A Solid Foundation (part 2)

Let God’s Word Stabilize Your Life!

2.6.2022

Review

Your foundation will determine your future!

Luke 21:25-26 (TPT)

Expect to witness amazing and perplexing signs throughout the universe with the sun, the moon, and the stars. The raging of the sea will bring desperation and turmoil to many nations. 26 Earthquakes will bring panic and disaster. What men see coming to the earth will cause the fear of doom to grip their hearts, for they will even see the powers of the heavenly realm shaken!

We may just be living in the time just prior to Jesus’ return, which will be a very tumultuous time!

We are in a great time of deception. The antiChrist spirit is already working to destabilize cultural norms and blind people to truth.

Do you have a solid conviction that, regardless of what happens, you will make it through it?

Are you spiritually, mentally, and physically prepared for huge challenges that upset routine?

Are you able to recognize deception when you see it?

What are you involved in right now that compromises your walk with God?

What do you fall back on and believe about your life and circumstances when things get tough?

Is your life foundation sand or stone?

Is what you believe about your life and circumstances shifty like sand and unable to bear the weight of challenge?

Or is what you believe about your life and circumstances like stone or rock and does not change with circumstances?

Your most valuable asset in the days to come will be what gives you hope and stability.

Things will increasingly become unstable and unpredictable.

We are entering into a judgment phase of the world just before Jesus returns!

You can weather any storm or test when you align your thoughts, values and lifestyle with God and His Word.

The Word can give you an ability to hold steady in the coming storms.

7 things about the Word to make a part of your life.

1. God’s Word can bring stability to your life.

Isaiah 33:6 (NKJV)

Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure.

I started my life as an unstable person emotionally and relationally. I was up and down. Up one day and down the next.

What was popular affected me.

What others said and did affected me more than it should have.

When I started to view life through the lens of what God said about it, I began to change and became a stable person.

I stopped believing my feelings. I started to weigh what I felt against what God said about me in the Word!

I stopped allowing what others said about me to carry more weight than what God said about me!

The words stabilized me!

Joshua 1:8 (NKJV)

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Joshua 1:8 (BBE)

Let this book of the law be ever on your lips and in your thoughts day and night, so that you may keep with care everything in it; then a blessing will be on all your way, and you will do well.

Colossians 3:16 (NKJV)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

When you do life the way God intended on earth, it flows so much better!

Lack is a result of neglecting God’s plan for my own plan.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Psalm 1 NLT

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. (2) But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. (3) They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. (4) But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. (5) They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly.(6) For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

It will be a year of contrasts this year!

2. Ask God for a hunger for the Word.

Our hungers in life follow what we give attention to!

There are so many things that distract us today. And Satan’s goal is to get us away from the Word.

If you spend more time on social media than in the Word, you will lose your hunger for God, and you will be deceived.

If you spend more time paying attention to hunting or fishing than paying attention to God and spiritual things, what will you have a hunger for?

If you spend more time with online gaming than with God’s stuff, where will your hunger be?

Ladies, if you spend more time with fashion things, decorating things, or hanging with your friends, where will your hunger or desires be?

These things in moderation are ok, but should never be what preoccupies us at the expense of spiritual health.

You say, well, I’m not a preacher. If you are a Christian, then yes you are! Your life is to be a living epistle, known and read by others!

2 Corinthians 3:2 (NKJV)

You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

1 Peter 3:15 (NKJV)

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Colossians 3:1-4 (NKJV)

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

The Word makes you dangerous to Satan and his kingdom!

The Word removes Satan’s grasp on human life.

It quenches fear.

It empowers the kingdom of God and brings light and truth to the forefront.

Satan’s kingdom exists in darkness, and must have lies to propagate itself.

The greatest hunger you could ever foster is for the Word of God.

It ends the reign of death and brings LIFE everywhere it is believed.

Ask God to create in you a hunger for Him and His Word.

What we are hungry for defines who we are!

Ask God to renew your hunger, then start reading!

Desire follows your attention.

Job 23: 12 – NLT

I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.

Jeremiah 15:16

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

Psalm 19:7-11 – NLT

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.(8) The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. (9) Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.(10) They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.(11) They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.

Start your day with God reading the Word and have some time in prayer. Then, take plenty of time every day throughout your day, on your breaks and such, to read and pray. Life will be different.

Desire follows attention!

Whatever you give your attention to is what you will have desires for.

I lost my desire for the word one time. 1982 – out of the will of God as an associate pastor of a church in my hometown for 10 months…

I was upset with myself, and disillusioned with ministry.

I made myself get into the word. It took about 3 weeks every day.

Smith wigglesworth –

Action Points:

1. Are you easily discouraged by the challenges that life brings your way?

2. Are you easily swayed by the changes in what people around you think and believe?

3. Are you spiritually hungry or have you lost your appetite for the Bible?