By REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
(Transcribed by Myra D. Colgate)
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Read: Isaiah 46:9-10; Genesis 22:1-19
What a wonderful Promise today from the Lord Who declares, “He finished it before He ever started any of it.”
How many realize today that those things that are already going on in your life are already done in the Heavens? Know that your life is already going on and you’re just walking through it right now.
In fact, God had already spoken to ‘your answer’ before you ever knew you had a problem. Before you started walking down the pathway toward what you thought was going to be a destruction, God was already moving an answer from another direction and it is even now coming right towards you—just as it was for Abraham.
The Lord had had that ram walk up that mountain from another side and then get caught, held tangled up in that thicket for both Isaac’s and Abraham’s sake and within His Own Will, we also can see a very Purposeful Test of obedience for Abraham and for Isaac.
Over in time again, I have seen where the Lord has allowed me to go through some things that to others it looked like, ‘all was over.’ I’ve literally had friends who said to me, “You must have upset God because of all the trials and all the tests and all of the struggles, and yet, I was able to look them in the eyes and say, “You just wait and see what God does next.” It’s because I realized that sometimes I must go through a valley to get to the mountain top that He has called me to, or sometimes I must go through a desert that I won’t enjoy. It’s dry and it’s arid and can be a difficult journey, but I’m headed to an “oasis” that will supply every need that I may have.
I’ve even found myself locked away in a “cave of life”, wondering if my prayers were even breaking through the ceiling of it, but all the while, the “ravens” were feeding me and the “brook was watering” me. Why? Because God had prepared an answer before the test ever began.
In Genesis, Chapter 22, we read an historical account of the man named Abraham, which literally means, “A Friend of God.” I found out it is possible to be “a friend of God” and still be sick. I found out it is possible to be “a friend of God” and still have trials. I found out out it is possible to be “a friend of God” and walk through difficult places, but the “good news” is, “He goes with me everywhere I go.” This is why He declared, “I Am a Friend Who sticks closer than a brother.” In other words, when you cannot depend on anybody else, you can still depend on Jesus.
It also states in Chapter 22. “It came to pass…” There are some things in life that just “come to pass.” Aren’t you glad you are not stuck in the middle of it? That God is working you through it? He’ll help one through it. If you found your way into it, He will help you find a way out of it. “And it came to pass.”
Some of you need to look at your problems and say, “It came to pass.” They came today and they’re going tomorrow. I wasn’t able to do it today, but I’m doing it tomorrow. Glory to God!” “The Lord knows what He’s doing!”
It came to pass after these things, that God came to test Abraham. He said, “Abraham.” And Abraham said, “Behold, here I am.” “Behold, take thine son, Isaac, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I shall show thee of.”
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two servants with him and his son, Isaac. He claimed the wood for a burnt offering and rose up and went into the place which God told him.
Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Abraham said to the young men and told them to “abide you here with the ass, and we will go yonder and worship and will come again unto you.”
“Father, this morning, I pray, you would speak a Powerful Word into the Earth and all over this world. I pray that those watching by television today would receive the Word, as well as those here, and those listening with good attendance by radio, that would cause us all to look at things quite differently. I give you all my worship, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
To be continued…
