Listen Here

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and don’t forget to rate and review on Apple or Spotify. When you rate and review the show, you help Jaime reach more people.

About the episode:

Jaime Luce’ testimony has daunting personal mountains and treacherous financial valleys. She was trapped in day-to-day stress and couldn’t see a way forward. But how she started is not how she finished! And she wants you to know God has a plan for your life too, no matter how tough it seems. Today, Jaime has been married to the love of her life for almost three decades, owns two companies, and has become an author and podcaster. God’s way is always the blessed way!  Learn more.

Related reading:

• How To Heal Through Responsibility and Faith
• How To Use Your Kingdom Authority In Prayer
• Plug Into A Warfare Prayer Source
• Have a Different Spirit
• Be A Good Gardner

Support the podcast:

• When you sign up for the Free Charisma Plus App, you help support this show. Get your subscription at: https://bit.ly/CharismaAppJaime
• Are you looking for Spirit-filled articles, teachings, insights, prophetic words, and the tools to gain intimate knowledge of the Holy Spirit? Charisma magazine empowers believers to live life in the Spirit. Each issue of Charisma Magazine contains articles, teachings, and insights to gain a more intimate knowledge of the Holy Spirit. https://bit.ly/CharismaSubJaime
• To purchase the Spiritual Warfare Bible. https://bit.ly/CharismaBibleJaime 

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

0:00:03 – Jaime Luce

Welcome to the Jamie Luce podcast. I’m your host, Jamie Luce. Thank you for listening today. All of my blogs, social and YouTube links can be found on my website, jamieluce.com. If you enjoy this podcast, you can support it by liking, subscribing, getting notified and sharing this broadcast. Another way you can help is by rating and reviewing on Apple podcast. My hope and goal in every episode is to give you tools found in Scripture, either by teaching, discussions, testimonies or interviews that encourage and equip you as you navigate living a real Christian walk in a difficult world. I would love to hear from you Whether you have a comment, question or prayer request. You can email me at mail at jamieluce.com. If you’re watching on YouTube, drop me a comment. I’d love to partner with you on your journey of faith. If you’re listening today on any podcast platform, take a screenshot and tag me and I’ll post it to my Instagram story. And now join me for today’s episode. Welcome to the Jamie Luce podcast. Thanks for joining me today.

Today, I want to talk to you about the confusion that many people feel over what we or what Scripture might call the fiery trial that we’re in. And you know, this morning, first thing this morning, I mean, I got up I grabbed my phone to check it Actually, I was grabbing it so that I could put in a coffee order to wake up and I had two messages to start the morning off and one of them was an urgent prayer request for a friend who was having to go to the doctor and have a test run to find out if there was cancer and the. You know. The request was for prayer, of course, and then I had a second text and it was someone going through a very difficult time who was basically just saying help, pray for me. This is just really difficult and I just don’t even want to get out of bed.

And as I thought about that and prayed for these people, it’s amazing how the Holy Spirit will take something that we’re going through and and begin speaking to our hearts. You know, we can tend to hear something more clearly and we can tend to get a little bit more understanding when we hear it when it’s referring to somebody else. You know, the saying goes that you can’t see the forest for the trees, and that’s because we’re so in the middle of our mess it’s hard to get up either above it for good perspective or it’s hard to see through it with the confusion of everything that just kind of bombards us, you know, and and so it’s. It’s one of those things that I felt I needed to come on today and bring an encouraging word to you, and I want to bring clarity and hope from God’s unchanging word to you. And before we dive into that, I need to settle two things with you. If we settle the these two things in our hearts, then our hearts are then prepared and able to hear and receive the good seed that God has for us, that brings life into us, to to give us what we’re looking for, the strength we’re looking for, to give us the clarity we’re looking for, to undo the confusion and to put us in a position to recognize that we are not defeated, that we are overcomers. And those two things you know before I even say them.

I hope, if you are listening to this and you are able to do this, that you can write this down. You may even want to go back later If you’re, if you have to be listening and you can’t write right now or don’t have your Bible available, but I’m going to give you a lot of scripture today and I want you to be able to write these down and reference them later and be able to use them, that God will bring them to your remembrance. But I’m going to give you enough that you should know this is a good foundation that we are building off of today and you can know without doubt this is God’s word. The first thing we have to settle is settle on the fact in your own heart, in your own spirit, that God’s word is true. It is the ultimate truth, it is the only truth and there is no other. It is a truth that makes us free. We know the scripture tells us that the truth is what sets us free. In fact, let me look it up for you. That’s one I didn’t write down. I’ve got so many I wrote down that I didn’t write everyone down. Let’s see, I will give that to you.

