I’d like to tell you all a little story about faith. This is something that occurred in my life quite recently. As some of you know, I like to use my own bad examples, so, by default, I get to have some good ones too ;-) . There’s nothing special I did here. In fact, I had just come out of a stupidity binge wherein I was relying upon me to meet my needs and not God. All the while, mind you, God was making His glory clear to me. He was still looking after me and working on my behalf. Never the less, I tried to compete with Him and only added to my frustration. Sound like anyone we know? It sounds like the writer of this book. He knew God’s ways and was even growing in wisdom all while seeking his own pleasure and fulfillment. Does it sound like you too? Anyway, back to the good part I mentioned. Like Id said, I had just come out of this stupidity binge and was determined to try it God’s way. Now, my circumstances in life did not change. What changed was how I was going to allow God to work in my life. That’s a far cry different from my previous plan of how “I” would work in my own life. Oh, and don’t get me wrong. For the most part, in my life, though I was on this stupidity binge, I was pretty well faithful to God. Never the less, there was an area I decided to keep to myself. There was an area that I had designated, by the power vested in “ME”, to be too much for God to handle. Now, I would never say it that way or ever even dare think it that way! Still, that’s exactly what my actions were screaming. In deciding that I would allow God to do what He wanted in that area in my life, I made the way clear to actually hear God better. You see, for the longest time, I had been letting God into that area and then taking it back over and over again. Had I ever really let it go over to Him? I don’t know. In fact, I doubt it. I would say that I still had my spiritual fingers (so to speak) poised to grab for it in times of distress. I wasn’t trusting that the same God that created and maintains all that we call the universe is a God that actually has control over the circumstances in my life too. My mind was cluttered with thoughts surrounding this circumstance. How could I meditate on the ways and things of God with my mind in such a pitiful state? The first thing to suffer was my relationship and prayer with God, the very same God waiting to comfort me. Instead of relying upon Him, I turned in upon myself and sought my own ways. To put it bluntly, I had a pity party! It only made frustration. Having given up on that and with the decision set in my heart to wait upon God, my thoughts were finally clear. My communication link to God was once again unhindered and He wanted me to know it as quickly as possible. How did He do it? Well, here’s the good stuff. He put me in another bad situation! I’m standing on the corner waiting for the bus to come. I don’t know if it came early and I missed it or if it was just running horribly late. In any case, it was closing in upon the time I needed to be at work and there was another guy there too. Now, remember what I said about God waiting to bless others as soon as you will be faithful. This other guy was complaining that the drivers did not care and were basically lollygaging. No amount of defense I could offer for the drivers could satisfy this guy. So, to my self, to the Lord that hears thoughts and answers prayers, I prayed and asked God for something specific. I asked Him to send a cab our way if the bus was not going to be there in time to get us to where we had to be on time. Lo and behold, God sent one. I flagged him down and God had already prospered me to be able to pay for the stranger and me to get to our respective jobs. God heard me and answered. The lines of communication were open. There were never any clogs on His end and mine was finally clear. This incident with the bus and the cab might seem like just a small thing. I’ll tell you this though. It meant to me that my God heard my prayer and told me that He loves me enough even to deal with the small things in my life. Why should I not trust Him with the great big things? I’ll tell you why. We’ve already covered the answer. There’s a time and a purpose to everything under Heaven. The only problem is, like the writer, I want it NOW!!! Yet, God’s answer is, for me, in this situation, “Wait. I have a time of my own that is best for you.” It’s a still small and gentle, “Wait.” I, on the other hand, am a man. I succeed by my own might. I conquer with my cunning. I only have two modes, Stalk and Attack. A man is supposed to win! Why should there be any limitations? I’ll tell you why. Man does not know the whole story. God does! Sometimes He takes you to a point so close you can taste success and then says that dreaded word, “Wait.” “But I want it NOW!!!”, screams the man inside of me. So, I grumble against God in my frustrations because I couldn’t have what I want now. Like a childish fool, like the Israelites in the wilderness, my desire to fulfill the now was a hindrance to my forward progress. God showed me at that bus stop that, because I was <U>listening to/obeying</U> Him, He would advance me in forward progression. In so doing, He enabled me to be a blessing to the world around me. Are your circumstances so heavy in your mind that they hinder your communication with God and your forward progression? Don’t start reading off a long list of things you are doing well for God. You’re not going to impress Him. Take a hard look to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith in God business or the faith in self business. Look at those branches on your tree that are not well fruiting and hold them up to the scrutiny of the Light of the Holy Scripture. There’s no ritual you can undertake to get you right. There’s no special prayer. There’s only submission to the Loving Will of God. There’s only a faith that has you doing, and asking, and preaching, and teaching, and waiting, and resting, and hoping, and living by every last Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. By that faith, and nothing else, God will count you among the righteous and see you Holy as His Son is Holy! It’s not by your power in what you can do in your own way or even in some church way, but by your true faith in God whom it is that has His own way. The writer, for all his wisdom and riches, was not being the man God intended him to be. His faith was not in God but in his own rituals (He wasn’t exactly avoiding God. He just wanted to corral Him out of certain areas.) and accumulations. God is not a coin operated miracle machine! You can’t just plug in a secret code and get whatever you want out of God. If that’s what you want, you might as well go off and deal in the hellish things of Satan like fung shui, wicca, the lottery (that’s right, I said the lottery), mormonism and all kinds of false doctrine taught by people like Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Fred Price and on and on the list goes on. If no one else has the gut’s to tell you, I do. That man, the writer, compromised his faith in God. If you compromise like he compromised, what use are you as the salt of the Earth? Are you even fit for the dunghill? Perhaps that’s why your life seems to be just one big dunghill. If you were to ever truly trust God and not turn to sources other than God to meet your needs, you might just find that God would do more than you ever expected or could have hoped for on your own. If you’re looking to the lottery or any other source other than God to provide you with the almighty dollar, even if you get the money, all you’ll find is frustration. The writer of this book was able to trump us all in funds and the things that money could by. Did he find happiness in that? It’s apparent that he did not. Still, day after day, we look to sources outside of God to bring us joy, peace, comfort, and meet our needs. All the while, just like with me, He’s sending what we need and are looking for and we still try to compete with him on our own terms. We will not yield to the goodness He provides. I hate to toot my own horn here. I have another great miracle of God to share from my life. Over the Memorial Day weekend, on Sunday, the biggest sales day of the year, I was where I regularly was. I was in church. Just to prove that you can’t out trust or out give God, He took the two days following, for me, and made them as prosperous as the three days, including Sunday, that the other salespeople had during the sale. God can take what seems to be a set back or even what seems to be foolishness in the eyes of man, and make it a masterpiece. Have faith in God in that you will STAND FOR GOD!!!!!!!! Don’t be a wimpy Christian!!! This isn’t a commercial against working on Sunday. I do believe that God does have some people to do so for reasons of His own. What I’m telling you is that your heart had better be right in the matter. The reason for your doing anything had best be tuned into God’s reason for having things done. Seek to find if it’s in God’s time and purpose. Had the writer done this, he would have saved himself a ton of heartache. What a waste of a life to seek after things that God has already placed before you, but you’re too stubborn to grasp and take advantage of. What a waste of a life to seek fulfillment, in ways not from God, that requires you to put your trust and hope in things other than God. Perhaps, some of you will recall past times when I passed along the notion that all the time you spend not serving God is time spent letting souls slip into Hell. Perhaps, you might remember that, in Ephesians, the Bible says that there’s a war on . Hanging in the balance, we find the souls of men. Yes, they are the same men that would mock you, spit on you, and lock you away in prison. Never the less, they were so cared for by God that He sent His only begotten Son to be a propitiation for their sins and ours. Christ’s circumstance was that He was and was in perfection. Regardless, He gave of Himself so that all might live. Being now alive in Christ, the least we can do is try and emulate Him in that we seek to bring the lost to salvation by Christ. As do we, the writer lost track of what God wanted. A right relationship with the creation He made in His own image is what God wants. Is that also what you want? If not, you have a problem? To fix it, go ask God and be ready to receive and answer and express your faith how He directs. Oh, and does your faith actually show that that’s what you want or are you just saying that?

