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POWER OF BELIEVING

“Believing In Tomorrow”

By Pastor Delbert Young

Life Gate Ministries

204 North Main Street, LaFayette, GA 30728

706-638-7620

www.lifegatechurch.com

There is POWER IN BELIEVING unlike any other power in the universe. It will change your world. It has the potential to change the natural into the supernatural and the ordinary into the extraordinary. It can do anything.

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

I want to talk to you today about the power of BELIEVING IN TOMORROW. I’m not talking about procrastinating and not doing what we know we need to do today. Mark Twain said, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” That’s not what I am talking about. Harry Kurnitz said, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for TOMORROW we may diet.” I’m not talking about being lazy and slothful and putting things off that we need to have already done.

What I want to talk about is the importance of hoping and BELIEVING IN TOMORROW that God will do great things in your life. I meet so many people who have experienced so many horrible yesterdays that they have no hope and belief in their tomorrows. They live depressed and defeated lives. Instead of developing their belief and faith, they question God and even doubt God’s existance. You will never live the abundant life if you doubt and question God.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

I want to tell you that God has great plans for your tomorrow. You are on the brink of something great if you will believe. The sun will come up for you tomorrow.

Get a handle on BELIEVING IN TOMORROW.

Henry Ward Beecher said, “Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.”

If we doubt and expect bad things to happen then it is very likely that bad things will happen. However, if we can look forward with faith and belief believing that God has good things ahead for us if we will find good things happening.

THE TRUTH IS THAT WE WILL ALL GO THROUGH SOME CLOUDY AND STORMY TIMES IN LIFE, but if we BELIEVE IN TOMORROW we will make it through those cloudy times and experience the new things that God has for us.

God has given us tomorrows for hope because our promised land is just around the corner.

THE BIBLE TELLS US THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL COMING TO THE JORDAN RIVER THE SECOND TIME. The first time they came they did not properly look at tomorrow. They did not see God taking their lives to the next level. Instead, they saw defeat and failure. This time they would cross. What would be the difference? Joshua had been waiting and waiting. Joshua was seeing the dream come true. Joshua would finally enter his promised land. He did not allow failure. As they stood on the banks of the Jordan River, Joshua declared,

Joshua 3:5 Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for TOMORROW the LORD will do amazing things among you."

Joshua was excited about tomorrow because he knew that God was going to do some AMAZING THINGS. He wanted everyone to be excited. They were about to enter a new chapter of life. They were about to experience things they had never experienced, see things they had never seen, and live a life they had never imagined.

The Lord did do some amazing things. He stopped the Jordan River from flowing at flood stage. The people crossed and entered into their destiny. They defeated enemy after enemy. They saw the mighty walls of Jericho fall down flat at their shout. They saw the sun stand still. They experienced abundance.

Nehemiah 9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your great goodness.

When you properly BELIEVE IN TOMORROW, you believe that God will do AMAZING THINGS for you and give you his great goodness. It all begins by BELIEVING IN TOMORROW. God will make a way where there is no way. He will defeat enemies for you. He will cause your sun to stand still and give you longer days to live. He will supernaturally provide for you, but you must BELIEVE IN TOMORROW.

JOSHUA SAID, “CONSECRATE YOURSELVES…” Joshua needed to tell the people how to BELIEVE IN TOMORROW.

Joshua 3:5 Joshua told the people, "CONSECRATE yourselves, for TOMORROW the LORD will do amazing things among you."

They needed to consecrate their own selves. Consecrate sounds like a really religious word doesn’t it? It’s the Hebrew word qadash (Strong’s #6942) and it simply means to be clean. In other words cleanse yourself from anything that would hold you back and get ready for tomorrow.

Often we allow our pasts to defile our futures. People experience horrific divorce situations only to take the problems of the first marriage into the second and often the second does not work. People have financial problems. They refinance and get out of debt only to take the same spending habits on with them. Soon they are in a worse debt situation. People have physical problems and God will heal them, but they take the same unhealthy habits on only to experience the same health problems again. We hold bitterness in our hearts. We preserve our failures. People allow one negative event they experienced to dictate the remainder of their lives. No. Clean yourself from that. Let it go. BELIEVE IN TOMORROW.

That is what Joshua was telling them. The pasts of the children of Israel had been a wilderness experience with rebelling, unbelief, murmuring, and complaining. God wanted to bring the people into a new day. He wanted to take them into a land flowing with milk and honey. He told them that if they would BELIEVE IN TOMORROW he would do AMAZING THINGS FOR THEM.

I want to encourage you today. You may have had some tough times in the past. You may have murmured and complained and moved in unbelief. You may have gotten away from the Lord, but if you will see yourself standing at your Jordan and hear God say that if you will BELIEVE IN TOMORROW he will do some amazing things in your life. You will experience the great goodness of God. Clean yourself from your past. Let it go and hope and BELIEVE IN TOMORROW.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR TOMORROW? Do you see it with handles of anxiety or handles of belief? God wants you to see it as a new adventure with God doing amazing things in your life.

Mary Clemmer wrote a poem about tomorrow. She said,

“A shining isle in a stormy sea,

We seek it ever with smiles and sighs;

To-day is sad. In the bland To-be,

Serene and lovely To-morrow lies.

Your yesterday may have been bland and stormy, but if you will BELIEVE IN TOMORROW amazing things will happen.

THERE IS AN INTERESTING STORY in the book of 2 Kings chapter 7. The city of Samaria was under heavy siege by the enemy. There was no food. It was bad. The Bible calls it a “great famine.”

2 Kings 6:25 As a result there was a great famine in the city, and after a long while even a donkey's head sold for fifty dollars and a pint of dove's dung brought three dollars!

