This little guy whose picture is on the screen, has discovered his feet and he is infatuated with them. My hope is that we will all rediscover our feet so we can watch our step, before we leave here today…

I want to open by sharing about a young couple, who were madly in love, and decided to get married. But as the wedding day neared, both grew nervous over secret problems they had never shared with anyone. Privately, the groom-to-be approached his minister. “I’m really concerned about this marriage,” the young man said.

“Don’t you love her?” the pastor asked in surprise.

“Of course,” the groom said. “But I have unbelievably smelly feet—and I’m afraid my fiancée won’t be able to stand them.”

“Oh, is that all?” the pastor replied. “Look, all you need to do is wash your feet twice a day and wear socks all the time.”

Meanwhile, the nervous bride had privately approached the minister’s wife. “I’m so worried,” she sobbed. “I have really bad breath when I wake up each day!” “Oh, that’s nothing,” the pastor’s wife replied,” everyone has bad breath in the morning. Don’t worry about it.”

“No, you don’t understand,” the bride implored. “My morning breath is so awful, my fiancé won’t even want to be near me!”

“Well, I have an idea,” the pastor’s wife said . “Set your alarm just a few minutes before your husband wakes up. Run to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and gargle with mouthwash before he gets out of bed. The key is not to say anything until you’ve taken care of your breath.”

In time, a beautiful wedding was held and the bride and groom enjoyed the day without once worrying about their secret problems. For several months they managed to keep their issues to themselves.

Until one morning, the husband awoke before dawn to find that one of his socks had come off in the night. Frantic, he searched the bed, afraid of what might happen if he didn’t find his sock soon. His bride woke with a start, and, without thinking, blurted out, “What in the world are you doing?” “Oh, no!” the young man wailed. “You swallowed my sock!”

Where the feet go, the entire body goes with it. Without good balance, there is no stability. What affects the feet, affects the whole body and can limit what you can and cannot do. 

I recently read that one of the top things that puts soldiers out of commission is foot problems. If you can’t walk, you can’t fight, you can’t fulfill your normal duties, and you are greatly hindered in doing a lot of things…

Here’s some foot facts for you….75% of all Americans will experience foot problems at some time in their lives….If you think you need a new pair of shoes, the oldest preserved shoe, incidentally, is 5500 years old…. The average adults takes 4,000 to 6,000 steps a day…25% or sixty million Americans in the United States have flat feet…. there are 250,000 sweat glands in your feet…. it wasn’t until the 19 hundreds, that women’s shoes were different from men’s…. Plantar fasciitis affects about 10% of the US population….. 25% of all the bones in the human body are in your feet. When these bones are out of alignment, your entire body is out of whack.

I have a Kodak moment of a time when Winnie and I both were affected by plantar fasciitis and had great difficulty walking. It was very painful and uncomfortable. We had to do special exercises to get our feet back in working order. Instead of our feet being just an appendage, it was like our entire life had become all about what our feet had limited us to do….

Lana Wilder is quoted as saying “The dream is only out of reach when you choose to keep your feet flat on the floor and refuse to take the leap.”

Our feet are about the way we walk, how we walk and where we walk. 

God told Moses in Deuteronomy 11:24 “Every place where the sole of your foot shall tread I have given it unto you”.  At that moment God instituted a program of foot care for Moses, that would influence an entire nation of people, and change all of history!

It is concluded by most, that Moses was second in line for the throne of Egypt. He was groomed and shaped to walk that path, even though he was Hebrew by birth. His training was designed by God, in Egypt’s palaces, with access to the best education available, to prepare him to lead his people out of Egypt to the promised land. The oppressor was being prepared to be the liberator…                                                                               The mystery of righteousness was at work in the midst of the mystery of iniquity! Believe me, the natural mind can’t figure this kind of thing out…. It’s a God thing, and it is marvelous!!

But Egypt was instilled and implanted within him. When he was forty, Moses saw there were two different pathways he could walk out through his life. One path, the Egyptian path, involved being known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, involved the pleasures of sin, and involved in being caught up with the treasures of Egypt. 

Moses realized something: that if he stayed in Egypt, he would probably follow this path of sin and worldly pleasure. He knew that for the good of his soul he needed to follow the other path. This other path, the Hebrew path, involved refusal of his adoption as an Egyptian, it would involve mistreatment, disgrace and walking away from whatever his heart desired in material goods.

So by faith, Moses chose to be identified with the people of God. By faith, Moses chose to be mistreated along with the people of God.

Deep within, he knew that faith demanded a response to God's Word, and God's revelation. Moses knew from revelation that Israel was God's covenant people, the chosen people, the people of the promise, the people belonging to God. His feet were taking him, where his brain was struggling to understand. So, Moses identified himself with these people. 

That's what the path of Moses’ feet was declaring louder than any words could say. The world says, I won’t believe you when you talk the walk, I’ll believe you when you walk the talk!!

I quote Kate McGahan “We set our own limits. Some of us do like the Chinese women who bind their feet. The binding is painful at first but eventually you get used to it and the pain is not as bad. The saddest part of all is that by binding your feet with the choices you have made, you forget that there was ever another way to live.”

God wants to amaze you with what He can do as you let him guide your feet…. And take the binding off….

I heard about a quick thinking country boy, who applied for a salesman's job at a huge city department store, you could get anything there. The boss asked him, "Have you ever been a salesman before?"

"Yes, I was a salesman in the country" said the country boy.

The boss liked the looks of him and said, "You can start tomorrow and I'll come and see you when we close. You’ll get paid hourly + commission"

The day was long and boring for the young man, who was used to staying very busy on the farm, but with little pay. So, finally 9 o'clock came around. Sure enough, the boss showed up and asked, "How many sales did you make today?" "I only managed to make One" said the young man. 

"Only one" (the boss was shocked), "Most of my staff make 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the one sale worth?"

"Three hundred thousand, three hundred and thirty four dollars," said the young man. "How in the world did you manage that?" asked the completely amazed boss.

"Well" said the young man "this man came in and I sold him a small fish hook, then a medium hook and finally a really large hook. Then I sold him a small fishing line, a medium one and a heavy duty one. I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast. I said he would probably need a boat, so I took him down to the boat department and sold him that twenty eight foot schooner with the twin engines. Then he said his Volkswagen probably wouldn't be able to pull it, so I took him to the car department and sold him that new Deluxe dual cab Cruiser."

The boss took two steps back and asked in astonishment, "You sold all that to a guy who came in for a fish hook?"

"Well, No" answered the country boy "He came in to buy a box of Tylenol forhis wife and I said to him, You're weekend's already shot, you may as well go fishing." 

God can make your way prosperous and give you good success….“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delightsin his way. Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD shall lift him up”. He said that He would make us the head, not the tail, above not beneath…..

Craig Lounsbrough has good advice for anyone…“I can get on my knees and pray all day, but until my heart and my ego are down on their knees, nothing will be different once I’m back on my feet.”                                         We’ve got to give the Lord something to work with!….

To Moses successor, Joshua, God spoke once again about the feetto a new generation…. Joshua 1:2 “Now therefore arise, you and all your people, and cross over the Jordan into the land that I am giving to you. v3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised”

Sorrow may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning!

A little further on in Deuteronomy 11 after this great promise that God would give them every place their foot would tread…. He tells them in verse 26… Deuteronomy 11:26 "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse." This word came as the camp was pitched between the two mountains, Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal…                                            Gerizim means blessing, and Ebal means the curse…. They had to decide to direct their feet close to the blessing or walk next to the curse. 

If you were to ask most people, “Do you want to be blessed or cursed”? Most folks would say they want blessing! But the bible says in the last days they would call good, evil, and evil good. Sowhen things get all twisted and perverted, often folks become oriented that whatever they desire to do in their own walk, will be good enough. I hear folks say, “I’m going to hell, and I’ll have plenty of company, and we’re all going to have a hell of a party”

Moses had to have a revelation from God to break with Egypt and the lifestyle he had been groomed for…. You see when God told Moses to take his shoes off, Moses was taking off his preconceived ideas that had hindered and disqualified him for the walk that he must walk. He took off prejudice, compromise, the world’s rose colored glasses, wrong priorities, and that being good is good enough. He put on God’s favor, compassion, heaven’s values, and God’s will for his life. When God shows up, leave your shoes and your worries at the door…

God is letting us know that it is not about our ability, but our availability! When He calls, He qualifies and equips…

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path” .. David is saying that our walk needs some foot care from the one who created our feet and the path they are to walk in, if we are to keep from stumbling and falling, and not lose our way to the mountain of blessing, take your shoes off. 

How many have mistaken Mount Ebal for Mount Gerizem… and we now have a lot of very busy Psychiatrist, rehab centers, broken homes and families, heart issues, addicts, and a rising crime rate… 

The little children’s song…”Oh be careful little feet where you go, oh, be careful little feet where you go, for the father up above is looking down in love. Oh, be careful little feet where you go.”

Mahatma gandhi said “I will not let anyone walk around in my mind with their dirty feet.”

Don’t let other people’s dirty feet, cause you to be compromised in the path God has called you to walk in… Don’t let the compromised living of those around you, influence your commitment to get to the promised land of your personal Divine destiny. Don’t let the pull of the world’s shallow fun and compensation for the pain in their lives, fool you in coming short of God’s glory in your life. 

Hebrews 11:1: begins with the words …“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for”

We must be like Moses, who saw the end of the journey from the beginning and lived, spoke, and acted as though it was as good as done. Listen to his words as he speaks in the past tense of fullfillment, even though they had not actually walked in it yet and were far from Canaan…

Deuteronomy 26:1 “And it shall be, when you come (with his words, the past overtakes the future and delares it so) When you come into the land which the Lord your God has given you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, (he’s laying it out before they ever lay eyes on it) v2 that you shall take the tithe of all the produce of the ground, 

which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. v3 And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have cometo the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.”

Moses is saying, “If God says it, it’s a done deal, you can walk it out, you can put your foot on it”….

The Hebrew children had come into possession by an ancient deed which secured it for them from generation to generation. God held the title deed to what He had promised, so that no one could snatch it from them, or trick them out of it. And He is holding the deed to your promise. Your healing, your abundance, your marriage, your future and your hope. And the devil and all the demons of hell cannot snatch it out of His hands…. Hallelujah!

It’s already given, and He will not repent of what He has given. God is not a man that He should lie. That means what He has given is available to those who will see it as done, and receive it by a covenant God to His covenant people. Claim your covenant deed…. With man it is impossible but with God all things are possible, to those who believe…..

We must surrender our plans to His plans, our way to His way, our thoughts to his thoughts, He knows the way that I take and after I have been tested I will come forth as gold.. Keep on walking…..

A woman went to the doctor for her yearly physical. The nurse started with certain basic information. "How much do you weigh?" she asked. "I’m 115 lbs" she says. The nurse puts her on the scale. It turns out her weight is 150. The nurse asks her, "And what is Your height?" "I’m 5 foot 8 inches" she says. The nurse checks and sees that she only measures 5 feet 5 inches. She then takes her blood pressure and tells the woman it is very high. The woman starts crying, and yells “Well Of course it's high, when I came in here I was tall and slender! Now I'm short and fat!" The world will mess with your head if you let them!

We must give up our fantasies and accept God’s word as our reality. 

When God met Moses at the burning bush, and told him to take his shoes off, (in that moment, God was preparing, and anointing Moses’ feet to walk out of Egypt, followed by the nation of Hebrew people”….Moses wanted to tell God. “Here am I, send Aaron…. But God knew him better than he knew himself….

God was preparing his feet by fire… His feet were being purged of every trace of Egypt’s influence, and his mind was being cleansed of his stink’n think’n, so that he could fully walk in and stand as the representative of Jehovah as he spoke to Pharaoh and released the plagues of God’s confirmation seal, which brought Egypt to it’sknees….

God is preparing your feet now, to walk in places you have not been, have not seen, and have not even imagined. 

I want you to see this scene which John captures for us in…..                 John 13:4-14 “As Jesus Rose from supper, He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feetand to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you shall not be able to go with me.”

Jesus was anointing their feet, blessing their feet, preparing their feet, for an amazing journey that would lead from an upper room of communion and into their destiny, to bring God’s kingdom into the earth. 

As you hear this message today, he’s anointing, blessing and preparing your feet as well, for the places He has already given to you, the places that are already yours, that He has planned for you long before you arrive. You just have to walk them out as though you already have them…..

That’s the meaning of Ephesians 1:22 And He (The Father) has put all things under His (Jesus’) feet and given Him to be head over all things unto the church, (that is a description of delegated authority and power of attorney) which is his body (His physical and spiritual representatives in the earth).

Past completion of the finished work, comes together with present reality through the claims of faith, so that future promise might now be our guaranteed possession! (let me say that again)                                                       Can you Say … “I have the answer and I’m waiting for the right questions”

Jesus said to the disciples, Luke 24:39 “See my hands and my feet, that I am He. Handle Me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having”.

Jesus wanted them to handle His feet, and his hands, His side and head… They were the deed of inheritance he made available to us, written in blood, and the canvas was His body.    

His feet were nailed to a cross, so your feet could walk in power and authority. His hands were nailed so that you could lay hands on the sick and they would recover. His side was pierced so that His compassion through us, might pour out to all who needy, His head was pierced so we could receive discernment, wisdom, and knowledge. He did it all so you and I could stand on and claim the promises, and cross over into every covenant guarantee He has given unto us.

Chorus, ‘ I’m Standing, standing, standing on the promises of Christ my savior. Standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of God”…..

Prayer……Father, thank You for establishing my steps. Thank You for shifting things in my favor. I declare that You are ordering my steps and leading me into the life You have prearranged for me.Lord, today I stand believing that You are working behind the scenes on my behalf. I thank you for giving me Your strength to continue believing until I see every promise fulfilled. As I walk in love and wait on Your marvelous plan to unfold. I declare that You are opening doors for me that no man can shut. Father, thank You for Your protection, Your faithfulness and goodness in every area of my life. I stand strong on Your word as I set my heart and mind on You. It is Your Word of truth which releases me and sets me free as it deposits faith in my heart. I receive Your strength to make it through the challenges I face and I declare that You have equippedme for victory in every area of life. Lord, thank You for completing what You have started in me as I continue walking in Your truth.                                    Lord Jesus, I am confident that you are bringing me into victory as I put my trust in You. I speak life and joy and health into my family, my community and my own life and I believe Your word which goes forth out of my spirit and my mouth, shall not return void, but it shall accomplish all that it is sent forth to do, in Your mighty name, Amen!

RECEIVE AND WALK IN THE TITLE DEED WHICH IS WRITTEN ON THE PARCHMENT OF HIS FLESH….

It’s time to take your shoes , and let Him give you what He desires… He has already declared that it’s yours, long before you ever get there to set your foot upon it…..

Listen friend, God sent someone who was willing to come and take His shoes off for you. Those unshod feet, walked up Calvary’s hill, carrying the cross that should have been mine. Then those beautiful feet were pierced by nails. But those feet marched into hell and took the keys from Satan, and marched out victorious as our kinsman redeemer. All this, so that we might receive the inheritance that Satan had stolen, but the nail scarred feet of Jesus, are our guarantee that it has been redeemed.  

Exodus 6:8 “And I will bring you there, concerning all which I did swear to give you, and I will give it you for an heritage, I am the LORD”.

And each one of us are in charge of our Attitude…

But a Positive Attitude is still missing an important ingredient….  

So let me begin with a letter from a grandma to her granddaughter…            “Dear Grand-daughter, The other day I went up to our local Christian book store and saw a 'Honk if you love Jesus' bumper sticker. I was feeling very excited that day because I had just come from an inspiring choir performance, followed by a powerful prayer meeting. So, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, am I glad I did; what an uplifting experience I had afterwards. I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, and I was just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is, so that I didn't even notice that the light had changed. It’s a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I never would have noticed.

I found that a lot of people love Jesus, because they were all honking! While I was sitting there, the guy behind was not only honking, but he leaned out of his window and screamed, 'For the love of God, let’s go, go!'

What an exuberant cheerleader for Lord he was! Then Everyone joined in and started honking! I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling at all those people who also love Jesus. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love that I was feeling!

There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach. Then I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air.

I asked my young teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant.

He said it was probably a Hawaiian blessing. Well, I have never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the blessing right back. My dear heavens, it seemed like a lot of folks were enjoying this spiritual experience!!

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me.

I’m sure they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So, smiling my best smile, I waved at all my brothers and sisters, and drove on through the intersection.

I noticed that I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and felt kind of sad that I had to leave them all at that red light, after all the love we had shared.

So, I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all a big Hawaiian blessing, one last time as I drove away Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!! Love, always, your Grandma…

Well Grandma was sincere, but she lacked understanding….She had a great attitude but she lacked understanding. She was positive but out of touch with reality….

1 Chronicles 12:32 “The men from Issachar, were men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do…. These were among those who had gathered to David to change their environment, usher in a new order, and make David King.  

I would have to also add to this story…..Proverbs 4:7 “And with all yourgetting get understanding”.                                                    

But let me give you the scripture I want to build my message on today 

Psalm 149:4 “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people, He will beautify the humble with salvation (wholeness and completeness). v5 Let the faithful ones be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud on their beds. v6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword (the word of God) in their hand, v7 To execute correction and realignment upon the nations, and righteous judgment on the people. v8 To bind kings of darkness with chains, And their rulers of wickedness with fetters of iron. v9 And to institute on them the written verdict. This honor (favor or privilege) have all His saints. Praise the Lord”!

