"The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." Luke 17:5-6
What do you do when you hear promises from God that seem impossible? What do you do when God asks you to do things that seem foolish? What do you do when God calls you to take a step of faith? Do you trust? Do you step out? Do you waver? Would you build a boat like Noah? Would you get out of the boat like Peter? Would you march around Jericho silently for six days? Would you chase a giant with a slingshot like David? Would you raise your staff over the Red Sea? Would you promise meat in the middle of a barren wilderness? Do any of you struggle like me with these things? I must confess that there is a huge chasm between the faith I am called to have as a Christian and the faith that I actually have. Sometimes I feel that I don't have enough faith to lift the wings of a gnat!
I read the scriptures and what they say about faith and believe them all to be true. Hebrews 11:1, 6 tells us “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Romans 1:16 says, “the just shall live by faith.” Paul exhorts us in 1 Timothy 6:12 to, “Fight the good fight of the faith.” Paul calls the fight of faith good because it focuses upon overcoming our opponent which is unbelief! At the end of his life the apostle Paul looking back on his life said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.” The measure of his life was whether or not that he had “kept the faith”. Not just for a moment, or a year, or a decade, but all the way to the end! Faith is how we please God, how we are to live, yet it is a daily battle in our lives. Oh how I desire more faith! I so desire like I wrote last week to...
to believe the unreasonable, love the unlovable, do the impossible, follow the invisible and defy the inevitable.
Do you? We not alone. When it comes to faith, the disciples of Jesus felt exactly the way you and I feel.
In Luke 17:1-4 Jesus was teaching them the way life is in God’s Kingdom, a life of unlimited forgiveness towards those who wrong you. And no wonder, for that is the way that God is towards us. In response, the disciples cry out, “Increase our faith”. Another time a mourning father over the state of his demon possessed son approached Jesus about casting the demon out of his son in Mark 9:22-24. He said to Jesus, “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" And Jesus said to him, ""if you can?' All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief." Do you feel like that Father or the disciples? Well, Jesus is more than willing to increase our faith and help us in our unbelief!
He gives us the therapy of His word and spirit by telling them truth. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ”. He will increase their faith by teaching them about faith. So even in the way he responds he shows us that faith comes by hearing. Knowing certain things should increase our faith.
He says, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you." By referring to the tiny mustard seed after being asked about increased faith, he deflects attention away from the quantity of faith to the object of faith. God moves mulberry trees. So to move mulberry trees does not depend decisively on the quantity of our faith, but on God’s power and wisdom and love. In knowing this we are helped not to worry about our faith and are inspired to trust God's free initiative and power.
In other words, the issue in your life and ministry is not the strength or quantity of your faith, because that is not what uproots trees. God does. Therefore, the smallest faith that truly connects you with Christ will engage enough of his power for all you need. Moving trees is a small thing for Christ. The issue is not perfection for Christ, but connection to Christ.
So take heart, the smallest seed of faith connects with all of Christ's enabling POWER, GRACE, STRENGTH, and MERCY. If Jesus tells you to cast out a demon, overcome sin, forgive a brother, endure, love, be holy, walk on water, love your enemies, and on and on, He will never ask you to do something that He cannot do! He will give and enable you to do what He commands you to do!
So Jesus tells us that the simple way to increase you faith is knowing that God himself and not the quantity of our faith is the decisive factor in flinging mulberry trees out of the way. A mere mustard seed of faith taps into the grace and mercy of God's tree-moving power. You can pray “Lord increase my faith” and know with absolute confidence that He will do just that for us.
Asking the Father to open my eyes to see a mulberry moving God!
Pastor Bill
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
LEARNING FROM A KING TO LIVE SUPERNATURALLY
“O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” 2 Chronicles 14:11
One of my favorite characters in the entire Bible is the great king of Judah whose name was Asa. He ruled a long reign over the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Benjamin from approximately 910 B.C through 869 B.C. You can read his story in 2 Chronicles 14-16 and 2 Kings 15:9-24. The legacy of his life was that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 14:2; 1 Kings 15:11).
