That little burst came through preceded by forty- to sixty-mile-an-hour winds, but thank the Lord, we are all here. When the lights flickered, I started praying. I said, “Lord, You have got to get us through this.” All right, amen.
Lord, we are thankful that we can be here today. Lord, we just want to say once again: You are the only One. You are the One whom we consider this morning. You are the One whom we worship and praise, and Lord, You are the One to whom we look.
Lord, teach us and fill us with Your Word. Fill us with Your Spirit. Now, Lord, as we come today, it is kind of a dreary day, but Lord, there is nothing dreary about You. We look to Your smiling face this morning.
We ask Your blessing upon this time. We ask Your anointing that I might share the Word, Lord, in accordance with Your own heart, and that You would open our ears to really hear from You this morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, this morning there is a Scripture that is on my heart: 1 Corinthians 2:16. The last part of that says:
But we have the mind of Christ.
Now, I do not know what you think about that, but that is an amazing thought if you just consider it for a moment: that you have the mind of Christ. You have God’s mind.
That is an amazing thing—that God Himself, through His Son Jesus Christ, is willing to share His mind with us. We know that His thoughts are far above ours, and His ways we do not always understand. But He is the perfect God. He is the One. Yet, He wants to share His mind with us.
Let us read Proverbs 3:5-6.
Trust in the Lord with all thy heart,
And lean not upon thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct thy paths.
Trust with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding, and always acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. He will give you His mind.
First John 2:27-28 says, in part:
But the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you,
And ye need not that any one teach you;
But as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie,
And even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.
Philippians 4:6-7 says:
In nothing be anxious;
But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
Let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
Shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
Be anxious for nothing.
Romans 8:28 says:
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good,
Even to them that are called according to His purpose.
Let me give you a little background as to why this came to me, particularly this matter of the mind of Christ. It is kind of a testimony, exposing myself a little bit, so y’all can pray for me, okay?
Back around December and January, all my bills came in: my medical insurance and my long-term healthcare insurance, which almost doubled in price. I was saying, “Wow, what am I to do?” All of this was happening at one time, and there was a lot of pressure because these things are pretty important and they stay on your mind.
At the same time, while I was wrestling with all of this in my mind, the hot-water heater started leaking on the floor. Unfortunately, it started leaking on a Friday, and we had that first snow-and-ice storm hit us. So I could not actually get it fixed for almost a week.
I was sitting there with water running on my floor, the tiles beginning to pop up, and all these financial issues to deal with. By that time, my blood pressure had increased about twenty points. I was getting pretty anxious before the Lord, saying, “Lord, how am I going to deal particularly with this long-term health-insurance issue?”
I read a devotion by Sparks that really helped me. They are going to put that up on the board this morning so you can look at it as I read it, because I want you to be able to concentrate on what our brother said. It was very helpful to me, and I think it would be helpful to all of us as we look for the mind of Christ in our lives.
Our natural mind is a great obstacle in the race which we are running, cropping up all the time with its complexes, its arguments, its interests, and its methods.
When the Corinthians were brought into the church, they left behind their obvious sins, but they carried over into their new realm the old natural ways of thinking and reasoning which belonged to the world and not to the Spirit of God. And the apostle remonstrated with them.
We shall only come to the fullness of Christ as we leave behind the mind of the natural man and move more and more in progress of the mind of Christ. On everything—every judgment, every conclusion, every analysis, every appraisal—we must ask the Lord, “Is that Your mind, Lord, or is it mine?”
We may sometimes feel that we have the strongest ground for taking up a certain attitude or coming to a certain conclusion. We may feel we have all the evidence, and we may be convinced, and yet we can be wrong.
We should always be ready to subject our thinking to the jurisdiction of our crucified Lord. That is the way of spiritual progress. We shall not get very far while we hold to our own opinions and our own conclusions, even though we may have the support of others. We have to learn to conquer our natural mind by submission to the mind of Christ.
This is most important if we are concerned about spiritual progress. And spiritual progress is the increase of Christ. There is no other progress.
