Your Faith Must Stand Trial

  

This is another wonderful sermon by Bishop TD Jakes. 

Genesis 22:1-12

New International Version (NIV)

 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

There will be a time in your life when your faith will have to stand trial. Where you will have to stand in a real court room.  I am not talking about “she talked behind my back or he didn't speak to me” I am talking about real trial, real test of faith.

God won’t take u out of the fire, but he will be a thermostat in the furnace.  He will regulate the heat in your life. He will put barriers on the enemy and tell him enough is enough. If God had not been the thermostat in your fiery furnace, u would have burnt up long ago. Every time you were on the verge of a nervous breakdown, God put a brake and said not today.

I cannot talk about faith without talking about Abraham, the father of faith who was born one nationality and crossed to another nationality in the middle of his life. By faith the gentile became a Jew. Out of faith he birthed a new nation out of old loins because he believed God. It was counted unto him as righteousness.  He wasn't right but he believed God so good that God said if you believe me I will go and credit it in your account. “I’ll accept faith as a medium of exchange just like businesses accepts money as medium of exchange in earth realm and yet money does u no good in heaven at all, because faith is the commerce of heaven and God said if you believe me I will go ahead and give u righteousness.  And not only righteousness, I will give u land, everywhere your feet trod, I will give u… if u can walk it out, u can have it. If u can stand upon it u can have it. You can walk with your blessing with your footprints.

Just say to your neighbor “watch my feet” my feet are marching towards something,  my feet are marching towards all things the devils said it wouldn't be mine, every time u see my footprints know that Before it’s over I am going to get that blessing. I may cry, I may crawl, I may tear my clothes, I may go through a crisis, it might be a long court case, it might be much deliberation, the jury might be hung for much and more but I am going to get it because I believe God.

Abraham’s faith had many preliminary hearings. ..Pretests… Trials “Abraham, leave your country and kindred” ...preliminary hearing.  Abraham who wasn't a warrior had to get into a fight to get Lot out of trouble. Faith took him to many trials and tribulations.

God told him that he will bring forth a son when he was old and the case dragged till his wife was past child bearing age.  Now she was barren and dead and the case extended till his body was dead. And when it was completely impossible with men, then God gave him a date and said “I will bless u”

As long as u can see your way clear, God will do absolutely nothing. It is when there is absolutely no way, for u to get it. When all of your plans have failed, then god will say “now I am ready to bless u”.  At this stage u will know it’s not by might, not by power but by His spirit. At this stage, no people can get the credit coz u know if it wasn't for God who was by your side, you wouldn't have got that blessing.

Now in genesis 22, god gives Abraham a chance to stand a trial. “Take your son, your only son”…Here Abraham acts as a shadow of what God would do to Christ.  When faith goes on trial, you have to get away from people.  And he begins to move and he goes a long journey carrying an inner circle of men. But when he is yet three days away from the test, the bible says he saw the place of test from far off. Three things I want to talk about and I will be finished. I want to talk to u about the place of the trial. I want to talk to u about the purpose of the trial. And I want to talk to u about the provisions of the trial. Abraham didn't know where it was coming but he knew it was coming. And god said I will show u the place. If you walk with god, god will show u what u r going to go through before u go through it. If u really walk with God, there will be some fore warning, some inner awareness, some awakening that equips yourself to buckle your seat belts to get ready to go through a test.  The problem is that we do not hear what the spirit is saying to the church. But if u walk close to god and don’t be surprised if the wind comes and He is not in it, the fire comes and He is not in it, and the earth quake shakes and He is not in it, just listen to the innermost voice and God will tell u who u can trust and who u cannot.

God told him to go to mount Moriah…but Mount Moriah was a range of mountains but in those ranges of mountains there was a particular place. Abraham didn't know which mountain in the range of mountains but god said “you will know it when you see it” and while he was yet three days away he looked up and saw the place. Standing almost in the shadow of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane looking towards the place where his faith would be challenged with the cross. He had with him as Christ did those inner circle of people, those people u think u can carry with you. But at the place of trial even your closest friends are barred from the court room.  Abraham being sensitive to this time in his life says to those who are with him “this is as far as u can go” and Christ says to peter, James and John “wait right here and pray’ and he went alone further to pray.