That scripture is in John 8, verse 31 and 32. And it says so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him. So this word is for those of you who believe Okay, if you abide in my word and we’re that’s where we’re going today we’re going to abide in this word you are truly my disciples, okay. So those who live in the word, it doesn’t just mean that you read it. It means you live from this place. What this says, this word says, what this word says. This is where you live. This is what you understand is true. This is where your foundation lies, what you build on, this is how you make your decisions. You go and you find out. What does God say about it? And that’s how you make your decisions, your choices. And when we do that, we can be confident that we are truly his disciples. Verse 32. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So, if you’re struggling today and you need freedom in your mind, in your heart, in your emotions, I want you to lay hold of this today.

God’s word is truth. It’s truth, it’s, it’s what we base every truth. After you know, there are people right now who are very popular in the social media realm natural doctors who tell you how to use the herbs that God has given us in this earth and the vitamins that we receive naturally from the food that God has created for us, and that we learn that he gave us everything we need. Scripture tells us he gave us everything we need for life and godliness. That’s what God provided for us, and in this word we find those things, science. In fact, most of the major scientific discoveries made that tell us about physics and how the world works were discovered because men read scriptures that they recognized were answers to their questions.

Even when you read a book like Job I mean the story of Job you can look at it as a tragedy. You can look at it as a triumphant. You can look at that, as you know, the best of a second chance. So you can look at that as a war, a story of war between God, not God and Satan, but Satan and man and man hanging on to God. You can talk about how the book is riddled with the back and forth of what is really a friend and what is not a friend, and what’s right and what’s not right. But what you will find all through the book of Job are the accounts of all of the things that God did in creation and his power and what he did and how this world works according to what God established at creation. So we have to know that God’s word is true.

If you don’t have that settled, it won’t matter what you hear people say, what will happen, for you will even encourage for a moment when you don’t settle these things in your spirit when you think well, maybe it was true for somebody else, but it’s not true for me. That it’s not actually true, because truth is truth. It’s not true for one and not true for another. There is no such thing as my truth. The scripture tells us let God be the truth in every man a liar. There is no other truth but God’s truth. His word is truth.

And when you don’t have that settled in your spirit, what happens is that you can hear a great message. You can hear somebody who is gifted in the oracles of God. You can listen to somebody who’s a fantastic coach. You can hear a great message that pumps you up for the moment. But what’s going to happen is you’re going to hold on to that pumped up feeling, that encouraged feeling, for a very short time. You might even be able to hang on to it for a full day. You go to bed that night and wake up the next morning. That same word.

If it’s not truth, if you haven’t understood it as truth, it’s like dry bread. It’s no longer fresh, it’s no longer tantalizing, it’s no longer bringing you the beautiful smells and the things that that warmed your heart it’s. It loses its power because if you, even if the word is true, if you don’t understand it as truth, if you don’t believe that. That’s why the scripture that we just read said that you have to believe for those who believe. He said this to those who believed once you believe and you have truth, you now have the tools to be set free. It’s when you don’t believe it. If you don’t believe it, you’re going to stay trapped because you don’t think it’s true. So your heart will not lay hold. You have to lay hold of truth. Okay, so I’m, I’m challenging you before we even dive in that you’ve got to. You’ve got to settle this in your heart. You’ve got to settle that this is what God has for you today.

The second thing you need to settle in your heart is that God is good. I’ve talked about this many times God is good. He is the only one who can say and give definition to the word good. Nobody gets to say if something is good or bad. Nobody else gets to choose and say that’s good or that’s not good. It’s all measured by what God says is good. That’s how we measure what is good. God is the measure. He didn’t just say what it was. He is the measure. God is good, period. End of story. God is good. You have to lay hold to that. You have to settle that in your heart. You can’t think that he’s good to some and he’s not good to others. You have to settle that God period is good. No matter what’s happening to this one or that one, no matter what’s going on in fallen man’s world okay, no matter what’s happening to one Christian brother or not happening to another Christian brother, those Christian brothers still live in this same fallen world. No matter what’s going on here, god is good. So you have to settle that. You have to know that. You have to say I believe the word is true and if I believe the word is true, that means I can count on that word, I can depend on that word. That word will defend me, that word will stand up for me. Okay, you have to understand that and you have to know that, no matter what you’re going through, no matter what you’re going through, God is good. And I wanted to show you this.

I have written down a ton of scriptures for this, just to start off. Just you know, whenever something is the beginning of something, we have the book of Genesis out of the word. That is truth. It begins with God’s creation process and Him telling us what is good right off the bat. He shares right away His, he’s making this plan for mankind and he’s designing this plan, and he keeps telling us what is good about this plan, and I want you to see this. So in Genesis, chapter one, verse 10, says God called the dry ground, land, and the waters, seas, and God saw that it was good. Now I can testify to that. I love the ocean. I love lakes and rivers. I love to see water. When he talks about land and water, put me at the ocean. I love it. It is good. I agree with God. I am not in disagreement with Him. God said it’s good. Let’s go to verse 12. The land produce vegetation, all sorts of seed-bearing plants and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind, and God saw that it was good. Okay, god’s saying I’ve created this, this is how I’ve made it. This is really good. Now let’s jump down to verse 17.

