we have trouble making decisions? Do we experience a lot of uncontrollable crying? If a person is living on the verge of tears all the time, though as I said I’m no expert, I think that should be recognized as serious & an individual should seek help either through personal prayer or through Christian counseling.
If a person is having trouble getting out of bed, can’t seem to make it to work or to school, or if thoughts of suicide are creeping into their head, in these cases immediate care is necessary & steps should be taken with a professional.
WHEN HOLIDAYS COME UP IT WOULD BE LUDICRUS NOT TO INCLUDE,
POST HOLIDAY DEPRESSION.
Have you ever noticed that depression can strike after a holiday, or for that matter, after any of the great celebrations of life? We feel the build-up of excitement & all of the sudden its over. The problem is that big days tend to magnify all our emotions. We suffer from an intense case of the “oughts” during the holidays. We believe we ought to be able to give our children all the things they want, & we ought to be able to satisfy all the time demands of our extended family. We ought to spend the holidays in the middle of a great big adoring family. Unfortunately the real holiday experience never quite lives up to our “oughts.”
Nurses report that the maternity ward of a hospital can be one of the saddest places in the world. The initial rush is gone. Now the baby is keeping you up all night; you are tired & discouraged & asking yourself—“why did I ever get myself into this situation?” They even have a medical name for it; Postpartum Depression. After any great success or triumph after any of the great accomplishments of life, there’s normally a reaction, a falling back. You can almost feel things slowing down, returning to the routine & the mundane.
WE SHOULD BE CERTAIN TO TALK TO GOD ABOUT OUR MOODS & REMEMBER PRAYER IS A POWERFUL TOOL AGAINST DEPRESSION.
When Jesus was having a difficult time He went to God & cried out, “Please God, deliver me from this.” We should make certain we’re getting enough rest & ask ourselves if some unresolved conflict or unconfessed sin is causing this. But no matter what, I encourage anyone battling depression to seek help from God & also from trained Christian professionals if necessary.
No one needs to be held captive to depression, there is a way out.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.—Isaiah 61:3—
Blessings,
John
By John Stallings
….Whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul David took the Lyre & played
It; so Saul was refreshed. 1 Sam. 16:23
….For day & night thy hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to thee & did not hide my iniquity.
Psalm 32:5
To appoint unto them that mourn……the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness…..
Isaiah 61:3
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all experienced bad days from time to time. For some, these bad days can stretch into bad weeks, bad months or even bad years. Some people find themselves in a kind of funk sayings things like “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, my life is worthless.”
I’m not a stranger to mild depression, neither am I an expert. However it’s important to know some of the basics about it, because though we may not experience depression directly, odds are someone in our family will.
The story is told of a husband who noticed that his wife had lost her joy & did nothing but mope around the house. This went on for weeks until one day he suggested that she see a doctor. She was in agreement so the husband made an appointment with a competent psychologist in their city.
During the first appointment the doctor realized that the woman was suffering from a mild case of depression that he felt didn’t need medication. He walked around his desk & asked the lady to stand up. He stepped over to her, took her in his arms & gave her a warm hug. The husband watched with interest as his wife’s face lit up & she started to look like the woman he used to know. The doctor said, “Now see, this is all your wife really needs sir, a nice big warm hug at least three times a week, are you willing to do your part? The man said, “Yes sir doc, & I think it’s wonderful. I can have her here any day but Friday, that’s my golf day.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if depression could be cured that easily?
A doctor from UCLA says that if you want to know what depression feels like, just imagine you have the worst case of jet-lag you’ve ever experienced, combined with the worst grief you’ve ever felt, then throw in a migraine headache. Months could pass before it lifts.
Another well known psychiatrist likened depression to a window in a house. Most windows are dressed with some sort of shades or blinds. Then usually drapes or curtains are added. This lessens the starkness of the light coming through & is adjustable by the people in the room. The person with depression has no such window dressing, thus he or she lives constantly in the glaring light of “reality.”
There are dozens of faces to depression. There is clinical depression where medical intervention is called for. There is acute depression, manic-depression & situation- induced depression. I have no credentials nor training that would equip me to advise in those areas. Perhaps a more common depression is “walking depression,” a chronic condition like walking pneumonia. It’s so prevalent it’s called the “common cold” of emotional disorders. The person feels terrible but has no acute signs.
Listen to one young college woman describe her feelings;
“I’ve suffered from walking depression all my life. I think a lot of people do. Some people look at life as a glass half full & others see it as a glass half-empty. People like me who suffer from walking depression see life as a glass half empty. Without words it comes & suddenly, sharply, one is aware of being separated from every person in ones’ world. At one’s feet there are chasms that had been invisible until this moment & one knows their loved ones will always be across the chasms.
I never feel enthusiastic about anything. I have little faith in positive outcomes. I don’t believe in myself, I don’t trust anyone. I live my life in a fog. I stumble around unable to get motivated because I’m afraid of what I might run into. I feel too flat to do anything exciting.
Walking depression lives in your bones. It makes your bones feel like tubes of water-heavy & unstable. I’m always asking myself if it’s worth it to stand up. I’m never sure I have the internal structure to get me through a task. It takes so much effort.”
When it comes to the area of spiritual depression the word of God compels me to speak. This isn’t so much a clinical or deep depression, but rather a profound sorrow, sadness & gloom; a feeling of being “very down.” Some Christians try to deny its existence because it’s not necessarily a good advertisement for Christianity; but it does exist. Many people of my generation they don’t like the word depression & would never admit to it in their lives. Depression sounds too much like the devils work, & sometimes it is.
I’ve given the following advice to numerous people who wouldn’t admit to being depressed;
“If you have lost all of your joy, if the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup (if that’s going to be the best part of waking up, you might be better off in bed) if you haven’t smiled in so long no one can remember it, if you no longer enjoy the things you used to love, if you feel like God has gone to Key West & lost your phone number, if your face carries the message that you’ve been Baptized in lemon juice & weaned on a pickle, you’d better swallow your spiritual pride & call it what it is (depression) before it becomes something exceedingly worse.”
When was the last time you had this kind of feeling; like you might do something drastic? Truthfully this happens & it happens to the best of Christians.
Paul tells us in Eph.6:12—for we wrestle not with flesh & blood but against principalities, against powers, against the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.
This doesn’t mean that we go looking for a devil behind every mood-swing but neither should we ignore this truth.
For most of us, if we get into an emotional fog, we know it’s just a temporary feeling brought on us by certain circumstances. Sometimes getting out of bed is hard & people have no energy & can’t concentrate. These feelings usually lift but if they start interfering with our daily life very long it might be clinical depression & then a person should seek professional help. The music David played for Saul lifted his spirits temporarily but the spirit came back over & over again. I think that’s one of the reasons so many billions are spent on music; people are seeking to ward-off depression.
I’m convinced that shopping sprees are another way many people try to lift their spirits. They live with the idea that they’re one shopping trip from happiness. What happens is, they fill their houses up with things they don’t need & as soon as they “lick the candy” off their latest acquisition, they are right back where they started.
Then there are those who use food, alcohol or some other substance to lift their spirits but it’s a lift that doesn’t last.
Here are six misconceptions about depression.
1. WEAK PEOPLE GET DEPRESSED.
The truth is that it takes a strong person to bear up under depression. Saul stood head & shoulders above any man in Israel. He had broad shoulders & a strong constitution but he was still depressed.
Periodically we read about sports figures, people who make their living being stronger than the average person, admitting to depression. Anyone who’s ever read the story of Elijah knows that weakness in no way describes this Prophet, but he got depressed & begged God to kill him. No wonder, he’d just run over 100 miles trying to put distance between himself & Jezebel who’d threatened to kill him.
David was a mighty warrior & leader of men but even a cursory reading of the Psalms he wrote reveal his bouts with depression. For a whole year he didn’t write a song or tune his harp.
Certainly Jeremiah wasn’t a weakling but he got so depressed he walked into God’s office, laid down his prophet-credentials, accused God of lying to Him & vowed never to say God’s name again as long as he lived. From now on God would be “old-what’s-his-name-in-the-sky.” You will remember that Elijah couldn’t stick to that vow when he discovered that God’s words were-“like fire shut-up in my bones.”
Another wrong attitude about depression is;
2. IT’S A SPECIAL HELL RESERVED FOR THE FEW.
If you have been reading the popular magazines & newspapers in the last few years, or for that matter listening to the media you’re aware that we are presently living in the “age of melancholy.” The World Health organization says that by the year 2020, if present trends continue, depression will rank second only to heart disease as the number one disabler of persons. On any given day depression affects 18 million Americans. 12 million will go untreated. Chances are 1 in 5 of us will experience an episode of depression in our lives. The question is, if it strikes, “Where will we go for help?”
3. SOME PEOPLE THINK DEPRESSION IS A MENTAL ILLNESS.
Depression can be a chemical imbalance in the brain, but in truth many illnesses, mental & physical are caused by some sort of chemical imbalance. i.e. Diabetes, etc.
Loss can trigger depression. I’ve known people who had a great loss in their life, went into depression & never snapped out of it. This can happen with the loss of a spouse. Loss of any kind can trigger depression. Some people get depressed when they start getting older & grieve over loss of youth. Most of us snap out of it by considering the alternative.
Pain can also trigger depression. I read an article recently that in America, back pain is a leading cause of depression.
We are in a culture that so idolizes youth that today many teenagers & pre-teens are suffering depression because of the prospects of aging.
