The LORD Alone Is Enough

II Chronicles 25.5-12

Our natural inclination when we are confronted with a difficult situation is to try and figure out how we can face it. We naturally lean on our won understanding. We think about ways we can face the challenge in front of us.

Oswald Chambers said that is it not part of the natural man to pray. Prayer is supernatural. It involves looking to heaven rather than to earth or ourselves for resources. It is by faith we pray.

Hebrews 11:1, 6 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. 

In this case of Amaziah the LORD sent a man of God, a prophet to him to get His Word to Him.  

We have His Word today. We ought to be receiving it each day as we walk with the LORD.

Yet we have this treasure in a jar of clay. There are times when we fall short of seeking first His Kingdom.

When that happens we stumble. Seek to have the faith of Abraham!

Romans 4:18-21 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 

We stumble or struggle at the point of faith because we look at the situation and...

1. Our Assessment of the Battles are often incorrect.

We are not going to make it.

I know one day Saul will kill me. -David

1 Samuel 20:3  as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” 

Its all over.

How quickly we can cash in!

Don't cash in. Cast in!

We have fished all night. Yet at Your word we will...

Amaziah made some big mistakes in planning to work in his own strength. He needed to depend upon the LORD.

2. The LORD is wanting us to depend on Him.

He works in our lives to bring us to that place.

That means our faith will be tested.

II Thessalonians 1:4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. 

We have to endure trials.

Romans 15:4-6 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

How do I learn that I can trust God? I must be put to the test. I must be placed in situations where I have to trust Him. We would rather not be in those places. They are uncomfortable, can cause sleepless nights and generally we feel alone in them.

Paul wrote about them in his own life when he wrote to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 

He will not share His glory with another.

Gideon

Judges 7.2-4

Isaiah 42.8 I am the LORD that is my name. I will not yield my glory to another.

3. We can do more with less when we follow the LORD.

That is true with hurry.

Ruthlessly remove hurry from your life. - Dallas Willard

This is often true with money.

Personally

Things, possessions become weights that hold us down.

Dr. Ben Carson, in his speech to the NRA, this week was speaking about his life. He said when people say, "No one has ever done that before," it never bothered him. He has always said, "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." And so can you!

We like safety and security. The LORD calls us away from that...

Abraham

Jacob

Joseph

Moses

The disciples

Acts is a book of missions.

Revelation is what you get for serving Jesus!

Names of God -  El Shaddai

 

The name El Shaddai first appears in Gen. 17:1-2 Remember  El is the God of power and might.  Shaddai comes from the word ‘field’, and is also translated ‘breast’. It means provision and abundance.  Ending in ai makes it plural possessive just as Adonai.  We could translate it ‘He who is all sufficient’.  God is more than enough to meet all your needs in any situation. Look at the impossible need in this first revelation of the name.