Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 573 | Throwback - When He’s All You Have

Transcript

573 | Throwback - When He’s All You Have · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

• 0:00
  God is in control.
• 0:04
  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
• 0:10
  at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
• 0:15
  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
• 0:18
  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
• 0:21
  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
• 0:25
  or on our website at watwm.org, we invite you to sit down and listen to Jesus.
• 0:30
  With us as we look to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen
• 0:35
  your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
• 1:03
  Have you ever felt that you had nothing at all? It often takes us getting to
• 1:07
  that point for us to realize that God is more than enough.
• 1:11
  Join us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries as we look at the perfect sufficiency of God.
• 1:18
  Hello, and thank you for spending this time with us. We're going to look at
• 1:21
  the entire passage of 1 Kings 17, verses 1 through 16.
• 1:27
  And it's an interesting bible truth that
• 1:30
  each of us understand because unfortunately
• 1:34
  most of us have been there and the bible truth that we understand the hard way
• 1:40
  i believe is that when he is all that you have then he's more than enough the
• 1:47
  reality of it is is that god is more than enough all the time,
• 1:52
  The reality of it is that whatever situation you find yourself in,
• 1:56
  God is absolutely all that you need.
• 2:00
  Unfortunately for most of us, if things are going really well,
• 2:04
  we seem to ignore the providential care of God.
• 2:07
  If things are the way we want it to be, we often ignore our relationship with God.
• 2:12
  If things are going smoothly, we become so elevated in our own selves that we
• 2:18
  tend to believe that it's all about what we have done,
• 2:20
  all about who we are that enables us to be living this lifestyle that we enjoy
• 2:26
  the truth of the matter is this all things come from the father of life where
• 2:35
  there is no variableness or no turning.
• 2:39
  The truth of the matter is, is that all things are created by him and for him,
• 2:43
  and everything is under his feet.
• 2:47
  The truth of the matter is, is that he daily loadeth us with blessings.
• 2:54
  And the truth of the matter is, he's the same God in the valley as he was on the mountain.
• 3:01
  But our human minds don't
• 3:04
  comprehend that in a way that we live
• 3:07
  our lives applying that truth our minds
• 3:12
  seem to grasp hold of the idea that
• 3:15
  when everything is wonderful then we
• 3:18
  don't really need to bother god when everything is wonderful
• 3:21
  we don't need to call upon him and it's
• 3:24
  those thoughts that cause us
• 3:27
  to start moving inch by inch away from the
• 3:30
  center of god's will and when we're away from
• 3:33
  the center of god's will the devil has lots of
• 3:35
  room to creep in you see god doesn't move we as his children do and when you're
• 3:43
  standing close to him embracing him embracing his truce enjoying who he is fellowshipping
• 3:51
  with him often staying constantly in prayer There.
• 3:54
  Then, my friends, the devil has no place that he can squeeze in.
• 3:58
  But just as soon as you start moving away from that daily fellowship, that daily study,
• 4:04
  that prayer time that is your time to enjoy the relationships with God,
• 4:09
  when you start stepping away from that feeding of his word that strengthens
• 4:16
  your soul and uplifts your faith,
• 4:19
  then the devil just moves right in.
• 4:22
  So if there's something between you and God, it isn't because God has moved.
• 4:26
  He's where he always is, with his arms stretched out wide, beckoning you to come in and follow him.
• 4:33
  You see, if you're not where you're supposed to be, it's because you've wandered away.
• 4:37
  My friends, why is it that sometimes it takes a burning bush of tragedy in our
• 4:45
  lives to draw us back to him?
• 4:46
  Why is it that it takes us exhausting all of our resources,
• 4:52
  exhausting all of our energy, absolutely getting to the point where we just
• 4:56
  throw our hands up and say,
• 4:57
  I give up before we see the amazing power of God, before we see his love in all of its glory.
• 5:09
  I want you, if you would, to just picture this in your mind.