Things were so bad that people were eating donkey heads and dove’s dung. That’s bad, but it got worse.

2 Kings 6:28 Then he asked her, "What's the matter?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.'

2 Kings 6:29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."

None of us have ever been in a famine that bad, but we have all felt we where experiencing bad times that kept getting worse? Have you ever said something like, “What else can go wrong?” You were thinking that nothing else could go wrong, but then something else did go wrong. It’s at those times that you have got to BELIEVE IN TOMORROW.

We were on vacation this past fall. As you know, I came home every weekend to be here. I began the vacation with that crazy virus crud and cough that once you got, it took months to clear up. I was taking some cough medication and it made me feel funny. I couldn’t think exactly correct when I took it and I need all the help I can get when it comes to thinking. That was bad, but it got worse. I was coming home one weekend and needed to stop and get fuel. I drive a diesel, so I can’t stop anywhere for fuel. I began seeing advertisements about diesel fuel, so I pulled in. At this pump there was a black handle, a yellow handle, and a green handle. Green is diesel, right? No. Not at a BP station and not thinking BP, I stuck that green handled nozzle in and filled-er-up. Shortly down the road I began skipping. I thought I had bad diesel and would simply need to run that tank out. Well that wasn’t the case. About twenty miles down the road I was calling a wrecker. I burned up three fuel pumps and those are expensive fuel pumps. I told my wife that I wasn’t going to allow that to spoil our vacation. Well, that situation didn’t because it got worse. Pastor Buren, my nephew Brian, and I went fishing one morning. Again, I took cough medicine that morning. Won’t hurt me fishing right? Not. The water was some rough, but I have been in much rougher. My bilge pump stoped working and the back of the boat fills with water. I am driving the boat an unaware (medication) that there is water in the boat. When my nephew finally told me, I sent them to the back to get the water out, but their weight was enough to cause the motor to go deep enough to suck water into the intake. My outboard motor blew. We were three miles out in the ocean. The coast guard had to come get us. Outboard motors are not cheap. However, I did learn that my boat will not sink.

My point is that I had to begin BELIEVING IN TOMORROW because sometimes bad things get worse. But when I began BELIEVING IN TOMORROW, things began improving, even my cough. I could have allowed all that to mess up our vacation. I didn’t. I could have allowed that to stop me from doing what I love to do in life – fish. I didn’t. I was back on the ocean a few days later with a new motor enjoying God doing amazing things. I was alive. I had a new motor and a lot of new equipment. I was enjoying God’s great goodness.

The king of Samaria finally got the word of the Lord about that bad and getting worse situation. He went to the prophet Elisha.

2 Kings 7:1 Elisha replied, "The Lord says that by this time TOMORROW two gallons of flour or four gallons of barley grain will be sold in the markets of Samaria for a dollar!"

2 Kings 7:2 The officer assisting the king said, "That couldn't happen if the Lord made windows in the sky!" But Elisha replied, "You will see it happen, but you won't be able to buy any of it!"

God was going to take that horrible famine situation that they were experiencing today and turn it into a time of plenty TOMORROW. It would happen, but the person not believing in tomorrow would see others enjoy it, but he would not. It’s important to BELIEVE IN TOMORROW. Don’t doubt that God will do amazing things for you tomorrow.

The story goes on to tell us exactly what happened. Four lepers decided to go to the enemy’s camp and surrender. They figured they would at least be able to eat. When they arrived, the Lord had caused confusion among the enemy and the camp was empty, but full of food and wine and gold and silver and riches. The lepers told the king and the Samarians took the wealth. Sure enough, that tomorrow was just as Elisha had said it would be.

2 Kings 7:16 and the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So it was true that two gallons of flour and four gallons of barley were sold that day for one dollar, just as the Lord had said!

Everyone enjoyed the pleasures of the plunder except the person who did not believe it could happen. He was trampled by those enjoying it and died.

The point is don’t doubt God’s word about your tomorrow. Don’t get left behind. It will supernaturally happen. God will do whatever it takes to bless you tomorrow no matter what crisis you are experiencing today.

H.G. Wells said, “The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.”

I am coming to the place where I can laugh about my putting gas in my diesel. I am nearly to the place where I can laugh about my boat. I’m not there yet, but I know I will be.

I don’t know what famine you may be in today. Perhaps you marriage is in a famine. Maybe it’s your finances that are in a time of famine. It could be your health or your family or your job situation. Perhaps your emotions are in a famine and you are depressed. Perhaps you are in a spiritual famine. Don’t believe for one minute that is God’s will for your life. It is not. If you will BELIEVE IN TOMORROW and that God wants to do amazing things for you then you will experience God’s great goodness.

SOMEONE MAY SAY, “BUT WHAT IF good things don’t happen. What if things get worse?” At least I have lived it with a smile on my face. I didn’t get a chip on my shoulder. I didn’t cuss anybody out. I don’t have to deal with not forgiving and bitterness. I didn’t create more storm clouds to deal with. I also know there will be another tomorrow, tomorrow.

I want to encourage you today. There is POWER IN BELIEVING. It will change your life, health, attitudes. It will bring you victory in every area of your life. All things are possible to him that believes. BELIEVE IN TOMORROW. God wants to do amazing things for you tomorrow. You will enter your promised land if you believe in tomorrow. You will experience God’s great goodness. No matter what famine you are in, if you will have hope and BELIEVE IN TOMORROW you will experience the abundant life that God has planned for you.

Give the Lord a shout and a handclap!

	Reaching people and making them devoted followers of Jesus Christ.