‘THE VISION IS…FOR AN APPOINTED TIME…THOUGH IT TARRY, WAIT FOR IT; BECAUSE IT WILL SURELY COME.’ HABAKKUK 2:3

God is a God of order; everything He does is by appointment. An appointment is simply a meeting or event that has already been set up. God has a scheduled time for bringing to pass two things in your life: His promises and His purpose. You can count on that! Whatever you’re going through today, there’s peace in knowing that nothing the enemy does will preempt these two things. The problem arises when we try to rush God’s timing. When the Lord gives you a promise it’s like a seed; it needs time to take root and bear fruit. Every mother knows the order – first the seed, then the pregnancy, then the development within the womb, and finally the day of delivery. And what does she do during this time? Prepare! She gets ready for the joys and responsibilities of parenthood for when her due date arrives that little one announces, ‘Ready or not, here I come!’ The Psalmist writes: ‘Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act! Keep traveling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honor you with every blessing’ (Psalm 37:34 TLB). You must learn the difference between what you can do and what God can do. Fools rush in. If you don’t want to risk delaying the fulfillment of God’s plan for your life, learn to wait. The prophet said, ‘The vision is…for an appointed time…though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.’ Each time you get anxious and impatient remind yourself, ‘My life cannot end without certain things happening. God said it and He will bring it to pass!’

‘TROUBLE WILL NOT COME A SECOND TIME.’ NAHUM 1:9 NIV

Are you afraid your old problems are going to come back again? You told others how God answered your prayer, now the enemy’s trying to get back at you through the ‘spirit of fear’ (2 Timothy 1:7). Satan will try to bring back old issues hoping you’ll rehearse them, begin to worry about them, and end up being ‘trapped by what you said’ (Proverbs 6:2 NIV). Anyone who has been delivered by God has gone through it. Satan has no new tricks. When he counterattacks it often comes through your imagination. Before you know it, what you imagined yesterday you begin to believe today, and become fully convinced of tomorrow. That’s why the Bible instructs us to, ‘Cast down imaginations and take every thought captive’ (See 2 Corinthians 10:5). Take control of your thoughts before they take control of you! Jesus said, ‘According to your faith be it unto you’ (Matthew 9:29). That works negatively as well as positively! You defeat the devil by taking your sword (which is the Word of God) and cutting his head off with it! The Psalmist understood fear: ‘In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and He answered by setting me free. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done’ (Psalm 118:5-6, 17 NIV). The prophet Habakkuk experienced it too: ‘I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound…yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength’ (Habakkuk 3:16, 18-19 NIV). Rejoice, God says, ‘It’s over.’ ‘Trouble will not come a second time.’

When trouble comes...

‘IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE HE SHALL HIDE ME IN HIS PAVILION.’ PSALM 27:5

When trouble comes, do these three things: (1) Get alone with God! The Psalmist writes, ‘In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion.’ The secret place in a king’s palace was called a ‘pavilion.’ There you were protected from the enemy. All hell could break loose around you but it didn’t matter, in the secret place there was peace. Are you allowing things to overwhelm you that really don’t make a difference? Are you upset over things that should be dismissed as trivialities? Get alone with God! (2) Refuse to live beyond help because you have an image to uphold. The Bible says those of us who are strong ought to bear the burdens of the weak. There are times when we need to do the lifting; and times when we ourselves need to be lifted. Jesus healed a woman who had been bowed down for 18 years and ‘Could in no way raise herself up’ (Luke 13:11 NKJV). Sometimes you need help because you can’t help yourself. David understood this so he turned to the men of Issachar because they ‘had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do’ (1 Chronicles 12:32 NKJV). God has provided help, reach for it! (3) Be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit for He will constantly remind you of God’s plan and show you how to carry it out. Jesus said, ‘The Holy Spirit…will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you’ (John 14:26 NKJV). What has the Lord said to you? Have you done it? Obedience is your doorway out of trouble. (See Psalm 143:10).