As soon as he became king he brought revival and reformation to the southern kingdom. He removed and abolished idolatry from the land. He revived and established the pure worship of God. After constant war during the last two reigns: in his days there was peace and prosperity for ten years. But then a formidable army of Ethiopians invaded Asa’s peaceful kingdom. It was a vast number that the Ethiopians brought against him: 1,000,000 men (the largest army recorded in scripture) with over 300 chariots; and though he had an army ready for such a time of need (As much as 580,000) it was minuscule compared to the Ethiopian juggernaut. What would you have done in response to such a burden? How would you have handled it?
What inspires me, amazes me, and empowers me is what King Asa did when faced with this overwhelming foe. He realized that he had a big problem and was in trouble and instead of tying to problem solve it, he prayer solved it. The great king Asa prayed! He sought the Lord. It is a short, but oh so powerful a prayer. “Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you" (2 Chronicles 14:11). Asa declared to God a declaration of dependence. I am powerless, You are powerful; I am unable, You are able; I am weak, you are strong. HELP! We are counting on You to do the impossible. We are looking for You to defend Your honor and fame and renown. What they do to us, they do to You. So please act, we’re counting on it, we believe you for it.
What did God do in response to such a heart, such an attitude, such belief and expectancy? “The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the LORD had fallen upon them. They plundered all these villages, since there was much booty there. They also attacked the camps of the herdsmen and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 14:12-15). God brought a glorious victory over the enemies of King Asa.
We exist to do things that we cannot do without the special, supernatural grace of God. I like what one pastor said,
Christians are called to believe the unreasonable, love the unlovable, do the impossible, follow the invisible and defy the inevitable. Therefore we must experience the unexplainable, hear the inaudible, perceive the unseeable, be intimate with the irresistible and passionate with the infallible.
The Christian life is a supernatural life or it is nothing. I call it “living on God alone”. 2 Corinthians 1:9, "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” To live on God alone is to live our lives in such a way that Christ gets trusted and you get helped and people get helped and God gets glory. 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever renders service, [let him do so] as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."
How many of you are only doing things in your life that you can do without God’s help? How many of you are doing things that can only be explained by the power of God? The key to living on God alone is to begin living a lifestyle and attitude that communicates to God, others, and yourself a declaration of dependence? To AGREE with Jesus that He can do the impossible and to ADMIT that without Christ you can do nothing. We are utterly helpless to love God and live for God's sake without the renovating power of Christ. Therefore, we are helpless to bear fruit without Christ. John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
This is where living by faith, and walking by the Spirit begins. This is what spirit filled Christianity is all about. This is what revival is all about—a church experiences revival when many of its people get about trusting Christ and about turning to God for help, and about loving others, especially the lost, and about showing the glory of God. That's revival. That's spiritual awakening. It's the rediscovery of radical, God-centered, Christian living. And it is intensely practical. It will change your life at home and work and at church.
Perhaps like King Asa you are facing some challenge now. A confrontation with an antagonist. A difficult visit to a doctor. A chance to tell someone about what Christ means to you. A lesson to teach. A job to apply for. An exam to take. A move to make. Too many things to do in one day. Etc.!! What do you do so that when the challenge is past and the day is done, you can say, I lived by faith; I walked by the Spirit; I served in the strength that God supplied; to him be the glory?
Do what King Asa did. WHEN YOU DEPEND UPON GOD YOU PRAY! God has designed and ordained and planned and promised that when we live in absolute dependency upon him alone that just like He did for Asa, He will act for us when we pray. A Christian who does not know the rhythm of his own desperation and God’s willing and powerful deliverance must have his sight set only on what man can achieve. God has promised to do for us things we cannot do our ourselves when we pray—that is, when we get on our faces before God and confess our sins, and give thanks for his grace, and lift up our empty cup, and plead for him to fill it with supernatural blessings for the needs in our lives and families and church and business and city and nation and world.
