Living Hope Fellowship Church

GOD HAS PREPARED

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

GOD HAS PREPARED

Preface

(obedience / repentance / Jonah and the whale)

          Isaiah 64:4 says, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” 

          God prepared the way for Jonah to preach to Nineveh, but Jonah ran from God, so God made another preparation for Jonah, a whale to swallow him!  After three days in the whale’s belly, Jonah repented and God delivered him.  Then he obeyed the Lord. 

          When we disobey, God certainly prepares other things for us, even less to our liking!

            Repentance is the way back to God!

GOD HAS PREPARED

by Pastor Kevin Badgle

        1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 

           The Bible also declares in Isaiah 64:4, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” 

          Every one of us has things come upon us that we don’t like!  We know that sinners, transgressors, and the backslider have this, but to think that the Christian has to endure suffering is certainly something beyond our desire, but it is not beyond probability.

          We should desire the things of God, and He has something prepared for us.  Jesus said in John 14:2, “. . . I go to prepare a place for you.”  Jesus has prepared for us wonderful and marvelous things there (in that place), but we are supposed to go get it.  I said, WE are supposed to go get it!  It is not just delivered to you.  Salvation is a free gift, but the blessings, the power, and the anointing of God are not!  However, Jesus provided a way.  He said in John 14:6, “. . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  The Bible also declares in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  You can’t casually seek God and find Him.  You can’t casually seek God and get a blessing.  You can’t casually seek God and get healing or deliverance.  You have to seek Him diligently. That means that you must seek Him painstakingly.  You must carefully, with everything within you, seek God, and then the Bible declares that you shall be rewarded!

          We aren’t talking about works unto salvation (see Ephesians 2:8-9), but the Bible decrees unto us very clearly that sanctification is by our own efforts, as we yield to the Spirit of God.

          2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

          Whenever God gives us a decree, and we follow His plan, then God sends the reward!  That reward is that we are sanctified out of this world, and into the presence of God.  Then we can have the anointing, and the blessing, and the power of God that we need to walk upon this earth with power over all the power of the enemy!  Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

          Not everybody has power over all the power of the enemy.  Say amen or ouch!  However, Jesus promised to us this power.  God can’t lie, and yet we don’t see this victory.  Whose fault is it?  If you want victory, then you are going to have to dig!  If you want the glory and the power of God to rest upon you, you are going to have to fast and pray!  If you are going to have anything from God at all, you have to believe God no matter what comes!

          The only way we are going to obtain what God has prepared for us is by faith, and obedience to God’s Word, and diligently seeking God. 

          Jesus said that He made the way.  The highway department made a way to get across the Ohio River, but they are not going to come over and take you there from your house by shuttle.  Most Christians live in a dream world!  They call it faith, but it is foolishness!  You have to get UP and believe God!  Shake off the devil and tell him that you are going on anyway!  Oh, Hallelujah!  God has prepared some awesome things for you and me. 

          Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18,  “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

          We aren’t in the place where we need to be, or we would be seeing a whole lot more than we are seeing now.  Where does the problem lie?  Is God unrighteous?  No.  Does God forget what His Word says?  No. 

          Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”  God cannot lie.  Titus 1:2 says, “. . . God, that cannot lie. . . .”

          Jesus said that He would show us how to get in that place.  He is our example; He went through first, and we are supposed to follow Him.  Don’t expect Him to drag you along.  If you won’t pray when He wants you to, He will deal with someone else.

          Genesis 6:3 says, “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man. . . .”  He has been dealing with you; don’t grieve him.  Ephesians 4:30 says, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

          Jonah 1:1-3 says, “Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.  But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”

          Jonah fled to Tarshish to get away from the presence of the Lord (like God didn’t dwell in Tarshish?!).  Where have you gone to flee from that voice that keeps nagging you to fast and to pray?  You need to push that plate away from you, so that you will be able to also push the devils away from your children. 

          The Bible declares in Psalm 139:8 - “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”  You cannot successfully run from the Spirit of God.  I didn’t say that you were saved no matter what you did.  I believe quite the opposite.  When God wants to get your attention, and He tells you what to do so you can prosper, then it is obedience to God’s Word that brings stronger faith to believe Him for greater things. 

          If you don’t obey God’s Word, God doesn’t have to listen to your asking!  God doesn’t have to say, “. . . command ye me,” anymore as He did in Isaiah 45:11.  In Job 22:28 God says, “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.” 