Notice that verse 6 says “ Let the high praises of God be in their mouth”

When the bible tells us to give Him high praises, it is praise that has moved to another elevation, and has become mature and rises above the carnal mind, the emotions and fleshly feelings.

It is praise with understanding. If you only praise God when things are going well, your praise has not become high praise yet. If you only praise God when you feel like it, your praise has not become high praise yet. If you only praise God when you come to church, your praise has not become high praise yet. If you don’t understand that praise is Spiritual warfare, your praise has not become high praise yet. If you only praise God for what He does and not for who He is, your praise has not become high praiseyet….  

Paul writes about this process of elevating everything through praise with understanding, in …..Ephesians 2:5 “But God, has quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ   (by grace you have been saved), v6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”

That should make clear to us, our part in changing the atmosphere…                         The atmosphere at the high elevation of a mountain, is different than the atmosphere at the foot of the mountain. It’s about elevation.

God is declaring that if we will increase our elevation by rising up into heaven’s atmosphere, as we get a higher perspective, it will change the atmosphere in the situations and circumstancesaround us as we bring heaven into the earth. We move out of tunnel vision, and begin to see the bigger picture of divine purpose, in our job, our home, our relationships, and our circumstances. 

There’s a song titled “When you walk into the room” which beautifully describes how everything changes when Jesus shows up in any situation…                                                                                                          “When you walk into the room, everything changes. Darkness starts to tremble at the light that you bring. And when you walk into the room, every heart starts burning, And nothing matters more than just to sit here at your feet and worship you. When you walk into the room, sickness vanishes as a mist, every hopeless situation ceases to exist. And when you walk into the room, the dead are quickened too, ‘Cause there is resurrection life in all You do”.

Notice it says in Ephesians 2;5 that “He has quickened us together in heavenly places with Christ” That’s about a change in elevation, and moving into a higher view point with better understand.

Jesus physically ASCENDED into heaven, so, we can nowspiritually ascended into heaven, and have access to the throne of God….

Jesus physically SAT DOWN in heaven, so, we can spiritually sit down in heaven, which is a description of resting in something that is already established and divinely decreed.

One day every Christian will physically rise, ascend, and be seated in heaven, but RIGHT NOW this is true of us spiritually.

When Ephesians 2:5&6 uses the term “Heavenly places”….What does the phrase "THE HEAVENLY PLACES" mean for you right now?

When you understand that you now are a full participant in the finished work of Christ, and that all He accomplished is right now available to you, it elevates you above the limited, tunnel view of your physical situation, and ushers you into the realm of faith, where the substance of what you hoped for, becomes the evidence you can now receive…. (repeat)

The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen…

The Bible commands us, Romans 12:2 "Be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. (Your understanding)                                                                                                                                                   Our calling is now and always, to elevate the place where we are. The reason you have been under such heavy attacks from the enemy, is because he knows that you have the potential to elevate where you are to a higher level and sway people’s hearts towards God. So he sets up detours, and pitfalls and snares along the way. He hits you with matters of the heart, for he knows that where your heart is, your treasure is also… He distracts, he manipulates, he deceives and gets you so busy, you don’t take care of the higher things because you’re to busy fighting and wrestling with carnal stuff!!!

You can’t give something you don’t have…. You can’t call others to a place you have not come to yourself… You can’t teach what you have not learned…You can’t impart what you have not received….

Ephesians 1:19 “To know what is the surpassing greatness of His power unto us who believe. These are the working of HIS STRENGTH AND HIS MIGHT v20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places”.

Strength and might are two attributes that flood the atmosphere where His presence is. Strength and might are released into the spirit of God’s people enabling them to cast off their burdens and supernaturally believe the impossible is possible. It ushers us into a “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us”!                                                                Samson changed the atmosphere and he brought down the house…. He shook himself and Strength and might became manifest in his life…. As a result, he changed the environment from one of oppression, captivity, bondage and intimidation by the Philistines, to one of liberty, praise, worship and fulfillment of destiny! (can someone give me a shout)

Oh, what an amazing thing it is to see the glory of the King saturate a place and to witness the release of His holy zeal that transforms downcast souls into mighty ones! Strength and might come when we usher in His presence, when the mighty ones “give unto the Lord, the glory due to His name,” when we “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”

When the atmosphere changes, repentance comes! Yes! The Spirit of Truth begins to convict our hearts, and causes folks to be conscious of righteousness and holiness….                                                                                                                                                    The Spirit of Truth is manifested to reveal things hidden and things veiled in shadows. In this atmosphere, believers who are bound by deceptions and dark manipulations, step into the light and are released from the weights and encumbrances which have hindered and distracted them.  

A holy zone is ushered in, where amazing things happen and transformation can take place. Bondages are broken, the light of heaven begins to shine, truth has the power of penetration and lives are changed forever.

Paul and Silas’, when they were in the depth of the dungeon, in prison chains could have felt that the enemy had won, but they began to lift up high praises and the chains fell off during their session of praise! Daniel began to lift up high praises and stopped the lion’s mouths, The Hebrew children remained steadfast in their praise unto god in the midst of the fiery furnace, and Jesus showed up in the Old Testament and brought heaven into the midst of their hell….

Word based faith brings forth High praise, with understanding, which will quench the fiery darts of the enemy, it will lift up a shield before you which will allow you to advance when everything is against you.                                                                                                                                                                      Praise is a “sacrifice,” If it was easy, it wouldn’t be a sacrifice. It’s something that we offer to God sacrificially, not just because we feel like it, but because we believe He is who He says He isand wish to honor Him and bring pleasure to Him.                                                                                                         Hebrews 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” When you thank someone, you are honoring them….

I remember when I fell and damaged my left shoulder so that I could not lift my arm without intense pain. It was war! I forced that injured arm to praise the Lord. It was a sacrifice. IT HURT to lift it!! I fell asleep every night for a month with my hands lifted and propped up on the headboard, praising God for who He was, and what He had done for me in Christ Jesus. One night, all the pain and all the damage to my shoulder, just lifted off of me, and I was free from that night on….

PRAISE IS A SIGN OF SPRITUAL HEALTH 

For those with a healthy spiritual life, praise is natural. It easily flows from the heart of one who has a healthy relationship with God. For others, lack of understanding, fear of embarrassment, and pride weaken the spirit-man and praise is silenced.                                                                                                               PRAISE GIVES US ACCESS TO GOD. 

Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and come into His courts with praise”. This verse refers to Moses’ Tabernacle in the wilderness. The Tabernacle was divided into three parts. The Outer Court, The Inner Court, and The Holy of Holies where God’s glory was manifested.

There was only one gate - one entrance - into The Outer Court. If you wanted to approach God, you had to go through the gate, into the outer court, then move into the inner court and finally into The Holy of Holies. The gate you come through to approach the outer court, is thanksgiving and the inner court is praise. When you arrive at the Holy place, you fall down in worship. In Moses’ day, only the High priest could enter the Holy place, but when Jesus died for us, the veil of the Holy place was torn in half so that we might enter it and understand what that makes available to us…. Hallelujah!

PRAISE DOESN’T JUST CHANGE THINGS AROUND US, IT CHANGES US

I’ve seen the hardest of hearts melt. I’ve seen hearts made repentant. I’ve seen friendship restored and marriages heal. I’ve seen children coming back to their parents, and parents return to their children in an atmosphere of praise and worship. In praise, our focus shifts from us to the Lord. From problems to The Solution. From pain and to the promise. From hurts and brokenness to renewed hope.                                                                                                  High praise comes through the process of submission. When there is an atmosphere of praise and worshipthere is submission to purification. It is like a refiner’s fire. Silver and gold in their natural state are compromised with other elements. So they must be heated until the impurities come to the surface and can be skimmed off, leaving the purified silver and gold behind. In the same way, as we enter into high praise, we are released from all the impurities, allowing us to enter into God’s purification process. 

That happened on the day of Pentecost and the fire settled upon them and it elevated all who were near by!

PRAISE DEFEATS THE ENEMY. Judah means praise, and Revelation 5 tells us that our Lord Jesus, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah (The praise tribe) has overcome!  HE’S THE LION OF OUR PRAISE! When we enter into high praise, the enemy hears the roar of the lion!

In Judges 1:1-2 we read, “Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.”                                                                                    God told The people of PRAISE to go in first to the enemy. The people of Praise entered the battle first and were given the victory.

In 2 Chronicles 20:21, King Jehoshaphat “appointed singers unto the Lord, that should praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, they were to say, “Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.”  The choir and the orchestra went ahead of the warriors! It worked. The enemies were defeated and Judah never even had to take out their swords!  

So start singing out with your praise! Sing His high praise over your situations and circumstances. Sing over your spouse, your kids, your fears, and your thoughts! Rejoice over your life, and lift up your voice in songs of praise.                                                                                                                                                        The Bible says Psalm 22:3 God inhabits in the praises of His people. that In other words, God “dwells” in the atmosphere of His praise. This means that praise is more than a reaction of coming into His presence... praise to God is a vehicle of faith which takes us into His presence and power! Praise and worship is the “password” which allows us to enter the awesome and amazing realms of His glory. Praise transports us into the realm of the supernatural and into the power of God.

David continues on to say Psalms 34I:1 “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth”. 

Too often, praise to God is something that many people leave at church, an event that happens only when they come together with other Christians. However, praise should be a part of a believer’s lifestyle, inter-mingled as a part of their daily prayer-life. At work, in the car, at home in bed, or anywhere; praise to the Lord brings the refreshing of the Lord’s presence, along with His power and anointing. Hallelujah!!!!

I want to close with this prophetic word God put in my spirit… I wrote it down so I would get it right…

This is the hour that Jesus is shaking up our world view. I see Him calling out to many who have been sick, frail, in tremendous pain, weak, wounded, plundered and some even left for dead. He says over us, “Dead bones – (our life, our families, our churches) – COME TOGETHER. Be joined, built up and restored.” And there is a rattling sound happening now. Right NowToday! With every connection and organ and cell in place working properly. Be brought together and be made whole.” And we are coming together, we are being healed and being united. We are being given the strength to stand in the brilliant, transformative truth that is pouring through us and regenerating us. “Breath of the Spirit – fill with Life! It is time. Now is the time. So, Arise My Love! The grave and the grip of death, which wants to send us backward instead of forward, no longer has a hold! It’s time to dance!! Sing with me as I sing with you, Beautiful songs of the Spirit arise. As we Praise, see what He is about to do! The bells of Freedom are ringing!” Shouts that shatter barriers and break down dividing walls, have been amplified! Holy Spirit, enter into us in a fresh visitation. Open wide our hearts and spirits to You. Help our unbelief. We invite You into our bodies, minds and desires. Strengthen our spirits to be able to receive revelation of who You really are and Your great design, in and through us. 

Open the dusty drawers, clean out things in our closets that simply clutter and take up space, with no purpose or profit. Cleanse, purge, prune us of all that is not of You. Reveal to us the places we are full of unbelief or pride, fear or doubt, anger or bitterness. Root it all out, Jesus. Plow up our hearts to be ready with good soil for all the seeds of Your Word You want to plant in us. Fruitful, beautiful things from You that can now grow and abound. We now take up the weapons, tools and authority You have given us and bring every thought captive for Christ. We now receive creative designs, fresh insight, new direction, and knowledge and wisdom that is from above. To the praise of Your glorious grace!

Let us receive it, in Jesus Name!!!!  

We can all testify about where God brought us from to bring us to where we are today. But let’s be clear, God didn’t just save us from something, He saved us for something…..                                       Ephesians 3:20&21 “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21. Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen”.

We were not an after thought that God had, We were created to be saved, we were fashioned to be free, we equipped to overcome whatever life threw at us. We are made to get over it, above it, under it or around it….We were designed for a purpose, and the amazing life we were destined to live was in the heart and mind of God, before the world was formed…...

Let’s begin with a few scriptures to say this better than I ever could….

2 Timothy 1:9 For He has chosen us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before timebegan.

Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King (Jesus) say unto them on His right hand, Come, you that are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared well in advance as our way of life.

What an advantage it gives you, when you already know what is going to be, before you even start out!! Our identity determines our actions, because how we see ourselves, and how we see God, will determine to a great extent our ability to see the unseeable and know the unknowable that He has intended for us…..

We’re closer than we think…..Often, the inner longings we have and the restlessness we feel, spring out of a deep sense within ourselves that we were meant for more, that we are capable of more, that we don’t have to sell ourselves short and settle for less than the greater purpose that was planned for us….

So many things that we feel are important, are about as necessary to our greater purpose and calling as a life guard at a jacuzzi or an algebra professor in a day care center. 

But what would happen if we saw the God calling, and purpose and destiny within us, in the here and now, not out there somewhere….And we saw it as much bigger and more powerful than the fear, the intimidation, the insecurity and poor self-image we have at times! What if we knew it was impossible to fail. That instead of saying “What if” we said “Why not”!!! And what if we understood that every problem has a blessing embedded in it and a way to accomplish it!

Usually life will divide you up into many things that are all running in a thousand directions, but what if we could grab all these threads, running everywhere, and weave them together to all point in a single direction to bring us to that amazing place we always knew was there for us. 

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

v14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.We may be involved in many things but what is one thing we are committed to above and beyond all else?…You know the saying…The chicken is involved when it gives an egg, but the pig is committed when it gives it’s piece of bacon!!We can be involved and yet be uncommitted….There are many things which Paul could do but there was one thing Paul did, because His one thing, was God’s pre-ordained purpose for him. And he accomplished far more for God’s kingdom by walking inhis own divine design, and by doing the one thing.                                                                                               We were at restaurant and we were waiting to be seated, and I saw that a number of delicious dinner plates were on display, so that customers couldsee what they could order. I saw one that really caught my eye, so I tried to pinch off a sample to check it out and realized it was fake. Oh, the scalloped potatoes and the gravy that was poured over an open faced sandwich, with corn and a slice of pie and ice cream on the side. It looked right, it had all the features, the appearance made your mouth water, but it had no purpose. It was only good to look at but it had no substance….no use, and totally was worthless to satisfy anyone….What is it in our lives that may have a good appearance, but it doesn’t fulfill our greater purpose it’s just a display version?                                                                                                                  Don’t judge your purpose by where you are now and what’s happening now. You’re still becoming and you’re still transforming… Once God revealed to Paul, what His plan was, he understood what he was called to be and do. He understood that he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, or those outside the Jewish community….And he was greatly used of God in advancing he kingdom, when he found his purpose.                                                                                         God has a butterfly in every caterpillar. I believe John Lennon of Beatle fame, was designed by God to be an apostle to the music world, but he missed his calling and ended up being deceived and misguided….His gift was forfeited because he never understood his purpose….                             I believe President Trump, thought his purpose was to be a great business man, but God created him to be president of the United States, and his business background was just a tool to give him unique insights into dealing with our government and foreign governments….                                                   I believe all of us have done things that we thought we were put here to do, but they were all just tools and training that equipped us to arrive at our God given purpose….                                                     And that purpose is to make Christ known in a way that others might never be able to do because that is your own unique calling and God chosen design….                                                                             A guy was talking to a Chinese man and the Chinese man introduced himself and said “my name is Abe Schwartz” He asked the Chinese man, how he got such a Jewish name. Did your mom marry a Jewish man?.. “No, he said, actually I’m from the Ting family and when I entered this country, I was standing in line at immigration, the guy in front of me was named Abe Schwartz, and when my turn came and they asked my name and I told them, Sam Ting…. And the rest is history!                                                                                                                                                                                 So don’t just follow the crowd, and don’t let others decide your purpose, because God has a unique plan for you! And He will use you in that uniqueness!                                                                      Acts 2:16 “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”                                                                         God created us all to be dreamers and visionaries. God’s spirit is the spirit of revelation which leads, directs and brings you to the appointments and connections which He has set for you. God knows that once yousee it, you will be motivated to go after it. So He allows you by His Spirit to see what others might not see, and hear what others can’t hear, so that you can believe what others can’t get their heads around.                                                                                                              God has a dream, custom made for you. That dream comes to bring you to your destiny and provide a stairway so that you can move up to your new reality….What if the things you enjoy doing, are inside of you in order to put you on a collision course with the gifts, the resources, the people, and the new reality that is prepared for you and you alone….                                                  What if the things that are constantly racing in and out of your life are not random at all, but what God is intentionally doing and part of a higher plan…                                                                                                                .What if There is nothing in our lives that is by accident…

My biological mother did not kidnap me and my two sisters and then abandon us by accident. I was not born into the family of two alcoholics by accident. I was not taken to be raised by a woman who had just lost her 3 1/2 year old daughter who was the same age as me, by accident. 

You have not been through the experiences you’ve been through by accident. They have contributed to your wisdom storehouse and you’re lessons learned. You don’t live where you live and work where you work, and shop where you shop, and know who you know… by accident!!

Down deep inside, if we will take the time to process it, we all know that we are part of something far greater, bigger and more encompassing than ourselves and the niche we find our selves is providential at this juncture of our journey…

I heard Charles Swindoll say “We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% of how we react to it. And soit is with everyone... we are in charge of our Attitudes”. 

Every woman I know likes jewelry made from natural pearls. But every pearl is a pain with a purpose. A grain of sand enters the soft inner parts of the oyster. To ease the discomfort, the oystercoats it with the same material that lines it’s inner shell. It keeps applying coat after coat, until the irritation and pain of the sand is relieved, and WALLAH!!! A costly piece of jewelry comes out of a pain in the gut! (I could have said somewhere else!)

