Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Pause
13 Plays2 years ago
Vernon encourages us to "pause", and yes, even to "stop talking AND stop walking" when life hits you hard. He is all for walking out your faith and walking out the incredible new You, but we MUST make time to pause and listen to our Heavenly Father Who loves us! We hope this encourages your heart.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Episode
00:00:02
Speaker
This is your host Vernon Terrell with Grace Ministries International and it's time for Walking Free. And welcome back.
Exploring Stillness Amidst Chaos
00:00:24
Speaker
I thought today I would talk about this topic of just learning to be still.
00:00:33
Speaker
and the passage that I was reading in Psalm 46, especially in the King James Version, but I'll read out of the New American Standard. And it's this idea that life happens and all kind of tumultuous things can happen in our life. And sometimes life, it's kind of steady,
00:00:59
Speaker
or really good, but often things just hit us, don't they? They just come out of the blue sometimes, and like, where did that come from? Is God here? Does he care? What do I do in this situation?
God as Refuge and Strength
00:01:13
Speaker
And I know I've had some of that, even at Grace Ministries, where things just kinda hit and happen out of the blue, what's going on? And I remember telling our staff, let's pause. Let's just pause for a moment.
00:01:28
Speaker
And let's see what the Lord is doing and what the Lord wants to do in us as life is doing all of this stuff around us. And Psalm 46 verse one starts off, God is our refuge and strength. And that's where we need to start from. Who are we trusting? It's God who is our refuge and strength.
00:01:59
Speaker
And if we don't have that foundation, well, we're just, might as well just throw it in. I mean, that's, you know, we only have so much strength and so much ability. God is our strength. He's our refuge and he is our strength. He is a very present help in trouble.
00:02:26
Speaker
And he said, but wait a second, I thought that, you know, I'm a Christian and my trouble, it should be less. It should go away. And that's not, no, that's not what it says. And that's not life. That's not reality. That's the dream world. That's not reality. He is a very present help in trouble. And, uh, I like if you're watching the chosen, I think this was season two, but it's really,
00:02:53
Speaker
You see them, all of Jesus and the disciples, and you hear that music in the background, troubles coming, you know. Trouble is coming. And for you, it's possible that it is already here in your life. You've got trouble. And that word, that Hebrew word,
00:03:23
Speaker
trouble is adversity, it's affliction, it's distress, anguish, the idea even of tribulation. And God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in this distress and anguish.
00:03:51
Speaker
A very present help. Are you experiencing that right now?
Abundance and Presence in Distress
00:04:01
Speaker
Sometimes we don't experience it because we're so focused on the trouble. We're so focused on the trouble and the what ifs that go along in our brain in the trouble. We will what if ourselves to a frenzy sometimes.
00:04:22
Speaker
But the psalmist is telling us that, you know, God is our refuge and strength. And in the middle of that distress, that he is a very present help or another translation, he is abundantly available for help.
00:04:50
Speaker
We wanna figure it out, don't we? We wanna fix it right then, don't we? We want it to go away. And the psalmist is telling us that God is abundantly available for help. And I would encourage you to start with that. If you've got some
00:05:14
Speaker
things that are hitting you, maybe just blindsided you, or maybe you've been in the midst of it for a little bit. I want to stir you up in way of remembrance, as one of David's Psalms said, to stir you up and remind you that God is your refuge and strength, that
00:05:43
Speaker
idea of refuge is just so encouraging that that's the place he's the place that we can go and I want you to know he is your shelter he is that shelter and that strength that you can go to and
00:06:12
Speaker
that very present, he is present in the midst of your struggle. He doesn't say that life is gonna just be all roses, and we know that, but just to remind you and myself, life isn't gonna be all roses when we accept Christ. We're gonna have good times, there's gonna be bad times.
00:06:38
Speaker
And in the midst of all of it, he is very present in all of it, but particularly a very present help in trouble. And when we have that understanding, we can say in verse two of Psalm 46, therefore we will not fear. We will not fear.
Faith Over Fear
00:07:07
Speaker
And it's okay, fear is normal. Being afraid is normal. It's a healthy response. It's better, it's more than normal. It's healthy in many cases when the situation wants it to have fear. But we can choose not to be afraid, choose not to fear because God is our refuge and our strength.
