He Knows
Junior Level

HE KNOWS

In today’s world, it’s scary.  Today as I write this lesson, marks the 9 year anniversary of the bombings of the twin towers in New York City, and at the Pentagon as well as the plan that went down due to the brave men and women who fought to save the lives of many others.  Earth is a scary place.  There are wars, earthquakes, diseases, violence, and turmoil on every hand.  As weak human beings we can become so fearful and worried that we cannot enjoy life or fully be in obedience to God in our walks with Him if we let the cares of this life overtake us.  However, we find comfort in God’s word that He will never leave us or forsake us but He will go with us even to the end.  In today’s lesson, I hope that you are blessed, encouraged, and strengthened as we look at some truths about our Father and learn to focus on Him!  God Bless you all!.

Handout:  HE KNOWS

Teacher's Guide: HE KNOWS

What if I lose my job?  How are we going to pay these bills?  What if someone in my family dies?  What if we get sick?  What if the economy never heals?  What if I lose my spouse?  What if my house burns down?  What if my best isn’t good enough?  What if they don’t like me?  What if I can’t send my kids to college?  What if I can’t pay my doctor bills?  What if this pain never goes away?  What if there is another attack on America?  What if I work so hard for years and still lose everything I’m working for?  What if my children never do what they are supposed to do?  What if I get in God’s way and mess everything up?

All these questions that most of us have, all of these fears bring us to our first point in this lesson. 

1.  GOD KNOWS its SCARY BEING US!!!

HE KNOWS!  HE wants us to ask for help…HE UNDERSTANDS HOW SCARY LIFE IS TO HUMAN BEINGS!  I don’t know about you…but when I heard that sentence, “God knows its scary being us.”  I heard Beth Moore teaching about insecurity and she said that she and her daughter was at the doctor’s office and there was pamphlets about every cancer known to man, and her daughter was reading them and suddenly she looked at her mother and said, that profound sentence, “God knows it’s scary being us.”  I was floored!  It hit me like a ton of bricks…I knew God understands but those words just made it even more personal to me.  I began to just sob and think about every thing over the past year that I have been battling and all the fears and stressful thoughts and I felt relief…I was blessed, and I just praised the LORD as HE loved on me.  God knows my fears and my worries…and even though He is busy dealing with the pain in the world, the floods, the famine, the wars, the hunger…but He cares about my pain too…and He cares about yours!  He is not limited to only a large number of people’s pain…He goes to the individual!  He understands how fragile we are more than we do!  He knows, and He cares!   HE cares about the things we worry about,  those things we feel bad for worrying about them!  He understands!  Talk to HIM! TALK TO HIM!

As human beings, there are times when we will be afraid.  Lately, I’ve been battling fear and worry about things I cannot control.  Also, I’ve been feeling guilty for feeling that fear.  All fear comes from distrust.  If you and I are truly trusting God with all our hearts, then why are we fearful sometimes?  Why do we worry about some things?  I believe it is the unknown.  We are fearful when we are not in control.  I always think of the story I told in another lesson called fear not, about a little girl in a swimming pool with her dad.  He was holding her and she was having so much fun in the water.  The depth of the water reached to about her waist and she splashed and was having the best time.  Suddenly her father began to go deeper into the water while playfully saying, “deeper and deeper and deeper.”  The little girl began to see the water was rising higher and higher and she began to be afraid and she wrapped her arms around her dad’s neck and held on for dear life.  Her little heart pounding she was terrified.

What the little girl could not see is that anywhere in the pool that she was, it was well over her head.  When her father was holding her above it she felt in control and fine, but when she began to realize, she stopped focusing on the fact that her dad was holding her and that no where in the pool was he not able to touch bottom, it was NEVER over his head! 

When things are going well, our jobs are secure and going well, we are able to pay our bills on time, there’s plenty of food in our pantries, plenty of gas in our vehicles, we and our family are well, life seems so good and we laugh and we enjoy life to the fullest.  However, as soon as something goes awry, like the little girl, we forget that we are held by our Father who is in control AT ALL TIMES!  In HIS Word, God was always telling HIS servants, “Don’t be afraid.”  In the Bible, the phrase, “fear not” occurs 144 times.  God knows when we are afraid.  He said it to Abraham, to Isaac, to Joshua, to the children of Israel many times.  God knows how fragile we are, how sinful and weak we are.

Isaiah 41:14 “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

Fear not thou worm, wow.  God was not insulting humans when he called us worm.  He was showing us our state.  Worms are dirty, through and through, they are small, and unable to defend themselves for the most part. 
Psalms 103:8-17 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.9He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
 10He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.12As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
 13Like as a father pitieth His children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him. 14For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. 15As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
 16For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. 17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children;

The LORD cares for us and He knows at times we will fear and worry so what does He say about this? 

