Transcript
Hello everyone, thanks for joining with me on another "Helping You Become" podcast. I pray it's a blessing to you. Welcome to part 7 of beating frustration before it beats you, yes? I do hope you've enjoyed the studies we've progressed through it all.
The spiritual enemy of frustration coming against our lives is a very, very serious very serious thing. It's to frustrate your purpose and plans to derail your future ultimately because your purpose and your plans are your present, your past, your present and your future. So they run throughout your life and frustrations role is to attack your purpose and plans, cause your purpose to cease, to bring your purpose to zero to cause your purpose to fail. And because of that, it's vital we know what to do when frustration attacks our lives. So working through the battleground of spiritual frustration, the what to do's when frustration occurs. And that's what we're on at the moment in the second part of the study.
I started in last week at picking up on part six, to pause, to pray, get the instructions, get the wisdom you need, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, but first selah, S-E-L-A-H in Psalms and Habakkuk, pause and think on this, pause and consider, and then if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, so pause, pray, consider, Get some wisdom in on the subject, get God's ideas, God's thinking in on our life, on our situation.
The next thing was to rejoice. And rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Gladden and delight yourself in Him, and again I say rejoice. Philippians Chapter 4, verse 4, 1 Thessalonians 5, 16, which leads us into Nehemiah 8, 10, the joy of the Lord is our strength, and strength is important because strength is a key ingredient in endurance.
That's really strong because we have to be able to go the distance. We have to be
able to go the distance. Remember time, T-I-M-E, time, influence, money, and
energy. Energy is the critical one because there's only a certain amount of you to
go around. You have to be good at self -care. Look, stress is a killer.
I said last week or the week before, look, if you're under so much stress or if you're under a lot of pressure, go and see a doctor. That's really important because it helps take you away from the stress for a minute and it forces a little bit of self-care and that's really important and also a doctor is a professional person who's got your best interests at heart.
Sickness is a real thing. Stress, anxiety, worry is a real thing and they're all part of Frustration's role to derail your plans and purposes before a holy god. The next thing after rejoicing is to evaluate. Genesis chapter 1, verses 4, 10, 12,
18, 21, 25, 31, "God saw that it was good," and I think it's verse 31, "and God saw everything that He had made, and it was good," He evaluated what had
gone on. And I understand that this way, looking at the word in the Hebrew, means to see and to understand what it is that you just saw.
So we need to be able to evaluate. Proverbs talks about be diligent to know the state of your flocks and attend to your herds. Evaluate what is going on. Remember your life is connected to this. You've poured energy, time, money, resources, heartache. You've got skin in the game as we would say in Australia. Yeah?
You've poured your life into this thing or into these tasks. It might be your church, it's your ministry, your business. Whatever God has called you to do, part of it if you're married is obviously your marriage. So you've got skin in the game here. It's very important that we evaluate what is going on. It's a lifelong thing, and we need to approach it with endurance in mind.
That's why strength is so important. The joy of the Lord being our strength helps
us endure. The next point that I raised was decision. Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision. Joel chapter 3. Oh man, oh man, oh man. How many times have you been faced with so many options and you just don't know what to do and it's man it does my head and oh you know. Have you ever been there? Yes. And you just don't know what to do and wow man, oh man. If I don't do this, if I do that, if I do this, you know, you just go round and round in it and literally it is a really important thing to step back from that.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. That place of decision sometimes can just be a valley and it may not be a pleasant one that's flowing with beautiful fresh streams and rich alluvial soils. Sometimes it's, you know, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Valley can be a good place, sometimes it's not a good place. And if the multitudes and multitudes in the valley are positioned against you, then you've got problems. What do we do? We need to be able to evaluate so that we can step back and decide.
Make some decisions here and wise counsel is often involved in that and I would suggest wise counsel is the main part of that because we see in Proverbs chapter 1 in verse 5, the wise will also hear and increase in learning and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel, so that He may be able to steer His course rightly.
Good to make correct decisions, steering our course rightly. So, that's where we're up to. Let's just pause and ask the Lord to help us with this study today. Father God, thank you for your goodness. Holy Spirit, thank you for opening the richness of the Word. Jesus is the Word made flesh and dwelt among us.
