When You’re Waiting on God

at all of our churches for those of you that are believers you're followers of Jesus would you take a moment and raise your hand if you believe in the power of prayer raise your hand high if you believe in the power of prayer online you can type in the comment section I believe in the power of prayer leave them up I believe in the power of prayer go ahead and put them down if you will and I want to ask you another question how many of you know you should probably pray more raise your hands

interesting right check it out that's kind of funny to me like all of us if we're followers of Jesus we really do believe in a God who hears and responds to our faith and yet almost all of us would say we really should be more engaged talking to and praying with praying to God uh more on prayer in just a moment what I want to do is I want to review where we've been we're in a message series through the Book of Jonah last week we looked at Jonah chapter one and we looked at what

we might call a reluctant Prophet if you remember in verse one the word of the Lord came to Jonah and said go and preach to the people of Nineveh those Wicked people their wickedness has come before me and basically God said to Jonah go and Jonah said no so God said whoa you like that I made it up myself actually I probably didn't make it up I probably saw it somewhere but uh God told him to go to Nevan preach and Jonah instead found a ship and went as far as he could in the other

direction in fact I want to show you the map again just so you'll get it he was in japa God said go east to n about 550 miles he didn't go east he went the other way on a ship 2500 miles as far as he could in the other direction and we learned the principle that last week if you want to run from God the devil will always offer you a ride you can always find a ship sailing in the wrong Direction so Jonah's on this boat and God sends this really big storm now I'm

going to show you a storm we're not going to leave it up there long because last week we found out some of you got seasick so hang on I'll go fast so there's a storm about to tear apart the boat and Jonah says it's my fault throw me overboard and the sailors who didn't want to do it they tried everything else possible but they realized it was Jonah's fault so they threw Jonah overboard and when they did the storm completely went calm and all of the sailors looked on and said oh my gosh if God

can do that we want to know that God we want to serve that God and they turned their hearts to God good news for them but Jonah was still all alone in the ocean and it looks very very hopeless for him and so there Jonah is overboard because he was disobeying God and there's an unusual verse at the end of chapter 1 we didn't look at it last week I saved it for you this week but there's this unusual verse that says this now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was

in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights let's make sure we understand where we are chapter one Jonah ran from God now he's down in the belly of the fish chapter two Jonah prayed to God Jonah 2:1 tells us this from inside the what did Jonah do everybody say it aloud Jonah prayed to the Lord what did Jonah do Jonah prayed you can type it in online in the comment section Jonah prayed chapter one Jonah runs that's a summary chapter two Jonah praise that's the summary at this time I would normally

announce my title but there were so many good options I couldn't figure out which one to use Jonah praying from a fish there are so many possibilities so I thought just for fun maybe you guys could help me you want to vote this here which title do you want I'll give you the titles the first one is fishy prayers how you like that I mean there's so many the second one is deep sea drama the third one is a whale of a prayer I need you to vote online I need people here Make Some Noise

raise your hands fishy prayers fishy prayers deep sea drama a a whale of a pray prayer and the title of today's message is a whale of a prayer let's look at the text again the very last verse of chapter one Jonah ran from the Lord and who is the main character of The Book of Jonah the main character is the Lord the Lord and the very last verse of chapter one says this the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah that's funny to me can I be real with y'all if I'm on a cruise

ship with Amy and let's say I get drunk on cookies because I don't drink Al I I I ate too many what whatever I'm it gets Rocky I fall off the boat I'm in the water if I'm overboard on a cruise I am not hoping for a big fish right if the Lord's going to provide something I'm thinking like the Lord provided a life jacket the Lord provided a dingy boat with someone to pull me in the Lord provided an island I don't know the Lord provided a mermaid an ugly mermaid an average looking mermaid

one that can swim just making sure you you working with me you know the Lord didn't provide a big fish I mean if you're in the middle of the ocean and this something like a whale swallows you that doesn't feel like a praise report right come on you guys are acting like oh yeah praise the Lord I'm in a fish okay that feels like a punishment if I'm in the middle of this like you know I I don't even know what's in the middle of a fish like fish juice fish acid fish belly fish guts

fish dead other fish you know I don't know I'm thinking like God why did you let this happen why in the world am I going through this and if we can take a little Rabbit Trail there may be some of you who tend to think what I thought for a long time time and I always thought that pain is always punishment think about it to Jonah the big fish seemed like nothing but a big problem here I am in the middle of I didn't want this I didn't want I didn't call on this this fish