Sometimes God’s purpose will look more like suffering and sacrifice than anything else… but He knows how to transform it into something priceless and beautiful!

I like the illustration of the carrot, the egg and the tea bag…. They may all get in hot water, but they all are effected differently by it. The carrot goes in hard and is changed by the water so that it comes out soft. The egg goes in soft and is changed by the water so that it comes out hardened, The tea goes in the water and not only is it changed, but it changes the hot water that it is in.

We are called to be agents of change, in the hot water we are in, to do more than just go through stuff, but change the stuff we go through, because we went through it with the right purpose and the right perspective and the right attitude.

Sometimes we’re like this little girl trying to run from her shadow. Only to discover that it was attached to her. Our problems are attached to us and no matter what we do, we can’t seem to get away from them….For a moment, let’s compare her shadow to the problems we all face….

Let’s Look at 5 purposes behind the problems we face….(tell someone “you have a pain with a purpose) It doesn’t look like a pearl right now, but He’s working on it!

1.God uses our problems to DIRECT us - . Proverbs 3:11 “Despise not the guidance of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction” If the Egyptians weren’t about to descend upon the Israelites in the desert, trapping them at the Red Sea, they would not have been willing to see the miracle of the Red Sea crossing….Problem solved!                                                                                                          Sometimes God has to light a fire under us to get us moving. Because it’s hard to steer a parked car. A parked car doesn’t take you anywhere. Problems often point us in a new direction and get us moving toward the changethat will bring us to success. Is God trying to get your attention? Sometimes it takes an uncomfortable situation to get us to change our direction.

2. God uses problems to INSPECT us - James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, v3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. v4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. v5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you”.

People are like teabags if you want to know what's inside them, just drop them into hot water! 

Is God testing your faith with a problem? What do problems reveal about you? When you are passing through the storm, James tells us to be full of joy, because you know that the storm is testing your faith, and this will produce some lasting fruit when you come out of it. You will discover things about yourself that you didn’t realize before. Sometimes I lose my glasses and they’re right on my nose….Problems cause us to see what was right there in front of us…..  

3. God uses problems to CORRECT you - Psalms 119:70 “There are many whose hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in Your ways. v71 It was good for me to be tested so that I might learn Your intentions. v72 The words from Your mouth are more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. 73 Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn Your ways”.  

Some lessons we will never learn except through a few bumps and bruises. It's likely that as a child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove. But you were driven to do it, cause you had to know for yourself, and you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something - health, money, a relationship - by losing it. It would be great if we could just learn from the mistakes of others, but we are determined to make them ourselves! (Tell someone “It was the best thing that could have happened to me”.

4. God uses problems to PROTECT you - Genesis 50:20 “They intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. v21 So then, do not be afraid.” 

A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being harmed by something far more serious. I don’t even know how many times, , when I was delayed because of a problem, only to find out that we avoided something terrible if the delay hadn’t happened and my plans were not interrupted. But the Lord had gone before me and saw everything and He brought me through safely. Satan intended to harm me, but God intended it for good so that I might be encouraged by His oversight in my life.                              

5. God uses problems to PERFECT us. - Romans 5:2 “We boast in the hope of the glory of God. v3 Not only so, but we also glory in our tests and trials, because we know that they produce perseverance. v4 And perseverance builds character, and character produces hope. v5 And hope does not cause us to be ashamed, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. v6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still unable to help ourselves, Christ intervened for us”.

God is far more interested in building our character than He is in how comfortable we are.         Your relationship to God and your character are the only two things you're going to take with you into eternity.

We can actually rejoice when we run into problems because they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it,until finally our hope and faith are strong, steady and reliable. 

Have you ever been driving and you got tired or distracted, and you drifted for a moment on to the “rumble strip” at the edge of the road. Suddenly the car starts rumbling and vibrating and you feel like you are driving a Sherman tank! You know you need toquickly adjust your wheels or you will be over into the shoulder. The “rumble strip” is there to protect you, even though it may not be comfortable, if you’re smart, you’ll heed it’s warning. God will send some “rumble strips” into your life that may not be comfortable, and they can shake and rattle you, but if you are willing to make the proper adjustments, you’ll arrive at your destiny and stay out of the gutter. 

Paul had himself a doosy of a problem…. He had been arrested and the orders were to bring him to Rome to be tried, but on top of that problem, the ship he was being transported on, hit a Northeaster and was sinking. (when it rains it pours) Notice that everyone else on board, was panicking and desperate because all they saw was the storm they were in, and it had their total attention, they could see nothing else. But Paul saw the storm as part of something bigger that he was part of, and he alone was able to see above the storm…. 

(ask someone, “can you see above the storm”)  

Look at the account….Acts 27:22 “I urge all of you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. v23 Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me v24 and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ v25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.”

While everyone else was panicking, Paul was getting a word from God about how this storm fit into the bigger plan for his life and the kingdom of God. 

They ran aground on the Island of Malta, and when the father of the governor of the island was healed, many others came for healing and the entire island came to Christ. Paul was on his way to one thing, but because of the big problem, storm, God accomplished something greater. 

David was on his way to bring lunch to his brothers and on his way to do one thing, something greater happened, he slew Goliath.

When Abraham could no longer remain in his father’s house making idols, he would never have imagined as he journeyed to Canaan, during this major transition in his life, that he would open a new stream that would produce the Messiah and the Christian movement world wide…..

How could the fishermen disciples have known that their bad day of fishing, which left them tired and disgusted, would position them when Jesus passed by, to be the apostles of a new Christian movement in the earth!

None of it could have happened without the problems that set them up for their destiny!!!

Don’t give up too soon! Joshua 1:7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions God has given you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go”.

Keep above the storm, as you understand that it’s not about the storm, but what’s beyond the storm that is God’s intentions for you…Storms will happen, but the real issue is, how will we respond when the storms come…..

In the account of Paul’s storm at sea, we are told that many gave up and left the ship too soon and they were lost. But all those who stayed through the storm, were saved. 

The storm Paul found himself in, lasted 14 days of constant pounding, constantly threating to wash them all overboard, constantly about to sink the ship…. 

When you’re in that kind of prolonged battle, it’s easy to give up and quit, if you aren’t attached to something greater than the storm.

Some of you here today have been in one of those storms that seems to have come to roost on your doorstep and you’ve hoped it would pass, but here it is, still raging, and still pouring.

In spite of all of your prayers……in spite of all you’ve done…that storm is still ragging and it doesn’t seem to go away.

…Storms can get in your home

…Storms can cause turbulence for you in your familyrelationships.

…storms can get in the church and toss it around and bring confusion and disunity…

…storms can affect our health…suddenly the doctor gives a bad report and it crashes upon you….

…storms can come into all of our lives, in so many Ways!

When Paul was in the storm at sea, they began to lighten the ship, and started throwing everything overboard that was extra weight which could threaten the ship. Are there some things thatneed to be thrown overboard in the storm. If it’s weighing you down, then you won’t float like you ought to float and you won’t make progress like you should.  

…There are some relationships that need to be tossed overboard….

…some habits … some lifestyle patterns.… some attitudes that need to be tossed….…because all they are doing is weighing you down!

When it comes down to it, the sacrifice is worth the outcome….

The biggest storm, can’t sink your boat unless it in your boat….(SO KEEP ON BAILING)

God told Adam he was going to give him a companion and it would be called woman.                     She will be the total package, beautiful, sexy, and she would complete his life.

God said this person will cook for you and wash your clothes, she will always agree with every decision you make. She will bear you children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will never nag you ,and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement.She will never have a headache, and will freely give you love, compassion and comfort, whenever needed.

Adam asked God what would a woman like that would cost him.

God said, "An arm and a leg."

Adam said, "What can I get for just a rib?"…And the rest is history....The storm cometh!!!

(don’t look for that in your bible, it will read a little different)

The words of Paul to those on board the sinking ship are my words to you today…..He said the angel told him “be of good cheer, and everything will be all right”. God always sees something better beyond each storm than you see…Faith, rooted in trust, will act like it before it sees it or feels like it!!!!!.

When you are in a storm you need to learn some storm songs you can sing. 

Here are some of the songs I love to sing while going through my storms…

“in the eye of the storm”… says “In the eye of the storm, You remain in control, And in the middle of the war, You guard my soul. You alone are the anchor, When my sails are torn, Your love surrounds me In the eye of the storm”.

And another storm song I love…. “The anchor holds”….

“And the anchor holds, Though the ship's been battered. The anchor holds, though the sails are torn. I have fallen on my knees as I face the raging seas, and the anchor holds in spite of the storm. I have fallen on my knees as I face the raging seas, the anchor holds in spite of the storm”.

There is an important key to your victory over the storm in the prayer of Jesus for His disciples before He left them….

John 17:14 “I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. v15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one who is in the world. v16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it”.

We used to sing “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue”…but so many who used to sing that, have began to see their treasure on earth and it has captured their hearts. We stopped thinking like pilgrims passing through, and we began to think more and more like homesteaders, and our lives began to be captured more and more by the things of earth, and less and less by the things of heaven.

Start believing now for more. Because we were meant for more than this… We were meant for streets of Gold, and gates of pearl.We were meant to live forever with Him in such glory that cannot be imagined or comprehended. . But so many are trading it for things that will pass away…

And it has begun to limit their vision and their mission and calling. It became about houses, and bank accounts, and social connections and entertainment. 

Begin to believe now, for more!

When this is all over, what will be important is who did we bring with us. Who did we witness to that can never say, “No one told me” as they stand before the Lord. It will be about, was there a “go ye” in our gospel or just a “hold the fort” mentality. It will be about how many tears did we cry and how much sleep did we lose as we interceded for lost souls. 

Let’s not allow the storms to take our eyes off the greatest prize and miss Him when He appears in the clouds of glory. Because if we miss that, we haven’t seen a storm compared to the storm that the tribulation is going to bring.

If we can’t pay the price, and count the cost to follow Him now. How will we be able to follow and obey when every Christian is gone, and the anti-Christ now runs everything, and in order to follow Christ, means you will lose your life. 

Friend, no matter how hard you have it now, obeying Him here and now, is nothing compared to what it will be like after the rapture.

The five wise virgins in Jesus parable, kept the oil, (The Holy Spirit) flowing in their lives. But the five foolish allowed all the things of life to distract them so they didn’t keep the oil flowing. They ran out and didn’t even realize it….

The price of vigilance is well worth it…

Because we were meant for more than this!!!

When God finishes with your storm, the plan He has is exponential and there is no way we could ever get our head around it all right now!

Begin to believe now, for more…. So see above the storm… God will get you over it, under it, around it or through it, but He will get you there!!!!

Grab someone’s hand and let’s lift one another together. Let’s take a new look at the storm, and let’s see God’s great purpose and plan for your break through. 

In the valley, he anoints my head with oil, He brings me into His peace and rest, He prepares a table before me, surely goodness and mercy go with me, His presence sustains me, and glory awaits me….Hallelujah!

Song…. It will be worth it all!

Sometimes, change is uncomfortable. Sometimes, a “new normal” doesn’t feel normalor comfortable at all. You’re not just having a bad hair day, POOPSI, this is spiritual warfare!

So how do we joyfully embrace what God is doing when we can’t see all the details and the results are still invisible?

We come to places where we must relinquish the right to try and understand spiritual matters with our natural mind. They must be embraced from a much deeper place.                                                                        They are light and life and truth. They are not confined to earthly terms, or methods or positions. However, Jesus defined spiritual truths by physical illustrations from the world around him. We call it parables… 

For example, there are parts of the game of baseball that, for me, help illustrate our spiritual faith journey. 

Take the batter’s swing for example. The swing that seems so natural and fluid, is actually the result of years of hard work. What looks like instinct is actually self-discipline. The batter has hit thousands and thousands of baseballs in batting practice. This is how, in the twinkling of an eye, he can discern between a breaking ball and a fast ball. A ball on the inside corner of the plate and a ball outside (only a matter of inches). So, let’s say a batter needs to change his swing to be more effective. He now has his work cut out for him because he is so ingrained with the swing he has used so long, that he now has to develop a “new normal” and the only way to do that is by, trusting his coach and hitting thousands and thousands of baseballs in batting practice. It can be frustrating too, because he instinctively wants to go back to what felt right before,so, while this new swing process is taking place, and he finds himself in a pressure situation at game time, he will instinctively resort back to his old swing … which brings the old results. You know that the batter has finally switched to the new normal (the new muscle memory) when, he’s in a pressure situation, and he no longer thinks about his old swing but just “naturally” uses the new swing. It’s the new natural!                                                                                                     As we surrender to God’s Spirit, we can tell that things are different – even our desires have changed – but there is still that “old normal” that old “muscle memory” of how we used to respond to things, and it can cause a lot of frustration. But God (our new coach), now dwelling within us, begins to help us fundamentally change how we respond. Our training begins to feel more and more normal. We are moving into our new normal..

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation 19 for we understand , that God was in Christ,                                           reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled (come into harmony or agreement) with God”.

The name Egypt in Hebrew language is “restraint”…. The Jewish people were restrained from the destiny God had Intended for them because they chose compromise over liberty, comfort over security, and the things of the flesh over the things of the spirit. Satan never jumps up in your face in a red jump suit with a pitchfork and shouts that he is the devil. No, he comes as your favorite feel good thing, a new adventure, or some forbidden fruit… and in a beguiling voice he whispers, “Try it you’ll like it”….

Satan doesn’t tell you right out to disobey God, he just gets you to question and doubt His word. He gets you compromise just a little here and a little there, then he gets you to justify what you have done and blame someone or something else….   And it gets easier and easier to be around others who are doing the same….

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep (guard, protect, watch out for) your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the issues of your life”.

1 Peter 5:8 8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking the unsuspecting, to devour”.

Revival is spiritual warfare….. Stop taking it personally, (poor me, woe is me) The focus of Satan’s attacks is Jesus in you. He’s attacking righteousness, Godliness, Holiness, those who hunger and thirst for the Holy Spirit!

We must be like the little girl whose children’s pastor asked her, “what would you do if satan came to your house and knocked on your door. She said, “I would send Jesus to answer it”….GOOD ANSWER!!!

1 Peter 4:12 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy”.

Spiritual warfare is your new norm…. stop wondering why you’re being attacked, or thinking that your faith is being tried without cause….

2 Corinthians 10:3 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds”.

What are your strongholds… Back to the Hebrew word for Egypt…. It is the areas of “resistance” which you are experiencing in your life. Those areas that are keeping you from entering into the promises God has given you…. People are not your problem, it is the demonic strongholds that are using the people that iscreating your resistance… 

The good news is Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you”.

That tells me when we are involved in spiritual warfare, God is saying we win!!!! We’re not fighting just to test our faith, we are fighting to win… God says we win!!!

Hallelujah, it says All the power of the enemy, all the strongholds of resistance which are coming against you….shall not prevail!

In The Word For You Today, for April, it gives the account of Winston Churchill’s commencement speech at Oxford University. Where he stood before the audience during Hitler’s assault on London and declared, “Never give up, never give up, never, never, never give up”!!!

I hear the bell ring, Satan is in one corner of the ring and you are in the other. You are about to meet in the center of the ring and the battle begins. Ding, ding, ding!

We’re training for reigning….. Your training is about getting full of the word of God…. Your training is about guarding your confession…. (training your tongue, training your brain)….

You and I have been given redeemed speech….I have said it before…. A person who speaks Spanish, but who has learned English, doesn’t think in English, they think in Spanish, then translates it into English…. The language of heaven, where our citizenship is, is the Word of God… We need to get to the place where we think the word of God…. then translate it into the heat of the battle so it can bring redemption’s power into the fight.

Someone says, let’s go down town and get drunk…. Immediately you think your redeemed language… “I am the temple of God, the Holy Spirit dwells in me, I am full of the Spirit, so I don’t need to get drunk” I have a right mind, so I don’t need porn, I have a redeemed spirit, so I don’t need to get angry and cuss, and give someone a piece of my mind (as though I could spare it anyway)You just did Spiritual warfare….

Hey, I cheat on my wife, cuss, go out drinking, look at porn, and party with those who do, all I want to…. I JUST DON’T WANT TO! I’M REDEEMED, I HAVE A NEW MIND, AND A NEW MASTER! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Focus on Spiritual things….Satan often gets by with blocking us, stealing our peace and our potential, and he is often effective in his work because he is an expert at getting us to focus our attention on things in thenatural, so we as physical beings come against it and fight it in the physical realm, and get caught in the revolving doors of discouragement, doubt and wearing us out.

The devil knows if he can get you to expend all your energy on fighting and struggling and warring in the flesh, he has already defeated you.

Spiritual battles can never be won on natural terms with even our best efforts..

Spiritual battles must be fought with spiritual weapons

Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”.                                                                                                               Your enemy is not the IRS, or DMV, or the DHS or the GOV. And your enemy is not drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and your enemy isnot homosexuality or lesbianism, or fornication or adultery. And your enemy is not sickness and disease, and poverty and lack, Yes all these things may be manifest against us but they are just the devices the devil uses.                                                 

Your real enemy and mine is spelled (d-e-v-i-l).   The good news is: We Have been well equipped to fight this battle.

2 Corinthians 10: 4 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

When you don’t feel like shouting Hallelujah, you shout anyway…. When you don’t feel like raising your hands in praise, you raise them anyway…. When you don’t feel like repenting, you repent anyway!!!