Oh Lord, opening the richness of the Word of God to our hearts and minds, so that we can receive revelation knowledge, so that we can receive direction, instruction, correction. Lord, yeah, instruction and righteousness. Lord, so that we can move forward making correct decisions, so that we can beat frustration before it beats us, and that we can move forward, completing that which you've called us to in this world. And we ask it, and we thank you for it, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.
So, James chapter 2. Once we've evaluated, and we've got some wise counsel, and we're starting to think about decisions and our next move. And you've worked out what your next move is to be able to continue on with your program, your project, the next step, whatever that happens to be, decide your next move. What do we do from there? Well, verse 17, "So also, faith, if it does not have works, deeds, and actions of obedience to back it up by itself is destitute of power, inoperable, inoperative and dead, inoperative and dead.
But someone will say to you then, you say you have faith and I have good works. Now you show me your alleged faith, apart from any good works if you can, and I,
by good works of obedience, will show you my faith, and that's really important.
Good works of obedience, and this is why we need to pray, rejoice, evaluate, before we decide what our next move is. It's good works of obedience based on prayer, asking God for wisdom, Rejoicing, spending time honouring Him, worshiping Him, giving Him thanks, acknowledging that He is God and giving Him the
thanks that He's due.
Romans chapter 1. And then moving forward into a place of evaluation where you've got the heart and the mind of God actually connecting with you, with your heart and mind, with your spirit, so that you can discern what the next move is and your evaluation of what's going on is actually accurate. And that's really important. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death. Good idea. Well, not necessarily. No.
I've found that after some 35 years of ministry, good ideas are okay, but it's me that has to fund them. Whereas a God idea is not only okay, but it's already blessed, and God will fund it. God will fund it. Whereas a good idea, I have to ask Him to bless it, and I have to fund it. But a God idea is already blessed, and the Lord will fund it himself. Verse 19, James chapter 2, "You believe that God is one, you do well, so do the demons believe in shudder, in terror and horror, such as make a man's hair stand on end, and contract the surface of his skin." You know, I think as Paul said in Galatians, "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
This is very serious stuff. Spiritual things are eternal and they're very serious. And I literally thank you for access to your heart and mind because I take that privilege very, very seriously indeed. So you believe that God is one? You do well.
We read that. Verse 20, "Are you willing to be shown proof, you foolish, unproductive, spiritually deficient fellow, that faith, apart from good works, is inactive and ineffective and worthless. So what's that telling us?
Well, after we've decided what our next move is, you've prayed it through, you've evaluated, you've taken some time out to get in the presence of God and worship and rejoice. You've evaluated what's going on, you've decided on what your next move is. Act. Do something. Don't just stand there and let frustration take another step forward towards terminating your plans and purposes.
Once you've decided on your next move, we then need to act upon it. It's really important that we act upon it. That might be something as simple as forgiveness.
I'll give you an example, not that I like talking about me at all, but years ago I was on radio and one particular situation is about 350 stations approximately, and the program manager just decided to, can my program, just decided that they'd do something else. And they took me off 350 radio stations, just like that, just a stroke of a pen. And I was so, so, so shattered.
I was just absolutely gutted over that. And I festered on that for a long time. It really bothered me. And I was trying to work out ways to, "What can we do? "What
can we do? "This is important, all of that." And became quite disappointed and sad
and somewhat bitter over it. And one day I was out in my garden, weeding my veggies, and the Lord said to me, "Are you ever gonna forgive that person?" Crystal
Clear spoke straight that into my spirit. "Are you ever going to forgive?" And he
said that man's name. And I just broke down in my garden and I said, "Yeah, Lord,
look, I'm sorry, Lord, I really am." And I'd held that and carried the burden of
that for a few months. You know, we'd lost 350 stations, and this was very early
on in our radio program, in the life of our program, probably within the first five
years or six years or so, eight years maybe. And, you know, it was a shattering
blow. And I just broke down and I said, "Lord, I'm sorry." And I just gave all of
the care and the hurt of that over to God. And within one month, we had been
contacted by an organisation out of Northern America, and they put us into 161 countries. I think it was 160 countries.
And I lost 350 stations, became bitter and twisted all over it all, finally gave it over to God, and within one month he'd put us into 160 countries with my radio program. So you reach a point where you actually have to act, and sometimes that
act and that move forward in faith can just be forgiveness, the act of forgiveness. Now I'm not proud of that, but I tell you what, it's been a lifelong lesson, you know, we're now coming up to 1 ,000 weeks of radio broadcasts. I wonder if I'd ever failed to forgive that particular situation and, you know, would I've just become better and twisted and not even maybe one day just give it all away.