Wow. When I read that, I was wrestling with all this stuff, and it just hit me. In all of these matters, even in the issues you are dealing with right now, Jerry—the financial issues, the water heater, all of these things—you have the mind of Christ.
I was just kind of hit. I said, “Lord, I just did not realize how much I was depending on my own reasoning, on my own conclusions, and it was not subjected to You.”
Brothers and sisters, as we go along in life, we tend to use our reasoning. It is okay to reason, but are we reasoning with the Lord, or are we just reasoning with our own mind on our own?
With my engineering background, I am very analytical about things. I have this scientific way of laying out the possibilities and coming to conclusions. That is what I want to do. I was trained that way. I worked that way for fifteen years at Kenny’s firm, twenty-eight years at the Housing Authority, five with the city, and five with Lockheed.
That is just the way I thought. I honestly did not realize how little I was seeking and depending on the mind of the Lord. That is such an important lesson for us. I hate that it took me eighty-one years of life to learn that lesson. Maybe some of you younger ones will learn it a little earlier.
What the Lord really brought to my mind at that point was Proverbs 3:5-6:
Trust in the Lord with all thy heart,
And lean not upon thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct thy paths.
Wonderful. Is that not a wonderful way to live? I lived the old way so long—so agitated at times, concerned, worried, and full of anxieties. All of that can go away if we just follow Proverbs 3:5-6. It is a wonderful way to live. It takes away stress and anxiety.
What is the key to this way of life? First of all, it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Now, what does that mean? That means, brothers and sisters, it is a heart issue—not just a mind issue, but a heart issue.
You need to have a heart for the Lord Himself. You need to have a heart not just about your own interests and concerns, but about the Lord and His interests. Most of the time, if you are really trusting Him, the things that happen in your life have a purpose to serve His interests.
So, brothers and sisters, it is a heart issue: a heart for the Lord, and a heart that allows the Lord into our lives. Think about that. I had to let the Lord into my heart concerning these matters.
What is the key to all things working together for good? I read that verse. It is by living for His purpose—His eternal purpose.
It says, “To those who love God.” Now, we love the Lord. But it goes on to say that we are called according to His purpose, and in all things He works for good. So purpose is also a key. But, brothers and sisters, it is not our purpose that is the key; it is His purpose.
What is His purpose? We have heard for many years about the eternal purpose of God. He is to be Head over all things—over you and me personally, and over His church.
What does it mean that He needs to be the Head? It means that His mind is to have first place in our lives and in the life of the assembly. We may have many opinions and many thoughts, but His mind is to have first place.
God has intended that His Son’s mind have first place in all of the universe and in the ages to come. So it is important. Eventually, the more we take on His mind and respond to His mind, the more we grow in Christ and into His fullness.
Corporately, brothers and sisters, with His mind leading the church, we come into the fullness of Christ. No one person can know the fullness of Christ; it takes us all jointly. But if one has it, we all have it. That is the way the Body works.
Eventually, brothers and sisters, we will be His bride because we have His mind.
Trusting in the Lord means that you trust Him in all things—not just a few things, not just when you are in trouble. Every day, you get up and say, “Lord, my life is in Your hands this day.”
Take Him at His Word. There is a lot about Himself in this Word. Do you believe Him? You have to believe that He has your best interest at heart, even when you do not understand why you are going through certain things. He has your best interest at heart. You have to trust Him in that.
You might say, “Well, what about all these issues and problems?” The Lord has a mind for you, and you can rest that He cares for you.
Recently, Roger shared on the Good Shepherd. He is your Good Shepherd. Sometimes you are in green pastures and by still waters, but at other times you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. But what has He assured us? He is with us.
Our brother Kenny shared on that. He is for us. He is with us. We need to be reminded of that many times in our lives. He is with us. He is our Good Shepherd. You can rest in Him, even in the valley of the shadow of death, because He is walking with you through the valley of the shadow of death.
I will give a very practical example. Once again, unfortunately, it is about me, but I think it might be helpful.
When I was dealing with all these financial issues, Anna and I finally came to the conclusion that it would be best for us to sell some stock that we had in a Canadian-based company. Years ago, we had an insurance policy where you put so much money into it, hoping that the money would grow enough over the years to keep paying the premium.
