A Season Of Miracle Comebacks

Could several sports events with players such as Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow recently having miraculous comebacks, mentioning the Lord in their victories, be prophetic? I believe the greatest miracle moments in all of sports history are just beginning to be recorded as a sign of the spiritual season the Body of Christ is now in.

A while back I called up Dick's Sporting Goods to ask a question about a certain sports equipment. The lady who answered the phone put me on hold while she asked someone else about more information. When she put me on hold, there was a CD playing in the background of the 'Greatest Moments in Sports History." Play after play I listened with amazement as these teams and individuals who were losing big time, with no hope of winning, all of a sudden were being named heroes and the world was calling these unbelievable, winning comeback plays a miracle!

As I kept listening, I felt the anointing of God coming down over me through this CD as if God wanted us to know something. I got so caught up listening to these miracle comeback plays, I called Dick's Sporting Goods back up the next day asking, "Could you put me on hold? I don't want to talk to anybody. I want to listen to the Greatest Moments in Sports History"! I ordered the two CDs and kept listening to them over and over again. I have brained washed my mind with miracle comebacks.

I got to thinking. Are there certain ingredients in these miracle comebacks in sports events, past and present, that we in the Body of Christ need to be aware of? Looking back, what was it that created the greatest miracle moments in my own life? Those moments that I now live to tell others about.

Unusual Ingredients For A Miracle

The powerful ingredient that I discovered in these miracle comebacks in sports events and in my own life was...THEY WERE LOSING! Could what appears to us as seemingly losing in an area of our life possibly be an ingredient or key for a miracle? I believe it is. I am learning when it appears I am losing and it looks like it's impossible for me to win, God is setting the stage for something greater. Isn't it the stories in the Bible of the people who looked like they would never make it, that builds our faith the most? The Lord seems to write their heroic events beginning with them knowing the agony of defeat, with no hope of ever fulfilling their God given dream.

There's another key ingredient for a miracle comeback I have heard sports announcers talk about when a team is losing. They often notice and announce to the world about certain key players "they are being patient and calm under pressure"! We need to remember that it is through Faith and Patience that we inherit our promises and overcome great opposition.

Many Key Players Are Usually Overlooked And Rejected For A Season Before Coming Into
Their Glory!

Being overlooked and rejected are ingredients God seems to stage in our lives to humble us and prepare us for His timing of revealing His glory in us. He knows when it's our time for exaltation, for then whatever we do, we do all for His glory. Perhaps rejection is the most important ingredient He works in us way before we are brought to the lime light and become a champion. That heavenly gift of rejection humbles us to handle the fame when He exalts us and we seem to become unstoppable. But then the final exam question is, will we still glorify Him when a losing streak occurs? Perhaps the greatest moment in Tebow's sports career recorded in heaven could be the way he handled his loses after his season of success. He still glorified the Lord, for though he was in the game, the game wasn't in him, but Christ in him the hope of glory.

We are not finished hearing from these Godly sport champions regardless of their times of loses, for they know their losses are temporary compared to eternity. And their losses become practice sessions for yet another miracle comeback.

Blessings,

Bill Yount

 

We Are In A Season Where We May Need What We Don't Like!

Have you experienced certain things in your life that you did not like at the time, but later realized were needed?

May I Share A Few Things I Didn't Like?

Recently I was driving through a dangerous snow storm going to Pittsburgh, PA to minister. I don't like snow storms, especially driving in them. Another thing I don't like is big eighteen wheeler trucks flying down the highways passing me by when I am driving. When they pass you by they can throw stones at your car and crack your windshield.

This snow storm was beating down hard but the roads were well-salted. But, my windshield solvent line had become frozen and my windshield became coated with salt making it almost impossible to see. The windshield wipers only made it worse. I felt dangerously blinded.Then all of a sudden I noticed something. Every time an eighteen wheeler passed by me and got ahead of me, it's tires would throw water up on my windshield and I could see. Because of the storm there weren't many trucks on the road so I began to pray for more trucks on my highway. "Lord, please send me more trucks." When I could faintly see a truck that was way ahead of me, I would speed up to catch up to it so it could throw water on my windshield. The trucks became my deliverance through the storm. I will never complain again about trucks on the highway.

Another time when I was driving in a snowstorm a huge truck ahead of me was going slower than I wanted. Although the roads were treacherous, I decided to take a risk and pass this humongous hindrance to make up for loss time. As I began to turn into the passing lane, I noticed a huge snow plow in front of the truck and it dawned on me I needed to be behind the plow or I might never get to where I was going. Again, what I didn't like, I needed.

Lord, "Why Has Our Troubles Come Upon Us Like An Avalanche Of Snow"?

Job 38:22 "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow..."