• 5:15
  As a little girl i can remember when
• 5:19
  my daddy would come by and i would throw my arms up in the air because i'd want
• 5:24
  him to lift me up and he would always walk by and he would put his hands up
• 5:28
  underneath my arms and he would scoop me up i can remember putting my arms around
• 5:32
  his neck and just sort of laying there on him as he would walk me wherever it was that we were going,
• 5:38
  and then eventually i would scoop myself around so i was kind of on his hip and he would carry me.
• 5:44
  You see, I want you to see that picture, because that's what God wants to do with you right now.
• 5:52
  When you have done all that you can do, and you've exhausted all that you have,
• 5:57
  and you throw your hands up in defeat, palms raised high, saying, Daddy, help me.
• 6:04
  It's then that he's going to reach his arms down and scoop you up.
• 6:09
  And you have the amazing ability to throw your arms around his neck and lay
• 6:16
  on him until all is better and the comfort has come and the provisions are there.
• 6:23
  And then you can just sort of squish yourself around a little bit and get on
• 6:28
  his hip and let him carry you.
• 6:30
  You see, my friends, that's what he wants to do.
• 6:34
  And he isn't just wanting to
• 6:37
  do that when you've lost everything when
• 6:41
  you've given up on everything when you've exhausted yourself
• 6:45
  completely he's standing there
• 6:47
  wanting to do that all the time but it's us
• 6:51
  who seem to forget about him when
• 6:55
  things are good you see that same analogy
• 6:58
  that I spoke about my daddy we were close and so every morning he would come
• 7:06
  and wake me up he and my mom and I would get up in the morning and I would do
• 7:10
  the same thing I would jump up out of bed and I'd throw my arms up in the air
• 7:13
  and my daddy would pick me up.
• 7:16
  And I would spend lots of time with my mom and dad, talking to them and loving
• 7:21
  on them and letting them love and hug on me.
• 7:24
  I didn't wait till I was falling down and was hurt. I didn't wait until I was upset and discouraged.
• 7:30
  We did this all the time. And the relationship was strong and the relationship
• 7:35
  was good and the blessings and fellowship of having that kind of love have stuck
• 7:40
  with me for 41 years and I suspect it will stick with me for the rest of my life.
• 7:46
  And that's nothing compared to how my father in heaven loves me.
• 7:50
  And I learned at a young age to jump up in my daddy's arms and allow him to
• 7:56
  let the rest of the world go away from me.
• 7:59
  You need to today to really buckle down in your heart and just pour it out to God.
• 8:07
  I don't care if you're in the middle of a crisis or if you're at the top of your mountain.
• 8:13
  You need to learn to raise your hands in praise to the God of the universe,
• 8:19
  and allow that praise and worship time to scoop you up into his arms and to
• 8:25
  lay your arms around his neck and just love on God and allow him to love on you.
• 8:32
  And you need to become accustomed to doing that so that all of the time you
• 8:37
  are living in the fullness of God.
• 8:39
  Do you understand what it means to live in the fullness of God?
• 8:43
  To live in the fullness of God is to absolutely understand that everything's under his control.
• 8:50
  In Romans 8, 28, he says that all things work together Gather for the good to
• 8:53
  them that love the Lord and to them that are called according to his purpose.
• 8:57
  Living in the fullness of God allows you to understand that all the time.
• 9:02
  So that you are never, ever out of his will.
• 9:08
  And you are never, ever waiting upon your own self to take care of you.
• 9:14
  It's surrendering to God.
• 9:17
  I want to bring to your remembrance the song, I Surrender All.
• 9:23
  All to thee my blessed savior i
• 9:27
  surrender all my friends we sing that song often but how many times does our
• 9:34
  heart really pour out those words to god and exalt him as savior and allow him
• 9:41
  to be king of our hearts and the lord of the throne of our life.
