If You Need Hope Today, Look Up! By Jamie Rohrbaugh
Author, speaker, and Presence Seeker Jamie Rohrbaugh wrote this post for her website From His Presence, with the aim to trust God no matter what discouragement you may be feeling today
Beloved, do you need hope today? If so, the Lord gave me a WORD for you.
Sweet friend, life happens sometimes. Situations arise and situations fall, and many times things don't work out the way we planned.
When that happens, it can be tempting to lose hope. It can be tempting to get down in the dumps, in the doldrums, and into the pit of despair.
Here's the problem with that:
God is still on His throne, and the things that happened in the world yesterday, the day before, the week before, the month before, and the year before didn't change that.
Didn't change it and can't change it; God is still on the throne.
Again:
We serve a God who is still on the throne.
He's on the throne of the universe, and He's on the throne of the Heavens. He sits above the circle of the earth and laughs at His enemies (Psalm 2). He knows all; He sees all; He rules over all.
Yes, God has delegated stewardship of the earth to mankind (Psalm 115:16). And yes, sometimes humans choose to do sinful and unjust things.
When that happens, however, know that YOU–and your prayers–are the powerful force that stand in the gap between righteousness and wickedness; between justice and injustice; between righteous laws and lawlessness.
Check out my most recent video:
Weeping May Endure For A Night, But Joy Comes In The Morning!
Your prayers literally give God permission to move on the earth.
The problem comes when we get tempted to give up and stop praying just because God doesn't answer the way we think He will.
For example:
When that relationship doesn't work out;
When that boyfriend or girlfriend you prayed would marry you leaves you instead;
When the job you prayed you would get goes to someone else instead;
When you pray for your house to sell, but it doesn't sell, and you have no idea why God is allowing you to bleed financially with a house you can't afford to keep paying for …
Whenever anything happens that doesn't make sense …
When things happen that are wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and you know it …
God is still on the throne.
That doesn't mean He makes things happen that are bad.
God never causes wicked or evil things. He never inspires people to treat you badly. People simply have a free will:
And that person who is going around gossiping about you is exercising their free will and choosing to sin.
That spouse who is cheating on you is exercising their free will and choosing to sin.
People practicing lawlessness are exercising their free will and choosing to go down the path of evil.
But there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed, and nothing secret that shall not be made known (Luke 8:17).
God never allows you to enter a battlefield unless He intends for you to win something.
So when people choose to sin and God doesn't stop it–because He won't stop them from exercising their free will–know that nothing sinful happens with impunity. Know that God still sits on the throne, and everything will come to light.
And justice is always His will–for you and for ALL of His people.
Know this also: God's ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts; His timing is not our timing.
You can know for sure what the will of God IS by studying the Bible. God's will is clearly laid out in detail in God's Word. Don't ever let yourself doubt what God's will is; you shall know them by their fruit. That means you shall know God's will for every situation and every person in the whole entire universe by the fruit it bears.
If it bears godly fruit:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
… Then it's from God. If it bears ungodly fruit:
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
… Then it's not from God. God's will is ALWAYS holiness, righteousness, and justice. His will is ALWAYS for you to test a thing by its fruit, and to make sure the situation lines up with the Word of God based on the FRUIT of a thing.
As it says in Isaiah 8:20:
“To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
The problem comes when we tell God just exactly what the particulars of a thing are supposed to look like:
“God, I know Your time is now” … when it may not be time yet.
“God, make that man marry me” … when only God knows the hearts, and only He knows “that man” is cheating on you now and would cheat on you later too, and He is trying His hardest to deliver you from a terrible marriage.
“God, do it THIS way” … when only God sees behind the scenes of a situation, and only He knows that that particular way we want things done wouldn't work out for us at all.
But you know what? In the midst of it all, He is still faithful.
God is still faithful. Only He sees the end from the beginning. And although we are right to pray for His ultimate aim and His ultimate will–for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth, and in your life, as it is in Heaven–we are WRONG to get mad, offended, and disappointed in God …
… worse yet, getting over into doubt and unbelief …
… when He doesn't do things the way and at the time we hoped He would do them.
That, my friend, is wrong. And it's self-defeating, because God is going to come through for you–but He has a higher aim along the journey.
His highest aim is to make you like Jesus. His highest aim is to deliver nations to bow at the feet of Christ. His highest aim is to see Jesus exalted over all the earth, and to see everything in Heaven and on earth bow to His only begotten Son.
And sometimes that takes time. Sometimes there's a process. And we're a microwave generation, wanting everything immediately …
now now now now now now now now NOW, please God …
While He's often saying:
Wait wait wait wait wait
Just a little minute longer
Won't you please trust Me?
Please keep praying
You know My will
You know who I am
You know I'm faithful
We've come too far together to go back now …
And meanwhile, we His blood-bought children are fainting on the sidewalk, whining because we didn't get what we want–help, God–and we don't understand.
I've got good news for you–and I'm speaking to myself here too:
God is still on the throne. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. But we DO know His ultimate will; we know His Word; and we know that He will be faithful to perform it.
I'm not talking about any particular situation here by itself. I'm talking about a stinking spirit that has come upon the Body of Christ–a spirit that says to God, “my way or the highway, and I'll give up if You don't make me happy today.” This heavy, burdened, failing and fainting spirit can impact you in any situation across the entire spectrum of your life …
… but ONLY if you let it.
The enemy, the devil, cannot discourage you unless you let him. The devil cannot strip you of your faith, your courage, your hope, or anything else unless you let him.
It's only when we lay down our faith, hope, courage, and power that we become powerless.
So the word of the Lord to you today is: RISE UP!
Arise and shine! Get your hope back:
Keep believing for that husband or wife to meet you, court you, fall madly in love with you, and marry you.
Keep believing for that good-paying job that will be a blessing to your family.
Keep believing for God to heal your nation.
Keep believing for those land inheritances, even if you see no land on the horizon at all as of yet!
My friend, God's thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. But He IS faithful. He IS good, and He DOES hear and answer ALL the prayers of the righteous …
… Even when we don't pray rightly; Holy Spirit intercedes for us to interpret our prayers rightly before Father so that they are still effective (Romans 8) …
… And His perfect will comes forth in answer to our prayers, even though His plans don't always work out the way we think they will–or in the timing we expect.
Look up, my friend: God is still on His throne.
And that, beloved, is the place where only He can be; He's the only One who will ever be in charge of the universe; and nothing, nothing, no nothing can or will ever change that.