No doctor will examine a person and diagnose them with Cancer or With Tuberculosis, or arthritis, or deafness and say (It’s a demon) No, because they can only see the natural, physiological results.

But we know that disease may manifest itself in the natural, but its roots are spiritual. That’s why scripture says, “by His stripes we are healed”, (by the supernatural power of the finished work of Christ). For every physical cause, there is a spiritual cure!

When the enemy comes in like a flood the Lord raises a standard against him. That’s why, when I had my 5thheart attack in 2000, doctors said that I would have those scars on my heart for the rest of my life and any EKG, would reveal them. They would be part of my life, for the rest of my life…. But in 2010, the same doctor, (doctor Burros) released me, saying that the EKG showed no scars on my heart, and I had a clean, scar free heart!!!

In 1984 I found myself unable to move the lower part of my body. The doctor (Doctor Callejah) said I had a crippling virus that had lodged in my lower spine. He said it could be months or years or permanent. I swung around on crutches for a month, and one Sunday, as I was in the pulpit preaching, the Holy Spirit said to me, “You are healed”…. I threw my crutches down the isle and walked out of the church that day with no more effects! And I never went back to get them….

In both cases, I fought with my faith confession based on the word of God and it created a new normal in my thinking. God’s word was the language I spoke, to defeat the symptoms.

Jesus defeated the devil with “It is written”, and as he vocalized what was written, Satan had to flee!

But please listen, It is not just what is written in a book, that defeats the devil in your life: It’s when God’s word is alive in your heart and mind, and comes out of your spirit through your mouth in Jesus name, that defeats the devil. It has become part of you! It’s how you now live your life.

Just as the ark of the covenant was carried upon the shoulders of the priests, and their enemies knew they could not stand against the glory of God upon the ark, so also, God has committed His presence and power upon the shoulders of 

praying, believing, declaring saints.

We win because we carry His Glory, His power, and His authority!

It is in the closet of prayer that the Christian, is dressed for the battle, and for life. We are not dressed for battle until we’ve prayed. It is in the place of prayer that we are clothed upon from on high in the full armor of God.This is where the real battle is won or lost. Public victory owes it’s accomplishment to private prayer.                                                                                                                   We pray for God’s presence and his power to be made known, for Revival, for souls, for signs and wonders and miracles, and that his kingdom be advanced in the earth.

Jesus Said He that prays to his father secretly shall be rewarded openly. 

Your prayer life is the thermostat which sets the atmosphere for your Christian life that is seen by the public. 

James 5:16 “The effectual (making a difference) fervent prayer of a righteous man avails (or accomplishes) much”.

Would I shock you to say, without a life of prayer, you cannot be righteous! To be righteous means you are in right standing with God. Righteousness is not about behavioral modification it’s about heart transformation.

Spiritual warfare means, That we are in a Battle, It means that the Battle is not Imaginary (the battle is real)and the real Battle is Spiritual not physical.

It means, we must fight it in the Spirit with spiritual weapons. And it means that we cannot win alone we must win together.

Two are better than one….Matthew 18: 18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there I am in the midst of them.”

When it comes to revival, there are three kinds of people, Those who wish it would happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder “What’s happening.”

For those who are wondering what’s happening…. I want to say… Jesus has already won the battle!!!!(wonder no longer)

And you may ask, then why are we having to fight him, if Jesus has won?

After all, Colossians 2:15 tells us that Jesus "disarmed principalities and 

powers, and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them.”

The answer is “Free Will”…. Even though we have authority over demons, God gave mankind free will. SoSatan uses man’s free will to choose who they will serve. Every person who chooses to follow the path of rebellion against God, becomes the place where demons now have permission to take up residence. You see where there is lust, there is a lust spirit… where there is blasphemy, there is a blaspheming spirit….where there is drunkenness, pornography, drugs, adultery, greed, wrath, murder, and on we could go… there are spirits who dwell in those who commit these things. We could also say, where there is rebellion against God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, there are rebellious spirits which inhabit those who do that. Satan and his demons reject Christ, so those who reject Christ, are impowered by the same demons. 

Yes, Christians can still be under the control of demons. They are not possessed, but they are compelled. Oh, it’s much easier to hear, “The devil made me do it”… But the Devil uses his demons to do his work.  Hear me, Oursins are forgiven, not our demons. They must be addressed, told they no longer have permission, and commanded to leave, in Jesus’ name.                                                                                                   Come on, surelyyou’re not surprised that Christians can be in rebellion!!!!? I have known Christians with unclean spirits, lazy spirits, spirits of anger, contentious spirits, argumentative spirits, lust spirits.. greed, covetousness, etc. I’ve known Christians who were driven to spend, spend, spend. Or who were always restless and confused. What was it that was behind that? 

Why do Christians get divorced, or fight, or their families fall apart, or they fall away from God….it’sspelled D.E.M.O.N.S! We have to deal with our demons! Don’t give those spirits a free ride. 

It comes back to Free Will. Every person must choose to let go of those spirits which motivate and compel them to live with less than God says they can have… Spiritual warfare must be waged to see these who are under the control of these spirits, released and set freed!

This is where 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 comes in…. “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, being ready   to win over all disobedience when your obedience is complete”.

In a mental hospital they devised a test to determine when their patients were ready to be released. They brought a candidate into a room where a water faucet was left on so that water was pouring all over the floor. Then they handed the patient a mop and told him to mop up the water. If the patient had enough sense to turn off the faucet before mopping up the water, he was ready to be released. But if the patient started mopping while the water was still flowing, they kept the patient for more treatment." In the same way, we often start trying to fix problems while the water is still running and we get no where. Until the source is taken care of, no headway is made. Until the powers behind the rebellion, drugs, alcohol, lust, and Godliness, is turned off, it will continue to prevail and no headway will be made, because of each person’s free will…. That door must be opened from the inside….

We must clean our own house before we will have the power to tell someone else to clean theirs. 

Psalm 51:16 “For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offeringsor I would do it. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise”.

When we humble ourselves and deal with our own areas of disobedience, God will move in and convict and convince others. 

I have so many stories where believers tried to cast demons out of someone else, and the demon began to call out their unrepented sins, and transgressions. But if we approach spiritual warfare, with clean hands and clean hearts, those spirits that hold others in bondage, cannot accuse us before God, because it’s under the blood where they cannot find it!

One of the gates of the city of Jerusalem was called the “The Dung Gate” has a powerful message for all. It represents the need for cleansing physically and spiritually. It had to do with the removal of everything that defiled, from within the city, allowing the city to be kept clean and holy. It lead down to the valley of Hinnom, where fire was kept burning 24/7 as a reminder of the need for constant cleansing of our spiritual life. It is about the removal of all that would hinder us in our Jesus walk. Anything that comes between ourselves and God becomes a false God. All pagan items, idols, instruments, food dedicated to other Gods, and anything pertaining to false worship, were taken out through this gate. “The Dung Gate” symbolizes the work of cleansing God wants to do in our lives to restore us. 

(This gate now has a busy street running through it, just as we should be busy in this area of our lives) For it is the gate of cleansing and holiness!                                                                                                        John 1:8, 9  “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves... If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”                                                                                                                                    Just as you must regularly clean your house, so likewise we must keep our lives clean and swept out, as the residence of the Lord of Lords.

Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation and may I have a willing spirit. 13 Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You”. Create in me a clean heart, Oh God”. 

Let’s stand together…. Today, we see that God would have us all clean our own houses of gossip, greed, unforgiveness, and every form of disobedience to Him, if we are to win the battle and see others released and set free….Let us humble ourselves before Him and know that a contrite spirit He will not ignore….

If we really want a revival that will bring down the strongholds… this is what it’s going to take…. Let’s all take a moment before Him and before we leave to go to our homes, to do some cleaning… we must begin to humble ourselves in the house of God for we are the living temples of God….      

Let me deposit this in your minds first, “God is no respecter of persons, anything He has done for anyone before, He will do for you”

So, having said that, I want to continue the theme from last week and look at some ingredients of heaven sent, Spirit lead, God breathed revival…A little bit of history….                                                                                                       In the 1740s, we had what is called the Great Awakening. How many have heard about the Great Awakening? That happened in the early days of this nation. There was a Dutchman whose name was Theodore Frilingheusan. And he began to preach the message of repentance and salvation. He saw people coming and getting saved. And the message started to spread, and revival broke out which became the great awakening in America. Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield and many others picked up the revival banner both here and in great Britain and revival fires were fanned….

As a result of the great awakening revival, Many of our theological training colleges, Princeton, and Rutgers, and Dartmouth, and Brown University, were founded to train missionaries and preachers to carry the gospel message. 

In the 1800’s God was moving once again in a dark period of our history… Church attendance had dropped from 50% down to 5%...it was so bad that only 2 students at Princeton claimed to be Christian. Some students at Williams College hid in a haystack to avoid a thunderstorm. And they began to pray and committed themselves to go anywhere God might lead them. That was the beginning of the second great awakening. It's the famous haystack revival. 

In 1858, another revival broke out that transformed our nation. Jeremiah Lanphier, a Christian business man, announced a prayer meeting at Fulton Street in New York City. It grew until in a few months, more than 50,000 people a day were gathering for prayer all over New York City. Two million people are estimated to have found Christ as their Savior as it swept across the U.S. 

And through Evan Roberts it landed in Wales, becoming the Welsh revival. There was the Jesus Movement of the 70’s which reached the hippy culture with Chuck Smith and others. And We know of the African phenomenon which was called the “Laughing Revival” of 1990, which brought Rodney Howard Brown to Florida and it spread to the Brownsville revival in Pensecola, with John Kilpatric….and reached the world….

And God is doing it again! Throughout the country there is a common cry. These all have a common theme… It only takes a spark to get a fire going. You and I can be another spark God uses along with many others to do it again! Amen! (turn to someone and greet them with “Hey Sparky”                                                                                                   I know that my life was forever changed after experiencing the Brownsville revival which occurred in Pensacola, Florida in 1994 That revival was the result of many years of prayer, fasting and turning to the Lord with renewed intensity by that local church. They had intercession for revival for 10 years before the great revival came down in their midst. 

In every case, the theme which ushered in those great moves of God, which spread throughout the world, was about waiting on God and touching His heart with an intense cry for His will to be done in earth as it is in heaven. They received an open heaven which is still spreading and touching lives today through churches and ministries that were raised up in a revival atmosphere.

I want to give you 3 scriptures about waiting on the Lord as we begin this message today….

Psalms 27:14 - Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

Habakkuk 2:3 - For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not delay.

Listen, There is waiting, and then there is waiting. This scriptural version of waiting is not inactivity, it isn’t idleness, and it is not a lack of preparation like the ten foolish virgins….

The word wait in the Hebrew, is “Qav-ah” to wait with great expectancy… A woman who is pregnant, waits as the period of gestation is accomplished. She knows that what she’s waiting for is already within her, growing, developing and bringing her to the time of birthing. She spends the time, learning, preparing, and getting everything ready, so that when the time comes, she will be able to care for, nurture, and assure that the baby can be strong and healthy. She anticipates what will be needed… and well in advance, begins to put things in place for the long haul.

Scripture describes this word Qavah in Genesis creation account, Genesis 1:2, as "the Spirit of God hovering/brooding or incubating over the face of the deep”… We are incubating revival!

Habakkuk says that what is being brooded over and waited for, will come, and it will not be delayed….

It is one thing to pray and believe for revival, it is another to believe that it is already within us, incubating and coming to the time of birthing. 

Like a woman who is pregnant, we begin to prepare, and we make ready for the appointed time of revival….                                                                                                                Adoniram Judson, the great pioneer missionary to Burma, was

suffering from fever in a stinking, rat-infested prison. He had seen little fruit for his years of hard work and sacrifice to see revival come to Burma. He had gone through many setbacks and hardships. A letter from a friend arrived which asked, “Judson, how’s the outlook?” He replied, “The outlook is as bright as the promises and character of God.”                                                                                      The waiting time is important, because it is a time of sifting through our values and priorities, and honestly making room in our lives for God at a new level. 

When I was born, I was discarded, because my mom, wasn’t willing to allow her lifestyle to be changed by a new arrival. The thing she was expecting, became an inconvenience. If we have not prepared ourselves, and if we approach revival with the same old, same old, attitude, understand that it will be seen as an inconvenience. Oh, I’m sure, when I was born, she was over joyed, and thrilled to have a son. But the new wore off quickly, with diaper changes, feedings, sleepless nights and no longer being in charge of her life. She made a choice, to give up, long term fulfillment for temporary inconvenience.                                      Revival means that whatever ran in your family linage before you will no longer run in your family after you… A new stream is opened up, the healing waters that flow from throne of God sweep all of that debris from the curse, away from your family tree. You now drink from new cleansing, healing, restoring streems of redemption….   

For those who will count the cost, the long term results are well worth it. To see souls saved, lives changed, and families restored and serving the Lord together. 

Luke 14:28-30 For which of you, intending to build, does not sit down first, and make preparations, to assure that you have sufficient to finish it? Lest sadly, after you have laid the foundation, you realize you are not able to complete it.

Let’s be honest, revival has a cost, Ahhhh, but it is well worth it!

Revival is not just a thing, it is about a person. He is none 

other than God the Spirit. Revival is God the Spirit showing us who He is! When Habakkuk talks about the vision …. What he’s talking about is a living entity… Notice it…. He says “For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end He shall speak, though He tarry, wait for Him, because He will surely come, He will not tarry. 

Listen to what Jesus said…. 

John 16:7 “I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I do not go away, the Comforter (Holy Spirit) will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you. v8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. v9 Of sin, because they believe not on me. v10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you will not see me for a while.

v11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. v12 I have  manythings to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. v13 However, when he, the Spirit of truth, (Holy Spirit) is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak,and He will show you things to come. 

v14 He shall glorify Me (Jesus) for He shall receive of what is Mine, and shall show (demonstrate) it to you. v15 All things that the Father has are Mine,therefore I tell you, that He shall take of what is Mine, and shall show it to you.

v16 A little while, and you shall not see Me, and again, a little while, and you shall see Me again, because I go to the Father”.

Revival is about the person of the Holy Spirit, demonstrating the things of Jesus, unto believers. Revival is not about the manifestations that happen, it is about a person. It is about “The Lord of lords and the King of Kings The Great I Am, Life more abundantly, The fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily. It’s Holy Spirit taking what’s His and imparting it unto us. And Jesus is telling us here in John, that this is Holy Spirit’s time of administration concerning the things of the kingdom in the earth. He has been put in charge, through the name of Jesus. 

Notice that Jesus tells us that He will convict of sin, (the weight of their sin will come on sinners)… He will convince of righteousness (that’s believers being convinced to live righteous lives)…. And He will judge the prince of darkness through the mouth of believers….He will guide you into all truth since He is our inside guiding light…He will show you things to come because He knows what Jesus knows….He will glorify Jesus since that is the name we have been given to operate His power in the earth… He will take the things of Jesus and demonstrate them to us since He has already given it unto us…

Now, friend, that is what Revival is…. Revival is a person, being allowed to rule in our midst, and reveal the things of the Father, in the name and person of Jesus. It is totally “God” centered!

That’s exactly what Jesus is saying in John 16….

When all these things begin to come to pass, the church rises in power, the community is brought to faith in Christ, and God’s kingdom is established in the earth….

When revival is centered correctly, then Gifts of the Spirit are manifested, gift of wisdom, gift of knowledge, gift of faith, gift of healing, gift of miracles, gift prophecy, gift of discerning of spirits, gift of speaking in tongues, and the gift of interpretation of tongues….. The Fruit of the Spirit are demonstrated… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And the five-fold ministry gifts which are to strengthen and guide the church are raised up and find their place… apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, & teachers.

Revival releases the Spirit’s power in the church, the Spirit’s personality in the church, and the Spirit’s government in the church….

Jesus said… John 12:32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

When revival comes people talk different….Here is an example of the way folks begin to talk… 

1. “Hey! It's my turn to sit in the front pew”. # Or, “I was so captivated, I never noticed your sermon went 25 minutes over”. # How about, “I want to volunteer to work in children’s church”. # And, “Since we're all here early, let's start the service”.

# I like, “Pastor, we'd like to send you to a Bible conference in Hawaii. # How about, “Nothing inspires me more than the opportunity to give to the Lord”! # And then I like, “I had to circle 3 times to find space to park”.

There is a site on the internet, that you can log into, and it has a fireplace with a beautiful glowing fire. You can open it up and WALLA, WALLA, BING BANG, you have an instant fireplace on your big screen TV….you can even hear the logs crackling, but it has no heat, and it has no substance. It’s superficial and it’s an illusion….

We can get inspired and not be transformed… We can be involved and not be committed…. We can be religious without God’s Spirit…. And we can do good things and still be lost…. 

A cheap shirt is usually a cheap shirt.. a cheap car is usually a cheap car… a cheap relationship is usually a cheap relationship.                          We don’t want cheap revival that doesn’t cost anything….                                            Most Christians are interested in a revival they can go to and attend, but most Christians aren’t interested in paying the price to personally bring revival into their church and community….                                                               We cannot settle for anything less than the Scriptural requirement for revival…. To accept less is to deny the Holy Spirit His rightful place in the church and in our lives. It’s like a virtual fire place…..                                          The wordREVIVAL means to "LIVE AGAIN", TO HAVE NEW LIFE!

