Month: April 2020

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

Sometimes God’s silence is a good thing.  We have a little problem in that we think we have to understand why everything happens.  I am here to tell you, there are some things for which we do not have the answers.  Only God has the answer.  I remember when my precious Bible school friend, Sam Smith’s young son passed away in his sleep.  He was only 25 years of age, a body builder, strong, handsome and just going to his first pastorate.  That was a rough one.  No one knew he had any disease.  Dr. Kenneth Hagin and I were the two that conducted that memorial service and I will never forget the wisdom that Dr. Hagin spoke on that occasion.  He spoke from Deuteronomy 29:29 that the secret things belong unto the Lord.  There are some things we will never know until we are in the presence of God and there are other things that God does choose to reveal.  I have certain things that God has spoken to me, but in other areas there is silence.  I have found out that when God speaks – listen, but do not try to break the silence of God.  Sometimes God is quiet.  Sometimes the greatest men and women of God throughout the Bible did not hear from God at the moment they desired.  They eventually did, but it is not wise to try to force a word from God.

In John 11:6, when Jesus had heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was and it was four days until He finally arrived on the scene.  Why?  It is none of our business!  There is one thing that you can believe; it is all going to come out all right.  I would rather Jesus take four days and everything come out all right than we force something prematurely and mess things up.  Everything is beautiful in God’s time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  God is going to work everything out that you have truly committed into His hands.  I see people getting antsy and taking action when they should be waiting and listening.  When this happens people can really mess up their life and sometimes someone else’s.  Even the sisters of Lazarus sent a message to Jesus saying, “. . . behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.”  They were trying to put the pressure on Him, yet Jesus stayed away two days.  Sometimes God is vocal; sometimes He is silent.  “Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already” (John 11:17).

There have been times that I wanted to see God act and it just did not happen at that time.  Some things happened later, just not when I expected.  A number of years ago I was crying out to God for something that I thought God had missed a glorious opportunity to do immediately. God spoke to my heart and said, “I am going to do it.  And if you will just be patient, I am not only going to bless you, but I am going to bless five other people in the process.”  Now isn’t that better for God to be able to bless five other people in the process than for me to get what I wanted from God?  See, this is very practical, and it is very wonderful.  God’s timing is important.  We just need to let go and let God have His wonderful way!

Do not try to break the silence of God, but also never forget that Jesus really does love and Jesus really does care.  In fact, the shortest expression in the Word of God is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.”  Somehow we think that Jesus was not capable of that, but Jesus wept.  The Bible also tells us that on two different occasions, He groaned.  His heart was touched.  Maybe in Lazarus’ case He was touched because of the grief that surrounded the situation.  Maybe He was touched because of the sisters and the fellowship He had enjoyed in their home.  I do not know what all the motivations were.  Maybe His weeping and groaning were because of the unbelief that surrounded Him.  Whatever the case may be you really have to believe that Jesus does love and care.

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

When you face a dead situation be sure to get a Word from God.  As believers, some people reach out to try to find some different way of looking at their problem. There is nothing wrong with a positive outlook in tough times.  However, there is nothing stronger than receiving a Word from God that everything is going to be all right and God is going to see you through.

When my church began in 1964, God gave me Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

I know one thing; a Word from God in your spirit is stronger than any circumstance you face.  We have had glorious years and challenging years, but the thing that sustained me was that I have known in my spirit that God’s promises are sure.  It is not the word of man but the Word of the living God.  Our opinion is not changed by the news, because we have a sure Word from God.

In order to find life in a dead situation you must refuse to see anything as dead that God wants to bring back to life.  Now there are some things you need to let stay good and dead!  I mean, there are relationships that do not need to be part of your life.  Just leave them alone.  If God has broken you out of a bad association, just leave it in the hands of God.  Forgive them and go on down the road.  Do not try to revive what God has dissolved.

You face a dead situation by getting a sure Word from God.  Remember Paul was on board the ship in Acts 27:23, “For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve . . .”  Paul said I have heard from God, and I believe God, and Paul spoke what was about to happen.  It did happen, because it was a sure Word from God.  Paul spoke to his dead situation just like Jesus had spoken to Lazarus.  He received the same kind of resurrection results.  What looked like a dead situation was turned to good by a sure Word from God.

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

All around us are dead situations; situations that, except for God’s grace and a miracle, nothing can be done.  As a minister, I face these kinds of situations quite often.  Maybe it is a marriage in which one or both partners have given up.  Some are frustrated, because it seems hard to find the right job.  Some need healing in their body.  But I am telling you, Jesus is greater than any circumstance you face.

I am convinced that some of the greatest healing that needs to happen in the Body of Christ is the healing of emotions.  Some people are so wounded that they have never been restored.  Some people have had a divorce and its 24/7 instant replay.  You say one wrong word and it raises all of the hostilities of the past.  I was on an airplane once around New Year’s and the flight attendant was very cheerful and had on a party hat.

“Well, everybody’s happy,” I said to the man who was sitting beside me.  He replied, “Yeah, she’s just like my ex-wife, she got happy occasionally, but she always got over it.”  There are situations all around us that need resurrection.  Some churches are dead.  Some people’s attitudes are dead.  Have you ever seen the expression on someone’s face when it looks like they have died?  There is no life.  It is like life is so boring and they are just going through the motions.  There are a lot of dead situations, or potentially dead situations that surround all of our lives, but the Bible tells us that God has the answer to dead situations.

Jesus said in John 11:14, “. . . Lazarus is dead.”  But the first report is not the last report.  And I am telling you the last report is not the last report when your faith is in God.  Dare to face a dead family situation.  Dare to face a dead relationship with a child.  With God many times there is the reuniting of relationships that were dead, or that were strained.  Dare to face a dead situation God’s way.

“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)  Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.  When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.  Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.  When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.”  (John 11:1-6).  It was very interesting that Jesus took His time and said it was for their benefit that they might believe. “Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already” (John 11:17).

Lazarus has already been in the grave four days.  Then Martha said in verse 21, “. . . Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.  But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.  Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.  Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die…  (John 11:21-26).  Continue reading with verse 37, “And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?”

The Bible tells us that Jesus said, “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Many Jews believe because of the things He did Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.” (John 11:43-45).

This is a powerful story and the more I read it the more I realize it can show us how to find life in dead situations. Now, when I say a dead situation, I mean something that is impossible.  The first step that I would share for victory is; dare to face a dead situation.  Dare to face it – do not run from it; do not hide from it; do not let it ruin your day or your week, but dare to face a dead situation.

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How To Triumph in Troubled Times”)

There is one more that I can give you about triumphing in troubled times.  Keep the fires of revival burning in your heart.  The news media does not inspire the fires of revival.  We must never forget an event like 9/11, but on the other hand, we cannot let that kind of event ruin the rest of our lives.  We must remember that our world needs revival now more than ever before.  If I serve the right God and I believe in the right Bible and I have the right fruit in my life I will come out on the high side of victory.

I am talking to you out of a pastor’s heart.  I am talking to you out of over forty years of experience of being a pastor.  We must have spiritual revival.  I will take the true spirit of revival anytime.  I want something that will keep me stirred.  I want something that will change my life and keep me changed.  I want something that will hold me when the storms of life come.  We need a spiritual revival that is founded on the Word, not just emotions.  Have a strong faith in God now, and your faith in God will bring you through anything.