Well, it did not quite work out that way. Eventually, the insurance company said, “We are going out of business on that policy. You have an option. You can take so much money, or you can let us invest it in this stock.”
At the time, I did not go to the Lord, honestly. I said, “Hey, we have already put the money out. Let’s just put it in stock.” So we did, and over the years it grew significantly.
When we would receive dividends on it, a number of times the dividends got lost in the mail. I remember one day getting a notice that said, “We have this much money in your account that we are going to take if you do not cash those checks.”
Of course, I called and said, “Well, we never got the checks.” It was about four of them over a two-year period. Finally, to cure that, we did a bank transfer.
Then I was getting ready to sell this stock. That was an agonizing process. I called, and they said, “You need to send us a letter signed by you and your wife to do this transaction.” So I sent it off and got back a letter saying, “We cannot find your account.”
I thought, “Well, you were able to find it when I originally called and asked.” They said, “Well, we do not have it. Send us another letter, and use a tracking system like FedEx.”
After I thought about it, I said, “This does not make sense. The one guy I called found my account, and now they say they cannot find it.” So I called again and got another person. They told me the same thing. Then I called a third time, and he finally said, “Oh, I see that this is a trust. You have put it in trust. That is another division. You have to mail a letter to that division.”
I said, “Oh, my God.” Finally, I did. I sent it by FedEx.
A couple of days later, I called and asked, “Have you got my letter?” He said, “Well, I cannot find it on the computer.” I thought, “Oh, man.”
He went away and came back, and he said, “If you have all your information, we can do this transaction over the phone.” So I gathered all my information, and finally we got it settled.
Then I started really being concerned about whether I was going to get the check or not, because they would not do a bank transfer. I said, “Man, Lord, this thing is a mess. We already lost three or four checks over the years.”
My dear wife looked at me and said, “Jerry, why are you getting so worked up? I will pray, and the letter will get here.”
It hit me between the eyes like a shaft. My dear wife trusted in the Lord. I could not trust in the system, but I was not trusting in the Lord. I had not really taken it to the Lord and said, “Lord, this thing is in Your hands.”
Well, I finally did. That was about three weeks ago. The Lord is so amazing—sometimes funny. Of course, we went to the mailbox every day, and it was not there. Yesterday, the day before I gave this message, the check was there. Yes, the Lord is so good.
Just to make the point, we need to learn to trust Him and be able to lay these things before Him. I am the kind of person who wants to do it myself. At times I say, “Lord, I know You do not fool with this. This is a little thing in my life.”
It is big to me, but the Lord said, “No. Everything—every little thing—I am interested in your life.” I think that is so encouraging.
What does it say? It says that not only are you to trust the Lord with all your heart, but you are to “lean not to your own understanding.”
Now, that may be confusing to some, but it really is not. It does not mean that you become passive or mindless, just saying, “Okay, the Lord is going to take care of this.” No, it is not that kind of attitude.
In fact, not using your mind is a spiritual danger. When you are not really using your mind, who then begins to fill your mind? It is the enemy. He fills your mind with all kinds of thoughts, doubts, and issues that are not really issues. He does a number on our minds.
We are not supposed to have a passive, mindless thing. True mediums who can touch the spirit world make their minds completely blank, and the enemy is able to come in. So, just remember that we are to use our minds.
I think Isaiah 1:18 says it very well:
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
Let us reason together—not reason on your own. Do you get it? You reason together with the Lord. You use your mind, but you are seeking the Lord’s mind.
Paul told the Corinthian believers, as we have read, “You have the mind of Christ.” He was admonishing them because they were living their lives and conducting their fellowship based on their natural way of thinking and natural reasoning.
When they came together, they began to reason among themselves. One said, “I like Paul.” Another said, “I like Cephas.” Another said, “I like Apollos. I think we ought to follow Apollos.” Others said, “Well, what about Paul? He really was not one of the apostles.”
That kind of reasoning was going on.
Paul had to admonish them. He said, in effect, “We are in the Body of Christ now. The Body of Christ cannot be divided. Paul, Cephas, and Apollos are all yours. They are the Lord’s. They are in the Body, and you receive from all of them.”
