TITLE: Never Subtract The Supernatural From Your Life’s Equation! 02-10-2014
TEXT: Psalm 121
I survey my life. Nothing but problems –the cares of this world; --sickness in my family; --financial difficulties;--family problems of every stripe; --failure in almost every endeavor; --spiritual forces I seem powerless to overcome.
How did I arrive at such a place of disappointment and discouragement? My youthful zeal, my dreams of what God might have for me in life are gone. I probably dug this hole, this deep, mostly by my own willfulness. None of my problems are God’s fault.
I look down into my hands. What resource do I possess to help me claw my way out of this hole. What skills do I possess to meet the challenge? What are my strengths?
I look to the horizon. Maybe better days are ahead. Maybe a change is coming. Maybe I’ll win “The Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes” or the lottery. Maybe I can teach my dog to talk, drive a car or fly a plane. Ridiculous! But there’s still hope, Maybe I’ll be struck by lightning. What a day of rejoicing that would be!
I look to my right and my left. Who can help me in this dilemma? Can the doctor heal the physical problems plaguing my family or me? Can the psychologist give me the answer or cure the misery in my mind? Can the lawyer get me out of the mess I’m in? Is there a pill I can take which will free me from my addiction, my bondage, myself?
As I look down at my resources, as I look to the horizon for a coming change, as I look to around to see if there is anybody, anyone at all who can help me, I come up goose eggs. I have no resources which will help. I’m not going to find a bottle with a Genie in it tomorrow, next week, ever. I have friends, but they don’t have the power to solve my problems. As I survey my resources, I conclude, I have nothing. I’ve tried everything, and I’ve tried it a hundred times with no success. I’m stuck here.
I’m on the verge of giving up hope. Quitting. I’ve never quit in my life. but I’m thinking about it now. How do you quit? How do you throw in the towel? Simple, you abandon all hope in God.
Here is my message this morning: Never subtract the Supernatural from your life’s equation!
If you are looking down into your hands, calculating your resources, if you are looking ahead hoping the wind will blow better days in your direction, if you are looking to any professional, or any of your acquaintances around here to solve your problems, you are looking in the wrong direction. The Psalmist has an eureka moment. He finally comes to his senses and with an act of his will makes a conscious decision. He does what I encourage you to do this morning:
Psalm 121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
If He can make everything that is in six days, if I will allow Him to, He can easily take the rest of my days and make something beautiful, something truly successful, something which will cause Him to say on that most significant of days, Matthew 25:21 Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Friend, if you have ever wondered what success really looks like, feels like, sounds like, that is it! That moment, those words, that Man –Jesus, lifting my chin with His fingers so I can look Him square in the face and speaking those words to me, Matthew 25:21 Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
--That is everything!
If I don’t experience that, then truly my life amounts to nothing. Isaiah 6:5 Woe is me! for I am undone... Jeremiah 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
Hear me now, those are the words of men who for a moment subtracted the Supernatural from their life’s equation.
I wonder, what was the name of the demon who was assigned to afflict Joseph as he rotted in an Egyptian prison? Depression, Despair? He had been there some time when he did a favor for Pharaoh’s cup bearer. The promise was made that he would see to it that Joseph would be released soon. a promise never kept.
If ever there was a man who had every right to give up, it was Joseph. But Joseph never subtracted the Supernatural form his life’s equation. Through the series of God ordained events, from the jailhouse to the penthouse he rose, 2nd most powerful man in the land.
I wonder, what was the name of the demon sent to afflict Moses, who at 80 years old was tending his father-in-laws goats. He hadn’t even risen to the status as a sheep-herder, just goats. And they weren’t even his goats. He served his father=in-law in a foreign land. This man who had been to all the right schools, had all the right training now amounted to nothing in the world’s eyes. Defeat must have been his name. Because when Moses witnessed the presence and heard the voice of God calling to him through the burning bush, he was so defeated that he lacked the confidence to even speak. He was convinced no one would listen to him. He was convinced he was a total loser. Exodus 4:10, 13 I am slow of speech and tongue.... Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.
But no longer could Moses subtract the Supernatural out of his life’s equation. Moses became one of the greatest men of all time because with great humility, He submitted to God.
I wonder, what was the name of the demon sent to afflict Paul and Silas as they sat beaten, bruised and bleeding in a Philippian jailhouse? Disillusionment perhaps. Is this how God treats servant who have been a loyal as you have been? Paul, you have worked tirelessly for God, speaking well of Him. Look where it has got you. Come on Paul, even you can see there is something wrong with this picture. Give up your foolish notions. The only way Paul could ward off those cruel attacks was to sing. “Silas, sing with me.” “I don’t feel like singing Paul. They broke my jaw.” “Sing anyway Silas.” Never subtract the supernatural from your life’s equation! Their singing brought the house down, literally, just like the wall of Jericho, and the doors to their prison were opened. They we free to do as they wished. They chose to stay with the jailer so that another house might be saved.
And what demon has been assigned to you? Maybe it one of those younger demons. Maybe his name is Addiction, maybe it is Lust of this World. Or maybe it just one of the old fashions ones sent to mock you and your faith at every step, trying to stop you in your tracks, hindering your service, your witness for Jesus.
Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
God has not forgotten about you. He has not gone to sleep on the job. Let me tell you what I know. My help in this life comes from the Lord! I will not removes His supernatural ability from my life’s equation. He is the God who does at He pleases. Revelation 3:7 What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
And He told me if you keep My word. If you will demonstrate faithfulness to my cause, if you will continue to tithe even in times of trial, Malachi 3:12 ...see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
Don’t let any demon, I don’t care what his name is, don’t let any demon talk you into a state of disbelief to the point that you give up hope that God hears 1 John 5:14, 15 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. Confidence! But only if you will stand stalwart, refusing to subtract Him from your life’s equation in the worst of times.
He will not let your foot slip. The LORD himself watches over you! And He knows what He is doing! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.
Threat after threat may assail you. But God has your life under control. Your future is secure.
Look at the demon assigned to you. What is its name. Depression? Sickness, Despair, Grief, Lack, Fear, Hopelessness... Look at that foul spirit who has been following you around filling your days with misery and make this confession before it: 2 Samuel 22: 4-20 “The waves of death overwhelmed me; floods of destruction swept over me. 6 The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path. 7 But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I cried to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears. 8 “Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the heavens shook; they quaked because of his anger. 9 Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from him. 10 He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet. 11 Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind. 12 He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dense rain clouds. 13 A great brightness shone around him, and burning coals blazed forth. 14 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. 15 He shot arrows and scattered his enemies; his lightning flashed, and they were confused. 16 Then at the command of the LORD, at the blast of his breath, the bottom of the sea could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were laid bare. 17 “He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. 18 He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. 19 They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the LORD supported me. 20 He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.
When you have Made God this big a part of your life’s equation, no demonic attack goes unnoticed by Him who watches over His children day and night!
Help is on the way for you! And Heaven has no help for those who are messing with God’s kid’s. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Amen!
Challenge and close as the Spirit leads.