Is it not breathtaking to hear Jesus say, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Isn't it breathtaking to hear his brother James say, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2)! Or to put it positively, “If you had asked, God would have acted to meet your need.” This is astonishing: God acts in response to prayer. The all-knowing, all-foreseeing, all-planning, all-governing God wills for your Christ-exalting prayers to be the occasion of his action. So when we pray, we are saying: the special, supernatural action of God is essential for our life, our ministry, our work, our marriage, our family, and the life of this church. .
So pray like a frightened King. 'LORD THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOU TO HELP. HELP!!!!!
Expect a miracle coming your way. After all, isn't that what the supernatural God is in the business of doing?
Pastor Bill
One of my favorite characters in the entire Bible is the great king of Judah whose name was Asa. He ruled a long reign over the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Benjamin from approximately 910 B.C through 869 B.C. You can read his story in 2 Chronicles 14-16 and 2 Kings 15:9-24. The legacy of his life was that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 14:2; 1 Kings 15:11).
As soon as he became king he brought revival and reformation to the southern kingdom. He removed and abolished idolatry from the land. He revived and established the pure worship of God. After constant war during the last two reigns: in his days there was peace and prosperity for ten years. But then a formidable army of Ethiopians invaded Asa’s peaceful kingdom. It was a vast number that the Ethiopians brought against him: 1,000,000 men (the largest army recorded in scripture) with over 300 chariots; and though he had an army ready for such a time of need (As much as 580,000) it was minuscule compared to the Ethiopian juggernaut. What would you have done in response to such a burden? How would you have handled it?
What inspires me, amazes me, and empowers me is what King Asa did when faced with this overwhelming foe. He realized that he had a big problem and was in trouble and instead of tying to problem solve it, he prayer solved it. The great king Asa prayed! He sought the Lord. It is a short, but oh so powerful a prayer. “Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you" (2 Chronicles 14:11). Asa declared to God a declaration of dependence. I am powerless, You are powerful; I am unable, You are able; I am weak, you are strong. HELP! We are counting on You to do the impossible. We are looking for You to defend Your honor and fame and renown. What they do to us, they do to You. So please act, we’re counting on it, we believe you for it.
What did God do in response to such a heart, such an attitude, such belief and expectancy? “The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the LORD had fallen upon them. They plundered all these villages, since there was much booty there. They also attacked the camps of the herdsmen and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 14:12-15). God brought a glorious victory over the enemies of King Asa.
We exist to do things that we cannot do without the special, supernatural grace of God. I like what one pastor said,
Christians are called to believe the unreasonable, love the unlovable, do the impossible, follow the invisible and defy the inevitable. Therefore we must experience the unexplainable, hear the inaudible, perceive the unseeable, be intimate with the irresistible and passionate with the infallible.
The Christian life is a supernatural life or it is nothing. I call it “living on God alone”. 2 Corinthians 1:9, "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” To live on God alone is to live our lives in such a way that Christ gets trusted and you get helped and people get helped and God gets glory. 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever renders service, [let him do so] as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."
How many of you are only doing things in your life that you can do without God’s help? How many of you are doing things that can only be explained by the power of God? The key to living on God alone is to begin living a lifestyle and attitude that communicates to God, others, and yourself a declaration of dependence? To AGREE with Jesus that He can do the impossible and to ADMIT that without Christ you can do nothing. We are utterly helpless to love God and live for God's sake without the renovating power of Christ. Therefore, we are helpless to bear fruit without Christ. John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
This is where living by faith, and walking by the Spirit begins. This is what spirit filled Christianity is all about. This is what revival is all about—a church experiences revival when many of its people get about trusting Christ and about turning to God for help, and about loving others, especially the lost, and about showing the glory of God. That's revival. That's spiritual awakening. It's the rediscovery of radical, God-centered, Christian living. And it is intensely practical. It will change your life at home and work and at church.
Perhaps like King Asa you are facing some challenge now. A confrontation with an antagonist. A difficult visit to a doctor. A chance to tell someone about what Christ means to you. A lesson to teach. A job to apply for. An exam to take. A move to make. Too many things to do in one day. Etc.!! What do you do so that when the challenge is past and the day is done, you can say, I lived by faith; I walked by the Spirit; I served in the strength that God supplied; to him be the glory?