The pace of our modern day life also causes some people to be depressed. In my forties I kept such a rigid travel schedule along with being a pastor that I often had mild spells of depression. In 1981 I went to China & several other Oriental countries for three weeks & when I came home I thought I’d never get back to normalcy. People who are depressed will often say the world seems “surreal” to them. I don’t think we realize how jet travel, computers, cell phones & fast cars (all of which I use) have robbed us of the normal human scale of life.
Researchers say that cortisol; a stress hormone can also cause depression. It’s harmless in small doses but when stress causes inordinate amounts to constantly be pumped into the body it can rob us of energy, mobility, our sex drives, & our basic ability to feel human emotions. I read about a man who experienced this to such a degree that he lost all ability to love his wife, parents & his children. He had pushed himself so long trying to be successful that he was, in the vernacular, burned-out; so burned out that he no longer had real feelings. I hope & pray it was temporary for him.
4. ANOTHER MISCONCEPTION ABOUT DEPRESSION IS THAT IT’S A RESULT OF SIN IN ONES LIFE--& THAT DEPRESSION ITSELF IS SIN.
This is not so. Charles Haddon Spurgeon the great 19th century preacher often called “The prince of preachers,” the man God used to light the fires of the 19th century revival movement suffered from depression most of his adult life. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be away from his pulpit two or three months a year because of depression. I don’t know whether this is true but many scholars think that Paul’s “Thorn in the flesh” may have been depression. I will say however that if Paul wasn’t depressed he missed several good chances. After all, his kin, his race, & his people largely rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
And what about some of those churches? Maybe he was depressed by the failure of the churches he planted to live out their life in Christ. They were a constant anxiety to him. (2nd Cor.11:28.)
Abraham Lincoln; at the height of the Civil War said, “If the misery I feel was equally divided among every member of the human race, there would not be a single smiling face among us.”
The Bible tells us that Moses, Jeremiah, Job, & Elijah all had bouts of depression. I have a feeling that some of the best people suffer from depression. The truth is life is not always a stroll through a rose garden. There are mountains & valleys. There are many downward slopes. I have known pastors who didn’t want to take Mondays off because they were still stressed out from Sunday & they didn’t want to feel that bad on their day off. They could enjoy a day off later in the week much more. We should learn to see these depressed times less like a pit to climb out of & more like a tunnel to pass through.
But we can’t blame all depression on things like the pace of life, stress & chemical imbalance. We mustn’t overlook the possibility that unrepentant & unconfessed sin is a major cause of depression.
Saul had every right to be depressed. God had anointed him to be king of Israel but he disobeyed God & gradually backslid. God ended up giving the kingdom to David. Saul, the man with all the potential in the world ended up committing suicide on Mount Gilboa.
When David’s baby died he was able to throw it off but when it came to his sin with Bathsheba & the murder of her husband, his writings show us it continued to depress him. I suspect that a lot of people would get rid of depression if only they got rid of their sin.
You could say it like this; ---when we grieve the Holy Spirit by our sin, He turns around & grieves us back.
Another myth about depression is that;
5. DEPRESSION IS ALWAYS BAD.
In Saul’s case, God was dealing with him causing him to be depressed because of his wrong doing. There is only one thing I can think of that is worse than depression & that’s for a person to become so dead to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit that they can totally ignore Him. When that happens we are beyond help because it’s impossible to repent. This is what Jesus meant when he said the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the unforgivable sin. (Matt. 12:31)
According to Hebrews 12:6-- “God chastens whom He loves.” We are convicted of sin & righteousness & judgment. (John 16:8) We ought to take a measure of hope if we are in sin & its depressing us. There remains the possibility that we will humble ourselves before God & receive His aid & forgiveness.
If we’re experiencing depression we should ask ourselves questions like; am I harboring bitterness toward another person? Have I addressed the sin in my life? Am I feeling guilty about something? Have I turned away from God? Am I being a faithful Christian? And so on.
6. FINALLY, SOME DEPRESSED FOLK FEEL THERE’S NO HOPE FOR THEM.
This is a myth. If the depression is a chemical imbalance, there is prayer & there are also medications that can do wonders. Many other depressed people can be helped by a change of diet, rest or by taking up a hobby for physical activity. I read somewhere that it’s impossible to actually be depressed while exercising. I’ve known people who always had headaches & were so sick it kept them constantly depressed. A trip to the doctor revealed they were eating too much sugar or other bad foods & when this changed they were different people.
One of the best ways to fight a mild case of depression is to do something. We don’t feel our way to a different way of acting, rather we act our way to a different way of feeling. If you wake up one morning & feel depressed, talk to depression like you would a person.
· “O.K depression, I see you are here & that’s alright but you have to understand I’ve got a lot to do. I’m getting out of this bed depressed. I’m going to shower, if necessary depressed. I’m going to eat breakfast depressed. I’m going to work depressed & I’m going to work all day depressed if that’s the way it has to be. Then I’m coming home depressed. I’ll eat my supper depressed & I’m going to church depressed.”
It’s possible but not probable that depression will still be there when they sing the first worship song. It could possibly still be there after the second song. But if you’ll keep on singing & praising something will happen & depression will have to go for James said “Draw nigh to God & he’ll draw night unto you.”
In all the years I’ve been preaching, I’ve rarely felt like preaching when I first started. But after I’ve been preaching about 5 minutes, something happens & I start feeling different. Then I don’t feel like stopping. Many people over the years have been grateful that I don’t go by my feelings.
If a person’s depression is spiritual in nature, the result of sin, that person can find release by turning to the God who loves them.
Psalm 32 continues;
5. I acknowledge my sin to you, O, Lord. & I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord; then you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6. Therefore let every one who is Godly offer a prayer to you; at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters, they shall not be reached. 7. God, you art a hiding place…..
There isn’t a “twelve step program” for avoiding depression, but there are however some steps we can take if we’re facing it.
We should ask ourselves the questions; do we have trouble making decisions? Do we experience a lot of uncontrollable crying? If a person is living on the verge of tears all the time, though as I said I’m no expert, I think that should be recognized as serious & an individual should seek help either through personal prayer or through Christian counseling.
If a person is having trouble getting out of bed, can’t seem to make it to work or to school, or if thoughts of suicide are creeping into their head, in these cases immediate care is necessary & steps should be taken with a professional.
WHEN HOLIDAYS COME UP IT WOULD BE LUDICRUS NOT TO INCLUDE,
POST HOLIDAY DEPRESSION.
Have you ever noticed that depression can strike after a holiday, or for that matter, after any of the great celebrations of life? We feel the build-up of excitement & all of the sudden its over. The problem is that big days tend to magnify all our emotions. We suffer from an intense case of the “oughts” during the holidays. We believe we ought to be able to give our children all the things they want, & we ought to be able to satisfy all the time demands of our extended family. We ought to spend the holidays in the middle of a great big adoring family. Unfortunately the real holiday experience never quite lives up to our “oughts.”
Nurses report that the maternity ward of a hospital can be one of the saddest places in the world. The initial rush is gone. Now the baby is keeping you up all night; you are tired & discouraged & asking yourself—“why did I ever get myself into this situation?” They even have a medical name for it; Postpartum Depression. After any great success or triumph after any of the great accomplishments of life, there’s normally a reaction, a falling back. You can almost feel things slowing down, returning to the routine & the mundane.
WE SHOULD BE CERTAIN TO TALK TO GOD ABOUT OUR MOODS & REMEMBER PRAYER IS A POWERFUL TOOL AGAINST DEPRESSION.
When Jesus was having a difficult time He went to God & cried out, “Please God, deliver me from this.” We should make certain we’re getting enough rest & ask ourselves if some unresolved conflict or unconfessed sin is causing this. But no matter what, I encourage anyone battling depression to seek help from God & also from trained Christian professionals if necessary.
No one needs to be held captive to depression, there is a way out.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.—Isaiah 61:3—
Blessings,
John
Thursday, June 28, 2007
HOW & WHY GOD TESTS US
By John Stallings
Nobody likes tests. I can remember that from school. I used to routinely experience anxiety attacks during tests. But tests are necessary in life & they will come.
A young college boy was handed a test paper one day before he was to leave for Christmas vacation. Since he wasn’t in the mood to take the test he wrote across the top of the paper, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” When he came back to school after his vacation, the teacher handed out the test papers. When the young man got his, he saw what he’d written across the top, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” The teacher had written across the bottom of his test paper, “God gets one hundred, you get zero, happy New Year!
God tested Abraham. God tests us too. When God tests us it’s to examine, reprove & refine us. It’s important to remember that man didn’t test Abraham, God did. And He passed the test.
God tested Job. In Job.23:10 we read- But He knoweth the way that I take & when He hath tried me I shall come forth as pure gold.
James 1:2-5 says-- My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this; that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
The reason James says we can count it joy is because we get something valuable from this testing. We will be strengthened by the trial & will come out of it “perfect & entire, lacking nothing.”
1 Peter 1:6-7says--That the trial of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise & honor & glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
We receive all the wonderful attributes of faith. We are healed by faith, saved by faith & see great miracles wrought by faith—but our faith will also be tested.
I have done a lot of flying in my time. During one decade of my life I think I flew more than commercials pilots fly. I’ve also logged many miles in private aircraft. I have often looked at aircraft, especially ones that I was shortly going to board, and wondered how airworthy they really were.
