ARE YOU TROUBLED

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1

The Lord had just told His disciple of His impending death, their countenance changed and they were greatly troubled. That He will no longer be with them was enough fear, coupled with the opposition, the danger, the affliction and tribulations that awaited them. Of course Jesus knew what was was going on in their mind and also knew He needed to do to encourage them. As He gathers with them, He says these words: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

Are you troubled? Is there fear anywhere? Are you agitated about the seemingly worrying circumstances of your life? Your situation is identical to that of the Lord’s disciples. There was a particular time in my life that I found myself in this type of a situation. Things were not going the way I expected and I was loosing it totally, then this word of Jesus to His disciples struck me and I realised that for my heart not to be so troubled was in my hand! ‘Do not let …..’ came home to me to know that whether my heart is troubled or not is dependent on me.

There is a way out of a troubled , fearful and agitated heart. The key is to simply put the totality of our trust in God. Jesus in this passage said, “Trust in God, …..”, in other words, Trust in God who is the Almighty, He sits in heaven and make the earth His footstool, He knows all things, He is in charge. His wisdom and love is infinite. Jesus continues, “….. And “trust also in me,” meaning I am the access you required, a kind of ‘conduit pipe through whom all of God’s blessings is made available to you. Proverbs 3:5, ever before Jesus’ statement was made, puts it this way: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Trouble may come, hearts may be weary as we are faced with uncertainties of life, be rest assured that the Lord will surely navigate us through it and give us peace. “My peace I give unto you not as the world gives”, Jesus says.

Life Application

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Provers 3:5)

“HOPE IN THE LORD”

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:29-31)
Hope in the Lord, never give up hope. No doubt we all have moments where we want to throw in the towel and give up, moments when future looks very bleak and it’s like darkness has set in. You are not only physically drained, you are mentally exhausted. Nothing seems to be  working! It can be frustrating to work day in and day out and not have the success you know that you crave for and deserve. giving up however, is not the answer.
Isaiah penned the passage during a very dark time in the nation of Judah. Out of this darkest of times, God’s Word comes as a message of hope to them through Isaiah. He advises the people not to give up and points them back to God. Giving up is the easy way out but it will not solve anything.
Remember, no matter how low you have gotten to,
  • things in your life can improve. Step by step, day by day… you can and will find a path through the pain and darkness and again experience moments of life that make all that effort worthwhile, ten-fold. Recovery is possible.
  • What seems like a massive deal in your life today may not mean as much tomorrow… least of all in ten years from now. If you are acting in haste, try to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. You will find it if Christ the hope of glory is your anchor.
God never leaves us without a ray of hope. He remains ever able, no situation is beyond Him nor bigger than Him if you will dare wait, trust and hope in Him. “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Everything will be all right in the end… if it’s not all right then it’s not yet the end. Never give up hope.
God bless you.

THE QUESTIONS WE ASK

“Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favourable no more? Has his mercy ceased forever? Has his promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies?”(Psalm 77: 7-9).
When overwhelmed and confused, it is not unlikely for us to see God as the source of our problems. Each of the questions asked in the passage points to God as the source of the problems. This is what happens when one is completely overwhelmed, confused and clueless about his situation. Rather than looking inward and examine oneself, we want to hold God responsible. Asaph questions are our questions but the faithfulness of God has answer to every question of life
Now let’s look at how God answers each of these questions:
“Will the Lord cast off forever?” Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37 NKJV).
“Will He be favorable no more?” Proverbs 8:35 says, “For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord” (NKJV). Also Proverbs 12:2 says, “A good man obtains favor from the Lord…” (NKJV)..
“Has His mercy ceased forever?” Psalm 89:28 says, “My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him” (NKJV). Psalm 136, 26 times makes the statement, “His mercy endures forever,”..
“Has His promise failed forevermore?” 1 Kings 8:56 says, “There has not failed one word of all His good promises, which He promised through His servant Moses” (NKJV). Again, in Psalm 89:34 it says, “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (NKJV).
“Has God forgotten to be gracious?” Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (NKJV).
“Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” Psalm 117:2 says, “For His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord” (NKJV).
Whenever we are faced with problems we can be assured that God is not the source. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (NKJV). Yet one reason we fail to receive the help we need is that we point to God as the source of our trouble. God is our help in time of trouble.