See, at some point we get honest with God, we rejoice with God, we just go before a holy God with our cares, our problems, cast your cares on the Lord because He cares for you. At some point, once we've decided what our next move is, we then have to act. Now it may not be some big earth shattering decision, it just might be the decision to give. The decision to just let that go and I'm just going to get on with things.
I'm just going to focus on what God's called me to do and I'm no longer going to be burdened down with a hurt. And the moment that we do that, we step away from meddling around on God's side of the desk, which is this thing called my future and my purpose and my plans and that calling that I have in the Lord, I've got away from being under His feet meddling on His side of the desk, I've returned to my own side of the desk and I've just cleaned house. I walk in forgiveness, I walk away from it and I get on with things as best as I know how and I let God be God. Yes?
Be still and know that I am God. Very, very important that we understand these sorts of things as we go. Frustration is a real thing. It's a real enemy. It comes against us as we've started to move into some real quality taking of ground for the Lord.Remember, frustration is one of the big enemies out there. It comes to you after fear has failed. After lack of resources and provision and staffing, all of that's failed. You know, you've got your staff, you've got your resources, you've got a certain amount of momentum going. Fear has attacked and has been defeated.
You soldier on, you push through that. Praise God. And now you're getting to a stage. Now this thing is really gathering some serious momentum. And that flow of momentum is building and building and building and building and the flow of momentum, the flow of momentum, at some time it flips over and it becomes a force of inevitability. And the shift in the spirit moves from momentum into inevitability.
That's another study all in itself. You know, I just pray to and give thanks to the God to the Lord and I just praise the Lord that I just found it in my heart to forgive that person because we went from losing 350 stations into moving into 160 countries and it just grew and grew and grew from there on.
Bless the Lord. So it's really important that we act, we decide our next move and
then we act James chapter 2 and then Ephesians chapter 5. This is one of my favorite scriptures in all of the Bible. This passage here in Ephesians chapter 5, I'll read it to you in the amplified Bible starting at verse 15. "Look carefully then how you walk, live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as the wise, sensible, intelligent people, making the very most of the time, other translations say redeeming and regaining the time, buying up each opportunity because the days are evil, therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish?
Wow, isn't not a big sentence. Oh, man, do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is. Oh, dear me, I read that one day and I thought, look at that. Therefore, do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish. And I made a conscious decision. Remember I said before, decide, Decide your next move and then act.
I made a conscious decision to no longer be vague and thoughtless and foolish. I just decided I'm not going to be that anymore but I'm going to be understanding and I'm going to be firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is. Now whether I've achieved it or not, well that remains to be seen, yes, on the day that I stand before Jesus.
However, I've at least made the decision I'm no longer going to stay stupid. I see in
Ephesians that God abounds to ward me with all wisdom. Yes? And I looked at that and I thought, "Dear Jesus, thank You Lord, I don't have to stay stupid. I can learn, I can grow, I can increase, I can develop, I can mature in the things of the Spirit." Hallelujah, Huh? So, what's the point in all of this?
Time. Time. Oh dear. Redeeming the time. Making the very most of the time. Buying up each opportunity. Because the days are evil. Time. It's really important friends. That the expression that frustration is getting in our life doesn't waste time. Now, I know that's just about an impossible achievement. Well, of course we're gonna waste time. We're always gonna waste some time somewhere along the line.
Yeah, we just do, that's humans (laughs) 'cause we don't know what we're doing. We're making mistakes. We do all these sorts of wrong things. We say the wrong things. We hinder ourselves ourselves a lot. However, frustration is a specific spiritual enemy who is released against us. Part of frustrations role is to use up available time. When you see time being wasted and this is another indicator.
Now we'll pick up on this next week because we're out of time for this week but this is another indicator. If you see time being wasted, then I would suggest to you that probably the enemy of frustration is circling and is actually probably now getting involved. If you see time being wasted, that's one of frustration's attributes.
The giant Goliath, well he has a giant, he was like nine foot six tall, 10 foot tall. You know, gigantic big, he had certain attributes. One of frustrations attributes is time -wasting, unfolding in your life.
God bless and I pray that you join with me next week on the station as we
continue the series of beating frustration before it beats you. Thanks for joining with us on this podcast.
Member discussion: