Morning Prayer Summary for Friday, September 14, 2018

Dave prayed…

Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. We thank You for Your grace and bounty and provision and sufficiency in all things. Thank You for the Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth, who speaks not of Himself but He hears from You and then speaks to us. We thank You for Your help by the Holy Spirit. We’re grateful for Him. We ask You for insight today as we get together and point ourselves toward You.

Dave shared…

I was on vacation a couple weeks ago and I was with my sister. We had been talking about the Lord; she had been going through a lot of difficulty. Her husband got a diagnosis of cancer. She’s been dealing with that for months and it’s been challenging. It is a difficult thing to go through. Barb and I have been talking about the issue of people suffering. The suffering question. She’s been a believer for as long as I have been and she’s a missionary. She’s been in the ministry for a long time and going through these experiences. Some might think that a person who is following God wouldn’t have these kinds of challenges, right? But people have challenges whether you follow God or not. That’s one of the things people think, ‘If I follow God, I’ll never have another challenge.” That’s not the case. You will have challenges; however, you have something inside of you, the greater One, that helps you through those challenges.

A neighbor of mine was healed of stage 4 cancer. It was an incredible thing. He didn’t go to church and get healed. He didn’t even have hands laid on him and got healed. None of the natural things that we would think as Christians or believers would take him to a place where he would get redemption happened to him. It was a simple switch of faith inside of him that allowed him to have access to the grace that God provides through healing. As believers, the benefits we have is that we have the ability to receive from the Holy Spirit that speaks from the Father, all wisdom, and all everything you need to know about. The Bible calls Him the comforter. The comforter came to help this gentleman. He was healed.

Back to my sister. She had been going through this challenge and one of the things that came up was this issue of “why?” What do you tell somebody who is going through that who have been walking by faith, and they’re discouraged. Their whole world is falling. How do you deal with something like that? As a person, you can just say, okay bring my religious book out and open it up to page 4. These are the scriptures you use for suffering to help somebody. Sometimes that’s not what works. What works is whatever the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t say to go to page 4; he says we’re going to page 32 today. That’s what is important because that’s what is going to minister to that person.

And for the gentleman that I was referring to, what ministered to him was me speaking into his life and telling him that God loves him. Telling him that God cares about his sickness and cares about him being well. That’s basically the message I told him. And by himself, he took that word that I spoke to him, which is truth, right? It wasn’t couched with religious overtones. The Bible says that God loves us, right? I gave it to him in a way that he could understand it, not couched in a way that he would resist it. Truth is going to work for you no matter when it’s given to you and how it’s given. If you accept and believe truth, truth will set you free.

That’s an important emphasis because if you understand that, then you don’t get religious about it. You get more apt to listen to the Holy Spirit when he’s telling you to go over there and give somebody a hug. Instead of saying, “I don’t feel like I ministered to them… I didn’t say the Lord’s name… I didn’t say these things and therefore it wasn’t effective.” This guy that I ministered to, he didn’t even want to hear about God. I asked him that day, “Can I pray for you?” He said, “No, I don’t want you praying for me.” He’s in a place where his world is falling apart around him. He can’t think straight. They sent him home to die and he can’t think straight. You sitting there and bringing up scriptures, that may not work for him. But something very basic and simply that gets rid of all his prejudice of what he knows about Christians, whether it’s true or not, just to say that “God loves you and He cares about you enough to heal you, if you just ask Him to do so.” That’s all I told him. He prayed that night in his garage and he asked the Lord the best he could to heal him. First he asked God to, you know, he tried to make his reckoning with God. Then he asked the Lord to heal him and he said “something happened inside of me.” We know what happened inside of him. It changed him. He said at that point “I knew inside that if God loved me, then He healed me.” He got up from his chair in the garage. He went into the house and poured himself a brandy. This is the part that people pause. He drank his brandy. He said, “I haven’t had brandy in months. The reason I couldn’t have brandy was because the doctor told me I couldn’t.” He said he knew that if God would touch him that he would be able to have his brandy again. So he drank brandy and was fine. The next day, he did the same thing. That’s what he knew at the time. He drank that brandy in faith. How simple is that. A few weeks later, he went back to the doctor and they didn’t find cancer. They had sent him home to die.

I said that to say this: reaching God and having God in your life does not have to be couched in the realities that you perceive God to have or be. He could touch you with a brandy if that’s what needs to be. He could touch you right where you’re at. You don’t need to pray hours a day to get healed to receive or hear from God. You just need the Holy Spirit and faith in God that He loves you. He’ll touch you. I tell people all the time, God speaks to me in a lot of weird places. The places that He speaks to me sometimes are like, “Really?” I would have picked church or a good prayer session. But does it matter where He speaks to us or how? No. He can speak to you through brothers and sisters, daughter, friends, sons.

