From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: The devil says look at all these other things that are going to make you afraid, and the Lord says turn your eyes away from all those other things and fix your eyes on me. It's the principle of perspective. What are you looking at? Are you looking at all those other things? Are you saying, "Well, that just feels so real"? Lift up and fix your eyes on the Lord. Look to him and leave your problems with him. And when you do, amazing things happen.

Larry Robles: Have you ever been in really big trouble, big time, and you simply don't know what direction to turn? In the Old Testament, Job said, "Man who is born of a woman is short-lived and full of trouble." In other words, every life is full of trouble. What do you do when you've got trouble with a capital T? Do you let your fear drive you away from God or toward him?

Today, Pastor Jeff Schreve will tell you that it's just a matter of perspective. This is From His Heart, and our lesson today is called The Principle of Perspective. It's one of five in the series, Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do. You can go online for more information or to listen to and watch other messages from this series that you may have missed as we continue through them this month. Just go to fromhisheart.org and click the listen link. Now though, open your Bible to the book of 2nd Chronicles and turn to chapter 20 as Pastor Jeff explains how you can have power over your troubles when you apply the principle of perspective. Here is Pastor Jeff.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: We're going to learn today when you've got trouble and you don't know what to do. Jehoshaphat says that. "Lord, I don't know what to do. We don't know what to do." Three decisions that you need to make when you're facing trouble with a capital T.

Decision number one: you let your fear drive you to the Lord. Jehoshaphat is afraid. Now, I like it when the Bible tells us about godly people who get afraid. Why? Because I get afraid. This is what you need to do with fear: you need to let fear drive you to seek the Lord. That's what the Bible says that Jehoshaphat did.

It says in verse three, "And Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." Now notice this: when you seek the Lord, seek him earnestly. What does that mean? It means you seek him with all your heart. It means it's not a ho-hum kind of thing. You're really focused on seeking the Lord. The Lord's got your full attention.

Then you seek him corporately. You come together to seek the Lord. Look at verse four: "So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord. They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord, to seek Yahweh." They had to travel. All the cities got together, and they're coming to the temple in Jerusalem. They're coming to God's house. They're coming to get together with other Jews who are in the same boat because they're going to get wiped out. They're going to wipe out Judah. So they get together, and they come together corporately. It's important to come together, especially when you are facing big trouble.

Second decision that they made that you can make: you let your voice cry out in prayer. Verse five: "Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem. Everybody's gathered there in the house of the Lord before the new court. And he said, 'Oh Lord, oh Yahweh, the God of our fathers, art thou not God in the heavens? And art thou not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in thy hand, so that no one can stand against thee.'"

What do you do? Don't know what to do. I'm going to seek the Lord, and I'm going to lift my voice in prayer. You've got to know how to pray. Jehoshaphat knew how to pray, and we can learn a lot about prayer from him. How do you pray? Well, first of all, you praise God for who he is. That's how you start your prayer. Start your prayer with praise.

Secondly, remind God of what he has said and done. God likes it when we remind him of things that he has said and things that he has done. Look at verses seven, eight, and nine. He says, "Lord, did you not, oh our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people and give it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend, forever? And they lived in it and have built you a sanctuary there for your name, saying, 'Should evil come upon us, the sword or judgment or pestilence or famine, we will stand before this house and before thee, for thy name is in this house, and cry to thee in our distress, and thou wilt hear and deliver us.'"

Listen, when you pray, you praise him and then you pray his word back to him. You tell God in prayer, reverently in prayer, "Lord, this is what you said. Lord, this is what you did. And Lord, we're trusting you." 2nd Corinthians chapter one: "For as many as may be the promises of God, in him, in Jesus, they're yes." Yes! Every time you run across a promise in God's word, in Jesus Christ that's yes, that means that's for you.

Jesus died so that promise could be true for you. For as many as may be the promises of God, in him they are yes; wherefore also by him is our amen to the glory of God through us. Which means when you find a promise in God's word and God says that's for you because Jesus signed off on that promise check saying that's for you, then you say amen to that promise. You say, "Yes, Lord. I say let it be so." That's what amen means. "Let it be so. I say amen to that promise, and I'm taking that promise check, and I'm taking it to heaven's bank and I'm cashing it."

God loves it when we do that. He loves it when we claim his promises. It's not a "name it and claim it" kind of theology. God has to name it before you can claim it. God has to give the promise before you can claim the promise. But when he does give the promise, just as Peter said, "For the promise is for you and your children and all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to himself," then you take that promise and you claim that promise. That's what Jehoshaphat did. "Lord, you promised. This is what you said, this is what you've done, and we're claiming that."

Then you honestly share with God your situation. Look what he says, verse 10: "And now, behold the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, that's what they called the Meunites, they were from Mount Seir, whom thou didst not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. They turned aside from them and did not destroy them." He said, "Hey God, you wouldn't let us wipe those people out. And so look how they're repaying us in verse 11. They've come to drive us out from the possession which you gave us, that you gave us as an inheritance."

And he says in verse 12, "Oh our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what to do." "God, we're powerless and we're clueless." He just shares honestly from the heart. "This is our situation, Lord. And here I am, and I'm king, and the king's supposed to have it all together, and the king's supposed to lead the people, and the king is supposed to know what to do, and I don't know what to do."

