What to Do When Trouble Strikes
The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him Nahum 1:7
In the day of trouble. If life has another name, it is trouble. It is loneliness. It is alienation and separation. It is sickness and pain. It is depression. It is financial need. It is fear and anxiety. It is having a wrong attitude, a bad spirit. And sometimes, it's feeling that there is no way out.
But if Jesus Christ of Nazareth has another name, it is HOPE. It is FAITH. It is POWER to change things in your life. It is SALVATION. It is DELIVERANCE.
WHY? Because He is the Son of God and the Son of man. He is God taking on our humanness. He knows what it is like to be burdened down. He took your sins and sicknesses and fears and bore them on the cross. He died that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
This moment of the NOW of your life...Jesus loves you. He is concerned about you. He is where it is at in your life and He tells you, your Father knows and cares!
Jesus said, "For your Father knows what things you have need of" (Matthew 6:8)
Christ presents a gospel to every man that is relevant to his own personal needs...in terms he understands. Christ knows your needs, how important they are to you, and HE COMES TO MEET YOU AT THE POINT OF YOUR NEED.
God our Father has intimate knowledge about every one of us. Each of us in unique. You are the only person like you -- and God made you like you are. And He knows and understands each personal characteristic, your background upbringing, how you react, how deeply you feel, your opportunities and disadvantages, and your needs -- no matter how great or small. God's love and concern for you is unbelievably detailed and personal.
THE WAY OUT OF FINANCIAL TROUBLE
There are people all over the country who are down in their spirits. You yourself may be facing financial troubles that you don't even want to think about. There is a way out for NOW and for the rest of your life. You can get your needs met. It's all wrapped up in Luke 6:38 and Philippians 4:19.
"Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others],it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38
"And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19
Jesus said to give off the top...and you will RECEIVE. Your needs will be met--not half of them but ALL your need. But it is necessary to believe that God will supply ALL your need!
RESPOND FIRST THROUGH YOUR SPIRIT. . YOUR SENSES QUIET
BELIEVING IN MIRACLES
If you can respond to life through your spirit first, you will find a whole new world of hope and meaning.
If you start with your head--your mind--you are going to get into trouble. But if you can start down in your heart and work up through your head, then through your mind, you are all right. But if you start in your head you will probably bypass God. You will bypass the possibility of a miracle because your mind just has a hard time believing in miracles. It takes your heart to believe in the impossible. You see, the heart has its reasons. The heart is the very basis of all that we feel.
Joel 2:26 "And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never be put to shame."
The most miserable Christians are those who do not make God the Source of their supply, who do not give first of themselves and what they have, and therefore are not expecting miracles.
The happy ones are those who say, "Lord, as I give my total self to You, I know You will bless me and meet every need in my life."
God is not poor. God is not sick. God is not removed from us. He is life: The way, the Truth, and the Life. As a partner with Him, there is no shortage of any good thing. This is God's world. As you love Him, give to Him, and believe Him. God will supply your needs according to His riches. (Phil. 4:19)
As you give your total self to Him, God gives His total self to you. . . and you begin to experience His wonderful supply.
CHRIST RELATES TO YOU AND YOUR EVERY NEED
Song of Solomon 2:1 I am a rose of Sharon, A [humble] lily of the valleys [that grows in deep and difficult places]. Christ is likened unto the Rose of Sharon
Christ is often likened unto the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys -- common flowers of the field. This expresses His presence with us in our common problems and the fact that He is easily accessible to each of us.
When faced with an overwhelmning problem you may be tempted to ask, "Where is God when I need Him?" The answer is, Right in the middle of your problem. Jesus and your needs belong together."
Isaiah 35:1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
The desert shall blosom as the rose. In the desert of Arizona one may see beautiful roses blooming in striking color. The desert, the Bible says shall blosom as the rose. And in the Song of Solomon 2:1, the writer, speaking of the coming of Christ, said, "I AM the rose of Sharon." In Israel is a place called Sharon where beautiful roses bloom. That's were all of Israel's great roses come from.
Our Lord is the Rose of Sharon. What does this say to you and me? When we are feeling down, when we think it's all over, Christ will work in us and our circumstances, our finances, our health, our marriages again. The curse is the desert which our Messiah has redeemed us from: Jesus the rose of sharon will cause roses to bloom again.
Did you every have anything come to you that just seemed to come OUT OF NO WHERE? You couldn't explain it at all. What seemed to come "out of nowhere," was really the harvest of your seed-sowing in a different way from what you had been expecting.
God has His own time and His own way.......
to give you a harvest from the seed you plant
Did you know that you seldom get anything from God exactly the way you thought you wanted it? His ways are not our ways. We can tell Him exactly how to run matters but He has a season for reaping that corresponds to our sanctification and His overall plan for our lives. His way and time are always better than ours.
God has taught me to give continuously, a pattern of giving as a way of life. When we want increase in our finances, we need to give. When we have a way of life of giving, our prayers have power in the area of our finances. "Wait on the Lord" (Proverbs 20:22)
The advantage of continuously putting seed in the ground is that the harvest becomes cumulative.
God builds a personal storehouse for the giver in which He stores up the miracles that we will need in each of our due seasons...that's the cumulative effect!
Think of your seed-gift as grain going into God's storehouse. Think of the grain going before it becomes a harvest. Think of the harvest you are going to receive later, going into God's storehouse where it accumulates. I may have a hundred or more gifts that I have made to God that are in the storehouse. Everyone of them has my name on it.
"Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others],it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38
GOD'S WAY OF DOING THINGS WILL WORK WONDERS IN YOUR LIFE
2 Chronicles 7:14 "If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land."
God has promised to do many miracles in your life but there is a condition you must meet. You must DO something FIRST! Some people are confused about this. They seem to think that God does it all.
We are talking about the seed of FAITH and putting it in your Source. And your Source is the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has always put conditions on His promises. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 He said, "If" -- and in Mark 9:23 Jesus said, "If" -- "If you meet those conditions...(learn God's way of doing things) if you DO something first...God's promises are sure.
HOW TO LACK NOTHING
...that you may have lack of nothing (I Thess. 4:12)
We cannot separate our problems from our worship. Rather than taking your problem and laying it aside "so you can worship God," the scripture text tells you that the God you worship is concerned about supplying your need and working out your problems. He is the Source of your TOTAL supply. As you put your thoughts on God and reach out to Him in true worship. He is going to come right back to you with the answer to the needs in your life. Worship is relating God's concern for you to your personal needs so "that you may have lack of nothing."
