THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS NOT GOT MUCH HOPE IS THE ONE WHO IS NOT CONNECTED TO JESUS CHRIST
WHENEVER GOD SEEMS TO BE SILENT, DO NOT BE DISMAYED; HE WANTS TO DO SOMETHING BIG
WHEN GOD GIVES YOU A VISION HE WILL BRING IT TO PASS
GOD NEVER LIES; IF GOD HAS SAID ANYTHING CONCERNING YOUR CASE, HE WON’T FAIL YOU
DO NOT BE DISMAYED; GOD’S PROMISES ARE ALWAYS YEA AND AMEN
GOD MAY DELAY WHEN HE WANTS TO DO SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY THAT WILL SHOW THE WORLD HIS MIGHT
GOOD NEWS!
SOMEBODY WHO IS ALMOST HOPELESS NOW, BY TOMORROW YOU WILL BE SINGING!
GOOD NEWS! AS LONG AS YOU ARE STILL BREATHING THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU; YOU ARE NOT HOPELESS!!
YOU SHOULD PATIENTLY WAIT FOR GOD EVEN IF HE SEEMS TO DELAYING BECAUSE THE BIGGER THE PROBLEM, THE BIGGER THE TESTIMONY
SOME GREAT THINGS TAKE TIME TO PRODUCE. COCOA TAKES YEARS TO PRODUCE BUT WILL PRODUCE FOR A LIFE TIME
TO BE DISMAYED OR HOPELESS IS WORSE THAN BEING AFRAID
IT TOOK A DOUBLE VISITATION FROM GOD TO GET ELIJAH OUT OF HOPELESSNESS
IF ANYONE OF YOU IS IN A HOPELESS SITUATION, GOD WILL ARISE FOR YOU TODAY!
FEAR IS A TORMENTOR; IT IS MEANT FOR THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE FAITH IN GOD
FEAR MEANS YOU BELIEVE THE devil RATHER THAN GOD
- Pastor E. A. Adeboye on “THE ONE FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN” || RCCG Online Sunday Service || 21st April, 2024
We move on to part 41 in our study on, “THE ONE FOR WHOM THE HEAVENS OPEN,” using Joshua as our case study and reminding ourselves that Joshua is also a very good example of Divine Repositioning. Last time we spoke, we were discussing Joshua 8:1-2 and that’s where we will still be continuing today and may be for another couple or so of weeks. God spoke to Joshua, Joshua was back to talking terms with God and God said to him first and foremost, “fear not.” We learnt last time that fear is the opposite of faith and it’s a way of saying, you believe the devil rather than God or you believe the report of man rather than the report of the God of all flesh. Church Gist. So we can see that fear is a tormentor; it’s actually meant for those who don’t have faith in God who is the Almighty – the God who is higher than the highest who has the greatest influence in the whole universe. The Almighty God who can perform wonders, the God who is everywhere at all times. So we’ve discovered that a true child of God has nothing to fear because wherever he or she may be, the Almighty God is there to take care of the situation.
The next thing God said is: “neither be thou dismayed.” The word we want to look at today is the word, “dismayed.” The word, dismayed, according to 2 Samuel 4:1 actually means courage has failed. We are not talking of fear now, we are talking of feeling completely helpless. Church Gist. We are talking of a word like dismantled. You’re not afraid, the matter is even a bit worse – you become like a vegetable, the strength is gone, the desire to move forward is no more. Dismayed is a word in the same category as discouraged, despondent – that is, overwhelmed with sorrow, in despair or in its worst form – hopeless.