He's honest. God loves it when we pray his word back to him, and God loves it when we just get honest. One of the biggest reasons that people don't grow in their Christian life is because they won't get honest. They won't really deal with stuff and get honest. They just kind of throw it back in the closet and act like everything's fine, and God sees everything. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good, and God knows it's there. We don't bring that to the Lord, and we don't get honest with the Lord.

What we need to say is, "Lord, I'm struggling here. Lord, I'm struggling with this sin, and I'm struggling with that sin, and I'm struggling with bitterness. And God, this person did this to me, and it's just got me all wound up." Share that with the Lord. Psalm 62, verse eight: "Trust in him at all times, oh people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us." He's a safe place. He's somebody that you can go to with all your hurts and all your secrets. He's somebody that you can pour it out to and say, "God, this is the real me, and this is what I'm facing, and this is what I'm feeling."

Let your voice cry out in prayer. Then decision number three: let your eyes stay fixed on the Lord. This is key, so key. Look at verse 12 again. He says, "Oh our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on thee." He didn't say, "God, there are three nations coming together to destroy us and our eyes are on them." Our eyes aren't on them; our eyes are on thee. Our eyes are on you, Lord. We're trusting you.

The devil wants you to fix your eyes on the trouble. He always says, "Hey, get your eyes on them. Get your eyes on your Ammonites, your Moabites, your Meunites. Get your eyes on your cancer, get your eyes on your physical problems, get your eyes on your marital problems, get your eyes on this and that and the other. Get your eyes on the fact that there are layoffs. Get your eyes on the fact that you're looking for a job and there are no jobs out there. Get your eyes on those things. Get your eyes on the trouble."

And we tend to do that a lot, don't we? Because it's easy to get your eyes on the trouble because the trouble is just right there in front of you. God is closer than the shirt on your back, but you don't see him so much of the time. You don't feel him, and so you feel the trouble. The trouble seems so real because it's right there, and God seems far away. So it's easy to get your focus right on the problem, on those armies, whatever the armies are in your life that are coming against you, that are filling your heart with fear. Whatever that trouble is, the devil says look at that. And the Lord says look to me. Look to me.

Listen, some of you are here and that's all you see are your problems. You're afraid and you feel like you're sinking. You are sinking, because the problems are going to feel overwhelming to you. See, the devil wants you to fix your eyes on the trouble, and the Lord wants you to look to him and leave it with him. Leave your trouble, leave your problems with him. You look to him and you leave it with him.

Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12, "We have a great cloud of witnesses that are surrounding us. People who have gone before us who have been faithful to the Lord." And it says that we're to run this race with endurance, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. Fixing our eyes. That word "fixing," you need to circle that. That's the Greek word aphorao. It means to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something else.

The devil says look at all these other things that are going to make you afraid, and the Lord says turn your eyes away from all those other things and fix your eyes on me. But our eyes are on you. It's the principle of perspective. What are you looking at?

Larry Robles: So where are you focusing your spiritual eyes? On the world or on Jesus? Even in troubled times, God has good things waiting for his people. Stay with us. Pastor Jeff Schreve will return in just a moment on From His Heart to conclude the lesson called The Principle of Perspective. It's from the series Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do.

After listening to today's lesson, perhaps you've been reminded of just how hard life can be. Everybody faces difficulties at work and home and in our spiritual lives. Perhaps you perceive your biggest trouble to be related to money, as so many do. As we've learned today, perspective on all things, including money, is very vital. The Bible makes it clear that everything belongs to God, everything. And we are to be wise in the stewardship of these gifts from God.

Now, as that relates to you, how are you to understand and manage your finances in a way that pleases the Lord and brings you peace and joy? In a new three-lesson practical series from Pastor Jeff called God and Money: What the Bible Says About Managing Money, he shares three priorities that we all should pay attention to as it relates to money management. It's so vital that we remain faithful with what the Lord has entrusted to us.

This is really a great series to empower you to make the most out of your money for the Lord and your peace. When you support From His Heart this month with a gift of any amount, we want to send you a copy of this series, God and Money. You can get it on a USB flash drive, CDs, DVDs, or an MP3 digital download. Simply call 866-40-BIBLE, or go online to fromhisheart.org. And know that we thank you so very much for investing in kingdom work through From His Heart. Now let's conclude the message, The Principle of Perspective, from Pastor Jeff Schreve's series Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Robert Louis Stevenson shares a story. He's the writer and poet. He shares a story about a passenger ship at sea going through a terrible, horrible storm. The passengers are scared to death; they think they're going to die. They're down below on a particular deck, all kind of huddled together, worrying together, thinking they're going to die.

One passenger makes his way up, breaks away from the group. He makes his way up on the top deck. There's only one person on the top deck, and that's the captain, and he's at the wheel. He goes up there and he fights through the rain and the wind and he sees the captain. The captain senses that he's there, and the captain knows this guy must be really afraid. So the captain turns around and he smiles a confident smile at that passenger.