is a problem but Who provided the fish the main character of the story The Lord provided the fish I want to tell somebody here that sometime times what we call a problem God calls provision sometimes God May provide in ways that we didn't choose and we didn't expect and God provides a fish and it swallows Jonah and Jonah never planned on being fish food this isn't what I wanted and um what I know because I know many of your stories and I know just because of the the number of you there are are many of

you right now that you're in a similar place you're going through something that you would have never ever chosen how do we get here I didn't want to be here in my marriage I didn't I didn't want to be in the middle of this Faith crisis this isn't what I wanted I didn't choose to be in the belly of this mess and I want to remind you that our good God doesn't always give us what we want but our God does give us what we need and what we need most is always him him from

the belly of a fist Jonah remembered he needed the Lord God always gives us what we need and what we need most is him so the Lord provided a fish and swallowed Jonah up Jonah up he's by himself he's about to drown you can imagine in a situation like this he can't I mean how long can he you know paddle do the whatever how long can he do that he he he is completely helpless he couldn't do a single thing to save his life he couldn't dog paddle or whatever for seven days he he he

couldn't do a thing whatever he was proud of in his life maybe he let's just say he had a great degree college degree his college degree couldn't save him maybe he had a lot of friends on Facebook right if we modernize it all those friends on Facebook couldn't save him maybe he'd finally gotten his fully funded emergency fund and his savings account that he was proud of it could not save him Jonah got to the place where some of you are right now and that is to the place where only the Lord could help him

only the Lord could help him on his own he was completely helpless but just because Jonah was helpless he was was not hopeless there's a big difference just because he was helpless didn't mean that he had run out of Hope in the God who always gives us what we need now was he in a mess dang straight he's in big big trouble and some of you unfortunately right now you may be in a spot in your life where things are not going well right now and you say like my marriage someone might say is in

bad shape if God doesn't do something soon I I don't know what's going to happen you might say my marriage is in trouble someone else might say have you seen inflation my paycheck hadn't caught up financially we're in trouble there are people close to me that I love that would say we are we are we are we are in trouble with our health some of you you got kids and they're not a part of switch right now and your kids might be doing something crazy see might I got a child in trouble want to say

this no matter why you might find yourself in trouble it might be your fault it might not be your fault no matter what's going on the Bible says in this James 5:13 says is anyone among you in trouble say it aloud with me let them pray is anybody here in trouble scripture says let them pray I want to declare to you that if you are in trouble is time to pray I'm going to tell you again if you are in trouble it's time to pray I'm going to say it one more time for those of

you in the back whenever you are in trouble or even if you're not in trouble it's time to pray somebody say it's time to pray nudge your neighbor tell them it's time to pray type in the comment section it's time to pray notice what James doesn't say James doesn't say when you're in trouble it's time to worry he doesn't say that he doesn't say it's time to complain he doesn't say it's time to write a long post and post it on social media talking about all that's going on he doesn't say it's time to blame

everybody around he says when you are in trouble it's time to pray it's time to pray what did Jonah Pray when he was in trouble let me show you exactly what he prayed Jonah 2:2 he said in my distress Jonah said I called to the Lord and what did God do he answered me from deep in the realm of the Dead Jonah said I called to God for help God and you listened to my cry Jonah chapter one he calls out and the first thing he does is he prays to God when you are in

trouble it's time to pray it's time to pray the rest of the chapter chapter verse one says he prays ver vers two he starts to pray all the way down the next nine verses is his prayer and I want to show you his prayer I won't read it all but I'll just kind of start at the top he prays god you hurled me Into the Depths into the very Heart Of The Seas and the current swirled about me all your waves and Breakers swept over me go down the next paragraph he praised the roots of

the mountains I sank I sank down the Earth beneath barred me in forever go to the bottom he says but I with shouts of grateful praise will sacrifice to you when I I will make good I will say salvation comes from the Lord what I like about their prayer is like that sounds spiritual how many of you ever been around somebody that when they pray they sound spiritual raise your hand type in the comment section I know what you're talking about I know they sound they're like if if you could sponsor someone to pray they're

like they'd be sponsored by the Holy Ghost you know what I'm saying like when they they pray it you you just think like God is going that's a good prayer I think I list sometimes I feel like when I'm praying I'm like going oh God it's me again and oh yeah God I'm trying not to lose focus because I often lose focus some people when they pray they really know how to pray do you know why they often know how to pray what is the most effective thing that we can pray in many cases the

most effective thing you can pray is actually pray the word you pray the word a lot of times when you look at someone I really like the way they're praying you know what they're praying they're actually praying God's word they're they're declaring the word of God to God over their situation because the word of God is living active powerful sharper than any D the word of God never returns void one of the most powerful things that you can ever pray is you can pray the word and that is exactly what Jonah was doing in Jonah

