An hour is coming, and has come when each of you will be scattered. I have told you these things so that IN ME you will have peace. You WILL have suffering in this world. BE COURAGEOUS. I have conquered the world
Jesus said, “Oh NOW you believe.” How often we make little steps out of “belief” and into faith. God shows us the same thing he’s BEEN showing us for months, or years, and we finally GET IT, or at least part of it; our eyes are opened and God says, “now you see.”
“Now You Believe” – so just go on with your revelation? No… this revelation is for the hard stuff still to come. “an hour is coming, and HAS come” You GOT THIS. It is IN the struggle that we are forced into the Master’s presence. At the Master’s feet, or on our backs, knocked down by life, we focus on his voice and his message and v30 says “by THIS we believe”. How many hard things have happened that were the vehicle that moved you OUT of “self-competency” and INTO faith in God? And this new knowledge / revelation, is FOR THIS HOUR
An hour is coming and has come
There is something coming and we are now at the threshold and the increased knowledge and faith you have received is what will get you through the next chapter to come.
You will be scattered i.e. “you ain’t seen nothing yet”.
The enemy is riled up too… you will FEEL alone. But if we are on the obedient, God-honoring, Spirit empowered mission, you are NOT ALONE, never alone, “because the Father is with me”. Jesus understood what we must, that we will never be alone in the plan and purposes of God. So he says, “now that you believe… let me tell you why I revealed this… What’s God saying today? Believe and Go
So that – those are some of my favorite words in scripture – God is always a SO THAT God, not a SO WHAT, God.
So that you may have PEACE – Eirene = welfare, peace, be undisturbed
God’s revelation comes not for your permission, not even for your embrace… but that you might not be disturbed by the struggle, but have PEACE, not in the information, because peace comes not from the information but is a gift of the Holy Spirit
Do you ever wonder if maybe you heard God wrong? Or maybe you were slow in getting started, or unexpected obstacles arose, or uncontrollable circumstances arose. Maybe you’ve gone too far the wrong way. Now, you feel like perhaps you’ve lost your chance? Well Abram knew that feeling.
God gave him a clear call and a clear promise in Genesis 12: The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; … 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land”…
But a lot had happened since then. Abram had been through famine, war, faced Pharaohs and Kings, he had lied and cheated to protect himself. He had worshipped the Lord, had displeased the Lord. 20 years had passed, and Abram wondered, “Is the Deal still on?” “Have I missed my chance”? “Have I Disqualified myself”?
READ Genesis 15:1-7
The Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision…Do not be afraid, I am your shield, Your reward will be very great.
There are some important truths for us to consider, First:
1. Don’t Settle for Less than the Vision of God
Don’t Be Afraid
Don’t Let Fear make You impatient
Don’t in impatience make your ownway when the promise seems “slow” in coming to pass. God does not delay, he is not slow, that’s what 2 Peter 3:8-9 teaches. God’s clock runs differently from ours, and it also runs PERFECTLY. Fear is often the issue and is manifested in Lack of Trust
God says, “do not be afraid, I am your shield, and great reward“
We talked about fear a few weeks ago. Fear is based on lies we believe:
I’m alone – no one knows
I’m unable – I can’t
I’m uninformed – I don’t know how
I’m unloved – no one cares
Those are lies, but we think they are true… Yet God says: DO NOT BE AFRAID
God says here: “DON’T be Afraid.” How do we fight fear? With FAITH!
Make Sure the Path Leads you to God’s Vision
God had promised him a “great nation” and “offspring”. Abram thinks that he must have “heard God wrong” or “missed his chance”, so he needed to find another way. I don’t think he was mad at God, but just resigned himself to doing things a different way.
You have given me no children… So a servant … will be my heir
He was going to make Eliezer his “son” and heir. Eliezer was a good man, Abram’s most trusted and faithful servant. This was a “good plan”, but Eliezer, good as he was, was no more than a SUBSTITUTE for God’s Best!!
