Share This Episode
Leading the Way Michael Youssef Logo

If God is in Control, Why is My Life Such a Mess?, Part 4

Leading the Way / Michael Youssef
The Truth Network Radio
November 29, 2024 12:00 am

If God is in Control, Why is My Life Such a Mess?, Part 4

Leading the Way / Michael Youssef

On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 630 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


November 29, 2024 12:00 am

In this series, Dr. Youssef takes the time to answer some of your most practical questions about God's sovereignty. Join him as he draws from his own life story. . .and the life stories of biblical greats Elijah and Queen Esther. Let Dr. Youssef show you how God really is in control. . .even when it looks like He's not!

COVERED TOPICS / TAGS (Click to Search)
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Dr. Yousef helps you exercise your faith. Next on Leading the Way. Prayer plus promise equals God's intervention.

I'm going to put it another way. Meeting the condition of the promise of God plus persistence in prayer and claiming that promise equals God's intervention. The promises of God are certain, but they don't always mature in 90 minutes or 90 days. It has been said that God makes a promise, then faith believes it, hope anticipates it, patience quietly awaits it. People from all over the world have and continue traveling to the Billy Graham Conference Center.

It's dedicated to providing a place where people can leave the demands of daily life, study God's Word, and receive training to reach the lost for Christ. Dr. Yousef hosted a conference there, and you will hear a portion of that today. You'll hear how faith requires obedience and action.

Here now to begin this life-changing message on Leading the Way, Dr. Michael Yousef. Two things that God cannot do. His promises may not be fulfilled the way we want them. They may not be fulfilled when we want them fulfilled, but He will always keep His promise. He will always fulfill His promise. If you already haven't opened your Bibles, it's 1 Kings 18, but particularly I'm going to focus on verses 41 to 46.

Those are very few verses, but they are loaded, loaded with teaching for each of us to know not only how to pray, but what to pray for. Here you're going to find Elijah basically in a desperate situation again, clinging to the promises of God. Now, he's been growing. He's been walking with the Lord in intimacy.

He's been developing. Before I get to the text, I want to tell you a couple of things about the promises of God that are of uttermost importance. Do not miss these ones. If you are taking notice, I will speak slowly so you can write them down. Some of the promises of God in the Bible are conditional. Some promises are general in nature. Some promises that God will only answer when you and I meet the conditions for that promise.

I'm going to give you some examples in a minute. Some conditional, some unconditional. Some of God's promises are personal. That means they are limited to one person at that time in which God made the promise for that person. When God made the promise for Elijah to call a fire from heaven, that is a personal promise. It's not for every one of us to go and claim, God, I'm going to go down my capital city and I'm going to bring a bull and then call upon fire from heaven and see if it burns it.

No, no, no. That was a promise and that was specifically for Elijah. By Elijah standing on Mount Carmel and calling fire from heaven, he was only doing what God has already promised to him individually.

This is not a general promise. In fact, if you look at verse 41, Elijah tells King Ahab to go home very quickly because the rain is in the forecast. Now, there's been drought. The sun has been shining for three and a half years. There's no rain and you look up, there's not a cloud, but he said, go home.

Otherwise you're going to get caught in the rainstorm. Literally, Elijah said, I hear the feet of rain approaching. That's the literal translation from the Hebrew text. So Ahab goes home and what does he do? He just goes and eat and drink in a kind of animistic way, and well, what does Elijah do? He goes home and gets on his knees and start praying.

What is he doing? He is kneeling on the promises of God that God made to him. Prayer plus promise equal God's intervention. Prayer plus promise equal God's intervention. I'm going to put it another way. Keeping the condition of the promise of God plus claiming that promise equals God's provision.

Let me repeat that. Meeting the condition of the promise of God plus persistence in prayer and claiming that promise equals God's intervention. The promises of God are certain, but they don't always mature in 90 minutes or 90 days. It has been said that God makes a promise, then faith believes it, hope anticipates it, patience quietly awaits it. What kind of promise does God make to Elijah regarding the rain?