You cannot divide the Body of Christ. If you see that, brothers and sisters, it makes a tremendous difference in your life in the assembly: we are part of that one Body in Christ.
They had all the gifts, and they were manifesting them. But when they came together, they were almost stumbling over each other trying to share a word of prophecy. Really, what they were doing was saying, “Man, I have something from the Lord. This is so important.” They wanted to get it out.
What is that? It is really self-importance. They were lifting up their own selves. It was the natural man coming out in the church.
They were going to court with each other. If something upset them, they went to court instead of humbling themselves before the Lord and saying together, “Well, this is the way I feel about it before the Lord. Lord, we want Your mind in this. We want to settle it before You, not before the natural courts of man.”
In other words, they were a bit self-centered. They were not God-centered because they did not take it before the Lord. They just went to court.
Paul admonished them, saying, “I cannot speak to you deeper things because you are carnal. You are using your natural thinking in the things of the Lord. That is why I only preach Christ and Him crucified to you.”
You need the cross to come between your natural mind and cut it off, that the mind of the Lord might come to you. It was the cross that they were not submitting to.
Then he goes on to say, “But you have the Spirit. You have the mind of Christ.” He was saying that if they were really in the Spirit and moving by the Spirit, they would have the mind of Christ, and these things would not be happening.
Many times in Romans, Corinthians, and Philippians, Paul kept encouraging the brothers and sisters, “Be of one mind.” How in the world can four or five hundred people come to one mind? There is only one way: seek the mind of Christ together.
You can share your thoughts and opinions, but it is before the Lord that you come to His mind—the mind of Christ.
We do not use our minds to make self-determinations. We use and exercise our minds to determine what the Spirit is saying to us, to determine the mind of Christ. So we do exercise our minds. We do reason with the Lord. But we are no longer leaning on self-reasoning, self-determination, or our own understanding.
That is why it says, “Lean not to your own understanding.” In all things, subject yourself to the mind of Christ, and He will direct your path.
First John 2:27-28 reinforces that knowing the mind of Christ is by the Spirit.
But the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you.
That is very important. The anointing that you have received comes into you when you accept Christ. It says, “Ye need not that any one teach you.” That does not mean that you do not need teaching, but it does mean that the anointing teaches you all things.
What is this anointing? It is the Spirit, the Holy Spirit in your spirit, speaking to you. It teaches you things, and it is always the truth. There is no lie in it.
Then it goes on to say, “Ye abide in Him.” That becomes the key, brothers and sisters. You have the anointing, but are you in a spiritual position to receive the teaching of the anointing—the mind of God?
What is so necessary? You need to be abiding in Christ. Brother Lenny shared on that a few months ago: abiding in Christ, and how important it is. You learn to hear the voice of the Lord and know His mind.
The anointing only speaks the truth. It gives you understanding and direction.
Sometimes we can be so sure of ourselves. We have the Scriptures lining up, the circumstances in our lives lining up, and we think naturally, “Oh, this must be the Lord.” Yet we still have not really taken it to the Lord.
We say, “My natural mind has worked this out. Boy, the Scriptures line up. The circumstances line up. It must be the Lord.”
Brothers and sisters, we need to learn to humble ourselves before the Lord and submit our thinking to Him. In your spirit, there is intuition. You do not necessarily have a direct answer, but there is that voice deep inside.
That intuition may bring a caution or a no, even when you think everything appears to be in line. Or there may be the voice of the Lord saying, “Yes, this is right, but I need to adjust the way you are going about it.” Or He might say, “Absolutely, this is My mind for you.”
That intuition comes from the Holy Spirit in your spirit, speaking to you. That is what we need to rely upon.
The last part of that proverb is so wonderful: “He shall direct thy paths.” There are no ifs or buts. There is no maybe about it. He says, “If you do these things, I will be directing your path. You will have My mind.” What a wonderful way to live.
This is the Lord’s guarantee in the promise that we have been given.
I would like to share a little example out of Abraham’s life that I think will help us. Abraham is the only one in the Old Testament of whom God directly says, “Abraham My friend.” Thank the Lord, in the New Testament He says, “Ye are My friends.”
