Pastor Ken…
Good morning. Good to see all your smiling faces.
And it’s good to be back into a place where God’s just going to move and show up. He’s got a purpose for us this morning. We’re going to talk about the worthiness and the goodness of God. Amen. And so, let’s just open our hearts whether you’re online this morning with your cup of coffee in front of you or you’re at the office, whatever the case is, we’re so honored and blessed that you joined with us. We believe God’s going to just move in hearts and lives and situations is going to change some things that need to be changed, shift some things that need to be shifted. It’s going to shake loose some things in our hearts to free us and to make us fully capable of stepping forward into the bright and beautiful and abundant future that He has planned for us.
Prayer…
Let’s open up with prayer. Father, we just thank you this morning. We thank you for your faithfulness… that you are always there for us. We love you, Father, and we just bow our hearts and our lives before you at the outset of this day.
Worship leader Cathy shared and then led in worship…
I want to give some context to this. A couple weeks ago I was reading Revelation one in a bunch of different translations. And I think this morning, we need to remember who Jesus is and that He’s coming back, like we don’t have to despair because He’s actually coming back. And in Revelation, it gives all these names of who He is. So I want you to just listen. And if you catch on, go ahead and sing along. Just worship and picture who He is and that He’s coming back for us.
♪ The God who is, and the God who was, the God who will arrive. Faithful witness, ruler of all, Jesus Christ, the God who is, and the God who was, the God who will arrive. Faithful witness, ruler of all, Jesus Christ, glory and strength to Jesus Christ who loves us, honor and power to the Lamb who saves us. He’s coming soon. Jesus is coming soon. The trumpet will sound and we will meet Him in. Jesus is coming soon. ♪
Pastor Ken…
Just lean into this time of worship right now. Lean in. Someone once said, “To praise is to obtain some things from God, but to worship and to praise Him is to win battles.” Just worship Him this morning. Just let His presence surround you and envelope you. Just let it move through you.
Your faith-filled words are making a difference…
This morning, I sensed the Lord wanting to encourage you. Just take that for you. You might be thinking, “Is that for the person to my right or my left?” No, it’s for you! The Lord wants to encourage you this morning and say to you, “Your prayers and your faith filled words are making a difference. They’re having an impact. They’re moving mountains. Don’t be informed exclusively by what you see. Instead be transformed and enlarged in the eye of your heart by what He has said and what you know to be true from His Word and what He’s spoken to you by the Holy Rhema of the Spirit. Because make no mistake about it, your prayers are moving things, shaking things, transforming things. Your prayers and your words impact the spirit realm.” So just be reminded of that this morning.
He gave each of us a measure of faith…
Before I went to bed last night, I was reminded of the passage found in Hebrews chapter 11 and specifically chapter three. But I’m going to start with Hebrews 11:1 in the New King James. It says “Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it…” That would be faith. And by the way, you have a measure of the God kind and God quality of faith. Scripture reads in Hebrews 12:3, that God gave each of us upon receiving Jesus in the gift of salvation, a measure, a portion of God’s faith. His faith. He gifted it to you. You didn’t even have to go earn it or try to find it or work for it. He gave you a measure of His faith, the same kind and quality and magnitude of faith that He utilized to do what He did at creation. That is a gift you possess this morning and why your words are so significant. Because faith is released in the expression of your words. That’s one way anyway. It’s also in action.
You take it by faith first before you see it with your eyeballs…
So it says here, “Now faith is a substance.” I think the Amplified Bible says, “Title deed.” You ever had a title deed to a house or to a car, that shows you own it? Well, you own that healing. You own a promotion. You own whatever it is that you need, that God’s promised you. You own it. Whether or not you see it or not, that’s irrelevant. But you own it based on God’s Word. Based on the fact that you lean into and trust what He has to say about your situation, about your future, about what He wants to do in your life. You take it, right? You take it by faith first before you see it with your eyeballs. That’s what prayer’s all about. We’re taking. The little phrase we’ve had here recently is “Go get it.” In the spirit, we’re going and getting it. Not just for ourselves, but for the body of Christ. We’re going and getting what God has prepared, what He’s laid up for our generation, whether it’s revival or awakening or healing or something for someone individually, we’re going and getting it by faith in prayer with our words.
His word in your mouth is working…
“Now, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” or a good report. Verse 3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” I like that! “So that things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” That’s why the Lord wants to actively and often encourage us and remind us. When we get into His presence, He’s reminding, He’s encouraging, He’s cheering you on this morning that your words are working. His Word in your mouth is working. Your prayers expressed from your heart are working. They’re going and getting and bringing to you. Just like we read about Daniel yesterday, who under an Old Covenant, his words, his prayers were heard. Just think about that. Heaven hears your words. Hears your prayers. The Bible says His ear is inclined to your prayers. He’s listening intently. The God of heaven, your Heavenly Father. And in Daniel’s case, his words plucked an angel, plucked heaven down to where he was via an angel. And that angel spoke to him in no uncertain terms and said what God had already done 21 days before when he first uttered words. When he first prayed, the answer was sent.
