Category: Book Excerpt

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichol’s book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

The hand of God in a person’s life could be seen as the anointing.  When the anointing is on a person it produces results.  “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” Acts 10:38. When Jabez prayed “…that thine hand might be with me…” he was asking for God’s anointing to face a difficult task.  Some commentators believe that the occasion of Jabez’s prayer was the expulsion of the Canaanites from his territory. The only thing that was going to get him through that situation was the anointed direction of God.

We all face situations where we need to hear from God.  Many times God will speak to us during a church service where the Word of God is being preached.  I have heard of this happening to business people in my congregation more times that I can recall.  They were just sitting in a service and the Spirit of God would give them direction for their business.  He would show them what adjustments to make to get out of financial crisis.  The message preached that day would not even be about finances, but the anointing on the Word brought them direction.  That adjustment would not have been thought of without the anointing touching their life.  I love God and want to please Him. I want the hand of God on my life!  The anointing on my life will help me be a good husband and father.  Let the hand of God be upon me!  Anointing, fall on me – live big within me!  Touch me!  Anointing of God take this piece of clay and do something with it.

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

You never go wrong when you walk the love walk.  You never go wrong when you respond with God’s love to a world of hatred.  Love never fails.  If you respond negatively to what someone else does in traffic, it may lead to a major incident.  Confrontations like this have been known to become lethal.  A harsh response, even with just a few words, may push people over the edge.  You see, just a few words start wars.  Words of strife break relationships but words of love can bring healing to relationships.

In a world filled with hatred, I can choose to walk in the love of God.  No matter how many people come against you, you can walk in love.  The reason we can walk in love is because we have the love of Jesus in our hearts.  The Bible clearly says, “. . . love one another . . .” (John 13:34).  It does not say destroy one another, but “. . . love one another…”  It does not say hate one another, but love one another.  I can walk in love in a world filled with hatred.

When something goes wrong when I am traveling I have found that if you just hold steady and treat people decently God will somehow turn things around and bring you out in victory.  It will work in an office where everyone is filled with gossip; in an office when it is dog-eat-dog, in the corporate world where everyone is trying to do unto others before they do unto them.

You say, “If I walk the love walk they will eat me alive,” but I am challenging you today; walk in love in every area of your daily life.  It is a choice that every one of us has to make.  We can respond in our natural strength that is very limited or we can walk in God’s love and all of heaven’s resources will be with us.  I am not saying that if someone is threatening your life that you do not respond appropriately, but you can choose to walk in love in a world that is seething with hate.  You can triumph in the most troubled times by walking in love.

(Excerpt from Pastor’s book, ‘How to Get a Grip on God’s Promises”)

We can see that the Shunammite woman was watching her words.  She only spoke words of faith and peace.  The words she spoke laid the groundwork for the miraculous resurrection of her son.  In verse 26 when Elisha saw this woman coming he told his servant to go meet her and ask, “…Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?   Her answer remained the same, “it is well.”

Do you know what the prophet of God was really asking?  The margin of my Bible said he was asking, “is peace thine?”  Now you might be saying, why is that so important?  The prophet was testing her grip on the promise.  There is no room for doubt in this situation.  If this woman was going to see the full manifestation of her miracle she needed to stand strong on the Word of God. In the Strong’s Concordance the word shalom has several meanings.  In addition to “peace” it could also mean “safety, health, and prosperity.”  Remember she answered the prophet of God, “. . . It is well.” She did not blurt out, “Well prophet of God, my son is dead.”  Her faith response was essentially, “peace is mine.”

Do you know what she was saying?  Prophet of God, I do not want to talk about my situation right now, but let me just tell you what I have inside of me.  I have peace, safety, and health.  Listen to this woman speaking her faith with a dead son at home.  You think you have problems?  This woman is saying, prophet of God, I have a grip on the promise of God and I am not letting go!

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

I will never forget one situation many years ago when I was a young associate in my father-in-law’s church.  An evangelist, a novice, came in and stole the hearts of the people.  For the first time, I heard my father-in-law, the pastor, who was a very, very strong man, say, “Son, the pressure is just on me.  I am going to take two weeks off and you are in charge.” I thought “Oh, Jesus, what am I going to do?”  Here was a man of great experience whom I had never seen lose a battle, but something about this situation had really pressed him hard.  I picked up my Bible and a legal pad and I went to the church and spent the night in prayer. When the sun came up the next morning there was something in my spirit that said everything is going to be all right.  There were a few folks that were affected by it, but God spared the church because a rookie preacher got on his face before God and prayed with his prayer language.  I am here to tell you when everything comes against you, get on your face before God.  Remember to bring a pen and a notebook because when you talk to God, eventually God is going to talk to you.

