T H E 11:59

EX PER IEN C E
God WILL Be On Time!

By Jackie Morris
 Contents

1. God Will Make a Way .......................................................................

2. God Will Do the Impossible .............................................................

3. God Is Always on Time ....................................................................

4. God Will Not Let You Perish ............................................................

5. God Is Never Taken By Surprise ......................................................

6. God Will Tell You What to Do ........................................................

7. God Has a Purpose for Everything ....................................................

8. God Wants to Use You .....................................................................

9. God Will Render Justice ...................................................................

10. God Is the Answer to Every Problem ..............................................

Conclusion .............................................................................................

A Word of Encouragement ……………………………………………

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God Will Make A Way

╬ A father and son are headed towards the mountains, as the book of Genesis
records the story. One is an old man; the other is a picture of youth. The young
lad is carrying a bundle of sticks for the offering strapped across his back. He
demonstrates obedience by adhering to his father’s every instruction. He has
journeyed with his father to other sacrificial offerings before, but this time seems
different. Even though full of youthful questions, the young lad did not speak of
the thoughts that he did not understand. Something was missing.

The father appears preoccupied as they ascend the mountain together. Little do
they know, but for each step the old man takes up the mountain, there is also a ram
on the other side taking that same step. The heaviness of the cost of obedience has
begun to weigh heavily on the old man’s heart and is making his chest pound.
Sweat is popping up on his forehead and running down his face. Nevertheless, he
continues to ascend the mountain, and so does the ram. They did not see each
other, but God sees them both. With each step the old man takes, he gets closer to
the sacrificial site. He has already told his beloved son that God will provide a
sacrifice. The old man stops when he reaches his destination.

Together the father and son build an altar. Now the father explains to the young
man (the son he was promised, the son he loved) that he, the son, is to be the
sacrifice. He binds the young man (who offers no resistance) and places him on
the altar. He unsheathes the knife and raises it with every intention of plunging it
into the heart of the gift God gave him; his precious son.

It appears to be the end, but the very God who sent him on this mission, stops the
old man! The eternal clock stopped at 11:59. The other climber, the ram, has been
caught in the thicket by its horns. The ram is the provision God has supplied for
the burnt offering. Of course, we know this is the story of Abraham and Isaac.
Abraham could not see God’s plan unfolding. He was not aware of the ram on the
other side of the mountain.

The Valley of Decision

Abraham was just like us -- a person with human emotions. In spite of those
emotions, he made a choice --a painful choice. He made a decision to trust God
without knowing the outcome of his obedience.
When he raised the knife, no one knows exactly what he felt; we can only
speculate. One thing we can conclude: he did not allow his feeling to supersede
his faith.

The eleven hours and fifty-nine minutes we go through before we reach that last
minute, the “do-or-die” time, is when we should be trusting God. However, that is
usually the time we spend worrying, doubting, being fearful, becoming angry,
everything but trusting God. There are those who have reached that level with
God, where they just rest in His ability to deliver. For others, it is a time of great
stress and pressure. I pray that we will have the faith that Abraham displayed
when asked to sacrifice his son.

When Abraham left his servants at the bottom of the mountain, he stated to them
that he and the young man would return. He spoke words of faith although he had
no idea how God was going to bring to pass what he was saying. God had never
broken His word to Abraham. The Lord reminds me of His faithfulness especially
during the times when I’m questioning what He is doing in my life. Even during
the times when I feel discouraged while waiting for the Lord’s promises to come to
fruition, He says to me, “check my track record.” No matter how many trials I’ve
had to endure, the Lord was always faithful.

We may not like what God wants us to do. Remember, God does not need our
approval, but He does require our obedience. I cannot imagine Abraham skipping
down the road to go sacrifice his son. This must have been a crossroad in his
spiritual life. He had waited so long for God to manifest this promised son, and
now he was asked to kill him. This was a true test of faith.

A Time of Testing
Our faith must be tested in order for God to show us what’s in our hearts. Before
that one minute was up, God stopped Abraham from making the sacrifice and
instead provided one for him. Abraham had proven that there was nothing he
would withhold from God. Can you imagine the relief Abraham felt when God
came through at the last minute? I’m sure Abraham would agree that He may not
come when you want Him, but He’s always right on time.

