Flashback

Kenneth Hagin's A Call to Arms Men's Conference Speaker Highlight

// Andre Butler

"I will remember the works of the Lord."
—Psalm 77:11

Have you ever felt like the psalmist who penned these words: "I am so troubled that I cannot speak. . . . Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?" (Ps. 77:4, 7–9)?

Have you ever felt like that? Have you been in such a dire situation that you didn't see any way out? If you're like the rest of us, you answer that question with a resounding yes.

How you respond in times like these helps ensure your ultimate victory. Look how the psalmist responded: "I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings" (vv. 11–12). That was the remedy that helped him to be encouraged and continue to believe God: He remembered what God did for him in the past. In fact, he meditated on it and talked about it.

At this point in his psalm, the psalmist's entire countenance suddenly changed. By verses 13 and 14 he was saying, "Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders." Is this the same guy? What a turnaround! And it happened because he made a decision to remember what God had already done for him.

I call this a "flashback." When you stay in faith, you get the victory. When you are going through difficult times, do what the psalmist did: Remind yourself of God's faithfulness. Remember all the times when God showed up for you and made a way when there was no way. Recall when He showed you that nothing is impossible for Him. You need to have flashbacks of all those times. Reminding yourself of these things will encourage you and strengthen your faith. It will help you get the victory that you and God want you to have.

Did you know you have the ability to have flashbacks? You control what you think about. The word remembrance is used five times in one way or another in Psalm 77. And one of those times, the psalmist said, "I call to remembrance." In other words, he was saying, "I am reaching out in my mind and I am bringing this memory back to the forefront."

You can probably remember what your last meal was. You can remember details about your high school graduation or things about your first boyfriend or girlfriend. (And you may wish you didn't remember them!) The point is that you can determine what you think on. Sometimes you need to turn to a different channel in your mind and remind yourself of the times when God came through for you.

Remember the Promises God Has Kept

Remembering is not just some kind of feel-good activity. It's a powerful way to ignite your faith. In fact, God commands you to remember. The word remember is found 146 times in the Bible. Many of the feasts the Lord commanded Israel to celebrate involved remembering what He had done for them at specific times. In Genesis, God called Jacob to go to Bethel. Jacob said, "I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went" (Gen. 35:3). This was a flashback for Jacob of all the times when God came through for him, protected him, and made him wealthy.

During the Lord's Supper, Jesus said, "This do in remembrance of me" (1 Cor. 11:24). He expects us to remember.

Remember When God Met Your Needs

The disciples saw Jesus multiply bread and feed thousands of hungry people. Yet a few moments later they had forgotten the miracle and were worried He was angry because they didn't bring food for the journey. Look at Jesus' response: "O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?" (Matt. 16:8–9). Jesus reminded them that He not only met their needs—He gave an overflow.

Remember What It Was Like to Live Without Him

Just spend a few moments remembering what life was like before you met Jesus and committed your life to Him. Remember that Jesus loved you enough to pay the ultimate price to get you out of hell. Surely He'll do what it takes to get you out of whatever trouble you're
in now.
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[Editor's Note: This article was adapted from André Butler's book You Can Win: Slaying the Goliaths in Your Life. Catch him and our other awesome speakers at A Call to Arms 2013.]