We’ve been talking about God’s Will for the past 4-5 Sundays. Today I ask the question, “What does God’s Will have to do with my circumstances in my everyday life?”
God answers our prayers all the time. But many of those times we don’t even realize it was God trying to get our attention. Listen to this true story:
The name of the church was Almighty God Tabernacle, a strange name for some.
It was late on a Saturday night, and the pastor of this tabernacle sat at his desk at the church, refining the next day’s sermon. He suddenly decided to call home to check on his wife. He dialed the number and listened to the phone ring…and ring…and ring — certainly he’d called the wrong number, he thought. Where else would his wife be on a Saturday night?
He called the number again and found his wife at the other end of the line. He laughed when he thought about the person he must’ve disturbed so late in the evening.
Not long after that, the pastor received a call from a man who wondered if a phone call had been placed to him from this number. “Oh, you must be the one,” the pastor said, laughing, and began to apologize for phoning the wrong number.
“There’s no need to apologize,” the man replied, and began to tell the story of that evening. “You see, that evening I sat in my living room, seriously contemplating suicide. I told God, ‘If you’re really there, please show yourself to me, and I won’t kill myself.’ Just then the phone rang. When I looked at the caller I.D., it read, ‘Almighty God.’ I was afraid to answer the phone.' So, today I finally got the courage to call the number back. Thank you, for saving my life.” Circumstance???
Many times, we pray and ask for God’s help, or His assistance, or for His Will to be done and we don’t even realize it’s God when our prayers are answered. We don’t make the connection. You see, circumstances aren’t always just circumstances. We have to learn to see God at work. And that’s what God is going to teach us in this message today.
A lot of times in life we come across some confusing circumstance. The doctor finds something unusual during routine lab work. We’re offered a promotion, but it requires more travel. We obey what we sense God wants us to do, but we sometimes face criticism and opposition.
We can feel overwhelmed by our circumstances because we don’t know how things will turn out in the future. If we knew, we could make decisions with confidence. So, what do we do? We live by faith, trusting in the one Person who knows the future and who loves us with an unending love. Today we use Romans 8 to help us understand all this.
READ Romans 8:26. What do we do if we don’t know what God wants? Paul says, “we do not know what we should pray for as we should, but the Holy Spirit does. Did you catch that? You might not have ever thought of the Holy Spirit like that. But it is the Holy Spirit that puts on our heart what to pray.
WE’RE NOT ALONE! When we pray and seek God, His Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf. There’s no one better to pray with us than the One who perfectly knows the mind and will of God. Think about that the next time you pray. You are not alone as you pray. God’s Holy Spirit is directing your thoughts and prayers.
READ v. 27. The Holy Spirit knows the heart and mind of God. He understands how God intends to work in our lives. He knows how God will even use our circumstances for our good and for God’s glory. The Holy Spirit is never going to be caught by surprise or bewildered by our circumstances like we often are. He will guide us as we pray for God’s Will.
I want you to think about this when you pray. If you are like me, many times I pray and ask God for what I think would be the best for someone. That makes sense. If we pray for someone, we pray for what we think would be the best thing for them. But if you read Ephesians 3:20, it might change the way you pray.
Eph.3:20 – “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Did you catch that? Infinitely more. What we are asking for when we pray, even though we feel it is the best, might be far beneath what God wants to do for those we pray for. So how do we solve that?
When we pray, let’s learn to pray not what WE think is best, but pray for God’s best. And there’s a world of difference between the two. But then, listen to this, the only way we can pray for God’s best for others is if you know what God’s best is. And to know that, we would have to learn what was on God’s heart and mind.
So, instead of praying “How can God work this situation out for good?” ask “How can God use me in this circumstance for His glory?”
READ Romans 8:28. Paul didn’t say that all circumstances are good, he said that God works all circumstances together so that good results from them. When you love God and you’re walking in step with Him, He can bring good out of every circumstance in your life.
Christians often become confused by life’s circumstances. Have you ever said, “What good can from this?” That happens because we expected the wrong things from life and from God. If we assume that God’s goal is to make us happy, we will be confused when we come across something that’s unpleasant.
For instance, if we assume God wants us to be prosperous and healthy, we’ll be confused when we lose our job or catch a disease. But if we understand God’s priorities in our life, then His actions will make perfect sense to us.
God is always at work in and for us. Many times, if not most of the time, a difficult path will make us stronger.
? You might lose your job and yet learn to pray like Jesus as a result. Fervently, earnestly.
? You might suffer the pain of a prodigal child, yet as a result, develop such a love for parents of prodigals that you launch a ministry to them in your church.
? You might contract an illness that restricts your activity, yet it makes you more humble and patient as a result.
Your outward circumstances might appear to be worse, but your character grows in Christlikeness. One way your circumstances are tied to God’s will is for you to be more like Christ—and He will use your circumstances to make you more like Him. Let me say that again, God will use your circumstances to make you more like Him.
More loving, compassionate, patient, understanding, humble, more like Jesus.
READ Romans 8:29-30. So, God knew beforehand that He predestined us to be like His Son Jesus. Then it says if God predestined you, He called you. And if He called you, He justified you. And if He justified you, He glorifies you. He brought you up out of the pit of a circumstance, and placed you on the mountaintop of His blessings. God calls us to recognize His blessings. For example:
There was a businessman who had been cheated by a partner and was left carrying a huge debt. He was a Christian man but he questioned why God would let him suffer that way when he had done nothing wrong.
