Category: Book Excerpt

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

Notice the final part of his prayer.  He cried, “…keep me from evil.”  This reminds me of the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation.”  Lord, do not let me be led into temptation.  Temptation is everywhere.  You cannot buy a quart of milk at the convenience store without seeing the suggestive and the sensual. We live in a world that is polluted by filth.  And there is something about this prayer that grabbed at my heart.  I almost did not read it through.  The Lord said, “Wait a minute.  Read it all.”  Jabez cried, “…keep me from evil.”  Just because God is blessing us and great things are happening does not mean we can be soft on sin.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Have you ever watched a marriage being torn apart as by a vicious animal because of sin?  Have you ever seen a happily married couple with everything in the world going for them, but one of them began to play with sin; one of them began to believe a lie of Satan? And two happy, beautiful people that have the world at their feet, see their life begin to fall apart because of sin.  Unfortunately, there is not much preaching on sin anymore.  According to Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” When you play with sin it produces death.  When you walk with Jesus the result is life. If you are going to keep your marriage relationship strong you must walk in righteousness.

A strong marriage is very important to me.  Joy and I have worked at having a strong marriage over these many years, and I thank God for it.  Someone has to stand up and say, “It can be done.”  Every time some silly, little nonsensical thing goes wrong you do not run out and slam the door, and go berserk!  That is not life – that is television!  That is hellish.  That is sin!  “Well, I can get a divorce for $49.50.”  No, you missed the point.  It could cost you forty nine thousand dollars and it would still not reflect the true cost of breaking a marriage covenant.  I am not speaking words of hurt to those that have had problems in their marriage.  Keep your marriage strong.  Divorce is not worth it.

If Satan has put a little thought in your head or if there is a little temptation working in you run from like you would run from a wild beast.  You do not play with those things, I have dealt with so much of it the last few years.  I have seen precious marriages torn into a million pieces because of sin.  I have seen precious teenage lives broken in pieces.

Girls, I do not care what a man may promise you until you are married keep your purity.  Every man out of matrimony that wants to do anything ungodly to your body is a liar and you tell him I said so!  It works both ways, seduction is a two way street. Young people the smartest thing you will ever do is keep your minds and bodies pure.  Young woman no man is worth missing God’s best in your life.  Young man no woman is worth missing God’s best in your life.  Five minutes of pleasure is not worth ruining your life.

I am not trying to be sensational.  If I could instant replay the things I have gone through trying to help people you would understand.  To me sin is not funny!  Sin will make you stupid.  Sin will take you further than you intended to go and it will cost you more than you ever intended to pay.  Sin does not just hurt you; sin hurts everybody.  You say, “It is my business what I do.”  No, it is everybody’s business because sin hurts everybody.  Anybody who sins hurts more than just themselves.

The Psalmist, David, whom I love dearly, was a man after God’s own heart.  Thank God that when Samuel pointed his finger and said, “Thou art the man,” David was man enough to fall on his face before God and pray the powerful prayer, “Have mercy on me, O God.”  There is forgiveness for sin.  The tragedy is that so many people say, “Well, there is forgiveness, so what?  Big deal! I will sin and get forgiveness later.”  But before long their conscience is seared as with a hot iron.  Then they think they can sleep anywhere, drink anything, do anything, watch anything, and feel that they have a biblical excuse for it.  The devil will provide an excuse if you are looking for one! It is not about what you can get away with!  Just because God has not let the sky fall in on you does not mean you are getting away with what you are doing. The Bible says, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart” (Psalms 24:3-4). I say to every minister and every young couple: keep yourself pure.  What you fantasize, you will get involved with; Satan will see to it.

If you have seen the ravages of alcohol, like Joy and I have seen in our families, you would stay far away from drinking.  I had an uncle that could have been anything in life.  He was one of the most talented men that I ever met, but he died at age 55 because of alcoholism.  My uncle had a good heart, but he gave himself to things that destroyed his life.  I could tell you a lot of stories much like this.  It all started with compromise, a little slip, a little slide, a little drink here, a little drink there and ended up with another shipwrecked life.  If you drink a little, you will drink more.

