Lord, You Said …

As a child my Parents made me many promises, most of which they faithfully honoured and I thank God for the wisdom, love and comfort afforded both to me and my siblings in our family home. There were times when although I had been promised something, it seemed my Father or Mother had forgotten the promise? So from time to time, I found it needful and necessary to remind them. Daddy, You said you would take me in the Big Lorry. Mummy, You said you would buy me new shoes.

When was the last time you reminded God of His promises? Last week? Last year? It’s easy to put God in remembrance of your problems, but a more effective, powerful way to pray is to put God in remembrance of His promises. God says in Isaiah 43:26, “Put me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case.” Isaiah 62:6 says, “…take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.” One of the most powerful ways to pray is to find a promise in the Scripture and remind God of what He said about you. “Lord, You said I’m blessed and cannot be cursed. Lord, You said with long life You would satisfy me. Lord, You said Your favour is not for a season but for a lifetime”. When you can say “Lord, You said,” all of heaven comes to attention. Why? Because God is faithful to His Word. Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s Word will accomplish and achieve the purpose for which it is sent. It may not happen overnight, but if you will stay in faith and keep reminding God of what He promised you, God will fulfil His promises in your life. You will see His hand of victory!

Sometimes we use our prayer time as times to complain to God. We say, things like “Lord, these people are not treating me right,

these petrol prices are too high, these children are getting on my nerves,…” but you don’t have to tell God your problems, He already knows what you are going through, … He knows your every need, and every concern. He even knows the number of hairs on your head! Its OK to be open and honest and tell God how you feel, but don’t make your prayer times – pity parties?

If you do, then you will only become more discouraged.

Things will change, but if you want God to turn your circumstances around, then find a promise in His word before you go to God, and then come to him and say “Lord, you said … “when my enemy comes against me one way, you would come against them and cause them to flee seven different ways. (Deut 28:7) If the petrol prices are high, don’t focus on that, but say “Lord you said … you would supply all my needs according to your riches in glory” (Phil 4:19) “You said .. you are Jehovah Jireh – my provider. If the folks at work are not treating you right, stop complaining, come to the Lord and say “Lord, you said… you would be my vindicator, you said you would fight my battles, you said that what was meant for my harm, you would turn and use to my advantage. (Rom 8:28) When you put God in remembrance of His promises, that’s what allows God to bring them to pass. You may not feel well, the medical report does not look good, you could easily say, “Lord I don’t know how I am ever going to get well, my report is so bad – but don’t put him in remembrance of your problems, put him in remembrance of his promises . “Lord you said you would restore my health, you said I would live and not die, you said that what’s impossible with men is possible with God”.

When you pray the promises and not the problems, you will not only feel better, but you’ll change your attitude from that of a victim, to a victor! Gods word coming out of your mouth is alive and powerful. God cannot dispatch a miracle without the faith to believe for it. But when we prove to God, pass the test of faith, prove that we are trusting Him to change our world, then all heaven stands up, and the angels of God are sent on their ministry mission to our help and comfort. It may not all happen overnight, but if you can just stay in faith and keep reminding God of what he’s promised you, day in and day out, then eventually you will see what God said, will come to pass. Soon, instead of begging, Lord, you said, you will be saying, Lord, you did! You turned it around, you blessed me, you favoured me, you healed me, you restored me, you helped me. Praise God!

God is always true to what he says (John 17:17) A loving good parent will do all they humanly can to fulfil their promises to their children. And Jesus said in Matthew 7:11 ” If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” If, as human parents we feel obligated to stand by our promises or word to our children, how much more will God NOT LIE to his sons and heirs? All of His promises are Yes and Amen.

Some of us need to find new promises. Lord you said, “I will lend and not borrow, – my cup will run over, – whatever I touch will succeed, – you said you would prosper me even in a desert“. By reminding God what he said, you are releasing your faith, and you won’t have time to complain if you keep focused on the

“You Said’s” I have learned that I cannot get down and discouraged as long as I have Gods promises coming out of my mouth.

You may have family members today that are off course, they are not making good or right decisions, but instead of going around

complaining and telling God how bad it all is, (for talking about problems rarely make them go away) and even asking God to help you will not get his attention as much as “Father, you said “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord” (Josh 24:15) You said, “the seed of the righteous is blessed” You said, “you will contend with them that contend with me and save my children” (Isa 49:25)… take a You Said into the throne room of heaven today, for that’s what gets Gods attention.