00:07:37
Speaker
and he is abundantly available to help us in the midst of this distress. So therefore we will not fear though the earth should change. I mean, that's pretty big. Have you ever been in an earthquake? I've only been in little minor tremors before. That's a scary thing when the earth itself is shifting
00:08:06
Speaker
under you and the psalmist says we're not going to fear though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the mountains quake at its swelling pride
00:08:33
Speaker
We're not gonna fear, we're choosing not to fear because the Lord, God is our refuge, our shelter and our strength. And in the midst of all of that, of course he wants you to make wise choices, wise decisions. We look to him for wisdom and as we're in the midst of that,
00:09:00
Speaker
We're choosing not to fear knowing the Lord is our very present help.
Recognizing God's Provision
00:09:05
Speaker
Who do you think is giving you the wisdom? And speaking to your heart in the midst of that.
00:09:15
Speaker
He takes a break from that in verse four and says, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God the holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations made an uproar. The kingdoms tottered. He raised his voice and the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
00:09:45
Speaker
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. That's who is with you. At one word, the earth melts. If he wants your circumstances to change for his will, they will change at one word. We run to the shelter. We ask him for wisdom.
00:10:16
Speaker
And we pause and watch. In verse eight, come, behold the works of the Lord who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire.
00:10:46
Speaker
That's our God. And sometimes we want it yesterday. And often the Lord says, wait, wait upon me. I'm here. I'm with you. I'm in the midst of the storm. I'm your provider. I'm your stronghold. Wait on the Lord. In verse 10,
00:11:15
Speaker
he really brings it to this crescendo of waiting when he says as the New American Standard translates it he says cease striving and know that I am God. He says cease striving or as the margin translate the translation
00:11:41
Speaker
Notes say, sea striving or let's go, relax. I like that. Let's go, relax. King James says, be still and know that I am God. I love that. Be still and know sometimes we need to be still. And it's hard in this fast moving society that we live in to be still.
00:12:11
Speaker
We have so many self-help videos on YouTube, and a lot of them are good, by the way. They're a lot of good help videos. But we need to learn the art of stillness. Sometimes we just need to pause, especially when things are coming. We don't understand. It's like it's hitting us sometimes. We need to just step back, hit the pause button. Father, show me what I need to see here.
00:12:40
Speaker
He may say, come behold the works of the Lord. He may say, just pause, life is hitting you, throwing a lot of things at you. Pause and know that I am with you. Cease, striving, relax, and know that I am God. That's hard, isn't it? In fact, I wouldn't encourage you
00:13:08
Speaker
to make it a habit, not a law, not a rule, but a habit to relax. Maybe take a, I used to call a music bath, your favorite music, or just a silence, a break where you are just silent before the Lord and you're just listening. For some of you, it might actually just be a good old fashioned nap
00:13:40
Speaker
and pray as you're napping and going to sleep. Maybe, you know, that's awesome as well.
Personal Stories of Provision
00:13:47
Speaker
But see striving and know that he is God. He says, the psalmist says, I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. That's the Lord speaking to you.
00:14:07
Speaker
I will be exalted in the nations, among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. So I want to encourage you today. You know, I was speaking to a friend of mine, a couple, like some of you know Mike Quarles, good friend of mine. He and I did freedom from addiction webinars for years.
00:14:36
Speaker
we would do those. A series of weekly webinars, some of you still will write, email me and say, hey, can I get ahold of those webinars? I'm actually gonna try to find them and republish them. But I was just talking to Mike the other day and he said, Vernon, God is good. He has just provided for us, he and his wife, as they're getting older.
00:15:03
Speaker
God just provided, especially in the area of medical care and care and support at home. And he's just praising the Lord. The Lord is just good. The Lord saw and provided. And it wasn't, and it was just in his timing.
00:15:29
Speaker
And Mike's just saying, yep, the Lord has provided. I have another friend, and Kyle, if you're listening, this is you. Kyle, I've known Kyle a long time. And he called me up and said, you know, God has provided his timing. I'm just trusting. I didn't know where to go, what to do, and God just opened the doors and provided.
00:15:59
Speaker
provided for a place to stay, provided for a job to build back some income. God has provided a church to attend. God has provided. And this wasn't overnight. You can talk to him, ask him. This has been over years
00:16:27
Speaker
And he's still not quote, someone might look, well, he's, look where he is. He's not out of the woods yet. He knows God's provided right now where he is, what he needs. Our job, our job, especially if you look at job descriptions is found in John 15 in the illustration of the vine and the branch.
00:16:55
Speaker
Our job is to simply abide. And a lot of Christians make that a work, like there's some work we have to do. No, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, guess what? You're abiding. You have a new abode.
