Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 387 | Throwback - Never Alone

Transcript

387 | Throwback - Never Alone · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

• 0:00
  Music.
• 0:07
  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
• 0:12
  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
• 0:18
  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
• 0:22
  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
• 0:25
  or on our website at watwm.org,
• 0:28
  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
• 0:33
  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
• 0:38
  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
• 0:38
  Music.
• 0:48
  She's a happy girl.
• 1:03
  God told us that he would never leave us nor forsake us in Hebrews 13.5.
• 1:08
  Now that is a promise you can count on. It should keep you strong and a very good courage.
• 1:14
  Your mood should not be dictated by your circumstances.
• 1:18
  The Father controls all that happens to you. You should ride out the events
• 1:22
  of your life by reflecting the assurance that God has not only prepared the
• 1:26
  way for you, but he also rides through the storm with you.
• 1:30
  Join us in this program, Never Alone, as Kim Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries
• 1:35
  takes us through Joshua 1.9, which says, Have I not commanded thee?
• 1:40
  Be strong and of good courage.
• 1:42
  Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever
• 1:49
  thou goest. Hello and welcome to this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
• 1:54
  And we can quickly judge Joshua and his people and think, how could you possibly
• 1:59
  be afraid when the Lord has commanded you not to be?
• 2:03
  How could you possibly be afraid when the Lord has done so much to protect you?
• 2:07
  Yet on a moment-by-moment basis, many of us fall into that same trap of being afraid, being anxious.
• 2:16
  Perhaps we're not scared for our life. Perhaps we're not struck with fear that
• 2:21
  paralyzes us, but we have moments of anxiety and moments of doubt that cause
• 2:27
  us to wonder, is everything going to be all right?
• 2:30
  And the Bible tells us in many different places that that is not what he asked us to do.
• 2:35
  He tells us to be anxious for nothing, but with everything, with prayer and
• 2:40
  thanksgiving, let our requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God
• 2:43
  will rule our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It's important that we
• 2:48
  take the Lord at his word.
• 2:51
  And in this passage of scripture in Joshua chapter one, God tells Joshua to
• 2:57
  ask his people a very simple question.
• 3:01
  Have not I commanded thee?
• 3:03
  Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.
• 3:09
  For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
• 3:13
  When we look at this verse, he tells us very simply his expectation of his children.
• 3:23
  His expectation of those who follow after them. He says, don't be afraid.
• 3:30
  In john chapter 14 he says let not your heart be troubled you believe in god
• 3:34
  believe also in me jesus speaks these words that's the same god in the form
• 3:41
  of jesus his son in john chapter 14,
• 3:45
  who speaks to us in john chapter 3 that
• 3:48
  says for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
• 3:52
  whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life that's
• 3:55
  that Jesus who speaks in John chapter 14 about not being troubled is the Jesus
• 4:02
  who laid his life on the cross of Calvary for those who will believe to redeem their salvation.
• 4:09
  And in this verse to Joshua, God is reminding him of what has been commanded.
• 4:16
  And he's telling him, go to your people and say, have I not commanded thee?
• 4:21
  And when we think about all that God has spoken to us, we have to know he has spent countless,
• 4:31
  countless verses preparing our hearts to be assured that he's in control.
• 4:39
  And then he has relayed countless
• 4:42
  events in his scriptures to show
• 4:46
  us his hand at work to allow
• 4:49
  us to see how he has taken care of those
• 4:53
  whom have trusted their life in him
• 4:56
  but yet he reminds them that and he says to them this i want you to be strong
• 5:03
  don't be weak and wishy-washy don't fear what man can do unto you he can't hurt.
• 5:11
  The soul that's what he tells us in in his word later on,
• 5:16
  But so often the devil hits us in the areas of our life that we have not turned
• 5:24
  over to God and his reign.
• 5:27
  And I want you to think about that for just a moment.
• 5:30
  God comes in and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness when we ask him to.
• 5:35
  But we seem to give him very bits and pieces of who we are over time.
• 5:43
  We get all of who he is in that moment of transformation when he cleanses our heart.
• 5:48
  But growing in Christ Jesus is a process for us.
• 5:53
  Because there's just some things that our old sinful flesh wants to hold on to.
• 5:59
  And for many of us, it's the same thing. It is our self-control.
• 6:05
  Somehow or another, in our heart and in my mind, we know who Christ is.
• 6:10
  We understand his power and his knowledge. But when we get in a situation,
• 6:15
  we still seem to want to fall back on our own self and we can't do it alone.
• 6:24
  We've got to be like David when David said the battle's not mine. It belongs to the Lord.
• 6:32
  We got to be like David when David refused the armor and the equipment of the
• 6:38
  world. and followed solely and wholly on what God would do through him.
• 6:43
  And he relied on God to defeat his enemy.
• 6:47
  See, David never wavered about that battle.
• 6:53
  He never fretted about it either. He was eager and embraced it because it wasn't
• 6:59
  him who was going to fight. It was God through him.