Well, do you remember the very first text that I shared with you? What book was it from? James. It was conditional promise. When Elijah was at Zarephath with the widow, God said to him, go and show yourself to Ahab. In fact, that is verse 1 of chapter 18. He said, go and show yourself to Ahab. Now, God has been hiding him. Now, he said, it's time for you to go and show up and look at Ahab in the eye. God said, if you do that, I'll bring rain. This is the conditional promise. Elijah keep his promise? Well, let's look at it. Remember, it had not rained for three and a half years.

Three and a half years. It's an incredible drought time, but then Elijah's obedience was going to be conditioned to the fulfillment of the promise. As you read chapter 18, you're going to notice, I mean, the king, King Ahab, has been looking for this guy, Elijah, for all this time.

Of course, as the drought worsened, he got mad and angry, and he couldn't wait to kill the guy. But God says to him, verse 1 of chapter 18, he says, go and show yourself to Ahab. That is the condition that you have to meet in order for me, God had sent the rain. There are so many promises in the scripture that are conditional promises. But I have discovered, and I've seen all across the globe, so many Christians who try to claim the promises of God without any intention on their part to meet the condition of the promise. The Bible said, sow and you will reap. And what you sow, you will reap. Well, people want to reap without sowing. The Bible said, give and it shall be given to you. Well, they want to be given without giving. Now, there is a period of waiting time between the sowing and the reaping. Ask any farmer will tell you.

And sometimes you might even get a crop failure every now and then. But it does not change the principle and the condition of the word of God, that when you sow, you will reap. Some of God's promises are not only conditional, but some of them also personal. There are personal promises that are universal promises. This promise to Elijah was a personal promise made specific to one person for a definite period of time. And we get into trouble when we try to take a personal promise and apply it to all of us. I think many of us are familiar with some folks who have done that and looked at Mark 16, you know, Jesus specifically giving a personal promise to the disciples that they will tread on vipers and drink poison. And it was a personal promise. And so we have these dear folks, the snake handlers who said, well, ask God promise now.

So they play with snakes and hope they don't get bitten. As you know, many of them actually die. That's foolishness because they're taking a personal promise and applying it to themselves. And we often think we have to spend hours in prayer convincing God to bless us or bless what we're trying to accomplish without taking time to say, Lord, what is your will in my life? Give me your will in my life so that when I pray, I am seeking your working in my life. Whenever you align your will with the will of God, whenever you align your obedience with the promises of God, God will answer. He will answer because he obligated himself.

Whenever you fulfill the condition of the promise, you can safely claim the promise and the promise will be fulfilled. If you're spending many nights on the side of the bed instead of sleeping in it and asking God to give you something, save yourself the time and energy and begin by asking God, what is it that you want me to have? And then pray for the very thing that God will communicate to your heart. So after the encounter with the prophets of Baal, look at the difference. Ahab sees the same miracle, fire coming from heaven, takes the sacrifice, burns the wet wood.

He saw the same miracle that Elijah saw, but Ahab went into his house to eat and drink. So the Bible said, while Elijah went to kneel on the promises of God, to cling to the promises of God. Make note here, specific prayer. Some alert person, if you already have read the passage and you're kind of on the ball, you would say, well, wait a minute, Michael, wait a minute. There's no prayer recorded in this passage. Well, you're right.

If you caught that one, you're exactly right. There's no prayer recorded here in 1 Kings 18, but 800 years later, James tells us, remember the Holy Spirit is the author of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It's the same author, different writers, same author. James tells us 800 years later, 517, he said, tells us what the prayer was. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly and that it would not rain and it did not rain for three and a half years. And again he prayed and heaven gave rain and the earth produced its crop. Question. Well, what do you think he was praying for on top of that mountain after the miracle?

Do you have any clue? What was he praying for? Rain. Was he saying, oh Lord, bless everybody? Top prayer? No. He was praying specifically.

He was saying, Lord, you promised me, you told me that if I stood before Ahab, that if I obey you, that if I meet the condition of the promise, that you will keep your promise. Now Lord, I've done it. I've done my part.

Now it is time for you to do your part. Do you know why prayer is such a burden to a lot of people, except of course when they need something from God, they become great prayer warriors? A friend of mine said, if I pray as fervently when everything is going well in my life as I do when everything is blowing in my face, he said, I'll be one of the greatest prayer warriors of all times.