You’ll have to pardon me for a moment but I’ve looked at planes & wondered, “Just how do I know that plane is really airworthy.” Maybe they pulled this hunk of aluminum out of the trash-Ben. Maybe they just shined this plane up & made it look good. Maybe they went inside & spiffed it up so that passengers would think it completely trustworthy. I never really had a reason to believe anyone would actually do such a thing but it wouldn’t be impossible for an old shell of a burned out plane to be brought up to look good enough to fly across the ocean.
I always came back to one conclusion; the only way the plane could prove itself to be airworthy was to taxi to the end of the run-way & take-off. If it could take off with all passengers aboard & fly, it had to be considered airworthy. -- “The proof’s in the pudding.”
The same principle works with our faith. It has to be tried under certain conditions to see it will actually “fly.” Will your faith fly?
God doesn’t test a group; God tests us individually so that we may grow.
I heard the story of a man who fell over cliff & was hanging by a small limb. He cried out for help & God answered-“I am God, do you believe in me?” The man said yes! God said “If you’ll turn lose I’ll save you. Just put your trust in me & I’ll not let you fall. Turn loose of the limb & fall into my waiting arms.” The man answered, “Is there anyone else up there?”
You & I will write some test chapters in our lives.
In Deuteronomy eight, Moses was 120 years old and addressing Israel. He had been through the burning bush experience. He’d seen God open the Red Sea & drown Pharaoh’s army. He’d seen God feed several million people in the desert for 40 years. Now as he talks to the people he says, Remember- remember- remember.”
Deuteronomy is a very important book. It means 2nd Law. The Law was given in Exodus, & repeated in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is quoted over 100 times in the N.T. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to the Devil in the wilderness; He said;
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Moses is reminding the people that God was testing them all those years in the wilderness.
He reminded them that---GOD USED TIME TO TEST THEM. In verse 2 Moses says that God kept Israel in the desert for forty years. They were in God’s TIME TEST.
Psalm 90:12 says---So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
Habakkuk says--1:2---Oh Lord how long will I cry & thou will not hear me?
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says…..he hath made everything beautiful in His time….
I’ve always had trouble getting God on my time schedule. God doesn’t mark time like we do. I can remember the years I spent as an evangelist. Many times I’d be away from home & my family for weeks, sometimes months. Believe me time would often drag by so slowly that I’d be tempted to go to the airport, get on a plane & go home. Of course that would have been the end of my traveling ministry.
If you’re in a situation where it seems that God has gone to Key West & forgotten your address, it’s very likely He’s testing you with TIME. Another way to say it would be you’re being tested with delay. In all probability, it’s not the Devil stopping your prayers, its God testing your faith. Be encouraged. When God sees that you can stand a little stretching when it seems like the answer will never come; when He sees you won’t give up though it seems He’s forgotten you, He’ll send your answer & you’ll have grown through the waiting experience. Don’t give up. You’re in one of God’s famous “TIME TESTS.”
You will no doubt remember when Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. His family sent for Jesus & He waited two days. It seemed to His disciples that He was intentionally dragging His feet. He was! When Jesus finally got to Bethany Lazarus had already been dead four days. Jesus told them not to be upset because Lazarus wasn’t dead he was just sleeping. What they didn’t understand was that to Jesus, sleeping & death were about the same; no problem to Him.
GOD USES ADVERSITY TO TEST US.—v 3
Moses told the people, God humbled you & caused you to hunger. That doesn’t sound very nice does it? But God did it. God tested Israel--- “To know what’s in thy heart.”
Everything that happens to us certainly isn’t a test from God but He will use even those things He didn’t send to develop us. It’s good to remember that anything that hits a child of God must pass through a divine sifter so that when the blow comes, it can only ultimately help us.
I once ordered a cup of hot tea in a restaurant. I expected it to be black tea but something seemed to be wrong with it. I kept moving the bag in the hot water but the water didn’t seem to be turning the dark brown I was expecting. Finally I asked the waitress what was wrong with the tea bag. She said, “Oh I forgot, we’re out of regular black tea & I gave you a nice herbal tea. I said, “well, I wondered why I was about to fall asleep.” Like a tea bag, we have to be put in hot water to reveal what we really are.
Someone has said that even our enemies are of help to us because they tend to keep us sharp.
H.G Spafford had his faith tested long ago when his four beautiful daughters were on board a ship that went down en-route from America to England. His wife who was also aboard was spared a watery grave & telegraphed him the words “saved alone.” A few days later he boarded a ship to England & asked the ship’s Captain to please let him know when they passed over the spot where his four daughters were lost. As the ship he was on glided over the place where his beloved daughters were lost at sea, he stood on the ship’s deck & wrote the famous hymn-“It is well with my soul.” That’s the kind of test of adversity God’s children are sometimes called to endure.
GOD ALSO TESTS WITH PROSPERITY—v.4
Moses reminds the people that God was good to them in the wilderness so that their clothes didn’t wear out. He even reminds them that, of all things, their feet didn’t even swell. Wasn’t that a blessing?
Prosperity has ruined more men than adversity ever has. For one man who is ruined by adversity, 100 have been ruined by prosperity. In verses 10-18 Moses warns the people--“Beware—don’t let wealth & prosperity ruin you.”
GOD GAVE AMERICA WEALTH –LOOK WHAT WE’VE DONE WITH IT.—People need to beware of the deceitfulness of riches. 1Timothy 6:6 says;
But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world & it’s certain we’ll carry nothing out. And having food & raiment therefore let us be content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation & a snare & into many foolish hurtful lusts which drowns men in destruction & perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, & pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Judas was tested with money and he helped himself. We can also be tested with favor, position & praise. Proverbs 27:21 says;
As the fining pot for silver & the furnace for gold, so is man to his praise.
WHY GOD TESTS US.
Moses told the people, “God humbled you to prove you, to know what was in thine heart.” God humbles us so that we can grow in grace.
Psalm 129:23 says-- “search me O God & know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.”
Jeremiah 17:9 says—the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?
God wants us to be humble because humility is the character of Christ. Spirituality isn’t a synonym for superficiality.
In verse 3 Moses said God tested them to teach them His WORD. So that they might remember that not only physical food was necessary but “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The key word there is “every.”
Some people don’t like every word they like “their favorite word/favorite messages.” In Acts 20 Paul said I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God. Some people get upset at certain sermons.
John. 17:17 says--Sanctify them through truth, thy word is truth.
Psalm 119:89 says—Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven.
Some people are Selective listeners. A woman told her husband the car wouldn’t start because something was wrong with the carburetor. He said, you don’t know anything about cars.” She said I know the carburetor’s flooded.” He asked, “How do you know that?” She said because the cars in the swimming pool.” It pays to listen.
God also tests us to discipline us as His children. “Consider in thine heart.” Moses is saying-“listen carefully” God is a parent. Sometimes parents have to “apply the board of education to the seat of knowledge.” Discipline keeps us saved. God isn’t just a “feel good God.”
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are his masterpiece” That means-- His art.
The ancients had a very interesting way of purifying gold. They would heat the gold & as it was heated the impurities would rise to the top & they’d skim them away. The way they would know that the gold was finally as pure as it could be was when the refiner could look into the gold & see his reflection.
My friend do not run from the test, welcome it. God is doing it all so that He might see the image of Himself in us.
What He lost in Eden.
John
By John Stallings
Nobody likes tests. I can remember that from school. I used to routinely experience anxiety attacks during tests. But tests are necessary in life & they will come.
A young college boy was handed a test paper one day before he was to leave for Christmas vacation. Since he wasn’t in the mood to take the test he wrote across the top of the paper, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” When he came back to school after his vacation, the teacher handed out the test papers. When the young man got his, he saw what he’d written across the top, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” The teacher had written across the bottom of his test paper, “God gets one hundred, you get zero, happy New Year!
God tested Abraham. God tests us too. When God tests us it’s to examine, reprove & refine us. It’s important to remember that man didn’t test Abraham, God did. And He passed the test.
God tested Job. In Job.23:10 we read- But He knoweth the way that I take & when He hath tried me I shall come forth as pure gold.
James 1:2-5 says-- My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this; that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
The reason James says we can count it joy is because we get something valuable from this testing. We will be strengthened by the trial & will come out of it “perfect & entire, lacking nothing.”
1 Peter 1:6-7says--That the trial of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise & honor & glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
We receive all the wonderful attributes of faith. We are healed by faith, saved by faith & see great miracles wrought by faith—but our faith will also be tested.
I have done a lot of flying in my time. During one decade of my life I think I flew more than commercials pilots fly. I’ve also logged many miles in private aircraft. I have often looked at aircraft, especially ones that I was shortly going to board, and wondered how airworthy they really were.
You’ll have to pardon me for a moment but I’ve looked at planes & wondered, “Just how do I know that plane is really airworthy.” Maybe they pulled this hunk of aluminum out of the trash-Ben. Maybe they just shined this plane up & made it look good. Maybe they went inside & spiffed it up so that passengers would think it completely trustworthy. I never really had a reason to believe anyone would actually do such a thing but it wouldn’t be impossible for an old shell of a burned out plane to be brought up to look good enough to fly across the ocean.
I always came back to one conclusion; the only way the plane could prove itself to be airworthy was to taxi to the end of the run-way & take-off. If it could take off with all passengers aboard & fly, it had to be considered airworthy. -- “The proof’s in the pudding.”