2 Jonah was praying and what do you think he was praying he was praying the Psalms that's what he doing he was praying God's word he was praying the Psalms and I want to show you this because this could revolutionize your prayer life let me show you how he prayed the psalm uh in verse two he said I called the Lord and he answered me Psalm 3:4 said I called down to the Lord and he answered me he's praying the psalm I'll show you another one he says deep in the realm of the Dead God

I called you for help psalm 16 you will not abandon me in the realm of the dead he said this I have been banished from your sight the psalm says I'm cut off from your sight he said this The Waters close over me Psalm 69 the waters have come up to my neck he said those who cling to worthless Idols I and Psalm says I hate those who cling to worthless Idols over and over again what I have vowed he said I will make good Psalm 116 says I will fulfill my vows to the lord

it's time to pray it's time to pray it's time to pray it's time to pray it's time to pray it's time to pray it's time to pray whenever you're in trouble it's time to pray and when you don't know what to pray what should you pray you pray the word Jonah prayed the word of God some of you say but I don't know the word of God well a really good place to start if you don't know the word of God open up the uver Bible app which by next year toward the end of the

year will be on 1 billion devices around the world come on somebody let's give God some praise for that open up the uver Bible app and just type in whatever you want to pray about you might just type in fear or anxiety or depression or or whatever it is and then God's word will come up and you just start praying his word you might you might pray God I'm feeling anxious so therefore I cast my cares on you God because you care for me you might pray God help me not to be anxious your word

tells me that not to be anxious about anything but with everything my prayer and petition I submit my request to you and I thank you God that your word promises me that the peace from heaven will guard my heart my mind my soul in Christ Jesus God your word says you have not given me a spirit of fear but a spirit of power and of love I have a sound mind God I'm praying your word I'm believing your word Jonah cried out to the Lord and the Lord listened to his cry Jonah prayed and he

prayed the word of God spoiler alert though Jonah prayed and he said God heard me but if you look carefully nothing happened immediately when he prayed this encourages me so much because sometimes I get so frustrated with God's timing anybody else here ever get frustrated God's timing like God I'm telling you it's best now and God says you don't know what I know I give it to you when it's best on my side God says uh he prayed in verse one God heard him and there was no visible miracle he prays in verse one and

you don't see a visible Miracle until the very end of chapter 2 in verse 10 you don't see the miracle in verse 10 which makes verse n so much more meaningful in verse n Jonah says this but I with shouts of grateful praise with SH I mean I'm shouting to you I'm worshiping you I can't contain it with shouts of grateful praise I will sacrifice to you he says what I have vowed I will make good I will say to the Lord salvation comes from the Lord what's powerful about this is this is praise before

the miracle how many of you know it's easy to praise God after the miracle but it takes Faith to praise God before the provision there is someone here and I don't know who you are but you're going to praise God with verse n kind of Faith you may still be stuck in the belly but your praise is real praise you're praising before the provision and this is what I'm doing right now praying for my daughters praying for my praying for their health praying for healing praying for miracles praying for the provision and the power of

God to do what I know he can do and he hasn't done it yet but with shouts of Praise by faith I worship him knowing he is a good god that he hears the cries of our hearts and that I believe by faith that God will answer the this is praising God for who he is not just for what he's done this is verse n kind of Faith Jonah continues in the very same verse and then he says this then he says what I have vowed God I will make good I was running from you

I was disobeying you I wasn't listening to you but what I vowed I will make good I like this at this point Jonah didn't make a single excuse he made it right this is for somebody here you're not doing what's right right now there's a part of you you're being disobedient to God it's a sin of commission you're you're literally sinning against the word of God or it's a sin of omission meaning God prompted you to do something and you didn't do it or you're just taking God for granted you know him you love him

but you you put him on the shelf you you you you know you're not living in a way in some form of your life that's right Jonah made it right he made it right he made it right it's time for somebody here to stop blaming whatever you're blaming stop blaming whoever you're blaming and make it right it's time to make it right God you want me to go I'm GNA go you want me to repent I'm going to repent you want me to apologize to someone that I wronged I'm going to AP you want me

to stop sinning sexually God I will stop dishonoring your word and sinning sexually you may stop go you may stop taking you for granted it's time to make it right it's time to make it right what I vowed I'll make right Jonah prayed and then in verse 9 Jonah praised and finally in verse 10 the last verse of chapter 2 says this and the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land can we pause for a moment and say two things number one that's amazing and number two that's gross can we just

say it I mean come on like God you he know he live through the valy of the fish for three days three nights or he died and you Rose him from the dead whatever it is and then you vomit him out that's amazing and that's disgusting mean know imagine three days and three three days and three nights and he's in there praying verse one what's he doing he's praying verse two he's praying verse three he kept praying verse four he kept praying verse five he kept praying day one he kept praying evening one he kept

praying night one he prayed morning two he prayed midday two he prayed this is a message for somebody here you've been praying for a long time and you're not seeing anything I want to remind you of the power and the principle of God that while you're waiting God is still working while you're praying and while you're believing and while you're waiting God is still working just because you don't see anything doesn't mean that God isn't still on the throne because at at the right time God commanded the fish at the right time God commanded the

at the right time God commanded the fish and the fish vomited Jonah at the right time and this reminds us that when it's not God's time you can't force it and when it is God's time you can't stop it our God is a good God our God is always on time while you're waiting our God is working verse one and the Lord heard his prayer but God didn't do what he asked him to do until verse 10 if you're praying and you're still praying and you're praying and you're still praying I need this because I'm

still praying God did you forget God have you heard me he hears you the first time and we're like the persistent Widow in Luke 18 we just come keep we just keep coming back God I'm just reminding you of your word God I just by faith I continue to believe God I just I know you hear the cries of your people and at the right time God commanded the fish now three days and three nights how many days was he was he in the belly of the fish three days and three nights have raise your

hand if you've ever heard the phrase three days days and three nights somewhere before interesting so Jonah was he lived somewhere around 785 BC like 750 800 years before the birth of Christ and here we see in the Old Testament a foreshadow of what Jesus talked about in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 12 when the Pharisees said hey Jesus we want a sign give us a sign we want we want a sign and Jesus answered and said this a wicked and adulterous generation ask for a sign but none will be given it except the

sign of the prophet of Jonah for Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish so the son of man that's Jesus will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth when after he becomes sin for us and die on the cross he is buried and does battle against the forces of hell and 3 Days Later three days and three nights the stone is rolled away and when the women look in there the tomb is empty why because our God raised Jesus from the dead and remember

what Jonas said remember what he said he said where does salvation come from salvation comes from the Lord when Jonah didn't deserve it when he had been running from God God saved him when Jonah couldn't save himself God saved him and everything in the Old Testament points to our need for Jesus today because when we didn't deserve it God sent Jesus when we were still dead in our sins because of his love and when we couldn't save ourselves Jesus saved us I don't know who this is for but there's somebody here your life is a

big old mess right now and maybe you're a little bit like me you need a little extra Grace you need you need a little extra forgiveness because maybe like me or maybe like Jonah at some point you've disobeyed God's command and you've distrusted God's word and you've Dishonored God's name but even though Jonah turned and ran away from God God still saved Jonah and you're going to see next week when you better come back cuz chapter three is even better than chapter 2 you're going to see in chapter 3 that God used a reluctant and

disobedient Prophet for his glory to reach some people and think about how all this went down this is so powerful to me the fish vomited Jonah up I love that you have no idea how much I love it you guys up here in the front you're going to love this so much because there's nothing clean about his [Music] salvation I'm saved fish mucus fish bile that's gross there was nothing clean about his salvation and some of you you've been through some stuff is not clean it's not not pretty it's nasty and in the same way