You can feel temptation coming on.  Just a casual meeting, a casual glance, conversation and chemistry kicks in.  You know what is going on.  Do what Joseph did! Run if you have to!  Do not stand there and wallow in it and then say, “I just do not know what happened to me.”  Someone else might say, “Well, I do not know what I would do if I was caught in that situation!”  I will tell you what you are going to do.  You are going to take the path of least resistance.  Make your decision now what you are going to do.  I have had to walk away from certain friends in the ministry over the years because I have made up my mind I am going to have God’s best.  Satan has every kind of a trap in the world to trip you up.  Get smart!  Be wise!  Jabez said, if I am ever going to break out of this born-to-lose syndrome; I need God’s hand to be with me.  Oh, God, deliver me from evil and the grief that it brings.

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

The hand of God in a person’s life could be seen as the anointing.  When the anointing is on a person it produces results.  “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” Acts 10:38. When Jabez prayed “…that thine hand might be with me…” he was asking for God’s anointing to face a difficult task.  Some commentators believe that the occasion of Jabez’s prayer was the expulsion of the Canaanites from his territory. The only thing that was going to get him through that situation was the anointed direction of God.

We all face situations where we need to hear from God.  Many times God will speak to us during a church service where the Word of God is being preached.  I have heard of this happening to business people in my congregation more times that I can recall.  They were just sitting in a service and the Spirit of God would give them direction for their business.  He would show them what adjustments to make to get out of financial crisis.  The message preached that day would not even be about finances, but the anointing on the Word brought them direction.  That adjustment would not have been thought of without the anointing touching their life.  I love God and want to please Him. I want the hand of God on my life!  The anointing on my life will help me be a good husband and father.  Let the hand of God be upon me!  Anointing, fall on me – live big within me!  Touch me!  Anointing of God take this piece of clay and do something with it.

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

I have not been able to figure my church out.  We have always done what we are not supposed to be able to do.  We have always been able to go where we are not supposed to go.  We have been able to buy where we are not supposed to buy.  We have been able to do things that others say, “will not work.”  When we moved to downtown Fort Worth, Texas in 1976, several people said, “You have committed church suicide because everybody is going out to suburbia.”  I do not have any criticism for that, but God said, “Go downtown.”  Sometimes, I wondered why He wanted us to go downtown.  But now I can see it, because the downtown area was going to become a focal point for our city. Praise God!  God put us where He wanted us.  God wanted the anointing and the power of the Holy Ghost in downtown.

Can you imagine Jesus sending out forms all over Fort Worth to determine what people wanted church services to be like? I cannot imagine Him walking around and saying, “Now, just why are you so discouraged with churches?  What kind of a church would you like us to be?”  And then we all go in the back room and say, “Oh my Jesus, we need to have sad singing.  We have to change everything around.  We cannot preach over twelve minutes because people do not have the mental capacity to handle over a twelve minute message.”  You know, that would insult my intelligence.  I make no apology that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us and God has anointed us to see blind eyes opened, to see broken hearts healed, and to see marriages that are shattered put back together.  We are seeing those whose lives that have been ravaged by cocaine, alcoholism, pornography, and filth being set free – praise God!  There is nothing on this earth like the power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to turn people’s lives around.

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

So, what do you do when the deck is stacked against you?  What do you do when everything says you cannot make it? When life is against you, you can do what Jabez did.  He prayed. He prayed to the Lord his God. And I am telling you, you cannot keep a praying man or woman down.  He prayed.  That is what the Bible says, “And Jabez called on the name of the God of Israel”  (I Chronicles 4:10).

One has wisely said, “Until I pray nothing significant is going to happen, but after I pray the options are unlimited.” So when everything seems to be against you, what can you do?  First of all, you can pray about it.  I want you to notice the flow of his prayer in verse 10.  He prayed: “that thou wouldest bless me indeed” – not a little bit – but God bless me abundantly!  It is okay to ask God to bless you abundantly if you are going to give tithes and offerings to Him and bless others in the process.  It is selfish to pray, “God bless me abundantly,” and do nothing to help others.