Do what King Asa did. WHEN YOU DEPEND UPON GOD YOU PRAY! God has designed and ordained and planned and promised that when we live in absolute dependency upon him alone that just like He did for Asa, He will act for us when we pray. A Christian who does not know the rhythm of his own desperation and God’s willing and powerful deliverance must have his sight set only on what man can achieve. God has promised to do for us things we cannot do our ourselves when we pray—that is, when we get on our faces before God and confess our sins, and give thanks for his grace, and lift up our empty cup, and plead for him to fill it with supernatural blessings for the needs in our lives and families and church and business and city and nation and world.
Is it not breathtaking to hear Jesus say, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Isn't it breathtaking to hear his brother James say, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2)! Or to put it positively, “If you had asked, God would have acted to meet your need.” This is astonishing: God acts in response to prayer. The all-knowing, all-foreseeing, all-planning, all-governing God wills for your Christ-exalting prayers to be the occasion of his action. So when we pray, we are saying: the special, supernatural action of God is essential for our life, our ministry, our work, our marriage, our family, and the life of this church. .
So pray like a frightened King. 'LORD THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOU TO HELP. HELP!!!!!
Expect a miracle coming your way. After all, isn't that what the supernatural God is in the business of doing?
Pastor Bill
Friday, May 11, 2012
HOW I OVERCOME MY DARK DAYS AND NIGHTS:THOUGHTS ON DEPRESSION
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night,while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me,while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
Psalm 42:1-11
One of the greatest battles that I have as a Christian is depression. I often times experience dark days and dark nights. I'm not happy about it, but its a part of my life. There are moments when I will lose all hope, see nothing but darkness, isolate myself from others, and yearn for escape from my inner pain. At times like this I can barely pray or read my bible. There are times when I know it is tied directly to my unbelief, other times it comes out of fatigue and exhaustion, other times it seems like a direct spiritual attack, and other times it is inexplicable to me.
Sometimes I feel such shame for my weaknesses in this area. I feel that it is one of my worst sins.I am thankful that I am not alone. There have been some great Christians throughout history who have battled depression. David Brainerd battled it all 29 years of his life. William Cowper, the great Christian poet, three times attempted suicide, and several times was committed to mental hospitals. Charles Haddon Spurgeon fought depression as well. Sometimes he would be so depressed that he would cry for days without even knowing what he was crying about. He saw his depression as his "worst feature." "Depression," he said, "is not a virtue; I believe it is a vice. I am heartily ashamed of myself for falling into it, but I am sure there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in God.""
Some of my beloved brothers have written profoundly on this subject to help me battle my depression. Martin Lloyd Jones has written a book called Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Its Cures based upon Psalm 42 that has given me allot of insight and comfort in regards to despair and depression. John Piper wrote a great chapter on depression in his book Future Grace called Faith and Future Grace vs. Despondency that is very helpful. He also has written a chapter in The Hidden Smile of God on the great hymn-writer William Cowper, who battled depression all of his life and finally succumbed to it by taking his life. Finally, there is a wonderful book on depression that he wrote titled When the Darkness Will Not Lift. These four books are great helps in the battle for those who like me suffer from bouts of depression.
But most of all, the greatest help to me in my ongoing battle with depression is the word of God and specifically Psalm 42. Psalm 42 is a testimony, an encouragement, and a tool that God has put in the Bible so that we might use it to fight depression. It shows people struggling with their problems and with themselves. They talk to themselves baring their souls, analyzing their problems, and rebuking and encouraging themselves. One of the reasons that this is so beloved a Psalm is because it so speaks to what many of us experience on dark days and nights.
If you read the Psalm carefully, you will notice that the Psalmist 2x’s mentions his depression (verses.5, 11). He uses the words “downcast and disturbed” He is troubled, perplexed, weary, sorrowful. He is in trouble. That’s why he asks the question “why?” "What is wrong with me?" He cannot hide his depression. He is sorrowful, worried, and overwhelmed.
