How Do You Spell Relief. Series

HOW DO YOU SPELL RELIEF

JONAH CHAPTER 2

I want to bring the message out of chapter 2 but let us look at chapter 1 for a moment.

You see God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh a northern country. Well known for its cruelty and Jonah did not think much about traveling up there he just thought he would travel elsewhere.

So Jonah sets out in the opposite direction, running from what God had ask him to do. Jonah finds himself a ship and gets on it and a storm comes up as God had prepared it. Ultimately Jonah ends up being thrown overboard and he gets swallowed up by a big fish, or as we call it a whale.

Now let’s pick up the passage here in chapter 2.

READ ALL OF CHAPTER 2

I want to use a simple phrase; this phrase was used as an advertisement by a product called Rolaids. And it goes something like this, “How do you spell relief.”

When your questions can’t be answered, when things are nagging and eating away at you, circumstances are beyond your control or out of hand – How do you spell relief?

When the load is heavier than you can bear, pressure seems to be pressing you down and your soul seems to be crashed – How do you spell relief?

Now I know some of you women might say us men spell relief, F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L or H-U-N-T-I-N-G or F-I-S-H-I-N-G

But you men might say women spell relief, S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G or W-A-L-M-A-R-T

We all have our way of spelling relief, some way to release that tension or pressure on us.

But if we could ask Jonah today how he spells relief, I believe he would spell relief, P-R-A-Y-E-R.

Jonah is certainly under pressure, and all stressed out. We can tell that from chapter 2 and what does he do?

When he is at rock bottom and about as low as you can get, what does he do? He draws upon the resources God has given him and everyone for times like this and he begins to do what?

We all can do it…. He begins to pray.

Here he has found his release and relief in that sweet time of prayer.

Now, there is three (3) things I want to point out to you here concerning prayer in Jonah Chapter 2

#1- The asking for prayer – In verse 1 notice it says, “Jonah Prayed.”

Jonah is asking God for relief of his problems. I sense an uplifting in his prayer. After Jonah had walked away from God then ended up in the belly of a whale, I’m sure those men on that boat that just threw him overboard sad, “we will never see that guy anymore, he is gone for good, it’s all over for him.”

But Jonah prayed, just when you think it’s over, prayer can pull you out of it. I don’t know about you, but I’m encouraged by that.

If the thief on the cross can pray, if Simon Peter after he denied Christ three ties can pray and they can get a hold of God, I don’t care who you are or where you are today, I‘ve got good news, I‘ve got some encouraging words for you, you can pray too!

Oh but preacher, you don’t know me, you don’t know what I have done in the past. You don’t know where I came from, you don’t know what I have been into.

LISTEN CLOSELY CHURCH I DON’T CARE IF YOU ARE AT ROCK BOTTOM – YOU CAN STILL PRAY!

There are times when I feel as low as the devil or wicked as the devil but thank God I can pray. I can go and get in prayer with God and the Holy Ghost can bring me out of there.

Think of when Jonah is praying, I do not think there is a bad time to pray, but there’s better times to pray.

We should pray in times of decisions, when we come to those crossroads that’s a good time to pray. Why wait until you made up your mind and then find out that you were wrong and go grieving over the mess you got yourself into.

We should pray in times of disobedience – Jonah should have prayed before he jumped on that ship. When he started running from God. When you know that God is telling you to go and do something, but you go in the other direction. That there is a good time to pray.

We need to stop and start doing God’s will in our lives we need to stop and ask, “God what is your will in my life”

Oh, church we should pray in a time of disobedience, in a time of decisions and a time of danger.