The Fingerprints of God
Pastor Albert Almore
““If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,” Let Israel now say—”
Psalms 124:1
““If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us,”
Psalms 124:2
Another translation words the question,
“What if the Lord had not been on our side? Let all Israel repeat:”
Psalms 124:1
“What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us?”
Psalms 124:2
In other words, what if the Lord had not been on our side when the diagnosis came in?
What if the Lord had not been on our side when the wayward child who is back now, once left?
What if the Lord had not been on our side when we were laid off?
What if the Lord had not been on our side when your marriage went through what you thought it would never go through?
If it had not BEEN THE LORD who was on our side…
I’ve BEEN THROUGH some battles. I’ve been through some storms. I’ve been through some phone calls. I’ve been through some meetings. I’ve been through some court cases, attorney visits, and doctor visits but Lord through it all YOU’VE BEEN THERE TOO!
If it had not BEEN THE LORD….
If it had not BEEN THE LORD….
I didn’t know it at the time, because I was in the thick of it. But as I look back over my life, I now see, oh that was the Lord, and that was the Lord. I didn’t get it at the time BUT NOW I SEE THAT DEFINITELY WAS THE LORD!
The Psalmist looked back over his life and he saw nothing but THE FINGERPRINTS OF GOD.
What if the Lord had not been on our side???
Our sermon title for today is this…
THE FINGERPRINTS OF GOD
Jesus says in Matthew 6:34
“Therefore DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34
📝 Anxiety enters when I think of distant TOMORROW’S, but faith takes a seat when I think of my near YESTERDAY’S with God.
If it had not BEEN THE LORD….
This whole time now I see it’s been the Lord.
📝 There’s nowhere that you can GO in your life that the Lord hasn’t BEEN.
📝 In the midst of being hard pressed on every side, cause your memory to RECALL the fingerprints of God.
Just like they do in the movies, just like they do in the television shows. I challenge you to go back to the scene. Go back in your memory, go back to that valley, go back to that Red Sea, and look for THE FINGERPRINTS OF GOD.
I know it’s not easy, but take a journey back to Egypt in your mind. That place of bondage. That place of oppression, suppression, and I promise you that you’ll find the fingerprints of God.
📝 The fingerprints of God is all THE EVIDENCE you need to build your faith.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, THE EVIDENCE of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1
The fingerprints of God is all THE EVIDENCE you need to build your faith.
The fingerprints of God tell a story. They tell the story that….
📝 HE WAS THERE ALL ALONG.
“And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.”
Revelation 5:1
“Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.”
Revelation 5:2-3
“I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.”
Revelation 5:4
“Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! SEE, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.””
Revelation 5:5
“And I LOOKED, and BEHOLD, IN THE MIDST of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain..
Revelation 5:6
He didn’t appear. He was there all along. As John looked deeper, He was in the midst all along. John just couldn’t see Him in the midst of the tears. John just couldn’t see Him in the midst of everything that was around him that was taking place. So it is with life.
Because of the tears, because of the phone calls, because of the what if’s, and the how’s, we often lose sight of Jesus, but I say to you today LOOK AGAIN. Beloved He never left you. Beloved, not one time has He abandoned you. When it’s all said and done I pray that you’ll say what Jacob said after the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The last thing that the Lord told Jacob in the dream in Genesis 28:15 was,
What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, AND I DID NOT KNOW IT.” Genesis 28:16
As you look back over your life, you’ll be able to say, surely the Lord was in that layoff. Surely the Lord was in that decision and I did not know it….Now I see—HE WAS THERE ALL ALONG!
Be encouraged through scriptures such as Matthew 1:22-23,
“So all this was done that it might be fulfilled…
Matthew 1:22-23
Be encouraged through scriptures such as Matthew 2:14-15
“When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.””
Matthew 2:14-15
Be encouraged through scriptures such as John 19:36
“For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.””
John 19:36
Beloved, these are the fingerprints of God letting you know that He was there all along. He was there on the scene making all things work together for His good. He was there on the scene taking what the enemy meant for evil, working it for His good. And this happened so that this would be fulfilled. And that happened so that this would be fulfilled. Your life isn’t random. You haven’t been forsaken. Nothing has caught our God by surprise. He was there all along!