In his book, “Good to Great“, Jim Collins says “Good is the enemy of great.”
“We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good — and that is their main problem.” Collins writes, “That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem. If we have cracked the code on the question of good to great, good schools might become great schools. Good newspapers might become great newspapers. Good churches might become great churches.”
God’s path is always GREAT
Be Honest About Your Reservations
Sometimes we get Stuck because we won’t be honest about where we are. We say the right thing. Make appearances of doing the right thing, but aren’t honest with God about our reservations, frustrations, fears, anger, with others and even with God.
V2 – Abram says, Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless… Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.
Abram doubts his ability not God’s ability. “Lord I’ve been willing, I left my hometown, I’ve come with you on this journey, but here we are, 20 years later, and we are past the opportunity. You didn’t give it and I can’t do it.”
If you’ve come to the end of your rope… if you’ve tapped out your resources… if you no longer have anything to offer… Then maybe God has your right where he needs you.
2. Take a Second Look at God’s Vision
I Am Your Shield
15:4 now the word of the Lord came to him… this one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.
When God gives us a word, it may seem impossible, but if it is God’s word, he’s not looking for our help, or a different plan. He’s not looking for our permission to change the process.
If it seems unbelievable, that’s what God does.
Step Outside The Tent
Sometimes it’s hard to see from INSIDE. It’s hard to see past the “reality”.
Abram looked around the tent and all he could see was no children, no blessing, no fulfillment of the vision. Inside the tent, you can only see so far. Inside the tent our view is limited, our imagination is limited. Inside the tent you are blinded from seeing the beauty of the vision.
God took him outside the Tent
An Unimaginable vision of God.
V5 Look at the Sky.
Stop looking at what is NOT and look at what IS. Look at what God has already done, and imagine what he can do.
“Count the Stars“
– you can only get a glimpse, the gist, an idea, but you can’t even understand it. It’s imagined that IF he COULD count the stars visible they would number more than 4000, but in reality the stars in the field of vision would be more than 50,000.
If you are able to count them… your offspring will be that numerous
Abraham’s offspring included those who would be his by family birth. But they also included those spiritually who would follow his way. Those who would become “sons of Abraham”, Paul called them.
If you are able to count them…
You can count the apples in a tree. And you can count the seeds in an apple. But who can count the apples in a seed? Until the story of life is over, you never can count the apples in that one seed.
God’sways truly are higher than ours
Isaiah 55:8–9 (CSB)
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 9“For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The Vision of God will be glorious and beautiful
His Vision will inspire others who view it displayed in You
3. You Can Believe The Promise of God
Your Reward Will Be Great
The only thing that God required of Abram was
Believe and Walk in the Promise
The “currency” that Heaven recognizes is FAITH
Hebrews 11:1 (CSB)
1Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
Then Hebrews 11, lists the “Hall of Fame of Faith”. It tells the story of those Saints of Old who were faithful to follow God. None of them were perfect, but they were full of Faith. Not full of excellence, not full of strength, not full of talent, or so many things we might list. But they had FAITH.
And then Hebrews 12 continues
Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB)
1Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
How do we join the Hall of Fame of Faith? Were they “SUPER-SPIRITUAL”? No, they were real, they struggled, they waivered, they fell down.
“Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness”
believed – means confirm/trust
credited – parallel to a bookkeeping transfer, like an item is moved from one column to another. Abraham’s faith is moved into the column of Righteousness
Romans 4:17–21 (CSB)
17As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. 18He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. 19He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.
He believed based on the Power and Faithfulness of the One making the promise
See it as alreadycompleted
Paul speaks of us as believers in Romans 8 and says that those he “foreknew, he predestined, called, justified and glorified” All of those things are in the Past Tense, COMPLETED. Before we ever knew, it was already true in God’s mind.
So…
Live in it untilGod brings it to fulfillment
Abraham so fully believed here; that years later when he was called to Sacrifice Isaac, he carried on without even a doubt because he believed God was going to fulfill his promise, and it wasn’t hinging on Isaac, but on God.
