just wait, HE is working it out…

you need to be patient because GOD is working things out often behind the scenes, things we don’t even see, HE’s at work but we don’t see HIM at work. 

james 5.11b (niv), you have heard of job’s perseverance, and have seen what the LORD finally brought about.  the LORD is full of compassion and mercy. 

GOD was working, all the time that job was not knowing what was going on, what was happening.  GOD was working.  a delay does not mean a denial.  if you’ve been praying for an answer to prayer and you haven’t gotten it, you think GOD doesn’t want to give it to you.  no.  a delay is not a denial. 

we have to learn the difference between “no” and “not yet”.  big difference.  we want and we want it now. but we have to be patient.  GOD is at work, even when we don’t see what’s going on.  GOD was at work in job’s life, even when he didn’t know, “why is this happening to me?” 

story of phillip brooks, a famous pastor of the last century.  one day he was in his office, pacing the floor, frustrated. somebody walked in and saw him and asked, “what's the matter, pastor?”  he said, “i’m in a hurry and GOD isn’t!”

GOD says, “be patient because I’m working things out.”  while i am waiting, GOD is working.  you need to remember that!  your hands may be tied and the situation may be uncontrollable but it is not uncontrollable in GOD’s viewpoint. 

just a thought from the front porch…

GOD has not promised…

2 corinthians 1.9-10 (niv), but this happened so we might not rely on ourselves but on GOD who raises the dead!  HE has delivered us...HE will deliver us ... (and) we have set our hope that HE will continue to deliver us.

so how does GOD deliver us?

HE uses circumstantial deliverance, personal deliverance and the ultimate deliverance, heaven. 

GOD has not promised to remove all of your pain in this world.  GOD has not promised to solve every one of your problems in the way you want them to be solved.  GOD has not promised to keep all of your loved ones alive for the rest of your life.  they will die.  there is pain in the world.  there is sorrow. 

GOD has not promised that everything is going to work out the way you want it to.  this is not heaven; it’s earth.  because we are on earth, there is pain and sorrow and suffering. 

the ultimate deliverance will be one day in heaven where there will be no pain, no sorrow, no suffering, no heartache anymore.  the world hopes for the best but JESUS is your best hope. 

when you think “it’s not happening” you need to realize there is a word for deliverance in the bible.  that word is salvation.  salvation means deliverance.  JESUS is your SAVIOR, your DELIVERER.  if you are saved it means you are delivered.  the ultimate deliverance is heaven.

there is only one way to get to heaven.  JESUS said, i am the way, the truth and the life.  no one comes to the FATHER but by me.  when you’re at a dead-end, JESUS can take that hopeless end and turn it into an endless hope. 

are you at a dead-end?  i invite you to take that problem, that situation, and your own life and give them to JESUS CHRIST.  HE may not deliver you in the way you think, but HE will deliver you if you will trust HIM.  let him to it today.

just a thought from the front porch…

dead-end leads to deliverance…

it takes real faith in GOD to thank HIM in advance.  paul knew this.  but this happened so we might not rely on ourselves but on GOD who raises the dead!  HE has delivered us...HE will deliver us ... (and) we have set our hope that HE will continue to deliver us.  2 corinthians 1.9-10 (niv). 

the purpose of the dead-end is to teach us to trust in GOD.  why does GOD let things get so bad they are out of control, so you can realize you can’t control it?  so HE can force you to learn to trust in HIM instead of trusting on your own ingenuity and cleverness.  that’s the purpose.

what’s the promise?  HE has delivered us, HE will deliver us, and we believe HE will continue to deliver us. 

so how does GOD deliver us?

for one HE uses circumstantial deliverance. 

sometimes GOD miraculously alters the circumstance and the red sea splits.  that will happen many, many times in your life.  but it’s not going to happen all the time.  that’s just one of the ways GOD delivers – changing the circumstance.

GOD also uses personal deliverance. 

HE does not change the circumstance; HE changes you from the inside.  you get a new dream, a new vision, a new attitude, a new perspective.  GOD helps you handle the situation, which does not change but HE changes you. 

many of you have read the writings of corrie ten boom who wrote the hiding place.  when corrie was a young woman, her fiancé broke off the engagement and married somebody else.  she was devastated and she never married.  she went to her father and said, “what do you do when a love has been blocked?  when you want to give love but you can't give it?”  her father, wisely, said, “when your love is blocked, you re-channel it.” 

folks, there are a lot of people who need love in this world.  you don’t hold yourself up in a prison, build up walls, say, “i’m never going to allow anybody to hurt me, because i’m hurt.”  you re-channel the love in a new direction.

just a thought from the front porch…