Pastor Brandon…
Good morning. All right. Are you ready to pray? Well, good. Me too. Well, my name is Dustin. I’m the youth pastor at Living Word. And on behalf of our senior pastors, Pastors Mac and Lynne, I want to thank you for joining us this morning. Let’s just start. Let’s just pray.
Dustin spoke and prayed in the spirit at the same time…
Lord, we just thank you. We’re here for you this morning. We’re not here to ease a guilty conscience. We thank you that you said that there’s zero condemnation in Christ. We’re not doing this today out of some form of religious obligation. This isn’t something that we think is going to justify us or make us more pleasing to you. We know that that’s been established through our relationship with Jesus. We pray today because, we understand that you have given us authority in this earth. We thank you that it says that in the Bible that we are joint heirs with you, that you’ve given us authority and dominion over every evil thing in this earth. You’ve placed every evil thing under your feet, and we thank you, Lord, that we are your body so we know that is beneath us and through you and our covenant and relationship with you, we have authority. Through you, we have victory. And so this morning, we align ourselves with you, with your Word, and we will speak and declare your Word and your truth over our lives, over this ministry, Living Word Christian Center, over the things that you’ve given us authority and influence.
And so, Father, we hold the blood of Jesus up against any demonic assignment or maneuver, forged or fashioned against Living Word Christian Center, forged or fashioned against the congregation, the pastors, every person, their families, Pastors Mac and Lynne…
We thank you, Lord, that no weapon will prosper in the name of Jesus
Any trap, any snare, any attempt will be brought to nothing in the name of Jesus. We thank you for that, Father
And we live from a place of confidence knowing that this is true.
And so we aren’t going to worry about tomorrow… what the devil is up to because we know that he’s already been defeated.
We have victory in Christ, and we will remain. We will not give up. We will not quit, by your grace and by your strength.
We pray for the strength to endure. We thank you that great grace is upon every single person that calls this church home.
Prayer for boldness like the book of Acts…
In the book of Acts, it says that they were under persecution, they were under pressure, and they got together and they prayed and they asked God for boldness. And the Bible says that God met them in that place. He shook that place. And then they left and they went forth and they moved in the power of God.
Father, we ask you for more boldness… to carry out your purpose in this earth. Boldness to do what you’ve called us to do in this season.
Word…
The Bible says that God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound well-balanced mind. That fear that would try to hold you back, that would try to paralyze you, that would tell you you’re not enough and you should just quit, that fear that would try to tell you you’re not going to make it. Oh, that’s not from God, that spirit. It’s a spirit the Bible says, and it isn’t from Him. His Spirit will fill you with confidence. His Spirit will fill you with power. His Spirit will fill you with peace.
There is a spirit that would try to fill you with fear. Oh, but that needs to be rejected. The Lord said I will keep you in perfect peace if your mind is fixed on me. If your mind is stayed on me. So we make the decision this morning to take our eyes and our attention and our focus off of everything else that would try to distract us, off of everything that would try to paint a picture of failure or loss. And we put our eyes back on the truth of your Word and we renew our minds to your Word.
The Bible is our sword…
Father, I thank you that you would speak to us throughout the day and you would call us back to you. You would impress verses on our hearts that we can turn to and find encouragement. And life. We know that your Word is living. It’s active. It’s powerful. It’s sharp. Your Word is our defense against the lies of the enemy. The Bible calls it a sword. When Jesus was tempted by the enemy, which was spiritual warfare. Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. He always confronted him with the Word. The devil would use the Word too, out of context. I just want to remind you, just because someone has a Bible verse doesn’t mean that you need to listen to everything that they say. That’s how the enemy worked. But if you’re going to poison someone, you would take 95% soup and put in 5% poison. Right? You wouldn’t just hand them poison and say, “Drink it.” That’s not very deceptive. No. He took the Bible and he twisted it and conformed it and manipulated it to fit his agenda and plan and what he wanted Jesus to do. But Jesus was the Word. He is the word. And He was able to recognize that. And He was able to confront that with a rightly divided word. He was able to confront a version that was manipulated with a proper understanding of the Word of God, rightly divided. That is our defense today against the traps and the snares of the enemy.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal…
The Bible says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. Every proud and lofty thought that would exalt itself against the true knowledge of God. This is talking about ideas, reasonings, world views, things that would try to exalt themselves over God and His Word.