Before Faith flowered, Abraham saw God’s promise based on his own ability, but AFTER Faith was credited as Righteousness, he lived ACCORDING to it, then he knew That the promise wasn’t based on him, it wasn’t on Isaac, the Promise was Based ON GOD the Giver of the Promise.
Faith is what pleases God.
Everything else is a byproduct of the fact that you believe him.
John 6:27–29 (CSB)
27Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” 28“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”
If you’re current situation doesn’t seem to fit the vision, trust the God of the vision in spite of the nature of the circumstance.
Remember what he’s alreadydone for you
Abram had to become a NOBODY before God could work through him.
“I brought you From…”
Oh my don’t forget where you have been, from wince you come
Ur was a place of false worshipers, idol worshipers, it was the area of Nimrods people.
I brought –
You didn’t get to God by anything you have done
I brought you
You didn’t leave because you thought of it
I brought – yatsa = to come, to go forth
I brought you FROM
– The heart of the message of the Gospel is “REPENT” – come FROM where you are …
I the Lord brought you from Ur… TO GIVE you this land to possess
Oh yes, Lord. The call of God is based on HIS Promise, on His Power, Based on his GRACE
To give you this land to POSSESS
Nehemiah 9:7–8 (CSB)
7You, the Lord, are the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and changed his name to Abraham. 8You found his heart faithful in your sight, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites…
God says, “I wanted to save you because I had a plan that included YOU
God says, “because of my power I delivered and continue to deliver you”
He didn’t have to do anything, but it was his GRACE, working in Abram’s life that gave him what he didn’t deserve. He brought him to a place of promise and blessed him over and over.
WillyougoOutside the Tent with God?
Jeremiah 31:16–17 (CSB)
16This is what the Lord says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return from the enemy’s land. 17There is hope for your future— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return to their own territory.
Will You Believe?
Walk in Faith?
Don’t Be Afraid – BELIEVE
I Am Your Shield – Rest In Me
Your Reward Will Be Great –– I Have Your Reward – I Am Your Reward – Your Reward is GREAT
I got a text from a friend today. It’s not unusual for us to text each other with a thought or a question as we study the word, or think through the issues we face. The question today was, “Joshua 6 – Jericho, shouts and the walls came down. Scripture just says they shouted. Shouted what? Shouts of praise?”
And I had one of those clarifying moments. Profound? Well you decide. The thought that went through my heart was,
“The Key is never the WHAT but the THAT!”
And I texted that then continued, “It’s about Faith and Obedience. Think about all the things in that incident alone. The marching didn’t do it. The shouting didn’t do it. The walking around the city did not do it. The walls didn’t start to erode or crumble days 1-6. They didn’t shake on revolutions 1-6 on day 7. No, it was THAT they believed and obeyed. And Joshua 6 says, ‘When they heard the rams horns and they troops gave a great shout, the walls collapsed.”
And then my thought continued, “and what was left standing when the dust settled? It was Rahab’s section of the wall, where she was in her ‘apartment’ with her family in obedience to the instruction given. Red cord hanging from her window. Was the red cord magic? No. Oh the red cord is a beautiful picture of salvation, but it was THAT she believed and obeyed.”
And then I texted one other example from that story, from the flip side. “When Achan stole a robe, a little silver, and a little gold; it wasn’t WHAT he took, it was THAT he didn’t trust God and obey. He took God’s part.”
Then the final observation, “It’s always about Faith and Obedience. It’s interesting how many times God did something UNIQUE in the circumstance. Whether Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Daniel, many manifestations of God’s power, but every time the action is unique. The uniqueness was that there wasn’t a ‘magic incantation’ or a ‘rain dance’, it was always about Faith and Obedience.
It’s not about the WHAT, its always about the THAT – Faith and Obedience.
Just a short thought about bearing the yoke, that is the struggles of life.