The same principle works with our faith. It has to be tried under certain conditions to see it will actually “fly.” Will your faith fly?
God doesn’t test a group; God tests us individually so that we may grow.
I heard the story of a man who fell over cliff & was hanging by a small limb. He cried out for help & God answered-“I am God, do you believe in me?” The man said yes! God said “If you’ll turn lose I’ll save you. Just put your trust in me & I’ll not let you fall. Turn loose of the limb & fall into my waiting arms.” The man answered, “Is there anyone else up there?”
You & I will write some test chapters in our lives.
In Deuteronomy eight, Moses was 120 years old and addressing Israel. He had been through the burning bush experience. He’d seen God open the Red Sea & drown Pharaoh’s army. He’d seen God feed several million people in the desert for 40 years. Now as he talks to the people he says, Remember- remember- remember.”
Deuteronomy is a very important book. It means 2nd Law. The Law was given in Exodus, & repeated in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is quoted over 100 times in the N.T. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to the Devil in the wilderness; He said;
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Moses is reminding the people that God was testing them all those years in the wilderness.
He reminded them that---GOD USED TIME TO TEST THEM. In verse 2 Moses says that God kept Israel in the desert for forty years. They were in God’s TIME TEST.
Psalm 90:12 says---So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
Habakkuk says--1:2---Oh Lord how long will I cry & thou will not hear me?
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says…..he hath made everything beautiful in His time….
I’ve always had trouble getting God on my time schedule. God doesn’t mark time like we do. I can remember the years I spent as an evangelist. Many times I’d be away from home & my family for weeks, sometimes months. Believe me time would often drag by so slowly that I’d be tempted to go to the airport, get on a plane & go home. Of course that would have been the end of my traveling ministry.
If you’re in a situation where it seems that God has gone to Key West & forgotten your address, it’s very likely He’s testing you with TIME. Another way to say it would be you’re being tested with delay. In all probability, it’s not the Devil stopping your prayers, its God testing your faith. Be encouraged. When God sees that you can stand a little stretching when it seems like the answer will never come; when He sees you won’t give up though it seems He’s forgotten you, He’ll send your answer & you’ll have grown through the waiting experience. Don’t give up. You’re in one of God’s famous “TIME TESTS.”
You will no doubt remember when Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. His family sent for Jesus & He waited two days. It seemed to His disciples that He was intentionally dragging His feet. He was! When Jesus finally got to Bethany Lazarus had already been dead four days. Jesus told them not to be upset because Lazarus wasn’t dead he was just sleeping. What they didn’t understand was that to Jesus, sleeping & death were about the same; no problem to Him.
GOD USES ADVERSITY TO TEST US.—v 3
Moses told the people, God humbled you & caused you to hunger. That doesn’t sound very nice does it? But God did it. God tested Israel--- “To know what’s in thy heart.”
Everything that happens to us certainly isn’t a test from God but He will use even those things He didn’t send to develop us. It’s good to remember that anything that hits a child of God must pass through a divine sifter so that when the blow comes, it can only ultimately help us.
I once ordered a cup of hot tea in a restaurant. I expected it to be black tea but something seemed to be wrong with it. I kept moving the bag in the hot water but the water didn’t seem to be turning the dark brown I was expecting. Finally I asked the waitress what was wrong with the tea bag. She said, “Oh I forgot, we’re out of regular black tea & I gave you a nice herbal tea. I said, “well, I wondered why I was about to fall asleep.” Like a tea bag, we have to be put in hot water to reveal what we really are.
Someone has said that even our enemies are of help to us because they tend to keep us sharp.
H.G Spafford had his faith tested long ago when his four beautiful daughters were on board a ship that went down en-route from America to England. His wife who was also aboard was spared a watery grave & telegraphed him the words “saved alone.” A few days later he boarded a ship to England & asked the ship’s Captain to please let him know when they passed over the spot where his four daughters were lost. As the ship he was on glided over the place where his beloved daughters were lost at sea, he stood on the ship’s deck & wrote the famous hymn-“It is well with my soul.” That’s the kind of test of adversity God’s children are sometimes called to endure.
GOD ALSO TESTS WITH PROSPERITY—v.4
Moses reminds the people that God was good to them in the wilderness so that their clothes didn’t wear out. He even reminds them that, of all things, their feet didn’t even swell. Wasn’t that a blessing?
Prosperity has ruined more men than adversity ever has. For one man who is ruined by adversity, 100 have been ruined by prosperity. In verses 10-18 Moses warns the people--“Beware—don’t let wealth & prosperity ruin you.”
GOD GAVE AMERICA WEALTH –LOOK WHAT WE’VE DONE WITH IT.—People need to beware of the deceitfulness of riches. 1Timothy 6:6 says;
But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world & it’s certain we’ll carry nothing out. And having food & raiment therefore let us be content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation & a snare & into many foolish hurtful lusts which drowns men in destruction & perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, & pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Judas was tested with money and he helped himself. We can also be tested with favor, position & praise. Proverbs 27:21 says;
As the fining pot for silver & the furnace for gold, so is man to his praise.
WHY GOD TESTS US.
Moses told the people, “God humbled you to prove you, to know what was in thine heart.” God humbles us so that we can grow in grace.
Psalm 129:23 says-- “search me O God & know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.”
Jeremiah 17:9 says—the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?
God wants us to be humble because humility is the character of Christ. Spirituality isn’t a synonym for superficiality.
In verse 3 Moses said God tested them to teach them His WORD. So that they might remember that not only physical food was necessary but “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The key word there is “every.”
Some people don’t like every word they like “their favorite word/favorite messages.” In Acts 20 Paul said I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God. Some people get upset at certain sermons.
John. 17:17 says--Sanctify them through truth, thy word is truth.
Psalm 119:89 says—Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven.
Some people are Selective listeners. A woman told her husband the car wouldn’t start because something was wrong with the carburetor. He said, you don’t know anything about cars.” She said I know the carburetor’s flooded.” He asked, “How do you know that?” She said because the cars in the swimming pool.” It pays to listen.
God also tests us to discipline us as His children. “Consider in thine heart.” Moses is saying-“listen carefully” God is a parent. Sometimes parents have to “apply the board of education to the seat of knowledge.” Discipline keeps us saved. God isn’t just a “feel good God.”
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are his masterpiece” That means-- His art.
The ancients had a very interesting way of purifying gold. They would heat the gold & as it was heated the impurities would rise to the top & they’d skim them away. The way they would know that the gold was finally as pure as it could be was when the refiner could look into the gold & see his reflection.
My friend do not run from the test, welcome it. God is doing it all so that He might see the image of Himself in us.
What He lost in Eden.
John
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Confrontational prayers
By John Stallings
…….My God My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mark 15:34
……..The kingdom of heaven suffers violence & the violent take it by force.Matt.11:12
Confronting God? Arguing with God? I have been wrestling with this all week. We have been taught that prayer is solemn & respectful haven’t we? We fold our hands, & close our eyes & think good thoughts about God & say pretty words to Him. Sad to say we’ve too often been told that prayer is “getting stuff from God” when in reality prayer is “getting in touch with God.”
I went to see a movie a few years ago called “The Apostle.” Robert Duvall plays the part of Sonny, a ragged, hot-tempered, womanizing evangelist. Mostly because of his arrogance Sonny loses his church & his wife. His wife is leaving him for his youth pastor. Mercy! Angry & broken Sonny moves back into his mother’s house where he shouts, paces & hollers to God from an upstairs window.
Somebody, I say somebody has taken my wife. They stole my church….I don’t mean to yell at you but I’m mad at you. I can’t take it. Give me a sign Lord. Blow this pain out of me. Lord, Jehovah, if you won’t give me back my wife, give me peace. Give it to me---give it to me….give it to me. Give me peace. I’m confused. I’m mad at you. I love you Lord but I’m mad at you. I’ve always called you Jesus & you’ve always called me Sonny—what should I do?”
His prayer is so loud that a neighbor calls Sonny’s mother to complain about the noise. “That’s my son” she explains. “Ever since he was a little- bitty boy sometimes he talks to the Lord & sometimes he yells at the Lord. And tonight he happens to be yelling at Him.”
Let’s be frank; that sounds a little odd to us doesn’t it? It sounds irreverent & entirely inappropriate. Well, maybe not. There is such a thing as confrontational prayer. This kind of prayer occurs when I bring my questions, doubts, disagreements & even my complaints directly to God. Sometime its prayer spoken out of tortured complaint, out of suffering or outrageous anger in the absence of justice.
You may say “I would never talk to God in anything less than soft respectful tones. Who am I to Haul God to court?” Excellent points. The prayer I’m talking about will revolutionize your prayer life as well as your relationship with God. You see, in prayer God wants us to engage Him. It’s almost as if he’s saying “Talk to me, engage me, respond to me. Anything is better than the silent treatment & the cold shoulder. Argue, rant, rave, stew, disagree, but do something. Or worse, don’t come to me with pious words that are empty & fake.”
Prayer is a personal & passionate conversation with God. It’s an exercise that involves both of you—the real you—not the pretend you, the false you.
John
By John Stallings
…….My God My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mark 15:34
……..The kingdom of heaven suffers violence & the violent take it by force.Matt.11:12
Confronting God? Arguing with God? I have been wrestling with this all week. We have been taught that prayer is solemn & respectful haven’t we? We fold our hands, & close our eyes & think good thoughts about God & say pretty words to Him. Sad to say we’ve too often been told that prayer is “getting stuff from God” when in reality prayer is “getting in touch with God.”
