HE knew it was coming and HE allowed it...

psalm 91.1-5 (good news), whoever goes to the LORD for safety and protection can say to HIM, “YOU are my defender and protector. YOU are my GOD; in YOU i trust.”  HE will keep you safe from all hidden danger.  you need not fear.

listen, we fear too much because we trust GOD too little.  the more i trust GOD, the less i’m afraid of things. 

JESUS said, “in the world, you will have tribulation.”  that’s a fact of life.  “but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”  i haven't, but HE has.  JESUS CHRIST has overcome the world.  HE’s got the power.

let me ask you a question about this story in matthew 8.23-27 of the unexpected storm.   do you think that JESUS knew this storm was coming when HE had them get in the boat and set sail?  did HE know in advance the storm was coming?  yes. HE was GOD.  HE knew all things. so if HE knew the storm was coming, why did HE allow it?  if HE knew it in advance, why did HE allow this crisis?  why didn’t HE at least warn those who put their lives in HIS hands? 

because HE wants to teach a truth.  it’s a truth that i have to learn and that you have to learn and it’s a truth that the only way we learn it is by experience. 

i can talk to you all day about it, but the only way you’re going to learn this truth is by experience.  and the truth is this:  CHRIST can be trusted in a crisis.  and the only way you’ll know that is when you go through the crisis and trust HIM.  CHRIST can be trusted in a crisis. 

when you’re going through a trial and when you’re going through a crisis – some of you are heading into one right now, some of you just got out of one, some of you are saying, “when’s the other shoe going to drop?” – you need to remember three basic truths. GOD is always with me, GOD always cares for me, GOD is always in control.

just a thought from the front porch…

many CHRISTians feel inferior…

when should i pray?  james says you can pray whenever you've got a need – a physical need, an emotional need, a material need. no matter what it is you ought to pray. 

then who can pray? 

some people think you have to be a SPIRITual giant to pray and get those kinds of answers.  “i could never pray and see somebody healed” or “i could never pray and see a financial miracle”. many CHRISTians feel inferior.

who can pray?  anyone.

james uses elijah as an illustration.  james 5.17 (niv), elijah was a man just like us.  he prayed earnestly that it wouldn’t rain and it didn’t rain on the land for three and a half years.  he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its crops.

you will find the story over in 1 kings 19. 

this is after the big GOD contest on mt. carmel.  he runs to the other side of the desert and goes through a fit of depression and prays, “GOD, kill me.  i’m so depressed.”  he wasn’t afraid of 400 prophets of baal but he runs from a woman named jezebel. 

now in that passage – the first 10 verses – elijah demonstrated fear, resentment, guilt, anger, loneliness and worry.  now you know why it says, “elijah was a man just like us.”  we have anger, fear, resentment, worry, loneliness.

the lesson of elijah’s life is you don’t have to be perfect to pray.  you don’t have to be perfect to see answers to your prayers.  it’s for ordinary people. 

i kings 18, elijah got alone with GOD and humbled himself praying for rain.  it says he prayed seven times.  he was persistent.  he would not give up.  one day a little cloud formed in the sky and he said, “it's going to be a gusher!”  the rains came and flooded the place.

GOD uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things through prayer.

just a thought from the front porch…

why me, GOD?…

joseph is an example of how you handle it when people hurt you intentionally. joseph was his father's favorite son. all of his brothers got very jealous. they decided to sell their brother into slavery. they told their father he had been killed by a beast. they sell him into slavery and he's taken to egypt. he's sold as a slave in a man's house. the man's wife tries to seduce him. he won't give in so he's accused of rape. he's put in prison and he spends years in prison, dwindling away. i'm sure he was saying, “where is GOD in all of this? what did i do to deserve this?”

if i were joseph i'd be saying, “why me, GOD?” but he was exactly where GOD wanted him to be. GOD was in control and GOD was working through circumstances and situations. HE didn't cause it but HE allowed the brothers to sell him in to slavery. later on, joseph rose to a position of prominence in egypt and there was a great famine. because of his wisdom both egypt and israel were saved. later he came face to face with the very brothers that tried to hurt him.

genesis 50.20 (niv), one of the greatest verses in the bible. joseph says to his brothers, you intended to harm me, but GOD intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

some of you are being hurt right now by bosses, brothers, sisters, employees, by other people. they mean it for bad but GOD means it for good. there are people who are out to destroy you or maybe they don't like you and are trying to get your job. they mean it for bad but GOD is in control and HE means it for good and HE's got a purpose behind every problem.

what is the key to my response then? look past the pain and try to find GOD's purpose behind the pain. some things in life we're never going to know. why do people die at a certain time? i don't know! we all die eventually. why now? i don't know! but GOD has a plan and GOD is a good GOD. HE's in control. look past the pain.

2 corinthians 4.16-17 (ph). this is the reason why we never lose heart... these little troubles (which are really so transitory) are winning for us a permanent, glorious, and solid reward out of all proportion to our pain.

GOD says the temporary problems you are going through right now are minor compared to the reward you're going to be given on the other side for how you handled them.

in the very next verse paul says, “we don't look at the temporary problems we're going through. we keep our eyes on the eternal things, the things that really count. the things that matter.” look past the pain.

just a thought from the front porch…