A few days ago, I had a phone-call from the Mother of a young woman crippled by an incurable disease, at such an early age. Her Mother was asking for Prayer. I remember this child years ago and I knew that she had trusted in Jesus a long time ago as her Saviour. So I told her Mother to remind her daughter, that as a child of God, we should bow to nothing but Jesus. “just get her to say repeatedly, … I bow to nothing but Jesus” … and already there is a remarkable change in her condition after only a few days. Imagine what will happen after a few weeks. Its not about what your GP says, what the Hospital report says, or what your neighbours and friends may say, life and living for the Child of God should always only be built on what Gods word says. Lord…You Said!

Don’t bow to cancer, don’t bow to diabetes, don’t bow to anything but Jesus. His is the name above every other name.

(Phil 2:9) Praise God! Gods word will hold you together, while mans words can pull you apart! All through the day, we should be putting God in remembrance of His promises.

The Scripture which I have linked to Isaiah 43:26 “put God in remembrance of His promises” is also found in Isaiah 62:6 and says “keep not silent, give him no rest till it comes to pass.”

Now some of us have a good “you said” we have a promise on which we have taken a stand, but maybe we have become too

passive in our claiming of it? You cannot remind God one time, and then keep silent, the text says “keep not silent”. This does not mean that we ask and ask and ask for the same thing over and over and over, as some imagine. We need only ask once, but we do need to repeatedly remind God that we are standing on the promises, so that He can measure the faith of the heart. For at the heart of a mans faith, is the faith of a mans heart. Jesus said: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”

(Matt 12:34) While God knows our thoughts and hears our words, he needs to see what is in the heart, do we really believe? Have we really gotten confidence in Him? We have to persist, not nagging or begging, but reminding Him of his promises. While taking your morning shower, “Lord you said I am more than a conqueror”, driving to work, “Lord you said many are the afflictions of the righteous but you will deliver him out of them all” facing touch decisions “Lord you said you will go before me and make the crooked paths straight”.

We need to know that we just do this one time and think we are done. Don’t say to me, “David, I did this last week, last year, or in 1984”, we need to be doing this – living like this, all the time, every single day!

I was thinking about these words “keep not silent” and the thought of a “pest” came to me. My mother used to say, “stop pestering me”! You may have to be a pest to God, reminding God what he promised, not begging but relentless in petition and prayer, …”put me in remembrance” … its His Command! Some of you would see your lives go to a new and higher level if you would stop being so passive in the place of prayer, and start reminding God what He said about your family, your health, your finances and prosperity, your business, your future, and your destiny.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 18, about an unjust Judge. This man neither feared God nor favoured men. One day a widow woman came to him with a problem. Apparently, a man was bothering her and she needed the law to protect her. She was in fact saying that the law promised her protection and that the Judge should enforce that law making him leave her alone. This Judge, did not even give her the time of day, he didn’t pay any attention to her, he literally ignored her plea. But she did not get discouraged, she knew that the law, the promise, was on her side. So she came back to the court, day after day, week after week, and when that Judge would walk into his courtroom, that woman was there making her case, and claiming her rights.

Finally she wore him down, and he gave in to her, not because he liked her, or agreed with her, but because he wanted her to leave him alone. One translation reads “because of her shameless persistence”.

The Good news is that God is not like that Judge, God is for us, God is on our side. If we want to see those promises come to pass we too may have to stand on them for a long time, a year maybe two, or maybe 20 years, but like this woman in the Parable, don’t keep silent, you know what belongs to you, just put God in remembrance of his promises.

He says we should do it!

I heard a while ago, of a childless couple who repeatedly made such an approach to God in Prayer. Kevin and Lisa had tried for six years to have a baby without any success so Lisa wrote a contract between her and God. She listed on a piece of paper all the promises that she was standing on concerning a baby, and she made it like a legal contract. She even signed the bottom of it and had Kevin sign it too. Isaiah 41 says, “present your case before God make your arguments – bring forth your proof”

Lisa wrote at the top of the contact,

Lord, Kevin and I are presenting our case to you and our case is based on your word. You said in Genesis 28:3 that we should be fruitful and multiply, but how can we do that unless you help us. Lord you said in Psalm 112:2 that our children would be mighty in the land, God how can that be, without children? Lord, You put a Barren Woman’s song in Psalm 13, but how can we sing unless you bless us. We have done all we know how to do; now we are presenting our case based on your word knowing that you are “faithful and true” to what you have promised.