That passenger goes back down into the ship and he goes to the huddled, scared passengers and says, "There is no need for fear. I just saw the captain and he smiled at me." He's in charge. He's in control. This storm doesn't have him freaked out. You need to see the captain. That's the principle of perspective. "I'm looking at you, Lord." And just as the song says, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things on earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

What are you looking at? Are you looking at all those other things? Are you saying, "Well, that just feels so real"? Lift up and fix your eyes on the Lord. Look to him and leave your problems with him. And when you do, amazing things happen. This is what God did in answer to Jehoshaphat's prayer.

It says that the spirit of the Lord came upon a guy named Jahaziel, and he said this, God's spirit put these words in his mouth and spoke through him, verse 15: "Listen all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat. Thus says the Lord Yahweh to you. Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's." You're looking to me; it's my battle.

He says, "Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. You need not fight in this battle. Station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, oh Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you."

You look to the Lord, and you leave your problems with him and you say, "Lord, I'm trusting you. Lord, I'm looking to you." God responds to that, and he brought deliverance for his people. Now, there's no way, humanly speaking, that they could have won. There's just too many. I don't think anybody could say, "I could whip three armies all at once." You can't do that. You can whip people if you fight them face to face, but you can't whip them when there's three of them. Three on one is too much. And so this was too much for the people, but it's not too much for God.

God says, "You just stand and see." Now, the Lord wants you to look to him, leave it with him, and he wants you to experience a miracle. I believe that. Far too often, we don't experience enough miracles in our lives. Why is that? Is that because God can't do miracles? God still knows how to do miracles, and God wants to do miracles. The reason that we don't see more miracles and more answers to prayer is because we don't look to him, we don't leave it with him.

This is what we do. You know, the Bible says cast your burden on the Lord and he'll sustain you. Pretend that this Bible is a big burden that I have. It's my trouble, whatever my trouble is. Here is my trouble and I've got it and it's weighing me down. It's a big burden and I come before the Lord and the Lord says, "Cast your burden on me." And so I put that burden on the Lord and say, "Lord, that's your burden. That's your problem, Lord. I'm going to trust you. Amen." And I take it back.

That's what so many of us do. When we pray, we put it before him, but before we get up off our knees, we take it back. We're so worried, so bothered, so fearful. God says, "Look to me and leave it with me. Cast it on me and trust me to work a miracle."

And those people believed God. Jehoshaphat believed God. You know how I know that they believed God? Because when they went out for battle, you know who were in the front of the lines of the army? The choir! And they were singing and praising.

Look what it says in verse 21: "And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised him in holy attire as they went out before the army and said, 'Give thanks to the Lord, for his loving kindness is everlasting.' And when they began singing and praising, Yahweh, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, so they were routed."

They believed God. They walked by faith and not by sight, and they said, "Hey God, we believe that you're going to fight for us. You told us that we didn't even have to fight. And so who are we sending out before the army? Our choir! And they're just going to sing and they're just going to praise."

And God responded. Faith always has legs on it. Real faith, you can always see some kind of evidence of real faith. And so they stepped out in faith, and God gave them the victory. They won so much. There were lots of people coming against them because the Bible says that when they went out, all the people were dead. They slaughtered themselves. The Ammonites fought the Moabites and then they fought the Meunites. They all fought each other until they all died.

And so Jehoshaphat and the people, they just come out there, everybody's dead, and they just have all their spoil. And there was so much spoil because there were so many people that it took three days to haul it all back to Jerusalem. Three days' worth of spoil! That's a lot. You know what I love about this story is God took a situation that looked like certain death and he flipped it around to be a huge, great victory with great abundance, so much abundance. That's God.

Where are your eyes today? What are you looking at? You can make a decision to seek the Lord. You can make the decision to lift your voice in prayer. You can do just what he did: you can praise God, you can claim his promises, you can share your heart. Those things aren't hard to do.

And then thirdly, and the most important one, is you can choose to look to him. You can choose to get your eyes off all the other stuff and to fix your eyes on him. And that decision to fix your eyes on him makes the biggest difference of all, because many of us know when you're in trouble, you seek the Lord. Many of us know when you're in trouble, you pray to the Lord. But few of us really understand I need to keep my eyes on him, because that is what's going to bring about the victory.

Larry Robles: It's that constant steady gaze on him that keeps our feet on solid footing when trouble breaks loose around us. Today's message was part two of the lesson The Principle of Perspective, available in multiple formats from our online resource center. Go to fromhisheart.org to get yours. It's also one of five lessons in the series Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do. You can get your copy there too in our resource center at fromhisheart.org. Or you can call 866-40-BIBLE and ask for the series Got Trouble?

Well, that's all the time we have for today. We are so grateful that you joined us, and we pray the message was a blessing to you. I'm Larry Robles, inviting you to be back next time when Pastor Jeff will continue the series Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do, and he'll explore how we can simplify life and live trouble-free. Here is just a little bit of what we'll learn then.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: God, he's not asking us to figure out some massive formula, E equals MC squared. Explain that, and then this miracle can come. That would be complicated, right? He's asking us to just simply trust and obey. Be with us on Thursday for the message, It's Not That Complicated, right here on From His Heart.