"What's The Problem?"

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world".  John 16:33

There is no question that we are going to have tribulations, trials, problems and difficulties in this life.  Jesus said we would.  But He also said for us to "be of good cheer because He has overcome the world".  The problems aren't necessarily the problem; the problem is that we focus too much on the problems.

 

Do we have problems?  Yes.  Are they sometimes overwhelming?  Yes.  Do they require our attention? Yes.  Should we just ignore them?  No.  The word this morning is that we need to stop spending so much time focusing on our problems and start focusing more on the One who has overcome the problems.

 

Jesus is the ANSWER to all of life's problems.  He always has been and always will be.  We have become so educated that we no longer believe this "simple truth".  We have become so accustomed to looking to the "arm of flesh" for help that we no longer look to Jesus.  We put our trust and hope in doctors, counselors, self-help programs, the legal system, pills and other substances, financial institutions, deliverance programs and anything else that looks like a quick answer.

I am not saying that there isn't a time to use a doctor.  I am not saying that you shouldn't take medicine.  I am not saying that there isn't a time when you should seek out legal help.  The Lord placed them here for our benefit because we do have problems in this world.  But they are not always going to be able to give us the answer or help that we need.  Jesus is the ANSWER.  There is nothing wrong with going to a professional for help.  It is the "mindset" that we have that is the problem-- the mindset that they can help us, but Jesus can't.

Let me remind you this morning that Jesus is still Almighty God.  He is still able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think.  At His name demons flee.  At His command storms cease.  At His word light comes out of darkness.  By His stripes sickness is healed.  By His blood sinners are saved.  He is still the Deliverer.  He still reaches into the pit of despair and lifts out those who are in there.  He still sets captives free.  There is nothing too difficult or impossible for Him.  Sounds to me like He qualifies as the answer to whatever problem we may face.

Have a great day.  Stop focusing so much on your problem and focus on the One who is the answer to the problem-- Jesus.     

"A House Of Prayer?"

"And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves".  Matthew 21:13

When Jesus took a whip in hand and ran the money changers out of the temple, He made a statement-- "My house shall be called the house of prayer".  He did not say My house shall be called a house of holiness, a house of good works, a house of peace, a house of righteousness or a house of religion.  He said it would be called a house of prayer.  His emphasis was on prayer because that is the purpose which His Father had designed for His house.

Presently in the churches prayer is talked about but not practiced very much.  Prayer is given less and less attention to in His house.  When I was growing up, and even later in my Christian walk, prayer meetings were common.  Now they are rare. 

Jesus taught the importance of prayer.  He taught it by word and by example.  He often would retreat from the crowds and pray.  He would often pray all night.  He did nothing in His ministry unless He had seen His Father do it and heard Him say to do it.  Where did this happen?  While He was in prayer.

We wonder why we are so powerless-- when in fact we have residing in us the same power that raise Jesus Christ from the dead.  It is because we are "prayer less".  Churches look more like a "den of thieves" than they do a "house of prayer".  That was true in Jesus' day, and it is true in ours.  Jesus corrected it, confronted it and showed us God's primary purpose for His house.  Are we going to follow His plan or will we keep doing everything else and neglect the main thing He calls His house-- a house of prayer.

This does not mean that there is to be no teaching of His word, no exhortation, no fellowship, etc., but if we neglect the main purpose of His house-- assembling together in united prayer and petitioning the God of Heaven for His will to be accomplished-- then everything else we do will be less affective.

Have a great day.  God's house shall be called a house of prayer.  Have we made it everything else but that? 

"The Waiting"

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord".  Psalm 27:14

Waiting is one of those things that hardly anyone likes to do.  We are by nature impatient people.  Our society doesn't help matters with all its "conveniences".  We can have anything and do anything we want in a fraction of time.  Microwaves save us hours of cooking time.  We have drive-thru restaurants, drive-thru banking, drive-thru pharmacies, drive-thru oil change, even drive-thru wedding chapels.  There is also high-speed internet, TV dinners, digital cameras so there is no more waiting to see what your picture will look like, etc. 

Waiting is a hard thing for most of us to do.  I heard a minister recently say, "The only thing harder than waiting on God is wishing that you had".  Those words speak volumes.  As hard as it is to wait, if you don't wait on the Lord-- on His timing, on His plan, on His way of doing it-- when you see the end result of not waiting, or you see what He had in mind if you had waited, it is even harder to deal with.  It is harder to deal with the consequences, the repercussions, the condemnation, the guilt, the blame, the "mess" that came as a result of not waiting on the Lord. 