I went to see a movie a few years ago called “The Apostle.” Robert Duvall plays the part of Sonny, a ragged, hot-tempered, womanizing evangelist. Mostly because of his arrogance Sonny loses his church & his wife. His wife is leaving him for his youth pastor. Mercy! Angry & broken Sonny moves back into his mother’s house where he shouts, paces & hollers to God from an upstairs window.
Somebody, I say somebody has taken my wife. They stole my church….I don’t mean to yell at you but I’m mad at you. I can’t take it. Give me a sign Lord. Blow this pain out of me. Lord, Jehovah, if you won’t give me back my wife, give me peace. Give it to me---give it to me….give it to me. Give me peace. I’m confused. I’m mad at you. I love you Lord but I’m mad at you. I’ve always called you Jesus & you’ve always called me Sonny—what should I do?”
His prayer is so loud that a neighbor calls Sonny’s mother to complain about the noise. “That’s my son” she explains. “Ever since he was a little- bitty boy sometimes he talks to the Lord & sometimes he yells at the Lord. And tonight he happens to be yelling at Him.”
Let’s be frank; that sounds a little odd to us doesn’t it? It sounds irreverent & entirely inappropriate. Well, maybe not. There is such a thing as confrontational prayer. This kind of prayer occurs when I bring my questions, doubts, disagreements & even my complaints directly to God. Sometime its prayer spoken out of tortured complaint, out of suffering or outrageous anger in the absence of justice.
You may say “I would never talk to God in anything less than soft respectful tones. Who am I to Haul God to court?” Excellent points. The prayer I’m talking about will revolutionize your prayer life as well as your relationship with God. You see, in prayer God wants us to engage Him. It’s almost as if he’s saying “Talk to me, engage me, respond to me. Anything is better than the silent treatment & the cold shoulder. Argue, rant, rave, stew, disagree, but do something. Or worse, don’t come to me with pious words that are empty & fake.”
Prayer is a personal & passionate conversation with God. It’s an exercise that involves both of you—the real you—not the pretend you, the false you.
John
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Ten words that will change your life
By John Stallings
Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
Up until 1954 people thought man could never run the mile faster than four minutes. Then at the British Olympics Roger Bannister broke the mile in 3.59 seconds. After that many people ran the mile in under four minutes. Why was this? Had mans body changed in some way? Had new techniques made it possible for the mile to be run faster? No!
What had happened was; once the barrier was broken people believed it could be done so they started doing it. Faith is a powerful force. If we believe in humanity, we can have what man is capable of. Man has accomplished many awesome things but he’s limited. If we place our trust in God, we get what God is capable of & certainly nothing is impossible with Him.
EPH. 3:20 says---NOW UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN US….
· Beethoven was told by his doctors that he would eventually go stone deaf; he replied “I will grab life by the throat.” Consequently he went on to write his 9th sympathy completely deaf.
· During the 2nd World War there was a group called the Seabees. They did many heroic deeds at sea and the motto written on their caps was “Can do.”
These were things done depending totally on the ingenuity and heroic courage of a few men. They never boasted –“We Can do all things,” just “Can-do.”
Paul tells us that we “can do all things,” not in our own power but through Jesus Christ.
Before we look at what faith is, let’s look at what faith isn’t.
1. FAITH ISN’T A FEELING.
Faith isn’t a warm feeling that springs out of our emotions. Some people think when they get blessed & have goose bumps; that’s faith, but it isn’t.
2. FAITH ISN’T A FACT.
Faith isn’t a list of truths like the Apostles creed or some other list of theological beliefs. As far as facts are concerned, James tells us that the Devil has all the facts about God & knows who He is & what He can do but Satan can’t be said to have faith.
3. FAITH ISN’T FANTASY.
Faith isn’t moving in the misty-moonlight & denying reality. I’ve seen people all stopped-up, coughing & sneezing, their nose running, burning up with fever but if you asked them about it, they’d deny they were sick. They just can’t admit they have the flu. This isn’t faith, its denial & “denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”
4. FAITH ISN’T A FORCE.
Faith isn’t an energy source, an electrical field or chemical compound. Faith isn’t a routine we memorize or even prayers we can learn by rote.
In Romans 4:18 Paul said—While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
5. FAITH ISN’T A FORMULA.
What is faith?
Faith is a relationship of trust!
Faith is saying with the Psalmist—The Lord is my Shepard.
Faith is saying with Timothy—I know whom I have believed…
· In Romans 12:3 -We read that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
· In Matthew 6:30 Jesus speaks of “Little faith.”
· In Matthew 8:10 Jesus speaks of “great faith.”
· In Matthew 4:40 Jesus told His disciples they had “No faith.”
· In Romans 4:20 we’re told that Abraham was “Strong in faith.”
· In Acts 6:5 we’re told that Stephen was “Full of faith.”
· In Romans 14:1 we’re told of people with “weak faith.”
· In 2 Thess.1:3 Paul tells us of “growing faith.”
· James 2:5 speaks of people who are “Rich in faith.”
· James 2:22 speaks of “Perfect faith.”
· In 2 Peter 1:1 we’re introduced to “Precious faith.”
· In Matt. 21:22 we’re told we’ll receive all that we believe for when we pray.
· Mark 9:23 tells us—If we abide in Him & His words abide in us, we’ll ask what we will & it shall be done.
· In John 16:24 we’re told -- if we ask anything in Jesus’ name we’ll receive it.
· In Mark 11:22 we’re told to – “Have faith in God.”
Let’s look at four principles that will help us as we move toward making His promises real in our lives.
1. EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD.
Raise the level of your expectation. Psalm 62:5 says—My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.
It’s so easy to become negative and start expecting the worst of every situation.
· I heard a story about a paratrooper who was making his first jump from a plane. His instructor told him to count to ten and pull the first rip-cord. Then if the shoot didn’t open, pull the second safety cord and the shoot would open. Then he told him there’d be a truck waiting to take him back to camp when he landed.
The young fellow did as he was instructed and jumped out of the plane, counted to ten and pulled the first cord. Nothing happened. So he pulled the second cord and again the shoot didn’t open. He was heard to say as he zoomed by the other paratroopers, “And I’ll bet that truck won’t even be waiting for me either.”
It’s so easy to expect the worst but God wants us to raise the level of our expectation.
· A man was at a minister’s convention conversing with a group of well-to-do preachers when his six year old son came up & pulled on his pant legs & asked, “Daddy, give me a penny.” No matter how much the dad tried to push his son away he kept coming back asking his dad for a penny. Finally after taking all he could stand, the father took his son aside & said “Son, you’ve humiliated me in front of my friends. Don’t ever ask me for a penny again under any circumstance. From now on you ask me for a dollar boy. My friends will get the idea I’m broke or stingy.”
I believe the one who sits upon heavens throne is embarrassed when His children slink around asking for spiritual pennies when He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
· A six year old girl asked her dad one day to build her a doll house. The father was busy reading his newspaper so he waved the little girl away.
Not willing to be denied, the girl kept asking her dad to please build her a doll house in the back yard. Finally the dad, tired of being interrupted told his daughter that he’d build her a doll house if she’d leave him alone.
About an hour later the father glanced toward the backyard & saw a surprising sight. His daughter was dragging all her dolls into one corner of the backyard. She had so much stuff in the corner of the yard it looked like she was going to have a yard sale.
The dad called his wife in and showed her what their girl was doing and asked about it. His wife said, “Honey, you told her you’d build her a doll house so she’s getting all her doll paraphernalia into the corner of the yard so they can move in.” That dad hardly let his coat touch his back until he’d gone & bought the materials & built that doll house. He wasn’t going to let his daughter believe in him that much & disappoint her.
Just as that dad treasured his daughter’s faith in his word, God is pleased when He sees that we trust Him & take Him at His word. As a matter of fact, you’ll never find a better definition of faith than—Taking God at His word.
· Does His Word say He can save? Then He can save.
· Does His word say He can heal? Then He can heal.
· That’s what faith is all about.
There’s a distinct possibility that God sometimes gets bored!
He’s sitting up in heaven on His throne, sort of twiddling His thumbs & yawning. He asks, “Angels, have any requests come up today?” They look at Him & say,” No Lord, not much, mostly little things. Oh yes, here’s a request that just came up. “God bless my cool aide & my hot dog.” God says is that all?”
“Yes God, that’s about it the angel says.” Oh wait, here comes another one, “Lord bless Johnny. He’s going to the store.” God says, “Go on Johnny, go to the store you’ll be alright son, stay on the sidewalk & cross with the light.” “Anything else angels?” About that time one of the angels says “Lord you better come over here & look at this.”
I see Jesus rise from sitting at the right hand of God. I see Him walk over to the banister of Glory & gaze down at the earth. He looks & looks again, & rubs His eyes. He says, “Angels are my eyes deceiving me? Or is that really what I’m seeing?” The angels say, “No God you’re seeing right. That’s three boys getting ready to trust you in a fiery furnace.” If I’m reading right, Jesus jumped over the portico of Glory & stepped onto the starry stairway from heaven to earth. He doesn’t stop until He gets to earth, He doesn’t stop until He gets to the furnace, He doesn’t stop then either, He jumps into the fire with the three boys for the wicked king said, “Did we not cast three men in that fire?” They said “yes we did.” “Well” says the king “I see four men now & one of them looks exactly like the Son of God.” God responded when He found someone who would trust Him & expect great things from Him.
