Things started going downhill for Paul in Jerusalem. An angry mob rioted and attempted to kill him. Subsequently, he endured several trials in Roman courts before the appeal process landed him in Rome. Incidentally, the sea voyage to Rome included a narrow escape from a hurricane and several months stranded on the island of Malta. …
When It’s Hard to be HappyRead More »
When It’s Hard to be Happy Read More »
Huge flames leaped out from the entrance into the Babylonian brick kiln. Searing heat radiated from the walls of this furnace the Babylonians used in manufacturing bricks. As roaring flames deafened everyone, Nebuchadnezzar “commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.” (1)
In spite of the sight of the red hot furnace and the consuming fire that awaited them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego remained peaceful. Where did these men obtain such peace of mind when everything before them and around them bespoke terrible danger? …
Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
Please notice the four powerful words—verbs—of this beautiful verse. Each verb is God’s promise to you. …
Four Powerful WordsRead More »
Four Powerful Words Read More »
During a conversation with Jesus, a lady with a very troubled past described her confidence in Messiah. “I know that Messiah…is coming. When he comes he will explain everything to us”(John 4:25).
This unnamed woman needed lots of explanations about life. Divorced and remarried five times, she lived with a man she wasn’t married to. Disappointment, disillusionment and self-depreciation filled her broken heart. Explanations eluded her, but she knew that someday Messiah would make everything clear to her. …
Waiting for Messiah’s ExplainationRead More »
Waiting for Messiah’s Explaination Read More »
“Moses, we’re tired of this manna. Manna in the morning, manna in the evening, manna day after day. Give us meat to eat!”
The Lord responded to the peoples’ demand by saying, “Now the Lord will give you meat and you will eat it, you will not eat it for just one day or two days or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month….” 1
God’s spectacular promise busted Moses’ budget. The amount of meat God promised did not fit into Moses’ mental calculator. “And Moses said, ‘Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot and you say I will give them meat to eat for a whole month. Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?’”2
In spite of Moses’ doubts, the Budget Buster refused to deviate from the provision he promised. “The Lord answered Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.’”3
We normally associate the word budget with the word finances, but we have placed ourselves on many other budgets: ability budgets, time budgets, talent budgets. We refuse to go beyond our abilities, talents or time, because budgets place definite boundaries on us which we are afraid to overstep. So we remain locked in human inabilities, human wisdom and understanding, and human limitations.
But God’s love for us compels him to bust our budgets by asking us to do more than we ever thought possible. God only busts our budgets so he can free us from human limitations. Freed from human limitations, we experience God-size provision. “Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them all around the camp to about three feet above the ground. No one gathered less than sixty bushels.”4 A Bible scholar estimates that the Israelites gathered about 20,160,000,000 quail. That’s the way the Budget Buster works. He does “…immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”5
How can we trust the promises given by our heavenly Budget Buster?
Let Go of Our Human Explanations
Moses’ mental calculator powered up when God promised a one month’s supply of meat for millions of Israelis. Moses’ mind searched for human explanations that would force God’s promise to fit into his human brain. Must we slaughter all our cattle? Would there be enough if we catch all the fish in the sea? Moses reasoned.
Neither God nor his promises can fit into the human intellect. He can be known, but he cannot be fully explained. We can hear his promises, but never comprehend them. So, God simply told Moses that HE would carry out his own promise without human help.
Moses believed God’s word by letting go of his own human explanations. The leader of Israel decided to trust the Lord with all his heart and not lean on his own explanations. “Moses went out of the tent of meeting and told the people what the Lord had said.”6 When we can’t explain God’s greatness or the largeness of his promises, we choose to believe anyway. We let go of our human explanations and lay hold of the God who gives big promises.
Faith in God’s bounty rescues us from enslavement to our budgets. Then, divine power equips us to do what we thought we could not. Divine energy makes us more than we ever thought possible.
Go Beyond Our Minds
Trusting in the Lord with all our hearts and not leaning to our own explanations equips us to go beyond our minds. No, we don’t go out our minds, we go beyond them. Faith is not intellectual suicide—faith is depending on God’s infinite intellect. Should we expect an infinite person with an infinite genius to give human-size promises? Impossible! All God’s promises are like his person – immeasurable.
God knew what it would take to keep his promise to Moses. God knew he needed 20,160,000,000 quail. Moses had probably never seen more than a few quail at a time. But Moses stepped out of his budget by going beyond his mind. He trusted God to fulfill his own promise. Moses couldn’t figure things out, but he figured on God’s help and God came through.
We must set budgets for ourselves. We must live within our energy level, our financial situation and our human abilities. But sometimes it’s imperative for us to trust God’s promises and allow him to carry us beyond the boundaries of our budgets. Our heavenly budget buster enjoys performing miracles of provision. When life demands more of us than we can deliver, God will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.7
Footnotes
1. Numbers 11:18-20 2. Numbers 11:21-22 3. Numbers 11:23 4. Numbers 11:31-32 5. Ephesians 3:20 6. Numbers 11:24 7. Philippians 4:19
Trusting Your Budget Buster Read More »
Impossibly tough times faced King Jehoshaphat. Three nations secretly aligned themselves against the King of Judah and marched against his kingdom with a huge force. Jehoshaphat learned of this impending invasion at the last moment—the enemy was almost upon him. (1)
The small kingdom of Judah appeared totally hopeless. Its army was no match for the hoard moving against the people of the Lord. Understandably, anxiety seized King Jehoshaphat. Nevertheless, he and his people defeated dread by eliminating reasons for feeling anxious. Let’s follow their example.