          You can command, name and claim, or decree all day long, but if you are not doing what God’s Word says, it is nothing but vanity, sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals.  You can say that you believe God’s Word, but there is no greater witness than someone who is not just reporting what the Bible says, but is actually living what it says! 

          The greatest witness is one who has experienced the thing they testify about.  If I haven’t experienced obedience to God’s Word, how can I experience healing or deliverance?  If I haven’t done what it says to get these things, how can I expect it to come to pass in my life?  God’s Word is clear.  We must not be just hearers of the Word, but doers. 

          A lot of people know they are not living right, but they know what is right.  The devil knows what is right, and he can preach you a sermon!  If you aren’t obeying the Spirit of the Lord, then Jesus Christ is of none effect to you!  How can you pray for someone else to be delivered from fear and unbelief if you have these things?

          Start by believing God for the little things.  If you believe somebody’s instructions, you will follow them.  If you get a new appliance, the instruction manual will tell you how to put it together and how to operate it.  You follow those instructions, because you don’t want to tear up your investment.  You want things to run efficiently.  However, spiritually speaking, many people take Jesus Christ and crucify him afresh, because they do not obey the Word of God, which is our instruction manual that shows us how to walk for Jesus. 

          Saying Hallelujah! or Praise the Lord! in church isn’t worth two cents if you don’t have it in your heart and then obey what is being told you.  God doesn’t set you free to do nothing!  Many who were prisoners of the devil have been set free, yet they are doing nothing for God.  Some who have been bought by the blood of Jesus, and who have been led by the Spirit of God about what to do next, have not listened.

          Isaiah 30:21 says, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” 

          Don’t just talk to me about what the Bible says; show me what it says!  Don’t just tell me that God heals; show me a healing!   Don’t just tell me God casts out devils; cast them out!  Don’t just tell me you love the Lord; do what God’s Word says! 

          Jonah fled from God’s presence.  We have watched people flee to get out from under His presence!  When we preach a little too hard, I wonder about the hinges on the doors!  I have thought about putting a steel bar down the middle, because when they hit it - Whoo!  Sometimes it is not as obvious, because they just have to go to the restroom!  However, they are still running away from conviction of the Lord.  God deals with the heart, and it scares some people so bad that it hits their bladder, and then they hit the door!

          God prepares some things you don’t want, but you are going to inherit either blessing or cursing.  Joshua said in Joshua 24:15, “. . . choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  You choose, so don’t blame it on God or anybody else if you choose cursing.

          People say they choose blessing, but they need to do what it takes to get it!  You don’t have to do anything to get cursing.  The Bible says if you fail to love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul, and spirit, and you don’t obey His commandments, then you shall receive a curse! 

          Deuteronomy 28:47-48 says, “Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee. . . .”

          You are going to give your heart to God or to the devil.  If you give your heart to God you will be blessed.  If you give your heart to the devil, you are cursed!  Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord.  He had a calling in his life.  The Spirit of God dealt with him like He deals with many of us - to go and tell souls about Him.  He deals with us to fast and pray. 

          Jonah ran, but he found out - there was another preparation!  God prepared for Jonah a great fish, and he spent three days and three nights in the belly of that fish.  Some of you feel like you are in the belly of a great fish right now, and you are being digested. . . .       

          Have you ever puked up something that was several hours old?  Notice how much better you felt after you vomited?  If people would start “throwing up and out” the works of the enemy and get free, they would feel better!  People around them would feel better too!

          The Bible says God prepared a great fish.  Jonah 1:17 says, “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”  Jesus says that he was in the belly of a whale over in Matthew.  I don’t care that scientists say that whales aren’t fish, because the Bible says a whale is a fish!  Matthew 12:40 says, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

          The only way for the others in the boat with Jonah to be saved was for them to throw Jonah overboard.  God’s fish was right there ready for him!  If you disobey God, He has a fish prepared for you! 

          God can prepare something bad!  The whale didn’t take a nibble; he took off with all of Jonah.  Jonah hit the water, and the fish swallowed him whole!  I lot of people believe that it was a hundred ton blue whale, but I don’t think so.  Jonah wasn’t in that whale playing ball.  He was in there with the slime and whatever that whale ate.  Jonah ate and drank whatever was in that mess!  If he wanted some air he was going to have to breathe it too!         