How does the Psalmist face the situation and how does he deal with it? He fights it by preaching truth to himself about God and His promises. He preaches to his troubled soul. He scolds himself and argues with himself and his main argument is faith: "Hope in God! -Trust in what God will be for you in the future. A day of praise is coming. The presence of the Lord will be all the help you need. And he has promised to be with us forever" (see Psalm 23:4, 6).
We must talk to ourselves instead of allowing "ourselves" to talk to us! Do you realize what that means? I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our selves. Martin Lloyd Jones says that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself. Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.
Now [the psalmists] treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you... Why are you cast down? What business has you to be disquieted? And then you must go on to remind yourself of God who he is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: "for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
The battle against depression is a battle to believe the promises of God. And that belief in God comes by hearing the Word. And so preaching the word to ourselves is at the heart of the battle.
Jones says, “The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself.” You must take yourself, talk to yourself, question yourself, and preach God’s word to yourself.
The Bible is replete with instances of saints struggling with sunken spirits. Even Jesus faced the battle of despondency and won. (Matthew 26:36-38; John 12:27;13:21) He also encourages us in John 14:1, "Don’t let your hearts be troubled , fight back, believe God, believe me. Don’t yield, don’t give in fight the good fight of faith in God!"
God has woven his Word with strands of truth directly opposed to that lie. The law of God does revive (Psalm 19:7). God does lead to springs of water (Psalm 23:3). God does show us the path of life (Psalm 16:11). Joy does come with the morning (Psalm 30:5). God has given us he victory that will overcome all despondency and give us fulfillment and satisfaction in Him.
The cure for depression is neither to look in at our grief, nor back to our past, nor round at our problems, but away and up to the living God. He is our help and our God, and if we trust Him now, we shall soon have cause to praise Him again. Thus, as one writer sums up, "faith rebukes despondency and hope triumphs over despair".
So stop listening to yourself; turn on him, speak to him; condemn him; rebuke him; turn on him; exhort him; encourage him; remind him of the truth; and don’t let him drag you down and depress you. Turn your outlook into an up look
Overcoming dark days and nights by His word,
Pastor Bill
Psalm 42:1-11
One of the greatest battles that I have as a Christian is depression. I often times experience dark days and dark nights. I'm not happy about it, but its a part of my life. There are moments when I will lose all hope, see nothing but darkness, isolate myself from others, and yearn for escape from my inner pain. At times like this I can barely pray or read my bible. There are times when I know it is tied directly to my unbelief, other times it comes out of fatigue and exhaustion, other times it seems like a direct spiritual attack, and other times it is inexplicable to me.
Sometimes I feel such shame for my weaknesses in this area. I feel that it is one of my worst sins.I am thankful that I am not alone. There have been some great Christians throughout history who have battled depression. David Brainerd battled it all 29 years of his life. William Cowper, the great Christian poet, three times attempted suicide, and several times was committed to mental hospitals. Charles Haddon Spurgeon fought depression as well. Sometimes he would be so depressed that he would cry for days without even knowing what he was crying about. He saw his depression as his "worst feature." "Depression," he said, "is not a virtue; I believe it is a vice. I am heartily ashamed of myself for falling into it, but I am sure there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in God.""
Some of my beloved brothers have written profoundly on this subject to help me battle my depression. Martin Lloyd Jones has written a book called Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Its Cures based upon Psalm 42 that has given me allot of insight and comfort in regards to despair and depression. John Piper wrote a great chapter on depression in his book Future Grace called Faith and Future Grace vs. Despondency that is very helpful. He also has written a chapter in The Hidden Smile of God on the great hymn-writer William Cowper, who battled depression all of his life and finally succumbed to it by taking his life. Finally, there is a wonderful book on depression that he wrote titled When the Darkness Will Not Lift. These four books are great helps in the battle for those who like me suffer from bouts of depression.