You see the word, dismayed, in the situation of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1-8. When Elijah having waited in the presence of God for years – when we first met him in 1 Kings 17:1, he was boasting. He told us boldly, “I am coming from the presence of God,” he decreed that the Heavens be shut and the Heavens obeyed him. For years, no rain. He obeyed God when God said, go and hide. He went and hid by the Brook of Cherith. He obeyed God when God said, “hey, go and stay with a widow.” He obeyed God when God said, alright now, you can go and show yourself to the King; and he led that wonderful confrontation on Mount Carmel. He finished all the prophets of Baal in one mighty move of the Almighty. He prayed and fire fell, he prayed and rain fell. He ran faster than the chariot of the King triumphantly coming from the mountain top to the valley. Church Gist. Then he arrived; what did he meet? Jezebel sent to him and said, “by tomorrow you will be dead.” “Ah ah! After all I’ve done for God, is this how I’m going to end?” The Bible said, he ran, kept running for days. By the time he got to that juniper tree, he was dismayed – “what next now O Lord? Why waste time anymore? Let me just die.” That’s a very good illustration of what it means to be dismayed.
- I pray in the name that is above every other name, that if anyone of you is in that kind of situation, that God will arise for you today!
It took a double visitation from God to get Elijah going again. God sent an angel to bring him food the first time, he ate and wasn’t strong enough to continue the journey so God brought him another meal from Heaven – double visitation.
We are going to look at the word, dismayed, using the worst kind or the worst interpretation of the word which is hopeless. Church Gist. If you look at your life and the situation seems to be very very hopeless, I have good news for you: because at least, as long as you’re still breathing there is hope for you. You need to know that:
- Some good things, some great things take time. James 5:7. So may be you’ve been waiting, trusting, praying, fasting and the result is not here and you’re just about to give up, just take note that some great things take time to produce.
I have given the illustration before: when you plant maize, corn, you will harvest within 3 months but if you plant cocoa, you will have to wait for years before it will begin to produce. Church Gist. Why? Because cocoa is far far more precious than maize and for further illustration, the maize once you cut it down, that’s the end of the story. You harvest maize only once; as for cocoa, once it begins to produce, it will produce for a life time. Great things take time.
- Another thing you need to note why you should not lose hope, why you should be patiently waiting for God even if he seems to delaying is that: the bigger the problem, the bigger the testimony. Genesis 21:1-7. You know Sarah, you know when God paid her a visit in Genesis 18:9-14. By the time God said, “Sarah will have a son,” you know she laughed. Church Gist. That’s the laughter of someone who is already dismayed. She was someone who was saying to the Almighty God, “let’s forget this joke. When you made this promise 25 years ago, it was easy to believe you. Now, you’re enjoying my meal? Thank you very much. Say thank you and go; don’t bother me anymore.” But in Genesis 21:1-7, she said, “God has made me to laugh.” She said something, “who would have thought that Sarah will give sick to children? Who would have thought that milk will flow from the breast of a woman who is already over 90 years old?” The bigger the problem, the bigger the testimony.
You can understand what happened in Exodus 15:1-21. You will see the beautiful song that Moses and the children of Israel sang after they escaped from Pharaoh and his host. You need to know how big was their terror the night before. They’ve been in bondage for more than 400 years, they’ve never learnt to fight. Church Gist. Even if they learnt to fight, they had no weapons and the greatest army of the whole world was matching after them with horses and chariots. The people they thought they were free from were here again. The night before, they were dismayed; they were not just afraid. They had become like jelly but then, the Almighty God moved – in a single sweep of the power of the Almighty God, the enemy they had seen that night, they never saw again by the following morning. Church Gist. Moses was not a musician, but that morning he composed a song.
- I have good news for somebody who is almost completely hopeless now, in the name that is above every other name, by tomorrow you will be singing!
- Occasionally, the Almighty God will delay because he wants to do something extraordinary, something big, something that will show the world how mighty he is. When you consider what happened in Mark 5:35-43, some people said, “oh, it’s not a miracle. Didn’t you hear him? He said the girl wasn’t dead, the girl was sleeping. What’s a miracle in waking up somebody who is sleeping?” Church Gist. Then God said, alright, may be we will wait and see one fellow who is not just sleeping but he is on the way to the burial ground. Luke 7:11-15 – the story of the son of the widow of Nain. They were already going to bury the son, he hasn’t just died, he wasn’t in a coma like some people said the daughter of Jairus was and then, God raised up the boy and some people said, “the boy was in a deep coma and as he was being taken to the burial ground, fresh air blew on him. Jesus just came at the right time when the boy was about to wake up. It was just mere coincidence.” Church Gist. That’s why when you get to John 11, you can read it from verse 1 to 44. Jesus was simply saying, “this one, it won’t be that he is asleep or in a coma, it will be someone who is not just buried, (but) had been there for 4 days in the grave – rotten. When I bring this one back to life then the whole world will know that there is someone who is called the Resurrection and the Life.”