Abraham said “me and the lad are going yonder to worship”  “you are not worshiping God until u lay down something before him “something that you are related to, something that u r connected to something that is valuable to you.  Until you lay it on the altar, you are not really worshiping God.

Abraham said ‘we are going to worship but we will come again”. As long as you know in the back of your mind that when it’s all over, I am coming back again, no devil in hell can destroy u.

 If you keep in the back of your mind that I am coming out of this. “I don’t know how, I don’t know when, I don’t know who, I don’t know if I will be dead and he will have to raise me up, I don’t know if he is going to stop the knife in my hand, I don’t know if he is going to send an angel, I don’t know if he is going to send a prophet, but I do know that before it’s over I am coming out of this. I know I am coming out of this coz there is a prophecy over my life. And I haven’t done everything that God called me to do. And until I finish my prophecy, somehow or the other, there has to be a sequel, this can’t be end of the movie.  I have to come out of it. This may be a commercial, but it’s not over.

Look to your neighbor and say “expect me to come back”. In every person’s life, there is a place of test. There is a place in your life where everything u testified in your life has to be proven. There is a place in your life where everything u shouted about has to be tested. There is a place in your life where every bible class u taught must be proven. While u were talking, the place was set.  The place is where God has to prove to the enemy that you are more than just talk. God is going to prove his strength in your life when you come to the place. It is to prove to the enemy that when all hell breaks loose in your life, when your flesh is being pulled apart, u will do the will of your father. 

Night Seasons- The God of my tight places (Sermon by TD JAKES)

                                             Photo Courtesy: http://www.craigladams.com

Bishop TD Jakes is one of my favorite pastors. Though I've never met him, I know him through all his sermons I watch on you tube. This is one of the sermons that I tried to type down as I listened.

Matthew: 26: 36-46

I believe there were three significantly important moments that prepared Christ into this destiny.  And these moments reflect moments in your life in between you and your destiny.  The wilderness, The garden and the Cross.

The wilderness is a place of personal temptation.

The Cross is a place where carnality is destroyed.

And Garden is the place where God will take us through a tight place

If you've never been through a tight place, then you wont understand what makes you keep saying the same prayer  again and again. You will tell God “will you fix this, or will you fix me or will you fix something. Next day you will go to God and say, God nothing has changed, I am asking you the same thing again…I need to talk to u about the same thing again. I have no updates, I have no new information but I am coming to you because I have nobody else. You are the God of my tight places.

You cant preach this sermon from a seminary, u have to come back from a cemetery .  you have to come from a very hard place where you had problems from every side to know how effective God becomes in your tight places.  And I sense there are others in the group who understand what it is to cry unto God  from a tight place.

Sometimes my greatest problem is not knowing for sure how things will turn out to be.  Some people write a will for their six month old child thinking they know how the story will end. Some people thousands of dollars on an elaborate wedding thinking they know how the story will end. Some people leave everything and move from a country to another country for a job thinking they know how it will end. But it’s a long way from a 6 month old to a 36 year old and a lot of things can happen to the junior.  It’s a long way from a wedding cake to a silver anniversary cake  and a lot of things can happen.  It’s a long way from taking a job to getting a gold watch after 25 years  and a lot of things can happen in between.   The truth of the matter is part of our agony lies in the uncertainty of how it will all end.  Some people are wedded long before they are married. That is because of their insecurity. The 30 minute ceremony of wedding may not make u emotionally inside a marriage, they are scared so don’t emotionally attach…just in case. Some people are not sure of their job and so don’t give their 100 percent thinking what if this is not it. Insecurity can make u angry, insecurity can make u leave a place which otherwise u enjoy.  Insecurity can make u overreact to situations. Insecurity can change ur personality, insecurity can blow up an issue.

I've been in some tight places. Places which made u wonder “am I going to make it through this alive?’  I made it through that before but this thing I am going through is so overwhelming and I am tired.  When I was young I would drive at 100 speed without a seat belt  But now I don’t do that..not because it is not exciting but because I know what would happen.  Before I used to not notice a black spot on my skin but now after seeing so many cancer patients, if I see a bruise or a spot, I go to the doctor coz now I know what can happen.