The Holy Spirit brings these 11:59 experiences back to our remembrance so that
we can reflect on God’s faithfulness in our lives. Each one of us must have our
own personal encounters with God in order to know Him on a personal level. No
matter how much faith someone else has, we cannot live off someone else’s faith.
Jesus has to be a personal Savior to you. I hear many Christians say, “God is good
all the time, and all the time God is good.” But how many of them really believe
that? Do you really believe it? It is impossible to know that He is good if you
don’t have a relationship with Him. You can only know about Him. It’s our
personal interaction with God that builds our confidence and gets us through the
tough times. And believe me, tough times will come.

The devil works hard at getting us to doubt, question, and wonder about God’s
faithfulness. Like Eve in the Garden of Eden, our first mistake is that we listen to
him. The Bible lets us know that he is a liar. Every time he opens his mouth he
lies, and yet we are guilty of giving him an audience. He was able to convince
some of the angels in heaven to believe his lies and rebel against God. He
probably whispered some doubts into Abraham’s ear too, but the outcome lets us
know that Abraham did what we should all do, and that is obey God and leave the
outcome of our obedience to Him.

Learning to Let Go
I tried very hard to get along with the father of my two younger children, but our
relationship deteriorated to the point that we had to go to court.

The custody battle over the children was the most painful ordeal I had ever
experienced. We don’t always understand what God is trying to teach us when we
are consumed by emotional or physical pain. Mentally I was a wreck, and there
were days when I would have welcomed death or considered suicide, BUT God
wouldn’t let me. Even when I asked God to let me go, He wouldn’t listen. Most of
the time all I wanted was for the pain to go away. Every time I had to go to court, I
came back feeling like I was fighting for my life. The kids were much too young
to understand what I was going through. It felt like my life was being slowly
sucked out of me. Instead of dying slowly, there were days when I just wanted to
get it over with. The pain of living did not outweigh the release I believed death
would give me. Just because we are Christians does not mean we won’t
experience extreme pain sometimes. The emotional pain had driven me to the
point that I entertained thoughts like; “if God don’t take me, I’ll do it myself” and
“I just want to go to sleep and not wake up.” I didn’t want to face another day.
No one could have convinced me that God had a plan for me because all I could
see was a cloud of darkness all around me. All I wanted was for the pain to stop,
and to me, death seemed like a remedy. It was hard for me to pray, but God had
already placed a strong support system of believers in my life who prayed when I
couldn’t. The devil would whisper in my ear, “If God loved you; He wouldn’t
allow you to go through such pain.” Many days I fought not to believe the devil’s
lies, but there were some days when I didn’t win.
In retrospect, I realize that God was trying to teach me to give my children back to
Him, but at the time, that was not on my mind. He doesn’t want us to put mother,
father, brother, sister, children, or anyone else before Him. It was a very painful
lesson, but I learned it.

God Has the Last Word

I had a lawyer who kept trying to convince me that in California it was not
common for a judge to give full custody to one parent. With all the strength I
could muster, I took the stand that I would not compromise the issue of custody.
As a matter of fact, on the day the judge was going to make his final decision, I
told my lawyer I wanted to speak for myself. Before the moment arrived for me to
listen to the judge make a decision about my children, I went into the bathroom. I
went into a stall and stood behind the door. And as I wept, my heart ached from
the thought of possibly losing my children. I was at my 11:59 moment. With all
the strength that was within me I told the Lord that I needed Him at that very
moment, not the next day or week, but NOW! I reminded Him that He was the
only God I’d known and called upon since I received salvation and that I needed
Him more at that moment than ever before. After pouring my heart out and drying
my eyes, I went back into the courtroom with my heart still pounding (“heart in my
hands”).

Instead of seeing the judge, I sort of envisioned God sitting on the bench about to
render the final word concerning my children. When the judge spoke the words,
“In any other case I would give joint custody, but not in this case,” the Lord had
spoken. I could feel the presence of God more than I could see the judge sitting
before me. I knew that God was in control of my life, but there comes a point
where the rubber meets the road and it never feels good. We will experience some
pain as we grow in the Lord, but He is faithful.

I wanted to scream, shout, and cry all at the same time! But I remained composed
until I got outside, and then tears of joy flowed like a broken dam. The eternal
clock had stopped at 11:59.

God will supply what we need

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His

riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19 NKJV)