Abraham is also known in the Word as the father of faith. Jesus said of Abraham, “He saw My day, and he rejoiced in it.” What a close relationship Abraham must have had with the Lord to be His friend and to be designated as the father of faith.
What a wonderful man Abraham was. But Abraham had his problems. He did not live a perfect life. The Lord had to show him things, teach him things, and bring him under His discipline.
You remember the story. Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, and the Lord said, “I am going to take you to a land.” He did not tell him where. So Abraham went out trusting in the Lord. He did not know where he was going. He just knew the Lord told him to leave.
That is faith, is it not? That is the way of faith. What a man of faith.
In Genesis 15, the Lord revealed His mind to Abraham. The Lord had been saying that a nation would come out of him. Then in Genesis 15, He told Abraham that He would give him seed as the stars of heaven.
And he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him for righteousness.
Abraham believed God, and God accounted it to him as righteousness. That is the way we come to righteousness. The only way we can obtain righteousness is to receive it from the Lord by believing on Him.
But in Genesis 16, Abraham had been in the land for ten years, and he was still childless. He had God’s mind that he was going to have descendants as the stars of heaven, but he had not had one child yet.
The interesting thing is that, as you read through there, there is no appearance that he went to the Lord about it. He did not say, “Lord, I have been here ten years and still have not had a son.” He did not start reasoning with the Lord.
Who did he start reasoning with, brothers and sisters? Come on—his wife. He started reasoning with his wife. He was not reasoning with the Lord.
They could have reasoned with the Lord together. I am not saying anything negatively about women or wives, but they decided they would reason together. They were leaning on their own understanding—their natural reasoning.
They did not really acknowledge the Lord in this process, and they did not inquire of the Lord. They just came up with what they thought was a very reasonable solution. After all, Sarah could not have a child. Abraham knew this. Abraham was still able to have children, even at eighty-six years old.
So they came up with this plan: Abraham could have a child through Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar. He had a son, Ishmael. He was thrilled, and things seemed to be going well—except that Hagar and Sarah had some problems.
Hagar, once she had the child, despised Sarah and thought little of her because Sarah could not have children. Hagar thought that she was obviously blessed of God, and Sarah was not. But of course, that was not the Lord’s mind. It was not God’s way.
Amazingly, for thirteen years God was silent to Abraham. That is a long time. For thirteen years, he did not hear the voice of the Lord. This was discipline from God.
God had not abandoned Abraham. He loved Abraham and wanted Abraham to trust Him. But for thirteen years, He did not speak to Abraham. That became a great discipline to Abraham.
Abraham believed the Lord, but he was not walking with the Lord. He was not diligently seeking the Lord. He was not close in his daily fellowship with the Lord. Through his self-reasoning and self-determination, he had come up with a solution that he thought would achieve God’s will and mind. He had become satisfied. Ishmael was there, growing up, and everything seemed fine. But this was not the Lord’s way.
Ishmael represents the fruit of the natural mind, of natural reasoning. Abraham had become a bit deceived, thinking that the Lord’s will and mind had been achieved.
He had what I would call a very distant relationship with the Lord. That blinded Abraham to his spiritual state and to the Lord’s mind. It stunted spiritual growth in Abraham for thirteen years.
When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him and spoke to him. Notice that God took the initiative. It was not that Abraham finally realized something was wrong and went to the Lord. No, the Lord took the initiative. Abraham had done nothing at that point to merit God’s intervention. It was all grace, brothers and sisters.
God loved Abraham. God’s silence was not meant for punishment, but for discipline—to awaken Abraham and get him to the place where he could know the mind of God.
God spoke to him:
I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.
“I am God Almighty. Walk before My face, and be thou perfect.”
What does this tell us? It tells us that God was not pleased with Abraham’s walk. Abraham was living according to his own mind, not God’s mind. He was leaning on his own understanding. He was living out his life based on his own natural mind and reasoning.
Abraham was basically taking charge of his life. He was in charge. He was walking by his own reasoning. In a sense, he was walking alone, by himself.