“COME TO ME”

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 

Like a backpack full of bricks being carried everywhere, are you weighed down mentally and emotionally by issues and worries of life? Has your life becomes a struggle and dreadful? Are you pressured by getting involved in rat race? Is care and responsibility weighing you down? Jesus’ presence offers release and refreshing to those who are tired and overburdened and He is inviting us to come into His presence where rest and refreshing and new life can be accessed. He says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (V. 29). When we answer this call, Jesus releases us from the burdens that have weighed us down. God never puts one under pressure. His yoke is easy and light. (V.30)
When we sense that the care and worries of life are beginning to weigh us down, we must reevaluate what we’re doing. Taking stock of what is in your backpack is a big step. We are often overburdened by imposed responsibilities others placed on us, self inflicted responsibility that pressures us and things that are not of God. If so, accept the Lord’s invitation to be released. God never uses guilt, condemnation, or pressure to motivate us. Hebrews 4:15 says “For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses”
God deals with us as individuals. He never compares our growth with Him to the progress of others. His willingness to relate to us brings liberty and removes all competition. In Second Corinthians 10:12 Paul warns us of the foolishness of comparing ourselves with one another. He said, “Of course we would not dare classify ourselves or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. How stupid they are! They make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and they judge themselves by their own standards!” (TEV).
There is no competition with the Lord. He permits us to live and learn at our own rate, and allows others the same privilege. There is no pressure to be or do something to win God’s approval and you do not need people’s approval. His way is easy and light. The Lord never puts pressure on us to perform! Without the added stress of performance we’re able to discover the destiny for our lives.
Jesus makes one simple request: “Come to Me!”

When we come tired and burdened, He will relieve and refresh us. When we come heavy-laden and weary, He gives us rest. He gives us ease and blessed quiet.

“DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?”

Jesus said to her “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  (John 11:25-26)

 

Questions of faith are answered in times of uncertainty, when there is confusion all around one. “Do you believe this?” It’s a question Jesus asked Martha which demanded an answer. It’s a question we can fairly assume God asks all of us. Do we believe?  All of eternity changes by the answer you give to this question. To refuse belief is to cast our lot with ourselves. It’s to commit our eternal destiny to chance or to our own ability to earn whatever we desire. It’s to go our own way believing we know better than Jesus and His teachings.

 

To believe, is to admit we are not in control except Jesus. It’s to confess a need for God’s forgiveness and admit our limitations to handle life on our own. It’s more than just accepting the facts about Jesus but a life-altering change of attitudes and actions attempting to respond to the way which Jesus calls. Every person answers the question, “Do you believe this?”

 

The timing of Jesus’ asking Martha the question is fascinating. It was asked on one of her darkest days. Her brother, Lazarus

had died despite her efforts to save him. Martha had sent word to Jesus hoping that Jesus would be able to do something before it was too late. Jesus was slower than Martha had hoped and didn’t arrive until Lazarus had already been buried for four days. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha told him. They are words of tremendous faith but equally that of bitterness. She knew Jesus held a power no one else had. Had Jesus been earlier in coming, she believed that He could have changed the outcome for Lazarus. Her statement was one of sorrow over timing, not anger over inability.

 

In the midst of her pain, Jesus reveals himself as being even more powerful than Martha realized. The finality of death didn’t apply to Jesus. When He is around, time never runs out. Jesus explained to Martha what He could do. Yet before he did anything, he questioned Martha’s faith. He didn’t ask the question after he raised Lazarus from the dead. He didn’t wait until the story was complete. Right in the middle of the situation when the outcome looked the most bleak was Jesus’ timing to ask the question.

 

It was true for Martha and, so often, it’s true for us. Questions of faith are most often asked and answered in times of doubt.

We always want more information. We would like to delay until we have a greater understanding. We want to know the rest of the story. But before the outcome is revealed, before the details fully unfold, we are asked to declare where we stand! Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?

