No More Delay!

Hey Readers!

Have you ever felt like God wasn’t listening to your prayers? Well, so did Job! In Job 21, he talked with some of his very insightful, but completely off based friends, about the incredible storm he was in, and he says to them his problem is not with man, but with God!

Woe! What a thing to profess. In fact, he said in verse 5-6 that it even stunned and scared him to say such a thing. His complaint was that the wicked seemed to prosper, while he suffered enormously.

In preparing for my first sermon in a few weeks, I heard the Holy Spirit saying that many people’s hearts felt the exact same way. You wondered where was God at in your situation? Why has he not answered my prayers, while everyone who has no reference for Him seems to prosper?

God indeed has an answer! It has always been his answer. Are you ready for it? “Those who accept my commands and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and REVEAL myself to each of them.”(John 14:21, NLT)

Regardless of what you may be going through, if you have a relationship with God, He will reveal Himself to you and you are not alone!

You may be saying, that you are loosing heart because you have been waiting so long. My answer to that is, prayer is hard work for those who are broken. When the answer seems delayed, it hurts and we can lose confidence; which can cause us to question the power of our prayers.

However, prayer is powerful, and the enemies strategy is to cause you to doubt what God said is true. There is a story in the Bible that exemplifies what we must do in situations like this. BE PERSISTENT!

Parable of the Persistent Widow:

“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:1-8, KJV)

If an unjust judge can render a just decision, than cant our caring and loving Father react to our persistent faith? God will reveal himself to those who love Him, and Yes! He WILL show up for you!

Reveal in the Greek is emphazino…. Emphazino= is a verb that means fully manifest. It is future tense, voice is active, and mood is indicative. It occurs 814 times in the New Testament (verb).

Future tense= certain occurrence of an event which has not yet happened (faith).

Active voice= represents the subject as the doer or performer of the action.

Mood indicative= simple statement of fact. If an action really occurs, has occurred, or will occur it will be rendered in that mood.

Jesus is the ultimate means through which God reveals Himself! According to the definitions above, Jesus is certain to show up, He will perform the action you ask for (you just have to give it to Him), and that is just fact!

In other words…Jesus is the conduit through which God will reveal himself and He is THE PROMISE!  We can’t be deceived by what Jesus says, so if He said it, than it is fact (as mentioned above) therefore what Jesus reveals to us is the promise, and the promise is received by faith! (Romans 5:16, NLT)

God hears your cries, and He hurts just like you do. The Bible says “in all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” (Isaiah 63:9, KJV)

The difference between that judge and our judge is that God is not annoyed by our request, nor is He waiting for someone to get on His nerves before He brings about justice.

“And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him day and night? Will He [a]defer them and [b]delay help on their behalf?” (Luke 18:7, AMP)

You can receive the promise!

God’s promise is for you, even if you mess up sometimes. “If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.”(Romans 5:14,NLT)

it is our gift and only obtained by faith. “Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith.” (Romans 3:27, NLT)

Therefore, be encouraged and don’t lose faith in what you are believing God for. Faith brings joy, loosing heart brings despair. There is greater for you, and you WILL have it. Be persistent and watch God reveal His glory in your life!

Flustered?

Ever had one of those days when things just don’t seem to work out? No matter how hard you try, nothing you do seems to come together. You work hard, and expect the work to yield more fruit; but the fruit just doesn’t come fast enough in a particular situation? ~OR~ Maybe your labor is not in vain, but when you look for the support of others, you come up short? 

I believe many people are flustered now days.  

People are flustered with the economy, flustered with their spouses, flustered with their finances, flustered with their children, flustered with their bodies, or even flustered with their friends. Why? 

Is it because we have an expectation that far exceeds the norm, or is everything around us really crumbling? I believe that in ALL things we can go to the Word of God for answers, and His Word has much to say about frustration. 

There is a great scripture in the book of Habakkuk that describes frustration. The scripture says… 

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,  yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on vines and the fields yield no food”…….

Doesn’t this sound like a frustrating situation? Fig trees were planted to blossom, vines are supposed to have fruit, fields are worked for food; but this verse describes a situation when none of the expected outcomes were met. 

Some of you may feel like this verse…that job that is not providing the funds you need, that relationship that is not meeting your expectations, or that ministry that is not growing.

But look at the point of view Habakkuk  had. 

He said that although all of these things aren’t meeting my expectation right now….

I will STILL rejoice in the Lord!

He even goes on further to tell the reasons why he will still rejoices in the Lord. He said because I have salvation, #1! Secondly, the Lord is my strength (who can come against the Lord). Third, He (God) makes my feet high for high places (meaning that because He is our victorious banner, we are also victorious and able to over come). 

Frustration is a mind set. We have the ability to change our mindset when we focus on Christ Jesus. He is our salvation, He is our strength, and He makes us victorious. He tells us to give Him our burdens and gives us many scriptures to encourage us to do so. To find some of those scriptures read an article called  Bible Verses For Stress: 20 Helpful Scriptures by Pamela Rose Williams. 

Rick Warren said it best, “Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems.”  

You go through to be taught patience, endurance, and trust. The great thing to know is that we NEVER go through alone. 

So, now the question is when you go through stressful/frustrating times how will you respond? 

Are you still flustered? 

If you are, give your burdens to Jesus and change your perspective. He can turn it all around for your good.