But most of all, the greatest help to me in my ongoing battle with depression is the word of God and specifically Psalm 42. Psalm 42 is a testimony, an encouragement, and a tool that God has put in the Bible so that we might use it to fight depression. It shows people struggling with their problems and with themselves. They talk to themselves baring their souls, analyzing their problems, and rebuking and encouraging themselves. One of the reasons that this is so beloved a Psalm is because it so speaks to what many of us experience on dark days and nights.
If you read the Psalm carefully, you will notice that the Psalmist 2x’s mentions his depression (verses.5, 11). He uses the words “downcast and disturbed” He is troubled, perplexed, weary, sorrowful. He is in trouble. That’s why he asks the question “why?” "What is wrong with me?" He cannot hide his depression. He is sorrowful, worried, and overwhelmed.
How does the Psalmist face the situation and how does he deal with it? He fights it by preaching truth to himself about God and His promises. He preaches to his troubled soul. He scolds himself and argues with himself and his main argument is faith: "Hope in God! -Trust in what God will be for you in the future. A day of praise is coming. The presence of the Lord will be all the help you need. And he has promised to be with us forever" (see Psalm 23:4, 6).
We must talk to ourselves instead of allowing "ourselves" to talk to us! Do you realize what that means? I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our selves. Martin Lloyd Jones says that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself. Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you.
Now [the psalmists] treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you... Why are you cast down? What business has you to be disquieted? And then you must go on to remind yourself of God who he is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: "for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
The battle against depression is a battle to believe the promises of God. And that belief in God comes by hearing the Word. And so preaching the word to ourselves is at the heart of the battle.
Jones says, “The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself.” You must take yourself, talk to yourself, question yourself, and preach God’s word to yourself.
The Bible is replete with instances of saints struggling with sunken spirits. Even Jesus faced the battle of despondency and won. (Matthew 26:36-38; John 12:27;13:21) He also encourages us in John 14:1, "Don’t let your hearts be troubled , fight back, believe God, believe me. Don’t yield, don’t give in fight the good fight of faith in God!"
God has woven his Word with strands of truth directly opposed to that lie. The law of God does revive (Psalm 19:7). God does lead to springs of water (Psalm 23:3). God does show us the path of life (Psalm 16:11). Joy does come with the morning (Psalm 30:5). God has given us he victory that will overcome all despondency and give us fulfillment and satisfaction in Him.
The cure for depression is neither to look in at our grief, nor back to our past, nor round at our problems, but away and up to the living God. He is our help and our God, and if we trust Him now, we shall soon have cause to praise Him again. Thus, as one writer sums up, "faith rebukes despondency and hope triumphs over despair".
So stop listening to yourself; turn on him, speak to him; condemn him; rebuke him; turn on him; exhort him; encourage him; remind him of the truth; and don’t let him drag you down and depress you. Turn your outlook into an up look
Overcoming dark days and nights by His word,
Pastor Bill
Sunday, May 6, 2012
CALLING ON OMNIPOTENCE IN MY IMPOTENCE
I woke up this morning feeling utterly inadequate and impotent with the attempt to rebuild my life, plant a church, and live above my circumstances. This is an all to familiar place for me in my life to be. I have developed an aversion to inadequacy and impotency. I do not like being helpless at all. All of my life I have worked to maintain at least an illusion to myself and others that I am not helpless. By nature I have been a high achiever, a self sufficient loner, very self disciplined, highly ambitious, in control, a planner, a success driven striver. I always made sure my ducks were lined up and that I had alternatives to my alternatives to fix and solve any problem that I had. It has taken me thirty eight years of being a Christian to learn that before God I am truly helpless.
The truth is that if we are really honest with ourselves,, we are always inadequate. Our Lord said so in John 15:6, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." This statement and believing it are foundational to understanding the kind of person who will be most used by God. Life, in fact, is too much for us. This business of living in awareness and response to God, to live for His glory, to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to live in caring attentive love to the people around us, and to do that for 70 to 80 years with joy and perseverance, utterly exceeds our capacities. We aren't smart enough; we don't have enough energy; we can't concentrate adequately. We are unbelieving, apathetic, fragile, weak, and fickle.
