Jesus is always an ever-present help in times of trouble. Sometimes God will keep you from the fire. Other times, God will make you fireproof and take you through the fire. God’s love for you is heavier than the load of cares and concerns you keep carrying! So, here is your word for today: RELEASE IT!
We May Have Talked to The Lord About Our Burden, But We Have Failed to Trust Him with Our Burden. Did You Wake Up Carrying That Load Again Today? How About You Also Let It Go Today? Let Jesus Do with It What Only He Can Do. God’s Hands Can Handle What Your Hands Cannot!
We May Have Talked to The Lord About Our Burden, But We Have Failed to Trust Him with Our Burden.
Like a car in need of repair, it is not just enough to tell the mechanic what is wrong with the car. You must leave it with him! It's not enough just to tell God about your problems, you must leave them with Him, you must trust that He will fix it. When you go in your prayer closet and when you get on your knees at the altar, you have to leave that situation, that problem, and that burden with Him, you don't need to bring it back with you, that's why God wants us close to Him, to saty in His presence, He wants us talking to Him and giving the burden to Him, because our hands can't handle it. Probably the biggest single reason we will not let go of our crushing burdens and concerns is this: CONTROL. We insist on keeping it in our control. We are too stubborn or too afraid to roll it over onto Jesus' back.
How Many Times Have You Thought or Said ’If Only I Had Just Waited on God? You May Have Talked to The Lord About Your Burden, But You Have Failed to Trust Him with Your Burden. Impatience Produced Ishmael; Promise Produced Isaac...Therefore, WAIT! God’s Plan Will Prevail and Produce What He Promised! Do Not Mess Up God’s Promise Over Your Life by Attempting to Produce a Harvest from a Seed God Never Told You to Plant! There Are Seasons in Your Life! You Cannot Rush It, But You Can Surely Ruin It! Stop Trying to Help God Out. Therefore, Always Wait for God’s Due Season! Trials are for training you to win victoriously! Which is why the life of the believer is not without trials! Ephesians 6:16.
Like it or not: God allows circumstances to develop around our lives to give our faith opportunity to be proven! “Also, through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces PROVEN character, and PROVEN character produces hope.” (Romans 5:2-4 HCSB) Did you catch all of that? “…We Also Rejoice In Our Afflictions…” Why? Because Our Afflictions, “Produce Endurance, Proven Character and Hope…” In Other Words: Your Affliction Works to Your Advantage! How Your afflictions are proving that you have what it takes to endure the battle and win the victory. But it’s also working on your character. That’s what God does when He sends afflictions into your life to improve your character. He wants you to grow and develop His characteristics in your life in such a way that people can see His stamp of approval on your life. Your character is your brand. It tells people what you stand for and what you will not tolerate. Your afflictions are teaching and training you to maintain good character, integrity and a reputation that is above reproach and one that resembles God’s! In addition, afflictions groom your hope! ‘Hope’, is ‘a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen.’ It’s directly attached to your faith, and both grow when you learn how to expect God to deliver you, even when you see no evidence that He will (Daniel 3:16-18, " Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to answer you on this point. If it be so, our God whom we serve can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up!” AMP).
Your afflictions are not to distract you in your hope and faith to believe God no matter how fierce the battle becomes; no matter what the enemy is saying, no matter what the enemy is doing; no matter how badly you’ve become bruised in battle; your hope and faith are teaching and training you to let nothing, and no one distract you from victory! Your afflictions are working for your good because they are training you to endure the battle and win the victorious war!
Truth Is: It’s Only When We’re Tested In Battle That We Become Skilled Warriors!
Therefore, you might as well get ready because you can be confident God will allow trials to come your way through afflictions such as: a strained marriage, straying children, critical bosses, false assaults on your character, or a difficult friendship that requires unconditional love. However, regardless to how many afflictions come our way, God has promised us, “many are the afflictions of the righteous: But the Lord delivered him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). So what are you crying and complaining about? There is no affliction that is permanent! they are all temporary! when you pass your training tests of trials, “…the Lord will deliver you out of them all…”
Don’t be discouraged in battles, God is using them to develop you into a great warrior, skilled in spiritual warfare! No longer a generation who has no experience in battle! But now a generation that makes the devil cringe every morning when your feet hit the floor to remind Him, you’re dressed in the whole/full armor of God, and you’re ready for another fight! “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but MIGHTY through God to the pulling down of strong holds;” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Cheer up and gear up because your afflictions are training you to pull down strong holds!