In application of all this faith that we just talked about, it’s important to see that circumstances do not determine how much faith we will have. Let’s go back to one of the examples I gave of my own life in the past. Remember how I told you that I was ashamed and wanted to run from the situation? There’s something interesting to note. God put me in a place by His design that He wanted me to be. I, because of a circumstance I thought I could not bare, wanted to leave the very place that God had sent me. I wanted to leave the place of God’s grace where God was showering His blessings upon me and tempering my growth in Him. This was the smelting pot for me. I wanted to jump out so very badly. All the while, God would not let me. He had me to stand my ground no matter the heat. Remember this Christian! In those times that God turns up the heat, there will come powerful emotions. Do not let them rule you! Emotions are not a witness of the will of God!!! I’ll say it again. Emotions are not a witness of the will of God!!! Emotions do not tell you anything about reality. They only tell you how you are perceiving reality. Reality might be a totally different thing. I know first hand that when God casts you into His smelting pot, reality is too hard to get a grip on when your mind is focused upon the emotions of the situation. I’ll tell you this too. It’s fine to feel scared, ashamed, and even somewhat down (but not depressed) because of the circumstances you are in. Never the less, you need to make up your mind that no matter the emotions, you will trust God and stay in the smelting pot. I know first hand in this as well. The outcome might not ever be what you wanted or expected. Still, it will be the result that God was looking for in the first place if you will trust Him. Trust and have Real Faith in God even when He reveals your weaknesses before the world. Stand fast and do not run away. Be scared if you’re going to be. Just, DO NOT be a wimpy Christian!!!!! Don’t run.