WHEN THE BIBLE KIND OF REVIVAL COMES , AND FOLKS CATCH ON FIRE, IT DOESN’T STOP AT THE CHURCH. IT GOES HOME WITH FOLKS…We are the carriers of the fire… We carry it TO THE SCHOOLS, THE BUSINESSES, CITY HALL, AND THE COMMUNITY…

In 1905, William J. Seymour was invited to preach at a church in Los Angeles. He preached on the coming revival and the next night he showed up and the church door was locked. He and a few folks began meeting for prayer in the home of one of the members. The Spirit fell 3 days later and crowds began to gather as Seymour preached from the front porch. The crowds grew so large that there was no way of getting near the house. As people came in they would fall under God's power, and the whole city was stirred. They sang and shouted until the front porch collapsed. They found an abandoned building that had been used as a stable, on Azusa Street and rented it for $8.00 a month. Revival, spread out as people came from other states and at times there were 1,500 people meeting together and the meetings went 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…. The world was touched by the Holy Spirit lead, Azusa Street revival….

God does not send revival to fill up churches with people, but to fill people with His Spirit…. He is concerned about filling empty hearts and empty lives, and empty eyes that have no vision…

He wants to fill empty hearts that have no passion, and empty wills that have no purpose.

When someone hitting a baseball is more exciting than the preaching of eternal truth…. When someone catching a pigskin on the football field is more exciting that praising God in song… When someone fighting with a hocky stick, is more thrilling than the prayer of agreement…. And when a soccer goal is more important than seeing people receive Christ as their savior… We need to believe for revival!

People come to church and leave mumbling, “I didn’t get anything out of it. But the real issue is, did God get something out of you so He could get something into you? 

John Wesley  said, “Give me some men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I will shake the world.”                                                                                 

So, I want you to know, on the basis and the authority of the Bible, and the history of revival, we are at a place where we should not despair, but where we should be filled with great anticipation. We're right at the place where God has intervened in every other time in history. This is a period when God wants to move among us. Let it begin in me, Let it begin in you. Because God is our only option. Lord, We are confessing our sin before you today as a nation, and we're asking you in the words of the psalmist, Lord, revive us again. (Draw a circle around you and declare, “Revival begins here in my circle”…..

Let’s all pray this Prayer together…

Father, today we petition heaven for a revival of souls in our day. Lord, we desire for our friends, families, and neighbors to be open to seek and find the truth of the only source of life. We invite Your Holy Spirit to pour out upon us a fresh visitation of the latter rain. We invite You to perform miracles, signs and wonders, as you speak personally to people through dreams and visions. We pray that truth will be brought to Light in each and every one. 

Lord you said that you would give a new heart and a new spirit in them andwill remove from them the heart of stone. It is only by Your Spirit that truth can be fully revealed, so we cry out this day, for a revival in this city, this nation, and all of our hearts. We declare that even as you spoke to Ezekiel to release life back into the dry bones of his day, we too can pray and believe for Your reviving life back into the dry bones of our world. Lord Jesus, we make ourselves available for Holy Spirit sent revival….Amen

I thought I would begin with some pandemic humor today…We need to lighten up with this whole issue….folks are getting too hyped up….

Well, A fellow told me that this is the first year he’s not going to Hawaii because of the pandemic, usually hedoesn’t go because he can’t afford it…. 

I don’t know anyone who is excited about having to wear masks everywhere. But it sure makes it easier if you’re a ventriloquist….

And then there’s the minister, wearing a mask, who threw holy water on some folks, and they received a blessing in disguise…. OK…..

The message I want to share with you today is titled “The Pathway To Revival”     (Prayer) Lord, Jesus, I ask that you would watch over your word to perform it, and may we receive it, in Your mighty name. Amen 

Jesus, in talking about the signs of the last days, says in 

Matthew 24: 10-12, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of many will grow cold”

If you break it down… this sign of the end times, says that Many will depart from faith. Many will betray one another. Many will hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up. Many will be deceived. There will be lawlessness. Many people’s love will grow cold” (feel the chill) We can see all of that happening….   

But the good news is that another sign of the end times is…Joel 2:27 And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, (the revival that began in Israel, will fall again on Israel and go out through the world) I am the Lord your God, and none else; and My people shall never be ashamed. 28 “And it shall come to pass in the last days,that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions29 and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit”.

A diamond shines it’s brightest against a black background and in the midst of the darkness, the diamond of revival will shine it’s brightest! And the Father wants His diamond of revival to brighten up the whole earth with it’s brilliance!

We see here in Joel’s prophecy that a great worldwide revival is one of the signs of the return of the Lord.

Whenever an Old Testament King made his appearance, he would send his entourage before him. When folks saw the entourage, which consisted of elaborate banners, His servants and family, lavishly adorned, and a display of his wealth and his splendor, then they knew the king would be appearing soon.                                                        Psalm 96:6 “Splendor and majesty go before Him; strength and beauty fill His sanctuary.7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength”.

The final great revival, will be the ingathering, the final harvest of the souls of the earth’s population, the final call before the rapture, so that those who have not believed, might be saved and change their eternal destination. And those who have become distracted and lured away by the things of life can make their return to the great family of believers. it’s closer than we think….

If you believe as I do, that all the signs point to the reality, that we are living in the last days of the church on the earth. Believe it and receive it…

Then just as God’s glory came to rest upon the tabernacle in the wilderness, as they went from Egypt to the promised land, so likewise the glory of God will come to visibly rest upon the church as it prepares to make it’s exit from this world and to the realms of heaven. It’s like giving us heaven to go to heaven in….                                                                                         

After the joint revival services had concluded in one area, the three pastors were discussing the results with one another. The Methodist minister said, "The revival worked out great for us! We gained four new families.” The Baptist preacher said, "We did better than that! We gained six new families." The Presbyterian pastor said, "Well, we did even better than that! We got rid of our 10 biggest trouble makers!". Revival brings many changes to the status quo…..  

Joel 2:23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, (believers)And rejoice in the Lord your God; For He has given you the former rain (revival) faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you as well-- The former rain, And the latter rain (end time revival) in the first month.24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat (seeds of the gospel), And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil (the Spirit’s outpouring).

I believe that the revival which took place on the day of Pentecostal outpouring in Jerusalem and which became the birthing of the New Testament church, will break out again in that holy city, and become a signal flare, of the worldwide end time revival outbreak of the Glory of the Lord, before the appearing of the Lord….                                             

2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

The entire plan of redemption aims to restore the image of God in man. This is a transformation that comes about by focusing on and seeking after Christ.

Revival is about God’s glory, and the revelation of that glory comes in a level of intensity and prevalence, that creates it’s own transformative atmosphere… and miracles, begin to occur as the norm instead of the unusual….

I believe there is a scripture which is a beautiful description of revival…. 

Ephesians 1:18-22 "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the Hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, 

according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, 

and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,"

Every believer, in the power of the Spirit, is a walking revival lightening rod, waiting to catch the lightning strike of God’s glory.

Truly the story of the wedding of Galilee where Jesus turned the water into wine, makes a statement which we should be encouraged and inspired by….The master of ceremonies tasted the miracle wine and declared…

John 2:10 "You have saved the best for last!" – Don’t judge what’s coming by what may have been. He’s saving the best for last! The Trinity desires to use us as instruments in the earth to operate through us and do His good pleasure. We are the containers and He does the pouring….Having said that…. We cannot use the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit to get what we want or need. The Holy Spirit is desiring to flow through you, not just to you. I challenge you to go an entire day without saying “Me” or “I”…..  We are told that everything we need is a byproduct of seeking His face and His desire. Seek first the kingdom and all these things shall be added….

Whenever you talk about God’s DNA (His Divine Nature and Attributes)-  you are describing His holiness, His love, His  compassion, His grace, His justice, His integrity, His wisdom, and His mercy - that's all about God's glory revealed.                         As the people of God get hungry and thirsty for the Word of God and the glory of God, the Spirit of God transforms them to take on the nature of the Son of God.

God’s Glory, I've learned, is what God is all about, it’s in His very essence. 

Revival will not come because of more knowledge, but by more kneeling… Revival will not come because of more giving, but by holy living… Revival will not come because of better preaching about it, but because of every believer showing it through acts of loving kindness….When we are willing to sacrifice our desires, risk our comfort, go where we’ve never gone, and do what we’ve never done….

In Jesus’ words, we have come to, “Not my will but thine be done”!

Revival will come when we repair and restore our Altars…1 Kings 18:30 “And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down”

Has there been a time when you searched the scriptures more than you do now… It’s time to rebuild the altars…. Has there been a time when you shared the message of Christ more than you do now….It’s time to rebuild the altars.

Revival begins with a personal pledge….When a bride and groom stand before the minister, they make some very binding and permanent vows … promises that are meant to last forever. What gives them the confidence that they can fulfill these vows, is that they have a strong love and a deep sense of commitment to one another. In the same way, when we make our vows as a believer, we understand that this means “In sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity, in the sunshine and the rain, good and bad times.” …. We need to renew our vows which we made to the Lord.. Keep it fresh….                                                                                           God’s familyof believers will have many of the same highs and lows of any earthly family, but if we love Jesus and commit to love who He loves (that would be everyone), our journey will be a transformative experience that will survive any trial and any adversity.

G Campbell Morgan said, “Revival cannot be organized, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again”

Charles Spurgeon said, “A genuine revival without the joy of the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or sunrise without any light”. 

And last, Brian Edwards said, “In revival, the minds of people are concentrated upon things of eternity, and there is an awareness that nothing else really matters”. 

Just as a forest fire is hard to contain, as we have seen in California, so it is with revival. Holy Spirit will find the ways and the means and the people….                                       In Acts chapter 8, Philip who was a deacon in the New Testament church, had been ministering with great results in Samaria. Souls were being saved, bodies healed, and many were delivered. Philip heard two promptings from heaven. First he listened to an angel’s direction to leave the Samaritan revival and go to a specific place in the desert. Once there, Philip heard the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit tell him to go and minister, to an Ethiopian official who was traveling through the desert. Philip obeyed, led the man to Jesus Christ, and revival came to the nation of Ethiopia…The next person you introduce to Christ could be that person….                                                                            

Isaiah 40:3 “For (we are) the voice of him that cries outin the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”.

Revival is like landing an airplane, it can’t land just anywhere. It needs a prepared, surface to land on.

Often, a plane will circle for a long period before landing. I believe revival is circling, and waiting and wanting to bring us something wonderful, but the runway, isn’t ready yet for it to land, so it keeps circling. God is constantly circling in our lives and our situations, but we must commit ourselves to be the runway that the Spirit needs to land on. Our lives need to be prepared for revival to land…. 

This was the cry of David’s heart in Psalms 85:6 “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?”

Isaiah actually gives instruction for preparing the runway for the Spirit of Revival to land on… Isaiah 40:3-5 “The voice of one calling: "In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

First, Isaiah says, EVERY VALLEY SHALL BE EXALTED… A Valley Is A Low Place. it may be some area of failure. It may be some hardship you are experiencing. It may be financial, It may be marital or relational. It may be something in your past. It might be your physical health. But God is waiting and ready to fill our valley places…and raise it to a higher level…

Next, it says EVERY MOUNTAIN SHALL BE MADE LOW…Scripture tells us to cast down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…..That could be a habit? Self will?  Wrong priorities? Bitterness?  A wounded spirit? unforgivenessPrayerlessness, the cares of life, or focusing too much on the external instead of the internal. Mountains that need to be brought down level.

Next…THE CROOKED WILL BE MADE STRAIGHT….We all deal with misplaced priorities which get things all twisted and crooked. Revival and the glory of God is more important than many things which take us in the wrong direction and often take us to a dead end. They take us where we never intended to go, they keep us longer than we wanted to stay, cost us more than we ever wanted to spend, and make it hard for us to find our way back again. The hurrider I go the behinder I get!                                                                                                                   Last, it says THE ROUGH PLACES ARE MADE PLAIN. This is about letting the Lord smoothout your marriage, the home environment, your attitude at work, your messed up finances, and smoothing out your tongue or your confession.

God made it very plain in Joshua 24:15 “If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..” We will all serve someone or something… choose who will you serve and we are choosing every day.                                                                                                Speaking of preparing the way of the lord, One pastor was describing to his denominational overseer, why his church needed revival. He said it’s the Tate family…that’s holding back revival. “We have old man Dic-Tate who wants to run everything, while Uncle Ro-Tate tries to change everything. There's sister Agi-Tate who stirs up plenty of trouble, with help from her husband, Irri-Tate. Whenever new projects are suggested, Hesi-Tate and his wife, Vege-Tate, want to wait until next year. Then there is Aunt Imi-Tate, who wants our church to be like all the others. Devas-Tate provides the voice of doom, while Poten-Tate wants to be a big shot.   Our homes need revival. Our churches need revival. This nation and the world need revival. But no man can bring revival, because it is the sovereign work of Almighty God in the heart and life.

Revival is the return of the people of God to the Word of God in the house of God, by the power of God, according to the plan of God, under the direction of God, so they may receive the blessings of God.

Hear the cry of Isaiah….Isaiah 64:1 “Oh, that you [Almighty God] would rend the heavens, that you would come down, and that the mountains might shake at Your presence”.                                                                                                                                                    Revival is a personal revelation to every believer, which is amplified by the power of agreement and unity, until it is an overwhelming force which cannot be stopped by any power of this earth. 

We should all be encouraged in knowing that according to the promises of God’s word, the book of Joel assures us that revival is inevitable and non-negotiable God has set it in stone. It’s coming, the only question is, who will be part of it, and who will watch it pass them by….

The apostle Paul adds, 2 Timothy 1:12 “For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep all that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” 

I would like us to close with the pledge to God, which is based on the pledge Ruth made in Ruth 1:15. She made her pledge and she kept it every day….

“May I not depart from you, or turn back from following after you, for where you lead, that is where I desire to be and who you love I will love and how you serve is how I want to serve. Your people shall be my people, and your will shall be my desire. The Lord witness between us, as I consecrate my abilities, my time and my life to You Lord Jesus.”

Closing prayer….

Lord we draw close to you, we return to the passion and the deep desire for more of you. Let your spirit rise up within us as heaven calls us upward and away from all those things which weigh us down and press upon us. Release us from those things that have tried to control our lives. In the Name of Jesus and by Your blood, wecommand the messages of self defeat to be lifted off. Wecommand depression,    self pity, fear, poverty, shame, resentment, anger, unforgiveness, dullness of hearing, confusion, bareness, and hopelessness to leave now in Jesus name. Lord, Allow a free spirit of praise and worship to rise within our souls and bring us to a higher place. Renew our hearts and set a fire within us to desireyou above everything else.. Give us singleness of vision,as we commit ourselves to the total victory which You have purchased for us on the cross and by Your resurrection. 

In Jesus’ mighty name… Amen

The bible says that NOTHING shall be impossible with God. That means God looks at nothing and He sees SOMETHING…                                                                                              Scripture says to call the things that are NOT as though they are.. So we are told to look at NOTHING and see SOMETHING…                                                                                Hebrews tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things NOT SEEN…                                                                                                                              The creation of everything that was made began when God took NOTHING, and made SOMETHING…                                                                                                                               When you ask your teen, what happened when you are called to the principles office, and you ask them what did they do, and they say, NOTHING, you know that NOTHING, means SOMETHING!                                                                                                                              If you look at air, you see NOTHING, but if you cool NOTHING down, you get SOMETHING, called water…                                                                                                           So the principle here is, that when you pray and you see NOTHING, BE COOL, and get ready to see something!                                                                                                                         There was a guy that looked both ways and saw NOTHING, until he pulled out and SOMETHING hit him!

So, on the topic of nothing, I’ll be talking about fasting today. Let me give you a little formula “God plus nothing, equals something”…. Fasting is a declaration in our lives that God is enough, It’s not God plus anything, but God alone… 

We make a statement when we fast, that God is more important than anything else in our lives….

Dan B. Allender, PhD, wrote ….“Fasting from any nourishment, activity, involvement or pursuit—for any season—sets the stage for God to appear. Fasting is the act of attuning our senses to the mysteries of God that swirl in and around us. *…..Wendy Speak…. Fasting allows us to experience more of Him. And our reward is greater intimacy with the One who formed us and knows us and sits enthroned within us and over us.”                                                                                                                           My problem with fasting is that I like food, and I like to eat at least a couple of times a day. SoI do struggle when I interrupt that cycle… But my message today is about what fasting really is, instead of the act of fasting itself….                                         Fasting is really all about our level of surrender and obedience….That’s the bottom line. We must allow God to retrain our brain through putting things aside, things that we won’t actually die without…(believe it or not) If I don’t have a better job, I’ll just die… If I don’t have that new car, I don’t know what I’ll do….I can’t live another day, without a vacation…..The fasted life is a life that allows God to retrain your appetites(not just with food) but our desires, and our life patterns as well. 

1 Samuel 15:22 “But Samuel replied, What is more pleasing to the LORD, your sacrificial offerings, or your obedience to His voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission to Him is better than all of your offerings”. (your good intentions)

It has been said we have not truly submitted to the Lord, until we can obey, even when we don’t agree….(and when I fast, my stomach definitely doesn’t agree) It’s really about where your values are and where your treasure is. 

When King Saul, was told by God to go and defeat and destroy the army of Amalek and their king, he went as he was told, but he did not destroy them, because he didn’t agree with God. So, he only won a battle when God wanted to win the war. He allowed their ruling power to remain alive. 

God knew that if the ruler of the kingdom, or stronghold was allowed to remain in power, the kingdom would soon be rebuilt and they would be back where they started.

So in the end, you can win a battle and lose the war…

To stay in victory, we must conquer the king who rules in whatever area thatwants to defeat us and rule over our lives, so we must throw down his kingdom. If we don’t rule over the spirit of infirmity and disease, it will keep returning. If we don’t rule over the spirit of deception and judgmentalism, we will keep being deceived. If we don’t keep casting down the power of our flesh over us, we will continue to be ruled by the flesh and it’s desires….

In winning the battle, but failing to submit to God’s directive and destroy the ruler, Saul is actually in disobedience and was told by the prophet Samuel… in 1 Sam. 15:23 that his arrogance was the sin of idolatry because he placed his own desires and wishes above the desires of God. It was the Idol OfMyself….

In making God in his own image and likeness, Saul was committing idolatry. “I want, I feel, I like, I prefer, I would rather, I love, I know better… has led many down the path of destruction, when those things push aside the voice and will and plan of God!

This past Wednesday, my doctor scheduled me for blood work. Yuup, that’s me and my love/hate relationship with needles. He told me to not eat or drink anything from midnight until after my appointment at 8:30 in the morning. This was required in order to get an accurate evaluation of my current health by the status of my blood. I obeyed my Doctor because I wanted to have the right outcome. 

Now if God says that I need to fast in order to have the right outcome. Yuuup, that’s me again, when I know I need to fast…..But I’ve come to the awareness that if I am to accomplish the will of God, I must crucify the flesh and it’s desires…I obey my doctor’s orders, why would I not obey my creator’s orders….

Mark 9:29 – “And he said unto them, this kind is not overcome by nothing, but prayer and fasting”. (He’s talking about overcoming Satan’s power)

Matthew 6:17 “When you fast, (The word when, is assuming that believers fast) When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly”.

Almost obeying is still disobedience. I did but I didn’t…..

If you look at King Saul’s rational for disobedience. It’s the deception of needing to be accepted, and not be rejected by the good old boys club….

1 Samuel 15:24, Saul is exposed by God, and we hear his confession…. He said, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to please them”. Saul admitted that his disobedience was against God’s command. And it was the result of seeking the approval of people above the approval of God. Obeying people instead of obeying God. 

The sharks of disobedience are always out there circling, waiting for an opportunity when you are distracted or off balance, to swoop in and attack….

So we have learned in this account in the life of King Saul, that disobedience is an act of rebellion, disobedience is a form of idolatry, disobedience disrespects and diminishes the power of God’s Word in our lives, disobedience is about doing what is convenient not what is best, and disobedience is based on seeking the approval of people rather than the approval of God.

King Saul’s life ended as a tormented soul, because he had become double minded. We know that the only peace he had was when David played and sang for him. But his life was tormented by double mindedness caused by his disobedience. 

James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. v7 Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. v8 A double minded man [is] unstable in all of his ways”.

The fasted life will confront all of these issues, because it’s primary objective is about living a life of God’s choosing and not my own (to obey when I don’t agree, is the sacrifice which God always honors and rewards).

Obedience, is about a relationship with God that is based on trust.

I obey until understanding comes, I don’t always have the option of understanding before I am asked to obey.                                                                                                                 

We trust him more than the fear, more than the uncertainty, more than our own imagination, and more than the danger and the risk we’re called to take….

Jesus criticized the teachers of His time for three religious activities—fasting, public prayer, and giving to those in need— not because they werenot good and honorable activities, but because they did it for the approval of men, more than they did it for the approval of God. They had developed a system of spiritual activities that were all aimed at being seen of men, applauded and elevated by the people. 

We must be careful about spiritual performances which are done to impress people instead of just obeying and honoring God. Those who lead in worship, those who preach, those who minister, can easily cross over into performing for the people, instead of honoring an audience of only one…..

 Sometimes we have to choose to obey God or man…..This is why when the disciples were brought before the religious counsel and asked why they continued to fill Jerusalem with their doctrine, Peter gave them this answer….                                                 Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

When I was younger, at one time, I worked at a full service meat market, and the boss required that we put our thumb on the scale when we weighed the meat, or have a small weight that we slipped on the scale with the meat. I refused and he took me off the scales and put me in the processing area and taught me to be a meat cutter. He said he couldn’t trust me to do the wrong thing. It was my training in meat cutting, that met our needs for 15 years until we went full time into the ministry. I had to be willing to lose my job, rather than do the wrong thing….

Obedience is better than sacrifice!

The fasted life seeks above all to honor God….The fasted life will seek to honor the Lord in speech, in actions, in relationships… and in priorities!Before we do the things we do, we can’t just do it and then pray “Lord I ask you to bless this”, before asking, “Lord what do you want to bless and I will do it” 

I heard about a minister who was speaking to a guy who claimed to be a Christian but smoked recreational marijuana. The guy told him that God wouldn’t produce something that wasn’t for our good. So it was OK to use what God had produced.      The minister took a handkerchief and picked up some dog droppings and said, based on what you have said, you need to light this up and give it a try..

King Saul heard the word of the Lord, but he thought he had a better idea….

The government usually thinks it has a better idea than God and we end up with the oppression of socialism … Environmentalist usually think they have a better idea than God and we end up under the control of climate change… Scientist think they have a better idea than God and we end up with the erroneous deception of evolution… Doctors think they have a better idea than God and we end up controlled by pharmaceuticals and health for sale to the highest bidder…. The church thought it had a better idea than God and we ended up with religion instead of an intimate, personal relationship with the all knowing, all powerful, Father, Creator….

Samuel said it best when he said….”Obedience is better than sacrifice, and surrender to Him is better than all of your offerings”.

Then I look at Micah 6:7 “Will the Lord be pleased with your thousands ofsacrifices and offerings? v8 He has shown you, O man, what [is] good; and what He requires of you. It is to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly (obedient) with your God”?

Jesus said “Anyone who loves me will obey me and My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Let me tell you, when God makes His home with you, great things will begin to happen in your life! Things you could never have planned, could never afford, or even thought of !! But when He moves in, He may rearrange your stuff, He may change your schedule, and He may change your priorities…

Isaiah 48:17–19 “This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:  I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace, endlesslyflowing like a river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea. Your descendants will be like the sands along the seashore—too many to count! Destruction, will be far from you and your legacy will remain."

Trust in God is the source of our obedience!                                                                             When God led the Hebrews out of Egypt, it was a journey of trust in Him, a journey of obedience. When they obeyed and moved with the pillar of fire by night and the cloud of His presence by day, it went well, when they didn’t, they had nothing but defeat, failure and destruction …

Family psychologist, Dr. James Dobson said once, “If you have a willful child, I’ll teach you how to raise him. If you have a teenager, I’ll be sure to pray for you.”                                                    Lack of obedience in the workplace is insubordination.

Lack of obedience in the military can be grounds for court marshal.

Lack of obedience in children produces self destructive patterns for life.

Lack of obedience to God is another signal of our need for grace to get back on the bike and trust Him for the strength we need….

What if A professional fire fighter comes to a classroom and He teaches everyone that if they find themselves on fire, to stop, drop and roll. Then he has everyone practice doing it. So sure enough someone finds themselves on fire, but they start running around screaming and end up severely burned, when all they had to do is stop, drop and roll. With the solution available to them, they chose to let their emotions overwhelm them and they failed to do the thing that would save them. Some lessons are learned and wisdom comes when we don’t get it right or do it right….

But disobedience has a domino effect which not only touches ourselves, but it becomes generational and it reaches further and further if we refuse to learn….

Jacob’s disobedience in stealing the birthright, was perpetuated in his sons who sold their own brother Joseph into slavery…. Adam and Eve’s disobedience was perpetuated by Cain who murdered his brother…. David’s disobedience was perpetuated in Absalom… Solomon’s disobedience was perpetuated in his son Rehoboam, the evil king of Israel… 

The apostle Paul mentions this cycle in Romans 5:19 “For as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”  

Paul addresses the generational cycle of disobedience, but then he says that through Jesus’ obedience a reset button was pushed, and His obedience set up a new generational cycle. He redeemed our legacy, He restored the God possibilities in the  family lineage!!!

My father ran a moonshine still in the hills of North Carolina, my mother was a promiscuous alcoholic, who abandoned her husband and her children.                                      When I married this foxy, black haired beauty, who is my wife. We made a covenant with God that a new stream of blessing was being opened and a new, Godly legacy, was being started! And I declared it based on…  

Deuteronomy 28:1 “And it shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord your God, to observe [and] obey His word, that the Lord your God will set you on high… v2 And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you in the way you go, if you will hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God.

v3 Blessed [shall] you [be] in the city, and blessed [shalt] you [be] in the field. v4 Blessed [shall be] the fruit of your body, and the fruit of yourground, and the fruit of all your animals. v5 Blessed [shall be] your basket and your storehouse.

v6 Blessed [shall] you [be] when you come in, and blessed [shall] you [be] when you go out. v7 The Lord shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to disappear from before your face: they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways.

v8 The Lord shall command His blessing upon you in all that you set yourhand unto and he shall bless you in the land which the Lord your God givesunto you. v9 The Lord shall establish you as a holy people unto Himself, as he has sworn unto you, if you will keep the word of the Lord your God, and walk in His ways.

v11 And the Lord shall make you plenteous in goods, in the fruit of yourbody, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the Lord has swornunto your fathers to give you. v12 The Lord shall open unto you His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto your land in His season, 

and to bless all the work of your hand and you shall lend unto many, and you shall not borrow. v13 And the Lord shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shalt not be beneath, if you obey the word of the Lord your God”. I testify, that for me and my house…. It works!

Obedience is a gift we give to God ….the rewards are that Obedience transforms fear to faith, it replaces uncertainty with purpose and direction, it turns your pain into deliverance, and your obstacles become Your opportunities!  

When I was younger, I was in a hurry and decided instead of waiting for the red light to change like all the other cars, I would take a short cut through a gas station. I felt pretty good about my choice to get a jump on the traffic, until the police lights behind me told me other wise. I was given a ticket for avoiding a traffic light. As I paid the ticket, the gift of wisdom came into me…. DON’T DO THAT AGAIN! I learned to fast my desires to avoid a traffic light…..

Someone has said that the brain is amazing, it works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and never stops, from birth UNTIL WE FALL IN LOVE….thenit’s game on!!!

Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the disobediencewhich does so easily entangles and captures us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the forerunner and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, rising above its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider Him who endured such opposition, so that you might not grow weary and lose heart.” 

Jesus, the rewarder is there for us at the right hand of God’s grace…

Jesus, the intercessor is there for us at the right hand of God’s favor…

Jesus the healer, provider and deliverer is at the right hand of God’s power… 

Jesus the way maker and world shaker is at the right hand of God’s fullness…

Jesus the peace that passes all understanding is at the right hand of God’s love….

Jesus the one who never slumbers or sleeps is there, and He’s awake so you can sleep, He’s knows when you don’t know, He’s has it figured it out when we don’t have a clue…

Our part, our mission, is to live the fasted life of obedience with joy and expectation….

He is the rewarder of those who diligently and fervently seek Him, in spirit and truth!

Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his obedience shall be.”

Let’s close with a Faith Confession…..

I declare over myself today, that I will see the light of a new day at the end of my obedience. I know without any doubt that there is a silver lining waiting for me. I declare that God didn’t bring me this far to leave me or let me come short of the promise. He will never leave me or forget about the purpose or destiny He has given me. I know that all things will work together for my good as I continue to love God and seek His calling and His plan for my life, because He is the constant and faithful One.                                                                                                                                         I believe that He has called me and equipped me for all that He wants to do through me and all things are now working together to complete His calling and purpose concerning me, and all things, means ALL things. My God is not a God who wastes, nor does He do anything without a purpose. He is the ultimate redeemer and He is about to transform my life in wonderful, new ways. 

I receive the new and improved version of myself, handcrafted by God. I will be patient and hold steady as He does His work. I will wait with a sense of expectancy, and know that He will do it in His own way and in His own time for He knows what is best for me. I will trust and have faith, for I believe that He is not a man that He can lie. He knows the plans He has for me, to give me a future and a hope. My hope is never in vain in the Lord….

Someone said that life is like flying a helicopter, and I don’t know how to operate a helicopter either….

Perhaps you heard about the two psychiatrists who passed each other on the sidewalk, and one said to the other, “You’re fine, how am I”…. Well, I want to tell you that you’re fine, and you are programmed by God for success, if you can accept His plan…

Today, I want to begin with two stories….

George Bernard Shaw, famous author and play write, was asked by a reporter, "if you could live your life over and be anybody you've know, or any person from history, who would you be?"

Shaw responded immediately, "I would choose, to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been, but never was."

I read an interesting story of Robert Schuller who built the famous Crystal Cathedral, who tells about a seed he received one day in the mail from Ansley Mueller, a farmer from Ohio. For years, Schuller, had been teaching the principle, that any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only God can count the apples in a seed.” Well, Mueller had been listening to this principle…. He explained that in 1977, he lost half his soybean crop. It was a bad, bad year. So, at the end of the year, in October, he was walking through his devastated fields, when he saw a group of the most extraordinary, unusual looking soybean plants standing straight and tall, all by themselves. He was shocked by the size and good looks, so he carefully picked off the pods. There were 202 pods which yielded 503 soybeans. He took them home and the next season, he planted those 503 soybeans in a little plot behind his house and that October they yielded Thirty-two pounds! He planted them in the next season on one acre and harvested 2,409 pounds! He planted those, the next season on sixty-eight acres, which was all the land he had. That year, he harvested twenty-one hundred bushels and cashed it out for fifty thousand dollars! 

God programmed increase into each of those soybeans. He programmed them to multiply 30, 60 and 100 fold!

Deuteronomy 30:19 “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live” 

Just like the soy bean, has built in programing, so likewise every believer has been programed for abundant life….

JOHN 10:10 “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Not once did our Lord call you “Failure, lost cause, good for nothing, hopeless, bad seed, or a waste of space”.

He just said “Follow me and I will make you”                                         When Jesus said that to the disciples, the word “make”, in the Greek, is to bring forth, to appoint, to ordain, to fulfill your purpose… and He speaks the same thing to every believer.

Most folks, including the disciples would not have chosen Paul as an apostle, I mean after all, he was killing Christians…. They would have assumed that Jesus never would have called  fishermen, a tax collector, and the revolutionist, to spread the kingdom message throughout the earth…..and the apostles would never have assumed that they could ever be used by God in the way they were used….

But when they met Jesus, He changed the program for their life. And amazingly, He chose you and me!!! He changed your life’s programming…. (I will make you)He says to each of us!

As a believer, God calls you a Masterpiece, a Treasure, His friend, a new Creation, The dwelling place of God, a work of art, forgiven, His likeness and image, Eternally alive, a citizen of Heaven, A partaker of the glory, righteous, a diamond in His crown, A vessel of honor, Accepted in the beloved, the Apple of His eye, Blessed of the LORD, Called, and chosen, the Elect of God, He that dwells in the secret place, Conqueror, anointed, Overcomer, the Heir of God, Kings and priests, The Redeemed, the Healed, The Children of God….

Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and shew you great and mighty things, which you could not even imagine”! 

Richard Evans wrote that “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to really begin it”.

And once we do, The average person at 70 years old, Has spent 23 years Sleeping..... 16 years Working at 8 hours a day, 5 days a week... 8 years watching TV…. 6 years Eating.... 6 years driving... 4 ½ years R&R…. 4 years being sick….. 2 years getting showered and dressed.... ½ year or 2 minutes a day praying… (and that’s on the run)

Surely we can do better with our inner programing…..

The well known American artist James Whistler, was once advised that a shipment of blank canvases he had ordered were lost in the mail. When he was asked if the canvases were of any great value, Whistler remarked, "not yet sir, not yet."                         Last week we said that the word “Yet” is a word of expectation! (most of Whistler’s paintings sold for millions of dollars!)

Whistler’s mother, sold for 30 million!

Oh…. When Satan comes around and tells you that you’re worthless, of no value, a failure, and a lost cause…. You need to tell him, “In Christ, you are programed for success, you are programed to do great things, and to be a transforming agent of redemption in the earth!!!

Isaiah 53:1 asks the question…“Whose report will you believe? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?    

In a small village in Sweden lived a young girl named Jenny Lind a poor and unskilled, child born into poverty, so she could only make it by doing the most menial of jobs. She loved to sing, and She began to sing on street corners, hoping passersby would toss her a coin or two.

Each day she sang--in the wind and rain, the heat and the cold, yet barely making enough at the end of the day to buy food. One day a great musician happened to pass by and heard her. He was captivated by her beautiful voice. He took the girl home with him and began to teach her how to use her voice to its full capability. In time she became the toast of two continents and everyone knew and loved "The Swedish Nightingale."

It was always programed within her, but God gave her that wonderful thing called opportunity…. The bible calls it favor. It’s when the grace of God which gives us what we don’t deserve, meets the favor of God and we are given wings to fly!

We are all created by God, for God, to become what He 

thinks we should be… God designed us, created us, desires to bless us, heal us, defend us, restores us, renew us, forgive us, and love us… But our programming got messed up somewhere along the way.

