Jesus spoke these words in Luke 9:26, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
What a sobering, bold and convicting statement!
My message this morning is short: Consider Jesus’ worth; instead of devaluing His glory, make much of it. Think on His authority; instead of rejecting His lordship, submit to it. Notice again His heart; instead of neglecting His salvation, receive it. Jesus is absolutely not ashamed of people like you and me. He not only calls us by name, He also sits at the right hand of a flawless and perfect God interceding on our behalf(John 8:34).
Jesus is definitely not ashamed of us and He knows even the darkest secrets! 
“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my HOPE.” Psalm 130:5
This passage of text reminds us to trust God in the various waiting seasons! Did you know waiting is another way to praise the Lord?! To be honest, back in the day, I never associated waiting on God with praising God. The wait factor for me back then only meant that God was moving too slow!
Later in life, I found that waiting was actually an attitude and a posture. The attitude is not negative rather it’s an expectation of hope and the posture reflects an attitude of trust. Psalm 130:5 highligts that the attitude and posture of waiting involves one’s whole being eagerly longing – expectantly and hopefully. It involves tarrying and trust. The well-known waiting in Isaiah 40:31 points to a continual waiting upon the Lord. The prophet said, “But those who trust [wait] in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”
My brothers and sisters, there will be tough days, we will get tired. But we must trust and hope in His ways and His perfect timing. Our blessings are coming. And while we are waiting remebwr that our prayers can make a big difference. Waiting is a place of trust and hope, not anquish and defeat.
I don’t know if you are in a season of wait like me and so many, but I invite you to pray with me today:
Father God, Son and Holy Spirit, we praise and thank You that You hear us when we cry out of the depths to You. As you know the deep calls the deep! Almighty Father, we thank You that You are totally trustworthy and that You are all-knowing. You know when we rise and when we sit down. You know the beginning and the end of all things – including the unsettling, troublesome and worrisome things happening in our lives and world today. In our stillness, quietness, hope, and trust we choose to praise You now and over these next days, weeks, and months by waiting upon. For you are Lord. You are the Almighty One. We gratefully and humbly come through Jesus’ precious blood to sit at Your feet in the Most Holy Place (Heb 10:19). Like David, we choose in this place to have our whole being wait upon You and unequivocally choose to do this expectantly, joyfully and hopefully!! In Jesus; He is always on time and it’s worth the wait name, amen, amen, and amen!
There is absolutely no doubt that God listens to His beloved people all the time. “He hears their cry for help,” David tells us in Psalm 34:15b that God hears our petitions, and He understands our needs before we ask.
So let’s be honest, far too often we pray without really expecting God to answer. This is why we naively take matters into our own hands even when we do pray. We just aren’t completly sure if God will actually intercede on our behalf.
The problem is that we’re looking for God to do things our way. We’re looking for ‘the’ answer, instead of looking for ‘Him’. Then, when God changes gears and does things different than we expect, we miss His faithful intervention and wonder why God ignored our prayer request(s) in the first place.
However, this is far from the truth! The Bible says it’s not God who has the hearing problem—it’s us. In Mark 8:18, Jesus asks the disciples, “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” This is why Jesus warns over and over, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:23).
My brothers and sisters, while we’re waiting for God to say ‘yes’ to us, God’s waiting for us to say ‘yes’ to Him. Isn’t that funny….we are waiting on each other!! You see, while we’re begging God to show up, God is patiently waiting for us to realize He’s already there in the middle of our mess, heartaches, confusion, circumstances, and pain!
Proverbs 15:29 says God “hears the prayers of the righteous.” By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, that’s us family. God didn’t save us by the blood of the Lamb so that He can just ignore us—God’s saved us so much that we can enjoy Him. There is nothing more satisfying than being in the presence of God, Amen!!
Here’s the good news, God hears the tired mama and papa’s prayers and the I-don’t-know-what-to-do prayers. He hears the prayers of the dissatisfied wife and the husband who just wants to help and also needs help! He hears the groans of the suffering and the aches of the one who doesn’t even know what to pray. He hears the lonely and the lost and those longing for love. He hears the I’m-completely-exhausted morning prayers, I am at my whit’s end prayers, and He’s already anticipating the middle of the afternoon I-don’t-think-I’m-going-to-make-it will through prayers. And not to mention the late midnight and wee in the morning hour prayers? Those are special to Him as well. So keep praying child of God, because God hears, sees and cares for you. God’s listening right now, and He’ll still be listening tomorrow and the days after that……can I get a witness?!
In the natural some things are just humanly impossible, but with God, all things are possible, especially with the words “But God.” Sometimes the smallest words are the most powerful. Take the phrase “But God,” if ignored in the Bible passages, it would cause a misunderstanding of those passages.
These two words are used to summarize a statement, and can be defined as “the past participle,” of “to mean” which is the intent of a: 1. Particular purpose or a 2. Particular destination
These two words are the “cornerstone of the gospel.” In Ephesians 2:4-10, we’re shown God’s response to man’s sin, where mankind is taken from ‘sin and brought to salvation’.
I say this because the word “but,” is a contrasting discourse, whereas the debt of spiritual death, is transformed into the marvel of redemption.
These two words, “But God,” are the only message that holds our hope for “the individual” and a “world” that’s dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Here’s the good news; God selflessly placed a ‘but’ (you and me) before His name so that our condition would not be hopeless ‘but’ be completely changed through the intervention of a merciful, faithful, and gracious God. Therefore, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, we have God’s “good news,” wrapped up in two wonderful words, “But God!”
