I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
Jamie Wright • Maranatha Fellowship Church
I can’t take it anymore. Have you ever heard anybody say that? Have you ever said that? This is the only way I know how to say it. It’s that point that you get to when you feel like you are going crazy. People come up to me and say I’m going nuts, I’m going crazy. I’m flipping out. I’ve been there recently myself. Today’s message title comes from my own life and my experiences this week. And I am totally preaching this message to myself, because I can’t take it anymore. Most of the time when we say we can’t take it anymore, the main problem lies within ourselves.
So say this with me: I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
LET ME ASK YOU SOMETHING?
ARE YOU:
A mother who has gotten to the point with your children that you say…
A parent that is sick and tired of the way your teenager disobeys and rebels and you are saying…
A single person looking for a mate and has tried everything to get one and now you …
A wife whose husband doesn’t treat you right, nor does he spend time with you the way he should and now you are saying…
A husband who is tired of treating your wife and kids the way you do and you just….
A person whose finances are out of control and you…
In a situation with the health of your body, emotions and mind and you can’t….
Having circumstances and issues in your life that you…
A sinner who can’t fill that void and you …
You can proclaim from the housetops that you can’t take it anymore. You can fume and fuss and say your fed up. You can say I am at the end of my rope. You can say you are at your wits end. You can say you’re going nuts, you’re cracking up, and you’ve reached your boiling point and you’re going to explode. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back. I am at rock bottom. Does anybody know what I am talking about? You would be hard press to find anybody on God’s green earth that has not come to the point where they’ve said I can’t take it anymore! Even Jesus.
In Luke 22 you will read where the sweet was coming off of him like drops of blood. And he got to the point where he said I can’t take it anymore; Father, not my will but your will be done.
Here is what happens to us when we get to the point where we can’t take it anymore! We have desperate circumstances that lead to a dangerous situation where we have to make a decision that will get us to our destiny or not. Did you get that?
Let us look together at this outline through the lives of several individuals in the Bible that just couldn’t take it anymore!
Old Testament Example is JONAH!
Jonah is one who is at his wits end. Jonah 1 says this:
“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, arise go to Nineveh, that great city and cry against it for their wickedness has come up before me.”
Now what is so difficult to understand about that? Wal-Mart or K-mart.
God was saying get up and go to Nineveh. Jonah got a word from God a clear word from God. He disobeyed. He disobeyed a direct word from God. When you disobey, you are setting your self up friend.
Jonah 1:3 says,
“But Jonah… rose up to flee unto Tar shish from the presence of the Lord.”
He went that opposite direction. This is the life of Jonah he goes the wrong way. He gets on a boat with some merchants that are minding their own business. They cast off and before too long they all find themselves surrounded by desperate circumstances. They are in a storm. Jonah1: 5 (NLT) say that even they were desperate for help. They cast lots and found out that Jonah was at fault for the storm. They take him and throw him over board, because they don’t all want to perish. Verse 15 says,
“So they took up Jonah and cast him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging.”
Jonah at the end of chapter 1 is swallowed by a big fish (Free Willy)
So Jonah is inside the fish and the Bible says in verse 7 of chapter 2:
“When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord.”
Desperation: I can’t take it anymore is a place of desperation. Jonah had reached a place of desperation. He had gotten a direct word from the Lord. He disobeyed that word. By the way disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft. When you disobey you move into some serious territory. He is now in the belly of the whale and will be there for 3 days and three nights. Chapter 2 tells us that Jonah says he has been cast out of the sight of God. And in his affliction, in his desperation he cried out unto the Lord. Out of the belly of hell as Jonah describes it (now that’s desperate circumstances) he cries out. He was in one miserable condition friend, in a place of desperation.
Not only did his disobedience get him into desperate circumstances it also lead to a dangerous situation. In a storm it’s a dangerous time. Being thrown into the ocean while at sea is a dangerous situation and now being swallowed by Free Willy is a dangerous situation. But folks let me tell you what the most dangerous situation of all that Jonah was in, that is that HE DISOBEYED God’s WORD. That is a dangerous situation.
Now its time for a decision.
I love Jonah. You know in the belly of that well he just decided to do right. You know, I really don’t like it down here. I just can’t take it anymore! He made up his mind; he remembered the Lord and the Lord spewed him out on dry land. It’s a time for decision. You know what he could have done? Jonah could have sat in the belly of that well and cursed God like some of you in this room. God didn’t put you in the belly, you put yourself in that belly; you put yourself in that dungeon---not God! Jonah talked about being inside a cage, the ribs of the fish. He was inside a jail. We’re the ones that do it. It’s a time of decision while you are in that dungeon inside the belly of that well. You say I’m not coming back to this place again. I’m walking right from now on. I am obeying God from now on. I am going to go after God and obey his word with all my heart; all my strength and nothing can stop me. I can’t take this anymore! It’s decision time.