2. SET GREAT STRATEGIES AND MAKE GREAT PLANS.
We tend to flounder when we don’t have a plan. God has a plan but often we tend to panic- panic isn’t a plan.
· A Preacher started church years ago in Alabama. Attendance went to about seventy-five the first few months but on the churches one year anniversary, it had dwindled down to about the same amount of people they started with. It looked like the church was destined to die. One Sunday the pastor arrived at the church & found about a dozen letters lying on the alter, all telling him the same thing; “that the church was slowly dying & they just couldn’t stay & watch it die.” The pastor put his family in his car & left the church. He drove to I-65 in Birmingham & parked under the bridge. As he sat there weeping, he started praying & asking God to let the bridge fall on him & take him home to glory. His wife heard the prayer he was mumbling & said, “hey wait a minute, what did you say? Did you ask God to let the bridge fall on you? Your wife & kids are in this car & we don’t want to be included in that prayer.” Instead of going to work on a plan, he did what a lot of people do when faced with failure, he panicked. The story goes that this suicidal pastor got over his depression, stuck it out & in time saw that church grow into a great work for God.
God told Jeremiah in 29:11—FOR I KNOW THE THOUGHTS I THINK TOWARD YOU, SAITH THE LORD, THOUGHTS OF PEACE AND NOT OF EVIL TO GIVE YOU AN EXPECTED END.
Isn’t it great to know that God always has plans for us & they’re great & exciting plans?
A. Ask Adam if God had a plan. When the guilty pair sinned in the Garden, God immediately made clothing for them of animal skins, which was symbolic of the blood sacrifice that would someday be made on Calvary.
b. Ask Abraham if God had a plan. Actually when Adam sinned, God didn’t react hastily but waited for this seventy-five year old man who was “as good as dead” reproductively but he “staggered not at the promise of God” to give him ancestry.
c. Jesus presented His disciples with a great plan to reach the world in Acts 1:8. Think about telling a little group of people to go & teach all nations. They had no cars, planes, newspapers, radio, television or computers but they followed the plan. It was a simple plan to start at home & move out from there but history tells us it’s exactly what they did with great success. Working hard at something with no God-given strategy might very well be just doing more of the wrong thing.
d. Ask Noah if God had a plan. God told him with great detail how to build an ark when neither he nor anyone else had even heard of one. He worked 120 years on a big boat hundreds of miles from water because it was going to rain & it had never rained before. But when the rain finally came, Noah & his family went on board the Ark & the door was shut. What a plan!
e. Ask Isaac if God had a plan. Here was Abraham’s promised son who God was asking to be offered as a sacrifice to Him. Isaac was bound & lain on that alter, & before he knew what was happening a gleaming knife was in the air above his head. But God stayed the hand of Abraham & pointed out a ram in a thicket close by that was to be used in place of his beloved son. Isaac can talk to you about God’s plans.
F. Ask Jacob if God had a plan. Jacob could be compared to a modern day Las Vegas gambler. For much of his life he was styling & profiling. Twenty years after all his swindling, deceiving, & beating his brother out of his birthright, Jacob was heading to a rendezvous with his angry revenge- bent brother Esau. But that night Jacob had a dream & saw a latter descending from earth to heaven. He met the pre-incarnate Christ & wrestled with Him until almost daybreak. That night Jacob not only received a blessing but God changed his name from supplanter to “Prince with God.” We find him in Hebrews eleven still leaning on his staff but he was worshipping God as he died.
g. Ask Elijah if God had a plan. Because of the famine & drought brought about by his prayers, he was sent to the brook Cherith to drink of the water & be fed by Ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to a widow in Zarapath to be sustained for three years by a miracle supply of meal & oil.
h. Ask the disciples in the storm if Jesus had a plan. They were sacred to death & woke Jesus who stood & turned the angry sea into a placid sheet of glass.
I. We recently celebrated the resurrection of Christ. Just when Jewish hate & Roman power had done its worst, a stone turned in the garden & Jesus stepped out with the battering-ram of omnipotence to be alive for evermore.
j. Ask Joseph if God had a plan when he’d been thrown in jail on a fake rape charge. It took a while but when the plan came into fruition it was a plan that catapulted him to second in command in all of Egypt & saved the world from starvation.
3. God gave Moses a plan in wilderness in Exodus. 14:13. It consisted of five commands;
1. Fear not
2. Stand still
3. See salvation of Lord
4. Hold your peace
5. Go forward.
God always has a plan.
Not only should we expect great things, execute great strategies, we should;
3. PRAY GREAT PRAYERS.
1 John 5: 14-15—And this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us: and if we know the He hear us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
Listen to 2 Chronicles 7:14---if my people which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.
Did you notice this is a national prayer? God is saying that if His people will get themselves right and pray, things can change in our nation.
In Luke 18:1 Jesus said --men ought always to pray and not faint or stop. Jesus makes a strong statement here. Ought is a strong word. He didn’t saw men should pray, or could pray or might pray. He said MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY!
· Jesus prayed a great prayer in John chapter seventeen when He asked God not to take His people out of the world but to make them one & let them win the world.
· Paul prayed many great prayers not the least of which was his prayer --to know Christ, the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His suffering.
· Jabez prayed a great prayer when he asked God to bless him indeed & enlarge his coast.
· I love the story of a man named Mr. Graham in Charlotte, N.C. He was a farmer & had a great burden for his area. The kids of that area were running wild & even his son was driving his old car through the community terrorizing the peace loving townsfolk. No doubt about it, a revival was needed.
Mr. Graham called some of the men in town asking them to come to an all night prayer meeting at his farm. After having prayed all night, the men assembled on the front porch of the house & started sharing what God had said during their prayers.
Each man shared essentially the same thing & that was they needed a city- wide revival. They agreed that they should call the old Jewish evangelist Mordicia Ham. Mr. Graham went to the phone & placed a call to the evangelist. They needed a revival & they needed it quick. In the conversation, Ham told them he was supposed to go to Chicago but he’d pray about coming to Charlotte.
Ham asked Graham to hold the phone for a moment or two while he asked God about it. The evangelist cupped his hand over the phone & said “God they’re calling me in Charlotte but I’m supposed to go to Chicago, what should I do, & hurry up God its long distance.” Ham got a word from God, came back on the phone to let the Charlotte men know he’d be there.
On the first night of the meeting, Mr. Graham’s son & his best friend Grady knelt at the alter for salvation. By the way, in case you haven’t already guessed it, Mr. Graham’s son was Billy Graham, a man about whom its been said “He put one foot on America, the other foot on Great Brittan & drew them both to God.”
That miracle happened because Christians prayed great prayers that moved God & man.
· Daniel prayed & lion’s mouths were locked.
· Joshua prayed & the Sun stood still.
· Elijah prayed & the heavens closed & there was no rain.
· Elisha prayed & a boy was brought back from the dead.
· King Hezekiah prayed & his life was extended 15 years.
· Hannah prayed & was given a son who was spiritual advisor for two kings.
· Jesus prayed & received strength to endure the cross & redeem mankind.
· Paul prayed & an earthquake hit the prison he was in setting him free.
· 120 prayed & Pentecostal fire fell in a dusty upper room.
· I’ll close by relating the true story of a little church that had been destroyed twice by storms. The pastor went to the bank & was told that the only way they could borrow more money was to get the church folk to sign papers mortgaging their homes. The people were willing to do this so money was acquired to start rebuilding the church. As the people worked, one of the most loved men of the church fell from the roof onto the concrete floor & was killed instantly.
The pastor began to wonder where God was in all this. The next day he told his wife he’d be gone most of the day. He got in his car & just drove, praying & communing with God & ending up about one hundred miles from home in a small country town. He stopped at a little mom & pop grocery store & went in for a coke & crackers. Just inside the door sat a black woman. She looked at him & said “I know who you are, I saw you last night in a dream. I don’t know what this means but God told me to tell you that He still had a hand-full of meal & a cruise of oil.”
The pastor walked out, got in his car & drove home. As he walked in the phone was ringing. It was a local businessman & he asked the preacher to please come to his home. The pastor rushed across town to visit this man he’d never met. The man met him at the door with tears in his eyes. After a short conversation, the businessman handed the preacher a check for $50,000 dollars & told him God wouldn’t let him sleep until he’d given the money. He added that God had instructed him to rebuild the church & when more money was needed to let him know. He said, “I’ll never be able to rest again until this project is complete.”
Be encouraged today my friend. Heaven isn’t on welfare & the angels aren’t in wheelchairs.
Listen to what God says in Isaiah 43:1 ………do not fear for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine.
John
By John Stallings
Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
Up until 1954 people thought man could never run the mile faster than four minutes. Then at the British Olympics Roger Bannister broke the mile in 3.59 seconds. After that many people ran the mile in under four minutes. Why was this? Had mans body changed in some way? Had new techniques made it possible for the mile to be run faster? No!
What had happened was; once the barrier was broken people believed it could be done so they started doing it. Faith is a powerful force. If we believe in humanity, we can have what man is capable of. Man has accomplished many awesome things but he’s limited. If we place our trust in God, we get what God is capable of & certainly nothing is impossible with Him.
EPH. 3:20 says---NOW UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN US….
· Beethoven was told by his doctors that he would eventually go stone deaf; he replied “I will grab life by the throat.” Consequently he went on to write his 9th sympathy completely deaf.