I’m with my sister talking with her. She said, “It’s been a challenge to me. My faith has wavered.” I could understand that. She said I almost would rather have the sickness than having him have it. She said, “At least I could deal with it.” It’s challenging what you don’t know where that person’s faith is at. I said, “Sometimes God speaks to you in a way to reveal things to you.” We discussed the issue of hearing from God and what is God’s will for her life. Why do we go thru difficulty. I said it’s not challenges or difficulty that is the issue. It’s you hearing from God and receiving grace in that time of need. I tell people it’s not the destination in Christ it’s the journey in Christ. It is the experience that you have that everything that you could ever go through or any challenge in life that will ever approach you at any time in your life, God’s grace is sufficient. You can’t have a problem that there is not grace to solve it. That God’s power and ability and provision cannot solve. That’s not possible. Now sometimes it seems like that’s the case, because of natural things. But the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of our understanding and enlightens us in the place that you are at. No matter what situation you are in, to let you see Him for who He is in your situation.

So if your healing is what is necessary, He can open your eyes to see Him as the healer. If it’s financial provision, then He can open your eyes to see Him as the provider. That’s the difference between you and a non-believer. You have somebody, a helper, who can help you through anything. And not only gives you the will but the ability to do His good pleasure. So really all you have to do is yield. It’s like that gentleman’s testimony. All he did was hear what I spoke to him about God’s love and he yielded to that word and he by faith went to his garage and prayed and asked God to heal him. He got healed.

And here is this believer struggling to get healed for something and trying to build up their faith to get into church to get it, get it, get it! God gives is really simple to this person. Just a free gift. Why is it he gets that, yet that person who has been faithful their whole life is struggling? Why is it? It’s not fair, right?

Let’s think about that for a moment. It is fair in that, that believer has something that the other person doesn’t have. That is that counselor. To suggest that God loves the unbeliever more than the believer is ridiculous. He loves you. He wants healing for you. But just like the scriptures where Naaman came to Elisha for healing, Naaman said, I’m going to go over there. I got my cash and I’m going to do it this way. Like I always do. Money is king. He rolls into that situation thinking in his mind that everything he has is going to give him what is necessary to get what he needs. But what you have cannot save you. That’s the number one thing we need to understand. What you have is not capable of saving you. What you know, how much paper you have on the wall, education, how much money is in the bank, who you are in society. No. None of those things matter.

So Naaman came and said, this is simple. I got a plan. Yet, God through the prophet said, “Yeah, we’re not doing that.” All of a sudden, you’re left with nothing. Because what you have becomes worthless. Because it cannot solve your problem. At that point, when you recognize that nothing you can put on the table can save you at all, then you’re left weak and wanting. Alone. Desperate. In a place where you feel desperate.

It’s important to look at that scripture where Naaman is dealing with Elisha. Elisha is a picture of God and he’s dealing from a source trying to get what it is that he needs from God, but he’s trying to do it by his own hand. Because he can’t get it, he gets frustrated and wants to quit. Every one of us has wanted to quit. “I’m done with this. I don’t deserve this. I did this and… I’ve given… I’ve done everything I know to do that You require me in the scripture to do and I’ve done all these things. I’ve prayed, read my Bible. And yet that’s not enough for You, so what is the point? What’s the point of me even striving for You at any level if I’m going to sit here destitute like the world? There is no difference between me and the world. I could go live in the world and do whatever I wanted to do and just live out my life that way and I’ll be the same.”

But when you’re in those situations, it isn’t God that’s trying to make you… Barb told me not to use the word suffer. Because people tend to think that God is using suffering to teach people lessons. That is not God. That is not a loving person. That would be like me taking my daughter’s hand and saying, “Don’t mess with fire,” and then I put her hand in the fire and burn it. “You see?” Now she suffers with that burn because I’m teaching her. That’s ridiculous. So what is this thing? Every one of us needs to know and understand this because I can promise you that if you don’t have challenges now in your life, it’s coming. I’m not talking negative. I don’t need to confess to you or bring a confession to you to let you know that in your life, you will have challenges.

What I shared with my sister is that you like to have it a certain way. Just like Naaman did. He had control. But there’s this thing about God and it’s not because He’s angry, it’s because He wants us to learn how to depend on Him. Your challenges in life has nothing to do with Him teaching you a lesson. It has everything for you to understand that the only reason why you feel stress has to do with your ability to hold onto the realities that you perceive are important. The reality that like Naaman. I do this all the time. I pay people off. I’m the top guy and everybody bows to me and so… yeah, that’s not happening. Elisha didn’t care about his money. He told his servant, we’re not taking money from this guy. So that gives us an example of how God was pointing himself toward this individual. And it’s a good place for us to recognize that for this reason. It wasn’t until Naaman yielded to that and said, Okay, not my will but thy will be done. When Jesus was in the Garden praying, He said “Father, let this cup pass before me, nevertheless not my will but thy will be done.” Jesus was yielding himself to the Father. Saying absolutely “you’re plan, not my plan.” What whatever it takes, we’re doing that. I just want you to know, this isn’t fun. Right? We’re all that way.

