Pastor Ray shared…
Good morning. Thank you for joining up with us, again, as we move forward and not looking back. Only to remind ourselves about what was done for us, how faithful God is to us and how He’s moved on our behalf in the past. We can look at all those things and remind ourselves of His faithfulness.
This morning I want to receive communion together. So you can just get a couple elements and be ready later on during this hour.
I had this yesterday and it came up in my heart about the worship and praisers that went out before the army. I wanted to read a couple of these verses from 2nd Chronicles. Then Miss Annie and Danny are here to help us be led by the Spirit in worship. Beginning in chapter 20:2:
It was told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude has come against you from beyond the [Dead] Sea, from Edom; and behold they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi. 3 Then Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself [determinedly, as his vital need] to seek the Lord; he proclaimed a fast in all Judah. 4 And Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord [yearning for Him with all their desire].
I like that he began to look to the Lord. He called for a fast. And the people of Judah got onboard. They began to do the same thing.
5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court 6 And said, O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven?
He’s asking a question.
And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You. 7 Did not You, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend? 8 They dwelt in it and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your Name, saying, 9 If evil comes upon us, the sword of judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You—for Your Name [and the symbol of Your presence] is in this house—and cry to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.
And then down in verse 12, the last part of that says, “We do not know what to do.” So like we could say that. We don’t know exactly what to do but we do know what to do and he knew what to do—“our eyes are upon You.” Then in verse 15, the last part of that verse says, “Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” That was a prophetic word that was declared over Judah. Then in verse 20, “Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper.” And verse 21, “When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! 22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were [self-] slaughtered.”
So the singers went out and they kept singing, “Give thanks to the Lord for His mercy and loving kindness endure forever.” It’s what we’re doing many times when we’re lifting our voices and singing unto the Lord. We’ve got a picture that, that we’re out front. We’re on the front lines. So when we’re directed to do that, we see that picture. We’re looking up to heaven where all of our help comes from. His mercy endures forever. His loving kindness, it endures forever. He’s always with us. He said He would never leave us. hallelujah! So it’s worth everything to continually lift our voices and say, giving thanks to the Lord. For His mercy, loving kindness endures forever. So as we go forward, marching ahead, we know there’s more… We’ve gone through many different scriptures over the past few weeks about more… there is more… there are new things… there are changes happening. But we believe God will use every absolute, everything that the enemy tried to bring against it and turn it around and use it for His good. We believe that. We receive it. We see it. And we know in our hearts and we’ve sang it so many times that “things are getting better.” We don’t always see it. We don’t always sense His presence, but we know He’s with us. How do we know that? We know it because He said He would never leave us nor forsake us.
Thank You, Lord. We give thanks to you this morning and honor You with our hearts, our lips. We humble ourselves before You. Just like Jehoshaphat didn’t exactly know what to do, but then he did and he lifted his eyes up. He began a fast and to look to God. And what he heard, he did. Send out the singers! Send out the praisers! And those enemy armies actually destroyed each other. Wow. So in the prophecies in the written Word and then those prophesies that have been declared over so many centuries, really, we know the outcome. We know things are working out. We know God is bigger. He’s still on the throne. And Jesus is by His side. We know we have the Holy Spirit resident within each of us. We can’t quit! We won’t quit. We made decisions every day not to quit. We will not quit but we will continually speak the right things and believe the right things. We’ll keep praying over the church and our leaders and our nation and our states and over the whole earth! That we’ll see those signs and wonderful miracles just like Jehoshaphat in the Old Testament. We are in the New Testament and we have that New Covenant. The blood that was shed for us. Thank You, Lord, for the precious holy blood this morning. Thank You for the blood. Thank You for the power that is in that blood. Overcoming power! We lift You up and we have grateful hearts, full of thanksgiving unto You. You are showing us things to come and revealing to our spirits that good things, great things, are on the horizon. We’re not stuck here. No fear. No virus. No attacks of the enemy can hold us down. We are the body of Christ. He overcame so we could overcome. Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord. Miss Annie, sing that song you were telling me about.
Annie led in worship…
♪ I saw the Lord… seated on His throne… He was clothed in glory… exalted on high… and the train of His robe filled the temple… and the angels circled round Him… and they cried… they cry holy, You are holy… ♪
Pastor Ray…
In these days when we’re continually contending for the will of God on this earth, it takes supernatural strength. Our own strength is not enough. We’re strong but we’re really strong in Him. I have a couple scriptures about strength. To contend, keep on contending, stay on the offense, keep pressing, don’t quit, keep moving.
Dan. 11:32 The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Ps. 29:11 The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
Phil. 4:13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].
Neh. 8:10 For the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.
Deut. 33:25 And as your day, so shall your strength, your rest and security, be.
