My Times are in His Hands

I want to declare a truth today that is it steadied my life through some very difficult times time after time after time it's breathe hope into hopeless situations it's a truth I've spoken spoken on quite often for nearly four decades I guess and it speaks fresh life every time sums 31 verse 9 on the overhead it's a psalm of David there was a man after God's own heart and he sang this song in a very very very dark time of life have mercy on me O Lord for I'm in trouble my eye wastes away with grief yes my soul in my body for my life is spent with grief and my and my years was sighing my strength fails because of my iniquity my bones waste away I am a reproach among all my enemies but especially among my neighbor's and I am repulsive to to acquaintance as well he was having a tough day those who see me outside flee from me I'm forgotten like a dead man out of mind I'm like a broken vessel for I hear the slander of many fears on every side while they take counsel together against me they scheme take away my life but as for me I trust you o Lord I say you are my God my times are in your hand deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me make your face shine upon your servant save me for your Mercy's sake verse 15 the New Living Translation reads and my future is in your hands the message Bible reads Psalms 31 14 desperate I throw myself on you you are my god hour by hour my days in your hands safe from the hands out to get me warm me your servant with a smile save me because you love me don't embarrass me by not showing up I've given you plenty of notice embarrass the wicked to stand them up leave them stupidly shaking their heads as they drift down to hell gag those loudmouth liars who heckle me your follower with tears and cat calls what a stack of blessings you have piled up for those who worship You ready and waiting for all who run to escape an unkind world you you hide them safely away from the opposition as you slam the door on those oily mocking faces you silenced the poisonous gossip bless God his love is the wonder of the world trapped by a siege a panicked out of sight out of mind I said but but you heard me say it you heard and you listened love God all you saints God takes care of all who stay close to him but he pays back and fold those arrogant enough to go it alone be brave be strong don't give up expect God to get here soon Romans 8:28 and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose the Amplified Bible puts it this way we are assured and know that God being a partner in their labor all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good - and for those who love God and are called according to his design and his purpose Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ the amplified puts it this way and I am convinced and sure of this very thing that he has begun a good work you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ right up to the time of his return developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you Philippians 2:13 for it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure new living translation for God is working in you giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him and the amplified that energy is God's energy and energy deep within you God Himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure let's pray today Lord we thank you that your word is alive active and powerful you breathed on it and calls it to live and then you breathe revelation upon us to understand beyond the natural realm today in this room give inspiration and revelation touch our ears anoint our ears to hear I pray for the anointing of Samuel that not one word that I speak fall to the ground challenge and change us calls us Lord to to grow our faith today give me the tongue of the learned that I would speak for you today and cause your people to be encouraged in Jesus name Amen you may be seated a proper worldview is so important to living in hope or living in peace or faith it's vital to living a successful Christian life it's vital to living living in our destinies a worldview is how you view or how you perceive everything from the universe to human life itself we know that David King David he was not a perfect man to say the very least but he had a worldview that is aligned or was aligned with God's Word he had a worldview that helped him overcome when he faced very very tough difficult times he overcame the death of an infant son he overcame the betrayal of another son who rebelled against him called its name was Absalom he overcame the vengeful strategies of a king who wanted to kill him King Saul he overcame the betrayal of close friends many of them in fact he overcame the bitter times of a family situation that caused him much rejection he overcame extreme loneliness being all by himself on the run or hiding in caves all alone for months at a time he overcame great trials of his faith but he had a view of God that always caused him to get back on his feet he had a view of God that helped him trust God in dark times of life and a part of his worldview is given to us in this passage a part of his worldview is this be brave be strong don't give up and expect God to get here soon because my times are in his hands sounds like an excellent worldview to me be brave be strong don't give up and expect God to get here soon because my future is in his hands I found myself saying that quite a quite a lot in present days thank you Lord that my times are in your hand I mean if you haven't noticed this world has gone nuts the challenges of our of our Christian faith is