Abraham and Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting on the Lord to give them the son He had promised to give them.  They produced an Ishmael and gained nothing but trouble, heartache and grief.  We are still dealing with the results of their actions today.  King Saul decided not to wait for the prophet Samuel to return.  He got impatient that Samuel hadn't returned when he thought he would, so he disobeyed the word of the Lord and did not wait.  He wished he had later because God took the kingdom away from him and his descendants. (1 Samuel 13)

You may be in a place of waiting.  Don't get impatient.  Don't try to take matters into your own hands.  Don't try to make something happen. Trust in the Lord.  Wait patiently for Him.  He will do what He said He would do.  He is faithful as promised.  As hard as it is to wait, it will be much harder if you don't.  If you are having trouble waiting, ask Him for strength and grace to wait.  He will give it to you.

Have a great day.  As hard as it is to wait on the Lord, it is much harder if you don't.   

"The Steppingstone Perspective"

"And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt".  Genesis 45:7,8

More happened to Joseph during his lifetime than happens to most people.  He was loved by his father.  Hated and betrayed by his brothers.  They wanted to kill him but threw him in a pit instead then sold him to slave traders.  He was bought as a slave and made to serve in Potiphar's house.  He was taken from his home and his father living among strangers.  He was tempted by Potiphar's wife and lied on because he would not give in to her lustful desires.  He was thrown into prison and made to suffer in chains.  Sounds like a hard life.  Sounds like there wasn't anything good about it.  It was filled with choices others made for him and not for himself.  At the end of all these hardships he was promoted to the second highest position in Egypt.  He "ruled" the world. 

It wasn't until the end of his trial that he was able to see the whole picture.  God had a purpose for Joseph and though it looked like others were "doing it to him", it was God sending him ahead to be in place for the great task of saving His people.     

Hindsight is often 20/20 but we don't always have the luxury of living in hindsight.  We live in the "here and now".  Because of this all we see is what is happening in the present and we judge our circumstances accordingly.  Often what we see as bad, from God's perspective He sees it as good.  Don't misunderstand, He doesn't call evil good, but He sees the good that He can bring out of it.  Yes, the brothers did an evil thing, but God brought great good out of it.  Often what we see as a "demotion" God sees as a "promotion".  With each new transition-- from his home, into the pit, then into slavery and next into the prison-- Joseph saw demotion.  It looked like he was getting further and further away from God's plan.  But from God's perspective it was like a steppingstone placing him in the exact position and right place.

Don't get discouraged when things aren't going as you planned.  Don't see the negative in it.  Don't look at it as a demotion.  Don't look at it as just another trying circumstance.  Ask the Lord to show it to you from His perspective.  You might be surprised because it may actually be bringing you one step closer to fulfilling God's plan.

Have a great day. Don't view your trying circumstances as a defeat or demotion, it may be the next steppingstone that is bringing you into your destiny.    

"The Blame Game Perspective"

"And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him".  John 9:2,3

When things go wrong, one of the first things we want to do is play the "blame game".  Whose fault was it?  Who sinned?  The disciples asked Jesus this same question concerning a blind man.  Surely someone was at fault.  Surely this is a punishment for either his own sins or the sins of his parents. 

True enough there are often consequences that we face as a result of committing a sin.  For example, if you break the law, you will face the consequences with either a fine or jail time.  You are at fault and brought this upon yourself-- you are to blame.  True also is the fact that sometimes we face problems that are the fault of someone else.  If a dad is a "dead beat" and won't support his children, they suffer because of him.  This was not their fault but his fault.

But most of what happens to us is not because of any fault of our own or someone else.  We live in a world that is under the curse of sin.  Because of the fall that came with Adam's disobedience the door was open to sickness, disease, hardship, violence, lawlessness, death, etc.  Sickness attacks.  Death comes and claims all ages.  Trials happen.  It is the "fault" and result of living in a sinful world. 

The God perspective doesn't want us to be constantly blaming ourselves or others for the problems we are facing.  We are often blaming the wrong one-- "neither he nor his parents sinned".  God's perspective is that regardless of what happened, why it happened, who caused it to happen, He knows how to turn it around and work it out for good.

If what you are going through is a result of consequences you are reaping because of bad choices, repent and ask the Lord's forgiveness.  If what you are going though is the result of consequences caused by someone else, forgive them.  Otherwise, what you are going through is because you are living in a sinful world, so stop blaming yourself or others.  Trust and believe that even in this the Lord knows how to "manifest His works" and bring glory through it.

Have a great day.  When things go wrong, stop playing the blame game and ask God to do a work in it.