And that's true. But do you know why prayer is such a burden to a lot of people? Do you want to know why? It is because of the ambiguity of our prayer. When we don't have a problem in praying specifically for a problem or want God to get us out of a problem, the rest of our life is really kind of very ambiguous in our prayers.

God bless Aunt May and Uncle Joe and Mom and Dad. And they're just, amen. Bless everyone in the world, that prayer, amen. Now, I have never ever read in the scripture any of the great prayers that God answered were one of those ambiguous things. Well, I think it's one to say, well, I hope that you would be good enough, God, to do this, God.

No, no, no, no. You read any of the prayers in the Bible, and you'll see that they're all specific and specific requests. And Elijah prayed specifically, but he also prayed obediently. He prayed clinging to the promises of God. He prayed kneeling on the promises of God. And Jesus often taught us that it's not the length of prayer. It is not the language of prayer. It is not the posture of prayer. Those are not important to him, but it is the persistence in prayer. And he gives us several examples, several parables. I find preaching on patience and persistence very difficult.

Do you know why? Because it convicts me. I come under conviction of my own words because persistence and patience are not one of my strong suits.

But I seldom give a message on any subject unless I allow it to penetrate deep in my heart. And here in Luke 18, Jesus tells us about a woman who persisted, although it was an ungodly judge that she was asking to vindicate her. And the judge basically answered her request because Jesus said of her persistence. And he said, how much more your Heavenly Father will give you when you pray in accordance with his will.

The Saraphanesian woman who came and saw Jesus on behalf of her daughter, she stayed there until Jesus answered her prayer. Now, I don't understand everything about what is said about persistence in prayer, but everywhere in the scripture where you encounter biblical teaching about it, it says there is something about persistence that somehow belongs together to the promise of God. Condition of the promise and claiming of the promise.

And you put those together. You meet the condition. You persist in claiming the promise. God will keep his promise. Now, I'm not talking, of course, about personal desires. God give me this or give me that.

I am talking about prayers that are designed and in the very depth of its meaning, seeking the glory of God. In verse 43, Elijah sent his servant to look for clouds. Those of you who have read ahead of time, do you know how many times he sent his servant back?

Seven times. Do you think he kind of got discouraged at some point? I'm sure he did. He sent him out the first time and he came back and said, not a cloud, because he was sending him over to look over the Mediterranean on that mountain.

By the way, I had the joy of standing there where on Mount Carmel, it's an incredible sight on top of that mountain where you know he's on this side and he would send his servant to go and look over the Mediterranean Sea because that's where the clouds were coming from. He comes back and said, no, no, nothing. Second time, sorry, not a cloud in the sky.

Fourth time, nothing. It was probably Elijah thought, gosh, did I misunderstand God? The temptation is to wonder if he really got that right. Did he misheard God?

It was something about did I meet the condition right? There's no doubt as a human being, and James told us that he was just like us. Fifth time, probably by that time, he began to doubt God and began to doubt that God is going to answer. Then the sixth time, and probably by that time, he was getting angry with God and saying, God, what are you doing? Then he persisted in prayer. He persisted. The seventh time, prayed specifically, he prayed obediently, he prayed clinging to the promises of God, he prayed expectantly. He believed with all his heart that God was going to keep his word, and that's why he kept on sending his servant until that seventh time. When the servant came to say that he saw a cloud as small as a man's hand, Elijah started handing umbrellas. He said, that's good enough for me.

Expectancy in prayer. Finally, when God fulfilled his promise to Elijah, he did not become haughty or proud. He didn't say, hey boys, look at me, look what I've done.

No, no. He was humble before the Lord. He continued to be humble.

In fact, Spurgeon used to say there are three dangerous times in one's life. Immediately before a great blessing, and immediately after a great blessing, and then during the great blessing. You see, you have to be just as dependent on God right after an answer to prayer, right after God fulfilled his promise as you were before. There are some Christians who don't know how to handle victories in their life.

They really don't. Some Christians don't know how to handle blessings in their life. There are some Christians who try to take credit for God's blessings. There are some Christians who try to put human rationalism on victory and blessing. But listen, you do not have to be a great theologian to know that this is not honoring to God. It's flesh, it's the devil, it's the world, but it's not honoring to God. Elijah after this great victory of the Bible said he tucked his cloak and he ran before the king.