” RUNNING THE RACE OF LIFE”

Life generally is described as “like a marathon, you can’t stop, you have to keep going. Every runner particularly long-distance runner like life journey has been likened to, requires training, endurance and discipline, in order to finish, finish well and not make ship wreck of their race.  We have the promise of heaven to back us up in the journey of life but we have a part to play. We need to:
*    stay on track and keep running
*    run the race with perseverance.
STAY ON TRACK AND KEEP RUNNING – Ps 125: 1-5 
Continuous effort (not strength or intelligence) is the key to unlocking your potential ~Winston Churchill.
Greatness in the kingdom is birthed on the platform of endurance.
The Psalmist points us to the fact that the key to endurance lies in trusting God. This is not based on wishful thinking, but on the character and protection of the God in whom we trust. He is ever there for, above and around you. His support is something you can rely on ‘both now, and forevermore’.
The psalmist warns against turning off the track: ‘Those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers’. When we wander off the path we lose our peace. The psalmist’s prayer is, ‘peace be upon Israel’.
RUN THE RACE WITH PERSEVERANCE – Hebrews 12:1- 13
There is a race ‘marked out’ for you that you are urged to ‘run with perseverance’. In this race, you have great encouragement. You are ‘surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses of men and women of faith. They blazed the trail by reason of faith and are still alive although dead by reason of their testimonies
Running this race is not without its difficulties and challenges. There are things that can trip us up along the way. We have to ‘throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles’.
The key to running the race successfully is to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’. Good athletes keep their eyes fixed on the finish line. Jesus is ‘the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (v.2). The key to your endurance is to ‘consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart’.
Jesus ‘never lost sight of where he was headed and He by so doing is urging every believer to look ahead at the goal rather than looking down at your situation. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Running a successful race requires training. Training is hard work; it requires discipline and can even be quite painful.
Keep running the race: ‘So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! And you will be surprised the extent success that will come your way.

 

Thirsting and Hungering for God’s Presence.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, 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?” (Psalms 42:1-2 NKJV)
Moses knew the importance of God’s presence. He felt they would live a life of defeat if they walked without God’s presence. Hence he told God that they would only wish to leave the place they were in if God’s presence would be with them (Exodus 33:15). Jesus said it is in the presence of God that we could only bear fruit if we abide in Him (John 15:4). David longed and thirsted for God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2). If there is one place that Isaiah got transformed completely and set him on the sincere path of serving God, then it was when he came into God’s presence. His sins were exposed, he felt so dirty and cried out for God’s mercy to change him. God touched him with a live coal and he was able to change (Isaiah 6).
Every believer is called into an intimate relationship and this can only be attained by thirsting and hungering for His presence like the patriarchs of old did. When we get physically hungry, many of us begin to look for something to appease the hunger. Hunger prompts us to seek something to fill us up, even if it is something that is not really good for us. Same with God presence, hunger for God is the longing to encounter Him, to be with Him, and to be filled with His Spirit. When we are hungry for God and His Presence, we will do whatever it takes to get close to Him.
The place of intimacy is where we will catch, not only the revelation He wants to give us, but we will also catch His heart. When we hunger and thirst for God, we will seek Him, and when we seek Him, we will be filled and empowered. As we behold the fiery eyes of Jesus in his presence, the Holy Spirit transforms us from one glory to another. In God’s presence we receive mercy, healing, revelation of our sins, purging of our sins, joy, favour, honour, glory, protection from the wicked and evil tongues, rest among many others. Let us arise and become the Davids in our generation who will not seek the hand of God all the time but will seek God for who He is. We need people who will go after God. God is looking for people who will know that the reason they are created in this earth is to praise God.

“GOD IS WAITING”

“Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations.

God on His own prompting had given a promise to Abraham earlier on but just like you or me, Sarah and Abraham may have thought, “God doesn’t understand our circumstances; his commandments are good guidelines, but they simply don’t work when it comes to the nitty-gritty of life.” And so the couple decided to ‘fulfil the promise’ by their method. And so Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

 

Yet the promise had been that Sarah would be the one to deliver a son for Abraham; and in the agenda nothing has been fulfilled and so the wait continued, long after reaching the point of desperate frustration, the place where you say, “God, I can’t go on any longer!”

