"HOLD ON!"

Written by Robert E. Bailes

Who Are You Listening To?

Sometimes people will tell you how well you are doing or what a great job you have done and it's easy to begin to feel stronger in our own self confidence and self reliance.

As most of you know, there are already allot of people making lots of money selling books written about these very topics of interest. They have been popular for many years; as a matter of fact, since the beginning of time! Even Adam and Eve were fascinated with the idea of having the ability to be as wise as God when they ate of the fruit. Little did they know, that their disobedience would change the course of history for all humanity. Their main concern was their own personal gain that day that they took the fruit in their hand and ate of it.

Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

The hand is a part of the body that usually indicates our choices and direction in life. We communicate with our hands; take or give with our hands and what we take hold of in this life is of utmost importance to God.

The Lord directs us to grasp hold His hand in the time of trouble. Sometimes we will be directed by God to take a grip onto something in our lives that may save our lives. Sometimes God might just put something in the way that we find useful at a critical moment in our lives when we grab hold of it. Lastly, sometimes it is God that reaches and takes our load when we have reached the place in life that we have become weakened and distracted by the voices shouting at us, so that we no longer hear His calm voice.

Many times we have direction to hold onto something in our lives and satan comes along and tells us it's ok to let go; you have too much to carry already or you can always come back to this. Satan might even tell you to trust someone else with that thing that God put into your hand, so we let go thinking life will be a little easier if we relieve ourselves of this weight or stress. Many of you know what I am saying because you have stretched in your faith and taken on more than you thought you could bear knowing that God would take you through this step by step.

When I was a young man of seventeen, I went on an adventure down south to get rich working on the oil rigs off the coast of Houston, Texas. I was suppose to meet a friend from college in Louisiana and he had the contacts to get a job on the rig. When I arrived at his house his mother told me he had already left a few days earlier and I would have to wait until he returned in a few weeks. She said that all of the jobs were taken and I would have a hard time finding a job. Boy was I disappointed and broke. It had taken every dollar I had just to make the trip down there. I began to search from business to business in this hot, humid town of Sulpher, LA. Finally after a couple of weeks, I was pointed to the docks down the road about eight miles. In desperation, being very hungry and tired, I went to the docks where I met a group of shrimpers sitting on their buckets drinking and waiting for the tide to head out so they could start their work.

Needless to say, they spotted me a mile away and had a good time teasing and laughing at a young Tennessee country boy. Finally though, one of the shrimpers said he would use me for the night and that was how my summer started out as as a shrimper working the summer on this man's boat. We went out at night and stayed until the morning, sweeping the bayous for shrimp with our butterfly nets as they're called.

One night there was a rather large storm rolling into shore and I knew most of the shrimpers were contemplating going back home, but my captain said it was the best time to catch shrimp! He said the rough waters pulled the shrimp out of the bayous into the open water and I soon enough found out how right he was! The only thing was, that we were in the middle of a real Louisiana storm and that also brought huge swarms of mosquitoes. We covered ourselves by putting on slicker suits and rain coats to protect our bodies front he elements. It was a pretty scary experience but it also was really exciting for a modern day Tom Sawyer, as I felt the rain beating against my face and heard the captain shouting out orders. Just as the shrimping was really reaping the full benefits of the storm, our boat drifted into a small island in the bayous and was stuck. No matter how high the captain throttled the engine, the boat would not move.

At this point the captain told me to get out and push the boat off of the island so being the young trusting man that I was, I jump over the front of the boat into the water and found myself standing in water about waist deep, but as I began to push I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into the mud that made up most of the ground in the bayous. When the boat finally started moving I had sunk down to my chest in the water and my legs were lodged into the mud up to my knees or higher. I felt the water beginning to pour over into my slicker suit which was like a pair of rubber overalls. I knew it wasn't long before I would be sucked under if I didn't hold onto the rail of the boat! Suddenly the captain began to shout at me,"Let go!", "Let go! I'll come back around and get you!". I knew my condition wasn't good and that there was a pretty good chance that there were alligators lurking close by just waiting for the boat to move so they could take their trapped prey in one sweeping bite. I had seen their eyes many times while shining the spotlight into the weeds at night.

The captain kept yelling but a small voice kept telling me to hold on! The rail on the front of the boat began to creak as though it was going to break loose as the captain continued to pull the throttle back even further! I could hear the engines roaring and I could hear the fiberglass creaking and then I began to feel my fingers slipping as it was still pouring down rain in sheets and every part of my body was saturated! I knew the end was near but that small voice kept saying, "Hold on! Hold on!" , even drowning out all of the other voices and sounds. When my fingers had slipped to the last joint of my fingertips and my hope was almost gone I began to feel something happening. The rail didn't break, but instead, I was beginning to slip out of my rubber boots and the straps on my slicker suit broke loose and all of a sudden I was free of all the weight and bondage of the mud and the boat was moving!

I had been holding the boat back but when I was freed, the boat took off with such speed that I just hung onto the front of the boat and finally climbed back up over the front of the boat. I just laid there for a while staring up into the pouring rain and thanked my God for the strength He had given me to hold on just a little longer and then to climb over the hull of this boat.

I told this story today to encourage you all to listen to the small voice. Trust God when things get too heavy and people are telling you to let go. Maybe someone is yelling at you to let go of your responsibility as a parent or a spouse or maybe in your profession or as a church leader. Maybe you are unemployed right now and people are telling you that it's ok to let go of your responsibilities to your family and give up.

Listen closely to that small voice today, my friend, and all of the other voices will fade into the background. God WILL take you through the storm! God WILL secure your grip! God WILL keep you from your predators! God WILL bring you safely on board when you have exhausted your resource of strength and your fingers have reached their last knuckle!

I have not forgotten that day after thirty years and I'm sure you will always remember your experience if you just HOLD ON to the rails in your life and LISTEN to His voice alone!

If you have already let go of things that God had placed in your life and you feel as though it might be too late, I want you to know that it is never too late!

Let me share a passage in the Word that tells us about a young man that was brought to Jesus by the young man's father and even his own father was not sure if Jesus could help him. Even the people who came running to see him thought that this young man had died because he had been possessed for so long and the evil spirits had done so much destruction, but you will see that the grip of Jesus is GREATER than any grip that satan might have had in your life! If you will BELIEVE, Jesus can do anything in your life, starting right now!

Let's read about this young man and the power of Jesus to lift us up;

Mark 9:17-27 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
18 And wheresoever he takes him, he tears him: and he foams, and gnashes with his teeth, and pines away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
19 He answered him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believes.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

Jesus will LIFT YOU UP! Just Listen to His voice today and Believe!