God bless me indeed. I am a blessed man.  I am a blessed pastor.  My wife, Joy, is a blessed woman.  We’re blessed! And we have learned that we stay blessed by blessing others.  God said to Abraham, “I am going to bless you and make you a blessing.”  If your motive is to bless others God will see to it that you are blessed.

Jabez prayed, “Lord, enlarge my coast.”  In other words, expand and enlarge my influence.  Enlarge my ability to help others.  As a church we can pray, “God, multiply our outreaches. Multiply the workers for our outreach. Give us more territory and give us more people to help us take that territory.”

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

When I was in school very few students owned cars. I remember a certain student, whose father was a doctor, had a brand new Ford convertible.  That young man always had more money than he knew what to do with.  He had a brand new car when everyone else was walking, but he was given too much too quick, and it ruined him.  He became an alcoholic.  The last time I heard about him he was on his last leg and I pray to God that something turns his life around.

You can be born with a silver spoon in your mouth and turn out to be a zero. This young man thought his future was made because he had wealth, but in reality he was heading toward disaster because he had no one directing his path. He was in need of a master and he chose the wrong one. As long as you are partners with God, you can make BIG plans. It is not up to chance, it is Jesus being the Lord and the Savior of your life that makes the difference. It really is!

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

“And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested” (I Chronicles 4:9-10).

You should be thankful that you were not born in Old Testament days.  If your mama had a bad day, she was liable to give you a negative name that would follow you to your grave.  According to Strong’s Concordance the name Jabez comes from an unused root probably meaning to grieve; sorrowful.  Here is this precious little baby that has never done anything wrong.  He just came into this life and because his mother had a bad day, she named him “sorrowful.”  You know it is just hard to conceive that Jabez’s mother affected the rest of his life by giving him that name, all because it was not a happy time in her life.

A precious baby being named Sorrowful.  Can you imagine that?  You would think she would have wanted to name him: happy child or blessed child.  But, because things were difficult when Jabez was born, because she bore him with sorrow, she passed that sorrow on.

As Jabez grew up he had a decision to make.  Am I going to let my mother’s decision ruin the rest of my life? Did you know there are people whose entire life has been ruined by a decision made by someone else?  If that has been your experience, the Spirit of God is bringing you to a point of decision: Are you going to trust God with all your heart and believe what God said about you?  Are you going to see yourself from God’s point of view?  Are you going to let someone else’s negative mindset ruin your life?

As I look at the story of Jabez, I find it intriguing that the Bible says that he was more honorable than his brethren.  The Bible does not say why he was more honorable.  Perhaps it was because he rose above his situation and he prevailed.  Some people just roll over and play dead, but he made a decision to let God remake and remold his life.  He refused to live with bad luck ruling and ruining him.  He refused to stay down.  It is no disgrace to be down – it is a disgrace to stay down.  It is not a disgrace to fail – it is a disgrace to wallow in your failure.  Everyone has had setbacks.  Everyone has had failures somewhere in their lives.  Jabez is an example that we can overcome no matter what the circumstances.

Some people give you their success story but they do not tell you the whole story.  But here is a man that had a name that should have ruined the rest of his life.  Nobody would expect anything positive out of a man whose mother gave him the name, “Sorrowful.”  As I look at this story, I see a child who had a “bad” name, but one who made good decisions.

Life is a decision.  It is not where you were born.  It is not how you are born.  It is not the color of your skin.  It is not the education that you have acquired.  Life is a choice and you either choose to win, or you choose to lose.  I have faced these kinds of decisions over the years.  Thank God I made the choice years ago that I can be everything that God has called me to be.  There are many reasons why I should not be doing what I am doing today as a pastor of an international church. I am here today because I did not look at those reasons; I looked to the One that called me. My head said I could not do it.  I had a school teacher that said I could not do it; but I have discovered I can do what God called me to do. I can be what God called me to be.  I am not destined to mediocrity.  I am not destined to failure.  I discovered that I could change the path I was on through the help of God.