Have you ever got tired in a tight place? A tight place is a place when you are not there yet . you are closer than you were but you are not there yet.  And now it’s a challenge to get to the next level.  And u r not sure u got the push that u used to have. Have u ever secretly been in a tight place.. still smiling “good morning”  to people around and laughing with them and they would have no clue that they met u in your tight place. Its very human to have anxiety and live your life from a tight place.

I may understand when it happens to u or me but today in my text, its not an ordinary person, it is Jesus. He is the only begotten Son of God. He is the eternal son of God. He is in the board room of god and the council of god’s divinity. He was there when the worlds were formed.  He knows the beginning and he knows the end. He is omniscient- all knowing. Here Jesus knows how the story is going to end. He is not doubtful as to whether he is going to come out of this . he says ‘the temple will be destroyed and I will build it in 3 days…etc etc…”  he has the assurance he will get out of it yet , face to face with the process  that precedes the promise . sometimes you can have the promise, have faith in the promise, but when u r head on into the process , the process is so painful that u say “lord, I wonder, I have a vision, but I wonder, ive gone through more difficult times before, but I wonder, I have faith in your promise, but I wonder….”

The garden of Gethsemane was about the alignment of human will with the divine will, like 12 noon when 2 needles meet at one point.  It is a big process to bring your will into alignment with gods will, coz sometimes god wants things for me sometimes I don’t want. And sometimes god makes choices without asking  your opinion. Sometimes u want god to be the minute needle coming to your will with provision, money etc…  sometimes god shows u the beginning and the end, but when faced with the middle, it becomes stressful. Isaiah has said that they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  It is wonderful to wait but waiting can be great pressure. It seems it is unfair when I have to wait when I am a finite individual dealing with an infinite God. You ask me to wait for what I have the least of, Time. You've got eternity and I am getting old as I wait.  Jesus is not going to the garden to find out how the story ends, he goes to deal with the middle. And most of us are struggling to deal with the middle. We know somehow or the other in the end, we are going to win but in the meantime what about the hateful middle. What makes a happy ending a happy ending is a hateful middle.

Jesus comes to he beautiful garden of Gethsemane with a problem. Isn’t it funny how u can have an ugly problem in a beautiful place.  The place where pressure mounts and the garden is different from wilderness coz in wilderness you have an enemy u can argue with and on the cross u have a physical problem u can see, but in the garden there is nothing to be seen.  Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane trying not to cry. The five thousand he fed are nowhere to be seen. When people have nothing more to get from u, they wont come. He asks his disciples to wait. When the pressure becomes tighter, u have to get away from people, because pressure separates u from fellowship .

You might ask somebody for intercession but they can forget its your second eviction notice, they can forget that u don’t have a job but you cant forget coz u r going through it. So Jesus went a little further and that’s what pressure can do for u. it makes u go on a little further. But Jesus comes back to the three of them and asks them to pray not because Jesus thinks they are more closer to god, but just to know somebody understands his suffering. When u r in pressure, u want to connect on a human level too- somebody who understands.  U need somebody to hold ur hand when u r in sick bed, u will ask somebody to go with u to the courtroom even though u know ur friend isn’t a lawyer- just to be with u- the presence. Everybody u call is busy, and the pressure is mounting and u r alone.  Every moment it is getting tighter coz u r in a tight place. Normally u r connected, but right now u r in a tight place. What makes u keep going back to some of them that’s not working- in this case, the disciples were sleeping. But still went back to check coz when u r in a tight place, u want to see if something or someone is there. God cant get the glory out of ur life until ur expectations are removed from something else. I cant tell u how long u will have to wait coz jesus went back three times checking on folks who were somewhere else while he was under pressure. He goes from talking to them to talking to the father.  God if its possible take this cup away from me..nothing there…so then he goes to the disciples “would u watch with me one hour… nothing there, so he goes back to the father..“not my will but thine be done… then he goes to the disciples..”are u sleeping again”….but the 3^rd time,  Sometimes u have to pray through a process and period to find the God of your tight places.

