ReFocus

When you suffer for doing wrong, there is a sort of poetic justice. You are getting what you deserve. But when you suffer for doing right, that is extremely hard to take.

Jeremiah spoke what God told him to say. Powerful people did not like what Jeremiah spoke so they convinced the king to punish Jeremiah.  He was thrown into a dungeon and sank in the mire.  There was no food and no water.

Along comes Ebed-Melech. He was an Ethiopian and a eunuch in the king’s house.  Ebed-Melech was a title that meant ’servant of the king’.  Evidently he occupied a place of respect in the mind of the king.  Ebed-Melech went to the king and told him that it was wrong to leave Jeremiah in the dungeon.  So the king agreed to let Jeremiah go.  Now Ebed-Melech had free run of the king’s house including the treasury.

Jeremiah was a praying man. It is not recorded for us but you have to believe that he was praying for deliverance. “God get me out of here, please!” It is during those times that your mind begins to imagine how God will do it…a royal escort with brand new ladder and a royal robe and public apology!

Sometimes deliverance does not come the way we imagine. Just don’t lose sight of the fact that it is still deliverance and God can do it anyway that He wants to.

Ebed-Melech is an Ethiopian who is a eunuch and has free run of the house.  He goes into the house of the king. He goes past the treasury where all the royal treasure is and bypasses that room. He goes under that room and finds old rags and old clothes. They let down a rope to Jeremiah and drop the rags and old clothes to him.  He places the old rags and old clothes under his arms and the ropes go under his arms. He is lifted out. He is delivered from the dungeon.

God may not follow your blueprints but He will deliver you! Accept it and know that God knows best!

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Exodus 15 records what may well be the oldest song ever sung.  It is the song of deliverance:

Exodus 15
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD. He has won a glorious victory. He has thrown horses and their riders into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and my song. He is my Savior. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will honor him.
3 The LORD is a warrior! The LORD is his name.
4 He has thrown Pharaoh’s chariots and army into the sea. Pharaoh’s best officers were drowned in the Red Sea.
5 The deep water covered them. They sank to the bottom like a rock.
6 Your right hand, O LORD, wins glory because it is strong. Your right hand, O LORD, smashes your enemies.
7 With your unlimited majesty, you destroyed those who attacked you. You sent out your burning anger. It burned them up like straw.

The children of Israel sang this song after the Red Sea parted and Pharoah’s army drowned.

The problem: anyone can sing this song after the fact.  God is looking for people who will sing the song of deliverance while still in the problem! Israel had not learned anything.  Three days later they were murmuring again.

I will sing this song now before God brings the deliverance!

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Sylvia Gunter is a great friend. She is a powerful prayer warrior. Her website is: www.thefathersbusiness.com . She sends out a weekly newsletter. All of them are good. This week’s is an excellent prayer guide. I simply offer it now:

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When does the favor of God rest on you?

Ezra 7:6 says, “Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the scripture, which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.”

Ezra 7:9 says, “…according to the good hand of his God upon him.”

Ezra 7:10 says, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the scripture, and to do it, and to teach the word in Israel.”

It seems that the favor of God comes to a person as they:

1. Seek God through the study of His word
2. Live out what you have studied
3. Teach it by demonstration.

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Judges 6 and 7 tell the story of Gideon, the might man of valor.  The Midianites had raided Israel for 7 years in a row coming right at harvest time.  They stole everything.  In fact in Judges 6:6, it says that Israel was impoverished…it means that they were emptied.  Because of this, they cried out to the Lord.

How did they get in this mess?  Judges 6:1 says that Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.  So this 7 years is simply the consequences of bad living.  Does God ever deliver us if we are at fault?  Yes!

God let the consequences go until it had made an impression on Israel.  But in His mercy, He heard the cry of His people.  He raised up Gideon to lead them.  God asked Gideon to do the illogical…reduce your army from 32,000 to 300.  It was going to be bad enough with 32,000 going against 135,000 Midianites…but now its only 300 up against 135,000.

God fought this battle for them.  The 300 were there as observers to the power of Almighty God and to give testimony after the battle!

What a comfort to know that even if my situation was caused by my deliberate sin or my stupidity or my foolishness, God is still my Father and thus He is my deliverer!

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God’s Word is a deep reservoir of spiritual nourishment.  Spend time with the Lord today.  Talk to Him of all that you are concerned about.  Don’t waste any day!  Learn of Him and lean on Him!

