If you want to study along with our Sunday study group, and get the most from it, you will need to get the book "Overwhelmed: Winning the War Against Worry" by Perry Noble. You can get it from Amazon by clicking the title of the book link that is above or clicking on the image of the book at the end of the blog. Join us as we learn to win the war against worry.
Introduction
I want to start this week with something that I read in a devotional Reading Plan that I am going through for the next several weeks. It's the Streams In The Desert Reading Plan on YouVersion. It’s a 21 day Plan and it's readings from Streams in the Desertwritten by L. B. Cowman in the 1920s or 30s. The version of I’m reading was revised by Jim Reimann. I’ve read the reviews on the entire 366 daily readings and they rave about it. Anyway here is the reading from last Thursday. It fits with our current study.
Nehemiah 8:10 (HCSB)10 Then he said to them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the LORD is your stronghold.”
Anxiety should never be found in a believer. In spite of the magnitude, quantity and diversity of our trials, afflictions and difficulties, anxiety should not exist under any circumstances.
This is because we have a Father in heaven who is almighty, who loves his children as he loves his "one and only Son" (John 3:16), and whose complete joy and delight it is to continually assist them under all circumstances. We should heed his Word, which says, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" [Nehemiah 8:10].
… We are to take everything to God-little things, very little things, even what the world calls trivial things … living all day long in holy fellowship with our heavenly Father and our precious Lord Jesus. We should develop something of a spiritual instinct, causing us to immediately turn to God when a concern keeps us awake at night. During those sleepless nights, we should speak to him, bringing our various concerns before him, no matter how small they may be. Also speak to the Lord about any trial you are facing or any difficulties you may have in your family or professional life.
… Even if we have no possessions, there is one thing for which we can always be [joyful]-that he has saved us from hell. We can also give thanks that he has given us his holy Word, his Holy Spirit, and the most precious gift of all-his Son. Therefore when we consider all this, we have abundant reasons for [joy].
May this be our goal!
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Review
Last week we didn't get very far in our discussion of Chapters 22-25 so we are going to revisit them today.
What we did get to talk about was whether we really and truly trust that God loves us. Not for just the big things but all things and at all times. We all said that we sometimes have problems trusting people because they may be undependable, their knowledge of us and our situation may be limited, they have disappointed us before, we don’t really know them.
I asked the question, do you have a problem trusting God for everything? We agreed that it’s
strange we trust God for salvation and eternal life, we trust Him for things like, us waking up in the morning, that the sun rises and sets every day, yet we don’t really trust him for every issue in our lives.
Pastor Noble identified three, what he calls trust blockers. These are things that cause us to have a difficult time trusting God. They are; 1) the pace of our lives, which we did get a chance to talk about last week, 2) disappointment, and 3) spiritual blindness.
Just a quick review about the pace of our lives. When we get so busy that we don’t take the time to relax and recharge we tend to drift away from Jesus. When we start to think that maybe we are on our own this time, maybe God doesn't help out in these kinds of situations, maybe I haven’t been praying enough, or I can’t find a specific reference in the Bible for this unique situation, and we start to drift not realizing that God is here with us all along. Even when we are not looking for Him. Just like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus after the crucifixion and resurrection, we don’t recognize Jesus when He is there to take us through our overwhelming situations. Drifting happens when we have information about Jesus but no intimacy, because we are too busy with our lives.
Quickly go to Luke 24:14-18 (HCSB) 14 Together they were discussing everything that had taken place. 15 And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus Himself came near and began to walk along with them. 16 But they were prevented from recognizing Him. 17 Then He asked them, “What is this dispute that you’re having with each other as you are walking?” And they stopped ⌊walking and looked⌋ discouraged. 18 The one named Cleopas answered Him, “Are You the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that happened there in these days?”
Then our busyness causes us to have blinders on. We are so fixed on solving this problem and that problem, running here and there, trying to address this and that situation. When we are this busy it's hard to pay attention to God.
One of the warning signs that you are headed for a crash is when we refuse to take some time to disconnect. We've said that several times because it's so important that when we are stressed and anxious, often caused by our busyness, we need to take a "chill pill" and slow down, rest and relax.
As pastor Noble says “The devil doesn't want to make you bad; he wants to make you busy. Because if he can make you busy, then eventually he can make you bad." One of the participants in our group remembered an acronym for BUSY it is Being Under Satan's Yoke.
Remember that we said a couple of weeks ago that that the commandmen, in the Ten Commandments that had the most written about it was the one to take a day off. Exodus 20:8-11 (HCSB) 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work,10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. 11 For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
The other two trust blockers
Today we are going to talk about the other two trust blockers, disappointment, and spiritual blindness.
Trust Struggle #2 Disappointment
Disappointed
1. How did you feel when you prayed for something and God didn't answer the way you wanted Him to answer?
When God doesn't come through for us the way we want Him to then we do become angry. We have talked about this before and how that causes us stress. I didn't get the job that I wanted, my relative didn't get healed or saved. I didn't get I didn't get, I didn't get. When we think back about those things then we have a tendency to not trust God. Pastor Noble makes a very good point when he says “We have a hard time trusting God because we take our preferences and turn them into His promises - even when those aren't actually things He has promised to do. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago too.
