Jonah 1:17
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:1
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.
Jonah 2:10
So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
As we looks through the book of Jonah we find a man that has been called by God to do a job. God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people there that God is going to destroy all of them if they don't change their ways and turn to God.
God has the power to change things. Let's talk about 4 of them.
1. Power to destroy.
God has the power to destroy. We see that here in Jonah that he was about to destroy a city of about 120,000 people.
You might ask well how did they know that God had the power to destroy their city. Because God had already destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He had already brought major plagues upon Egypt to set the Israelites free and he spit open the sea and destroy the Egyptian army. And much more.
So pastor are you saying he will destroy us. I am saying that God has already concurred your enemy Satan.
I picture God taking his fingers and flipping Satan like a bug out of the way. God will watch over you to help you and protect you, because God has power.
2. Power to release.
God has the power to release you from your burdens.
God can release you from your Anger.
Your anger is nothing to God if you will learn to give it to him. You must let God have the angry and let him take away the pain that is always causing you to be angry.
God can release you from your unforgiveness.
I have told the story before and I will tell it again if you have not already heard it. I had some things that came up with someone many years ago. The unforgiveness was unbearable. I prayed and ask God to help me, however I received very little release from those prayers. It gradually got a little better, but it was still bothering me a lot.
I continued to pray for about a year and one day as I was driving down the road with my wife it I begin to have tears running down my cheek. My wife looks at me and says "Honey what it wrong, are you ok?" And I told her as I am going to tell you this morning. At that moment I felt a release and a calm that I had not ever felt about that situation. Place it in God's hands and don't let up on the prayers because God has the Power.
God could have easily took Jonah's life when he said he would like to die. You see Jonah did not understand why God would save those people from destruction even though Jonah had told them if they didn't change God would destroy the entire city.
God can release you from those pills your hooked on.
Yes, I realize they may be prescriptions, however people get hooked on pills just like they do cigarettes or alcohol. There are many people in the world that die every year from pills that are prescription.
It is an addiction that will eventually destroy your mind and your life. Please understand that God can deliver you from that issue. God has the Power.
3. Power to change your attitude.
Are you someone who just has a bad attitude?
There is a lot of people in this world that just does not seem to have a great or even good attitude. It is important that we as Christians have a good attitude and a loving personality. We need to show people the love of Christ that we as born again believers should have.
4. Power to change your Stinking Thinking.
Have you ever seen that person that comes into church and they have on smelly clothes. Maybe they look like there homeless and the first thing you do is think why are they here. I bet they are here for money. We as people need to understand that people in this world and even in our own city are lost without God. They need help, love, and to learn who God is and what He can do in their life.
God has the power to not only change your Stinking Thinking, but also the power to change their lives. Let us love and show the light that someone like this so desperately needs.
When God tells you to bring the gospel of Him to someone it is your job to do just that no matter who they are.
Jonah tried to run from what God had for him to do. As your read the book of Jonah you see how the men are all praying to their own god's until they find out the God that Jonah was working for. They knew that this was a God that had power over everything.
As Jonah gets tossed overboard and gets swallowed by the fish he know why he is there and he cries out to the God who can.
And then when Jonah gets to Nineveh and they change their ways then he is upset because it didn't go his way.
God sees all and knows all.
God has the power to bring you out of depression.
God has the power to heal your broken heart.
God has the power to teach you the bible.
God has the power to help you sing.
God has the power to pull you up out of that pit.
God has the power to encourage you.
However for God to do anything you have to give it to Him.
If God has the power to calm the storm by saying "Peace, Be Still" (Mark 4:39) and the storm obeys then I am pretty sure He can handle our little problems that we have.