MOST TIMES: we are trying to “lay God at the foot of our problems.” That is we try and bring God to our struggles and ask him to fix them, explain, them, etc. But by doing that, we are interpreting God by the candlelight of our problems.
This Faulty and Dangerous!
I must lay my problems at the feet of Jesus! That’s what Philippians 4:4-9 is talking about. I must present my requests to him like an act of worship, trust, hope, and faith. Then I must interpret my problems based on the light of Jesus,
FOR
From HIM
Through HIM
To HIM
Are ALL things
It is God at the beginning, at the center, and at the end.
Then … it begins to make sense. And even if it doesn’t, God does. He is the ONE we must seek to understand, not the yoke I bear. Do not bow at the altar of your problems, but bow at the altar of Christ.
Genesis 24:27 (NIV84) Praise be to the Lord, the God of my Master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, The Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives
Oh many people find themselves in events, they never could have imagined and wonder if God is still there. A turn of an election, a report of a doctor, a whim of the boss, a swipe of a car, God what is going on?
The story of God is a story of kindness and faithfulness. It is a story of a God who never leaves even though sometimes WE leave. It is a story of a God who does not abandon. Yes, sometimes he leads us through dark shadows, the fear of death, the presence of enemies, and a path of correction; but even then he is the same Good Shepherd. He is the same good shepherd who leads by green pastures, quiet waters, prepares a table for us, and restores our souls.
This servant is on a journey to find a spouse for Abraham’s son Isaac. It is a big journey and an important journey. There are many reasons to fear. But he looks at the God of the Past, anticipates the God of the Future, and finds then he can trust the God of the Present.
1) Look at the God of the Past
God had called Abraham and led Abraham. When Abraham wandered, failed to act, failed to trust, God was still faithful and kind, he never abandoned. When he took him even past the place of promise, he never abandoned him. So, as his servant retraces those steps back to the homeland to find a bride for his Master’s son, he knows he can trust God to be with him.
So for me, I have a long heritage to look to. William and Joseph Murphy were known as the Murphy boys in the last half of the 1700s. They were baptists in Virginia when it was against the law to be anything but Anglicans. They were imprisoned for their stance for freedom of religion. They served their country in the Revolutionary War. Under their preaching Colonel Samuel Harris was converted and became the greatest Baptist Preacher of his generation. The Murphy boys had a nephew named William who gave birth to Daniel Richard Murphy in 1802. He was my Great Great Great Grandfather. He moved to Missouri. Under his ministry, over 30 years he is said to have baptized 3000 people and started between 25-30 churches in the early days of Baptist work, west of the Mississippi. God was faithful to him, he served as a Union Chaplain in Missouri, during the Civil War when the state was trying to be neutral.
My Great Grandfather Vance Patterson was a traveling preacher and Pastor and God took him through.
My Grandfather, Lester Patterson, was called to preach as a teenage boy, but was running from the call. he had served in the Army in San Francisco, far from his home in Oklahoma. He was fishing one day in the far upper part of the Northwest, it was late winter early spring and there was still ice on the river. The ice opened and my grandfather fell in and the ice closed up. It was his “Jonah moment” and he knew God was saying “are you going to preach or not.” He quickly said “yes” to God’s call on his life, the ice opened and he crawled out and began hitchhiking home. He served the Lord as a pastor the rest of his life.
My paternal grandparents, Carl and Frances Goforth had married, my grandfather a baptist but “backslidden” and my grandmother a Presbyterian faithful to the Lord. My grandfather didn’t attend church with her because he said “I’m a Baptist and not Presbyterian, and I don’t have any church clothes. So, when my father was born, my grandmother quietly prayed that night, “Lord call him to preach and I will raise him to hear you call.” My grandfather didn’t share that prayer yet, but she prayed. Well one Sunday my grandmother came home from church and announced “Carl you better get some church clothes because I joined the Baptist Church today and you are going next Sunday.” He did and got right with God and served him faithfully for 60 years. They were faithful to the Lord who was faithful and kind to them and never abandoned them.
