Valley View Baptist Church

Have you ever faced a season of waiting on an answer from God and wondered, Lord, what's the point? What's the purpose of my waiting? Why can't you just send an answer to me now?

We live in an instant world. Microwaves. On-demand TV shows. instant contact with family and friends through our cell phones. Breaking news at our fingertips. No one likes waiting. Patience is hard and difficult to obtain.

But waiting has a purpose, a meaning. God uses the periods of waiting to helps us grow and improve. This morning Bro. Mike explains to us the Purpose Behind the Waiting.

Whether you realize it or not, you walk into a battle every single day. Not only is there a daily battle for your soul, but you face a spiritual battle as a member of the Army of God every day.

But the good news is that the Lord gives us certain pieces of armor that will help us to face the battle before us.

In a new series titled Preparing for Battle, Bro. Mike Meade walks us through these pieces of armor at our disposal.

Tonight we examine the Belt of Truth. The belt is the first piece mentioned; it anchors everything together and holds everything in place. It's the foundation for the rest of the armor. All the other pieces are useless without the Belt of Armor in place.

When you think about a good solider you probably think of someone who is fearless, brave, obeys orders, willing to lay down his life for others, someone who is strong physically and mentally. But do you consider their suffering? The bad conditions, long hours, distance from home? A good soldier suffers, and is willing to do so.

The same can be said about soldiers in the Lord's army. Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, tells us that enduring hardness (hardships) makes us a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

But you can't endure hardness unless you are in the right mindset.

James describes a group of men who thought they would go to the market the following day to buy and sell. But he reminds us that we do not know what tomorrow brings; our life is but a vapor that vanisheth away.

As we venture into a new year, none of us know what tomorrow brings. It forces us to ponder our own existence, and ask the question, What is Your Life? This morning Bro. Mike showed us some truths about our lives that are applicable to each and every one of us.

While we might not know what our life is all about, we can know that it is not a mistake, is not worthless, not all about ourselves, and not endless.

As a young man, Joseph undoubtedly had a plan for his own life. He was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery and his life was dramatically re-routed. It was scary, and confusing. Why would God send him down this path? But, in the end, God got the glory for Joseph's life and He used it to His own end.

Sometimes our lives are the same way; we have a plan, but God has a different one. Sometimes God rewrites our life's story, takes us on a different path, in a direction that we don't understand. If that is you, consider that maybe God is rewriting your story, using you in the same way He used Joseph.

So, what happens When God Rewrites Your Story?