He was asked how his wife responded to all this. “She’s been a rock. She stood by me, encouraged me continuously, and prayed for me daily.”
What about his children? He said one daughter had been a constant support, helping them any way they needed. A second daughter was serving faithfully on the mission field. All of their grandchildren were walking with the Lord.
So, he was asked, “Don’t you realize there are many wealthy people who would give anything to have what you have?” Suddenly the man realized that in all the areas that mattered in life, God had blessed him richly. God had indeed brought a lot of good out of a circumstance that appeared to be evil.
DON’T SELL GOD SHORT. Look for the positive in any circumstance. See how God used that circumstance to accomplish His Will.
READ Romans 8:31-32. When we face difficult circumstances, we may feel as if God doesn’t care about us.
? But Paul declared that God had demonstrated once and for all at the cross that there was nothing He wouldn’t do for us so we could walk with Him and experience abundant life. If you’re not a Christian, hear that again.
? When humanity was hopelessly wrapped up in sin, God didn’t spare His own Son, but freely gave Him so we might have life.
? When God allows difficult circumstances in our lives, we must look at those circumstances with Calvary in mind. God proved once and for all that He loves us when He gave His only Son to die on a cross for us.
One of the most uplifting thoughts that we have as Christians is this: God is for us. That one simple truth can be expanded and expounded upon forever and you may never be able to fully comprehend it.
Hear this: Almighty God, our Creator, the Lord of the universe, the Judge of all humanity IS FOR US. That should encourage us and give us boldness as we face any of life’s challenges.
There was a Christian couple who spent years in a loveless marriage. They tried to make it work, but they finally lost all hope, divorced, and went their separate ways. They even found different churches to attend.
One Fall, both of their churches launched an Experiencing God Bible study class, and the couple registered to take it in their respective churches. Soon after the classes began, both the husband and wife felt terribly convicted by how selfish and unloving they had been in the marriage.
They both learned that God had been prepared to walk with them through the difficulties of their marriage but they had never invited Him to do so. They arranged to meet for lunch and apologized to each other. They eventually remarried—only this time they were determined to let Christ have the central role in their relationship. Four years later, you would never know that they ever had a single trouble. They are now the most joyful looking couple in church.
What a difference it makes to know that, no matter what, God is for us. As I look out among you today, I know there are as many circumstances in life as there are individuals here today. Each one of you are involved in some circumstance in your life right now.
Some of those circumstances are surprising. Some are disheartening. Some cause us to be full of joy. Other circumstances cause us heartache.
God tells us today that no matter what your circumstance may be, He is for you. God is here to support you. He will uphold you in His righteous right hand. God says, “Do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
13 For I am the Lord your God,
who holds your right hand,
who says to you, “Do not fear,
I will help you.” Isaiah 41:10,13
God is so close to us, and loves us so much that it’s almost like His heart beats within us. I am on some new heart medications that regulate my heartbeat. Ever since I started taking the medication, I find myself waking early in the morning and counting my heartbeats to see how much the medication has slowed my heart down.
To count my heartbeats, I have to lie really still and listen closely to feel or hear each beat. As I think about that, I think about God’s heartbeat within us. God created each one of us. He started our heart beating on the first day of our life. Did you know that an unborn baby’s heartbeat can be detected as early as 5 ½ to 6 weeks old?
Then I think about the day we accept Christ and become a child of God. It’s as if our old ways, our old heart is replaced with the heart of God. God’s heart begins to beat within us, and we become new in Christ.
GOD'S HEARTBEAT IN US. I close with this true story.
For 72 years Gordon and Norma Yeager shared their lives together as husband and wife. On October 12, 2011, while on a morning drive Gordon came to a stop sign and failed to yield to oncoming traffic. The elderly couple was taken to the Marshalltown Hospital near Des Moines, Iowa and placed in the same ICU room.
Their beds were moved close together so that they could hold one another’s hand. At 3.38pm, Gordon quietly passed away. But to the surprise of the family, his heart monitor continued to show a heartbeat. Upon closer examination by the attending nurses, it was discovered that the heartbeat belonged to his wife who was still holding his hand. The monitor was picking up Norma’s heart through Gordon. Within 70 minutes, Norma also died, holding the hand of the one she loved so dearly. Let’s pause for a moment and think about that.
Wouldn’t it be great if we held so close to our Heavenly Father that His heartbeat could be felt in us? That we would truly reckon ourselves dead to self so that all outward appearances of life were actually Christ living through us?
As a child of God, Christ lives through you. But just because Christ lives through us doesn’t mean we will never have any trials or tribulations in our circumstance of life. In fact, it was Jesus that said, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
But it is God’s Will for us to allow Him to guide our steps through every trial, through every tribulation, through every circumstance that we encounter.
Isn’t it wonderful to know, that through it all, God is for us and God is with us?
And if you are not a Christian yet, God is for YOU, He is with YOU right now. And if you feel God pulling to accept Jesus as your Savior, that’s because “God has predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ.”
Why wait? Come now. God waits for your response.