rising common sense is discarded for the viewpoints of fools not to mention the variety of life trials that we all face from financial trauma to family trauma to sickness or disease and it is so vital that we have they we have in these days that we live in that we have a view of God that is set and it is aligned in alignment with God's Word his holy scriptures it's vital that we have a worldview that is set according to truth David said my times are in your hands my my future the days in front of me they are in the hands of God my hands are not in the hands of my enemies though they may they may be great they are not in the hands of the world that is around me my hands are my my life they're not in the hands of governments that oppose my times are not in the hands of situations that surround my life no I trust you God and you hold my future Christianity doesn't work right until we understand and activate that worldview in our own thinking we are not to give our times over to chance our times are not to be in the hands of circumstances no matter the circumstance neither is our future to be in our own hands that's not to say that we're not to work at life or be lazy but mature Christian faith comes to the conclusion that God has our times in his hands and if we trust him ultimately God controls our tinnie God controls our future if God's people if they will allow that revelation to sink deep inside of their hearts and if they begin to live by that then the atmosphere of the kingdom of Almighty God itself begins to rule and reign within us and that atmosphere we know of the kingdom of God is righteousness its peace and it's joy and it's love in the Holy Ghost it's an atmosphere that I'm that I can abide in no matter what may be going on around and we confidently know our days our times our future our destiny is in God's hands changes every everything when I confidently know my future's in God's hands I'm not shaken by adversity when I know that I'm not discouraged when I know my times are in his hands I displace a losing mindset I I think I act completely different there's a different way I walk when I know that life isn't listless it's not unfocused when I know that Philippians 2:13 we read it said for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure the Christian mindset is to be God is in me and God is at work be brave be strong don't give up and expect God to get here soon live in the expectancy God is coming quickly on my behalf the Christian is to be of the of the world view that God is on he is on the job and he is at work in the word work it's a great Greek word work or worketh as inner Gale and we get our English word energy you easily see that in in that I'm so glad that God puts his energy in working things out for my good he puts his energy into it inner Gail it means to be active it means to operate powerfully it means to Bend with energy or force I like I like that when it's so description descriptive I remember years ago when the Power Team used to come they would they would get rebar steel bars and they would bend them and then they would try to bend them back I remember him some of those guys being so strong they take a horseshoe and they would they would just bend it and begin to bend it back that's this word he bends things God is strong and he can bend things in our favor it also is the word meaning to effect it is also the Greek word for efficient what a great word from the Old Testament or the New Testament both that we have read God through the Ministry of the Holy Spirit Jesus through the Ministry of the Holy Spirit is at work in you and he's at work on your times he is at work on your future it's not a futuristic word it's a present word about your future but it is a present word he continues to bend things in other words the picture of the Greek language it's so graphic when things are bent out of whack he bends it back into whack not sure that's English but when things get out of line he straightens it with his strength and his power inner Jo he efficiently works on our times he he is spending energy his energy to change your times to change your future to change to bend it back in line with his purpose he is operating powerfully to influence the times that we've placed into his hands our life and times they are not in the hands then of a passive passive god so just kind of watch us to see what in the world is going to happen to us he's not some distant uninvolved god who who could care less about his people no for those who trust him he efficiently begins to work on their future their destiny he powerfully affects their days he operates on the days of their life efficiently turning them towards good not bad good he is doing a good work inside of you and he is committed to do that the scriptures that we read said until the day he returns in other words he's never gonna stop bending things in your favor though life will send you all kinds of things that bend it out of whack he's never gonna stop bending it back into whack for you they were good he turns all things for good or he that has begun a good work in you good is Agathis and it is the Greek word meaning to benefit or valuable it's also the word for beautiful or profitable useful or even favored sometimes and most of us can testify sometimes things happen in our lives that are not good and as I spoke to a couple of weeks ago they're not fair sometimes things happen that aren't fair and they are not good bad times happen to good people people that love God people that serve God people that tithe sometimes the adversary throws some adversity our way man's fallen state