So it has been with my family. So it has been in my life. God has never abandoned, he has always been faithful and kind. So … I can
2) Anticipate The God of the Future.
He has been good, he has been faithful, he has been true. So I can anticipate how he will continue to do what he has promised. Faith is being sure of what we have hoped for, Certain of what is not seen. God has led me this far and he didn’t lead me out here to leave me. His past performance points to future performance. I have hope. Hope is the substance we hold on to until the thing of substance shows up. Then hope is replaced with substance.
So then I can
3) Trust the God of the Present
So Abraham’s servant looked at what God had done, believed what he would do and said “as for me, he has led me on the journey” and I believe he will complete this task. And he did.
Some trust in chariots and horses but we trust the Lord.
Presidents and Potentates come and go but God is on the throne. Paul says in Romans 13 that God his hand IN it all. Oh we don’t have to get OUT of it to find God, he is IN it.
Trust doesn’t fight God, trust doesn’t stay home when God says go, trust does what God says and knows the outcome is not my responsibility.
How many wasted minutes do we spend daily with our thoughts on “God Things”? By that I don’t mean wasted thinking godly things. I mean wasted time thinking about things in the dominion, concern, and control of God. How much time do we waste in worry over things we cannot control? If we wasted only 10 minutes a day, that would be 3,650 in a year. That’s 60 hours in a year which is 2.5 days a year wasted in worry from 10 minutes a day. But if you wasted 30 minutes on worry every day, that’s 7.5 days over the course of a year. If we stay with math and are honest, if you worry, you worry more than 10 minutes, more than 30. If you spent an hour consumed by worry, that’s 15 days of worry in a year. That is a full 3 work week vacation wasted on worry. That’s a vacation away from completing the tasks of God in your life.
Jesus says in Matthew 6 that we have a worry problem. The problem with worry is that we are serving two masters when we worry. He says we are trying to lay up treasure in places that are not safe. We are treasuring earthly things, things that will rust, or be destroyed, stolen, or otherwise consumed outside of our control. So, Jesus says, lay up treasure in Heaven.
So, in v24, Jesus says “no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (NIV84)
“Therefore” v25 “Do not worry …”(NIV84) The KJV says “take no thought about your life” … “what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear … Is not your life more important than food … the body more important than clothes?”
Of course this is not saying “don’t think about food, just eat whatever.” Nor is it saying “don’t think about clothes, just wear whatever.” No, it is saying “don’t waste time in worry about these essentials.” The word is merimnao = be anxious, care for, be concerned about, meditate upon, ponder, to be burdened. It is the idea of wasted worry untrusting thoughts, misused moments.
Misused moments turn into squandered hours. Squandered hours turn into desecrated days. Is not your life more important than that? It comes down to what we know and believe about God.
Yesterday I was walking in nature and I saw a tiny bird clothed in the most beautiful red garment of feathers. I saw an eagle soaring majestically, powerful wings spread and covered in feathers around his strong frame. I saw a pheasant, oh how beautifully he was clothed. Beautiful rust colored garment with multiple hues covered his body. As he strutted in front of me he was showing off his clothes. his neck was covered in iridescent green. His long tail extending out and his head covered in a red hat. He wasn’t worried. I saw a snail, large, almost 2 inches tall, was his beautiful house he carried on his back, while he dined on a leaf in my path. None of those simple creatures went shopping, God clothed them and housed them.
v26 Look at the birds of the air … your Heavenly Father feeds them …
And then comes the worry eradication phrase …
“… are YOU not MORE VALUABLE than they?”
diaphero = more valuable, superior to … Oh listen, this world IS subject to death and decay, because of sin … but Jesus didn’t leave heaven and become a bird, or a dolphin, an ape, or a rock for that matter. No, he left heaven and became one of us so that he might redeem US into a relationship with him. Nature is blessed as a by-product of God’s love for US, redeeming US. We are so valuable to him. He sought us as a pearl of great price, a treasure buried in a field.
