Is This The Time?

What if this is the time when God answers all. your prayers — the burdens you’ve carried for people or situations for months, even years.  

But, what if this is the time when God takes those prayers and does what only He can do?  What if He just answers them for you right now? 

It‘s a possibility.  After all, the answer to prayer is His promise to His people:

Isa. 65:24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

Is this the time? Walk in faith, believing He will answer on His own time clock. Did I mention to delight yourself in the Lord? He loves that. 

Psalm 37:4-5  Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their permission.

Intimacy With God

God would use the afflictions Israel faced to bring them closer to Him. They would see His power, experience His peace, and know His presence. 

Exodus 6:7 And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

God wants intimacy with His people. The trials of life are designed to drive believers into His arms.

One of my most intimate times with God was twenty-two years ago in the recovery room as I awoke to voices from the nurses station across the hall. 

I told the Lord that if He didn’t want to take me Home, could He keep me from getting nauseous during chemotherapy. 

After a few months of regular chemotherapy, they added two high dose treatments, each involving a month in the hospital. I never got nauseous. Never. I still praise Him. 

Through it all I learned to trust in Jesus. 

It’s been said, “Great faith is shaped on the anvil of affliction”. 

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their permission

Come Boldly

"How can Jesus know what I’m going through? He is perfect and way off, all the way up to Heaven. How can He possibly feel what I feel?" 

Have you ever heard someone say something like that?

Jesus knows what you feel and He loves you. When you hurt, He hurts. 

He knows what humans feel because He has lived life as a human and has experienced the same hardships and pain that you face. 

Hebrews 4:15-16  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The way to God has been opened and we can come to Him anytime for the mercy, grace and help we need, Matt. 11:28; 1 Pet. 5:7.

Do you know my Jesus?  If not, seek Him for salvation.   If you do know Him, come boldly to Him with your need.

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their permission.

The Good And Bad Times

What about God’s power, His Sovereignty, and His ability to meet our needs? 

Well, I believe if we immerse ourselves in God through prayer, worship and the study of His Word in the good times, we will not be so easily blown off course in the bad times. 

And if we can learn His sweet promises, they will help us and comfort us when the winds howl against us. 

It’s a tactic that works wonders. The God on the mountain is still God in the valley. 

Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their permission.

God Knows You

When Israel went to Babylon as prisoners, the nation was guilty of idolatry. God reminds them that in spite of their pain and suffering, they are on His mind. 

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

When they came out, they never resorted to that sin again. God used a time when they thought they were forgotten to make them stronger and better for His glory.

What does God think about you?

Of all the people in this vast human race, God has specific thoughts — good thoughts — about you. 

The knowledge of God is a comforting thing. 

Sometimes there are storms that darken the way. 

Sometimes there are burdens that are hard to carry. 

Other times, there are sorrows and troubles that seem to hide the face of the Lord from us. 

But don’t be deceived into thinking that the Lord doesn’t know or that He doesn’t care. 

God knows everything that you are into today, and He will get you through it. 

Jeremiah 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their permission. 

Submitting To God’s Will

The Apostle Paul spent some time encouraging the Philippian Church to be humble and submissive to the Father and to the Lord Jesus. We need to take this to heart. 

Philippians 2:12. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

God doesn’t save us and leave us to sort out His will. He moves in our lives and through His Spirit works His will for His good pleasure. 

It’s a challenge to make our Christian life all it can be by submitting our will to God’s will.

Submission is the key.

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their permission. 

Hurricane Ike

A few years ago furious winds burst from the gulf coast, whipping our house and others with the sound of a freight train. My husband watched TV past midnight, tracing the havoc of Hurricane Ike in Southeast Texas. 

Unable to stay awake, I went to bed singing “Keep Me Safe Till The Storm Passes By”. 

In spite of windows over the head of the bed, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. It was the darkest (black dark) I had ever experienced. 

Mid the scary noise outside, I went to sleep, trusting the Lord to keep us safe and He did. 

Whether the weather or problems, the best we can do when storms rage about us is run to Jesus for refuge and cling to Him until the storm passes. 

Isaiah 25:4.  For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall

Since then, when we sing “Till The Storm Passes By” at church, and I am playing the piano, I bang the keys with passion, remembering Hurricane Ike.  

Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their permission.