Again, driving recently in another snow squall, I cried out to the Lord, "How could the Apostle Paul say that his and our many troubles are just a 'light' affliction compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us. ( 2 Corinthians 4:17 ) Was Paul crazy? Lord, show me what Paul meant and show me what my struggles and overwhelming problems look like to you. How do you see them from your point of view?" The Lord responded, "Son, look at just one of those snowflakes! You see it and then it's gone!" That is what all of your avalanche of troubles look like to Me in the eyes of eternity. They are as light and short-lived as the life of a snow flake. That is what I see."

Corrie Ten Boom, speaking at a conference, kept looking down as she spoke as if knitting something. Near the end of her teaching someone asked her why she was looking down and not paying much attention to the people. She held up a tapestry she was doing needle work on. Holding up the side that was frayed and hard to make sense of, she explained, "On this side of eternity our lives many times look like this." Then she turned the tapestry over and said, "But from God's eternal point of view, He sees something beautiful and good."

Lord, help us to understand that what appears to be a blizzard of problems is actually a treasury of snow.

Blessings,

Bill Yount

How David's Small Tent Turned Into A Tabernacle Of Worship! 1 Samuel 17:54

1 Samuel 17:54 After David slew Goliath the scripture says, "David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but put his armor in his 'tent'."

As we look at the armor of Goliath, I am persuaded to believe that David had to stretch out his tent a bit to hold it all.

Goliath was believed to be about ten feet tall, so quite a bit of armor was covering his body.1 Samuel 17:5-7. "And Goliath had a bronze helmet on his head ( remember Goliath had a big head ) and wore a coat of mail ( a flexible body armor made of small overlapping metal rings.) This coat weighing 5,000 shekels of bronze is believed to be about 125 lbs. Verse 6. He had a bronze skin armor on his legs and a bronze javelin ( a light spear for throwing ) across his shoulders. 7. And the shaft of his huge spear was like a weaver's beam ( approximately 3 inches in diameter ) with the spear's head weighing 600 shekels or about 15 lbs. And a shield bearer went before him. David probably took the bearer's shield also.

The Trophies Inside David's Tent Created The Atmosphere Of Worship!

 With all of Goliath's armor in David's tent he would never forget what the Lord had done for him and the nation of Israel. What I am about to express is my creative opinion and is not a difinite word from God. But would you stretch your imagination with me to see what else may have been in David's tent causing it to be stretched into a tabernacle of thanksgiving and praise? Besides Goliath's armor, I believe there were other trophies. Memories of the legacy of Israel's past history of crossing that Jordan river overflowing all of it's banks lingered in his tent. ( Joshua 3:7 ) The testimony of those 'stones of remembrance' was commanded by the Lord to be handed down through Israel's generations. ( Joshua 4:7 ) David heard about those 'stones of remembrance' from his father. I believe that is why when David went to face Goliath, he got to thinking, 'I'd better find me some stones." So he went to a brook.

 

Picking up that first stone, he relived that miracle crossing of Jordan and his faith began to rise. Picking up the second stone, he remembered that bear.That bear was gone except for the bear skin rug. Reaching for the third stone, he remembered that beautiful lion rug on the floor of his tent. In the evening David would often lean back in his 'bear' chair and rub his bare feet over the back of that lion's fur. What came to take him out was so sweet under his feet! Gripping that fourth stone, he remembered, Goliath had a brother with three sons. He thought to himself, "I'd better make that five stones in case the family shows up! And as he picked up that fifth stone, he saw Goliath's name written all over it and a shouting spell broke over him, "I feel a giant killing anointing coming down all over me, Saul, let me go kill him!" It was 'faith gone wild!" I believe the four stones that David didn't have to use were kept in his tent also.

 

It seems reasonable to believe that David had to keep stretching the curtains of his dwelling place and lengthening his tent stakes to hold all the weapons and trophies the Lord was giving him through his enemies. David's tent became a tabernacle of ongoing praise and worship making him a full-time worshipper, part-time shepherd! Even in times of discouragement, his past victories caused him to 'believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

 

The Greatest Trophy In David's Tent

 

Last but not least, I believe David's biggest trophy in his tent that created such an atmosphere of violent worship was himself. It flowed out of him from knowing he was God's trophy of grace. Even later with David's failure with Bethsheba, knowing he was a great sinner, he knew he had a great saviour!

 

The Greatest Weapon In David's Armor

 

'Remembering' was perhaps the most powerful weapon David had as his armor. His remembrance made him a giant killer.

 

'Remembering' is perhaps a nation's most powerful weapon against her enemies. When a nation remembers her past God given victories, she rises again becoming unstoppable. Even remembering our past tragedies such as 9/11 brings forth a unity and resilence in our nation to overcome our next impossible odds.

 

Blessings,

 

Bill Yount

 

http://www.billyount.com