A thought that would come against you and try to exalt itself over the knowledge of God, over what He said about you, bring your thoughts into captivity. Make your thoughts submit to God’s Word.
Father, I pray that your Spirit on the inside of us would remind us to spend time in your Word, that we would see when a lie comes that would try to discourage us or dissuade us from doing what you’ve told us to do… that would try to talk us out of standing firm in your promises. When that happens, Father, I pray that you would quicken to us the truth of your Word. You would remind us of who you’ve called us to be, the promises that you’ve given to us, and I pray that we would confront those lies with the truth.
You aren’t a victim, you are an overcomer…
The Bible says that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Lasting freedom is found in the truth. It’s having a revelation of who you are, who God is, and what He said about you. You aren’t the victim. You are an overcomer. You aren’t powerless. You have the strength and power of God on the inside of you. If God is for you, nothing and no one can stand against you. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
I said this two Wednesdays ago when I preached. This is telling us a number of things, but essentially there will never be a moment where what you face is greater than what’s on the inside of you. Think about all of the things that you face in life. Think about all of the moments and opportunities there are to feel overwhelmed. The truth of it is none of it is greater than what God has already put on the inside of you. We should live with that confidence. When Jesus was walking through the earth, it didn’t matter if there were storms. It didn’t matter if there were people trying to throw Him off of a cliff. It didn’t matter what they said about Him. He knew there was something greater on the inside of Him, and He relied on that. He didn’t look to His insight or understanding. He would pull from that reservoir that’s on the inside of Him, that strength that was on the inside of Him, that came from the Lord.
Yes, Father, I thank you that you would help us to rely on you, rely on your power. We thank you that you said you would never leave us or forsake us. That your power, your wisdom, your strength is on the inside of us. And we can look to you at any moment and we can pull and draw from that place. He said, acknowledge me in all of your ways and I will keep you on track. We can just simply look to you in our hearts. We can simply quiet ourselves and listen internally. We can just open up the Word of God and receive truth and light and revelation.
Oh, Father, I thank you that you didn’t put us in this earth and just leave us here to figure it out. You gave us your Word, you gave us truth, you gave us your Spirit.
I thank you even now you’re speaking to people’s hearts. Even now you’re bringing peace. Even now you’re strengthening us. Even now, you’re bringing answers.
The Lord speaks to us through our imagination…
As I pray in the Spirit, I like to pay attention to the thoughts that are coming into my mind. Some of them are just fleshly natural thoughts, but I’ve noticed that the Lord will speak to me through my imagination. So sometimes as I’m quiet in His presence or as I’m praying in tongues, I’ll begin to see stuff that helps me. Sometimes He’ll just impress something on my heart as I’m in these times of prayer and usually it’s encouragement. It’s insight, it’s direction, it’s what I need.
Father, so we just look to you. We incline our ear. I pray, Lord, that we would have ears to hear what your Spirit is speaking to us. We would be quick to listen and quick to obey, and quick to respond to your voice. We know that we need you. We know that apart from you, we can do nothing. We rejoice in the truth that we don’t have to be apart from you, but we recognize that we need to rely on you.
We don’t imagine or presume that we can just go through life in our own strength with our own wisdom and accomplish everything that you have for us. We know that we need you.
We thank you, Lord, for peace in our homes… the peace in our homes that you lead us and guide us and how to interact with family, how to discipline our children… your Spirit is helping us, leading us, how to interact with our spouse if we have one, how to steward every area of our life well.
Father, I pray for peace in the homes. I thank you for revival in families… wisdom and discernment and how to speak to those that we’re related to … how to minister to them, how to interact with those that you’ve brought us into relationship with.