Jesus understands

‘…[JESUS] HAS BEEN TEMPTED IN ALL THINGS AS WE ARE…’ HEBREWS 4:15 NAS
Well-intentioned friends sometimes say, ‘I know how you feel.’ But deep down we think, ‘No, you really don’t.’ But Jesus does! He was ‘…tempted in all things as we are…’ so He can interpret and present our feelings to God. And He does. When you pray in Jesus’ name, pouring out your heart to God, Jesus acts as your attorney and says, ‘Father, I know what this person is feeling. I know what it’s like to be under pressure to sin. I stand with this child of Yours who needs Your help.’ You say, ‘But Jesus was without sin, so can He really feel my sin the way I feel it?’ Yes, He can. In fact, because of His purity He actually feels the pain of sin even more. Perhaps an illustration will help. In our everyday world we live with germs all around us, and even on us. Because we aren’t in a sterile environment we don’t notice these germs and we learn to live with them. But it’s an entirely different story in a hospital operating room. There, any contamination from germs is a real threat that demands the attention of the entire staff. So they sterilise everything because bacteria can kill the patient. The purity of the room demands close attention to the presence of even the slightest impurity that could lead to a life-threatening infection. So Jesus’ separateness from, and sensitivity to sin, actually increases His ability to sympathise with us. Bottom line: Jesus understands what you’re struggling with!

When you lose what you love

WHEN THEY WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF WEEPING…THEY WILL CONTINUE TO GROW STRONGER. PSALM 84:6-7 NLT

When you lose what you love you go through 5 stages: (1) Denial – ‘No, it can’t be happening.’ (2) Anger – ‘God, why are You permitting this?’ (3) Bargaining – ‘Please make it go away.’ (4) Depression – Silence and withdrawal. (5) Acceptance – ‘Not my will but Thine be done.’ Whether it’s the loss of a child, a marriage, a job, your health, etc. when you turn to God He’ll give you the grace to embrace it, grieve it, express it, release it, and go on to become stronger. Sometimes we seek quick relief by releasing it before we’ve gone through these stages. That’s because we fear the process. We’ve been taught that any show of emotion is a show of weakness, so we stuff it. But we only stuff it into our emotional garbage can, then spend all our time and energy sitting on the lid, trying to keep the contents from spilling out. ‘You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8:32 NKJV). It’s knowing and embracing the truth, including its painful aspects, that sets you free. You must be willing to forgive. But until you come to grips with the enormity of your loss, including any injustice of what was done to you, you are not ready to forgive. When you rush to forgive, you forgive only in part and you’re released only in part. Are you running from pain today? Are you trading it in prematurely for some other feeling? That’s not God’s way. Jesus said, ‘You will weep and mourn…but [eventually] your grief will turn to joy…and no one will take [it] away’ (John 16:20-22 NIV).

Jesus understands

‘…[JESUS] HAS BEEN TEMPTED IN ALL THINGS AS WE ARE…’ HEBREWS 4:15 NAS 
Well-intentioned friends sometimes say, ‘I know how you feel.’ But deep down we think, ‘No, you really don’t.’ But Jesus does! He was ‘…tempted in all things as we are…’ so He can interpret and present our feelings to God. And He does. When you pray in Jesus’ name, pouring out your heart to God, Jesus acts as your attorney and says, ‘Father, I know what this person is feeling. I know what it’s like to be under pressure to sin. I stand with this child of Yours who needs Your help.’ You say, ‘But Jesus was without sin, so can He really feel my sin the way I feel it?’ Yes, He can. In fact, because of His purity He actually feels the pain of sin even more. Perhaps an illustration will help. In our everyday world we live with germs all around us, and even on us. Because we aren’t in a sterile environment we don’t notice these germs and we learn to live with them. But it’s an entirely different story in a hospital operating room. There, any contamination from germs is a real threat that demands the attention of the entire staff. So they sterilise everything because bacteria can kill the patient. The purity of the room demands close attention to the presence of even the slightest impurity that could lead to a life-threatening infection. So Jesus’ separateness from, and sensitivity to sin, actually increases His ability to sympathise with us. Bottom line: Jesus understands what you’re struggling with!