Was God there? Yes, He was still there. But there was no communication. There was a veil on Abraham’s heart. In Romans it says that when you turn to the Lord, the veil is lifted. But Abraham had not turned to the Lord.
God, in His love, took the initiative. Thank the Lord. He knows us so well. He wants to teach us lessons. Sometimes He is willing to wait for thirteen years, but He takes the initiative to draw us back.
Have you ever been drawn back to the Lord? I know you have. If you really think about it, it was the Lord’s initiative that drew you back.
“I am God Almighty; walk before Me.” The Lord was basically telling Abraham, “You have Ishmael. You are satisfied, but I am not satisfied. That was not My mind; it was yours. You and Sarah reasoned together, but not with Me.”
Now, that is not in the Bible. That is just the thought of what the Lord was getting across to him.
“You reasoned with Sarah. You thought she could not have children and you still could, so you devised this plan of your own. But now, Abraham, you are ninety-nine years old. Sarah has never been able to have children, and now you are no longer able to have children. You are no longer sufficient to carry out My mind.”
That is a great lesson, brothers and sisters. Sometimes we have the mind of Christ, and we think we are sufficient to carry out the will of God. We are not. We have to depend on Him.
It took Abraham thirteen years to have his eyes opened. But the Lord made it very clear to him: “I am God Almighty”—El Shaddai.
What does El Shaddai mean? It means the all-sufficient God.
“Abraham, you are not sufficient to carry out My mind any longer. You are going to have to depend on My sufficiency. I am your sufficiency.”
In Genesis 18, the Lord met Abraham and told him that he would have a child with Sarah, that his name would be Isaac, and that He would make His everlasting covenant with him.
“I am God Almighty. Walk before My face. I am the sufficient God. Just come before Me.”
Brothers and sisters, that is what the Lord is looking for: that we walk with Him, that we see His face, commune with Him, and look to Him. We have the mind of Christ, but it is through the Spirit that He shares His mind with us.
Be anxious for nothing. I shared about how anxious I had gotten. Philippians 4:6-7 says:
In nothing be anxious;
But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
Let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
Shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
That hit me pretty hard because the Lord brought me that verse. He said, “Jerry, be anxious for nothing, but in all things go to Me in prayer. Seek Me. Make your requests known to Me.” It will be His peace that comes into my heart.
Because Abraham was not walking with the Lord, he basically became anxious about children. He had been in the land for ten years, Sarah could not have children, and he became anxious over this matter. He did not really have peace in his heart, so he said, “I must do something.”
Of course, his natural mind took over, and they had the child through Hagar. What was the fruit of those actions? The descendants of Ishmael have been at war with the descendants of Isaac for all these many years, and it is going on even to this day. That is the fruit of the natural mind.
So there is a warning and a caution to us. When we get anxious, we should heed the warning.
The Lord spoke to me and said, “You are not heeding My warnings, Jerry. Your anxiety should be a warning. It should be an alarm. When you become anxious, something is wrong. You are getting into the danger zone.”
It should be like a red light telling you that you need to stop and be still.
Psalm 46:10 says:
Be still, and know that I am God.
So, brothers and sisters, when we find ourselves very anxious, an alarm should go off. We need to turn back to Him and, in prayer, present everything to Him.
We need to lay ourselves and our issues before the Lord. Put our thoughts before Him. Lay your requests before Him. Look off to Him.
When you really go to the Lord with an issue, a problem, or things you are trying to understand, do not be anxious. Go to the Lord and lay it on the altar. Lay yourself on the altar and say, “Lord, not my will, but Thine be done.”
If you can lay it on the altar, brothers and sisters, what a difference that makes, because you will receive the Lord’s answer. Lay your thoughts upon the altar. Lay yourself on the altar, and leave your thoughts there. But do not just leave them; look unto Him.
“Lord, my eyes are upon You. I will leave this in Your hands.”
His peace fills our hearts. We have all experienced that at various times. When you look off to Him, you may not yet have the answer, but you have the peace, and the problem is solved.
One of the great examples is Job. Remember that God challenged Satan with Job and said:
Hast thou considered My servant Job?
For there is none like him in the earth,
A perfect and an upright man,
One that feareth God, and turneth away from evil.
