Perry Noble

Perry Noble is the Pastor of New Spring Community Church in Anderson, South Carolina. He is so AMAZING! This is what he posted on his blog today. I wanted to share it with you. Great thoughts!

You Can’t Just Ignore It…
A few years ago Jason Moorhead and I were on our way to the airport in Atlanta…and I will have to admit that we might have been fracturing the speed limit. (Fracturing sounds so much better than breaking!)

I HATE being late to anything…and so I was stressed. Combine that with the fact that I think it is easier to have a kidney removed than to get through Atlanta’s airport and you sort of know the pain I was feeling.

We got off the interstate and began slowing down for the actual airport exit when we heard this minor “explosion.” At first I didn’t think about it–heck, we WERE in Atlanta! But soon afterwards OI began to hear this sort of whining noise.

I had this thought, “Maybe we blew a tire.” But then I quickly dismissed the idea; after all, if you deny that a problem exists then eventually it goes away, right?

Well…the noise did not go away, actually it got worse–and I began to notice that my car was pulling to the right a little. I asked Jason to roll down the window and look at the tires. He shot a look at the front one–no problem. BUT then he looked at the back rear tire and said, “Dude, your tire is basically gone!” It was shredded!

I did not want this to be happening…so, instead of pulling over–I kept driving. I guessed it would hold together for another 3-4 miles. We barely made it to the place where you get your ticket to park…and once we were inside the gate I had to pull over–there was literally no way we could go any further…the tire HAD TO BE REPLACED.

Now keep in mind that this was NOT the most convenient time to be fixing a tire! We were in a hurry…I have discovered that airplanes WILL take off with or without you. BUT we could not just leave the car there and “hope that it would just work things out on its own.”

SO…Jason jumped out of the car and went to work. Literally, he took over…so I stood there and prayed for him. I felt like we were in the Daytona 500…he was a flippin’ machine…and had the spare on in a matter of minutes. I literally could NOT have done it without his help!!!

We DID make our flight…and the trip was A LOT better knowing that we didn’t have a car with a flat tire waiting on us when we got home. We did not ignore the problem–we addressed it head on…and life was much better because of it.

I told this story basically to ask this question…what area of your life are you ignoring & just hoping it will get better? What area of your life is there clearly a problem…but instead of acknowledging it you just deny that it is even there? Are you traveling through life with a “flat tire,” and deep down you know that, if something doesn’t happen soon, you are going to be stalled out on the side of the road?

For example…

Maybe it’s your marriage…on the outside everything seems fine, but on the inside things have been unraveling for months (or years!) You know divorce is wrong…but you see no way out…there has been too much hurt. Why not acknowledge the problem and ASK for HELP? Ignoring the issues will not make it go away.

Maybe it’s your porn addiction. It started innocently, maybe while browsing on the internet…but now it is an obsession. You are paying for access to websites, watching movies…and you just can seem to shake the habit. You don’t WANT to do this…but it just keeps happening and you KNOW it is destroying your life. Why not acknowledge the problem and ASK for HELP? Ignoring the issue will not make it go away…and take it from me…I was a porn addict for years…but God set me free from it in 1999…if I can overcome it…so can you.

Maybe it’s your food addiction. Like it or not–gluttony is a sin. (We don’t talk about that one a lot in the south…especially preachers!!!) You know you have issues…the deal with gluttony is that it is a sin you can’t hide. You have tried to deny the problem, heck–when I used to be fat I would lie to myself and others saying, “This is just the way that I am,” and, “I don’t think there is anything wrong with me.” But finally I had to address the problem–ask for help...and overcome it. Trust me…this sin will NOT just go away by itself…but you can beat it!!! I did!!!

Maybe it’s that relationship. You’re single…you KNOW you should not be with him/her…but your biological clock IS ticking…all your friends are getting married and you feel like the present still on the shelf on Christmas Eve. Then “they” call…you KNOW you should not go out…you know it’s wrong…but you just can’t say no because deep down you are incredibly insecure. Why not just acknowledge the problem…ask for help…and overcome this issue.

What is it in your life that is holding you back from who or what God wants you to be? If there is a problem (sin) in your life then it is NOT just going to go away on its own. You’ve GOT to acknowledge it–ask for help…and overcome it.

Oh yeah…one more thing…YES, you SHOULD ask God for help, but you must also ask others to help as well. You see…I could have stayed on the side of the road all day in Atlanta and prayed for God to fix my tire…and while He COULD have done it…He probably would not have. Jason and I had to get involved.

Swallow your pride…admit a problem…and get others involved. If they judge you–then THEY have a problem. Jesus died so that we can live…and if something is holding you back then get it OUT!

Thank you Jesus for freedom…I pray that all who are reading this will continually discover the abundant life YOU have promised…and will escape the habits and addictions that are holding them back from being all YOU created them to be…AMEN!