We are not defeated when anxious feelings invade our emotions and minds. God isn’t disappointed in us when worry suddenly pounces on us and fills us with apprehension. Don’t find fault with yourself when nervous about your future. Anxiety isn’t failure—it’s a motivation to recall God’s greatness.
“Jehoshaphat stood up…and said…O Lord, God…are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.” (2)
Jehoshaphat never mentioned the huge size or the military might of his opponents. He only considered God’s greatness. In Jehoshaphat’s mind God’s greatness eliminated every reason for anxiety. God’s greatness ended the matter.
Reasons for trust in God always exceed our reasons for feeling anxious. He can handle anything and everything the future holds in store for us.
Anxiety attempts to live the future before it arrives. It revels in guessing what’s going to happen and how we will react. Consequently, this struggle to deal with what hasn’t yet happened exhausts our emotional and physical energy.
Jehoshaphat admitted, “We have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do.” (3) However, the King refused to allow ignorance of the future to plunge his mind into anxiety. He concentrated his attention on the God he knew: “Our eyes are upon you!” (4) His knowledge of God triumphed over his ignorance of the future. Consequently, anxiety neither filled his emotions nor saturated his thoughts.
Ignorance about God opens our minds to multitudes of worrisome thoughts. Fortunately, God sent us a text message we call the Word of God, Bible or Scripture. Through the Bible we come to know God. Scripture dispels ignorance about God and brings us into a familiarity with him.
Jehoshaphat’s acquaintance with Scripture told him what God is like. Therefore, he confidently declared, “We…will cry out to you in our distress and you will hear us and save us.” (5) Scripture filled him with consciousness of God’s reliability.
The Word of God introduces us to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must do everything possible to implant God’s Word in our thoughts. Read the Word, hear it taught and preached, and meditate on it. The implanted Word of God transforms anxiety into a less formidable foe.
When under attack by anxiety turn your thoughts to the God you know. Trust his promises whenever you cannot possibly explain how you will survive the future.Concentrate on divine promises and quit devising human explanations!
We must get use to it: God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. (6) Let’s accept his ways and thoughts by implementing them rather than only talking about them. “Do not merely listen to the word…. Do what it says.” (7) What does it say? Praise God, praise God and praise God! Over and over Scripture commands us to praise. These commands are not an option—God gives us no choice.
“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him,” Psalm 33:1.
“His praise will always be on my lips,” Psalm 34:1
“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him,” Psalm 147:1!
“Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness,” Psalm 150:2.
Jehoshaphat’s military methods defy orthodox military tactics. He placed a choir at the head of the army and instructed these singers to declare, “Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever.” (8) “As they began to sing and praise the Lord” God annihilated their enemies. (9)
Praise of God is our most powerful weapon against anxiety. Unorthodox? Yes, but unbelievably effective! Train yourself to be a praiser. This doesn’t mean you lift your hands as you drive. You don’t speak audibly in the grocery store. True, Scripture often refers to lifting our hands and speaking our praise out loud. But when you can’t physically demonstrate praise, praise the Lord in your thoughts. Train yourself to frequently tell the Lord you love him and appreciate him. The habit of praising God expels anxiety from your mind and emotions. Expectations of victory and success replace expectations of defeat and disappointment. After all, God’s promises list innumerable reasons for anticipating better than the best and more than the most. “My mouth shall tell of…your deeds of salvation…for their number is more than I know.” (10) “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” (11)
Refuse to be victimized by anxiety. Trust the God who commits his infinite person and inexhaustible resources to caring for your welfare.
Footnotes:
1. 2 Chronicles 20:1-2
2. 2 Chronicles 20:5-6
3. 2 Chronicles 20:12
4. Ibid
5. 2 Chronicles 20:9
6. Isaiah 55:8
7. James 1:22
8. 2 Chronicles 20:21
9. 2 Chronicles 20:22
10. Psalm 71:15 (Amp.Version)
11. Job 9:10
Eliminating Our Reasons for Anxiety Read More »
We cannot always choose what life does to us. We can’t prevent all the accidents that beset us or our family. We can’t select the frailties that come or the difficulties our children face. But we always choose our responses to whatever life brings us. Why can we choose our response? Because you “can do everything through Him who gives [you] strength.” (Philippians 4:13)
The Jesus in you fills you with his power, the same power that enabled him to choose responses that led him to success. True, he sits as Lord of lords and King of kings, but his Spirit also dwells in your spirit.
Be confident that he equips you to choose responses to life that lead to God-size victories!
Choosing Responses to Life that Lead to Success Read More »
Either mental or physical fatigue makes it easy to quit at whatever we know to do or want to do. Remember that the Lord promises to richly bless the faithful. What’s “faithful”? It’s keeping going when you don’t feel like it. Okay. So how do we keep going in spite of fatigue?
…
“A Faithful Person Will Be Richly Blessed,” Proverbs 28:20.Read More »
“A Faithful Person Will Be Richly Blessed,” Proverbs 28:20. Read More »
Feeling condemned over our fearful feelings isn’t that uncommon. On the other hand, fearing our fears magnifies them. We think God doesn’t want anything to do with us since we are entertaining fear and, therefore, we hesitate to ask him for help. So, it’s very important to overcome fear of our fears. …
Don’t Fear Your FearsRead More »
Don’t Fear Your Fears Read More »
The title of the Bible book called Lamentations discourages interest in these words written by Jeremiah. Therefore, let me share with you some absolutely fabulous verses in chapter three. Many of these are worth memorizing!
…
Good Stuff in the Book of Lamentations?Read More »
Good Stuff in the Book of Lamentations? Read More »