has released a demon kingdom on this earth and we got to face it sometimes and overcome it but if we trust him if we put our confidence in him he efficiently works to turn it for for our favor he he turns it towards being fair again he Grace's us with justice he waits the scales in our favor he begins to bend them back again if we put our trust in him he this scripture says well these scriptures say he will work mindfully and turn things to be profitable he takes according to the Word of God he can take the ashes of our time the ashes of our times and he can create with those ashes he causes adverse situations to work for our benefit he even turns them for our usefulness so that even when we when our times face situations of loss or ruin those who trust God they know that somehow he is going to turn this for my benefit because he does good work in me God's grace will turn this favorably and it will benefit my times I don't know how many times I've said over the year during difficult situations that is just not possible for this situation to not bless me it's not possible for this situation to not bless me it's not possible that this will not be bent somehow by my God in my favor somehow he's gonna bend it and it's going to bless me I remember years ago when over a hundred churches blackballed me from their pulpits because of a lie of an individual that was very jealous of something they thought I could do if they didn't try to put me out of business I guess you'd say and I remember in one week I was cancelled from 22 different speaking engagements because of distortion and lies that I couldn't stop I couldn't do anything about and then the hate letters began to come that I couldn't do anything about it in the natural realm but I could do this it's not possible that this not bless me it's not possible that God won't Bend this in my favor and he did today I speak in some of the greatest churches in the world and favor has come to speak not just in here but all over this nation and in parts of the world favor two to produce a couple best-selling books and another one is on the way they were not possible under that old scenario but under what God could do he could bend it in my favor and he has he said God that knows how to take any situation say well that's sure bent out of whack that doesn't mean that his strength is diminished no somehow he gets hold of things for those who trust him and he begins to bend it back in their favor and yes well that's not the subject I have seen him gag a few gossipers we all go through times when we wonder well if God's at work what in the world is he doing we all go through times when we wonder how good could possibly come out of this there's probably very few in the room that hasn't been there notice he doesn't he doesn't does it say he makes the situation good no some situations aren't good doesn't make the situation good but out of the situation he turns it he bends it towards being good I've been in more situations than then I could probably even relate to today or say today when I have wondered how in the world could good come out of this and I've had to say like David god I don't see how this can ever be fair I don't see how this could ever benefit me I don't see how this could ever be valuable valuable but I like David's say your God you're my god and I trust you my future is in your hands and just because I can't see it does not mean that you're not efficiently working on my times you're still on the on the job God whether I see it or I don't see it you're still king in the Lord whether I see it or I don't see it and I am confident that you who have begun a good work in me is you are going to complete that work that's the worldview of a real Christian person man or woman of faith in the story of gideon in judges chapter six you'll find that gideon had lost sight of whose hands he was in for a while the Angela Lord appeared to Gideon and he said we all probably remember what he said hail Gideon hello you are a mighty man of Valor Gideon but do you remember Gideon's response judges 613 he said well if the Lord is with us why then has all this happened to us and where all the miracles which our fathers told us about saying did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us in the hands of the Midianites he said looks to me like we're not in God's hands it looks to me like we're in the Midianites hands looks to me like we're in the enemy's hands here here he was on the verge of one of the greatest turnaround in scriptural history but he couldn't see it he was blind to it the blurriness of his times had clouded his head which happens to many of us in our times today but even though the blurriness obvious times had blinded Gideon Gideon still loved God and his love for God is never questioned in judges chapter 6 yes he spoke out of frustration but he was still praying he was in fact still offering sacrifices of praise to God and I love this about God God didn't even acknowledge that Gideon even said this he doesn't tell the angel to even confront Gideon about it he didn't say Gideon close your mouth you make you're getting on my nerves no he didn't say anything God Gideon Gideon wasn't a threat to God I mean God's not this is a good view to have of God and understand he's not insecure about being God he's not insecure about who he is he's not God because we say he's God he's just God what man thinks or what man says does not dismiss him nor does it increase him not one bit and while we may wonder God's not wondering about his abilities to work things for our good it's not even a consideration he knows he can and