Doors of opportunity, turning points…
Thank you for doors of opportunity… yeah, there will be doors of opportunity. Understand that as you walk through life, as you allow His Spirit to lead you, you’ll come to these turning points… you’ll come to these places… I don’t know why turning points… that word just keeps coming to me. You’ll come to these moments where you’ll have a choice, opportunities to step into another dimension of your calling. Opportunities to step into increase or opportunities to finally share the truth of God’s Word to somebody that your heart’s been broken over how they’ve been living and, and where they’ve been going. You’re going to have opportunities before you. Oh, and there’s grace for you to step into that. There’s grace for you to open your mouth. There’s grace and empowerment… there’s supernatural empowerment to help you… supernatural empowerment to help you … and in your past, that might not have gone well for you before. In your past there may have been times where you tried and you failed but understand, this is a new day. This is a new hour… a new season. And I’ve learned with the Lord that timing really matters. As patient as He is, as patient as He is … we know His attributes, right? We know His goodness and mercy and love. It still seems like there’s just a certain timing to things. And so sometimes it could have been the right thing, it could have just been the wrong time. Maybe you were ready, but the other people that needed to be ready weren’t ready. And so it’s just about being sensitive enough to His voice that when He opens the door, you’re willing to step in. You’re willing to do what He’s directing you to do whether or not it looks right, whether or not it feels right, because with doors of opportunity… Sometimes when we talk about how the Lord will open up a door of opportunity, we think that the natural circumstances are going to align in such a way where you don’t have to use faith or it’s just going to be so obvious to your natural eye that there’s not going to be any sort of need to hear His voice.
Goliath was an opportunity for David…
But you look at doors of opportunity or just different moments in the Bible… one of the greatest opportunities that was put before David was Goliath. In the natural, Goliath didn’t look like an opportunity. He looked like the death of Israel to everybody else. It looked like the beginning of the end. But David knew he was anointed to be king. He knew what he was called to do. He knew who was on his side. And so for everybody else, Goliath looked like destruction, looked like slavery, looked like a future they didn’t want. But for David, he was so confident in who God was and God’s ability to work with him and through him and fight on his behalf. He knew what God had prepared for him. And so David’s door of opportunity, you could call it, was a giant that he had to fight in hand to hand combat.
The timing will be right for you to go through the door…
The Israelites, when they were marching on their way to the Promised Land, God told them to go and they started marching towards Jericho and there was a huge fortified city. But the timing was right. You understand the timing was right. So they marched around it seven times, blew their trumpets, and the walls came down. Sometimes God will have a door for you, and in the natural it looks like that door is locked, chained, and barred. A person of faith that doesn’t deter you because you’re not looking at the natural. You’re listening to God’s voice internally, and you’re just going to smile and just trust that He’s going to remove the door, open the door, whatever needs to happen, and you’re going to be able to step over and into the next thing. You’re going to be able to continue down the plan and path that He has for you.
The door of opportunity for Jesus was the cross…
You see all throughout the Bible that these opportunities come in the form of inconvenience. These opportunities come in the form of a giant. They come in the form of what looks like a battle. They come in the form of all of these different things. And that’s why the Bible says that the just shall live by faith, not their eyes, not by what they can experience with their physical natural senses. We should have enough discernment and be sensitive enough to His voice where we don’t need to put out fleeces before Him like Gideon. We don’t need to have everything look right.
Think of Gideon…
He’s complaining because he’s in this situation where it looks overwhelming. The Mideonites are terrorizing the Israelites, and then God meets him in this low place in his life. And He speaks destiny over him. He says, I know this is who you’ve been, but it’s not who I’ve called you to be. You’re a mighty man of fearless courage and valor. And it’s not what it looked like, but God was calling those things which be not as though they were. God wasn’t looking at the natural. God knew who He created him to be and that’s what he spoke to. And so Gideon went out and got a couple thousand men to go fight way more people than that. I forget the number, like 20 or 30,000 or something like that. And the Lord kept taking away people. He kept stripping people away.
