Notes for
God With Us-2
Wisdom For the Wilderness of Discouragement
Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
The wilderness is different from the valley, because time in the wilderness usually lasts a lot longer. The wilderness is a barren place, a dry place, a desolate place where you feel very alone.
In the Bible, wilderness stories usually follow mountaintop experiences.
I Kings 18:36-41 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!" Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain."
I Kings 19:4 he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life…
I Kings 19:11-12 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
To live an overcoming life when you’re discouraged, you have to change what you are focusing on and thinking about.
I Kings 19:14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
We find ourselves in a wilderness when our focus shifts from God and stay on us and our problems.
18: I have seven thousand people left in Israel who have never bowed down before Baal and whose mouths have never kissed his idol.”
Hebrews 12:2-3 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
When Jesus was getting flogged and crucified, He was able to look at His time with joy because He saw His suffering through God’s eyes that all humanity can now be reconnected back to God.
There are always two perspectives to see what we are going through: the first perspective is through our natural understanding and the second way is through God’s understanding.
With God’s perspective, you go through a hard time and it becomes your defining moment, the best thing that ever happened to you.
The problem with our natural perspective is that when you go through a hard time in your life, the devil comes along and takes a picture of your life at that worst moment in time and tells you that it will never get any better than that.
Job 2:9 His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
God’s perspective is always different and looks to the future.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
I Corinthians 10:13 NCB No trial has confronted you except what a person can stand. God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tried beyond your strength. But together with the trial he will also provide a way out and the strength to bear it.
Philippians 4:13-14 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9,13-14, 16-18 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence…Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
We have to decide that our life that we will not be ruled by our mind and what we see. We have to be ruled by what God says-the greater reality.
Mark 9:23 "Everything is possible for him who believes."
