At The End of Your Rope?
AT THE END OF YOUR ROPE
” I will cry out to God and call for help!
I will cry out to God and he will pay attention to me. In my time of trouble I sought the Lord. I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. I refused to be comforted”.(Psalms 77:1-2).
*Chapter 77 is a great Psalm ! Your not alone! Even the great men of God felt these feelings and doubts.
*Ever cried out “God where are you”?
* Symptoms of God’s seeming absence.
a) I feel like praying does no good. PS 77:1
b) I can’t sleep PS 77:4
c) I dwell on how good things used to be. PS 77:5
d) I fear things will never get better PS 77:7 -8
2) SOLUTION: the power of positive memory. PS 77:10-12
Rejoice and be glad for the Lord has wonderful plans for you fulfilling His eternal purpose through you!
* ” Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19
Paul wrote “. . . that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises
the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9). He said, in essence, “The Lord brought me to
the end of all human help, the brink of death. It was a place so hopeless, only
the God of resurrection power could have rescued me!”
What a wonderful place to be—at the end of your rope! I have always said that when you hit rock bottom you bump into God!
Yet, if you listen to most Christians in the midst of their suffering, you hear, “I’ll make it somehow. I’m hanging in the there. I just live one day at a time.”
Since childhood we have been spoon-fed the concept of self-sufficiency: “Take
it like a man! Men don’t cry!” How many times have you tried to work out all
your troubles?
How often have you been flooded with temptations that overwhelmed you?
Please don’t misunderstand me. I believe God wants us to fight the good fight of faith, but the Lord has a way of allowing us to be “pressed out of
measure.”
* Nothing you try works.
* Nothing you have read seems to help. *No counsel of others makes any sense. *Suddenly, you are forced into a crisis that obliterates all your trust in yourself.
**You have no hope—except to give up
all human hope. You are forced to trust God—and you see that the only way out
is to trust!
Paul clearly is saying to us, “I had the sentence of death in me. I was
tested beyond measure, at the end of all hope.
* And it was all so I would no
longer trust in myself!
* I had to turn to God, with faith that He alone could save me out of my sufferings!”
WHEN WE CHOOSE NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED BY THE SITUATION,
GOD WILL OVERWHELM US WITH HIS UNENDING PEACE!!!
**When we choose to be faithful to God, He will show Himself faithful!
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
What is this way of escape?
* It is coming to the end of your own strength and turning absolutely to God! *It is saying, as Paul did, “I do not trust in myself anymore!”
***The way of escape is simple, childlike faith in God.
*It is trusting Him totally to see you through it all, resigning yourself and saying, “God, I put everything on You!”
***To be fully free, we must have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make us happy forever.
*With No regrets.
*And only Jesus, the Son of God who died and rose for us, can make that possible.
*We were not created to stay the same. We, as Christians, were created to be changed. To be transformed. To be different. To be changed.
**” And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit”. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
*Get rid of stinking thinking. Let Jesus remove the veil that covers your eyes from the truth. Turn to Him and he will set your heart free.
The enemy has launched an attack to blanket your spiritual environment with heaviness. The first sign of this intrusion will be a sense of oppression or even depression without a reason. Be on guard against gloomy feelings and be ready to rise up and fight your way through to victory over this onslaught. Re-establish yourself in the peace and joy atmosphere in the Lord’s kingdom.
**Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me, says the LORD.
*When we allow Jesus to be lord of all—when we cast all our cares upon Him,
fully trusting in His Word and resting in His love—our appearance should
undergo a deep change. A quiet calm should begin to radiate from our
countenance.
Father GOD: I am victorious; the enemy has no authority over my ministry, my health, my wealth, or my relationships. Lord continue to remove the veil that covers my eyes from Your Truth. Thank You that the more I Turn to You, the more You will set my heart free. Fill me this day with Your Love!
” Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.(Phil. 4:4-7). In JESUS name Amen