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

So many things happen in the world today.  Sometimes you wonder what it is going to take to wake people up.  We are facing some challenging days ahead.  We need to pray that Jesus will be glorified in these times.  I heard a story from a United States Marine cadet.  He went to chapel for the first time on his base, not knowing what he would find.  He told me that the chapel was full of young cadets praising and worshiping God.  He said, “When the service was over, we were all on our faces before God praying and crying out.”  Listen my friend, God is at work all over the world.  We need to just keep the switch of faith turned on.   I know the Word of God says that God “. . . is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). Our most exciting days are yet to come.  I believe the church is being positioned for God’s glorious outpouring across the world.

The final thing that happened in John 11 is so simple; I had never noticed it before.  The Bible says, “. . . then many . . . believed.”  Many believed – that is what happens in every church service, every time you open the Bible or read a book like this.  “Many . . . believed . . . But some of them went their ways . . .” So many people leave a church service without really knowing what the preacher said.

Some just shuffle off down the freeway of life.  Folks, we need to hear from God every day.  We need to use our faith.  We need to stay excited and thrilled about the things of God.  We must press in with our faith as never before.  It is all by faith.  God help me not to be lazy in my faith.  I must press in for myself, my family, and my church.  We must press in.  The will of God is not going to happen because it is a good idea or because it has happened in the past.  It is going to happen because we keep our faith on the line.

Some of you have been through tough situations.  But I tell you this situation is not unto death, but it is unto the glory of God.  God’s going to receive the glory.  You can believe to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.

 

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

As you see God’s promise come to pass, know that all the glory must go to God.  I know the angels must weep when God does such wonderful things, but men start taking the glory.  Sometimes we forget Who it is all about.  It is all about glorifying Jesus.  Our songs, our praise, our worship, our giving, our preaching, and our teaching – it is not about me being glorified or you being glorified – it is about Jesus being glorified.

Jesus said, “. . . This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” (John 11:4). Every time I talk about what God has done for us, whether it is on an airplane, in a business meeting, or having casual conversation – I start speaking of what God has done for the church I pastor.  I can see it bringing nothing but glory to God.  God works everything out for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). God is faithful!

I do not have a total understanding of everything, but I know God is faithful and He has a plan.  I know that all glory must go to God for every victory that we receive.  Jesus said that Lazarus’ sickness would not result in death. “. . . but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 11:4).

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

Only believe!  Five times in this passage we find the words believe or believeth.  The Word of God tells us over and over again of the power of belief.  Fear not!  Believe only!  We believe God through faith.  It all starts and it all finishes with faith.  Everything we do that pleases God is by faith.  Our salvation is by faith.  The infilling of the Holy Spirit is by faith.  God supplies our needs by faith.  We pray in faith.  In fact, if you cannot do it in faith, you are just wasting your time.  You have a good marriage through faith, or you come to a better marriage through faith.  Household salvation is by faith.  It is all by faith.

You may be reading this right now saying, “Well, preacher, you have a lot going for you.”  Let me tell you, I could take you back to times in my life when I did not have one, single, solitary thing going for me except my faith in God.  When you find out that God is all you have left, you find out that God is all you need.  Take everything, but let me hold on to faith in God.  Let me hold onto believing God.  Belief is the hand of faith that gets a grip on the promise of God and will not let go.

If you are living by the opinions of others or what the news media says, then you do not know what to believe.  Every time you turn around there will be a different voice.  Faith lays hold of the promises of God and gets such a grip that it will not let go.  Eleazar in 2 Samuel 23:9-10 had such a grip on the sword that when the battle was over, his hand could not be pried from the sword.  Notice, the man had a strong grip, not a casual grip.  Until the battle was over, there was a grip that defied imagination.  No matter what comes, what voice says this or that, let the belief of our heart reach out and lay hold of the promises of God.  Believe that God is bigger than every dead circumstance and big enough to see us through.  Only believe!