We got disappointed, or let down by someone… We experienced promises broken and vows unkept… Life bruised us, knocked us around and tromped on our dreams…. We began to believe that the good guy doesn’t always win… and it gets into our head and lodges in our heart… 

We get our hopes up like Doug’s family… who was called to his bedside, when he knew his time was short…He hadlived all his life in the Florida Keys and now his family,who had all moved great distances away, his wife, his daughter and two sons, are with him along with his doctor. He asks for two witnesses to be present and a lawyer to be there to record his last wishes, and when all is ready he begins to speak.

“My son, Andy, I give you the Ocean Reef houses.”

“My daughter, Sybil, I give you the apartments between mile markers 100 and Tavernier.”

“My son, Jamie, I give you the offices over in the Marathon Government Center.”

“Sarah, my dear wife, I give you all the residential buildings on the bayside at Islamorada .”

The lawyer and children are blown away as they didn’t realize his extensive holdings. Doug passes, and the lawyer says, “Sarah, your husband must have been such a hard-working man to have accumulated all this property.” The wife replies…are you

kidding, That clown was only talking about giving us his newspaper route.  

Some of you are wondering how you’re going to make it…. God says “The check is in the mail”…. Some of you are wondering what tomorrow holds, God says “I’ve been waiting here for your arrival”…..Somebody may be saying, that you can’t handle anymore hurt…. God says, “because I hurt more than you ever will, I am able finish all that I began in you”…

We are programmed for blessing….

When Paul was writing to his young friend, Timothy, he said….    “I have fought a good fight.” 

Then, he said, “I have finished the race.”

That was followed by, “I have kept the faith,” And finally, he says “I have won the prize of the high calling in Christ.”

We are programed in Christ to fight the good fight…. To finish the race…. 

To keep the faith…. And to win the prize of the high calling…..

Paul was killing Christians, but he got reprogramed…..

The apostles were fishermen, a tax collector, a physician, and a terrorist, but they got reprogramed by the God man Jesus. It brought them into the opportunities that favor provided, so that grace could flourish in their lives….

In Christ our marriages are programed for success…..our bodies are programed to be strong, full of vitality, whole and entire….. Our life is programed for joy, peace and fulness in the Holy Spirit… “Body, body, get in line, nothing missing, nothing broken, everything working fine”….

Jesus said John 7:38…”Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, ‘Out of his center (Inner most being) will flow rivers of living water. This He said, speaking of the Holy Spirit..”

In order to flow in your supernatural programing, which is operating in your inner most being, (your spirit)… You must drop down from your mind, your intellect, and get down into your spirit. It is there that you will tap into your giftedness, the fruit of the Spirit, and your inner guidance….

I have always told you to lay your hands on your belly, (your center) and release your supernatural programing which is flowing up out of you…..

It is there that you will find the training to reign in life….

Hear it please…..Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that is now working within us, (in our inner being) to Him be all the glory in the church, in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

When we drop down and tap into what is flowing in our center, our spirit, through Christ, we begin to effect generations…..

That is where your peace is waiting to flow out into your life…. That’s where the longsuffering and patience is waiting to flow from….. That’s where your joy is waiting to flow out in your valley places, and barren mountainregions….

Drop down, and begin to flow out of your inner most being…..

Anything can be reversed, when you find out how to drop down and begin to flow out from your redeemed center……

John 14:5 “Lord, said Thomas, we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”.

That’s the spirit of truth, in you…. That’s the spirit of life in you…

That’s the way, when you don’t know the way or how to get there… Drop down into that, and get out of your head….

When I was in Ramrod, every Christmas I would decorate the yard, and there were some decorations that weren’t lit. So I set up flood lights to illuminate those, so they could be seen. That’s what the spirit in you does, as you drop down to your inner guidance, the Spirit throws the light on what you were missing, and illuminates it. Out of your inner most being, You begin to see what Jesus is doing so you can do it. You see what He’s saying so you can obey. You see His plan, and desires for you, so you can begin to flow and operate in that…

Roald Amundsen, was the first to discover the magnetic meridian of the North Pole and went on to do the same at the South Pole. On his trips, Amundsen would take a homing pigeon with him. When he had finally reachedhis destination in the dangerous and rugged terrain, he would open the bird's cage and set it free. Imagine the joy of Amundsen's wife, back in Norway, when she looked up from the doorway of her home and saw the pigeon circling in the sky above. With excitement and relief she exclaimed, "He's alive! My husband is still alive!"

The heavenly dove reveals to us what we could not see or know without Him. Oh, wondrous Holy Spirit, sweet heavenly dove!!!

From your redeemed center, you can reprogram things around you…. You can call things back, release things, set free, restore, redeem the times, create new beginnings and see possibilities where there were only impossibilities…..as we drop down and flow out of our inner most being….

I want to close with a simple story…. My Grandma Dalton, was very limited in her later years, but she had Grandpa set her up a garden. It was about an acre in size. Grandma used to love to walk up and down the rows of squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, peas, string beans, and watermelon, pulling weeds and worshiping the Lord in song and in the spirit.. Her garden produce was twice the size of everyone else’s, and healthier. Everyone knew why….She transformed that garden by flowing out of her inner most being as she walked up and down those rows. (she sang way off key, but with her spirit, she brought transformation) If it worked in grandma’s garden, It will work in your home, on your job, in your neighborhood, and in every area of your life…..                                                                                                               I want to encourage you today, to come back to your secret place and you can begin to watch as the heavenly dove, leads you into your own areas of transformation and restoration….

Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. v2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the spirit of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God”

Albert Einstein..“Your expectations are the preview of your life’s coming attractions.” 

Jim Rohn…“If you don’t have great expectations for your own life, chances are you’ll end up living with someone else’s, and guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”

E.E. cummings… “It takes courage to expect to becomeall that you should be.”                                                                                                                                                         Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of all that diligently seek Him”..

You can have Faith without expectation but you can’t have Expectation without Faith. Your expectation is your God given ability to put a demand on your future. Your expectation connects you to a supernatural interventionwherever you are in your present life. Those interventions are what we call “miracles”.

Proverbs 23:18 “For surely there is an end; and yourexpectation shall not be cut off (or disappointed).”

Expectation is the fertile breeding ground for miracles. In order to receive from the Lord, we must expect Him to show up and demonstrate what He has promised in our lives. Without a fervent sense of expectancy, all we are doing is taking part in religious exercise that has no power behind it.                                                                                                        An atheist was complaining to a Christian, “You Christians have special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter. Jews celebrate their national holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur. But we atheists have no recognized national holidays, It’s unfair discrimination.His friend told him, “Why sure you have your own holiday, I can’t believe you don’t celebrate it, it’s April Fool’s day!”

Your outcomes in life will not just be according to your prayers, your faith, and your confessions but also according to your expectation. If your prayers, faith and confessions are right but your expectation is wrong, your outcome will end up wrong, since the Bible says that your expectation shall not be disappointed.

2 Timothy 3:5, For many have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, avoid this in your own life”…That’s about our level of expectation…

When I was a kid growing up in the farm country of Virginia, I loved to go over to the train tracks that ran through our area, and put pennies on the track. I knew that when that great, powerful, train hit that penny on the track, it would forever change it’s very nature and shape. I had a collection of coins that had been transformed by that train. My expectations moved me to action, and the results brought transformation to every coin I placed on the tracks. Listen there’s something coming.that is greater and more powerful than that train. It’s the train of God’s glory, and if you’ll get your stuffon the track, transformation is about to happen…

How about…Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus”.

And then there’s Ephesians 3:16 “I  declare that out of his glorious riches he shall strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being”. 

And let’s believe Philippians 2:10 “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, all things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. -                                                                                                                                                              .Daniel would have been fast food if he faced the lions with only a form of godliness but he put his expectations on God’s faithfulness… 

The three Hebrews would have been Krispy Kritters if they faced the furnace with a faith which had no expectation….but they put their trust in the king above all kings.

Noah would have been fish food, without the expectation that God could make the impossible possible, but he put action to his faith and saved his entire household. 

Moses would have been unable to locate the exit door from Egypt, without expectant faith in a liberating God who breaks every chain…. But he led them out with expectation and they went out, loaded with the wealth of Egypt,

There was a little woman in Jesus time, that got excited about Malachi 4:2 “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings…” You see, the little woman with the issue of blood, pushed through the crowd to Jesus, because she believed Jesus was the fulfillment of Malachi.                                                 She understood that the Tzitzi (Seet-seets) or tassels that hung from the Tallit, which was the Jewish name for Jesus’ prayer shawl, and the two sides of the shawl were referred to as “the wings”. Her faith caused her to expect that something would happen when she touched “the wings”. So she decided I don’t care what the people say or do, I’m expecting a life changing event to take place when I touch the fringe of His prayer shawl. She said, If I can touch Him, I shall be made whole….

Your miracle is at the mercy of your mouth. Don’t use your mouth to describe your situation. Use your mouth, like the little woman, to declare your expectation –                                                   Romans 10:11 “For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed.”

A new pastor in a small Midwestern town had done all he knew how to fill up the church and get it to thrive, but the church remained mostly empty. The church had been a presence in the community for decades, so when the pastor placed a notice in the local newspapers, stating that because the church was just taking up space, it was everyone’s duty to give it a decent Christian burial.                                                  The funeral would be held the following Sunday afternoon, the notice stated. Well, a large crowd turned out for the “funeral.” In front of the pulpit, they saw a closed coffin. After the pastor delivered the eulogy, he opened the coffin and invited his congregation to come forward and pay their final respects to the dead church. Filled with curiosity as to what was in the coffin, all the people lined up to look into the coffin. Each “mourner” peeped into the coffin then quickly turned with a guilty, look. There, in the coffin, tilted at the correct angle, was a large mirror which reflected each observers face! Everyone had expectations, they expected someone else to do everything. It’s the Twilight Zone of Excuses!

Usually we have low expectations because we have great excuses… 

Someone has said that excuses are like belly buttons, everyone has one.

Can you say… “Hung by the tongue”…..We start getting results when we stop giving excuses. Jesus shared a parable about excuses that keep us from expecting His best….

Luke 14:16 Jesus said: "A certain king was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ’Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ’I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 

19 "Another said, ’I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 "Still another said, ’I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the Master of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ’Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’   22 "’Sir,’ the servant said, ’what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 "Then the master told his servant, ’Go out to the highways and country lanes and compel them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who made excuses will get a taste of my banquet.’"

They were personally invited to the king’s palace to eat at the king’s table. Instead they made excuses… that’s insane!!                                                                                                            We insult God when we have a low level of expectation. When He tells us what He has prepared for us, but we come up with these lame excuses….WHY….

Well, the three excuses people used with the king, that kept them from fulfilling God’s expectations are prevalent today in our society 2000 years later...

1st. is Work, I have bought oxen and need to work them….Your work is what you do, don’t let it become who you are…. 

2nd. Is Money “I Bought a field and must check on my investment”                                                You better control your money or it will control you! 

3rd. is Family and relationships“ I Got married” (well, bring that gal to the king’s table) Notice in all three areas, the king’s expectations were blocked by their expectations. 

The truth is, King Jesus has greater expectations about us than we do about Him!

Seek first the kingdom and all these other things shall be added unto you…..

We are told in the scripture record, that Jesus went to one city and came away saying he was not able to do much there because of their unbelief—because of their low expectation. I don’t know about others, but I’m on my way to the Banquet!!!

God is faithful to finish what he has begun in you, and fulfill the great work He has established when He redeemed you, called you, and anointed you. He’s expecting great things from His redeemed people in the earth because He paid such a high price and made such a tremendous investment to redeem, supply and equip us…. 

Expectation will open some doors and closeothers…..Expectation will motivate and mobilize you….Expectation will stabilize you and keep you focused…..Expectation will energize you to press on into victory….You will push past fear, push past doubt, push past people and mind sets which rise up in resistance….WePraise and worship in expectation. We sow our tithe and offering seeds in expectation. We pray in expectation. We declare and confess the promises in God’s word and we Expect miracles!

Colossians 2:14 says “He blotted out the ordinance against us, He took it out of the way, and nailed it to the cross”. You can have great expectation because there is nothing between you and your miracle. He has removed the obstacles, and the “False Evidence Appearing Real” out of the way and nailed it to the cross, so that we can be on our tip toes with expectation, believing that God is ready to do something in our world today.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, we are now children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we will be for it has not yet been revealed”.                                                                                                                                       We are not designed by a cookie cutter God. But, it’s easier to go along with the contented masses, and flow with the prevailing currents of society, than to rise above them and find your identity at a higher plane. 

It is easier to imitate rather than to motivate and initiate.                                                It is easier to be like the carbon copy, rather than be singled out as being original, different and unique. It’s easier to go along with the thoughts of the many rather than develop your own thinking and set of life values according to the Word of God.

The Devil is not concerned with what you used to be, the Devil is not concerned with what you are. He is horrified when you start expecting what God says you can be!

1 John tells us…THERE’S SOMETHING THAT HASN’T APPEARED YET!! I'm on my tip toes in expectation, something is coming. This isn’t all there is…Hallelujah.

Your greatest miracles are not behind you. Don't look back, look ahead. Your biggest miracles are not behind you, and that's why you need to start expecting, and understand that something is going to happen that you've not seen yet. God's done great things for you, but that's not all He's got….He’s got so much more!

Hebrews 6:10 "For God, Is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love".                   For God to forget your seed, He would have to be unrighteous, and that is impossible. It is impossible for God to forget what He's promised you. And so, the only question is, are you expecting it? Look at your neighbor and say, "Are you expecting?

Yes, Expect to be healed, Expect to be filled, Expect to be lifted and helped, Expect to be blessed, delivered, and freed. EXPECT A MIRACLE!!.

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceedingabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Hallelujah                                                                           The level of our expectation should be measured by God’s ability. If God has the ability to do something, we should be expecting Him to do it…. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is now working in us…

When John’s disciple’s wanted to give validation to John about Jesus ministry…. Jesus sent them to Him inMatthew 11: 4 “Jesus told them, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor”.                                                                                                                                                    If I am going to raise my expectation according to God’s ability, I need to investigate that ability and see just what kind of ability it is.  It is resurrection ability. That means He raises the dead, I mean, come on, what could be difficult for Him after that. I can’t think of anything harder than raising a man from the dead.  If He can raise a man thing you could think of and goes from there….He says “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”!

Paul is telling the Ephesian believers, in Ephesians 3,“oh, you are aiming way too low!  God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or can even imagine, even think”.

When our expectations are established on God’s ability, we can replace every fear, worry, and doubt about the future with faith, love, and expectation that never fails.

We can see God bringing every enemy under our feet as we rest in Jesus’ finished work. Make sure you don’t hook your faith to temporary things….or it will affect your expectations…

We can reign with confidence over defeat, lack, sickness and all demonic opposition.

It’s an expectation that declares “All things are working together for my good, because I am called according to His purposes and I am seeking first His glory”.

Expectation is a reflection of what we believe about God, about ourselves and about others. 

When things aren’t happening, our expectations cause us to examine if something is out of harmony or perhaps this is a blessing in disguise.  Perhaps there is a lesson somewhere in the situation that God wants us to learn.  Perhaps this is an area that we need to put under our feet and begin to rule over.  The bottom line is that a person who lives in the God kind of faith, is able to applythat expectation so God’s goodness can enshroud themand envelope them wherever they go and whatever they do. Here’s a powerful scripture…

Job 29:14 “I clothed myself in righteousness, (right-minded, in right standing, honorable, upright,) and it enveloped me, my just decisions were like a robe and a turban (It covered me)” Think of it this way, when your expectations are in line with the God kind of faith, you are enveloped…. Now when you mail a letter, youenvelope it… you put it in an envelope and completely cover it, hide it, shield it, protect it…

Then you put a seal (we now put a stamp on it), which means it is qualified to reach it’s appointed destination. Then you declare on the envelope where it is to go, and you take it to the delivery system or post office. 

Think of yourself as that letter……(we are written epistles) Job says. We are enveloped, (placed in a protective shield, hidden from the enemy, and covered by the blood of Jesus. Our faith expectations, place a destination on the envelope, and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, which is the down payment of guarantee, or the stamp… the cost of delivery has been paid.

Then God gives it to His delivery system, (His angels) the heavenly messenger delivery system, to bring it to it’s appointed destination and fulfillment….. Hallelujah!

It gives a fresh meaning to the term “He’s got you covered”…

Here’s a few things to bring it all into the realm of faith expectations in our lives… Solomon calls it “directing your path” in Prov. 3:6

Get your purpose and goal clear as you pray, study God’s word and fill your                                     mind with right thinking….

Determine to be a purpose driven child of God, instead of a pleasure driven                    stranger and maverick in God’s kingdom…    

Identify what kind of person you believe that God wantsyou to be… then begin to form the kind of daily habits that align with your faith identity….

Find people who can believe with you and share your views and walk                                          it out together with them

Look for things that affirm your beliefs and speak and focus on those things

Accept what comes your way as stepping stones, boundary lines, wisdom lessons, and building blocks for your future…

Don’t judge by what you see now, but judge by what you expect in your future.

And oh, by the way…Someday is not an actual day of the week!!! START NOW!

Expectations are something, we all have. But in the midst of all our looking for what we expect, how many of us really truly take the time to ask what God expects from us. There are incredible hopes, dreams and plans that He has in mind for each one of us.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       In Christ we have…A love that can never be fathomed…..A life that can never die:….   A righteousness that is not of this world…A peace that can never be understood….      A rest that can never be disturbed….A joy that can never be diminished….A hope that can never be disappointed….A glory that can never be extinguished…A happiness that can never be interrupted….and Resources that can never be exhausted…..AND ALL OF THAT, has no expiration date!