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.”
The word “Care” here in the Greek Transliteration is merimna.  It means anxiety.  That is our fears, our worries, and our concerns.  Cast them all on Him. In other words, place all your worries and fears on Him, tell Him about it.  Ask for help.  He cares and He wants to help His children.  Praise YOU LORD!  YOU ARE WORTHY!
Moving on to the second point of this lesson and that is:

2. It’s Not About Us…It’s All About JESUS!
The very moment that we begin to focus more on the cares of this life, than upon Jesus, that is when we start to fear.  We start to worry, who will take care of us?  What is going to happen to us?  How will we get through this?  Remember Peter, when he began walking on the water to Jesus?  He was ok until he stopped focusing on The LORD and placed his eyes on his surroundings, he began o be fearful. 

In the ark, when God was giving Noah the instructions to build it.  He told him to place only one window, and it was to be in the very top of the ark.  It was so Noah would be looking up instead of around him.  God knew those were going to be tough days.  He wanted Noah’s focus to be on Him.  That was where his strength would come from. 

Storms are going to come.  That’s life, but the secret to whether or not you survive and stay on fire for the LORD through them, is determined by where you place your focus.  Last Sunday, as I was teaching at the church where I attend, The LORD brought my attention to two lovely older sisters who were sitting side by side on the second pew from the front.  These two sisters have been through some storms.  They have served the LORD their whole lives.  They lost their dad suddenly several years ago, with no warning whatsoever.  They both know what it is like to lose a child, one lost her son to Cancer, and the other lost her son to suicide.  A few years passed and both of these sisters lost their husbands.  Then just a few months ago, their dear mother went home to be with the LORD.  She was one of the most wonderful saints of God that I have even known.  There these two sisters sit, listening to me teach and I was most humbled because they have been through so much, they know and have experienced loss, and fears, and storms and yet they remain faithful!  They move forward to finish the race that God has set before them, they go ahead clearing the path for their children after them, and it’s hard, and long, and I’m sure they are weary at times as the devil is fighting but still they move forward by the help, by he mercy, and the grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST!  What a blessing that is.  God has held these dear ladies and He will not let go and dear child of God, He is holding You and I as well!  In life, bad things happen.  We live in a sinful world.  However, we do not have to fear because we are held.  If we keep our focus on that fact that we are held by Almighty God who is ALWAYS in control, we will not be afraid!  Lord help us to remember that! 
My husband and I for the past 8 months have had custody of my husband’s 6 year old nephew.  It has been a very hard situation regarding his mother, my husband’s sister.  This little boy’s birth father was in prison and this child has come from a background of physical abuse, neglect and drug abuse in the home.  I have never cried or prayed so much or worried so much in my life.  But it has been the most rewarding experience of my life as well.  When that little boy quotes scripture that we have taught him, when he sings about the LORD, and at night prayer time when I am holding him and I hear his whispered prayers my heart is blessed and I know that God has placed him with us for a time and even if someday he has to leave us, this time is so precious and God will take care of all of us.  God is teaching me that when I take my focus off HIM, and begin to look at the situation, begin to fear that this little boy, who has become the son of our hearts, when I fear he will be taken from us and placed back into that environment, I start to fear.  I worry and I’m stressed.  When I start to focus on the anger and the resentment that is thrown at us from others involved, I start to be stressed.  However, when I keep my focus on Jesus and know that He has a plan and that we get to be part of that plan, I am blessed and strengthened and encouraged! 

Some of you know hunger, you know pain, you know suffering, and you know what it’s like to see your children cry because they are hungry.  You know what it’s like to lose the person you loved the most.  Some of you cry as your heart breaks because you have to watch your children making bad decisions and you know that you raised them better when they were young.  You are going through a very hard storm right now and you may feel as if you are going to drown.  On the authority of God’s word right now, I say to you.  YOU ARE HELD.  You are not going to go down as long as you keep Your eyes on JESUS.  You keep praying, You keep meditating on His word and You trust and obey Him.  He is going to carry you through this and You will come out the victor!  He will not leave You and He will not forsake You, but He will go with You always, even to the end!  He knows its scary being us, but He says fear not, I am with You!   I Love You All!

Dear Righteous, Heavenly Father…

We bow before You today in thanksgiving for who You are.  You are Almighty, You are LORD.  You are FATHER!  Thank You for loving us and taking care of us. Thank You for knowing that it’s scary here and that we are but dust and thank You for loving us so much anyway!  Lord help us keep our minds, hearts, and our focus on You at all times, because if we do not, we will go under.  Lord we CANNOT make it without You.  You are life, You are strength, You are courage, You are wisdom, You are freedom, You are victory!  We Love You and we will ever praise You.  LORD today We pray together for the hungry, the wear, the cold, the oppressed, the lost.  We ask that You deliver them, and put Your arms of strength and comfort around them and help them to know that You are there.  We praise You in the Mighty, Lovely name of Your Son Jesus…Amen.

~*Cindygirl*~
May 29, 2016