Annie led group in worship…
Pastor Ray…
Thank You, Lord. You are worthy… thank You for the power of the cross and what took place there… for the blood that was shed… for the victories that were won when You said, “It’s finished.” Thank You, Lord.
Yesterday during our group that meets at noon time, we were talking about some close friends of ours. They have a couple businesses and one of the things they do is Christmas décor and they just did this huge tree at 50th and France in Edina. They made the design of it with the letting that’s on it. The words on it are huge; it says “let it go.” That, of course, comes from the Disney Movie Frozen. I guess it’s from a song; I’ve actually never watched it. But, anyway, their theme in that area is “let it go.” So we got talking about it and one of my friends had a testimony about how he “let go” of a situation in his life. And it was actually kind of a serious surgery that he had and he left the hospital but afterward, he had internal bleeding. He couldn’t walk or anything. They took him in an ambulance back to the hospital. They said, “We don’t know what’s wrong with you but you’re bleeding inside. We’re going to have to do another surgery.” The doctor told him that it was very serious and that he could die. He said when the doctor left the room, he heard in his spirit, “They can’t heal you.” He said it was so clear. A football game was on the TV in his room. He just started watching the game. All of a sudden, he got out of the bed and stood up. “I feel pretty good.” He had his attention off what the doctor had said to him and how he was and he took that by faith and told them, “I’m not having the surgery. I’m out. I’ll sign whatever papers you want just to get out of here.” They said, “You shouldn’t do that. You could die.” He said, “No, I just know that you can’t heal me.” I’m just paraphrasing the story. He knew the Healer and he heard Him in his heart. They said, “You have to come back tomorrow to do another check up on you.” He left. His wife picked him up at the hospital and they went to Walmart. They went shopping and then to the State Fair, straight out of the hospital with a serious condition. And he was completely, totally healed. I love it.
My point is, he let go of the care of what the doctor had said. But we were talking about letting go of some things that we’re completely totally focusing on a situation, something that happened. And then focus on Him. Getting our eyes on the Lord. He is the way maker. Sometimes we can get our focus off where we need to have it.
So we’re sitting here and at one point, I looked up at the cross. I just had this thought. What was done on the cross completely totally gave victory for each one of us. Victory. So our victory is complete and we have to let go of some things that are bringing care. We need to let go of those things.
That’s how I got to the cross for this morning. I had a revelation in my office while I was looking at some different things about the cross; 24 years ago, Sandy and I went to a service. I shared this testimony before. We went to a service in Canada. There was a call for people to come up front. I went up. On the way up to the altar, I had an open vision of a cross. It was huge, up over the platform, slanted toward me. I didn’t have any time to think about it. The pastor came through the line and laid hands on me. I went out under the power. Three days later, everything was changed for me. I didn’t know all what happened to me.
But this morning, when I was thinking about what happened, what was being shown to me was not just a cross but it was all of the many benefits that came to us through the cross, through the blood that was shed on the cross. I had a mini revelation about it. “Oh! That’s what happened to me.” A revelation within knowing what He did on the cross. So I’m going to share a couple things and then Annie will sing something about the cross. The cross is beautiful because of what took place on it with our Savior.
This morning, this is the scripture that I had lined up to read in 1st Corinthians 1:3–9 in the Message. There are several things about the cross.
3 May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours. 4-6 Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There’s no end to what has happened in you—it’s beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives. 7-9 Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that. 17 God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words. 18-21 The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written, I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots. 26-31 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”
I love that. So He turned us from nobodies into somebodies. Right? We can do all things through Him! This is why I’m bringing up all the things He did for us on the cross. There are so many things. It’s good sometimes to “let it go” and look up at the cross and remind ourselves what He did for us. So I want to make a confession of prosperity for every area of our lives. That’s what He did on the cross. He canceled out everything else and initiated prosperity for all of us.
PROSPERITY FOR EVERY AREA OF MY LIFE
Father, in the name of Jesus, we confess that Your Word reigns in every area of our lives, our spiritual lives, our emotional lives, and our physical lives. There is no part of our beings that is not completely, absolutely, and eternally enveloped and saturated with Your Word. Because Your Word is our very substance, we live a prosperous life—spiritually, physically, and materially.