A little boy constantly fell out of bed and ended up sleeping on the floor. He just couldn’t seem to stay on his bed. His parents asked him why he thought he kept falling out of bed. The little fellow thought for a moment and then said, “I think its because I stay too close to the place where I get in.” God expects us to grow past the place where we got in. believe that you will thrive, not just survive….Move on in, don’t stay on the edge, begin to raise the level of your expectation!

I close with a scripture….

Ephesians 3:18 is your new marching orders…..”That we may be able to comprehend (expect) with all saints, the breadth, and length, and depth, and height v9 And to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge, that you might (expect to be) filled with all the fullness of God. v20 Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, (and expect) according to the power that is now working in us, v21 Unto Him (we are expecting) glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Lord, lift our expectations that they may be according to your ability….It is not by might, nor by power, but by the spirit of the Lord, that we shall see over and above what we could think or imagine!

It’s not going to be like all the other times, this time water will flow out of the rock, the lion’s mouth will be shut, the fire will be quenched, the loaves and fish will be multiplied, the healing will be established, the family will come under his lordship, things will turn around for the better, provision is coming, light is conquering darkness, the enemy must flee in Jesus name.

We expect it, we receive it!

(catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day)                             Many in this season, are having their beliefs challenged. So today I want us to challenge our belief systems, because that’s the path to reaching our potential….

Our potential is made up of our power, strengths, talents, resources and capabilities. And there is a desire within most of us to discover that and then commit ourselves to its fulfillment no matter what others may think   or do or what the conditions around us may be.

Transformation is defined by Webster as “to change in the very nature of composition or structure.” Transition is the change of circumstances, position or location and doesn’t guarantee transformation. Transformation is the inner changes which open up our potential in the midst of all of our transitions. Individuals and churches must face transitions all the time.   We lose those whom we love. We relocate, we change jobs, our bodies experience change. Our lives changes in many ways. Only we determine how we respond to these transitions? 

How we handle transitions can determine whether we are beingtransformed or deformed…

Your Purpose plus your Potential equals your Capacity.                           How much is in you? How much are you utilizing, how much is untapped?

Discover your purpose and mission in life, and you will find the energy and commitment to propel yourself beyond and through the obstacles.              But if you permit yourself to be consumed by life's emergencies and superficial urgencies, without establishing priorities, it will divide your energy and your focus, and you will never achieve your purpose.                           Our DNA, our gifts, abilities, opportunities, and resources are God’s gift to us, what we do with them, is our gift back to God! Our true expression of that gratitude is in using what He has given us to benefit and minister to others and make a lasting impact on our world.

Your time, resources and energy are too valuable, to allow everything and everyone else to control it but yourself. We must give ourselves permission to let go—and release the people and things that manipulate    our minds, hearts, and souls with distracting thoughts, unprofitable behaviors, and demands which don’t align with your mission.

One key to maximizing your potential is to identify all the situations and people that restrict, limit and block that potential.I’m not saying just dump them, but put them in order of priority…

Remember, you will never change anything that you are willing to keep on tolerating, focusing on and giving power to.                                                                        Three students at seminary, noticed a patch of ground that they decided to plant a garden on. They went to the President of the college and asked him for permission. He told them the ground was hard and dry and nothing would grow on it, but they were welcome to have a try… They borrowed shovels, rakes and pick axes from the care taker and began. Once they broke through the hard surface, they found rich black dirt and began. They were amazed at the tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and lettuce which the ground produced. With care, hard work, good seed and the right tools, they helped the ground reach it’s potential. The president judged by the hard outer surface, but the students got beyond appearances and discovered it’s true value. It’s amazing the difference it makes when you are doing what you’re supposed to be doing… and when You’re on mission…

But What do you do, when you know to do a thing, but your heart isn’t in it… THE ANSWER…. You train your heart. There are two categories of *……people in the world… Those who follow their heart and those who lead their heart. Either one can lead to trouble unless they have the right center of reference and healthy priorities. 

Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” The heart, represents what is at your center, the core of your being, that which occupies the bedrock of your motivations and impulses.

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow all the issues of your life.”

Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for what you have filled your heart with, will be expressed in your life”.

William Barclay said, “There are two great days in a person’s life—the day we are born and the day we discover why.” ~

Developing your potential involves a look into your own soul.

The soul consists of our mind, our will and our emotions. All three are waiting to be trained and molded and shaped. What you let into your mind always comes out in how you live your life. Our mind is a powerful tool God has given us to achieve our missionand stretch ourselves to reach our dreams and goals.. Someone recently said, ‘Don’t go anywhere without a book”…. That’s about the Input you choose, which results in the output you have chosen! We must train our brain to if we’re going to reign in life or we will be ruled over and put in bondage.

The second area of searching your soul, includes disciplining your will and submitting it to God. Discipline is about boundaries.It’s why we have guard rails on highways. Your will determines your decisions, which govern your potential and allows you to persevere through hardships and adversity, and reach your dreamwithout becoming road kill on the highway of life.

Jesus said to his father in Mark 14: 32-36, "Nevertheless, Your will not mine be done." Self-discipline is the highest expression of self-management, which is reflected in a well balanced, approach to lifeand knowing what helps your purpose and what does not.

The third area of searching your soul, requires that you learn to control   your emotions. Your emotions can cost you your perspective. If you go into the hospital, the first thing they do is to stabilize you. Hydration, oxygen, heart monitor, and your history that tells them how you got there. In the same way our emotional self, can be stabilized through meditation on the word, surrender, repentance, and yielding to God’s will.    

Proverbs 16: 32 tells us that “he who is slow to anger is better than  the mighty and he who rules his spirit is greater than he who takes a city”.

Self- discipline is all about God being able to trust us, to manage more and more of His family business in the earth.

In his book 'Maximizing Your Potential,' Dr. Myles Munroe reveals six keys  to releasing your potential. (He’s in heaven now…he has reached his potential) I trust these concepts will encourage all of us to greater achievement in 2020. I like the line on the bottom “The key to dying empty”

1. Know, and be confident in your source. God is our creator and he knows us better than anyone else. Develop a close, intimate relationship with your maker as your source. Wayne Dresky the hockey star, says, “don’t just chase the puck, figure out where it’s going and be there”…. That’s what an intimate relationship with the Lord will do… He knows where it’s all going and He’s there!    

John 15: 4 says, "Apart from me you can do nothing."

We must always remember to perform for an audience of one, the lord is our creator,    our lover and biggest fan. What if our greatest goal was to seek His pleasure? If God is for me what can stand against me….

2. Learn to function by looking beyond what you now see, and seewhat is still possible. 

Proverbs 23:7. “As a man thinks, in his heart, so is he"                                            This is a vital key to releasing your potential. We are what we are today because of what we believed about ourselves yesterday. And we will be tomorrow what we believe about ourselves today.                                               I read of a woman, about 30 years old, married with two children. She had grown up in a home where she was constantly criticized and often misjudged by her parents. As a result, she developed deep feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem. She was negative and fearful, and had no confidence at all. She was shy and confused and did not consider herself    to be particularly valuable or worthwhile. She felt that she was not really capable at anything. Life was just one obligation after another, with very little enjoyment or fulfillment. 

One day, she woke up, in the hospital, with a severe concussion and complete memory loss after a car had gone through a red light and   smashed into her as she was driving to the store. She could still speak,     but she had no recollection of any part of her past life. She was suffering from total amnesia. 

Determined to understand what had happened to her, she began reading medical textbooks and studying in the specialized area of amnesia and memory loss. She met and spoke with specialists in the field. During   this period, something amazing happened. She became a new person completely. She became a genuinely positive, confident, outgoing woman, highly articulate, well informed, and very much in demand as a speaker    and an authority on memory loss, with an important contribution to make.

When all memory of her negative childhood had been wiped out. Her  feelings of inferiority were wiped out as well. She had transitioned into transformation. When she changed her thinking, she changed her life.                                                     3. Understand your purpose. You must discover your specific reason for existence and the assignment God has given you to fulfill. If you can’t see  it, you will never be able to achieve it! This means that no matter how much our potential is, by attaching ourselves to the wrong things, we take up   vital time and space and buy into the illusion that life is only one limitation after another. If you can see it in your spirit, you can have it!

4. Be Confident in Your Calling. If you have accepted Christ, you have been transformed from a lump of coal to a diamond. Don’t sell yourself cheap! God has given us connections abilities and resources to use for His glory. He has already seen us successful, at what He has place us here to do… You don’t have promises, you are a promise.                                                                            The prophet made an incredible statement in…                                                  Jeremiah 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, v5 Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I set you apart  for my purposes, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations. v6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am as a child. v7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not,   I am a child: for you shall go to all that I shall send you, and whatsoever I command you, you shalt speak and do. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with you, I will deliver you, saysthe LORD.

5. Maintain the right environment. Philippians 4:8 ‘Whatsoever things are of good report, If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think    on these things.” Create and sustain a God-centered, “God will & God can” environment. Fill your mind with positive input which is in harmony with your dreams and goals. Watch what you listen to, guard what you view on television and in magazines. Be careful what you let in your spirit. We’re not fighting an enemy out there somewhere, it’s the enemy within, that we must overcome….When Chris was a little guy, he used to jump up and  stand in front of the screen if anything came on the TV that wasn’t wholesome or Godly…He was protecting the environment! 

6. Dreams must be combined with committed effort….Dreams, without the willingness to work, simply exposes that your values are out of whack. To love your work is the secret to personal progress, productivity and fulfillment, because we will always find what we’re looking for no matter where we go or what we do.                                                    

The only real limits on our lives in this year ahead, are the limits we ourselves put upon ourselves. If we are to change our performance and our outcome, in any area of our lives, we have to change our self-concept and our core beliefs about ourselves—

We may not have the power to choose where we come from, but we can choose where we go from here. Christianity is the most powerful belief system on earth. It is based on the Word of God which tells us we are formed in the image and likeness of God. It tells us that we were created with dominion and authority. We are imbedded with incredible abilities and talents. We are even told that we are unique above the angels of God. We are encouraged to believe that we can do all things through Christ who indwells us and who has given us The Holy Spirit to be our daily guide and counselor. Our God is a “can do” God, who has never been defeated, and who has never failed or been mistaken!.

Many of our self- limiting beliefs have no facts at all to back them up, (our nose is not going to grow, and we are vital, worthy and powerful and we can make a difference)  self-limiting beliefs come from erroneous conclusions which we have allowed others or our circumstances to make about ourselves and those we deal with. 

Satan has tricked us by weaving a web of self-deception and self defeat. You probably won’t ever be willing to slay the dragons that you have become good friends with! The starting point of unlocking our potential, and accomplishing more than we ever have before, is for us to challenge our self-limiting beliefs. We begin this process of freeing ourselves by declaring that they are completely untrue, or at best, they are a mixture of truth and error.We make up our minds to be honest and transparent with ourselves. We choose to be honest with the person in the mirror!

A rabbit and a snake were both injured in a California earthquake. The impact caused both to become blind and to lose their memories. In an attempt to find out who they each were, they decided to use the touch test.  First, the snake felt the rabbit. "Well, you are fuzzy and warm. You have a round cottony tail and two long ears."  "Hooray!" exclaimed the rabbit, "I must be a bunny." Next the blind rabbit began to touch the snake. He was thoughtful for a moment. "Well--you are scaly, and cold and you have fangs and a forked tongue." The snake cried out, "Oh no! I must be a politician."                                                                                                                        Well, let’s imagine for the moment that we have no limitations on our abilities at all. Imagine that we could be, or do, or have anything we really wanted in life. Imagine that our potential is unlimited in every way. This is what happened with the woman who acquired amnesia… free of all her self-limiting beliefs, she could be the calm, confident, unafraid person who could be comfortable in the transitions of her life.

Imagine that you could set and achieve any goal you put your mind to. The way we think, is in reality, how we will live our life. 

OUR SELF-CONCEPT HAS THREE PARTS like a pie divided into three slices. They are all connected to one another. All three elements together make up your personality. They determine what you think, feel, and do, and everything that flows out of you.… 

Your self-ideal is the first part of your self-concept. Your self-ideal is made up of all of your hopes, dreams, your vision for life, and your ideal self. Your self-ideal is composed of the virtues, values, and qualities that you most admire in yourself and which you borrow from others. Your self-ideal is the person you would most like to become, if you could be the perfect you in every way. 

These ideals guide and shape your behavior and actions. Great men and women, leaders, and people of lasting impact, are very clear about their values, their visions, and their ideals. They know who they are and don’t compromise on those standards. In everything they do, this becomes their mission statement for theirlife.                                                                  During his sermon, the preacher said:  "There's no such thing as a perfect person. Anybody present who has ever known a perfect person, please stand up."…..Nobody stood up. But after a pause…

Finally, one little Italian woman stood up. And very surprised, the pastor asked…                 "Did you really ever know an absolutely perfect person?" 

"Well, Sir, I didn't know her personally, replied the little woman," But I have heard a great deal about her, she was my husband's first wife!"

The second part of your self-concept is your self-image. This is the way you see yourself and think about yourself. It is often called your “inner mirror.” It is where you look internally to see how you should behave in a particular situation. Because of the power of your self-image, you always perform on the outside consistent with the picture you have of yourself on the inside. Every improvement in your life begins with an improvement in your mental pictures. Your internal images influence your behavior, your attitudes….even the way other people respond to you.

The third part of your self-concept is your self-esteem. This is the most important factor in determining how you think, feel, and behave. Your level of self-esteem largely determines much of what happens to you in life.                                              Your self-esteem is best defined as how much you like yourself. The more you like yourself, the better you perform at anything you attempt.

Your level of self-esteem is largely determined by how closely your self-image— or your current performance and behavior—matches your self-ideal—which is the picture of your very best self.Whenever there is a wide separation between the person you are atthe moment and the ideal person you want to be, Your self-esteem causes you to become frustrated, disappointed and on yourself. 

Self doubt comes in because your self-ideal keeps reminding you that you are never enough…Never good enough, never capable enough, never spiritual enough, and you will always fall just short of the mark.

Transformation is not about what happens to us in life, It is about how we interpret what happens to us. When our inner core is healthy, we will have a healthy response to what is going on around us. We are freed up, to see life as the wonderful thing, full of potential that it really is!

I would like everyone to tell someone the following…                                       (go ahead…find one person, and get ready to repeat after me…) 

“You are a thoroughly redeemed and transformed person. You are honest, decent, truthful, and hardworking. You treat other people with courtesy, respect, and warmth. You are dedicated to your family, friends, and your work. You are strong, confident, and responsible. You are knowledgeable, intelligent, and experienced.                                                 You are important not only to the people closest to you, but to your community. You were born for a special reason, and a special season. you have a destiny to fulfill. You are created by God for every good work”.

Dr. Phil, was conducting a group therapy session with four young mothers. "You all have obsessions," he stated.

To the first mother, Mary, he said, "You are obsessed with eating. You've even named your daughter Candy." He turned to the second Mom, "Lucy and said “Your obsession is with money. You even named your child Penny." He turned to the third Mom, Joyce: "Your obsession is alcohol. This too shows itself in your child's name, which is Brandy.

At this point, the fourth mother, Susan, got up and said, forget this bunk, I’m getting my daughter, Fanny, and I’m out of here!!!                                           Their children were a reflection of their “inner mirror.”

In the book “ In His Steps”,  Charles M. Sheldon tells of an entire town that agreed, prior to every act or decision, to ask the question, “What would Jesus do?” and then to behave accordingly.

The eventual outcome for the townspeople was that the problems that had divided them and seemed unsolvable were soon solved and the town became united, peaceful, and prosperous.

One of the major causes of negative, toxic emotions, is the blamegame. Blame, in turn creates a vicious cycle, in the roller coaster ride between anger and guilt. The quickest way to stop the blame cycle, is for someone to be the champion and say “I am responsible for my own actions, not someone or something else”!

A father with three boys, asked them who had broken the living room lamp… they all blamed each other, so he sent them all to bed without supper, no television or game boy. The next morning he told his wife that he hadpunished the guilty son. She said, you mean he finally admitted it… No, said the dad, I just looked for the one the other two had beaten up! (Don’t let the devil keep beating you up!)

James 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations; v3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. v4 So, let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting in nothing.

Healthy self-esteem always finds a way, the Loser always finds anexcuse… Healthy self-esteem says, Let me help you do it, The Loser says, that’s not my job. Healthy self-esteem sees an answer for every problem, the Loser sees a problem for every answer.Healthy self-esteem sees a green near every sand trap, the Loser sees two or three sand traps near every green. Healthy self-esteem says, It may be difficult but it’s not impossible, the Loser says, It may be possible but it’s too difficult… 

"So, Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Psalms 34:4-9 “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto Him and they were not ashamed. The LORD heard them, and saved them out of all their troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him. O fear the LORD, all his saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him”.

Let’s get free, to reach our God given Potential in 2020!

Pledge to Christ….

I pledge that with God’s help, I will be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind. I will talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person I meet. I will make all my friends feel that there is something special in them. I will look at the sunny side of everything because faith is stronger than feelings.

I will think of the best, work for the best, and expect only the best. I will be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own. I will forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

I will wear a cheerful countenance and give everyone I meet a smile. 

I will give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize, envy or judge others. I will be too strong for fear, and too happy to allow trouble to control me. In Jesus Name!