God Cannot Abandon You. God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
Some people felt that when they needed God the most, He could not be found. This is what started their personal faith, battling with the feeling that God had abandoned them. I often say if God seems at a distance guess who moved. He has not gone anywhere, where is your dwelling place, where have you take up residence lately.
Painstakingly, we began to learn and study for ourselves about who Jesus was and what He really said. That is when you will find Him. The real Jesus, the God Who was always there giving you the freedom and grace you needed to explore your faith.
He had not abandoned you; you were just looking for the wrong person. The man-made persona of Jesus some people had been taught about during their formative years; He was not the true Jesus.
When we look back on a situation or season of life, you will see how God was showing up in some great ways, they were simply hard to see at the time:
1. Provision. It does not always come in the means you asked for, but God’s provision is being extended to you. Have faith. See the little things, they are there as part of the bigger picture.
2. Protection. Even when the world seems to be falling apart around you, God has got you. Bad things happen to us or those we love, and it seems there is no possible way God is protecting anyone. But He is there. Only Jesus can redeem what was meant for evil.
3. Preparation. At the end of the experience or sorrow, we begin to see how we were being prepared for what comes next. We can help others who are suffering. We can stand assuredly knowing that God had our best interest at heart all along.
God has promised to always be with you and the real God cannot break that promise. Here is the evidence of God’s true character: Compassion, Second chances, Forgiveness and Unconditional love. According to Miriam-Webster, the definition for Christian is, “One who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Notice it says, “professes belief.”
There are many well-intentioned people who are preaching a brand, or form, of Christianity that are not in line with the heart and track-record of God. If your red flag is raised because of how a church or individual is speaking on God’s behalf, listen to that inner voice. It just might be the Holy Spirit directing you.
God took care of you yesterday. He is taking care of you now. He will take care of you tomorrow!
Let us be honest, there were some moments you could not wait, so you just took off, and you caused a crash. Or maybe you are about to sin the sin of “get-there-itis” today! And maybe it is even a good goal. Maybe it is something you want to accomplish for yourself, your family, business, ministry, or church. Maybe you want to get married, or something to help your child, or to help other people. BUT God has not made it come to pass. So, you are starting to push, to plan, to scheme, to arrange, to manipulate to make it happen.
And truthfully, I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have sat across from someone in counseling who has that very same testimony…’If only I just waited on God.’ How many marriages would not have fallen apart; ministries and churches split; homes foreclosed; businesses shut down; finances dry up, and all because we just had to make it happen, by any means necessary, instead of waiting for God to make it happen, in His time, in His will, in His way.
However, unfortunate for us, we preferred to travel down the harder road of trying to “help” God out. We start formulating plan ‘b-z’ since God’s plan ‘a’ is taking entirely too long! We start scheming and scamming only to get what we wanted, but not at all what we needed!
Many of us are accustomed to having a back-up plan. We are depended upon to figure stuff out, to make it work, to fill in the gap, to strategize how to rob Peter to pay Paul. But all of that, is all of us, and none of God. You see, it is not like Sarai was hoping for a promise, the promise was already given, she did not even have to ask for it, it was given without the need of her request. All she had to do was wait on the timing of God for its fulfillment. Listen, that is exactly where we get it wrong! We tend to get impatient, devise a plan and go wandering instead of waiting. But what does the Bible have to say?
Wherever your “…EVEN IN THIS PLACE…” is, know that God sees you, hears you and cares for you. Even if your ‘this place’, is a place of sorrow; grief; anger; bitterness; loneliness; brokenness; abandonment; lack; pain…God sees you, hears you and cares for you “…EVEN IN THIS PLACE…”
Even if your ‘this place’ is heading to divorce court; the psychiatrist; another specialist; the unemployment line; in the midnight hour of tears…God sees you, hears you and cares for you “…EVEN IN THIS PLACE…”
Even if your ‘this place’ just left the abortion clinic; the maternity ward with no baby; a place of stagnation; confusion; fear of tomorrow; low-self-esteem; rejection; suicidal thoughts; high; drunk; going to jail or just getting out…God sees you, hears you and cares for you “…EVEN IN THIS PLACE…”
At dialysis; receiving chemo and radiation; struggling in rehab; in the wheelchair; on the cane; with the walker; dressed up; dressed down; and too weak to even get from under the covers…God sees you, hears you and cares for you “…EVEN IN THIS PLACE…”
Are you getting this?
