God Aint
Every dysfunction begins with a distortion of who God is. There is this dysfunction that I see in so many of our lives and I see this resurfacing again and again in my life and in my heart. Its the dysfunction of Anxiety
When I am feeling anxious and when I am feeling afraid, and I know you never do, you all trust God for your every needs, you have no fears about the economy, because God is your source. You have no dysfunctions in your relationships because God is your father. But for me, my heart is anxious.
And when my heart is anxious, it says so much about what I believe who God is. If no one has told you this before, let me be the first one to tell you, anxiety is not only a dysfunction, it’s a sin. I hear so much preaching about so many other sins. Sins of lust, sins of greed, sins of negligence, but because my heart is anxious, it is one of the most offensive sins before God. Anxiety betrays the belief that God is not in control of my life.
Philippians 4:6-7 say, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
How many of you know someone who needs to hear this? How many of you are sitting inside of someone who needs to hear this?
So with this in mind, let me tell you who God is not:
1. God is not incompetent
2. God is not forgetful
3. God is not indifferent
Typically, Anxiety is the result of unmet needs in my heart. So the seed of anxiety is the unmet needs of my heart. I think our anxious hearts and our stressed out lives reflect a fundamental belief that somewhere God has lost control of our situation. That he is somehow incapable.
There is this passage Genesis 15 that where God is talking with Abraham about blessing him, "But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
But if you look at the next chapter, Abraham and his wife decide to help the blessing of a son along, so Sarah has Abraham sleep with Hagar and have a son with her. This brings a lot of baggage to the family. Every time you try to help God out outside the boundaries of his parameters, it brings nothing but chaos, controversy, and conflict to your life. When you assume there is something in your life that is outside the expertise of God, you invite impending disaster.
Abram seen God move in all these other areas, but when it came to this area, maybe God doesn’t do this. Maybe God doesn’t specialize in this. This businessman once told me not to talk to him about integrity in his business. He basically told me to preach on saving souls, and leave his business stuff to him. God is competent in saving souls, but when I go to work, I have got to work it out for myself, I have got to sleep with Hagar. God, you do the saving souls and spiritual things, but leave the business stuff to me.
Or we tend to do this with relationships. We will trust God with the spiritual stuff, but when it comes to who you are going to date, or the decisions you are going to make in your marriage, it's like you have go to sleep with Hagar to make that happen. God still has the abilities to orchestrate the affairs of every area of your life. There is no area in your life where God is incompetent. There is no area of your life that is outside the realm of His expertise. Everything is spiritual. You don’t have a spiritual life. You are a spirit, living inside of a body.
If he is not capable to see you through in your relationship, if he is not competent to provide for you in your finances, if he is not worthy of your trust in every seemingly insignificant area of your life, then how can you trust him with your eternity, the salvation of your soul? God is not incompetent.
We turn our hearts towards the desires that God has given us in ways that are contrary to the laws that God has given us. That’s what sin is. Its fulfilling a Godly desire in an ungodly way. It suggests that God is incompetent. And it breaks His heart. God is not incompetent. God is not forgetful. Some of you need to know today that God has not forgotten you. It’s a good thing to remind God of the promises that he has made to you. But you are not reminding him because he has alzheimers. You are reminding him, to really remind yourself so that He can act on your behalf.
Is there a place in your life today where you feel that God has forgotten you? I mean you know intellectually that God hasn’t forgotten anything. He knows all things, sees all things, omnipotent, sovereign, all those things. But it seems like something in your life has slipped his mind. When I am anxious about something, it suggests that I believe that God is not able, He cant remember, or he doesn’t care.
He is able. He is faithful. He doesn’t forget his promises, but He fulfills them for all generations. And he cares for them more than you could ever believe
When I am feeling anxious and when I am feeling afraid, and I know you never do, you all trust God for your every needs, you have no fears about the economy, because God is your source. You have no dysfunctions in your relationships because God is your father. But for me, my heart is anxious.
And when my heart is anxious, it says so much about what I believe who God is. If no one has told you this before, let me be the first one to tell you, anxiety is not only a dysfunction, it’s a sin. I hear so much preaching about so many other sins. Sins of lust, sins of greed, sins of negligence, but because my heart is anxious, it is one of the most offensive sins before God. Anxiety betrays the belief that God is not in control of my life.
Philippians 4:6-7 say, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
How many of you know someone who needs to hear this? How many of you are sitting inside of someone who needs to hear this?
So with this in mind, let me tell you who God is not:
1. God is not incompetent
2. God is not forgetful
3. God is not indifferent
Typically, Anxiety is the result of unmet needs in my heart. So the seed of anxiety is the unmet needs of my heart. I think our anxious hearts and our stressed out lives reflect a fundamental belief that somewhere God has lost control of our situation. That he is somehow incapable.
There is this passage Genesis 15 that where God is talking with Abraham about blessing him, "But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
But if you look at the next chapter, Abraham and his wife decide to help the blessing of a son along, so Sarah has Abraham sleep with Hagar and have a son with her. This brings a lot of baggage to the family. Every time you try to help God out outside the boundaries of his parameters, it brings nothing but chaos, controversy, and conflict to your life. When you assume there is something in your life that is outside the expertise of God, you invite impending disaster.
Abram seen God move in all these other areas, but when it came to this area, maybe God doesn’t do this. Maybe God doesn’t specialize in this. This businessman once told me not to talk to him about integrity in his business. He basically told me to preach on saving souls, and leave his business stuff to him. God is competent in saving souls, but when I go to work, I have got to work it out for myself, I have got to sleep with Hagar. God, you do the saving souls and spiritual things, but leave the business stuff to me.
Or we tend to do this with relationships. We will trust God with the spiritual stuff, but when it comes to who you are going to date, or the decisions you are going to make in your marriage, it's like you have go to sleep with Hagar to make that happen. God still has the abilities to orchestrate the affairs of every area of your life. There is no area in your life where God is incompetent. There is no area of your life that is outside the realm of His expertise. Everything is spiritual. You don’t have a spiritual life. You are a spirit, living inside of a body.
If he is not capable to see you through in your relationship, if he is not competent to provide for you in your finances, if he is not worthy of your trust in every seemingly insignificant area of your life, then how can you trust him with your eternity, the salvation of your soul? God is not incompetent.
We turn our hearts towards the desires that God has given us in ways that are contrary to the laws that God has given us. That’s what sin is. Its fulfilling a Godly desire in an ungodly way. It suggests that God is incompetent. And it breaks His heart. God is not incompetent. God is not forgetful. Some of you need to know today that God has not forgotten you. It’s a good thing to remind God of the promises that he has made to you. But you are not reminding him because he has alzheimers. You are reminding him, to really remind yourself so that He can act on your behalf.
Is there a place in your life today where you feel that God has forgotten you? I mean you know intellectually that God hasn’t forgotten anything. He knows all things, sees all things, omnipotent, sovereign, all those things. But it seems like something in your life has slipped his mind. When I am anxious about something, it suggests that I believe that God is not able, He cant remember, or he doesn’t care.
He is able. He is faithful. He doesn’t forget his promises, but He fulfills them for all generations. And he cares for them more than you could ever believe
Comments
Post a Comment