I’ll just let the Lord deal with you about that. If there’s something in your life that needs to be removed, something that needs to be pruned away, cut away. The Bible calls God the vine dresser. He prunes and will remove things that aren’t bearing fruit. The Bible says even if you are bearing fruit, He’ll remove some stuff so you can bear more fruit. And so He kept whittling people away, making it look more and more impossible until Gideon had 300 people Left. He said, “Okay, now you’re ready. You can go fight them.” Because the truth is if God’s fighting with you, how many do you need? It’s not about the people. If God is on your side, you plus Him is enough. It’s more than enough. It’s just about obeying His Word. It’s about being sensitive to the timing. Stepping out in faith, boldness. Even Gideon wasn’t a great man of faith. He just like obeyed enough to keep moving forward.
God answers prayer but it might not look like what you’re expecting…
I believe doors of opportunity are opening up. Be sensitive to His voice. Can I just say, I’ve seen this in so many people’s life. I’ve seen it in my life. They’re praying and asking God and they’re believing for something, and they expect it to look a certain way, and then God answers their prayer. But it looks different than what they were expecting. And so you have a choice when that happens. You can either trust Him and walk through it, believe that He’s with you, believe He’s going to work things together for your good, and He’s going to perfect that which concerns you, and He’s going to fight your battles and He’s going to take care of you and He’s going to help you, and He’s going to orchestrate it all and work it out for you. And then take a step of faith and do what He told you to do. Or you can get bugged and say, “Well, if this isn’t… I’m called to greatness and this doesn’t look impressive. I’m called to greatness and this looks like a mess. This looks like it’s below me.” Or “I’ve tried this three other times and I fell on my face.” I’ve seen it so many times. Certainly in my life, but in enough people’s lives where I’ve realized… I mean, even Jesus.
The Jewish people didn’t expect their Messiah to come to them the way Jesus came…
The Jewish people were praying for a Messiah: “Send us the Messiah, send us the Messiah.” Believing for it, and then He’s born in a manger to people who were not well known. They were expecting Him to be born in a palace and God had Him born in a barn. They were expecting Him to be a military leader, a king who was going to set them free from the oppression that they were under. And so when the carpenter’s son showed up, they were… Are you hearing what I’m saying? When the carpenter’s son showed up, it was too much for them. They were like, “No! I had a different idea. I had a different plan. This is not it.” And the Bible says that they rejected Him. Many did. God answered their prayer. He sent Jesus to the earth, but He looked different than they were expecting.
And so those that received Him received abundant life and they received freedom and healing and eternal life. And they got to experience the good things that they craved for, the things that really mattered. Because what good is… I’m not trying to minimize it, but you think like what good are the things that they’re craving for? They were so focused on these natural temporal things. You know, what good is a little bit more money and what good is a little bit more freedom, if you’re addicted, if you’re sick, if you’re on your way to hell. Jesus came to solve the real issue in their lives. You’re separated from God and you need Me, and I’m going to bring you into harmony with God and I’m going to give you an abundant life, and I’m going to give you purpose that’s so much greater.
You have to trust God’s ability to lead you …
And I’ve seen people who they have dreams and desires and things. They believe God spoke to them about. It’s kind of disguised as work. It’s disguised as fighting a giant. It’s disguised as a job opportunity that looks like it’s beneath them. And for those who step out in faith in what looks like uncertainty, you can see how God just starts moving and working and changing people’s hearts and orchestrating them, and shifting them, and He puts them where they need to be. And in the process, usually there’s like character that develops and maturity that develops and He’s building their faith and teaching them things. And I’ve seen people who, you can just see it. It’s like they’re going around a mountain and they’re going around and around and around and the Lord gives them an opportunity and they reject it. And they just keep going around and around and around and around. No. When the Lord opens up a door of opportunity to you, have the sensitivity in your heart to be moldable and pliable in His hands and surrendered to Him so that you can step into that with both feet. With both feet, trusting in His ability to keep you, trusting in His ability to lead you through.