God was still working in him God is still working in you and I want you to hear it I want you to feel it I want you to believe it I want you to take it de deep down into your spirit that no matter where you are no matter what you've done God has Grace for you and God still wants to use you and in the same way the sailors looked on and said if God is that powerful and that good then I want to serve him I want to fear that God I want to

tell you that our God his grace is bigger than you can imagine and his love for you is deeper than you can ever realize and a God that good is a God that we want to serve if your life is messy right now welcome to the party that's the perfect kind of person that God loves to save and the fish vomited him out his salvation wasn't clean but it was real and salvation comes from the Lord so father today we ask that your Holy Spirit would do a deep work in the hearts of people who

need it God do a deep work in my heart I want to talk to those of you that might be in a little bit of trouble right now you're going through a hard time it could be somebody that you love um it could be somebody it could be you and you need you need a miracle but you're not in verse 10 yet there's no miracle and you're praying right now um I want to give you the chance maybe to just worship god with a verse n kind of Faith before verse n kind of Faith we're

going to have a verse one kind of prayer and that is we're going to go before God in prayer and we're going to believe for miracles we we serve a God who says all things are possible possible with him and then we're going to worship it with verse n kind of faith if you're going through something right now and you really need the presence and the power of God let's take it to him and we're going to pray you've got some area in your life you need a miracle you need the presence you need the

power of God for for you for someone that you love would you lift up your hands right now all of our churches lift up your hands online you can just type in the comment section I need the presence I need the power of God father we come to you just like Jonah did when he didn't deserve it because we don't deserve anything good from you and humbly God we just ask that you hear the cries of our heart and we thank you God that your word tells us that the faithful effectual passionate and fervent prayer

availeth much God we we cry out to you we pray for for marriages to be healed God we pray for relationships to be restored God we pray for financial provision God we pray for we pray for physical miracles and we pray for healing God we pray that you would show up and you would show off and that your Miracles would be so real that everyone would know that this is because of the goodness of God we trust you and now God even though we may not see the miracle in verse 10 we praise you with

verse nine kind of faith God with shouts of Joy with adoration with praise and worship we tell you God you are good we worship you God not just for what you do but for who you are and God even before we see the Vision we will praise you because you are worthy of Our Praise you're worthy of Our Praise this week I want to just encourage you just worship Him worship Him with with with verse nine kind of faith we praise you before we see the provision and then as we're talking about prayer there is

one prayer that somebody here needs to pray the very first prayer we pray to God Scripture tells us this let me just be real real clear um all of us we're we're distant from God because of our own sinfulness have you ever done something wrong we all have and what happens we feel guilty we feel ashamed we feel like oh my gosh I don't feel close to God here's the good news that God became one of us in the person of his son Jesus God became flesh Jesus perfect in every way was without sin he

died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice how long was he in the earth three days and three nights just like Jonah prophesied 800 years before and on the third day when the stone was rolled away Jesus came out because of the perfect work the death and the resurrection of Jesus now the Bible tells us this that anyone who anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved what are we going to do today some of you you're in a you're in a mess right now you're about to have a Salvation it

may not be pretty it may be messy but guess what it's from God salvation comes from the Lord anyone doesn't matter who you are doesn't matter what you've done when you turn from your sins when you cry out to Jesus he hears your prayers he is he is amazing he becomes your savior he saves you not because you're good because he's good not because you deserve it but because of his perfect work and so today at all of our churches there are some of you this is your moment today is the day of your salvation

Salvation comes from the Lord you can't be good enough you don't deserve it in the same way Jonah didn't deserve it God saved him anyway his name is Jesus and anyone including you who calls on him would be saved today at all of our churches those who need him those of you online I need him we're St stepping away from our sin we're stepping to Jesus we're calling on the name of the Lord if that's you today Jesus I call on you save me I give you my life that's your prayer lift your hands high

right now up all over the place lift up your hands and say Yes praise God for you others today say Yes Jesus I need you lift your hands up and say yes I Surrender right back over there over here God bless you guys all praise God and up here as well others to they say Jesus I need your prayers right back over here and here praise God for you online just type in the comments I am surrendering my life to Jesus I'm surrendering would you pray today with those around you pray heavenly father I give

you my life Jesus forgive my sins save me salvation comes from you make me brand new be the Lord Of My Life fill me with your spirit so I could know you and serve you and be faithful to you thank you for New Life I give you all of mine in Jesus name I pray somebody praise God with verse nine kind of Faith with verse 10 kind of Faith praise God for who he is I don't know about you but I needed to hear that message today I hope that it encouraged and challenged you we

can learn so much from listening to God's voice and loving people the way that he's loved us click here to watch more [Music]