• 7:03
  And he had blessed assurance that God would see him through.
• 7:09
  The three Hebrew children had blessed assurance that their God would deliver them.
• 7:15
  And however he chose to do that was okay with them.
• 7:20
  Be strong. See, many of us lose this verse right here on the be strong part.
• 7:27
  Because we think we're supposed to be strong in ourselves.
• 7:30
  When indeed he means to be strong in the Lord. Stand your ground and allow the
• 7:37
  Lord to work through you.
• 7:39
  Then he says to be of good courage. The Hebrew children, I believe,
• 7:46
  were not certain how God would deliver them, but I believe they were fully certain that he would.
• 7:53
  And see, I think this is where many of us get lost in this process.
• 7:58
  We know that God is capable of doing anything.
• 8:02
  We understand that no one is greater than him.
• 8:07
  Therefore, we get the verse, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.
• 8:11
  But we wonder sometimes if he's going to deliver us in the only way we allow
• 8:20
  our mind to comprehend what deliverance would be.
• 8:25
  The Hebrew children, I believe, were willing to die if that's what God thought
• 8:31
  the deliverance was going to be.
• 8:34
  See, in our minds, especially after having read the accounts and the scriptures,
• 8:39
  we would think that deliverance would mean he would either not put them in there
• 8:44
  or he'd put them in there and, as he did, protect them from all harm.
• 8:50
  But I imagine that in our lives, we're not willing to get in the fiery furnace
• 8:55
  and check out whether or not God's in there with us.
• 8:59
  We fret and we worry and we keep ourselves up at night and we cry and we complain and we murmur.
• 9:09
  Because we don't see through eyes of faith.
• 9:12
  We try to act like we do, but so often we're not of good courage because we're
• 9:16
  just not sure how it's going to work out.
• 9:20
  My friends, that's not the faith he's talking about when he says,
• 9:23
  be strong and have good courage and don't be afraid and don't be dismayed.
• 9:28
  He's talking about the faith that will allow you to go in the furnace fully
• 9:32
  sure that everything's going to be all right.
• 9:37
  He's talking about the faith that they talk about in Romans chapter 8 and verse 28.
• 9:43
  This is we know that all things work together for the good to them that love
• 9:46
  the Lord to them that are called according to his purpose.
• 9:49
  We're talking about the kind of faith that
• 9:52
  doesn't try to reason out what our earthly mind
• 9:55
  and our physical bodies would think is
• 9:58
  right but is fixated and
• 10:01
  focused on the greatness of god to
• 10:04
  such an extent that we believe however he
• 10:07
  chooses the end of this
• 10:10
  event to be it is correct it is
• 10:13
  right he loves me he has a hold of
• 10:16
  me and everything's going to work out to my betterment see we're usually not
• 10:23
  willing to go in the fiery furnace we're not willing to go through something
• 10:28
  that is uncomfortable even if we know it's going to be a blessing for someone else but he says.
• 10:37
  Be of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.
• 10:41
  For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
• 10:48
  He did not stipulate that he would only be with you in the good times.
• 10:54
  He did not stipulate he was only going to be with you in the bad times.
• 10:58
  He didn't stipulate he'd only be with you when you called upon him.
• 11:01
  And Peter proves that because in the midst of his biggest storm,
• 11:05
  He can't even recognize God who's already there.
• 11:08
  He can't even tell that that's Jesus. And he says, if that be you, bid me come.
• 11:13
  The kind of faith he's talking about here is knowing that he's already there.
• 11:17
  Hebrews tells us in 13 verse 5, he'll never leave us nor forsake us.
• 11:23
  Do you believe what he says? Do you believe that you are never in a situation that it's just you?
• 11:32
  And if you're really honest with yourself and have looked through the scriptures,
• 11:36
  you're never in a situation when you're following after the Lord that you even
• 11:40
  have to worry about figuring out the plan.
• 11:42
  All you got to do is ask and he'll tell you.
• 11:44
  All you really got to do is pick up your cross and follow.
• 11:47
  But it requires a daily reading of his word.
• 11:50
  It requires a strong prayer life to be a strong Christian of good courage.
• 11:56
  It requires trimming your lamps and being ready for when he calls and not asking why or how.
• 12:04
  But yes, Lord, here am I. Send me.
• 12:08
  Jesus is calling and he's standing right at your door, knocking on your heart,
• 12:15
  wanting to be with you today.
• 12:16
  It's my prayer that you have the courage to fellowship with him. He's already there.
• 12:21
  Music.
• 12:30
  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
• 12:35
  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
• 12:38
  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
• 12:42
  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
• 12:45
  You can find our app by searching for Women at the Well Ministries in your app
• 12:49
  store or through our website at watwm.org. We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash W-A-T-W-M.
• 12:57
  If you visit our website, you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits,
• 13:01
  a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
• 13:06
  Woman at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
• 13:11
  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
• 13:16
  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our
• 13:20
  website. Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
• 13:26
  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
• 13:32
  Music.