 

Have you been there like the widow knocking on the judge’s door?

You pray day and night but it’s like heaven upon you is closed and the door remains shut (Luke 18). Sarah and Abraham knocked on that door for another fourteen years! (Genesis 16:16; Genesis 21:5).
While Abraham and Sarah waited, God made a covenant with Abram, changing his name to Abraham, which means “father of many.” And he changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, saying she would be the mother of nations and among her off-spring would be kings (Genesis 17: 15-16).

 

Then God sent three mysterious visitors to tell Abraham that Sarah would provide him a son within the year. Sarah laughed, not believing God was about to give birth to his promise (Genesis 18). This time around, they were totally and wholly dependent upon God to fulfill his promise. Not dependent because they’d obediently submitted everything to God, but totally dependent because they’d exhausted every other possibility.

 

And that’s often why God delays. He’s waiting on us to be ready for him. God opened Sarah’s womb so she could bear Abraham a son in his old age, at the time appointed by God (Genesis 21:2).

 

There is nothing you need that God can’t provide. You don’t know what you’re going to need the rest of this year and the rest of your days. But whatever it is, God has the power to supply it. The Bible says this in Philippians 4:19: “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

God has unlimited resources, He is waiting for you to ask Him.

 

“The Deep Riches of God’s Wisdom”

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:33-36
Beyond human’s exploration is what Paul refers to as God’s inscrutable wisdom and his ways. There is no way man can fathom the greatness of God. Our minds are limited to grasp His greatness, ways and His unsearchable judgements. Even when we can understand what he tells us about himself, but even beyond that, there is much more that we cannot know. There are depths of riches of His wisdom and unsearchable judgments.
With this at back of Paul’s mind, he contrasts it with the impotence of man. He asks three very searching questions:
* His first one is, Who has known the mind of the Lord? What he is asking is Who has ever anticipated what God is going to do? Have you? Have you ever been able to figure out how God is going to handle the situations you get into? We all try, but it never turns out quite the way we think it will.
* The second question: who has been his adviser? or Who has ever suggested something that God has never thought of? Or has He ever been deficient of ideas and he desperately needed help? Never,
* Paul’s last question is, Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? That is, Who  has ever given God something that he didn’t already have? Paul says, Everything we are and have comes from him. He gives to us; we don’t give to him.
Paul concludes,

For from him (God) and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. God is the originator of all things; all things come from him. He is the sustainer of all things; they all depend on him. As C. S. Lewis puts it, To argue with God is to argue with the very power that makes it possible to argue at all! He is the end purpose. All things will find their culmination in God including you and me. He is why all things exist. Therefore, to him be the glory forever! Amen.

SET FREE TO DO BATTLE

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11).    

 

Life is basically a struggle. It is a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan and that people themselves are the battlefield. The battle is manifested in the inner tensions and fears of individual lives, in the physiological and mental illnesses, in family fights and church struggles. It is even seen in nature, where all of life competes in a ruthless, deadly struggle to survive. The whole race has fallen under the control of satanic forces, which Paul calls, “the world rulers of this present darkness” (Eph. 6:12)

 

But the good news is that some have been set free through the coming of that “stronger one,” Jesus Himself, who came, as John tells us, “to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8b). Through the amazing mystery of the cross and the resurrection, Jesus has broken the power and bondage of Satan over human lives. Those who individually receive and acknowledge this are set free to live in the freedom and liberty of the children of God.

 

They are however set free to engage in the fight, to overcome in their own lives, and to become the channels by which others are set free. How do you do this? Paul’s answer is in one phrase: “Put on the whole armor of God.” Full provision has been made that you might win in this battle. This is the amazing thing we must learn. God has made full provision for us to fight these forces that hold the world in their grip. May the Lord tear away the delusive veils by which we have allowed ourselves to be rendered powerless in this great battle. 

 

‘Ranti Orioke