We’re to live in an outflow of God…
So know that this morning when you first prayed, when you first believed, when you first declared, heaven responded. It may take a little time for it to show up but stay the course and stay strong and stay saturated with Him. As we talked about yesterday, we’re not meant to live from experience to experience or emergency to emergency and pray in emergency tongues or something. We’re to live out of an outflow of God, whereas we said yesterday, using my example to live camped out on the banks of the Mississippi. We’re to live right there and take advantage of the flow that has been made available to us. Heaven is a flow… to you and through you. And praying in the spirit… Worship time of just waiting on God, being present with Him draws on that flow, causing you to be sustained, causing you to be always supernaturally equipped, always encouraged, causing your faith to always be energized and never static or in stasis, but energized and active and like static electricity, right? Sparks!
When you get close to something if you get enough static electricity, it sparks. When you’re in the presence of God, when you’re living in His flow through prayer and through community and through worship and study and meditation, there is a holy, divine energy that builds up in you so that when you pray, when you speak, when you get close to someone, there’s a discharge of the power of God. There’s a discharge in your mind to make a decision. There’s a discharge of His anointing and power in your body when you need healing. That’s where we’re to live, out of outflow, not out of fumes or barely enough to get by.
Leaning into God will bring great benefits…
And I know our flesh wants us to be lazy and do its own thing, but as a pray-er, as a believer, we must get a hold of ourselves and develop some discipline. After all, it is a fruit of the spirit to discipline ourselves to say, “I’m going to not sleep so much tonight. I’m going to spend an extra half hour with God.” To push aside maybe a plate of food and say, “I’m going to just lean in and just wait on you, God, during this time.” It will pay. It will bring great benefits. Even if you don’t have a single need this morning, which probably isn’t the case. We probably all have something we can point to that we need or desire at least. But even if you didn’t, just the beautifulness and the goodness of living out of flow, heaven’s flow. To worship is to step into that flow and into heaven’s atmosphere. It’s just a good place to be. It’s your destined place to be, by the way.
Your destiny wasn’t to live on this thin veneer of earthly natural reality. We were called and destined, and in fact, everything about redemption points to the fact that God had prepared us to be a people who go into the spirit and live from a place called in the spirit, right? Where we walk with God. And like Enoch one day, we’re just not. Maybe we’re still here on earth, but maybe we’re not anymore fearful of man and not anymore stuck with a chronic illness and not anymore stuck with chronic harassing spirits that try to dog our way.
Seek His heart…
Seek Him to know Him. To enter into where He is. Even under the Old Covenant. Wasn’t it Moses who the Lord said, “I prepared a place in the cleft of the rock for you, specifically and personally for you, Moses. And you shall see My backside. You shall see My presence go by you.” That’s you and me, by the way. That’s a prophetic Old Testament forecast, foreshadowing of you and me placed in Christ. Go back and read in the letters of the church, all the “in Christ” scriptures. In Him scriptures. You’ll see a whole new reality.
Set the mark: Prepare to have a really good day…
So let me read something here about words from a little devotional. Job 22:28 says, “You shall also decide and decree a thing and it shall be established for you. And the light of God’s favor shall shine upon your ways.” Let me break this down. The word, it says in this devotional, the word “thing,” it says, “You shall decree a thing,” right? The word thing in the above verse is the Hebrew word that means a word or a promise. The heirs of God and the joint heirs with Christ have authority to decree words of scripture, words of promise. That’s a privilege, just to grab hold of a promise and speak it. Or as I do often to my drive in, I told my daughter and my son, “It’s going to be a good day for you. It’s going to be a really good day for us.” That’s setting the mark for you today. That’s telling and informing even your central nervous system, “Prepare to have a really good day.” Whew!
What are you saying?
So it says, “Joint heirs with Christ have authority to decree words of scripture, words of promise, words of prophecy, which are also words of God given through the Holy Spirit enlightenment. Those words in Jesus’ name will be established. Established as the Hebrew word that means “to be made good. To perform, succeed, to raise up and come to be or come to pass.” So Jesus is the high priest of our confession of faith. As I said the other day, what are you saying? What are you decreeing? What thing are you choosing to decree and say? Because God the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself are watching over what you’re saying. And a high priest by nature and by job description is one who watches over to perform, just like it says here in this word established… established to be made good, to perform. He’s looking to perform your word. Whoa!
“Are you saying, Ken, I have that much opportunity to influence and make a difference in my life and in this world with my words?”
Yes. That’s what I’m saying. A lot more is up to us than we realize. Brother Hagin used to talk about that and said there’s way more than we realize.