          We choose blessing or cursing.  Luke 12:47 warns us, “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.”

          God prepared a fish to swallow Jonah.  NOW he is lying in the fish, and NOW he is getting real.  He is going through a lot.  Some people say, I’m going to die if God doesn’t answer!  That is what God has wanted out of you all along!  You should desire earnestly the best gifts from God, instead of being satisfied with a sitting salvation!  You aren’t going to heaven like that.

          Finally, Jonah got real.  Just as soon as he got real, the fish puked him out!  Some of us walk around thinking that we have done a pretty good job, but we find out that we are nothing but a puke!  Jonah walked the streets of Nineveh as a “preaching puke”!  He was half digested, and most of his hair was probably gone, and you talk about pink and wrinkled!  Have you ever sat in the tub too long?  Have you ever watched your toes turn into prunes?  It takes a long time, even after you are out of the water, to get them back to normal!  You know that you have been in there too long.  Some have sat in the mire of sin too long!

          I remember as a little kid my mother would put me in the washtub and got me washed!  I didn’t like that number three wash tub, but I wasn’t big enough to fight her on it!  She put me in that tub, grab me by the nape of the neck, and just churn me like butter!  That was about all the room in there you had!  Thank God it was square, and I had a place to put my toes!  That galvanized was kind of rough sometimes!           

          Anyway, she got me in there, and she got to washing me.  She had plenty of soap, and all the dirt started coming to the top.  Later on when we had a nice white tub, you could really see the dirt.  Then mom would come in and say, Are you ready to get out now?  I know you are clean, because you have been in there awful long.  Sometimes a kid will say, No, I like playing in this dirty water.  I’m still getting washed.         

          In other words, we will make an excuse and say, God is still working on me.  Oh, I’m still getting sanctified.  I’m not ready to step out yet and do anything for God.  You know I don’t understand.  You understand perfectly; you just don’t want to do it, and you are playing dumb!  If you continue to play in that dirty water, pretty soon you can’t see the bottom, and a big ring starts forming around the tub.  When someone finally comes in there and pulls the plug, you put your foot over the drain!  My Mom would be in the other room and yell, I can hear the drain from in here, so get your foot off of it!  There you are sitting in all your dirty slime! 

          Let God clean you up.  People will say that they are just trying to get ready.  Why don’t you go out and do what God says, and quit worrying about it, because you are getting a ring around you! 

          Jonah finally prayed through after going through the thing that God had prepared for him as a chastisement.  The whale spit him up, and he started walking the streets.  He looked terrible, but he got some people saved!  You can pray through and get out of that mess you are in and get a hold of God again.  God can still use you, so get up and get out of the mess, and obey God!  Shout yes! 

          I think that part of the reason that Nineveh repented was because of how Jonah looked as he walked by.  He said that Nineveh was going to be overthrown if they didn’t repent.

          Jonah 3:4 says, “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”  They were probably thinking, Yeah, you must be our example of what will happen.  If Jonah had not prayed through in those three days that he was in the whale’s belly, he would have been “overthrown”. 

          If some of you don’t start praying and getting a hold of God, you are going to be “overthrown”!  You say that you will get it when you get good and ready, but God is ready now!  God is the one that you have to answer to, so you need to get in a hurry.         

          When you already have a commandment, and something to go on that you are supposed to fulfill, and you know that God is talking to you about it, then don’t “wait” on God anymore.  That is like sitting in the dirty bath water!  It is backing up on God.  You are not going forward like you are supposed to! 

          The Lord has dealt with some to get in the altar and pray through, but they are not doing it.  Others, God has dealt with to do thus and so.  Sometimes, it isn’t to perform a work, but rather to do a work in you by fasting, and praying, and reading the Word instead of watching T.V. or doing other things! 

          Jonah had the greatest revival in the history of the Bible.  The whole city of Nineveh got saved.  These people were professionals at provoking and beating down anybody else around them.  They were perverts, and though they didn’t have the reputation of Sodom and Gomorrah, they were just as wicked.  Jonah came to them broken and humbled.  He preached the Word of God without any of his own zeal.  He told them the facts, and they saw what God could do to even a holy man of God if he didn’t pray through.  Then everyone from the king down to the milk maid repented!  They dressed in sackcloth and ashes!  A fast was proclaimed even for the animals! 