King James Version
4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

5 The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

6 Better is an handful withquietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

New Living Translation
4 Then I observed that most people are motivated to success by their envy of their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless, like chasing the wind.

5 Foolish people refuse to work and almost starve.

6 They feel it is better to be lazy and barely survive than to work hard, especially when in the long run everything is so futile.

Last time I told you to think back on the conversation that God had with Job. Well, if you notice, God was letting Job know just what kind of God He is. God was showing Job where his faith should be and why. He was giving Job a reason for his faith among other things. This is a good time to just throw it in that God does not want blind faith. That is useless. He gives us goals and proofs and reasons why. Running from your circumstances or falling in line for the sins of pornography, fung shui, gambling, alcoholism, and so on are all one in the same. You are trying to alter your life situation, your circumstances, apart from the God that controls everything around you. If it doesn’t come from God, it’s not worth it! Do not mistake the free will He gives you for power! You have none!!! Faith is more than just saying you have faith. Faith is an action verb with God. Real Faith has you looking to God and not the foolishness of your own actions. Real Faith keeps you in the smelting pot and spawns right actions despite the circumstances. What could this world give you that God can’t give you better? What could this world do against you that God could not do worse? Where do you think your respect should be? Is it the worlds system or God?!?!?!?!?!

I’m sure this has been a bit to absorb. I look forward to part three. God Bless you all in that He causes you to listen to Him.
ISDAMan

[This message has been edited by ISDAMan (edited June 12, 2000).]

Friday Night Sermon --- Ecclesiastes 4 Part 2 CORRECTION!

I apologize for this major mistake. I left out a tiny word that means a great deal. You'll find the occurrence near the end of the first paragraph. Again, I apologize. It has been corrected.

QUOTE:[b]
"Perhaps, some of you will recall past times when I passed along the notion that the all the time you spend serving God is time spent letting souls slip into Hell."

[b]CORRECTED QUOTE:[b]
"Perhaps, some of you will recall past times when I passed along the notion that all the time you spend [b]<U>NOT</U> serving God is time spent letting souls slip into Hell."

ISDAMan