I thank You that You liberally and super abundantly supply and fill to the full, our every need, according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. According to Your Word (Deut. 8:18), we accept and receive the power of Your wealth in order to establish Your covenant. As an act of faith, Father, we receive the power of Your wealth in knowledge, revelation, discernment, and recollection of Your thoughts as they are written in Your Word. We receive the power of Your wealth in our spiritual lives. We will be enduring, patient, kind, mannerly, joyful, forgiving, courageous, faithful, loving, and all that is necessary to correct our spiritual selves, that we coincide with Your image of us. We receive the power of Your wealth into our physical and material needs, so that Your Word is life to us, and health to all our flesh, so that we have riches and honor, that we inherit substance and our treasuries are full (Proverbs 4:22; 8:18, 21).
Simeon, give that testimony of the guy that fell off the roof. Come on up. He told me this, this morning.
Simeon shares…
I’m a contractor and one of our guys called two days ago in the evening. He was working on the roof of a barn that was 15, 20 feet in the air. He said, “I just slid off the roof and landed on my feet. But I broke both my ankles. You got to come get me.” So we rushed down to the job site. He was just lying there in pain. We picked him up and put him in the car and brought him to our office. Everybody at the office just met us at the car real quick so we could all pray for him. Then we got him to the emergency room. He was in a lot of pain. While he was in the emergency room, he felt his foot pop a little. It took a while for them to give him pain medication. They finally did the X-ray. And the doctor came and said, “Your bones are strong and healthy. You have no issues.” Ha, ha, ha! And he walked out! It was a total miracle of God!
Pastor Ray continued…
That’s awesome. That’s a sign and wonder that took place two days ago. That lines up with prosperity in every area of our lives. So bones can line up and be healed and whole. Hearts can be normal. We call them normal. I speak to blood pressure in Jesus’ name and say, “Be normal, 120 over 80.” Internal parts, every internal part, function the way you should function. It was finished at the cross by the blood that was shed. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit working in us now. Bringing about these restorations. Pain of any kind, Go! Get out. Leave in Jesus’ name. Issues in the brain, in the ears, in the eyes, be healed and made whole.
As I said before when I saw that cross, now I see it was a reminder as to what was done at Calvary. Everything! Prosperity was given by the King of Kings. Hallelujah! Thank You, Father.
Annie, sing a little about the cross again.
Annie led group in singing…
Pastor Ray…
I printed this song out this morning. I’m just going to read the lyrics. I like the words.
“Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.
CHORUS:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought,
Ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.
Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
”Finished!” the vict’ry cry.
Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.”
Prayed…
Father, thank You… the way you lined it up for us these many years later… that shed blood and the cry of “It is finished,” is working on our behalf. Working in our nation, our families, our businesses. We acknowledge You and what You’ve done. We acknowledge the gifts You’ve placed in Your children. We acknowledge and respect what was given that day on the cross. Thank You for the power of the cross.
Annie led group in worship…
Pastor Ray…
At the beginning, we started out by saying because “your Word is our very substance. We live a prosperous life spiritually and physically.
[Continues confession]
We confess to You that we are givers. As we give abundantly of our increase in knowledge of Your Word—either in ministering, counseling, healing, teaching, as we give of the increase of ourselves, our energies, our efficiency and our abilities, or our material possessions—we know that You will make all grace, every favor, and earthly blessing come to us in abundance, so that under all circumstances we are totally self-sufficient. Possessing enough knowledge, recall, and recollection, we will spread Your Word in all circumstances. Requiring no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation (Galatians 3:13, 14).
Father, I thank You that You send Your Son to enable Your power. That You sent the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and teach us and that Your angels are free to minister for us and bring about all that is necessary for us to be generous in every area of Your work in which we have stirred our spirits and stored up for us to do. Father, we desire to be Your perfect channel, and we praise and thank You for so using us. It is written that Your angels have been sent to minister for the heirs of salvation; we loose them now to work on my behalf. [end]
Go! Go and minister on our behalf. We thank You, Lord, for it. Father, we get it. It’s not all about us. It’s about You coming and working in us… about You coming through us. So we thank You that those rivers are flowing and growing and going. We made the decision today to not take a care but whatever has been trying to hold us back, we “LET IT GO!” We’re free of it! We’re free! Free! Really free to walk in victory.
Annie led group to worship…
Pastor Ray…
When the Holy Spirit is living big inside of each one of us, He’ll come through. The living waters that continually flow by the Spirit of God will flow and we’ll go and cause change. Some things will be suddenly. And some things will be a step by step process. But change comes forth. Your Word, Father, we get it that it is true. We take our seat today in heavenly places high above. We look at what You’ve done for us and look at the things You are doing and will do for us. And we know that everything will work out right and right on time. In Jesus’ name. We thank you for it. Everybody said… Amen!