· During the 2nd World War there was a group called the Seabees. They did many heroic deeds at sea and the motto written on their caps was “Can do.”
These were things done depending totally on the ingenuity and heroic courage of a few men. They never boasted –“We Can do all things,” just “Can-do.”
Paul tells us that we “can do all things,” not in our own power but through Jesus Christ.
Before we look at what faith is, let’s look at what faith isn’t.
1. FAITH ISN’T A FEELING.
Faith isn’t a warm feeling that springs out of our emotions. Some people think when they get blessed & have goose bumps; that’s faith, but it isn’t.
2. FAITH ISN’T A FACT.
Faith isn’t a list of truths like the Apostles creed or some other list of theological beliefs. As far as facts are concerned, James tells us that the Devil has all the facts about God & knows who He is & what He can do but Satan can’t be said to have faith.
3. FAITH ISN’T FANTASY.
Faith isn’t moving in the misty-moonlight & denying reality. I’ve seen people all stopped-up, coughing & sneezing, their nose running, burning up with fever but if you asked them about it, they’d deny they were sick. They just can’t admit they have the flu. This isn’t faith, its denial & “denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”
4. FAITH ISN’T A FORCE.
Faith isn’t an energy source, an electrical field or chemical compound. Faith isn’t a routine we memorize or even prayers we can learn by rote.
In Romans 4:18 Paul said—While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
5. FAITH ISN’T A FORMULA.
What is faith?
Faith is a relationship of trust!
Faith is saying with the Psalmist—The Lord is my Shepard.
Faith is saying with Timothy—I know whom I have believed…
· In Romans 12:3 -We read that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
· In Matthew 6:30 Jesus speaks of “Little faith.”
· In Matthew 8:10 Jesus speaks of “great faith.”
· In Matthew 4:40 Jesus told His disciples they had “No faith.”
· In Romans 4:20 we’re told that Abraham was “Strong in faith.”
· In Acts 6:5 we’re told that Stephen was “Full of faith.”
· In Romans 14:1 we’re told of people with “weak faith.”
· In 2 Thess.1:3 Paul tells us of “growing faith.”
· James 2:5 speaks of people who are “Rich in faith.”
· James 2:22 speaks of “Perfect faith.”
· In 2 Peter 1:1 we’re introduced to “Precious faith.”
· In Matt. 21:22 we’re told we’ll receive all that we believe for when we pray.
· Mark 9:23 tells us—If we abide in Him & His words abide in us, we’ll ask what we will & it shall be done.
· In John 16:24 we’re told -- if we ask anything in Jesus’ name we’ll receive it.
· In Mark 11:22 we’re told to – “Have faith in God.”
Let’s look at four principles that will help us as we move toward making His promises real in our lives.
1. EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD.
Raise the level of your expectation. Psalm 62:5 says—My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.
It’s so easy to become negative and start expecting the worst of every situation.
· I heard a story about a paratrooper who was making his first jump from a plane. His instructor told him to count to ten and pull the first rip-cord. Then if the shoot didn’t open, pull the second safety cord and the shoot would open. Then he told him there’d be a truck waiting to take him back to camp when he landed.
The young fellow did as he was instructed and jumped out of the plane, counted to ten and pulled the first cord. Nothing happened. So he pulled the second cord and again the shoot didn’t open. He was heard to say as he zoomed by the other paratroopers, “And I’ll bet that truck won’t even be waiting for me either.”
It’s so easy to expect the worst but God wants us to raise the level of our expectation.
· A man was at a minister’s convention conversing with a group of well-to-do preachers when his six year old son came up & pulled on his pant legs & asked, “Daddy, give me a penny.” No matter how much the dad tried to push his son away he kept coming back asking his dad for a penny. Finally after taking all he could stand, the father took his son aside & said “Son, you’ve humiliated me in front of my friends. Don’t ever ask me for a penny again under any circumstance. From now on you ask me for a dollar boy. My friends will get the idea I’m broke or stingy.”
I believe the one who sits upon heavens throne is embarrassed when His children slink around asking for spiritual pennies when He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
· A six year old girl asked her dad one day to build her a doll house. The father was busy reading his newspaper so he waved the little girl away.
Not willing to be denied, the girl kept asking her dad to please build her a doll house in the back yard. Finally the dad, tired of being interrupted told his daughter that he’d build her a doll house if she’d leave him alone.
About an hour later the father glanced toward the backyard & saw a surprising sight. His daughter was dragging all her dolls into one corner of the backyard. She had so much stuff in the corner of the yard it looked like she was going to have a yard sale.
The dad called his wife in and showed her what their girl was doing and asked about it. His wife said, “Honey, you told her you’d build her a doll house so she’s getting all her doll paraphernalia into the corner of the yard so they can move in.” That dad hardly let his coat touch his back until he’d gone & bought the materials & built that doll house. He wasn’t going to let his daughter believe in him that much & disappoint her.
Just as that dad treasured his daughter’s faith in his word, God is pleased when He sees that we trust Him & take Him at His word. As a matter of fact, you’ll never find a better definition of faith than—Taking God at His word.
· Does His Word say He can save? Then He can save.
· Does His word say He can heal? Then He can heal.
· That’s what faith is all about.
There’s a distinct possibility that God sometimes gets bored!
He’s sitting up in heaven on His throne, sort of twiddling His thumbs & yawning. He asks, “Angels, have any requests come up today?” They look at Him & say,” No Lord, not much, mostly little things. Oh yes, here’s a request that just came up. “God bless my cool aide & my hot dog.” God says is that all?”
“Yes God, that’s about it the angel says.” Oh wait, here comes another one, “Lord bless Johnny. He’s going to the store.” God says, “Go on Johnny, go to the store you’ll be alright son, stay on the sidewalk & cross with the light.” “Anything else angels?” About that time one of the angels says “Lord you better come over here & look at this.”
I see Jesus rise from sitting at the right hand of God. I see Him walk over to the banister of Glory & gaze down at the earth. He looks & looks again, & rubs His eyes. He says, “Angels are my eyes deceiving me? Or is that really what I’m seeing?” The angels say, “No God you’re seeing right. That’s three boys getting ready to trust you in a fiery furnace.” If I’m reading right, Jesus jumped over the portico of Glory & stepped onto the starry stairway from heaven to earth. He doesn’t stop until He gets to earth, He doesn’t stop until He gets to the furnace, He doesn’t stop then either, He jumps into the fire with the three boys for the wicked king said, “Did we not cast three men in that fire?” They said “yes we did.” “Well” says the king “I see four men now & one of them looks exactly like the Son of God.” God responded when He found someone who would trust Him & expect great things from Him.
2. SET GREAT STRATEGIES AND MAKE GREAT PLANS.
We tend to flounder when we don’t have a plan. God has a plan but often we tend to panic- panic isn’t a plan.
· A Preacher started church years ago in Alabama. Attendance went to about seventy-five the first few months but on the churches one year anniversary, it had dwindled down to about the same amount of people they started with. It looked like the church was destined to die. One Sunday the pastor arrived at the church & found about a dozen letters lying on the alter, all telling him the same thing; “that the church was slowly dying & they just couldn’t stay & watch it die.” The pastor put his family in his car & left the church. He drove to I-65 in Birmingham & parked under the bridge. As he sat there weeping, he started praying & asking God to let the bridge fall on him & take him home to glory. His wife heard the prayer he was mumbling & said, “hey wait a minute, what did you say? Did you ask God to let the bridge fall on you? Your wife & kids are in this car & we don’t want to be included in that prayer.” Instead of going to work on a plan, he did what a lot of people do when faced with failure, he panicked. The story goes that this suicidal pastor got over his depression, stuck it out & in time saw that church grow into a great work for God.
God told Jeremiah in 29:11—FOR I KNOW THE THOUGHTS I THINK TOWARD YOU, SAITH THE LORD, THOUGHTS OF PEACE AND NOT OF EVIL TO GIVE YOU AN EXPECTED END.
Isn’t it great to know that God always has plans for us & they’re great & exciting plans?
A. Ask Adam if God had a plan. When the guilty pair sinned in the Garden, God immediately made clothing for them of animal skins, which was symbolic of the blood sacrifice that would someday be made on Calvary.
b. Ask Abraham if God had a plan. Actually when Adam sinned, God didn’t react hastily but waited for this seventy-five year old man who was “as good as dead” reproductively but he “staggered not at the promise of God” to give him ancestry.
c. Jesus presented His disciples with a great plan to reach the world in Acts 1:8. Think about telling a little group of people to go & teach all nations. They had no cars, planes, newspapers, radio, television or computers but they followed the plan. It was a simple plan to start at home & move out from there but history tells us it’s exactly what they did with great success. Working hard at something with no God-given strategy might very well be just doing more of the wrong thing.
d. Ask Noah if God had a plan. God told him with great detail how to build an ark when neither he nor anyone else had even heard of one. He worked 120 years on a big boat hundreds of miles from water because it was going to rain & it had never rained before. But when the rain finally came, Noah & his family went on board the Ark & the door was shut. What a plan!
e. Ask Isaac if God had a plan. Here was Abraham’s promised son who God was asking to be offered as a sacrifice to Him. Isaac was bound & lain on that alter, & before he knew what was happening a gleaming knife was in the air above his head. But God stayed the hand of Abraham & pointed out a ram in a thicket close by that was to be used in place of his beloved son. Isaac can talk to you about God’s plans.