2 Cor. 12:10 For when I am weak, then am I strong.
Pastor Ray continued…
How can that be? When we’re weak, meaning we don’t know exactly what to do and we can’t do it in our own strength, then we’re strong in Him. Then we get over into “I rely and trust in You… I yield to You.” So we can say the Lord is the strength of our lives. He is our strength. Let’s say that together. The Lord is the strength of my life. For we walk in strength when we know Him. We move in strength when we yield to Him. I think we should continually throughout our days when we sense a little weakness, just say, “I’m strong in Him. He is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord, for it. I want to do some exploits, don’t you? For the Lord!
Thank You for strengthening us, for supernatural Holy Spirit given strength from heaven. We yield our hearts and give you all of our future steps and plans. We want to do what You want us to do. You are leading us. We’re strong in You. Nothing is impossible with You. We’re moving through.
A few weeks ago, we basically left the virus, believing that it was annihilated. Gone at the roots. That’s how we can be joyful and receive His strength and keep moving ahead. If we only focus our attention backwards or sideways on things we can see in the natural, we’ll miss out on the preparations that need to be made for those days that are to come. Things are getting better. We can sense it in our hearts, but we know it because of what You said in Your Word. Thank You for Your Word.
Communion…
If you have your elements, I want to remind you of a couple things. When we take these elements, we are bringing to our remembrance things He’s already done. Before we take the bread as He did, we’ll read Isaiah 53:4, “Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.”
Hallelujah! We’re healed and blessed! So as we take the bread, we remind ourselves we are healed.
Verse 23, When I receive from the Lord himself that which I passed unto you it was given to me personally that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was delivered up and while His betrayal was in progress, he took bread. While all that was going on, He knew it. Verse 24, and when He had given thanks… We thank You for what was done on our behalf then. He broke it. Let’s do that. And said, “Take eat for this is my body which is broken for you. Do this to call me affectionately to remembrance.” Let’s do it. Thank You, Lord, for what was done through Your Son on the cross. The stripes He took on His back, thank You. We remind ourselves how blessed and healed we are.
Then verse 25, Similarly, when supper was ended, He took the cup also saying, this cup is the New Covenant. It’s been ratified and established in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it to call me affectionately to remembrance. Then in Revelation 12:11, And they have overcome by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony.
So let’s take the cup and remember what the shed blood of Jesus has done for us.
Annie led in worship…
♪ We thank You for the blood… there’s power in the blood… ♪
Pastor Ray…
John 16:13 says, “But when he the spirit of truth, the truth giving spirit, comes he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak his own message on his own authority but will tell whatever he hears from the Father. He will give the message that’s been given to him and he will announce and declare to you [that’s us] the things that are to come, that will happen in the future. 14 He will honor and glorify me because he will take of, receive, draw upon what is mine and will reveal to you everything that the father has is mine. That is what I mean when I said that he, the spirit, will take the things that are mine and will reveal to you.
I know that’s happening! There are declarations in us that we must bring forth. There are disclosures, things that we see and know that need to be lifted and prayed about and we know that by the spirit he is transmitting some things to our spirits so that we know some things about how things will turn out. We’re not of the world. We are born again and only temporarily living here. Our home is in heaven. We’re Spirit filled, spirit beings. So there are transmissions going on transmitting what He wants us to declare.
Prayed…
Greater… those things will be restored many times over… many seven times greater… (That’s what I heard in my tongues)… so keep up… keep lifting the Word up… go right decisions… Holy Spirit, God given decisions will be made in these days… so we look up and ahead… we call things that are not as though they were… yes, there is a shaking but we are standing on solid ground… and the church will not be shaken but the church shall stand strong… come what may, come what will, we are on the word to stay… showing… revealing… uncovering… opening… steady… thank You, Lord, we’ll stay stead and strong… we confess it over ourselves: we’re strong in You… we overcome through You… we’re not behind but on time… the keys, Lord… we hold up the keys… there are keys that lock and keys that open up… in Jesus’ name, we use that key to lock some things down and say “never again. You’re never coming back and do what you did again. You’re locked up in Jesus’ name.”… we use our keys to open up good and great things… doors for the future… open, open, open those plans and assignments… we brush off all fear… get out! Leave! Go! … Out! Be gone! We break your hold because of the blood and the name of Jesus…
Annie led in worship…
♪ Jesus, we whisper His name… and He will answer us… Jesus, we whisper His name… though He is worthy… we call on His name… Jesus, we call on His name… ♪
Pastor Ray…
All over America it’s restoration time! Psalm 91 begins by saying, “He who…” that’s us.
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].
2 I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!
3 For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
4 [Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.
8 Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place,
10 There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.
11 For He will give His angels [especial] charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways [of obedience and service].
12 They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.
14 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
