Trending News:
- More people than ever feel like they are sinking into a pit of despair … over financial problems, marital problems, health problems, and so many other distressing situations.
Beloved, Jesus is the answer. He is our salvation–healing, deliverance, rescue, safety, and soundness. He is the hand that reaches down into that pit and pulls us out, even when we have hit the very bottom.
Often times our problems arise because we are running from the Lord instead of obeying Him. When Jonah received direction from the Lord, he turned and went the other way. And his disobedience did not just affect him, but all who were around him.
A great tempest arose and began to overcome the boat that Jonah was on, and the other men on the boat asked, … Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us … (Jonah 1:8)?
So, even though it was not Jonah’s intention, his disobedience to the Lord caused problems for everyone near him.
Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life … So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging (Jonah 1:14, 15).
When they separated themselves from this disobedient man, the seas in their own lives turned calm.
Jonah was then swallowed up by a great beast in the sea that raged around him. But from the pit of despair, Jonah cried out to the Lord, and the Lord heard him and rescued him:
… I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah 2:2, 5-10
When Jonah finally realized that he could not outrun the Lord, and repented, and turned his eyes towards heaven and his voice to the Lord, the Lord delivered him out of the belly of the beast that had swallowed him.
Beloved, have you been swallowed by the beast of debt, pornography, adultery, or some other soul-destroying addiction? Have you been running from the calling that God has placed on your life? If so, now is the time to call out to the Lord. He will reach down into that pit and pull you out! He loves you, and it is not His will that even one person perish. You are precious to Him, and He sees exactly what you are going through.
Say this faith declaration out loud: Lord, thank you for pulling me out of the pit of                                 (name the problem that you are facing). You are my deliverer, my redeemer, and You will never leave me or forsake me. I will rely on You to help me break this cycle of addiction and defeat. I will stop running from You, and instead, run into Your loving and forgiving arms. Amen.
Scripture Reading:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
II Peter 3:9
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Hebrews 8:12
For more information about how to overcome the root cause of life’s problems, please click here to order my book, The New Anointing.