he knows he will Gideon was robbed by the Midianites the land was destroyed we know that it happened seven years in a row they would rob right at harvest time the Midianites army would come in at harvest time and they stole all the harvest millions and millions of dollars of harvests were stolen not one year seven years in a row and it declares that now Israel's in poverty Gideon is facing poverty all the cattle and the oxen the mules they are the donkeys camels they're taken by the Midianites and in his frustration he says looks to me like we're not in God's hands looks to me like we're in the Midianites hands of course deep down inside Gideon knew that that wasn't true how do we know that because of his actions and his deeds the next few chapters in Judges it describes his faith he had just lost sight for a while of the truth that I'm talking about this morning he invented his emotions emotions he didn't mean again something probably everyone here has done and what does God do he just keeps being God a God who loves and cares for his people a God of redemption of God who bends things around in the favour of his people Indian had to he had to refocus himself and reset a different mindset a mindset of faith he had to release a deep-seated trust trust in God ultimately coming to the conclusion and even willing to Leys life down for that conclusion and my times are in his hands I'm trusting God no matter how much evil befalls me one of my favorite examples of this kind of a mindset in our natural in our recent times is that of Thomas Edison he had a great worldview he had a optimistic positive worldview but in 19 and 14 December of nineteen and fourteen Thomas Edison his plant or his warehouses where had done all the work of his inventions all heaviest is great intelligence and all the work he had done were in those warehouses and every one of them was burned to the ground he lost it all his son knowing his father was at the warehouses began to run towards the fire and as he ran towards the fire he saw Thomas Edison his dad running towards him and he was yelling and when they got close enough he could hear what Edison was yelling to him and he was yelling go get your mom and get the neighbors and bring him there never see another fire like this one the next morning he stood in the ashes of those warehouses they were still smoldering why was he there because his workforce the workers that worked for him were coming to work and they've coming to a place that had burnt clear to the ground just smoldering and together his workforce around that smoldering warehouse and he said this to them he pointed to the fire and he said to his workers this fire has done us great service it has it has cleared away decades of old ideas it's cleared decades of old ways away for us now we can build again bigger and stronger than before and we're going to and they did that was the attitude of David that's the attitude of real Christian faith no matter what is thrown I will stand and we're gonna do it this time bigger and better because God is on our side God had been efficiently working on Gideon's behalf though he couldn't see it he had been working to turn things for good we know that he had been working on 300 others just like him didn't know anything about it 300 who wouldn't quit 300 who wouldn't back down from the enemy 300 who would put their times in his hands and God began to operate might he routed the Midianite armies with us 300 he restored their land he multiplied their crops the cattle and the oxen were recovered and beyond that they captured the goods of the Midianite army the spoils of the army that they routed they collected that as well what a magnificent turnaround God was at work to turn things for good he made adversity profitable please hear that in your spirit today God makes adversity profitable somehow he makes adversity profitable the read the text as we began several because it's so descriptive here's David situation in his own words he said I'm in trouble my eyes are consumed with grief so is my soul and my belly in other words my entire being being is feeling this I feel this in my guts I ache inside in other words I feel like my life is spent and my strength is failing I've forgotten I'm forgotten like a dead man out of mind feels like I don't exist I'm buried in I'm buried like a dead man under the situation and I'm in a buried unit then he says I'm like a broken vessel my life's got holes in it I'm like a I'm like a jar that's broken I just leak everywhere I'm leaking there's a conspiracy against me to take my life and I I feel absolutely overwhelmed david says that was my situation but verse 14 and 15 says but I trusted in you O Lord you are my god and my times my future they are in your hands when he didn't know where his next meal was coming from when he didn't know if his wife or children were alive because of the conspiracy back then they just biked the whole family out they killed them when he faced the possibility of losing everything he had worked for he still believed God would work things out somehow somehow he trusted that God would be at work in him somehow he trusted that God would work it together for good somehow what a statement of faith here's how my life is but my days my future my life's in his hands we know that God did efficiently very efficiently work in David's life for his good it took a while but God worked it out he accomplished a good work in David they work we still talk about to this day David's family was restored his inheritance was given back to him his enemies were defeated and he was made the king of Israel was it