September 1st, 2022

What God Says Goes

Lamentations 3:37 NIV

"Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?"

      In this week's message, which will be available for you to listen to Saturday afternoon, I'll be discussing the idea of Jesus sharing in our suffering. We see one specific example take place in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus falls on His face and prays to God, asking Him to take the cup of suffering from His hands. He says this knowing that the time is coming that Judas will betray Him and turn Him over to the authorities for His inevitable crucifixion. But after getting up to deal with His sleeping apostles, He then comes back and prays again that if God will not take the cup of suffering from His hands unless He drinks from it, then let not His will be done, but God's will be done. Jesus knew that He had a purpose to fulfill here on this earth. A purpose that had been planned out for Him long before he was formed in his mother, Mary's, womb. It didn't matter how hard he prayed, it didn't matter who tried to stand in His way, Jesus was not leaving this earth until everything God had planned for Him came to pass. 

      Just as Jesus had a purpose to fulfill, we too have a purpose to fulfill. A divine plan that had been created personally for our lives that God designed before we were even born. And no amount of prayer can get us out of it. There is not a person walking this earth that can stand in our way or nullify it. There is no road too far off that we can't be redirected back onto the path God set out for our lives. What God has planned will come to pass, and as faithful followers, all we must do is sit back and trust that God will properly equip us for such a plan. And while we may stumble down the wrong path and lose our way from time to time, it doesn't mean that we can't come back and allow God to clean up the mess. Sometimes it's the mess-ups that cause us to be better prepared for the great plan God has for our lives. I want to remind you today that no one in the whole world can ruin the plan God has for your life. If God says it's going to happen, then it's going to happen. Even Jesus wasn't exempt from God's will for His life. And never forget that God's plan is always for good.