Sometimes prayer is just flushing out all negativism and unbelief that keeps pressing you down.  That is why sometimes you need to spend some extra time in prayer.  This world will fill you up to the brim with its negative ways, but as you pray, it flushes that unbelief out.  It flushes that frustration and hopelessness out.  When we are emptied, then thank God, He can fill us up.  God fills us with hope, faith and love.  God fills us with that blessed assurance that everything is going to be all right.  There is a way when you pray.

The biggest challenge to most church people is to stop telling their problems to everybody else and get on their face and talk to God.  Stay on your face until God empties you of your problem and fills you with the answer.  You have heard what everyone else has to say; now you need to hear what God has to say.  Some of you have a notebook full of prophecies, but not one of those things is going to work until you let God empty you of your problems and fill you with the answer.

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

If you live long enough, you will face moments of adversity.  Adversity will actually strengthen your faith in God if you face it God’s way.  Faith does not ask if God is able to bring life to a dead situation.  Faith asks, “How is God going to do it this time?”  You can get a grip on the promises of God and find life in a dead situation. Now we have a decision to make!  Are you going to be like the one who just shuffled off with the same unbelief remaining unchanged?  Or will you be the one that will apply the Word of God to your life see victory?

Do you have some dead situations in your life that need to be revived?  Do not approach a dead situation carelessly.  Get a Word from God and face it head on.  Do not try to force God to break His silence; just cooperate in faith with His promises.  Never forget that Jesus really loves and He really cares, and only believe.  It all starts and finishes with faith and knowing that all the glory must go to God.

Prayer

God, give me the strength to face the dead situations in my life.  I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on You.  I am waiting to hear what You have to say.  I will get a grip on Your promise.  With God all things are possible.  It doesn’t matter how many days have passed, when you speak, power is released.  And God, if you tell me to let it go, I will trust you to bring me through on the high side of victory.  Be glorified in my life and in the situation I am facing, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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

Many believers do not do the right thing.  Let’s go a little further: many preachers do not do the right thing.  They have a choice!  Am I going to be bitter or better?  The moment I choose sides and say, “I choose to be bitter about that,” then I get out of the arena of God’s blessing.  I feel sorry for people that do not do the right thing or play by the rules, but that is their problem, not mine.  I have a choice to make and I am going to do the right thing.  I have made up my mind.  Doing the right thing does not always win the first twenty-four hours, the first twenty-four days, or even the first twenty-four months, but it does win.  Love always wins.

I have lived long enough to appreciate people that are honest.  I am going to be that kind of person if God will just continue to show me how.  I want to do what is right. I want to operate my life God’s way. I do not want to be an opportunist, using others as a means to accomplish my earthly assignment. I do not have to be that kind of person. I can walk in love in a world of hatred. I will not fret or worry because Jesus said, “. . . see that ye be not troubled ” (Matthew 24:6). You always have the opportunist type of person around.  There will always be a Judas in the wings.  There will always be someone who is taking advantage of situations, but you will be blessed if you do it God’s way and keep a good spirit.  You can trust in the Lord.  God will bring you out and make a way for you.  It is the way I have lived for many years.  Whether you understand or not do what is right.  It is a faith walk.  You do not walk by the way things appear right now.  Habakkuk said, “…the just shall live, by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

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

I have talked to many who desperately needed to change, but it just did not seem possible.  I have walked through so much with people who seemed unresponsive to God’s Word.  I just say, “Lord, I do not know what to think.  They are yours.”  Then someone else comes up and gets right in my face and looks at me and kindly says, “Thank you, I see the light.  You will never know what deposits you made in my life.”  That person has broken through to resurrection in their life.  All things are possible if we only believe.  John 11:25 says, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life:  he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” My paraphrase of that is: though your situation seems dead, if you believe, there will be a resurrection.  If you want to strengthen your faith remember that God is able.  That is the message that God wants us to get a grip on today – you can find life in a dead situation.  When something seems over, hopeless, helpless, you need to remember that nothing is impossible with our God.

(This is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How To Stand When Others Fall”)

What helps you to hold steady when you get a negative report from the doctor?  What helps you to hold steady when the media is reporting bad news?  What keeps you on course?  These are very important questions because the Bible says that there were those who “went back” and “walked no more with Jesus.” There were some following Jesus who had been healed by Him, who ate the multiplied loaves and fishes, some whose lives were changed, and yet “. . . many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” 

Think about it.  Our text details that this was such a dramatic event that Jesus turned to his inner circle and said, “Are you leaving, too?” Could you ever erase the memory of those eyes looking at you and asking if you were going to desert him? Peter responded so powerfully on that occasion saying, “…thou hast the words of eternal life.”

People often say, “If you make a disciple out of someone they will never go back.”  Well, excuse me, right here we have a mass exodus and these people were called disciples.  The truth is that loyalty and faithfulness are matters of the heart.  I do not wake up every morning and ask myself if I am going to stay with my wife Joy.  I have lived with her for many years.  I do not wake up each morning and try to make a decision about being faithful to her.  I have already made that decision.  She is the best wife (and the only wife) I have ever had.  I am going to stay with her.