God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, to govern the day and night and to separate the light from darkness, and God saw that it was good. Not only was it good what he made, it’s good what they do. So he brings a separation from light and darkness. Those are hints into the character of God, not just in this particular sky and the light governing the earth and day and night, and he’s letting you know. It’s good. He brings separation on some things. Light from darkness is separated. Okay, and it’s good. God saw that it was good. Let’s go to verse 21. So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird, each producing offspring of the same kind, and God saw that it was good. Let’s jump down to verse 25. God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind, and God saw that it was good. And then verse 31,. Then God looked over all he had made and he saw that it was very good, very good.

God alone gets to determine what is good, because he is the creator of all. He sets the terms. Okay, sometimes to know what something is. If we’re wanting to know that God is good, sometimes to know what something is, you have to look at what it is not. God said something wasn’t good.

So in Genesis 2.18,. It says it is not good that man should be alone. It is not good that man should be alone. Then let’s look at Deuteronomy 31.8. And I’m gonna paint a picture for you. Okay, I’m gonna go through these kind of fast and if you wanna write down their references, please do that. But I’m going to show you how much that God is good and in His goodness there is a factor to what His goodness is.

We just read that God said it is not good that man is alone. So what does that tell us? If it’s not good that man is alone, sure we have the first inference that he makes woman. Then, so that man has his counterpart. God just went through and said every animal can procreate after their own kind, because he made it that way, and so he needed to do that with man, he needed to produce woman.

But let’s take it further. Let’s put on our thinking caps, as one of my teachers used to say, and let’s think about this. It goes beyond that. God is giving us a principle for life. It is good that it’s not good that man is alone. So it’s good that he is not alone, right, it’s good that he is not alone. That’s what’s good. We’re looking at the goodness of God. It is good that we are not alone.

So God wants you to know if you are a believer, if you are living in His word, if you have chosen Him and you are His disciple, then you are never alone, because that’s not good. God is always good. You are never alone. I know many times we feel alone. We feel like we are the only person who feels what we’re feeling and that nobody understands the difficulty or the stress or the pain or the emotion and the weight of what we’re carrying and having to deal with, or the difficulty and the complexity and the confusion. We feel alone and I’m gonna show you you are not alone. When you belong to God, you are not alone.

Let’s go to Deuteronomy 31-8. It says I will never leave you nor forsake you. That’s God speaking To those who are walking in obedience to His plan. He’s telling you I don’t ever leave you, I don’t ever forsake you. Let’s look at first Chronicles 28, verse 20. David also said to Solomon, his son be strong and courageous and do the work, do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord, god, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished, till he’s done with you, he will not forsake you. Deuteronomy 31-6 says be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord, your God, goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. These are all gonna be worded differently and they’re all gonna say the same message.

Folks, I want you to be listening because you’re going to hear the scripture that you know God is saying I’m speaking to you right now. I’m confident of this. I know that God has asked me to do this today. I know he wants his children to hear that he is with them, he is good and they are not alone. And so, if you will just be listening to these words that I’m saying, take them to heart, listen closely. What was the first? I will never leave you. Just flat out, as plain as you can say it I’ll never leave you, I’ll never forsake you. So he’s always with us, right? And then David, talking to Solomon, is telling him and encouraging him God’s not gonna fail you and he’s not gonna forsake you. He will make sure and get this job done with you. What are we reading here.

Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or terrified of them. Some of you are dealing with things and there are people you are afraid of. You are afraid of what they’re going to do. You are afraid of what that’s going to do to you. Do not be terrified because of them or what their choices and consequences are gonna mean to you. Don’t be terrified because of them, for the Lord, your God, goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31, verse eight. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. Genesis 28, verse 15, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. He’s talking to Jacob. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Go to Hebrews. Well, I’m gonna give you Old Testament, New Testament.

Hebrews 13, verse 5, keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. Because why is God talking about this? Why is he talking about money? Because God has said never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. He’s saying don’t love money, because if you do, then you’re gonna chase money, and if you have it you’ll feel good. If you don’t have it you’ll feel bad. You’ll be always looking for help. Where there is no actual help, you’ll be looking and reaching for a thing that doesn’t promise that it will care for you. Money has no feeling. It doesn’t care about you. You might have it one day, you won’t have it the next.

What did Paul say? I have learned that I can abound, I can be a base, it doesn’t matter what condition I’m in. He’s gone through it all. And, folks, that’s the way we have to understand. God is saying keep your lives free from the love of money. Why? Because if you put your affection on money, then money is the treasure of your heart, not the Lord. When the Lord is the one who is your provision, and he says right with this, he’s saying because don’t love money, because be content, because God has said never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. He’s gonna meet your need, he’s gonna take care of you.