God continues to tell me that His focus is the process which is defined as the ‘as we go’, or the ‘journey’, or the ‘day in and day out’ or the ‘daily living’.  At the same time, my focus seems to always be the end which is the ‘final destiny’ or ‘the job’ or ‘the position’ or ‘the date’ or ‘the opening’.  Guess who needs to shift their focus?  God is enjoying the process because in this uncertainty we draw near to Him.  I believe God’s favorite tool is a cloud.  Recently I was reading from Oswald Chamber’s book, Still Higher For His Highest, these words, “…spiritual insanity must result if we push down barriers before our spiritual progress is ready for the revelation. Men will not wait for the slow, steady, majestic way of the Son of God; they try to enter in by this door and that door.  The barriers are placed by a Holy God, and He has told us clearly, ‘Not that way.’  God grant we may accept His clouds and mysteries, and be led into His secrets by obedient trust.”  Remember, the walk is a walk of faith not of sight.  Our biggest opportunity to please God is when we are in the thick cloud and we choose to trust Him even when we can’t see anything ahead.

Part of the problem is that we don’t seem to value the same thing that God values. Let’s face it…most of us feel that most of our problems would be solved if we were financially secure.  I recently did a word search looking for all the things that God values more than gold.  I found seven things.  So…what does God value more than gold?

1. God values wisdom which is defined as “seeing and responding to life’s situations from God’s frame of reference” Proverbs 3:13-15 reads, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding;  [14] For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. [15] She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.”
2. God values understanding.   Proverbs 3:13 says, “ Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding”.
3. God values knowledge.  Proverbs 8:9-10 reads, “They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. [10] Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.

Those with knowledge are able to collect, remember, and access information. They “know” the Scriptures. God’s word is literally “in them”. But, it is possible to have knowledge and lack understanding and wisdom; to have the facts, but have no clue as to the meaning or what to do next.

Those with understanding are able to abstract the meaning out of information. They “see through” the facts to the dynamics of what, how, and why. They are teachers. Understanding is a lens which brings the facts into crisp focus. Understanding produces “rules of thumb” or principles.

Those with wisdom know which principle to apply now. Understanding without wisdom can appear contradictory (Proverbs 26:4-5). For example, “He who hesitates is lost”, is a valid principle as well as: “Haste makes waste”. We see the truth of both. But which should we apply next? Those with wisdom know what to do next; they know which way to go. They do the right thing. In contrast, there are many who have great knowledge and understanding, but consistently do the wrong thing. Wisdom, in this sense, is the goal, and knowledge and understanding only have eternal value as they result in wisdom, or what we end up doing.

James 1:5 (NIV) If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. !

4. God values His Word.  Psalm 19:10 reads, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
5. God values a good name.  Proverbs 22:1 reads, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”
6. God values you and me more than gold.  Isaiah 13:12 reads, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold.”  This is where my self-worth comes from…God values me…wow! 
7. God values the perfecting of my faith more than gold.  1 Peter 1:7 reads, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

When we cry out for God to hurry up and let’s get to the end of this test or trial, God just sits there and takes His sweet time.  Why? It is because His values are different…they are perfect just as He is. God values the process more than we do.  For it is in the process, that wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are developed. It is in the process that our faith is perfected.  “If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish–His purpose is the process itself.”  Oswald Chambers

So…put down the crowbar and quit trying to force the door open.  Let the process happen…wait on God…and at a point in time, the same thing will happen for you that happened to Peter who had an iron gate that stood between him and freedom:  Acts 12:10 reads, “…they came unto the iron gate that leads unto the city; which opened to them of its own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street…”  At the right time, God made the iron gate to open by itself!  Mark 5:36 says, “Be not afraid, only believe.”

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George Mueller was a rare individual who trusted God to the fullest.

Listen to George Mueller’s own words, “We have had a vivid vision of the divine Potter sitting at His wheel, taking the clay in His hands, softening its hardness, subduing it to His own will; then gradually and skillfully shaping from it the earthen vessel; then baking it in His oven of discipline till it attained the requisite solidity and firmness, then filling it with the rich treasures of His word and Spirit, and finally setting it down where He would have it serve His special uses in conveying to others the excellency of His power!”

To lose sight of this sovereign shaping Hand is to miss one of the main lessons God means to teach us by George Mueller’s whole career. He himself saw and felt that he was only an earthen vessel; that God had both chosen and filled him for the work he was to do; and, while this conviction made him happy in his work, it made him humble, and the older he grew the humbler he became. He felt more and more his own utter insufficiency. It grieved him that human eyes should ever turn away from the Master to the servant, and he perpetually sought to avert their gaze from himself to God alone. “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Mueller believed in prayer. The following are his key prayer principles: “Five grand conditions of prevailing prayer were ever before his mind:

    1. Entire dependence upon the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only ground of any claim for blessing. (See John xiv.13,14; xv.16, etc.)

    2. Separation from all known sin. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us, for it would be sanctioning sin. (Psalm Ixvi.18.)

    3. Faith in God’s word of promise as confirmed by His oath. Not to believe Him is to make Him both a liar and a perjurer. (Hebrews xi.6; vi.13-20.)

    4. Asking in accordance with His will. Our motives must be godly: we must not seek any gift of God to consume it upon our own lusts. (1 John v.13; James iv.3.)