• 9:46
  As we speak about 1 Kings chapter 17 today, verses 1 through 16,
• 9:52
  I want you to live in that concept of faith that says,
• 9:59
  I surrender all.
• 10:02
  All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
• 10:08
  Knowing that worldly pleasures I've forsaken, I surrender all.
• 10:14
  I want you to realize that you have given up all control because you can't take
• 10:21
  care of yourself as good as Father God.
• 10:26
  You can't love yourself as much as God loves you.
• 10:32
  And you can't live the full life that God has planned for you,
• 10:38
  as he said in Jeremiah 29, 11.
• 10:40
  Unless you stand in the fullness of God by surrendering all and realizing that
• 10:49
  He is all that you need and it's far more than your expectations.
• 10:53
  Just as He says in Ephesians 3.20, that you can do exceedingly abundantly above
• 10:58
  all that you ever ask or think according to the power that works in you.
• 11:02
  It's high time, friends, that we allow the power of God to have full reign so
• 11:08
  that we're walking around as godly lightning bolts, touching the lives of everyone
• 11:13
  around us, whether or not we physically touch them.
• 11:17
  But the God of the universe that dwells inside of us, leaps out of us and just
• 11:22
  absolutely shows his glory, demonstrates the fireworks of his power to those that are around us.
• 11:30
  But your life is not going to be a living light, a walking testimony for God.
• 11:37
  Until you walk in the fullness and you fully comprehend who he is and then and
• 11:44
  only then will you understand that he's all that you need when you're on the mountain,
• 11:51
  And he's all that you need when you're in the valley. And then the things of
• 11:54
  this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory.
• 12:00
  Oh, my friends, work with me this morning, this afternoon, this evening,
• 12:06
  every moment of every day, and look at what takes place in 1 Kings 17, verses 1 through 16.
• 12:16
  God is showing you what he will do with you and for you if you but follow him
• 12:22
  and give your life to him to do with as he wills.
• 12:26
  Because, my friend, your greatest plans, your greatest plans,
• 12:31
  your greatest expectations, they pale in comparison to the plans that God has for you.
• 12:39
  Would you join me in prayer, please? Our kind and most gracious dear Heavenly
• 12:42
  Father, Lord, we just thank you for this opportunity to come before you.
• 12:46
  We thank you, God, that we know that you hear and answer our prayers.
• 12:49
  We thank you, God, that we know that you love us. Lord, we just ask that you
• 12:53
  would work in our hearts right now, this very moment, that we would just turn
• 12:57
  everything we have over to you, and we would just let you be the absolute pilot of our lives.
• 13:03
  Lord, help us to get out of the co-pilot seat, but.
• 13:06
  To just let you be pilot and lead and direct and guide
• 13:09
  us lord teach us to just come to you with
• 13:12
  all that we have whether it be in the wonderful
• 13:15
  times of our lives or in the season of distress lord help us to realize that
• 13:20
  our relationship with you is the same and that you will carry us through lord
• 13:25
  we love you and we praise you and we thank you and all these things we ask in
• 13:29
  your most precious and holy name we pray and all of god's people said amen.
• 13:35
  Verse 1 of chapter 17 says and elijah the tishbite who was of the inhabitants
• 13:40
  of gilead said unto ahab as the lord god of israel liveth before whom i stand
• 13:46
  there shall not be due nor rain these years but according to my word and the
• 13:51
  word of the lord came unto him saying get thee hence and turn thee eastward,
• 13:55
  and hide thyself by the brook of Cherith, that is before Jordan.
• 13:59
  And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the
• 14:03
  ravens to feed thee there.
• 14:04
  So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord, for he went and dwelt
• 14:08
  by the brook of Cherith, that is before Jordan.
• 14:11
  And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh
• 14:14
  in the evening, and he drank of the brook.
• 14:17
  And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
• 14:22
  And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath,
• 14:26
  which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there.
• 14:28
  Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
• 14:32
  So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city,
• 14:36
  behold, the widow woman was there, gathering of sticks.