Not all the time, to be sure. We have spurts of love, passion, risks of faith, moments of heartfelt caring, and extraordinary courage; but invariably we slip back into laziness, dullness, unbelief, selfishness, or greed. That is why a ruthless honesty before God and ourselves will always leave us shattered by our inadequacy.There is an enormous gap between what we think we can do and what God calls us to do. As long as I think that God calls me to do only what I think I can do (i.e.control, manipulate, contain, play it within my own self made safety nets) I am fine. In short, as long as I live within the confines within my own self imposed limitations and abilities all is well. But what happens when your ideas of what we can do or want to do are small and trivial in comparison to God's idea of what He can do in and through us! That is where we often times get afraid, doubting, discouraged, and feel hopeless.
God does not call us to do only what we can do, He calls us to do what He can do! Christianity is supernatural or it is nothing!!!!! Jesus says in John 15:5-6, ""As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Do you hear that? Do you believe that? It will either bring you to utter discouragement in your pride or draw you to his supernatural help.
I am motivated to come to God because of the reality and the deep conviction that I am completely helpless to do my life on my own. I have come to see that my impotency, my helplessness, my weakness, my brokenness, and my neediness is a precious gift from God, because this is the place that releases the true flow of God's omnipotent power, strength, and grace in my life and ministry and it will be the same for you. God knows where His power and glory thrive and where it is diminished
Oh the promises in the bible to what He wants to do to us, for us, in us, and through us! God's ideas for us are divine, supernatural, extraordinary, and utterly disproportionate to who we are! What God desires to do is to intersect divine omnipotence with our impotence and together produce extraordinary miraculous and supernatural lives.
Listen to these promises and reach out to believe them over your life!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:31-32
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory
2 Corinthians 1:20
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us
Ephesians 3:20
"Nothing is impossible with God"
Luke 1:37
When you understand this extraordinary God and the extraordinary work that He desires to do through your working you can begin praying a bold prayer prayer like this: “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am". Bold prayers like this honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God is not offended by your biggest dreams and boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers are not impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why? Because they don't require divine intervention.But ask God to do the miraculous and God is moved to omnipotent action. Ask God to move His omnipotence over your life. Ask God to do something utterly disproportionate to who you are. The greatest moments of your life are supernatural, miraculous moments.
There is nothing that our supernatural God likes more than keeping promises, answering prayers, helping his beloved children, and performing miracles. that is who He is and what He does. So this is how I desire to pray each and every day of my life. This is a prayer that any one of you who feel passionless, loveless, weak, inadequate, can pray boldly without fear of presumption.The wording of the prayer contains a disclaimer: "I am not great. But you, Lord, are very great. So in your astonishing sovereignty and glorious omnipotence and according to your mighty promises you can flood little, inadequate, impotent me with love, passion, and power and let my little life make a difference far beyond all my little powers. Let my little timid prayers be expanded into big sweeping prayers like these:
Lord, I have heard of your fame;I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known
Habakkuk 3:1-2
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil,come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him
Isaiah 64:1-4
O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.
2 Chronicles 14:11
GOD WILL DO FOR YOU WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO.
GOD IS FOR YOU
GOD WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE THAT SO THAT YOU BEGIN PRAYING BIG SWEEPING PRAYERS OVER YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS
"GOD DO SOMETHING DISPROPORTIONATE TO WHO WE ARE"
Jesus is not asking you and me to do anything that He is not already doing and cannot do. He is inviting us into His life of helpless impotent dependence upon our heavenly Father. To become more like Jesus is to feel more and more that you cannot do life. The very thing we often times try to escape, our own helplessness, becomes the launch pad to prayer and then to God's omnipotent supernatural help and grace.
Calling for God to do things that only He can do!
Pastor Bill
The truth is that if we are really honest with ourselves,, we are always inadequate. Our Lord said so in John 15:6, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." This statement and believing it are foundational to understanding the kind of person who will be most used by God. Life, in fact, is too much for us. This business of living in awareness and response to God, to live for His glory, to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to live in caring attentive love to the people around us, and to do that for 70 to 80 years with joy and perseverance, utterly exceeds our capacities. We aren't smart enough; we don't have enough energy; we can't concentrate adequately. We are unbelieving, apathetic, fragile, weak, and fickle.