Jonah made the right decision. God came to Jonah again after the fish threw him up and said, Jonah I want you to go to Nineveh. Jonah obeyed and because he made the right decision God took him to his divine destiny.
God’s plan for Jonah’s life, His diving destiny for Jonah was for him to cry out unto Nineveh. Who is waiting on you? What lies ahead for you when you reach your divine destiny? Too many of us are stuck in desperate circumstances and dangerous situations but we haven’t made decisions yet, that will get us to our destiny. Today is decision time. Decide today that I CAN”T TAKE IT ANYMORE! And begin to pursue the word of the Lord to reach your divine destiny.
When Jonah got to Nineveh, God spared them and revival fell because Jonah finally decided to obey God and God got him to his destiny.
So Jonah disobeyed got into desperate circumstances that lead him into a dangerous situation where he said, I CAN”T TAKE IT ANYMORE and he made a decision that would ultimately get him to his divine destiny.
New Testament Example is the Philippian Jailer!
Acts 16:23-31
The jailer was a desperate man. He was doing all right until the earth shook. SUDDENLY, everything changed. Suddenly his whole world had collapsed around him. What about your world is it caving in around you? Suddenly he saw all the prisoners loose, the jailhouse was falling down, the doors had swung open, and he’s in charge. There is no hope. He’s lost his money. I mean everything friend. What he saw was death for him. He knew it was over for him because he knew he was responsible so he knew his income, his everything, was over. If the prisoners did not kill him, his superiors would. He would lose his job, his family, his home, his finances and possibly even his life. Now those are desperate circumstances. He is at a point of desperation.
What a nightmare. He came to the place of I CAN”T TAKE IT ANYMORE! That is a dangerous place to be. His job was on the line. His whole life was on the line. His world was collapsing before his very eyes. Suddenly he reached a place where he said to himself, “it’s over.” There are many people within the sound of my voice, and many of you at home and some of you listening by internet and others watching by Television, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The jailer’s desperate circumstances that were before his eyes led him to a dangerous situation. Acts 16:27 says,
“…He drew his sword and was about to kill himself.”
Now that is a dangerous situation. That is what people do when they get to the place of I CAN”T TAKE IT ANYMORE! It’s a lie of the devil. It is a trick of Satan. He has come to kill steal and destroy. And when he sees people in desperate circumstance he leads them to the point of I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE, so I’ll kill myself. No more worry, no more suffering, no more pain. I am going to tell you friend that is a dangerous situation to be in. Throw those pills away; get rid of those thoughts of turning the car on in the garage and just sitting there. It is decision time.
The Jailer came to that point too. The point where he had to make a decision. Paul said to the jailer in verse 28
“Do yourself no harm.”
The Jailer made a decision right there that caused him to reach his divine destiny. He laid down his sword and said in verse 30
“What must I do to be saved?”
He could have said, “Well it seems to me that none of you are trying to escape. Everyone back into your cells, move back there now! Guards! Guards!” He could have woken up his friends, sealed off the entire jail and got on with his life. But he made a decision. What did he decide to do? He decided to get saved. He decided that there was a power out there bigger than him. And I think I’ll obey he said. And that decision time altered his destiny and the destiny of his entire family (Acts 16:31) A church was birthed through this.
The jailer’s divine destiny came into being because of his decision to follow Christ and a church was birthed through him. It was the church at Philippi and Paul wrote several letters to that church known to us today as Philippians.
So if you can’t take it anymore. Remember God never turns a deaf ear to a desperate cry in a desperate circumstance.
Psalm 142:6 says
6 Listen to my cry,
For I am in desperate need;
Rescue me from those who pursue me,
For they are too strong for me. 7 Set me free from my prison,
That I may praise your name. God will answer.
So if you can’t take it anymore. Remember God is with you even in the dangerous situations because his word promises us in Hebrews 13:5,
For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
And also remember that when God has allowed you to be in that dangerous situation not only does he never leave you nor forsake you he wants you to make a decision. There are many that need to make decisions that will help you reach your destiny.
Joel 3:14 says,
14 Multitudes, multitudes
In the valley of decision!
God has a destiny for you. Start growing so you can reach it. Stretch this year. Lengthen your cords so you can get to your destiny than ever before. Make a decision to strengthen yourself so that you can make it to your destiny. You never know whom and what God has waiting for you there.
If you are at the place of saying I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE… then don’t hold back because you are closer to your miracle now than ever before.