an easy road but God worked it for good we got to recognize who's in us we got to recognize who's that work in us Philippians 2:13 it is God who is at work in us and he is putting his energy into it it's God it's it's God who's at work in me meditate on that think on that look past the tribulation look look past the trouble the past the circumstance the anxiety the worry the pressure the adversity look beyond it and recognize who is at work inside you declare your faith my times are in his I give my life to no one else I give my days to no one else my future will be handed to no one else Paul puts it this way Philippians 1:6 be confident of this very thing that he's that's begun a good work in you will complete it or perform it be confident confident it is a is awesome Greek word it's pi fo and it has a lot of different meanings in the Greek language but one that I've been pondering the most confidence pi fo it means to make friends with why in the world would Paul use that word in this context make this very thing your friend make this principle of life your friend make friends with this well friend is one you're confident in a friend is one you walk with a friend is one you're close to you you confide in a friend a friend who is one who is a part of your life through good times or bad makes no difference if they're true friends he says make this valuable life principle he says talks about a principle make this principle your friend he who has begun a good work in you will perform it it's a living truth because the living being stands behind it and that living being according to the Apostle Paul that living being is your friend he is your God friend become confident in your God friend he's gonna get there soon you have a god trend make that a part of your life make that a part of your worldview it's your God friend who works both to will and to do of his good pleasure it's it's your god friend who calls us all things to work together for your good be confident in that it may appear sometimes that the situation's are are out of hand but they are not make friends with this make this a conscious part of your being make this your mindset I've I've got a a god friend who can turn this for my good I've got a god friend who can bend this back in line I've I've got a god friend who never leaves me and never forsakes me I've got a god friend who's a very present help in the time of trouble I got a god friend who holds my hand through dark times and he likes the darkness for me he helps me overcome Jesus we obviously know he was the son of God but also it's important to note that he and the father were also friends good friends best of friends they walked together they communicated or commune with one another Jesus says I don't do anything but what I see the father do it I follow him so closely they they were inseparable they were part of each other's lives and even on the cross we see Jesus keeping his focus on the principle that we've looked at today Luke 23 in verse 46 he's on the cross and he cries with a loud voice and what did he say father into your hands I give my spirit I put myself in your hands today god father i father god friend father i put my hand in my life in your hands Jesus was in utter agony the crisis I mean the cross is horrible what a beating you you receive and put on it and then are put on a cross and as a natural man he would have had to have thought because he wasn't doing that as God he laid that aside and became flesh for us he was doing this as a man just like me just like like you we human he he had to have thought will this work I mean he'd never died before never raised from the dead before he was God before he came down here and laid that aside he'd what would would resurrection work would it I mean would would hell somehow Lucifer is archenemy would would hell somehow win the war wasn't just in his physical body in the beating he took it was going on in his mind and sometimes the beating in your mind is worse than a physical beating it's war and when it was raging he testifies in a loud voice I'm gonna give myself to you it's in your hands I give my life to you sometimes the most profound act of faith sometimes the the greatest statement of faith you can make sometimes the greatest release of faith sometimes the greatest demonstration of your faith is simply to look up and say it's your hands I give it to you I'm placing my situation in your hands God the kids the job the finances the sickness the disease it's in your hands in Christ last breath in his last sentence on this earth he teaches us to put the problems in the father's hands God's hands are safe hands his hands are caring tender gentle kind forgiving the hands of the Lord are strong hands Joshua 424 the hand of the Lord is mighty Psalms 1825 your right hand holds me up Psalm is 26 verse 6 there is strength in his hands Psalms 91 8 his right hand and his holy arm has gotten us the victory Psalms 119 173 let your hands help me O God Nehemiah 218 the hand of the Lord was good upon me Psalms 104 28 open your hand and there feel were good feel good Psalms it 118 15 the hand of the Lord does valiantly November 22 1963 we lived in Hillsborough Ohio my dad was pastor of a small little Pentecostal church there in Hillsborough is the old three-story house well gutted the downstairs the bottom floor was the church yep the next two floors is where we lived maybe I don't know 30 40 people something like that I was 11 years old at the time many of you are old enough to remember that date November 22 1963 because that is the day when President Kennedy wish was shot and killed in