Joshua, chapter 1, verse 5,. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Has God called you to be a leader? Has God called you in a place of ministry? Are you taking the place of somebody else who used to do it and you’re worried that you can’t do what they did? Do you have big shoes to fill on your job and you’re not sure what you can do? This is what Joshua was facing. When Moses is now gone and Joshua has taken his place, but the promise was I will be with you, just like I was with them. When you say yes to God’s plan, god is with you. Look at Joshua 1 9.

Have I not commanded you? I mean, let me just stop right there If you know God’s giving you a direction, have I not commanded you? Well then, that means you’ve got all of God and heaven back in you up. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord, your God, will be with you wherever you go. Matthew, chapter 28, verse 20, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. This is Jesus talking, and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. He’s saying I’m always with you. Isaiah 41 10. So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you with my righteous right hand. What does that word righteous mean? Good God is good. He is right. That whatever God says is right is right. That’s what’s righteous, that is what’s good, whatever God says.

So okay, now that we’ve laid the foundation that God’s word is true and that he is good, we can look at a couple of confusing images that we seem to see a conflict in with this understanding. I think, once we see the truth, it will help us to see our circumstances and truth and bring comfort and assurance that God is good and he’s with us. You’re not alone in this. God is good. So I want you to go with me. We’re gonna take a dive into Jonah and we’re gonna also take a look at Joseph. So let’s go there. Go to Jonah first. We’re gonna look at chapters one and two of Jonah.

I spoke about Jonah recently in one of my recent episodes and we’re not gonna talk about the same thing, but I, so I want you to know that this is not a repeat. This is different. This is about today. This is you know, what do we do when we know God’s good. We believe that, we believe that God’s word is truth and we’re in a situation that’s really bad. But we’re in the situation because we know we put ourselves in that situation so we don’t feel worthy for God to bring help and we don’t feel worthy for God to rescue us and therefore we abandon our understanding of God’s mercies. We let go of the fact that we know that God is merciful and that even if we are righteous I’m doing that in quotation marks even if we think that we’re doing it all right, we have to remember that, folks, it doesn’t matter what good we’re doing. According to Scripture, our righteousness is as filthy rags. The only righteousness that we have is the righteousness that God imputes to us because of Jesus Christ. That is the only righteousness we have.

So I want to kind of take away some of that cloudiness right now, if you’re feeling that you’re dealing with something because you deserve it. Well, we all deserve destruction and death. We all do. Sin has caused that. We all deserve that. That’s why we needed a savior. That’s why we need God.

So I want you to hear what I’m saying. I want you to look at this text with me and you might see yourself in this text. First we’re gonna see what Jonah did, the problem he’s in, but then we’re gonna see how good God is and that Jonah wasn’t alone. Even in his self brought on destruction. Okay, I want us to look at this.

So let’s start in Jonah 1.1. I’m gonna go ahead and read. This is a lot of passages and I’m gonna try to read through it quickly. But you need to hear this the word is what is power. My words don’t have power. The word has power. The word will break the yoke. The word will bring revelation. The word will be the encouragement. So let’s look at the word. Love the word, cherish the word. The word is so valuable. If you’re not somebody who loves your word, loves to read your word, I encourage you to get in it more. I just feel like that means that you’re, you know, someone who is not well. They don’t have an appetite, but the more you eat, the healthier your appetite, the healthier you are, and you need to get a healthy appetite with the word of God. So let’s read the Lord gave this message to Jonah, son of Amity get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it, because I have seen how wicked its people are.

But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea. The Lord hurled Okay, listen closely because there’s a lot of very key things being said here Causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. So the captain went down after him. How can you sleep at a time like this? He shouted get up and pray to your God. Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.

Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. Why has this awful storm come down on us? They demanded who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality? Jonah answered I am a Hebrew, I and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.

The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them that he was running away from the Lord. Oh, why did you do it? They groaned. Have you ever felt that? Why did you do it? Why did you do it? I loved that line when I read it, because how many times have I felt that? How many times have you felt that, even if we knew we shouldn’t have done it, and we made the decision to do it? Why did you do that? Oh, why, why did you do that? They groaned. And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him what should we do to you to stop this storm?

Wow, now, when I was a little girl, if we got in trouble, there were times when my mother would say to us all right, how do you think I should punish you for this? Oh, my gosh, that’s so awful, because you’ll have the kids who will pick something little and minor. And then you have my mother knew me, she knew my personality and I don’t know if this was right or wrong, but I would then want I’d pick a bad one. I’m guilty and you’re making me pick my punishment, so that means I’ve got to pay the high price. I’m the martyr, you know, so I would choose a heavy thing. And so this is what they’re asking Jonah. They’re saying this is your God, you’re the one who knows him, and nothing we do is working to satisfy your God. What do we need to do to you? What’s the punishment you need to endure? And this is what we feel. We go through circumstances and we think God is punishing me and I deserve this punishment. So do this to me and we receive that. We receive that. We receive our guilt and we receive the responsibility of it, and we now are receiving the punishment of it. And we are doing all of this forgetting who our God is. Let’s keep reading.