It all starts and finishes with faith.  Jesus said in verse 15, “And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.”  There is some strong meat here.  Jesus said, “I am glad . . . that I was not there.”  The first thing I want to do when a friend is in trouble is to be there.  I want to be there in tragedy.  I want to be there in a time of loss.  If it is possible, I would like to stay there, but Jesus said, “I am glad . . . that I was not there…” He was glad so that they would use their faith.  Sometimes, we get all wrapped up in our emotions and we forget to use our faith.  Faith is the best friend you will ever have.  Your earthly best friend may have had an off-day and talk you out of your faith.  When faith is your friend, get a lock on God’s promise and you will come through difficult circumstances on the high side of victory.

Some of the strongest faith people I have ever met in my life are in the pews of the church; they are not necessarily on the platform or on television. Some of these people are up in years and I hear the faith that comes out of their heart.  They are unheralded giants of faith, and you like them, need to hold onto your faith when you have nothing else to hold onto.  When you cannot see, your eyes must look beyond your dead situation and you must begin to see as God sees.  Hold on to that – it is so precious.  It will bring you through.

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

Sometimes God’s silence is a good thing.  We have a little problem in that we think we have to understand why everything happens.  I am here to tell you, there are some things for which we do not have the answers.  Only God has the answer.  I remember when my precious Bible school friend, Sam Smith’s young son passed away in his sleep.  He was only 25 years of age, a body builder, strong, handsome and just going to his first pastorate.  That was a rough one.  No one knew he had any disease.  Dr. Kenneth Hagin and I were the two that conducted that memorial service and I will never forget the wisdom that Dr. Hagin spoke on that occasion.  He spoke from Deuteronomy 29:29 that the secret things belong unto the Lord.  There are some things we will never know until we are in the presence of God and there are other things that God does choose to reveal.  I have certain things that God has spoken to me, but in other areas there is silence.  I have found out that when God speaks – listen, but do not try to break the silence of God.  Sometimes God is quiet.  Sometimes the greatest men and women of God throughout the Bible did not hear from God at the moment they desired.  They eventually did, but it is not wise to try to force a word from God.

In John 11:6, when Jesus had heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was and it was four days until He finally arrived on the scene.  Why?  It is none of our business!  There is one thing that you can believe; it is all going to come out all right.  I would rather Jesus take four days and everything come out all right than we force something prematurely and mess things up.  Everything is beautiful in God’s time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  God is going to work everything out that you have truly committed into His hands.  I see people getting antsy and taking action when they should be waiting and listening.  When this happens people can really mess up their life and sometimes someone else’s.  Even the sisters of Lazarus sent a message to Jesus saying, “. . . behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.”  They were trying to put the pressure on Him, yet Jesus stayed away two days.  Sometimes God is vocal; sometimes He is silent.  “Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already” (John 11:17).

There have been times that I wanted to see God act and it just did not happen at that time.  Some things happened later, just not when I expected.  A number of years ago I was crying out to God for something that I thought God had missed a glorious opportunity to do immediately. God spoke to my heart and said, “I am going to do it.  And if you will just be patient, I am not only going to bless you, but I am going to bless five other people in the process.”  Now isn’t that better for God to be able to bless five other people in the process than for me to get what I wanted from God?  See, this is very practical, and it is very wonderful.  God’s timing is important.  We just need to let go and let God have His wonderful way!

Do not try to break the silence of God, but also never forget that Jesus really does love and Jesus really does care.  In fact, the shortest expression in the Word of God is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.”  Somehow we think that Jesus was not capable of that, but Jesus wept.  The Bible also tells us that on two different occasions, He groaned.  His heart was touched.  Maybe in Lazarus’ case He was touched because of the grief that surrounded the situation.  Maybe He was touched because of the sisters and the fellowship He had enjoyed in their home.  I do not know what all the motivations were.  Maybe His weeping and groaning were because of the unbelief that surrounded Him.  Whatever the case may be you really have to believe that Jesus does love and care.