What does that mean? You got to understand a little bit of Middle East culture here. This is an act of submission.

This is an act of humility. Wicked king. He just confronted him. He just defeated him. He just won the battle. He won the victory, supernaturally through the power of God, and yet he continued to humble himself because he said he's the king. In the Middle East, to run before a king is to subordinate yourself to him as a servant. That's what Elijah was doing. After that great victory he would have said, hey Ahab, you're out, I'm in. But that's not what he said. I'm sure he would have probably attempted to do it, but he didn't.

Why? Because Elijah was adamant that everybody must know that this great act was God's act, not his own, not his own. The first step to appropriate promises of God is to keep the condition of the promise. The second is to never give up in persistent prayer, claiming the promise. Whatever it is in your life that you're dealing with, and I don't know what you're dealing with, what I deal with, I open my heart, share it with you as much as I can. Only you know what you're going through. Only you know what you're dealing with. Only you understand the difficulties and the pain that you are going through.

Ask yourself that question. Do I want God to fulfill his promises to me? If the answer is yes, then am I keeping the condition of the promise of God? And if I'm keeping the condition of God, the condition for the promise, am I giving up in persistence, in claiming the promise of God? I think if you go through that exercise, if you forgot everything I've said, and you remember those two things, I believe the Lord will honor you, and he will fulfill his promise because that's who he is. He's a God who cannot lie. He keeps his word.

Keep the condition. Persist in claiming the promise. It is my prayer that at this time, God the Holy Spirit is beginning to touch your life somehow, beginning to stir something within you. Maybe for some of you who are into religion and churchianity, and God is saying to you, I want you to come to know Jesus, my son. I want you to know that he's the only one who can take you to heaven.

I want you to know that there's only one way to me, and that's through him. And if you're a believer who've been walking with God, and you have one foot in the world and one foot with Christ, it is my prayer that today, as a result of this time, that you say, Lord, I will not fault between two opinions just like the people of Israel did. And one day they're with Baal, and one day with Jehovah. And Elijah said to them, it is time to make up your minds. It is time to decide. If Jehovah is God, then worship him and worship him alone.

If you think Baal is God, well, just go after Baal and then bear the consequences. So it is my prayer that you put both feet solidly with Christ. Thank you for taking time to listen to Dr. Michael Yusef and Leading the Way. Do you have faith questions? Well, you can always speak to one of our compassionate Leading the Way pastors or counselors.

Connect confidentially at your own pace and timing. The place to begin is ltw.org slash jesus. As we close today's Leading the Way, here are some testimonies that our team recently received, and we thought you would be encouraged to hear how God is working.

Irma Margarita writes to us from Honduras, and we've translated this from Spanish. She says, Blessings! I am a daughter of God. I live alone, only with the company of my best friend Jesus.

I have health problems, need a job, and help with my oldest son. I need you to pray for me, my children and family, so that they may seek the Lord, the giver of everything. I always watch and listen to you on TV. Although I don't know English, I am guided by your biblical words.

Luke writes to us from South Australia. I found Christ last year while incarcerated. I got baptized and attended church and Bible study weekly, which really helped me change and nurtured me into the man I am today. I haven't found a local church yet, but I've been streaming your services. I love them when you speak.

It's like you're speaking to me. Tendai writes to say, Thank you for the truth, word, God you are sharing. I pray that my God will help to magnify His word to others who are still in the dark and seeking the light. May God bless you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Praise the Lord. Leading the Way counselors connect with those requesting follow-up, and many are led to follow Jesus. We are able to continue ministry because of you. Learn ways to stand with Dr. Yusef and Leading the Way when you call 866-626-4356 or online ltw.org. Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yusef is listener supported.

There are several ways you can stand with Dr. Yusef and support Leading the Way's gospel impact around the world. One, consider a generous one-time gift. Two, become a frontline mission partner, those who give monthly. Or three, join the community of Cornerstone Partners who give in and through their estate. Learn more at ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yusef.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-11-29 03:24:07 / 2024-11-29 03:32:57 / 9

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime