Pastor Dustin…
Welcome to morning prayer. My name is Dustin. I’m the Next Gen Pastor here Living Word Christian Center. And on behalf of Pastors Mac and Lynne, our senior pastors, I want to welcome you to morning prayer.
Hebrews 12:1…
I want to read a couple of verses to kick us off. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run…”
Are you running this morning? Are you ready to run? Right. “And let us run with patient endurance. We’re going to run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence, the appointed course of the race that was set before us. I can’t get past these words: “patient endurance.” Steady and active persistence, the appointed course.
The appointed course is set…
So this is not just a whatever looks the best, feels the best, right? The appointed course of the race that is set before us. Verse two, “Looking away from all that will distract to Jesus.” As we’re reading these words, just allow the Spirit of God to speak to you, reveal things to you. Allow Him to reveal to you what you need to know. If you need to make any adjustments as we’re reading these things. As we read verse two and it says, “looking away from all of that will distract.” If you hear that and you get like a little ping on the inside, like “yeah, I’ve been distracted.” I’ve been allowing other things to dominate my thought life that shouldn’t, just make a change.
Jesus is the author and the finisher…
“Looking away from all of that will distract to Jesus who is the leader and the source of our faith, giving the first incentive for our belief and is also its finisher, bringing it to maturity and perfection.” Jesus is the author and the finisher of your future and your faith. Jesus is the author and the finisher. He has the plan and He’s working in you and through you to finish the plan. Jesus has a course for your life, a plan for your life. He wrote it out and He is working in you and through you to help you accomplish the things that He has called you to accomplish.
So I’m going to read that one more time. “And also it’s finisher bringing it to maturity and perfection. He for the joy of obtaining the prize that was set before Him endured the cross despising and ignoring the shame and is now seated at the right hand the throne of God.” Verse three. Just think of Him who endured from sinners, such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself. So Jesus, we know was perfect. He did the plan of God perfectly. He walked it out perfectly and He had to endure opposition as He was progressing, as He was moving forward, as He was being faithful to do what God called Him to do. He had to endure opposition, which is what we just read about a couple of verses ago. We’re going to run our race with patient endurance, trusting in God’s ability to finish the work that He started.
Jesus is our example…
And it’s saying, Jesus is our example. And it says, just think about it, just look at His life, look at the things that He had to endure and the things that He had to walk through. But we know how the story ends. We know that He had victory. We know that He accomplished everything that He was called to. And so I just want to stir you up this morning. I want to encourage you this morning. Don’t allow yourself to become so distracted by everything going on that you lose your focus. Don’t allow yourself to lose hope because you’re experiencing opposition. The Bible never promised a life without opposition. The Bible just says that in the middle of it, God is there with you. And He’s going to give you the strength and the grace for you to overcome and have victory.
You are an overcomer…
The Bible says that you are more than a conqueror. That you’re an overcomer. Well, you can’t be an overcomer if there’s nothing to overcome. And so the fact that you might be going through something does not mean that you’re not moving forward. It doesn’t mean that you’re not progressing. It doesn’t mean that you’re not accomplishing things. Jesus had to go through things, but God gave Him the victory over it. And so I want to encourage you this morning. I want to stir you up this morning in this: God has a plan for your life and what He started in your life, He can finish in your life. What God started in your life. He can finish in your life. We’ve heard these things before, but I think it’s just worth reminding you of. Why would God take you this far and then abandon you now? Of course He would not. So let’s just give our attention to Him this morning. Let’s do what the Bible says and set our minds, our attention and focus on Jesus.
Song lyrics to: There Is a Cloud
Hear the Word, roaring as thunder
With a new, future to tell
For the dry, season is over
There is a cloud, beginning to swell
To the skies, heavy with blessing
Lift your eyes, offer your heart
Jesus Christ, opened the Heavens
Now we receive, the Spirit of God
We receive Your rain
We receive Your rain
This is a song that refers to the verse in the Bible where Elijah’s looks up and he says to his servant, “Do you see anything?” The prophet Elijah says, “Do you see anything?” The servant says, “No.” He says, “Go check again.” He said again, “Do you see anything?” No, I didn’t see anything. He said, “Go check again.” He has him keep going out and he looks out and finally he says, “I see a cloud, the size of a man’s hand. And it’s coming.” Then Elijah says, “Get on your chariot. You need to go because there’s a flood that is about to come to this place.” What he said came to pass.
I want to say that to you this morning. There is a cloud and it might look small. Oh my goodness. I am so excited this morning. Let’s keep praying about that.
Prayed…
There is a cloud. It might look small… it might look small… but see it through the lens of faith this morning… that thing that you’ve been praying about, believing for … That thing that you’ve been declaring and hoping and believing for that, the visions that God has given you in your heart… it’s coming… and it’s building … building in size… in scope … and it’s about to overtake you … the blessing of God is about to overtake you… there’s a word that I used to hear it in prayer all the time when I would come here: a deluge… a flooding of the Spirit of God… not a little drizzle, not a little, “is it raining? I can’t tell. Let me wave my hand. And my hair’s wet.” … there’s a flood that’s about to … you think about a flood… I’m not a meteorologist, but you think about a flood. You think about how a flood can just … buildings…
The flood that is coming…
think of like a stronghold, a building that maybe took 30 years to build. And when a flood comes in, it can wipe out everything in its path. You think about things that the enemy like little strongholds that’s maybe taking the enemy like 30 years to build. Brick by brick by brick… it took him all this time. But when a flood comes in, it can just rip that stuff out in seconds and moments…
The flood will remove the enemy’s work…
I believe that the Spirit of God… those things that you’ve been praying for, been believing for… it might start as a little trickle. It might start as a couple of drops of rain, but it’s going to … materialize … very quickly… And I’m going to declare it like I see it. The Lord speaks to people in different ways. Some people feel Him, some people have like a knowing, but I see it like that building thing. So maybe there was a building and it took the enemy 35 years to build it. It’s not going to take you 35 years to tear it down. When the flood comes in, it just removes it. And so maybe in your mind, you’re thinking it’s going to take all of this time to step into it. It’s going to take all of this time to build it. It’s going to take all of this time to make a change. I believe it’s not going to take as long as you think. I believe it’s going to happen a lot faster than you believe …
Every work of God is conceived in prayer first…
Can we pray this thing out? Everything that God does, it’s conceived in prayer. It’s carried in prayer. It’s birthed in prayer. It’s sustained in prayer… and when you pray in tongues, your praying out God’s perfect will. How can you pray things that you don’t know? By the Spirit of God, that’s how. The Bible says no eye has seen, no ear has heard, neither has entered the heart of man all that God has made, prepared and keeps ready for those who love Him. But it’s revealed to you by and through the Spirit of God. When you pray in the Spirit like this… I’m saying this to somebody who’s disengaged right now… When you pray in the Spirit like this, you’re praying out mysteries. You’re praying out His will for your life. You’re praying these things into existence. … You’re building something. You’re birthing something. This is where it starts. It happens here before it happens in the natural. It happens in the spirit before it happens to the seeing eye…
Hope is being restored…
Yes, Father, so we put ourselves in agreement. … and we yield ourselves over to begin to pray these things out… What He put in your heart, pray it out … give yourself over to a spirit of prayer… I’m not talking about manufacturing something, but if you’ve got a groan, if you got to cry, if you’ve got a travail, … sing a song in the spirit … breakthrough… breakthrough … Hope is being restored. Hope is being restored … hope and faith… Discouragement is leaving… Fear is leaving …
as you begin to pray in the Spirit like this, and you begin to yield yourself over and respond to the Spirit of God in this way, you’re going to find that you have a new toughness, a new tenacity, a new strength that doesn’t come from you… a confidence that has nothing to do with your personality. And it has everything to do with the certainty of what God has said over you and said about you and about the earth that you live in and the place that you live in.
