It would seem.....

It would seem as though.....

     then you fill in the rest of the statement.

Evaluate your thoughts, "It would seem as though....." against the truth. The way it seems may seem to be the truth. It feels like the truth, it looks like it's true, it sounds like it is true, after all everything I am experiencing is very clearly happening to me. Look at the pain I am in, can you feel it? It is most certainly real. I am not hallucinating. It keeps me awake at night. I am not pretending. I am not in a Dreamland.....it is all very true!!!!!

Yes, it is real! No doubt about it. Yes, you are experiencing it, but weigh your experience against the truth and see what the truth says.

Let's practice, these two thoughts are common.

It would seem God is not listening to me.

It would seem God is not going to help me out of this problem.

Let's put these two "it would seem....." thoughts up to the Word of God and see how they measure up.

Read the following verses:

Jeremiah 29:12
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Psalm 50:15
Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”

Isaiah 65:24
I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

Psalm 91:14-16T
The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. 
I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Isaiah 41:10
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Psalm 34:17 -19

The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

So, my "it would seem as though God does not hear me" and "it would seem as though it must not be God's will to help me" thoughts measure up terribly against God's Word.

Clearly, God hears me when I call to Him and He delivers me and rescues me from ALL of my troubles!

Why. then, am I still in this predicament?

I must go back to the basics!

#1 God cannot lie

#2 God's Word is True.

#3 God is Faithful. He will do what He says He will do.

Now, I have the Word of God on the matter....God hears me when I call and He rescues me from ALL of my troubles. In fact, He is so about helping me that while I am still talking, He is already about getting me the answer!

This is the answer that trumps my experience. The truth has the power to change my experience. Jesus told Jairus in the face of a terrible report, "Only Believe". We are of those who Live by Faith!
 I choose to believe that God hears me when I call and He is rescuing me from all my troubles simply because THAT is what He says!!!! Regardless of how it feels, how it looks and other reports to the contrary. I will hold tightly to God's report in the face of the situation. When I get the "it would seem...." thoughts,  I will evaluate those thoughts against God's Word and then I choose to think in agreement with His Word to me. When I talk, I will speak in alignment with His Word.

I refuse to act like I have no God. I refuse to act, speak or think as though my God is a liar. I refuse to think on those things that are not true. I refuse to disagree with God's Word when I talk. I refuse to behave like those that have no help. My God is Not a liar. His Word is True and He will bring it to pass.

Continually Praise God

Hebrews 13:15
Through Him, therefore, let us at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. 

I looked up several of the words in this scripture in multiple concordances. What I found was very enlightening. This is my enhanced version with the extra explanations...

On account of or because of Jesus, according to what Jesus has done, let us continually, at all times, carry to the goal to reach the needed end point, sustain the sacrifice (offering) of praise, which is a commendation presented to God for some benefit He has provided. Keep Praising Him until you obtain the victory. Praise Him at all times. This is the fruit of the lips of those who thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His Name. His Name represents all of Who He is.

At All Times?????

I am supposed to Praise God at All Times?????

When things are going well....it is easy to praise God. However, when things are difficult we tend to do many other things. Praising God is generally NOT one of those things.

It is easy to praise God on the other side of the Red Sea ...... after we are through the challenge and the enemies are drowned, but what will we do when the next problem looms over our head?

Scripture tells us to Praise Him at ALL times. That means in good times and in bad times. This is what faith does. Faith sees what Jesus has done for us already. Faith sees all that jesus is. Faith praises Him at all times because we know that He has already provided us all things we need, He has already paid the price for our healing, He has already delivered us out of darkness.....whatever is needful, He has done it already. So, we praise Him until the end result of our victory is manifested in our physical situation. Then, we continue to sustain our praise. It is what we do.....it is the fruit of the lips of those acknowledge and confess and glorify All that He is!!!

Psalm 62:8
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah

We Praise Him at all times because we Trust in Him at all times. Trust or Faith's response is Praise!!!

Psalm 34:1
I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.


We Continually, in the sunshine and in the storms.... At All Times.....we praise God.

 We are the Just. He has made us Righteous. Romans 3:22. 

The Just shall live by faith. Habbukuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11. 

Faith sees who Jesus is.  Faith sees the Word of God. Faith sees His Promises. Faith sees the sacrifices He has already made for us and according to that we continually bring our sacrifices of praise to Him all the way to the goal....the victory He has promised.

1Thessalonians 5:24
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Psalm Chapter 113

1Praise the LORD!

Yes, give praise, O servants of the LORD.

Praise the name of the LORD!

2Blessed be the name of the LORD

now and forever.

3Everywhere—from east to west—

praise the name of the LORD.

4For the LORD is high above the nations;

his glory is higher than the heavens.

5Who can be compared with the LORD our God,

who is enthroned on high?

6He stoops to look down

on heaven and on earth.

7He lifts the poor from the dust

and the needy from the garbage dump.

8He sets them among princes,

even the princes of his own people!

9He gives the childless woman a family,

making her a happy mother.

Praise the LORD!