You are God’s Beloved, no matter where your “…EVEN IN THIS PLACE…” currently has you. You cannot ever go unnoticed by God. He loves you too much to lose track of you, even when it is you who laced up your sneakers and went running right outside the Will of God for your life. He is still there. Don’t you see Him? Don’t you hear Him? Well, He sees and hears and cares about you, no matter what you have done; how many times you have done it; who you did it with; why you did it in the first place; where you did it; when you did it; He does not even care if it was deliberate, and all your fault, your Father loves His children! And like the prodigal son’s father, your Father sees you as far away from Him as you are, and still He is heading in your direction with arms open wide and a whole new garment of clothing to shed your past and mistakes. He is ready to restore you, why are you delaying your own recovery? Today, take IT, and all of IT to Him, and let Him take all your staleness and grant you a fresh start. Today is a great day to begin again. Last time, you ran off with your own plans and mission. This time stick with God, the road ahead will be so much easier!
Remember, God sees you, hears you and cares for you… “…EVEN IN THIS PLACE…
God extends an awesome and encouraging invitation to His children in Psalm 55:22. It says, “CAST your burden on the Lord [releasing the
weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).” (AMPC)
“When you leave everything in God’s hands, you see God’s hands in everything.”
You my friend, as well as all your cares, are in the safe, powerful, and protective Hands of the Almighty God! Therefore, what is taking you so long to finally cast all your cares on Him? In other words, why carry what you can cast?!
In 1 Peter 5:7, you are invited to cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. So why is it still in your hands?! The Living Bible reads: “LET HIM HAVE ALL YOUR WORRIES AND CARES, for he is ALWAYS thinking about you and WATCHING EVERYTHING THAT CONCERNS YOU.” (TLB) The word ‘HAVE’ is defined as ‘TO OWN’. God not only grants us the blessing of casting, assigning, and transferring our cares and concerns, but He also becomes their newfound owner! To ‘own’ is ‘to have or hold as private property.’ They no longer belong to you! Now, how encouraging is that? Again, with this promise belonging to you, why are you not casting what you know you cannot carry?!
If we were to draw a picture of you and your burden right now, would you be all bent down, staggering beneath the weight of it all because you have been trying to carry it yourself? But remember this, there is another person in the picture! It’s Jesus, walking right beside you, whispering, it go. Give it to Me Which reminds me of the three Hebrew boys in Daniel 3:25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. (AMPC) No matter how hot the furnace of affliction you must endure, know that you are never left to walk through them alone, Jesus is always an ever-present help in times of trouble. Sometimes God will keep you from the fire.
Other times, God will make you fireproof and take you through the fire. He is simply waiting for you to cast your fiery trials, cares, and concerns on Him. And why does God want you to cast your cares on Him? Read 1 Peter 5:7 again in the following translations:
“…he cares about you” (NLT)
“…He cares for you.” (NLV)
God’s love for you is heavier than the load of cares and concerns you keep carrying! So, here is your word for today: RELEASE IT!
What is it going to take for the weight on you to be lifted? You are going to have to reverse what you learned from The Little Engine That Could; and say those liberating words, I think I can That moment of surrender makes you desperate for what God and God alone can do. And desperation is the condition with which God can do the most. Desperate prayers get answers.
Here is your Faith Decree: I decree today that I will no longer stumble over my struggles, cry over my crisis, agonize over my afflictions, retreat from my refining process, or have a tantrum over my trials. There is no test given to me, that my God hasn’t already provided the answers to pass. This time, when my Faith comes out of the Furnace it will be on Fire instead of in Ashes! In Jesus Name I Decree it to be so. Amen. So, It Is and So Shall It Be!
Blessings
J.P. Olson
www.journeyintotheword.com
Join Journey Into The Word each Sunday morning at 5:30 AM CST & 6:30 AM EST on The Now Network http://www.theNOWnetwork.org
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