• 14:39
  And he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a vessel
• 14:43
  that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said,
• 14:47
  Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
• 14:50
  And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake,
• 14:54
  but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruise.
• 14:57
  And behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me
• 15:02
  and my son, that we may eat it and die.
• 15:04
  And Elijah said unto her, Fear not, go and do as thou hast said,
• 15:09
  but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me,
• 15:12
  and after make for thee and for thy son.
• 15:14
  For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste,
• 15:19
  neither shall the cruise of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
• 15:24
  And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did eat many days.
• 15:31
  And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail,
• 15:36
  according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
• 15:40
  Praise be unto the God of the universe. first Elijah did
• 15:44
  exactly what God said and by
• 15:47
  doing so he was provided for by the
• 15:50
  ravens his flesh and he had fresh water and
• 15:53
  then the Lord told him to get up and go again and he
• 15:56
  got up and he walked away again following the
• 15:59
  word of God and he went to meet a widow woman whom God
• 16:02
  had already spoken to the widow woman then she gives the first of what she has
• 16:09
  to God because she's following the word of God that he spoke and prepared in
• 16:13
  her heart when Elijah asked for the first of all she had then she gave it to him.
• 16:20
  The results of the obedience that the two of them had where they were completely
• 16:24
  provided for above and beyond what they ever could have imagined.
• 16:30
  This widow woman, had she done what she wanted to do and had she relied upon
• 16:35
  her own strength, had just one meal to go and her and her son were going to die.
• 16:41
  You see, she wasn't relying upon her. She was relying upon the conversation
• 16:46
  she had had with the God of the universe who said, I'm going to deal with you
• 16:50
  and send somebody to you.
• 16:52
  We don't see what he says to her, but we see what he said to Elijah.
• 16:57
  And we see the results that when Elijah come, she hears exactly what he says and she obeys.
• 17:03
  There isn't a conversation going on between the widow woman and Elijah.
• 17:08
  When his provision showed up for her, she didn't say, hey, this isn't what I wanted.
• 17:13
  How about your life when god provides for you and it happens to be a different
• 17:19
  car than the one you've prayed for are you complaining to him when god provides
• 17:25
  for you the meal did you say lord i didn't want salmon i wanted steak.
• 17:31
  If you're honest with me, and I'm honest with you, that's how it is often in our lives.
• 17:37
  You see, we want God to be a puppet on a string, and we don't even want to do
• 17:41
  anything He tells us to do.
• 17:43
  And so when He talks to us, and He tells us what we're doing,
• 17:46
  or to be doing, we don't go and follow what He says.
• 17:50
  We're over here on our own tangent.
• 17:54
  And the provisions and the blessings of God have just fallen over to our right, and we're not there.
• 18:00
  And then sometimes we complain to God because somewhere along the line we've
• 18:05
  decided that we know what's best for us and right now in this moment in time
• 18:10
  I'd like for you just to think about how ridiculous that is,
• 18:14
  you see some of the burdens we have in our lives are the answers to our prayers
• 18:19
  we're praying for God to make us righteous,
• 18:22
  we're praying for God to make us more like him we're
• 18:26
  praying for God to be able to mold us to be
• 18:28
  used of him the way he would have us to be used of him and then when he sends
• 18:33
  us the tools to chisel our hardened hearts when he sends us the tools to burn
• 18:39
  away the things of the world then we're complaining to him and saying lord take
• 18:43
  them away take them away i don't want this,
• 18:47
  it's time that we made up our minds to surrender all because he's all that we
• 18:52
  need it's time that we made up our minds to allow him to have free reign of
• 18:58
  our lives because ultimately he knows what's best.
