Episode Details

No amount of problems can stop God’s plan for you. Nothing can cancel God’s purposes. God’s will WILL fight through every adversity, through every affliction, through every trouble and prosper on the other side. Every time. Guaranteed.

God is undefeated. Victory is forever in his right hand.

But, as God’s people, we will go through our fair share of problems. We will face adversity. We will endure affliction. Trouble will come our way. We live in the real world and there are no faith bubbles to protect us from real life. HOWEVER – we are promised in Romans 8:28, “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose for them.” That means God works in every detail of our lives into something good.

It may not be good in the beginning, but it will be worked into something good. Just like baking powder in a cake, you don’t want a teaspoon of that in your mouth, but it’s a detail worked together for good in your cake.

Maybe what you’re facing right now is a teaspoon of baking powder. Singled out, this situation is unpleasant and undesirable. But nothing in your life is a stand alone event – ever. All things are working together. One thing always leads to the next thing. Some things just don’t feel good in the unfolding, but you haven’t seen the full picture yet.

You know who has seen the full picture? God. God says in Isaiah 46:10, “Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.” God has a plan, we’re promised it’s a good plan, and it absolutely WILL happen. God already knows it, sees it, holds it, and is making a way to it.

After finishing our study of the book of Genesis last week, we see the unfolding of tremendous affliction for God’s people in the next book, Exodus. Remember Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery and ends up in Egypt. 22 years later, Joseph has risen to the 2nd in command of Egypt and controls the only food in the country during a famine. Joseph’s brothers come to him from Israel, begging for food. He graciously saves them and their families. This is how the Israelites move to Egypt. They’re starving and Egypt has the only food during the famine.

Now, several generations later, the Israelites are still in Egypt and they have greatly flourished. They’ve been prosperous, multiplying, spreading out, and gaining power. And now, generations later, there’s a new king in Egypt, and this King sees a great problem with these successful Israelites in his land. They have done so well, they could take over his land if they wanted to. The King is afraid, so the oppression begins.

Fear makes us do stupid things. Fear turns us into people we don’t want to be. This King was afraid, so he began to do horrible things. I promise you this – fear could drive you to do the same.

Fear will have you twisting truth, creating sides, and stirring fights. Fear will bring out the ugliest side of you.

My sister, where has fear been growing within you, causing you to act in ways you hate? Fear turned the mighty and blessed King Saul into a crazy man on the warpath. Fear can do the same to you.

When my daughters were teens, I allowed my own fear to cause me to parent in a way I’m not proud of. My mind became filled with fearful thoughts and I went into overdrive trying to control everything and everyone. Rather than leading from love, I lead from fear. It wasn’t the best me.

Can you see how fear has caused you to do some stupid things? Can you see how fear is turning you into someone you don’t want to be? Bring that fear to God now and ask him to lift it from you. It is not God’s will for you to operate out of fear. His word tells us hundreds of times to NOT FEAR – why is that? Because fear changes who we are and what we do, and it’s never good.

The new King of Egypt was filled with fear, so he became an evil man w