Hi, my name is Jamie Luce. I wanted to share with you some information about a brand new book entitled you Don’t Need Money, you Just Need God. It’s a playbook for miraculous provision, and I want to share it with you because it solves the problem we are all facing right now. The economy is going crazy, gas prices are soaring, there’s wars and rumors of wars. We’ve got everything hitting us all at once, with interest rates rising, you need to know what to do, and so many times we think we need the money, but you don’t need money. I’m telling you, the answer is you need God, and that’s exactly what we want to teach you through this book. We’ll give you practical ways to know what to do and how to do it, so that you get answers. Now you can find my book on Amazon. You can also go to Jamieluce.com. You can also find this book at YouDon’tNeedMoneyYouJustNeedGodcom. This book is available today.

Throw me into the sea, Jonah said, and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault. Have you ever felt that? I know I have Come on? If we’re honest, I know I have. If you’ve never felt that it was your fault, maybe we need to have a talk with you too, because maybe there’s some responsibility and some changes that need to happen. Maybe we need to make some course corrections in our life. If we think we’re always right, we’ve done it right every time. Anyway, I know that this terrible situation is all my fault, and there’s a hopelessness. When we feel that way, we think why did I do that? Why did I allow that? Why do I always get into these situations? Why didn’t I listen? Why didn’t I take so-and-so’s advice? Why, why, why, why. And we know that we’re in this situation because of us. Somehow we created this or we’re a part of it or we’re party to it. And I’m gonna get to somebody who’s guiltless in a moment. But I’m talking to those of us who have felt guilty, who felt we deserved what we’re going through, and because we deserve it, there’s no way out. This is my lot in life. This is my punishment I have to bear, okay.

Instead, the sailors rode even harder to get the ship to land. So they didn’t want to do this to Jonah. They didn’t want to throw him overboard. They didn’t want to hurt him. They didn’t want to. These were good men. They didn’t want to hurt him, but the stormy sea was too violent for them and they couldn’t make it. They knew they were all going to die.

Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. Listen to their prayer. These are men who have never prayed to this God before, who don’t know the God we served, who don’t know Jonah’s God. Listen to what they prayed. Oh Lord, they pleaded don’t make us die for this man’s sin. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever felt your pain, the price for somebody else’s decisions, that you’re bearing the weight of somebody else’s sins? Oh gosh, this is what these men felt and they’re begging God. They’re saying, lord, don’t let us die for this man’s sin and don’t hold us responsible for his death, because what does that mean? They’re about to throw him overboard. They’re terrified that they’re going to die because of him and they don’t want to die because of his sin, and they don’t want to die because they’re going to hold him responsible. They’re terrified they’re going to pay the price for this man, whether by his mistake or by making him pay for his mistake. Okay, both.

Oh Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons. When I read that that okay, we’ve got to find out. What do we know about God? What is good? God brought this storm? We read it in verse four. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. So if God is good and this storm seems horrible, then we get confused. We think, well then, either God’s not good or he’s only good sometimes, because this can’t be good. Okay, we are seeing good through our eyes. We’re seeing it through our perspective, we’re seeing it through our bias, we’re seeing it through what we want and our own will. We have to take a much higher altitude to see this the way we need to see this correctly. Okay, so we need to figure this out. Let’s keep reading and find out why. But, oh Lord, you have sent this storm.

These men, who didn’t even know this God, understand this about this God that he’s a just God. They write off the bad, understand he’s just because they’re saying this is what has happened and it’s because this man has disobeyed. He’s owned it. He knows this has come upon him because of decisions he made and he’s running from God. These decisions that he made were in what’s the word, not contrast. They were contrary to God. These decisions he was making were against what God wanted. So he was not choosing God’s will, he was choosing his own will. He didn’t want what God wanted, he wanted what he wanted. Okay, so he’s running from God. These men understand that the God he served is just and they’re banking on him being just because they’re saying don’t blame us, don’t come after us for what he’s done, please spare us, don’t do this to us because we didn’t do this, we didn’t bring this. Okay, can you see everybody involved in this story. You’ve got guilty and not guilty. You’ve got brought it on, us brought it. This is happening because of you and this is happening because of me, and all these scenarios are going on at the same time.

So let’s go to the next verse. How do we know that God is good? Why are they able to see that God is good, even though he brought a storm, even though they’re going through a storm and they fear for their lives? How do we weigh that out? How do we balance that with? God is good. Let’s keep reading.

Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea and the storm stopped at once. The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. So, right off the bat, god gets converts, which is good. God gets converts and causes these heathen men who serve other gods to stop, recognize that God is God and he’s good and he is powerful. They are awestruck by it so much that they immediately make a sacrifice to him and vow to serve him. I mean, that is powerful. They also recognize that God was just, which is good, because they did not pay in the end for Jonah’s mistake. God spared them. He did not punish them because of someone else’s mistake or sin.