    5. Importunity in supplication. There must be waiting on God and waiting for God, as the husbandman has long patience to wait for the harvest. (James v.7; Luke xviii.1-10.)

The importance of firmly fixing in mind principles such as these cannot be overstated.

•     The first lays the basis of all prayer, in our oneness with the great High Priest.
•     The second states a condition of prayer, found in abandonment of sin. 
•     The third reminds us of the need honouring God by faith that He is, and is the Rewarder of the diligent seeker.
•     The fourth reveals the sympathy with God that helps us to ask what is for our good and His glory.
•     The last teaches us that, having laid hold of God in prayer, we are to keep hold until His arm is outstretched in blessing.”

The Church of Jesus Christ needs some George Mueller’s now more than ever.  Dare to be a Mueller!

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It is a truth that God allows his children to go through tough times for several reasons.

First, tough times correct us. Sometimes we have to face the painful consequences of life so that we can repent and grow. Second, tough times also deepen us. It’s like a plant. The roots of the plant only get deeper if they don’t have water available on the surface. And deep roots make for strong plants. What is true for vegetation is also true of people. Third, tough times provide unique opportunities. The person going through a difficult time has a unique chance to demonstrate faithfulness. The person who is faithful in tough times speaks so much more effectively than the preacher in the pulpit. The fact that Paul kept preaching in spite of the beatings, stonings and imprisonments show that he really believed what he preached. And when you and I are faithful in tough times we show that we really do trust Him.Down through the ages God has allowed his people to go through difficult times.

• Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son
• Joseph was sold into slavery and falsely convicted of a crime
• David was pursued in the wilderness
• Jeremiah was thrown in jail as a traitor
• Hosea’s wife deserted him
• Job lost everything
• The apostles were constantly thrown in jail and persecuted

Do you see how important this is to realize? Instead of cursing these times we should welcome them as “grad school experiences” in the school of faith. In the tough times of life we learn things we could never learn in the times of abundance.

Consider Moses and the Children of Israel as they approached the Red Sea.

Exodus 14:10-12 (NKJV) And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. [11] Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? [12] Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Impossible Situations Should be Faced With Peace Instead of Panic!

Exodus 14:13-18 (NKJV) And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. [14] The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” [15] And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. [16] But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. [17] And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. [18] Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

When Times Are Difficult Do What He Commands And Watch
Expectantly!

There are certainly times in our lives when we have no idea what God is doing. There are times when we feel abandoned and lost. But the child of God is never abandoned. Nothing will separate us from His love. No one or no thing can take us from His love. So, when we are backed into a corner we must keep doing what we know is right and then watch to see what God will do.

• keep telling the truth
• keep your commitments
• maintain your standard
• keep praying
• keep growing
• keep honoring Him with your life

In some situations this means,

• we keep making contacts for ministry and employment
• we keep trying to have children
• we keep doing our job
• we keep praying for that rebellious family member

That sounds very tough I know, but our job is to remain faithful . . . God’s job is to rescue us.

Try to imagine Moses as he lifted up his staff over the waters and wondered what God was going to do. Imagine the awe and the wonder as the waters miraculously parted and the wind blew the river bed dry so they could walk across it. Imagine the cautious first step of the people as they walked between the mountains of water and the broad smile when they reached the other side. Imagine the panic as they saw the Egyptians begin to follow them and then the wide eyes as the water washed away their enemies for good. Is it any wonder that they worshipped?

That’s what it’s like for those who dare to trust God. We walk by faith and wait to see what God will do. And when we patiently trust we find that we are led to worship and bow down before the God who is sufficient for our every need.

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I have read an absolutely wonderful book. It is ‘God Meant It For Good’ by R.T. Kendall. It is a fresh look at the life of Joseph. I don’t know that I have enjoyed a book as much as I have enjoyed this one. The chapter on forgiveness is the best I have ever seen. To erase the bitterness, we need to focus on real forgiveness.

Joseph demonstrated total forgiveness when he forgave his brothers.

1. Total forgiveness is when we protect the one we forgive. In Genesis 45:1, Joseph asked everyone to leave the room except his brothers. Why? because he did not want anyone to know what they had done to him.

2. Total forgiveness wants to make a person feel completely at ease. In Genesis 45:3, the brothers were troubled…and then Joseph asked them to come near.

3. Total forgiveness will not even allow the person to feel bad or angry with himself. In Genesis 45:4-5, Joseph says, do not be grieved or angry with yourselves.

4. Total forgiveness acknowledges that God was in charge thru the whole ordeal. ‘God did send me before you to preserve life!’

5. Total forgiveness is demonstrated when we keep someone’s sin hidden from the person who means most to him or her. Joseph said, tell dad that God sent Joseph before you to Egypt to preserve life for you.

Isn’t it time to totally forgive…in light of the cross. Aren’t you glad God totally forgave?

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