          Can you imagine the screaming, the hollering, and the complaining if the President proclaimed a fast for three days in this nation?  God wants His people to stand up and get out of the miry clay, and get out of that bathtub, and come on!  Once you have been washed you have to get up and GO!

          Jonah got very mad!  He said that he knew that God would forgive them!  Do you know people that you don’t want God to forgive?  God can save that very carnal, filthy animal of an individual that you hate so much.  He can gloriously set them free and fill them with the Holy Ghost.  Your own children might go to the altar of prayer because that person became a child of God and witnessed to them.  Jonah was backslid, but he prayed through.

          Jonah 4:1 says, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.”  Verse 2 says, “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” 

          Verse 3 says, “Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”  Jonah was mad, because he had to go through chastisement to bring him down.  God didn’t prepare that fish for Jonah just to torment him!  He prepared it to get him prayed through that he might turn around! 

          If you are backslid, then hell awaits you!  What if Jonah had not turned around?  Jonah’s repentance in the whale’s belly was not pre-ordained!  It was still up to Jonah to die and go to hell or repent and obey God.  It is up to you and me to decide to go on.  If you don’t go on, and you die and are cursed, then don’t blame God! 

          Verse 4-5 says, “Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?  So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.”

          Look at Verse 6:  “And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.”  Jonah was very glad for the shade, but Verse 7 says, “But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.”

          Isn’t that just like God to bring a blessing and then prepare a worm to come and eat it up!  A bunch of people have had blessings and touches from God.  Many have had healing and deliverance from God, but God has prepared a worm to see what you would grieve over, and to see if you would earnestly seek after his face.  He wants to see if you would go forward and hold on to the things of God.  Do you just let the worm have it?

          The Bible says in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”  People say, Well, I don’t want to fight.”  You had better learn to fight. 

          Ephesians 6:10-18 says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:  Praying always. . . .”  Read in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 that our warfare is not carnal!

          Give me a hundred people who are sold out to God and have the whole armour of God on them.  Give me one hundred people full to the brim with God, who are looking for the devil so they can eat him up!  God is preparing awesome things for us, but if we don’t answer the call of God, He has some other things prepared!  We need to get our feet upon the Rock Christ Jesus where there are no snares or traps and no despondency or despair. 

          The Bible declares that after God prepared that worm, and it ate up Jonah’s blessing, He also prepared an east wind, and it beat upon his head till he fell over ready to die.  That is what happens when you don’t obey God!  He was sitting there having a pouting party!  I have heard people sit down and compare notes about their misery!

          Jesus tells us to work while we can, because night cometh when no man can work.  God has awesome things prepared for us.  Chastisements along the way are prepared, but how much greater are the good things!

          God made Jonah to realize that he was fussing about the destruction of that gourd by a worm.  He didn’t fuss about God being ready to destroy a whole city.  When God saved the whole city, Jonah was angry about it!

          God has put some of you on your last legs financially, socially, physically, or mentally.  God has put you in one or more of these positions for a purpose.  It is so that you will quit looking to yourself and look to Him.  Which is more important, eternity or now?  When people say now, they are saying that they don’t need God!  The problem is that after you have made a decision like that, and you are dying in the hospital because you chose cursing, the preacher may have nothing to say to you, because God has quit dealing with you.  God does not always strive with man.  Re-examine your salvation, because you cannot continue to disobey God and stay saved! 

          Sinner and backslider, you need to come to God, because there is going to come a point in time when God begins to dish out His wrath, and you won’t have a chance to get saved.  1 Peter 4:18 says, “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

          Psalm 51 was written by a child of God who repented.  Verse 6-13 says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.  Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”  If you want to see God move in your life, these steps are necessary. 

          God has prepared awesome things that we haven’t even begun to comprehend.  Some have seen visions of revival where nothing is impossible.  Some of you have heard God speak, and have had Him bring scripture to you, letting you know what His promises are if you believe Him.  However, we have got to obey Him, or else there will be a preparation of other things for us.       

          Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.  If you need to pray, do it.  If you are a sinner or a backslider, and God has run you over the coals, repent.  You are not getting in on your own intellect.  You must come in just like a little child, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghopefellowship@lazernetwireless.net

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.

© Living Hope Fellowship, Inc.