Abiding in Christ
00:17:10
Speaker
It's in Christ. Rest in him. Enjoy your new abode, your new home.
00:17:23
Speaker
He is your refuge. He's your shelter. You're in a brand new home. Rest in Him. And that's what Mike is doing, Joy is doing. That's what Kyle's doing. Is it perfect from the world standpoint? Absolutely not. Is it God's provision? I believe absolutely yes.
00:17:50
Speaker
You see, God is always leading us, always. We're not always listening, but God is always speaking. Some folks say, oh, God doesn't speak today anymore. He speaks through his word, and he does. But I got this sneaking suspicion that if the God of the universe is living on the inside of us, if we are joined together with him in union, for our new creation joined with his Holy Spirit,
00:18:22
Speaker
I believe he's speaking. And you know what he's speaking? He's speaking love over you. He's speaking encouragement over you. He's speaking provision over you. Are you listening? He's giving wisdom because Jesus Christ is truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is wisdom from above.
00:18:52
Speaker
And that's why we need at times, we need to learn the art of being still. Of resting. And you can rest while you're working, and that's an oxymoron, isn't it? The rest work. Work while at rest. I don't know the best way to say that. Paul said it this way. Paul said that he is striving
00:19:21
Speaker
according to God's strength. That's a good way to put it. That strive according to his strength. Yeah, get up and do what you're gonna do by his power, his strength. And you're trusting his provision, his wisdom. And it's okay. Sometimes it's gonna be hard. Life's gonna hit you, it's gonna hurt. You're not gonna know where to go. I've seen this play out.
Anecdote of Unexpected Support
00:19:51
Speaker
I remember when I was working with some inmates in the jail, a guy had got out, had nowhere to go, and I was out, and he was in the Canton area, and I was way up in North Forsyth, out with my son. I get a phone call, didn't know who it was. I picked it up. A lot of time, I won't if I'm with my son, but I could pick it up. I picked it up. It was late.
00:20:22
Speaker
He said who he was. He was out on the street. It was cold. He had nowhere to go. And I said, well, you know, I'm way out here. There's no way I can get to you. I said, let's pray. God is with you. Pray and ask God to provide. And, you know, I got home and called back and went to voicemail and I was waiting. I said, call me. Let me know what's up. Got to call the next day. That was Friday, then on Saturday.
00:20:53
Speaker
He goes, you're not gonna believe this. I was out on the street and I was trying to find some shelter or something. He's in a parking lot and a cop pulls up. He goes, now my normal mode of operating is to run when I see a cop car, but he stopped. And the officer got out and said, are you all right? He goes, yeah, I just got out of,
00:21:17
Speaker
and I've got nowhere to go and told him his situation. He was a former, struggled with alcohol and drugs. And officer said, get in. It's like, okay. Officer took him over to a place and this happened to be a local AA. And I'm not always a big fan of some of the AA principles, but you know, they're an incredible group of people with incredible resources and I love them to death.
00:21:46
Speaker
for what they do and this guy went in, went into this meeting and just kinda said where he was, what was going on and didn't ask for anything. A guy stood up, said, do you have a place to stay? He says, well, no. Right there in that meeting, whipped out, he said, I'm gonna take you somewhere. Got out some cash but brought him to this hotel that was right there
00:22:18
Speaker
and paid for it and said, look, I'm paying for this guy. This is for three nights. He paid it in full. It gave this guy time to make some phone calls and to get some money and to get home. God provided.
00:22:40
Speaker
I don't know how God's gonna provide for you. I don't know what your circumstance is and you know what, it's possible you may be out in a really tough situation and it looks like where's my provision?
Trust and Divine Guidance
00:22:55
Speaker
Ask the Father to provide and ask the Father to give you the eyes to see what your next step is. All I can tell you is that God is for you and not against you.
00:23:08
Speaker
He is always for you. He proved it on the cross. Will you trust Him? For whatever the circumstances is for you right now, would you trust Him? Would you take time, as the psalmist said, in Psalm 46, 10, cease striving?
00:23:37
Speaker
and know that I am God. So normally on this podcast, I would say stop talking and start walking. Today, I'm gonna ask you to stop talking and to stop walking if it applies and be still and know that he is God.
Closing and Contact Information
00:24:05
Speaker
You've been listening to Walking Free, a production of Grace Ministries International in Marietta, Georgia. For more information, go to our website at gment.org. That's gminc.org.