In closing, American Gospel Singer Larnelle Harris penned these words, “But God sees some way, when miracles are well beyond our view. His love saves the day, when fear would tell us there is just no use. You can look the whole world over for the meaning of it all – for the purpose that mankind has always sought. In the end you’ll discover, there is no other answer “But God.”
#BeStrong
#TGBTG
#NAP
#ButGod
Ps..It doesn’t matter what circumstances you’re facing today because when you end it with “BUT GOD” everything before these two words are cancelled!!!!! AMEN and AMEN!!
The Bible teaches us about the power of gratitude. An attitude of thanksgiving to God will consistently fill us with peace, joy and fulfillment. The apostle Paul is well known for writing Scriptures about being thankful. Some of the most well-known and often quoted passages are focused on gratitude, including but not limited to giving thanks for all things, in all circumstances (Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18), being thankful even in suffering (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:1-4), and to do everything in the name of Jesus out of a spirit of gratefulness (Colossians 3:17).
That being said, if being grateful is one of the most important aspects for peace, joy and fulfillment why is it so difficult for some of us to be grateful? In my humble opinion, it’s because of regret and anxiety.
I’ve learned that no amount of regret changes the past and no amount of anxiety changes the future. But any amount of of gratitude changes the present. Hence the reason we are commanded to be thankful in “all” circumstances.
I’ve also found that gratitude on the deepest level is a reflection, acknowledgment, and acceptance of our worth – to God and other people. When we choose gratitude over regret and anxiety, we accept ourselves as worthy and give ourselves permission to be loved by God and to share love with others.
My brothers and sisters, it behooves us ‘all’ to shift our perspectives to one of deep gratitude, awareness and acceptance of our value to God and other people. It is only at this deepest level that gratitude can lift us from depression, restore relationships, and bridge peace, joy, and fulfillment.
Sometimes in our deep despair all we have is a thread of hope to hang on to. So, what is hope? Well, the short answer is hope is a promise that God will always make a way. David said this in Psalm 34:19, “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”
Such was the case of Rahab, a prostitute whose story is told in Joshua chapter 2. Rahab owned an inn near the city gate of Jericho, a city ‘soon’ to be conquered by the Israelites.
Rahab heard about God’s greatness and had come to believe He was the one true God. So she hid the two Israeli spies that Joshua, the commander of the Israelite army, had sent on a scouting mission into Jericho.
The king of Jericho heard that the spies had been at Rahab’s home, so he sent orders for her to turn them over. When the king’s soldiers questioned her of the whereabouts of the two spies, Rahab misguided the soldiers and sent them on a wild goose chase after the spies whom she had actually hidden on her roof.
Once the soldiers were gone, Rahab asked the spies to save her and her household. She promised to keep silent about their mission if they would spare her family when the Israelites invaded the city of Jericho. The spies told her to hang a scarlet cord from her window opening as a sign to the Jews to protect her.
Rahab obeyed and when the walls of Jericho fell, Rahab’s life, and all those in her household, hung by the thread of hope that the spies would keep their word.
When it came to pass she and her entire family were spared from the destruction when the walls of Jericho crumbled. Her household was passed over. Protected. Delivered. Just as it was promised!
Like Rahab, the only thing we have between ourselves and plights, test, trials, and challenges is a thin thread of hope. When all is said and done, we will always have the love of God, the hope He offers and the peace He gives.
Each of us needs a thread of hope-a reminder that just as God saved Rahab, God can save each of us. He may or may not completely change the outcome stemming from our plights, test, trials, or challenges, but He can insulate and protect us from being taken under the falling rubble that surrounds us.
He is there when we’re hanging on by a thread. Even at our weakest point, a simple cry such as, “Lord, help me” invites the hand of God to take hold of our situation. And deliver us.
In Isaiah 54:11–17, the prophet Isaiah delivers a message from God about the restoration of Jerusalem after its destruction by the Babylonians. Verse 17 reminded Jerusalem that, “No weapon formed against you [them] will prosper.”
In saying that “no weapon formed against you [them] shall prosper,” God promises the people of Jerusalem that no enemy will be able to produce successful weapons against them. The word prosper here means “succeed.” The previous verse gives context: “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc” (Isaiah 54:16).
Did you catch that? God didn’t promise that our enemies will not create weapons planned for our destruction, however He did promise that those weapons will not succeed in destroying us! God is in charge. He created the one who creates the weapons, and He will see to it that whatever weapons are wielded by our enemies would be ineffective against us. This promise will see its ultimate fulfillment in the millennial kingdom of Christ (Isaiah 51).
The primary point the Lord wants to communicate in this passage of text is that He alone is our salvation. Even when bad things happen to us—when we feel defeated and crushed by our enemies—we can trust and not be afraid: “God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths; even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence” (Psalm 46:1–3, GNB).
I want to remind you that God didn’t leave us empty handed in this fight against evil. We too have been equipped with our own weapons. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, the apostle Paul tells us that we have been given tools to fight against our enemy, but our weapons are not ordinary armaments: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” Often, the enemy hits us with spiritual strongholds of confusion, depression, anger, anxiety, fear, temptation, and loneliness. But the Lord has given us His Word as our sword and faith as our shield (Proverbs 30:5; Hebrews 4:12), and not to mention we have His spiritual armor to protect us (Ephesians 6:10–18).
Here’s the really good news, God is in command. He controls both those who make weapons and those who use them. The battle is not ours, but the Lord’s (2 Chronicles 20:15; 1 Samuel 17:47). He has already won the contest. Through Jesus Christ, He has defeated the final enemy, who is death, and purchased for us eternal life (2 Timothy 1:10; see also Isaiah 25:8; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 1:18). The Lord will protect and uphold His children, no matter what we face, and He will always be there to help us through to the final victory (Isaiah 41:10).