You have to go through a process for the promise. You might have to pray the same things again and again till God says “my grace is sufficient for you, ive got u covered”. “iam not going to heal every blind man, every lame man might not walk but my grace is sufficient for them. Sometimes a happy ending is not a place is where everything is gonna be alright, but a happy ending is a place when ur problem doesn’t bother u anymore. Sometimes we have to stop preaching magic where everybody becomes a millionaire and everybody drives a Porsche and everybody gets a degree and nobody ever gets sick and all ur children turn out wonderful and everybody’s marriage works… Devil is a LIAR.  Some of the stuff is not going to work out but God said “My grace is sufficient for u” .

There is a grace for every tragedy, every problem. If u r a widow at 25, or if ur husband is in a wheel chair or if ur child is born with down syndrome. Even when the storms are rising, He is the God of ur tight places. He is the god of ur circumstance, ur wilderness, god of ur unemployment, god of ur failing kidneys, the God of ur dilemma.

The place of Gethsemane  where Olives are crushed, the place of refinement. U might buy a bottle of olive oil and somebody asks u how much it costs, and u will say 5 dollars. You can say that coz u r not the olive. Somewhere behind an oil refinery, in the trash can, in a dumpster is some bruised beaten, discarded half pulverized olive who could tell you how much it cost for every drop of this oil –something had to die and be up under pressure and be under agony . you can get this for 5 dollars but someone had to be under pressure . the reason because pastors got the anointing is because all hell broke loose in their life. The more the enemy afflicted them, the more they grew. He is a God of my tight places. This is how he gets glory out of ur life, by crushing ur flesh.  You don’t know the cost of the oil in the alabaster box. U don’t have a clue what the person next to u has gone through so before u get envious and jealous, u have to learn to keep smiling when all hell is breaking loose in your life.

Gethsemene- Jesus comes thrice to his disciples and finally he says “sleep on” if u speak to the God of ur tight places, u will speak to the place of ur frustration….sleep on…  God will be on the other side of ur “sleep on” taking u through what u thought u will never get through.  Now God gets all the glory.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he didn’t have clothes to wear, so he spoke himself the gardeners clothes that Mary didn’t recognize him. Jesus went through the garden and became the gardener to help me through my garden.

Kitchen Island

I am so in love with kitchen Islands. My dream Island is big and long and has a blue porcelain jar full of fresh flowers, an urn full of lemons, a glass jar full of cookies.... Well is that a lot of it???? ummmm....ok, the fact  is I hate clutter around my kitchen, especially on counter top but I guess Islands should have all this to add some life to the kitchen.

So, U ask me if I have all this in my kitchen. O, no, none of these coz my kitchen is small and with the current layout, (which is beautiful according to me) it just wont look right to have an island. But the good news is I am planning to do a kitchen with a small island. O, yes, I love huge islands but then again, space constraint is the challenge here. So, I believe an open kitchen will solve some of the problems of a small kitchen, coz when this small space merges with the not so big, not so small dining space, u have a fairly big space!!! So the island I was talking about will be like a breakfast nook or maybe my place to do my cake mixing, salad making, fruit chopping, lemon juice making...whatever fancies me at that particular point- area.

This isnt my kitchen (o no, mine is not even quarter the size, but a friend of mine got it on google search.

I know you might argue with me saying Kitchen Islands are for big kitchen. You may be right (even my dream kitchen is huge and the kitchen Island is really big in that) but I feel even a small island can do wonders especially in a small kitchen as shelves and drawers underneath provides for extra storage and especially my idea is to have pull out drawers for my electric mixer, sandwich maker etc thereby increasing   the functionality of the kitchen. (I told u I hate clutter on my counter top).

Speaking of which, Iam in love with pull outs for all my stuff. Along with the Island, I am also a planning a big shelf with microwave inside the cabinet, pull outs for my processor and mixer  O yes, I am also planning a pull out on my study table for my Ironing... gee!!!! O yes, pull outs everywhere... even my washing machine, according to my original plan should have been enclosed, but sad news, I heard one of my husband's distant (more emotionally than physically or the immediacy in bloodline) cousin's washing machine enclosed cabinet fell into pieces. Well, it could be because it wasn't properly sealed but I don't want to take a risk here. So my washing machine is going to get a lot of air in the open.

Keeping my fingers crossed and praying everything will work out as I am planning so that my kitchen transforms to a multi- functional, clutter free, efficiently organized hangout.. :)

Any suggestions for pull out ideas are most welcome.. :)