Verse 17,. Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. Now, chapter two, because this is the goodness of God we’re going to hear how God was good. He brought this storm because he’s going to have his will. This needs to encourage us. Man cannot stop the plan of God. Man is not more powerful than God. Man does not have the ability to stop God from doing what God says. That’s why this word cannot fail. If God said it, it’s going to happen. So Jonah’s running and God says no, no, no, no, jonah, my will is going to get done, and not only eventually are the people of Nineveh going to get saved, but these sailors that you ran off, that I hadn’t even intended to save, are going to get saved. We got bonus blessings over here of God’s goodness. Let’s listen to Jonah’s prayer, though, because Jonah recognizes, in this horrible situation that he got himself into, how good God is. Let’s look at this.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from inside the fish and he said I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble and he answered me. I called you from the land of the dead and, lord, you heard me. You threw me into the ocean depths. Okay, he’s saying you threw me. This really caught my attention and we’re going to go there in just a minute, because what Jonah understood is the same principle that Joseph understood. The men threw Jonah overboard, but Jonah knew it wasn’t the men who threw him overboard, it was God. The men didn’t harm him, the men didn’t do anything wrong to him. Jonah knew this. He says you threw me into the ocean depths. Which is what did Joseph say to his brothers in Genesis 50, verse 20? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Okay, he understood there were men involved, there were people involved, but it’s ultimately God who’s in control. Okay, god, you threw me into the ocean depths and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me. I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. Then I said oh Lord, you have driven me from your presence.

Jonah understood that his running away, this, all of all that he accomplished, was losing God’s presence. It’s the worst punishment. Why did Jesus need to come? Because sin brought separation from God. You cannot enter his presence. Why was Jesus blood necessary to be put on the mercy seat? Because now we can come boldly. The tent was rent, the curtain was rent, so that we can now enter into the Holy of Holies. We can now come into God’s presence boldly and ask what we need of him. Let’s continue reading. Yet I will look once more toward your holy temple. I sank beneath the waves and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my neck. I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. He’s talking about death, but you, oh Lord, my God, snatched me from the jaws of death Because my life was slipping away. I remembered the Lord and my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy temple.

Those who worship false gods turn their back on all God’s mercies. He couldn’t even see he had done this. This is what I’m saying. Folks, we don’t realize we do this and we run from God. When we stop in our efforts to serve him, what are we? Turning our backs on All his mercies. We’re turning our back on God’s mercies when we desperately need his mercy, but I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, for I will fulfill all my vows, for my salvation comes from the Lord alone. Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

Now I’m not going to finish reading all of Jonah, but he does what God tells him to do. He fulfills his vow. And all of Nineveh hears and listens to the word of God, listens to the warning and they totally, you know, rend themselves. They confess before God, they make it right, they are saved, they are spared because they listened to the warning that God was sending them. How is God good? God was caring, not just for Jonah, and he didn’t disqualify Jonah because of running away. God had a purpose for Jonah’s life and what I would venture to say, since it made it into scripture, this may have been his biggest most. This was his purpose. This is why Jonah was put on the earth and God was going to make sure he fulfilled it. And what does he do? He saves an entire nation. Nineveh is spared. They don’t even serve God the way Jonah serves God, and yet they listened, they turned and listened.

Folks, God is good. I know the storm is bad, but God is still good. He will get good out of this circumstance If you will allow him, if you will turn to his mercies, if you will realize that even in the depths and you’re sinking and you’re dying in this, he has prepared a great fish for you. He has prepared a place for you to remember who God is, so that you can see how good he is for you and for those that he’s called you to, or the thing he’s called you to accomplish. His reach is further than you know. Your life does not end when you die. You have affected people. You have a reach that can go on for generations. We are still living in the overflow of the disciples and what they did. We can make an eternal impact. We have to understand how good God really is. That is Jonah. That is the one confusing thing.

Let’s turn back to Genesis. I want to look at Joseph’s life. Let’s go to Genesis 45. I am turning there with you, genesis 45, I am going to read to you verses 3 through 8. Then we are going to read to 50 and read verse 19 again. I am not going to read the whole story of Joseph. I will read the whole story of Joseph. The synopsis is this Joseph had a dream.

He knew he had purpose.

He knew God had a plan for his life. It was bigger than he knew what to do with. At the time he was 17 when he heard God speak to him. He was a young man. He knew God had a vision. His dream and his calling and purpose was bigger than his family could understand. His father and mother took it. They pondered it. They were thinking about it. They could not understand it. They could not see it. Their vision was not far enough. People will never be able to see what God has spoken to you because they did not hear it. They did not hear what God has said to you. You cannot expect people to understand what they have not experienced.