And it’s a confidence that isn’t from you or about you … it’s a hope. It’s a faith. It’s a confidence. It’s an assurance. It’s an expectation. It’s anticipation that came from the Spirit of God… and so it doesn’t matter what it looks like in the natural. It doesn’t matter what it feels like in the natural … You’re not moved by that… because you have a promise … from someone who does not break His promises … let’s have a spirit of faith. Let’s be a group of people that are confident, sure, that have hope, that have confidence, joy, that are secure.
Sister Barb…
A breaking forth now… breaking forth … a breaking forth… appointed, anointed by the Spirit of God. It’s time. It’s time. It’s time for the breakout. It’s time for the breakout. … and for the ages to come … for you have set us in this place for such a time as this… you have prepared us for such a time as this … that those gifts that those callings would come forth now in Jesus’ name… that the flow of the Spirit… would be released… through your body in the name of Jesus… your mighty power … each one, each one, each one called … each one separated … each one with a purpose, with a plan that must come forth… ha ha ha ha ha …
There are many that are wondering “When, Lord, when will I see these things you put in my heart? When will I see these things, Father, that you put on the inside of me?” And He says for such a time as this now… now is the time …
Barb shared that we are reservoirs for God…
I saw this like that we as His people, each one of us is like a reservoir. And I don’t know if you know what a reservoir is, but I grew up in California where we have a lot of drought. So we have a lot of lakes, reservoirs. I had three reservoirs near our house where I grew up and they would allow them to fill up. So there’s a reserve of water to be released when it’s needed. And you look at a reservoir, even when it’s filled up and sometimes we would get heavy rains. And then you’d have no rain at all. But those rains would fill it up and sometimes it would even overflow. So just like us, you can get filled up and you will just flow and God will use you just because He’s in you. But there are some things that He’s reserved for such a time as this. And in each one of you, I know there are people that are just crying out. “Lord, I know what you put in my heart. I know what you said in your Word that I’m supposed to walk in, to experience in you.” And He says, I have reserved those things for such a time as this. And in California, when it was necessary, they would open up the dam and they would let that water flow. And the Master says, “I am going to release that thing that is on the inside of you. That thing that you think this is never going to happen. He says, it’s for now. This is the time. I am going to release those things that have been in My people for such a time as this. Just like Esther, she was reserved for that time when God needed her, when the people needed her. And now is the time for the body of Christ, that reservoir of His anointing of the miracles, the signs, the wonders that we have not seen in our lives. He says now is the time that He’s going to break open that dam. You’ve seen a little here and a little there, but I’m going to release those things now into the earth, out of each one of you so that the earth can experience My glory and My power and be changed. Be changed! Glory to God for this is the time for the body of Christ to rise up and be who she is in the earth. This is the time for each one of you to take your place and to move in the power and the anointing of the Spirit of the living God.
Continued to pray…
So we lift that up, Lord, we thank you now for opening up those waterways for breaking out and breaking those dams wide open. So there is a deluge of water that comes and it’s so great and mighty that nothing can stand in the way. Nothing can stand in the way… glory to God. It removes every burden, every yoke. It destroys that darkness, every hindrance …
It removes all the junk out of the way… it cleans up… it lifts up… all the garbage and it drives it out. Hallelujah. And it brings that refreshing life, that new life… Thank you, Father, for bringing that shout back to the body. Thank you for bringing that joy back to the body … that overflowing abundance, that river of joy, that river of life, that river of peace … that mighty river. Thank you for restoring hope today in Jesus’ name. Thank you for opening the eyes of your people to see the truth, to see that life and that light that is on the inside… that’s shaking. That’s shaking… Nothing will hold it back. I see it, Father… that damn, it’s cracking. It’s opening up. It’s opening up. Everything … Hindrances of mind and thought … being broken off today… removing those things that would hinder the flow, removing those steps that would block the way … that would try to at hold back… You are greater than those things. You are greater than the plans of the enemy.