Not all the time, to be sure. We have spurts of love, passion, risks of faith, moments of heartfelt caring, and extraordinary courage; but invariably we slip back into laziness, dullness, unbelief, selfishness, or greed. That is why a ruthless honesty before God and ourselves will always leave us shattered by our inadequacy.There is an enormous gap between what we think we can do and what God calls us to do. As long as I think that God calls me to do only what I think I can do (i.e.control, manipulate, contain, play it within my own self made safety nets) I am fine. In short, as long as I live within the confines within my own self imposed limitations and abilities all is well. But what happens when your ideas of what we can do or want to do are small and trivial in comparison to God's idea of what He can do in and through us! That is where we often times get afraid, doubting, discouraged, and feel hopeless.
God does not call us to do only what we can do, He calls us to do what He can do! Christianity is supernatural or it is nothing!!!!! Jesus says in John 15:5-6, ""As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Do you hear that? Do you believe that? It will either bring you to utter discouragement in your pride or draw you to his supernatural help.
I am motivated to come to God because of the reality and the deep conviction that I am completely helpless to do my life on my own. I have come to see that my impotency, my helplessness, my weakness, my brokenness, and my neediness is a precious gift from God, because this is the place that releases the true flow of God's omnipotent power, strength, and grace in my life and ministry and it will be the same for you. God knows where His power and glory thrive and where it is diminished
Oh the promises in the bible to what He wants to do to us, for us, in us, and through us! God's ideas for us are divine, supernatural, extraordinary, and utterly disproportionate to who we are! What God desires to do is to intersect divine omnipotence with our impotence and together produce extraordinary miraculous and supernatural lives.
Listen to these promises and reach out to believe them over your life!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:31-32
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory
2 Corinthians 1:20
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us
Ephesians 3:20
"Nothing is impossible with God"
Luke 1:37
When you understand this extraordinary God and the extraordinary work that He desires to do through your working you can begin praying a bold prayer prayer like this: “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am". Bold prayers like this honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God is not offended by your biggest dreams and boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers are not impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why? Because they don't require divine intervention.But ask God to do the miraculous and God is moved to omnipotent action. Ask God to move His omnipotence over your life. Ask God to do something utterly disproportionate to who you are. The greatest moments of your life are supernatural, miraculous moments.
There is nothing that our supernatural God likes more than keeping promises, answering prayers, helping his beloved children, and performing miracles. that is who He is and what He does. So this is how I desire to pray each and every day of my life. This is a prayer that any one of you who feel passionless, loveless, weak, inadequate, can pray boldly without fear of presumption.The wording of the prayer contains a disclaimer: "I am not great. But you, Lord, are very great. So in your astonishing sovereignty and glorious omnipotence and according to your mighty promises you can flood little, inadequate, impotent me with love, passion, and power and let my little life make a difference far beyond all my little powers. Let my little timid prayers be expanded into big sweeping prayers like these:
Lord, I have heard of your fame;I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known
Habakkuk 3:1-2
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil,come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him
Isaiah 64:1-4
O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.
2 Chronicles 14:11
GOD WILL DO FOR YOU WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO.
GOD IS FOR YOU
GOD WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE THAT SO THAT YOU BEGIN PRAYING BIG SWEEPING PRAYERS OVER YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS
"GOD DO SOMETHING DISPROPORTIONATE TO WHO WE ARE"
Jesus is not asking you and me to do anything that He is not already doing and cannot do. He is inviting us into His life of helpless impotent dependence upon our heavenly Father. To become more like Jesus is to feel more and more that you cannot do life. The very thing we often times try to escape, our own helplessness, becomes the launch pad to prayer and then to God's omnipotent supernatural help and grace.
Calling for God to do things that only He can do!
Pastor Bill
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