Joseph gets this wonderful dream of the Lord, two of them to confirm it to him. His brothers are envious of this dream because they did not receive this dream. Their brothers are jealous of their brother because his father was a young man. His brother was a young man. He was a young man. He had a vision. He was a young man. He had a vision because his father loves him so much he has his father’s favor.

I am not saying it was right or wrong. I am not saying Jacob was right in what he did. We understand Jacob’s love for him because of his great love he had for Jacob’s mother. He loved Rachel. Rachel was Joseph’s love. He worked 14 years to earn the right to marry her. He wanted her. He had two children by her. They meant the world to him because that was the life he had chosen. That was his will. That is what he wanted. He loved Joseph and he had a favor.

But these other brothers, like their mother, always felt second. They never felt love. They never felt appreciated. They never felt sorry for them. They never felt sorry for them. They never felt sorry for their pain. They completely do the wrong thing. They go after their brother. They think if we get rid of him, all our problems go away. That is never the answer. That is never how it works. Getting rid of somebody that you envy doesn’t make your life better. Wanting them to lose doesn’t mean you have.

Envy is a deception. Envy is a Envy means you want at somebody else’s expense. You want what they have and them not to have it. It is not that you just want it too. You don’t want them to have it. Envy is ugly.

Envy is a robber, a thief, a kill. That is exactly what it led to. They put their brother in a dried up. Well, they sell him, even though we find out later that he pleaded with them. They said they didn’t listen to his cries for help. They sell him instead of killing him because the plan was to kill him.

But again, God is good, god is going to have his way. God had spoken a word over Joseph’s life. Joseph is going to fulfill that purpose. Those brothers couldn’t kill him. They couldn’t kill him, even though this was tough. They couldn’t kill him Because God said Joseph is going to do this. He declared it already. He already spoke it. That’s why you have to understand this word is true. This word is true. God’s word in your life is true and if God said it, it’s going to happen, no matter what storm you’re facing, no matter how confusing it seems. God is not a liar. So those brothers, instead of killing him, they sell him into slavery.

Well, God ordains that cell. God ordains that, and he puts him in Potiphar’s house. Why? Because Potiphar works for the Pharaoh and so Potiphar has a big position. Well, while he’s sold as a slave to Potiphar, joseph flourishes, even though he’s in a horrible situation. So don’t let your situation lie to you and tell you that you can’t flourish. Even in this, you can be prosperous. Even in problems, you can be fruitful. Even in problems, even in storms, even in a horrible situation, you can still prosper. Then, if that’s not bad enough, here he’s been sold. He’s been sold out by his own family. He’s lost everything he ever had. The favor that he had with his daddy no longer gets to see his father and have that relationship. Now he’s working as a slave, but he’s prospering Well.

Now Sabotage comes from another direction. Now Potiphar’s wife, joseph’s good looking, joseph’s smart, she likes Joseph and she decides she wants to sleep with Joseph. But Joseph was such a servant of the Lord who never turned his back on God’s promise for him. He believed it, he believed God’s word, and he runs from this woman. He runs from Potiphar’s wife and she lies about him. She says he tried to rape her. I mean this is. It’s so awful to be lied about.

It’s so awful to have wrong things said about you, to have discussions about you behind your back. I’m sorry if you’ve gone through that, if you have felt the whispers and gossip of things that are not true and people who don’t understand why you’re even where you’re at, because they’re looking at your circumstances and they’re blaming you. They’re saying you did it, like Joseph, like Jonah’s circumstance. You’re guilty, that’s why you got sold. You’re guilty. You’re guilty, that’s why you got you. You know they believe Potiphar’s wife. Well, potiphar believed his wife, he believed her and Joseph was put in prison. People believed the lie. Why? Why would Potiphar believe that if he could see that Joseph caused him to prosper and everything he did? Because he could, he’s a slave. He thinks you’re not here for no reason.

People believe what the little word the birdie spoke in their ear. I mean, we this? This is so sad, but this even happened to Mephibosheth. I had spoke to a rabbi once and realized you know, the church world calls him Mephibosheth that’s English speaking people and in Hebrew. He told me his name in Hebrew is Mephibosheth and I love that. I’ve never forgotten that, as we always say it wrong. But for the sake of everybody listening, that probably sounds more familiar to you if I say Mephibosheth, but anyway, one of Saul’s descendants and David was kind to him. But when David was attacked and running for his life because of his own son’s betrayal.

He gets this word from a, from a servant of somebody else, that this person is doesn’t really serve you, he doesn’t really love you, he’s hoping that he can take your place once you’re gone. And this little negative lie was spread about him. And when David came back, he didn’t. Their relationship was torn. It was never the same because he kind of believed that word. Why did he believe that word? Well, he believed that word because this other servant was pretending to serve him and be on his side and he also believed it because he was a descendant of his arch enemy.

