Taking Jesus at His Word

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours (Mark 11:22-25 NLT).

I am writing a book entitled: My Past Is HIStory: A Saga of God’s Faithfulness. The book chronicles all the times God provided for me even when I did not know Him, or really trust Him. It is a never ending story.

The Apostle Paul said:

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19 NLT).

How many of our needs? ALL.

And where will the supply come from? JESUS.

Paul is saying that for everything we need, Jesus has the supply. Jesus tells us to simply ask Him, and He will give us whatever we need. Not want, but need. Our asking should be in accord with His will.

We are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15 NLT).

For years I prayed for things that I knew were His will, and never received them. It was my fault, not His. In those days, I did not understand that Jesus had turned ME right side up into WE. I did not understand that I was ONE with Jesus. My old self was dead, and He was my Life. I kept asking Jesus to help ME when ME did not exist anymore. When Jesus and ME were fused together, Jesus and ME became WE.

Jesus needs nothing. If Jesus is my Life now, then I don’t need anything either. He is my everything. But sometimes I forget. Let me share a recent story from my saga.

I used to be OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). I was a perfectionist. An approval addict. A people pleaser. A nervous wreck. I could not sleep for thinking about things I needed to do better, or things I should not have done, or simply needed to get done. My mind never stopped thinking. A more accurate term would be worrying.

My lack of sleep was killing me. Several years ago, my doctor put me on a sleeping pill that shut off my thoughts so I could sleep. It was wonderful. I started sleeping and my energy level rose dramatically. I couldn’t live without it. Some people said I was addicted, but I was not. I could stop taking it anytime I wanted if I didn’t want to sleep.

This past week, I ran out of sleeping pills. I called the doctor for a refill. I went to the pharmacy to pick up my Rx, and they told me they could not fill it. I was seven days early for the next refill because it was a controlled substance. I could not believe it. I took one pill a day for the Rx amount. How could I have run out? But the Lord was about to teach me something new.

The Lord is teaching me that everything that happens in my life He has a purpose and plan for. A plan for my benefit and His glory. Everything, small and large has a purpose.

The first thought I had about this bad news stemmed from fear. “How can I go a week without sleeping? I’ll be a zombie.” Then perfect love cast my fear away. Here is what He said to me:

“Kenny, you don’t need pills to sleep now. I am your Life, and I sleep just fine. I slept through a storm on a boat out in the rain. I was physically tired and needed to sleep, and My Father gave Me what I needed. I will do the same for you if you only ask Me.”

The psalmist said: It is no use for you to get up early and stay up late, working for a living. The Lord gives sleep to those He loves (Psalm 127:2 NCV).

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I get to see my JOurneY Family whom I love dearly. I get to tell them how wonderful Jesus is. We go out to eat lunch after church and enjoy the fellowship. It’s a great day, but very exhausting for me. WE (Jesus and me) expend a lot of energy.

Sunday night was our first night without pills. We went to bed and I said: “Okay, Lord, if you are going to sleep, then I’m going to sleep with You.” And I rolled over and fell asleep. I slept even better than I sleep with the pills. Last night was Monday night, and again I slept like a log. I woke up both mornings refreshed and alert.

What made the difference? I took Jesus at His word. He is always true to His word. I have to admit that I was amazed at how well I slept. I could have been sleeping this well all along without the pills if I had just believed Him. So God took away my pills in order to give me something far better. Himself.

We should not be amazed when God does what He says He will do. We should be amazed if He doesn’t do what He says. But since that would be impossible for Him, why don’t we have higher expectations when we pray?

Think about that the next time you run out of _____. You fill in the blank. He will fill the need.

Blessings,

Kenny