So, v28 says “why worry … look at the lilies of the field …” They don’t worry. But he says Pagans worry about these things … why? Pagans worry because they have dead gods. When we waste our thoughts on worry, it is as if we have a god that we know is our own creation. A god who really can’t do anything for us. But David says “lead me to the Rock that is higher than I”
v33 But Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven … and Righteousness … and leave God to worry for the rest of it.
because, v27 “who by worrying can add a single hour to life?” Well you can’t ADD days to your life by worry, but if you DON’T worry, then you are saving Days … so you CAN add to your life by TRUSTING God …
Reclaim your clock … Banish worry … and do something fun and eternal with the unwasted moments
Isaiah 40:21 says “do you not know, have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded”
Stick with me for a minute, I’m getting somewhere … this isn’t a discussion on the creation … but I wonder if when Adam was, Oh say 50 or 60 in his “days on the earth” if when he told the creation story, did people say “wait a minute, you are 50? You look about 75 or 80”. Did they say, “if you were born on the 6th day of creation, the world has to be older than you are saying cause YOU LOOK older than that.
Well the easy answer is that Adam was created full grown, in his prime, perhaps 25 or 30 in appearance. Now, I don’t think Adam got that question, because they had been told from the beginning. They knew.
But you know we get “older and smarter” and we think we know better than what we have been told from the beginning. They say the “rocks” appear to be billions of years old that light from space is billions of years out there, or MAYBE, could it be that they were created full grown, just like Adam?
Doesn’t the Artist’s painting look like it has always been here? But it didn’t, it had a moment of creation, the act of painting when finished is full grown.
v22 “He (God) sits enthroned above the circle of the earth … people are like grasshoppers, He stretches out the heavens like a canopy”
God is STILL on the his throne, regardless if we get too smart to obey him or even believe in him. The artist still created the art even if we decide someone else did it or if we believe it was a miraculous self starting “evolved”piece of art.
v23 “he brings princes to naught … rulers … to nothing”
God is still ruler regardless of the occupant of the earthly kingdoms, regardless of the latest potentate, God is Prior and more Powerful and the Portent of all things.
v25 “to whom will you compare me or who is my equal?”
I know no other like our God … There is none like him
SO, Said all of that to say this:
v26 “Lift your eyes and look to the Heavens.”
Oh it is easy to be myopic. To look at my life or world affairs and think, “this is out of hand”. “Who created this?” “Is God really in charge?” Yet Romans 13 teaches that God ordains all authority and yet I look through my little lenses and wonder “How can this be?”
Lift your eyes, look up, look to the heavens. Don’t focus just on what is in front of you. The Sun “came up” this morning, we say, the moon “rose”. Yet even that is myopic because the greater truth is that they don’t “come up” nor “go down” but the Sun is a fixed object in the heavens and we move around it, spinning dizzily creating day and night. The moon’s gravity pulls on our oceans and waves rise and fall
Look up … “who created all this?” – If those are fixed objects, then outside of our universe is a God who is himself FIXED, He is on the throne of the universe and will not be moved. He is the Unmovable Mover, He is the Uncaused Caused, the Uncreated Creator of all things.
The One who brings out the stars and calls them by name, He is there, Look up. v26b “because of power, not one of them is missing”
Lift your eyes, look to the heavens. When you look at the heavens He created you will look to Heaven for your Creator and Sustainer.
v27 “Why do you complain … (saying) ‘my way is hidden from the Lord, my cause is disregarded by my God.’”
Oh child, you are not hidden from Him, He sees you, he knows how many hairs are on your head. He knows when one sparrow falls and you are worth far more than many sparrows (Luke 12:7)
Lift your eyes
He will not disregard you … Oh He has great regard for you. He so regarded you that he gave His son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)
The flower fades, the grass withers, the mountains crumble, but we can have eternal life. YES He regards you. “this is how we know what love IS, Jesus laid down his life for us”(1 John 3:16)
Sometimes our “cause” may not be right or just, it may not follow God’s plans but He has not forgotten you nor forsaken you, because He said “I will NEVER leave you nor forsake you”(Hebrews 13:5) That verse is in a double and triple negative which in the original language doesn’t turn it into a positive it further strengthens as he is saying I will “not never”, “no not never” leave or forsake you.
