Pastor Dustin…
Well, good morning. Thank you for joining us for this Friday morning prayer. Just want to welcome you on behalf of Pastor Ken Olson, our prayer pastor.
This is corporate prayer. This is a time for us to join together and pray. The Bible says when two of us come together, joined together, believe together, it will be done for them. The Bible says one puts a thousand to flight. Two puts 10,000 to flight, meaning there’s power when we’re in agreement, when we’re in unity, when we’re praying together. And so that’s why we do this, right? And so we’re not just going to talk about it, we’re going to do it.
Noah led group in worship…
Pastor Dustin…
This morning, Father, we yield to you. We give you control… have your way in every situation.
We trust that your ways are higher than our ways… your thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
We trust you with this church… in this nation… in this state.
We trust your plan. We cooperate with you…
That there would be a shift in our minds, a shift in the way that we approach things
That we would be still in your presence and listen for your voice and your direction and respond to that.
I pray that we would first quiet ourselves in your presence and listen to that still small voice on the inside of us.
I pray that we would in every area of our lives, we would allow it to be governed by you.
From a place of trust this morning, we surrender … all that we are and all that we have to you again
Your will be done. Your will be done in my life. Your will be done in this ministry. Your will be done in this city. Your will be done in this state. Your will be done in this country. Your will be done in this earth.
Father, I pray that we would cooperate with you … that we would walk in close fellowship and communion with you
I want to read Proverbs 3:5. It says, “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord.” Not in your ability to figure it out, not in your ability to make sense of it all. Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind; do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
And so obviously it’s not telling us, “don’t use your brain,” right? But it’s telling us that what you can understand shouldn’t be the highest level of authority in your life. What you can make sense of shouldn’t make all of your decisions. Because sometimes God will lead you to do things that don’t make sense. Sometimes He’ll ask you to do things that you can’t figure out how… If I do this, plus this, it should not equal this. One plus three should not equal seven. But I’m going to trust you. Like walk around Jericho seven times and blow a horn, that’s how you’re going to get your victory. What? God, I want to preach the gospel all over the world. Okay, you should take a job in facility maintenance. What?
He goes on to verse six. He says “in all of your ways,” not just the tough stuff, right. “In all of your ways.” So don’t just make decisions in your own strength with your own wisdom. And then when you get stuck, go to Him. No. In all of your ways, know, recognize and acknowledge Him. Check in with Him. Ask Him. Listen for His voice. And what does He say He’ll do? “And He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. In all of your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not in your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge Him, trust in Him. And He will keep you on track.
There are a lot of things that will try to lead you. People are led by fear. They’re led by pressure. They’re led by other people. No, we need to be disciplined enough. They’re led by their feelings. And feelings are real. Feelings can be powerful. But they’re not God. I just feel like I need to say that again to somebody. Feelings are real. Feelings are powerful. They’re real. It’s not fake. It’s real. You actually feel the way that you do. And you’re actually going through something. It’s real and it can feel overwhelming, but it isn’t God. And so I’m not saying ignore your feelings. I’m not saying just pretend like you don’t have feelings. No. We’re made in His image and we have feelings. He created you with tear ducks. Are you hearing what I’m saying? He didn’t make a mistake there. Like He knew what we would go through. But we need to be disciplined enough where we don’t allow our feelings to control us, and to move us, and to push and pull us into places and into decisions that are leading us away from the plan that God has for our lives.
Romans 8:14 says, “For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God, for the spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more into bondage to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, the spirit producing sonship in the bliss, which we cry Abba Father. The spirit Himself thus testifies together with our spirit.”
The spirit of God is alive on the inside of us. We don’t know where we end and He begins. We’re one with Him. And it says the Spirit of God Himself testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. We are led internally, right? We’re led internally, not externally. We are led by the Spirit of God on the inside of us, speaking to our hearts, revealing truth to us. That still small voice, that confirmation… I was just talking with somebody and I was like, “Have you ever not agreed with yourself?” And they were like, “yeah, that’s where I live pretty much all the time.” And I was like, “Isn’t that just… shouldn’t that idea alone make you think that there’s a God.” It doesn’t even make sense. You are you, so how could you not agree with you? I think oftentimes it’s because it’s not us that we’re not agreeing with. It’s the Spirit of God on the inside of us. And we want to make a move. We want to do something, but there’s this friction on the inside of us. There’s this contradiction where we want to do something, but we feel like there’s this red light. There’s something pulling us back. There’s something saying no. The spirit of God will lead you internally and He’ll lead you by peace.
So I’m not trying to do a teaching today, necessarily. I’m being led by the spirit, but we know there are many voices in this world. There are many things that try to lead us, right? And so we can decipher what’s Him and what isn’t by the Word of God. Becoming familiar with His voice through the Word, and we can quickly identify what’s Him and what isn’t. And so if it’s wrapped in fear, we know that that’s not from Him, right? If it’s from a place of insecurity and doubt, if it’s from a place of you’re holding back because you’re so afraid of failure. And you think that you’re flawed and defective. He says you’re more than a conqueror. He says you have the mind of Christ. He says you can do all things and He leads you by peace. So we know that that’s not Him. And so even as we pray today, let’s allow the Spirit of God to lead us. Let’s allow Him. Let’s speak out words from heaven this morning. What an amazing idea to think that the God of the universe can speak to us and we can hear His voice clearly because the Bible says that we are His sheep. And the voice of a stranger we won’t follow. It’s amazing to think that we can hear His voice. He would speak to us. And then we can pray out things into this earth that He’s directing us to. And so let’s just begin to do that.
Maybe He’ll give you visions. Maybe He’ll confirm words. Maybe He’ll give you words to pray out as He does, just be faithful to pray those things out. Be faithful to do what He’s directing you to do. Be faithful to pray out what He’s giving you to pray out.
Prayed…
We present ourselves to you this morning as living sacrifices, remembering that you’re going to bless us. You’re going to multiply that which we give you. You’re going to make it beautiful. Something that far exceeds our expectations or hopes, dreams, prayers, thoughts, desires. You said you would do infinitely beyond that.
We determine in our hearts that we’re going to be led by your Spirit. Like we read in Proverbs
We trust in you to make straight our paths… to watch over your Word… to do what you said you would do… do what you need to do in our lives and our families and the city and this church.
I thank you, Father for breakthroughs.
I see chains falling off… prison doors being opened…