F. Ask Jacob if God had a plan. Jacob could be compared to a modern day Las Vegas gambler. For much of his life he was styling & profiling. Twenty years after all his swindling, deceiving, & beating his brother out of his birthright, Jacob was heading to a rendezvous with his angry revenge- bent brother Esau. But that night Jacob had a dream & saw a latter descending from earth to heaven. He met the pre-incarnate Christ & wrestled with Him until almost daybreak. That night Jacob not only received a blessing but God changed his name from supplanter to “Prince with God.” We find him in Hebrews eleven still leaning on his staff but he was worshipping God as he died.
g. Ask Elijah if God had a plan. Because of the famine & drought brought about by his prayers, he was sent to the brook Cherith to drink of the water & be fed by Ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to a widow in Zarapath to be sustained for three years by a miracle supply of meal & oil.
h. Ask the disciples in the storm if Jesus had a plan. They were sacred to death & woke Jesus who stood & turned the angry sea into a placid sheet of glass.
I. We recently celebrated the resurrection of Christ. Just when Jewish hate & Roman power had done its worst, a stone turned in the garden & Jesus stepped out with the battering-ram of omnipotence to be alive for evermore.
j. Ask Joseph if God had a plan when he’d been thrown in jail on a fake rape charge. It took a while but when the plan came into fruition it was a plan that catapulted him to second in command in all of Egypt & saved the world from starvation.
3. God gave Moses a plan in wilderness in Exodus. 14:13. It consisted of five commands;
1. Fear not
2. Stand still
3. See salvation of Lord
4. Hold your peace
5. Go forward.
God always has a plan.
Not only should we expect great things, execute great strategies, we should;
3. PRAY GREAT PRAYERS.
1 John 5: 14-15—And this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us: and if we know the He hear us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
Listen to 2 Chronicles 7:14---if my people which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.
Did you notice this is a national prayer? God is saying that if His people will get themselves right and pray, things can change in our nation.
In Luke 18:1 Jesus said --men ought always to pray and not faint or stop. Jesus makes a strong statement here. Ought is a strong word. He didn’t saw men should pray, or could pray or might pray. He said MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY!
· Jesus prayed a great prayer in John chapter seventeen when He asked God not to take His people out of the world but to make them one & let them win the world.
· Paul prayed many great prayers not the least of which was his prayer --to know Christ, the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His suffering.
· Jabez prayed a great prayer when he asked God to bless him indeed & enlarge his coast.
· I love the story of a man named Mr. Graham in Charlotte, N.C. He was a farmer & had a great burden for his area. The kids of that area were running wild & even his son was driving his old car through the community terrorizing the peace loving townsfolk. No doubt about it, a revival was needed.
Mr. Graham called some of the men in town asking them to come to an all night prayer meeting at his farm. After having prayed all night, the men assembled on the front porch of the house & started sharing what God had said during their prayers.
Each man shared essentially the same thing & that was they needed a city- wide revival. They agreed that they should call the old Jewish evangelist Mordicia Ham. Mr. Graham went to the phone & placed a call to the evangelist. They needed a revival & they needed it quick. In the conversation, Ham told them he was supposed to go to Chicago but he’d pray about coming to Charlotte.
Ham asked Graham to hold the phone for a moment or two while he asked God about it. The evangelist cupped his hand over the phone & said “God they’re calling me in Charlotte but I’m supposed to go to Chicago, what should I do, & hurry up God its long distance.” Ham got a word from God, came back on the phone to let the Charlotte men know he’d be there.
On the first night of the meeting, Mr. Graham’s son & his best friend Grady knelt at the alter for salvation. By the way, in case you haven’t already guessed it, Mr. Graham’s son was Billy Graham, a man about whom its been said “He put one foot on America, the other foot on Great Brittan & drew them both to God.”
That miracle happened because Christians prayed great prayers that moved God & man.
· Daniel prayed & lion’s mouths were locked.
· Joshua prayed & the Sun stood still.
· Elijah prayed & the heavens closed & there was no rain.
· Elisha prayed & a boy was brought back from the dead.
· King Hezekiah prayed & his life was extended 15 years.
· Hannah prayed & was given a son who was spiritual advisor for two kings.
· Jesus prayed & received strength to endure the cross & redeem mankind.
· Paul prayed & an earthquake hit the prison he was in setting him free.
· 120 prayed & Pentecostal fire fell in a dusty upper room.
· I’ll close by relating the true story of a little church that had been destroyed twice by storms. The pastor went to the bank & was told that the only way they could borrow more money was to get the church folk to sign papers mortgaging their homes. The people were willing to do this so money was acquired to start rebuilding the church. As the people worked, one of the most loved men of the church fell from the roof onto the concrete floor & was killed instantly.
The pastor began to wonder where God was in all this. The next day he told his wife he’d be gone most of the day. He got in his car & just drove, praying & communing with God & ending up about one hundred miles from home in a small country town. He stopped at a little mom & pop grocery store & went in for a coke & crackers. Just inside the door sat a black woman. She looked at him & said “I know who you are, I saw you last night in a dream. I don’t know what this means but God told me to tell you that He still had a hand-full of meal & a cruise of oil.”
The pastor walked out, got in his car & drove home. As he walked in the phone was ringing. It was a local businessman & he asked the preacher to please come to his home. The pastor rushed across town to visit this man he’d never met. The man met him at the door with tears in his eyes. After a short conversation, the businessman handed the preacher a check for $50,000 dollars & told him God wouldn’t let him sleep until he’d given the money. He added that God had instructed him to rebuild the church & when more money was needed to let him know. He said, “I’ll never be able to rest again until this project is complete.”
Be encouraged today my friend. Heaven isn’t on welfare & the angels aren’t in wheelchairs.
Listen to what God says in Isaiah 43:1 ………do not fear for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine.
John
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Pastoral search report
Adam: Good man but problems with his wife. There’s a bad story out that they enjoyed nude walking in the woods.
Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years—no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
Abraham: Though there was a wife-swapping story making the rounds, he never actually slept with another man’s wife. But he did offer to share his wife with another man.
Joseph: Big thinker-big dreamer—has a prison record.
Moses: A modest & meek man but poor communication skills—even sometimes stutters.
David: He looked good until an ugly affair was uncovered with his neighbor’s wife.
Solomon: great preacher but parsonage would never hold all his wives.
Elijah: Prone to panic attacks, depression & breaks under pressure.
Elisha: Reported to have lived with a widow at his former church.
Hosea: A tender, loving pastor but our people would blow a fuse when they heard his wife’s occupation.
Deborah: Female
Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, & reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear on the bank of a foreign river.
Isaiah: Very iffy-on the fringe; Claims to have seen angels in the church.
Jonah: Refused God’s call into ministry until forced to obey by getting swallowed by a big fish. Half way through his conversation telling us about getting spit up on the shore we hung up.
Amos: Too backward & unpolished. With some seminary training he might have some promise. Has a hang-up about wealthy people & would fit better in a poor congregation.
John: Says he’s a Baptist but doesn’t dress like one. Strange eater, slept outdoors for months on end, provokes denominational leaders.
Paul: Powerful CEO type leader & fascinating preacher & raconteur. Short on tact, tough on young ministers, harsh & has been known to preach all night.
Jesus: Has had popular times, but once when His church grew to 5,000 He managed to offend them all, dwindling His church down to twelve. Seldom stays in one place long. And of course He’s single.
Judas: Solid references. A steady plodder, conservative. Good connections; Knows how to handle money. We’re inviting him to preach this Sunday. Possibilities here.
This isn't original with me though I rewrote it a bit. If I knew who to give credit to I would.
John
Adam: Good man but problems with his wife. There’s a bad story out that they enjoyed nude walking in the woods.
Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years—no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
Abraham: Though there was a wife-swapping story making the rounds, he never actually slept with another man’s wife. But he did offer to share his wife with another man.
Joseph: Big thinker-big dreamer—has a prison record.
Moses: A modest & meek man but poor communication skills—even sometimes stutters.
David: He looked good until an ugly affair was uncovered with his neighbor’s wife.
Solomon: great preacher but parsonage would never hold all his wives.
Elijah: Prone to panic attacks, depression & breaks under pressure.
Elisha: Reported to have lived with a widow at his former church.
Hosea: A tender, loving pastor but our people would blow a fuse when they heard his wife’s occupation.
Deborah: Female
Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, & reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear on the bank of a foreign river.
Isaiah: Very iffy-on the fringe; Claims to have seen angels in the church.
Jonah: Refused God’s call into ministry until forced to obey by getting swallowed by a big fish. Half way through his conversation telling us about getting spit up on the shore we hung up.
Amos: Too backward & unpolished. With some seminary training he might have some promise. Has a hang-up about wealthy people & would fit better in a poor congregation.
John: Says he’s a Baptist but doesn’t dress like one. Strange eater, slept outdoors for months on end, provokes denominational leaders.
Paul: Powerful CEO type leader & fascinating preacher & raconteur. Short on tact, tough on young ministers, harsh & has been known to preach all night.
Jesus: Has had popular times, but once when His church grew to 5,000 He managed to offend them all, dwindling His church down to twelve. Seldom stays in one place long. And of course He’s single.
Judas: Solid references. A steady plodder, conservative. Good connections; Knows how to handle money. We’re inviting him to preach this Sunday. Possibilities here.
This isn't original with me though I rewrote it a bit. If I knew who to give credit to I would.
John
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