Guarantee

This morning what I learned was simple and powerful.

Read:

Psalm 57:2

I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.

Psalm 138:8

The LORD will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

Hebrews 13:5
....He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”

Philippians 1:6

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

I have a Guarantee from the Most High God Himself that He is working to fulfill His purposes/plans for my life. He is working and will continue to work out all that He has created me to do in this life.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

God's plans are good plans. I have a future and an expectation for the Good God has created me to complete.

Read the rest of Psalm 57 and notice the confidence David has in God, God's unfailing love and how David praised God prior to the rescue!!!

3He will send help from heaven to rescue me,

disgracing those who hound me.

Interlude

My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.

4I am surrounded by fierce lions

who greedily devour human prey—

whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,

and whose tongues cut like swords.

5Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!

May your glory shine over all the earth.

6My enemies have set a trap for me.

I am weary from distress.

They have dug a deep pit in my path,

but they themselves have fallen into it.

Interlude

7My heart is confident in you, O God;

my heart is confident.

No wonder I can sing your praises!

8Wake up, my heart!

Wake up, O lyre and harp!

I will wake the dawn with my song.

9I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.

I will sing your praises among the nations.

10For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

11Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.

May your glory shine over all the earth.

Don't Throw the Race!

What does it mean to throw the race? It means to lose when you could win. You say, "Why would I do that?"

Well, the sad thing is that Christian's do it all the time. Not intentionally, as would be done in wrestling or racing, nevertheless, we have the capability to win, but we are actually "Throwing the Race!"

Duane and I watched the movie "Seabiscuit" this last weekend. It is a movie loosely based on a true story about a Throughbred racehorse, Seabiscuit, who is smaller than normal race horses and overlooked. His unexpected success has made him a hugely popular sensation in the United States during the Great Depression.

He became the top money winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the year for 1938. 

This movie spoke volumes of truth to me.

The first thing that is prevalent in my mind after watching this movie is how the enemy attempts to keep us under..."Throwing the Race", so to speak. First, I will address this issue....

"Throwing the Race"

The enemy is always trying to deceive us into "Throwing the Race". He works hard at trying to keep us from becoming all that God has created us to be and from doing all that He has planned for us to do.

He deceives us by trying to get us to believe that we are still sinners and that it is expected that our norm is still to continue to sin. 1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:18; 1 Timothy 5:20; 1 John 3:8; 1 John 1:9. He wants us to recycle defeat in our lives and keep us from believing that we really are a New Creation in Christ. He doesn't want us to embrace the reality that old things have really passed away and new has come and our old man is dead. 2 Corinthians 5:14 - 17.

The truth is that: We are no longer sinners. Ephesians 1:4. "Sinner" is not our identity. Continuing to sin is not our nature any longer. We have been made the Righteousness of God in Christ.     
2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24.
A Sinner is no longer who we are! We have been made Righteous through Christ!!!! Read Romans chapter 6.

"Throwing the Race" is no longer our mode of operation. Now we are More than Conquerors. Romans 8:37. Now we have the overwhelming victory through Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57; 2 Corinthians 2:14.

We must see ourselves through the eyes of God, not through the deceiving lenses of the enemy whose goal is to hold us down from being all we are called to be in attempt to defeat us. Colossians 2:15; Colossians 1:13-14.

The message that rang in my mind on my way to bed after watching the movie, Seabiscuit, was "Who's your Trainer?" This is the final issue that I will speak to now.

"Who's Your Trainer"

What loving trainer would teach his or her trainee to fail?

A loving trainer would see the gifts, the potential and the value of his student. He would do all he could do to train him, encourage him and support him in the goal to succeed. 

It would be a faulty, selfish, unloving trainer who would expect and set up his trainee to continue to lose or "Throw the Race" - recycling that failure week after week. 

A genuine trainer who is sincere in his desires, motivations and goals would believe in the ability of the one he trains and do all he could do to teach him to overcome the obstacles that hold him back. He would love him as his own. He would train him to Win!!!!

The goal of the trainer would be to help his trainee to be all he can be, to go beyond where he has ever thought he could go.... To  succeed, to excel, to win.....not barely or just by a nose, but rather by lengths (in horse racing language).

We must believe what God tells us about ourselves. We must become convinced that we are the head and not the tail and above and not beneath. Seriously, we ARE redeemed from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13. Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so. Psalm 107:2. I must come eye to eye with my opponent (so to speak) and gain the determined decision that he is not taking my victory from me any longer. I am designed to win! Let that one who tries to defeat me eat my dust. (You have to watch the movie to understand that one!).

God is our Excellent, Loving Trainer. He sees our gifts. He knows our potential for He is the One who formed us and He is the One who created us for a purpose.  He knows if we will get to really know the Truth. That knowledge of the Truth we make us free from all that holds us back. Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:12-17; Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 3:20; Psalm 139:13-18;
1 John 5:3-5; John 8:31-32.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 

2 Timothy 4:7

But thanks be to God, the One always leading us in triumph in Christ, and through us in every place making manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

2 Corinthians 2:14