Lisa kept that piece of paper on her bathroom mirror, and week after week month after month, they kept reminding God of his promises. Two years later, she became pregnant with twins, and now they have three beautiful children. God is faithful and true, remind him, he needs to hear you say it!

My question to you today is are you presenting your case?

Have you like Lisa and Kevin, found the promises and are you presenting them before God. The good news is that in the courtroom of heaven, Jesus is our advocate (1 John 2:1)

Jesus is our lawyer, arguing on our behalf, and as long as you and I present our case, any case, based on Gods word,

we cannot, … We will not lose!

It would be a useful and helpful exercise for all of us today to make a list of the promises we are standing on, and fix that to our bathroom mirror, or somewhere where you will see it every day. All though the day, week after week, month after month, keep on reminding God what he’s promised. When those disturbing thoughts come that you are never going to rise higher, never going to make it through, never going to change your world, never going to amount to much, never going to win your battles, never going to get to heaven, never going to be like Jesus: then present your case. Lord, you said, “the path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter” Lord, you said ” the glory of the latter house would be greater than the glory of the former house” Lord, you said “you prepare a table before me … and

my cup runneth over”.

That’s what I call presenting your case based on His Word.

But sometimes, especially when life and times are difficult, instead of presenting our case, we plead our case. We scream: “God, please, you have got to help me, I went to Church last week-end, I am a good person, I give my tithes, I say my prayers I pay my way, – God, I’m begging you to do something”

But the problem with all of that is that you do not have any proof, you are not taking any evidence with you into Gods presence. You are just describing your circumstances, describing how you feel. But in any court of law you must be prepared to win your argument. You don’t say “Judge I need some help” NO, you take documentary evidence with you

to show to the court that what you say, is true. In heavens Courtroom, (so to speak) you can remind God what His contract with you says … “no weapon formed against me will prosper: Isaiah 54:17 & you are a very present help in time of trouble: Psalm 46:1 & the strength of the wicked is being cut off but the power of the godly is being increased: Ps 75:10”

If you go to God with this sort of evidence, that’s a powerful and unbeatable case. Stop pleading your case, and start presenting your case. If your children are playing up, then instead of crying to God for their salvation and your sanity, remind him

that he has promised that “Children are a gift from God” that “Happy is the home full of them” ( Psalm 127)

In 1 Chronicles 17, God made David a promise which seemed almost impossible. David was not from a wealthy influential family, No, he was just ordinary a regular one of the crowd.

Yet God promised that “one of his descendants would

always be on the throne of Israel. ( v14)

David was overwhelmed, He said Lord I am only a shepherd-boy and you are talking with me as if I was somebody great? It was like one of those promises that goes in one ear and out the other. But instead of talking himself out of it, he said: “Lord if you are bold enough to promise it, then I am bold enough to believe it”. I can imagine that when times got tough, and enemies were coming against him and it looked like he would

be defeated, then he would go back to God and remind the

Lord of that promise. “Lord, You Said ….”

Sometimes when we read the Scriptures, we see promises that in the natural seem impossible. For instance, when it tells us that we shall live and not die, or that we shall be strong and do exploits, the natural evidence might all look very different. We may have grown old, we may have failing health and strength, in fact for some of us, we may choose to ignore even deny such promises and long for heaven instead. But if like David we are able to say “Lord if you are bold enough to promise it, then

I am bold enough to believe it” we shall then see a complete

turn around in our circumstances.

NOW THIS FINAL WORD

I have a friend who is now nearing 90, but looks more like he is nearing 80 years young? Several years ago, he was in very

poor health and in need of major heart surgery. At that time his

wife was diagnosed with cancer. My friend laid hold on the promises of God and reminded the Lord that if he was to be able to care for his wife during her last months and weeks, then God would have to “renew his strength”. Lord, you said: “they that wait on the Lord renew their strength they mount up with wings like eagles they run and are not weary they walk and do not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 )

Having been put in remembrance of his promises the Lord reached into this mans body and miraculously gave him a complete restoration of his health, to where both his family and friends reckoned he had about 10 years taken off the aging process, …not only did he feel younger, he even looked younger and I myself have taken the photographs that prove it.

This restoration of health and turning back of the years was something that would have seemed impossible in the natural, but not in the spiritual. The world cannot experience such things, but Lord, you said

“is there anything too hard for me”?

Get into the habit of reminding the Lord of those things that He Said, and on which You Stand. Amen.