We get accustomed to doing things the way we do it because … okay I prayed on this side of the altar and every time I come to this side, the anointing falls on me and I get healed, or whatever. Or brother so and so needs to lay hands on me because every time he lays hands on me, I get healed or set free. God comes along and says, “Yeah, we’re not have hands laid on you. Just have a seat here. I’m going to heal you right now.” I can’t do it that way! Well, that’s the way we’re going to do it. And every time you go to the left of the altar and every time you go to brother so and so, that healing isn’t coming. Because I need you to understand “not thine will, but mine be done.” It’s not an authoritative position as much as it is He’s the only one that can create the reality that you’re trusting and believing in. He’s the only one that has the power to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you that there is not room enough to receive. He’s the only one that can heal. Who can bring these realities that you have need of. It’s not like He’s holding these things from you. He’s trying to say, I need you to get connected to me in such a way that you don’t go to the world or the way you feel or your money or your situation. If you’re connected to me in this way I can take care of you. That’s love! That’s God loving us.

And the fact that we have challenges and suffer has nothing to do with that. We’re just suffering because we want to do it our way. Right? That drug is going to do that. If I take this drug, it’s going to take care of me. God is saying, I’m okay. It’s my will that they created these drugs to help people who don’t have faith and I’m helping them. But you’re not like that! You’re a believer and you can believe that I can heal you completely and you won’t need the drug. You see that? He wants to take us to that level, where we are unequivocally trusting in Him. No weapon formed against us can prosper because we’re not shaken in our faith by natural circumstances. The Internet or television or news reports or doctor’s reports… all these things, we’re not moved by them. We may hear these things but we lay them down at His feet and cast them aside and look to heaven and receive from our Father in a simple say and say, “You healed me. You bore my sicknesses and carried my diseases. By your stripes, I am healed.”

When you’re communing that way and there is a faith right there, the Holy Spirit tells you what you need to do and BOOM. You’ve got answers. That’s what you have that is different than the world. They have no hope. They strive and do anything. They try to believe but they can’t. Because they’re stuck in a world that’s unchangeable in their minds and have no hope. You give them a glimmer of hope and share the faith with them that gives them some sense of hope and you see a person walk out of a deathbed situation and see them healed. That’s God. That’s the one we believe in, pray to and why we commune with Him. This is the healer, the deliverer. This is the real living God. Full of power and might. Able to set captives free, open the blind eye. He is real. He is mine. Though I am low in faith and have been at times and want to quit, ultimately like David… the scripture talks about David being a man after God’s own heart. We know his life was not filled with the best examples, yet God called him. Why? Because he knew just like you, you’re going to make mistakes. But your mistakes, you will come to Him and lay down those stupid things that you may lack of faith or trust, your shortcomings. You’ll lay them at His feet and you’ll come to Him and submit to Him. “I’m yours.”

One of the greatest answers to pray that ever happened to me was when I did that exact thing. I was in a tight situation and it was a financial burden on me. I had a setback financially. I came to God and said, “I’m your son. You led me into the path of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Will you let me sit here and die?” That’s what I asked God. “I’m your son.” I was asking Him this question in desperation. I said, “I can’t do this anymore. You are either going to be God or I’m not going to make it. But I trust You and when I get to heaven I’ll give a testimony either yeah or nay. You either helped me or You didn’t help me. But I will not betray You because I believe and trust in You.” Within 24 hours, that whole situation turned around. He answered quickly! That answer came quickly to me and that showed me His love for me. He basically said to me, “You honored Me and you laid down your idea. You came to Me and when you prayed, you prayed what you knew. You humbled yourself before Me, not bringing up your righteousness or any of the things you’ve done, but just said if I’m going to make it, I’m trusting in you.” You are all I have. I don’t have anything else. I don’t have a B plan. That honored Him. Because you are “all in.” I like that attitude.

Prayed…

Father, we thank You for guidance and grace to achieve those things you desire for us in our lives. You are the author, the beginning and you are the end of our faith. You are the counselor that leads us through the middle. You are the one that leads us into all truth. You walk us into that place and leads us out. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil. They rod and staff comfort me. That Your glory may be found in this earth, that those may see the true and living God. That You are alive and well and more than able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think. Father, we’re not looking unto ourselves but we yield ourselves in such a way that we let go. Father, You are God and I trust You. I rest in You. Knowing, having confidence that You care for me. And I am free, set free, healed, delivered, fulfilled, provided for… We thank You for it. Today, we lift our hearts to You and say help me find in me a place for You. A place that is always there. Teach me how to find that place where I look to you instead of natural things. That I’m constantly reaching for you instead of the natural. Thy will be done.

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