Hoping for the Right Thing
2. What happens when God doesn't do something even though we quote specific scripture?
The two men going to Emmaus were disappointed because they had misinterpreted the prophecies about the Messiah thinking that he was going to liberate Israel from Rome and restore Israel to it’s glory days. Luke 24:17-21 (HCSB)17 Then He asked them, “What is this dispute that you’re having with each other as you are walking?” And they stopped ⌊walking and looked⌋ discouraged.18 The one named Cleopas answered Him, “Are You the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened there in these days?”19 “What things?” He asked them. So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a Prophet powerful in action and speech before God and all the people,20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him.21 But we were hoping that He was the One who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day since these things happened (emphasis mine).
The key words in these verses are "But we were hoping". When what they were hoping didn't happen they were disappointed and they lost some trust in Jesus because what had been promised isn't what happened. We do the same thing we take scripture and try to make it match our circumstance and when it doesn't we get angry at God and feel we can’t trust Him. They didn't see the big picture which was that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah prophesied about, but his mission was to set them and all of mankind free from hell for eternity not to liberate Israel from Rome.
God as a Promise Keeper
If we focus on our disappointment then we can’t see when God is really moving on our behalf. Many times we pick things out of the Bible completely out of context and try to make them fit our situation and claim victory because, after all God said it. Then when it doesn't happen the way we thought it should happen because we misinterpreted the promise or took it out of context, let's be honest, we think that God didn't keep His promise. We get angry then we don’t trust God.
3. What are some examples of scripture that we use and try to make fit our circumstances?
Romans 4:17 (HCSB)17 in God’s sight. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.
The one who calls things into existence is God not us.
Isaiah 53:5 (HCSB)5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.
The healing here is of our soul not our physical body. Jesus did heal people but what happened leading up to and during the crucifixion was for our soul not our physical bodies.
So when we quote those things and they don’t happen then we are disappointed and think that God has not kept His promises, when He in fact did keep them and will keep them. We have just misinterpreted them or took them completely out of context. Many times what we thought He said was really what we said.
The one promise that we need to keep in mind as we continue this study is the one in Romans 8:28 (HCSB) 28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
The way to keep ourselves from making the mistake of saying or feeling that God doesn't keep His promises is to really know what His promises are. The only effective way to do that is to get it from His word the Bible. Not from TBN, not from pastor Clayton, Minister Brenda, Mikey, or from me but from reading, and not just reading but studying yourself. We can guide and encourage you and suggest where you should go in the Bible, but you have to do it yourself in order to really know what God says about you and His promises. This is the way to really know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity.
As Pastor Noble says “God is a promise maker and a promise keeper - always has been, always will be!”
Trust Struggle #3 Spiritual Blindness
4. When did the two Emmaus disciples finally realize that they had spent all that time with Jesus?
Luke 24:30-31 (HCSB)30 It was as He reclined at the table with them that He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, but He disappeared from their sight.
When the pace of our lives and our disappointment cause us to focus on our situations and circumstances we can’t see that God may just have something bigger in store for us. Like the two men on the road with Jesus. They were in a hurry to get back to Emmaus, they were disappointed in what they thought Jesus was going and so they didn't recognize Him. They were blind in a manner of speaking. It wasn't until they set down and had a meal that there was the opportunity to then recognize Jesus. Luke 24:32-35 (HCSB)32 So they said to each other, “Weren't our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those with them gathered together, 34 who said, “The Lord has certainly been raised, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
To really know what our Father wants for us; to know what He has already done for us; and, what our responsibilities are, we have to slow down and spend time with Him in His word the Bible. The Bible is where we find the promises of God and taking time to read them and meditate on them Listen to Him, not our own emotions, or thinking about and dwelling on those times that we were disappointed. Then and only then can we learn to trust God and to lean not to our own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 (HCSB)5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding;
We want control and when we decide that we are going to take control then comes the stress and anxiety. When we trust God, because He is in control, and we spend time with Him we will understand that He has given us reminders that He loves us.
5. Do you remember them?
They are Creation, The People We Meet, The Circumstances We Go Through, and the greatest of these reminder of all Jesus who gave His life for us and Jesus can be trusted with everything.
Once we are no longer hampered by spiritual blindness because we have gotten to really know who God is what God is like through Jesus who is His complete image, Colossians 1:15 (HCSB) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,
Then we will then be confident in all we do because we understand how big, powerful, faithful, sovereign, and loving God is. Then we will know that we can handle all overwhelming, stressful and anxious situations because God will take us through them.
Next week
Over the past few weeks we have been talking about reminders that God loves us, and this week we talked about us trusting that God loves us. Next week we are going to ask the question again. “Does God Really Love Me?”
Why do we keep talking about this? It’s because we sometimes doubt God’s love and that keeps us stressful and anxious and overwhelmed. So for next week read chapters 26 through 29. Chapter 26 asks the question does God really love me, and chapters 27 through 29 deal with the disciple that Jesus loved, John.
What’s important to know here is that the one who called John the disciple Jesus loved was John himself, not Jesus. However when we read the other gospels we see that John wasn't always lovable. One example is when he and his brother whispered in Jesus’ ear asking that they sit on his right and left hands. Mark 10:35-37 (NKJV) 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 37 They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."
What we will learn is that John is really not bragging about himself but about Jesus. We’ll develop that the next couple of weeks and how that fits in our battle against worry.
Don't forget to order your t-shirt. We only have a couple of weeks left to order them. Remember if we don't reach the minimum of 50 you won't be charged. God bless you and I'll see you next week.
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