Occasionally, God deliberately delays so that when he finally moves, the whole world will know that only God can possibly do this. Church Gist. So if you feel that God has delayed too long and you’re beginning to be dismayed, just take note that there is a God whose promises are always yea and Amen. 2 Corinthians 1:20.
Remember that there is a God who never lies – Numbers 23:19. If God has said anything concerning your case, relax, he won’t lie, he won’t fail you. Church Gist. Remember that there is a God who controls times and seasons. Daniel 2:20-21. Oh You say, “my time is passed.” Who told you? “My season is gone, it’s not possible for me to get the kind of miracle I’ve been praying for.” Who told you? He controls times, he controls seasons – don’t be dismayed.
Some of you heard the testimony of a lady who came from America to visit her siblings in London and we were having Holy Ghost Service and she came with them. The Word of God came just as the service was on. God said, there is somebody here that he has reduced the years by 10. Somebody had lost 10 years of her life. Church Gist. She said, Amen and turned to the siblings and said, “don’t call me aunty any more. I am younger than some of you now.” Few minutes later, the Almighty God spoke again and said, “hey, the fellow that thought that it’s already too late to have a child, God is saying, I will surprise you.” She said, “ah, God! How can you love me this much?”
Brethren just believe him; when God speaks it is done. The following year when that lady returned to the Festival of Life as they call Holy Ghost Service in London, she was carrying a 3-month old baby because there is a God who controls times and seasons.
There is a God who can make dry bones live again. Ezekiel 37:1-10. Church Gist. Everything that is written in the Bible is written for our example, instruction. You know the story of the dry bones.
- In the name of the one who sent me I prophesy to all things in your life that could represent dry bones, “dry bones live again!”
Habakkuk 2:3. If God had given you a dream and you think that the dream is too late in coming – dream of greatness, dream of success, dream that is even far far beyond you and you think it’s already too late, as long as God is still on his throne, when he gives you a vision he will bring it to pass.
So when God seems to be silent, you have prayed, fasted, done everything you know to do and nothing seems to be happening, don’t be dismayed. Not only is he saying, don’t be afraid, he is also saying don’t be dismayed. Church Gist. Whenever God seems to be silent, it is because he wants to do something big. You know the story in Daniel 3:1-30. The Almighty God wasn’t sleeping when they were binding Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they were taking them into the fiery furnace, he wasn’t sleeping, he was just silent. Why? Because he could have moved in even as the King was commanding that they should bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he could have moved in and tell an angel to go and wipe out the King and his army, to rescue his boys. But he said, “hey, let’s do something bigger than that. My boys, come into the fire – I’ll be there waiting for you and then let’s show this idol worshipping king that there is a God in the Heavens who is far far bigger than his idols. God wasn’t sleeping in Daniel 6:1-28. Church Gist. He could have stopped the whole show, he has the ability to do so but he got more glory when Daniel spent a whole night in the den of lions and came out alive. He knew what he was doing.
So if you think that situation is too critical and you’re about to feel completely dismayed, remember 1 Kings 17:8-16. God is the ever present help in the time of trouble. God is never late; he will come right on time. So I’m rejoicing with those of you who are on the point of giving up that this message is for you today. Church Gist. Don’t lose hope, your tomorrow will still be alright. The only one I can say really hasn’t got much hope is the one who is not connected to Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:27. If Christ is not in you, then you don’t have the hope of glory but you can open your heart to him today, you can invite him into your life and immediately he comes in to your life, he will turn that hopeless situation around.
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