Lift your eyes, Look to the heavens.
God is foxed on the throne, so don’t let your limited view, your incomplete understanding, your jaded knowledge cause you to doubt a fixed God who is Sovereign and Enthroned on High with no equal.
Lift your eyes and say “yes Lord I will continue to look up and trust you”
I was a Junior in High School, went to first of August football “two-a-days”. When we came back after lunch for our second practice, we found out that our brand new coach, after only one practice, had resigned and left town to deal with a family issue. Wait what? One practice and the coach was gone. Our newly elevated former assistant, now head coach, looked at a bunch of confused boys, wondering about the future, and he said something I’ve never forgotten, he said “boys it’s great to be alive and in Rockdale, Texas.” It was a great moment, as he sought to put our fears at ease and told us to focus on the important things, and focus on the future. He was telling us that life was worth focusing on and to let go of the things we couldn’t do anything about, that what was important was NOW.
Worry – do you love it, hate it, feed on it, secretly need it? It’s a terrible thing, worry. Sometimes we think that somehow, if we worry, in a twisted way, we think we can control or hold on to situations that are out of our control.
Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:25 “do not worry about your life”. Does that mean “live a life of apathy? No, not at all, that is counter to the overall weight of scripture. So, this is something deeper. Jesus defines “life” as it’s being assumed as “what you will eat, or what you will wear” … We are talking here about out of balance wants and obsessing over needs. The word “worry” is the Greek word, “merimnao” = “to be anxious”. He is saying, do not have anxiety over things that aren’t really life, like what you will eat or wear.
Paul uses the same word and thoughts when he says in Philippians 4:6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer with thanksgiving, present your requests to God …”. The governor for anxiety is a thankful heart and a worshipful, trusting, spirit that gives my concerns to God and allows him to bring about my best. So then, I can truly with Philippians 4:4 “rejoice in the Lord always”.
Jesus continues in Matthew 6:25 “… is not life more important than food and clothes?” The Lord clothes the flowers, he feeds the birds and he says in verse 30 “if that is how God clothes the grass which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith.?”Oh Hallelujah! We have a “much more” God! We have an “exceedingly abundant God”. So, verse 31 says “so do not worry … for the pagans run after all these things“. A life of anxiety is a pagan lifestyle. It is indicative of one who worships idols. Why do the pagans worry? They worry because their god sits on a shelf. They worship inanimate, man-made objects. But we serve, we worship, The Living True God.
Anxiety be gone
Worry be banished
Security, Trust, and Love reign over me.
Verse 25 begins “Therefore”. You know what that means right? It means we need to look before and see what it is there for. So, what was the point that brought Jesus to this teaching? Verse 24 says we have divided hearts. Jesus says we can’t serve two masters. We can’t serve God and Money. You know for a Spiritual book, the Bible sure talks a lot about money. Why is that? It is because our hearts are often divided by inordinate pleasures. We are taught by scripture to give tithes and offerings, yes to fund ministry, but that’s only a byproduct. It is to help us with our treasure principles.
Verse 19 says “do not store up treasures on earth” Oh aren’t our houses full of things we treasured inordinately? Yes. Dust is piled up on the things we thought we needed. Perhaps there are things God would have given us if we had asked or would have instructed that we did not need and we could have invested those funds in treasures in heaven instead.
Verse 20 says “store up treasures in heaven”. Verse 21 says “where your treasure is there your heart will be also”. When my treasures are IN order, then i don’t worry and anxiety is out the window.
Therefore, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?
And I had one of those clarifying moments. Profound? Well you decide. The thought that went through my heart was, 
Pastor Goforth 