I mean it’s it doesn’t take much for people to believe the negative, right. And so you might be in a situation and people have lied about you. You’ve gone through this, uh, betrayals. You’ve gone through you know, difficult, difficult circumstances, and here he ends up in prison. Now he’s in prison and he’s so good at what he does because of the call of God on his life that he’s put in charge of the prison, even though he’s in prison. So again, he’s flourishing, even in his terrible experience. Okay, then he’s good to these prisoners. I mean, he’s good and in his goodness he interprets their dreams and it comes true and he tells the one who has spared his life Remember me. And as soon as he gets out, what happens? The man forgets him, doesn’t think about him. Two more years go by. This is a long process. He was in this trouble for a long time.

But let’s look at verses at chapter 45. We’re going to read verse three to eight. This is Joseph. Pharaoh has a problem. He doesn’t know what his dreams mean. The Butler remembers Joseph. Joseph can interpret dreams. Joseph comes and gives him the interpretation and is wise enough to say I don’t have the ability to interpret dreams, but God does. So. God gives him the answer and then Pharaoh is used by God and the purpose of God is fulfilled in Joseph’s life. He is now made governor over Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, second in command. Everything is at his disposal.

His brothers now are in a famine and they come to get food and Joseph takes them through this process of finding out what’s still in their hearts. Are they the same people? Have they changed? What is this? He wants to know if his father’s alive. He’s trying to get information and he goes through this process. He finally comes to the point where he recognizes that he has got to show his brothers who he is, that he’s alive and that he promises he’s going to take care of them. And I mean the forgiveness that Joseph shows the ones who treated him the worst, who didn’t have his back, who instead threw him under the bus and he’s got to. This is a real test of character. Okay, so let’s go there.

Chapter 45, verses three through eight I am Joseph. He said to his brothers Is my father still alive? But his brothers were speechless. They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. Please come closer, he said to them. So they came closer and he said again I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery. But don’t be upset and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you, and he is the one who made me an advisor to Pharaoh, the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt.

How can I say God is good in the midst of our circumstances? How can I say that God’s word is true, that you’re not alone? God was with Joseph the entire time. God was with Jonah the entire time. God will do what he said he will do. God is not a liar. His word is true. Joseph understood you think you sold me and put me here, but I understand it wasn’t you, it was God.

This horrible thing I went through, god did this not to be mean to me, not to hurt me, not to harm me, but to totally elevate me, to totally change our circumstance, to remove the threat of impending death by famine, not just for himself, but his entire family, which would become the entire nation of Israel. It was God, because God says no, no, no, don’t give up on me. Yet we’re not done. This is not the end of the story. I am good. I am good and I have a good purpose for your life. I have a good plan. Let’s go there. Let’s go to Jeremiah, let’s go to Jeremiah 2911. I’m turning there with you, so it’s taken me a minute to here. We go, jeremiah 2911, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Oh child of God, let’s just pray, father, I thank you because you are good. I just thank you today that you have a good plan for every single person who’s listening today. You’re so good. You’re always good, no matter what difficulty we’re going through, no matter if we brought it on ourselves or if we’ve been thrust into it by others, you’re still good and you will still get your purpose in our life. You will still fulfill the blessing you’ve promised. You will still do what you said. You are good, you are the truth, and you will never leave us nor forsake us.

Thank you, father, for being such a good Father. Thank you for your encouragement, thank you for giving us hope. Thank you for the future you have given to us. Oh God, help us, lord, to be obedient servants, to do what you’ve called us to do, to rely on your mercies and to go forward in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. It is in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen, amen.

I hope this has encouraged you today. God is good. He’s good. He won’t leave you alone. He’s never left you. He’s been there all along and he will do what he’s promised you. He cannot fail. Thank you so much for joining me today. If this has been a blessing to you, do me a favor, be a blessing to me. Hit that like button and share this broadcast. Help me get the gospel out, the good news that God is with us. He’s not left us. He has a good plan for our lives. Share that message with those that you know. I’m sure that God will bless you for it.

I will tag on here to the end a testimony. I told you that when I first started this episode this morning, I received an urgent phone call about a test. Right before I came in here to record, I received another test saying praise the Lord, the results came back. There is no cancer. I’m just giving God the glory. Even today, even the second text I received this morning, the person that had called out to me said they had received the peace that they needed this morning to get through the day today. God is faithful and he will be faithful to you. I’d love to hear from you. You can email me at mail at jamieluce.com that’s J-A-I-M-E-L-U-C-E or you can visit me at my website, jamieluce.com. I’d be happy to hear from you. Thanks again for joining me. We’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.

1:07:07 – Speaker 2

Thank you for listening to the Jamie Loose Podcast. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please rate and review the show on Apple or Spotify and subscribe wherever you listen. For more, visit jamieluce.com. That’s J-A-I-M-E-L-U-C-E. You’ll find a free chapter of the new book. You Don’t Need Money, just Leave God and a fresh word from Jamie on the blog. See you next week. Bye-bye.