The fingerprints of God tell a story. They tell the story that….
📝 His HAND is mighty.
When it came time for God’s people to be set free from Pharaoh, God told Moses in Exodus 3:19,
“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless A MIGHTY HAND compels him.”
Exodus 3:19
“So I WILL STRETCH OUT MY HAND and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.”
Exodus 3:20
In other words, I’m the God for the job!
Jabez understood about the hand of God. 1 Chronicles 4:10 says,
“And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, THAT YOUR HAND WOULD BE WITH ME, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.”
I Chronicles 4:10
When it came time for Nehemiah to recruit a team to help him rebuild the wall. He didn’t tell them what college he graduated from. He didn’t tell them how much money he had in the bank. He didn’t tell them how experienced he was for the job. Instead Nehemiah 2:8 says,
And I told them of THE HAND OF MY GOD THAT HAD BEEN UPON MEfor good…Nehemiah 2:8
“All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. NO ONE CAN HOLD BACK HIS HAND or say to him: “What have you done?””
Daniel 4:35
His hands are bigger. His hands are mightier. His hands can handle it. His hands are ever present. We know this because of the fingerprints of God.
The fingerprints of God tell a story. They tell the story that He was there all along. They tell the story that His HAND is mighty. Therefore as often as you can,
📝 TELL YOUR STORY.
It doesn’t have to be deep. It doesn’t have to be an essay. It just has to be told. We know this from the woman at the well. In John 4:29 all she said was,
““Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?””
John 4:29
The end result being verse 39 where it says,
“MANY OF THE SAMARITANS FROM THAT TOWN BELIEVED in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.””
John 4:39
📝 Every time you deliver your story, you deliver a blow to DARKNESS.
How is this so???
📝 Your story MAGNIFIES God while DIMINISHING Satan all at the same time.
📝 Every time you deliver your story, you deliver a blow to AMNESIA.
The enemy loves nothing more to cause you to forget all that the Lord has done. This is why the psalmist said in Psalm 89:1,
“I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.”
Psalm 89:1
“For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.”
Psalm 89:2
“Let all that I am praise the Lord; MAY I NEVER FORGET the good things he does for me.”
Psalms 103:2
“I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.”
Psalms 143:4
What was David’s remedy for times such as this? Verse 5 tells us. It says,
“I REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done.”
Psalms 143:5
“I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain…”
Psalms 143:6
📝 Every time you deliver your story, you deliver a blow to CAPTIVITY.
Jesus said in Luke 4:18,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised,”
Luke 4:18
Revelation 12:11 tells us one way to set the captive free. It says,
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Revelation 12:11
As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Mark 5:18
Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mark 5:19
So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them. Mark 5:20
One testimony reached ten towns. Through him sharing his testimony, other people that were captive were set free.
I can’t but help that his testimony went something like this…
If it had not been the Lord who was on my side…
📝 As you go about sharing your stories with others, don’t forget to SEND YOURSELF A COPY.
Send yourself a copy for the days to come to remind yourself of THE FINGERPRINTS OF GOD!
As you take time to recall, as you take time to remember, allow His fingerprints to strengthen you. Revelation 1:8 says,
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, WHICH IS, and WHICH WAS, and WHICH IS TO COME, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8
That’s what The Fingerprints of God do. They remind us of Who He Is, Who He Was, and Who’s to come into our next VALLEY.
That’s what The Fingerprints of God do. They remind us of who He Is, Who He Was, and Who’s to come into our next STORM.
After Jesus calmed the sea and calmed the storm, Matthew 8:27 says, “
“But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”
Matthew 8:27
What they failed to realize was these weren’t the finger prints of men, these were the fingerprints of God! These are the fingerprints of the one Who is, who was, and who’s to come into your next Egypt situation. These aren’t the fingerprints of men, THESE ARE THE FINGERPRINTS OF GOD!
DO YOU RECOGNIZE HIS FINGERPRINTS?
WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU’VE PAUSED TO TRACE THE FINGERPRINTS OF GOD?
Thus far the Lord has helped us. Up to this point the LORD has helped us!