Peter did not always rise to the occasion in the appropriate way, but if there was ever a time in the Scriptures he did, it was at this point.  The same Simon Peter that went to sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, the one who cut off a man’s ear, the disciple who was not at the cross, eventually walked out this confession in John 6:68-69: “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”

(This is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How To Stand When Others Fall”)

The multitudes have left and Jesus turns and asks, “…Will ye also go away?” Then Simon Peter answered him and he said several things that will keep you standing when others are falling.  These things will hold you in place when right seems wrong and wrong seems right.  They will hold you in place and keep you standing when you do not understand the circumstances that are surrounding your life.

Jesus Is Lord

So the first principle is to make Jesus the total Lord of your life.  Notice Simon Peter called Jesus “Lord” because the truth of it is, if Jesus is Lord no one else will be Lord in your life.  If Jesus is Lord, no material possession, no achievement, or trophy will be your Lord.  Who or what is Lord in your life?  If you are born again, Jesus is Lord!  That is what Christianity is all about.  He is not one of many good teachers.  He is not one of many saviors.  He is not just another noble person.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life!  Jesus is Lord!  Making a bedrock decision about that will keep you standing when times are tough. There is no one that is Lord, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  You can build all the mosques you want to build.  You can build all the tabernacles you want to build.  You can build all the shrines to whomever, but my friend, when it is all said and done, you will stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and you will acknowledge Him as Lord!

The second principle is stick with Jesus.  When Peter says in verse 69, “Lord to whom shall we go?” he was saying that there was no one who could take the place of Jesus.  Stay close to the master.  Refuse to do anything that will separate you from Jesus.  It is important that you be where Jesus wants you to be.  We know there was a day when Peter did depart from Jesus.  In Peter’s disappointment after the crucifixion he went back to fishing and others followed him.  John 21:3 says “Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.”  But after a night with no results they came towards the shore where Jesus was waiting for them.  Jesus told them to cast their nets on the other side to find the fish.  They did and immediately began to catch fish.  One of those with Peter recognized it was Jesus that had spoken to them.  We notice that this is the same situation Jesus delivered Peter from in the past.  He had spent the night fishing but caught nothing.  This illustrates to me that as long as you stick with Jesus you will not repeat past failures.  If Peter had stuck with Jesus then it is possible that the other disciples would have also.  They would have avoided that unproductive fishing trip.

The third thing that Peter said in John 6:68 was “to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” In other words he was saying, “Lord, only You have the Word.”  The Word will always play a part in your victory faith walk.  Peter recognized that he needed the Word.  Your answers are in the Word of God.  Do whatever it takes to remember the Word of God.  Underline it, put a red pencil on it, or a yellow marker, get a hold of God’s Word for yourself.  Let God quicken His Word to your spirit.  Hold on to it and do not let go.  I thank God for the Word.  It is a lamp unto my feet.  It is a light unto my pathway.  Take everything I have, but give me my Bible and I will stand in victory through it all.  Others were falling, but Peter is telling us how to stand, “Lord…only you have the words of eternal life.”  You make your stand on the Word of God.

The fourth thing Peter said was, “And we believe . . .” (John 6:69).  He may have thought, “I do not know what those others believe, but speaking for those who are here, we believe in You. We are believers.”  He went on to say that, “. . . we believe and are sure . . .” He is saying we should be fully assured, “. . . and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” One thing you must be sure of is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Drive a stake in the ground of faith on that point and refuse to move!

You can meet people in any church who are constantly changing their doctrine or philosophy.  They are not really sure about anything.  They have not really settled on anything because unbelief always has a hard time finding the will of God.  Being led by the flesh and not the spirit is a very dangerous pathway.  We can say with confidence, “Lord, there is nowhere else to go, You have the Word.  We will come through the difficulties of life because we are sticking with you.”  Thank God for the Word of God.

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

I can also walk in trust and faith, even in a world where the threat of terrorism exists.  Jesus said, “. . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).  See to it.  Apply yourself to this.  Every day choose to trust God no matter what happens.

Psalms 37:1 says “Fret not thyself because of evildoers . . .” In fact, if you read Psalms 37 and Psalms 73, the Bible tells us that one day you will look for the wicked and you will not even be able to find them.  They look like they are flourishing, but they will not last.  Anytime you have a bad day, you should carefully and prayerfully read Psalms 37 and Psalms 73.  Those are powerful portions of God’s Word that tell you that God brings the righteous out in victory.

Fret not yourself.  Do not let yourself be caught up in the pressure cooker of the world.  You can sing and rejoice in the craziest circumstances.  You might have a supervisor that is rubbing you like sandpaper, but just get that believer’s grin on your face and in your heart say, “I choose to trust and not be troubled!”