• 19:02
  Even moment by moment, we don't know what's best. And that's why he says pray
• 19:06
  without ceasing, because he wants us to be in an attitude of prayer,
• 19:10
  lifting our hands up in worship and praise, and letting him just scoop us up,
• 19:15
  that we may put our arms around his neck and be content in whatever state we
• 19:19
  find ourselves in, because we are in the presence of Almighty God, living in his fullness.
• 19:25
  Elijah and the widow woman, they understood this. I don't know how amazing it must have been.
• 19:32
  To have God bring ravens of meat and feed Elijah.
• 19:38
  But I know, in times and seasons of my life,
• 19:42
  I've had my own type of raven who came and fed me exactly what I needed to make
• 19:50
  it through that trial and that season of distress.
• 19:54
  I've had my own brook by the river of Jordan to cool my brow and to quench my thirsty soul.
• 20:04
  My friends, in the center of God's will is only difficult because we oppose it so greatly.
• 20:13
  And we turn our backs on the very things that we need because we're not willing
• 20:21
  to live an obedient life.
• 20:24
  And so so many times what happens is
• 20:28
  we have to totally mess
• 20:32
  the situation up doing it our way and totally have to end our own abilities
• 20:39
  and come to the point where we just can't do anything else and then we go to
• 20:42
  god but you see what you miss by doing that had the widow woman exhausted all
• 20:49
  of her abilities before coming to God.
• 20:55
  She would have never seen the miracle of God supply all that she needs.
• 20:59
  She would have taken away from him the ability to provide for her and the only
• 21:04
  way possible to sustain her.
• 21:07
  Our prayers need to be, Lord, don't let me be in your way.
• 21:13
  Lord, don't let me stand in the way of the things that you have for me.
• 21:18
  Lord, let me be in your will that I might not be in your way.
• 21:24
  Too many times we say my will lord live with it and you say kim i've never said that once,
• 21:33
  every single time you have walked in your own strength every single time you have,
• 21:41
  consciously ignored the god of the universe who's speaking to your heart you
• 21:47
  have said god not now i'm in control and i want you to take a long hard look.
• 21:55
  At 1 Kings chapter 17 verses 1 through 16.
• 21:59
  And I want you to see what the consequences would have been for either of them
• 22:03
  had they done it their way.
• 22:06
  I want you to see that had Elijah done it his way and not got up that second
• 22:12
  time and went to Zarephath, that he would not have been the instrument that
• 22:17
  God could have used to have blessed the widow woman.
• 22:19
  You see sometimes the cross
• 22:23
  you're carried to be called to bear and the burden that
• 22:26
  you think you are living through isn't about
• 22:30
  you sometimes it's for
• 22:33
  somebody else it all works in
• 22:36
  an intricate plan that only the god of the universe could put
• 22:39
  together and my friends you need to realize
• 22:42
  that every day all of the time he is
• 22:45
  all that you need and that he allows you
• 22:49
  to have the intelligence and the resources that you have
• 22:52
  because there are gifts of god to be used
• 22:54
  by him not to be used against him and so what i ask you to do is at this moment
• 23:02
  in time i want you to really just open your heart and surrender all that god
• 23:10
  may be magnified and glorified and lifted up.
• 23:13
  So that he could draw all men unto him.
• 23:17
  My friends, when he's all you have, he's more than enough.
• 23:22
  But he can only be all you have if you get rid of all the world that's in you
• 23:27
  and you place aside the pride that you have and you cling to an almighty God
• 23:33
  whose arms are stretched wide.
• 23:35
  And he says, come, follow me. Thank you.
• 23:49
  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
• 23:53
  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
• 23:56
  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
• 24:00
  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
• 24:03
  You can find our app by searching for a woman at the well ministries in your
• 24:06
  app store or through our website at watwm.org.
• 24:10
  We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash w a t w m. If you visit our website,
• 24:17
  you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits, a daily devotion written by Kim and
• 24:21
  delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
• 24:24
  Woman at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
• 24:29
  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
• 24:34
  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
• 24:39
  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
• 24:44
  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
• 24:49
  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.