Dallas Texas I was glued to the TV watching the non-stop coverage of that event I watched it for hours and I vividly remember all the details I could go a long time I saw it it's vivid in my memory the capture of Lee Harvey Oswald the loading of the president's casket in Air Force One the swearing in of a new President Lyndon Baines Johnson on that plane the doctor's news conference about his death describing it I was watching live when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald was the one who assassinated the president but I was watching when Jack Ruby put a gun in his belly and shot him I saw it for some reason that particular week my grandmother grandma Hinkle was staying with us that week mom and dad had gone somewhere I don't remember where but she was staying with us kids I ran home from school and turned on the TV because at school we had heard the president's been shot and so I ran home and I turned on the TV and my grandmother who's at that point she was legally blind so she would never be watching TV she could I mean she really for all intents purpose he was blind but I ran in and turned on the TV and in grandma came out into the living room where I was laying in front of TV and she saw what was happening or heard what was happening and she said maybe you shouldn't maybe you better not watch this but I guess because of the the history of that moment she just set down herself on the couch and I mean the news is just breaking the footage just coming in from from Dallas and we like the rest of America was seeing it for the first time I knew my my Grandma and Grandpa Hinkle were Democrats and I knew they had voted for and I've forgiven him for that but I knew they had voted for Kennedy I know it because there was a picture of President Kennedy hanging in their house and it was put there because of their Church of Christ Christian Union Church to remind them pray for the president pray for him and they did every day but they were staunch Democrats grandpa said he wouldn't give a wooden nickel for a Republican we sat there watching the horrible breaking news and even the newscasters became emotional one of them back then was Walter Cronkite he some of you would remember him but he took his glasses off and had to wipe the tears from his eyes reporting it the scenes were graphic so we just sat down in in it's breaking news and I mean just a couple of moments had passed by and I heard my my grandma say what I had heard what I had heard her say now over her life several times but I heard her say oh dear oh dear and she got up and she went out into the kitchen where I heard her weeping and praying she was praying for our nation she was praying for Jacqueline Kennedy and the children she later on that day actually wrote a poem about her grief for the first lady my grandmother wrote hundreds of poems and she even published a book of poems but I heard her praying and after a few moments she became very quiet and I then heard her quietly begin to sing she wasn't whispering it just really softly she began to sing very softly it was her way which has taught me a lot in life but it was her way when things weren't good she would sing is this a way she expressed her faith for some reason it's just such a vivid memory to me I mean I remember it like it was yesterday literally I can still hear her voice probably because of the situation itself most remember where they were and all the details if they were alive when Kennedy was shot if I asked around the room you were alive you remember you remember but I remember her quietly singing and I remember the song I'd heard her sing it before many many times and I've practiced her example over the year many times myself in difficult times find a way to sing in difficult times find a way to sing she began to quietly sing in quiet intercession for the first lady and our nation I guess it was her way of saying it's in your hands be not dismayed whatever betide god will take care of you don't know how many times I heard her sing it she was singing in church she's saying it to me if I was sick beneath his wings of love abide God will take care of you through days of trial when heart doth fail God will take care of you when dangers fierce your path assail God will take care of you all you may need he will provide God will take care of you nothing you ask will be denied God will take care of you no matter what may be the test God will take care of you lean weary one upon his breast God will take care of you God will take care of you through everyday or all the way he will take care of you God will take care of you you can still hear or sing it hear those words today God will take care of you you have a God friend no matter how bent out of shape it may be he knows how to bend it back God will take care of you would you stand around the room please today I don't know what situation you may be in what kind of encouragement you might need the loss of a loved one the the news of a disease a situation that's just been out of shape as I pray today I encourage you to set your word world of you and set your view of God and I have a god friend and I'm gonna put these times in his hands and I'm gonna trust that he knows somehow how to make this good again he knows how to bend it he knows how to turn it he's my supernatural God friend [Music] well I can't see it I know that he's he's energized about turning this around I know I know that somehow you're gonna put it back it's not gonna be like this forever it's gonna turn it'll bend it in my favor you

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Published: Tue Apr 24 2018