Satan said that the only reason Job did that was because God had put a hedge around him. He said, “Take away Your hedge, and he will deny You to Your face.”
So the Lord said, “Okay. I will allow you to attack Job, but you cannot take his life.”
That should be a comfort to us. Many things can happen, but Satan cannot take our lives until the Lord says it is time.
You remember the story. Job lost all his sons, daughters, and cattle in one day. They were gone. The enemy began to attack his mind, and Job became very anxious.
For thirty-seven chapters, Job was before the Lord saying, “Why? Why? Why?” He reasoned with his friends, and he did not get an answer. Through thirty-seven chapters of agony, stress, and anxiety, praise the Lord, Job never denied the Lord.
Even when his wife said, “Curse God, and die,” Job did not deny Him. Brothers and sisters, our husbands depend a lot more on you than you think we do. That must have gone like an arrow through Job’s heart—his own wife saying, “Curse God. Give up. Curse God.”
But that was not the mind of the Lord.
For thirty-eight chapters Job went through this. Then, for the next four chapters, the Lord began to reveal Himself to Job. In Job 42:5, Job says:
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth Thee:
Wherefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.
Remember, the Lord had not told Job why he was going through all of this. He had not revealed to Job that He was using him to defeat the enemy and overcome the enemy’s accusations. The enemy had said, “I know he will disown You, God, if You let me challenge him.” But that did not happen.
Job overcame the enemy, but only after he saw the Lord. All the conflict, reasoning, anxiety, and introspection that Job went through were gone.
He never got his answer, but he got the Lord. He saw the Lord. He finally saw the Lord.
That is why I am saying, brothers and sisters, it is so imperative that we keep our eyes on Him, that we look off from ourselves and look unto Him.
Job had no more questions. But thank the Lord, the Lord rewarded him with a double portion of children and possessions.
When we become anxious, let us heed the warning. Let us lay it all on the altar.
When Tax shared that Jesus is our friend, I remembered the song, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” I want to share this verse with you:
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
The next time you sing that song, do not just sing it. Really let it hit your heart, brothers and sisters.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
One other thing: Romans 8:28. I will be short and summarize it.
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good,
Even to them that are called according to His purpose.
Brothers and sisters, is that not wonderful? We love God, and He says all things can work together for good, even things that tend to be bad or seem to be that way.
But then He goes on to say, “To them who are called according to His purpose.” That becomes a key with us, brothers and sisters.
He is not talking about those who are called to have a purpose in their lives to fulfill their own purpose. It is to fulfill His purpose and His purposes.
We know that He has an eternal purpose. Oh, brothers and sisters, this is the mind of the Lord that He has shared with us all through these years: one day He will have that precious bride. That is His mind. Is that our mind?
He says, “I want to bring many sons to glory. I want to bring you to glory. I want to bring Jerry to glory. That is My highest will. I want to bring you to that, fully matured.”
That is His mind for us. Is that our mind? Are we willing to take the cross and follow Him, brothers and sisters?
We are called to be His Body, the Body of Christ—not just a congregation full of individuals, but the living Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, bound together in a way that cannot be unbound.
We are called to be His house, His place of rest. We are called to be His priesthood in worship and praise. We are called, brothers and sisters, according to His purpose. All things will work together.
But if His purpose is not in mind, He will still work with you. He will still discipline you. But to serve Him, we need to serve His purpose and His mind.
Lord, I know there have been a lot of thoughts shared today. Lord, I pray that whatever You have shared on any of our hearts today would really stick, that You could bring forth fruitfulness.
Lord, I want to thank You that we have Your mind, that we can discern Your mind by the Holy Spirit that You have given to us, who dwells in us.
Lord, may we learn that lesson of fully trusting You, leaning not upon our natural mind, but upon Yours—seeking You, Lord.
Lord, when we become anxious about many things, may it be a warning that we need to turn back to You. Like Martha and Mary, You told Martha:
Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things:
But one thing is needful: for Mary hath chosen the good part,
Which shall not be taken away from her.
Mary was simply sitting at Your feet, listening to You.
Lord, I pray that You would use Your Word to encourage us all. In Jesus’ name, amen.