Ms. Annie…
You know the Bible says, singing to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That’s such a part of my life with God. I just sing to Him. It’s prayer. When my heart is crying out, wanting to connect with my Jesus, with my Father, often what comes out is a song.
Ms. Annie led us singing By Your Side I Would Stay
Ms. Annie….
John was the disciple who Jesus loved. Guess who said that? John did!
John was leaning back against Jesus the night before His suffering. Why did He have the confidence to do that? I have thought about that a lot.
Peter said to John, “Hey! Ask Him which one it is.” And John didn’t have a problem with that. He was leaning back on Jesus’ bosom and looked up into those beautiful eyes and said, “Lord, which one is it?” Jesus didn’t say, “Well, if you pray for five years and fast for ten days…” Jesus just told Him because they were bosom brothers and He was the one who knew Jesus loved Him.
Do you ever have days when you think, I just don’t think I measure up? I just don’t think I love Him enough?
It’s not about how much we love Him. It’s about knowing how much He loves us. So, we don’t withhold our hearts from Him because He never withholds from us. Hallelujah.
Can you tell where I’ve been walking the last day or two? I’ve had to meditate on the truth, that I can rest in His love and not trust in my love for Him. Does that make sense? My love for Him is never going to seem like enough.
But behold what manner of love the Father has loved us, that He gave us His only Son. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Pastor Ray…
The more you sing that, the more I see that. And it causes such a peace in us to know that instead of, “Am I talking to Him enough? Do I love Him enough?” But to know that He first loved us. That can melt you, for sure. Well, I want to be melted. Hallelujah!
Ms. Annie…
I love to imagine that. When I’m fretting, when I’m concerned, when I’m anxious, I will force myself to imagine I’m that disciple Jesus loved and I’m resting there with my head on his bosom and I’m looking up into those eyes. Imagine looking up! Look up into His eyes. What do you see there? Whoa! Eyes of fire but the fire is pure love and it’s love for you. It’s love for me. It’s love that gave everything so that we can be loved.
We didn’t deserve it. I deserve to go to Hell! But instead, He gave me a place on His bosom, in His Heart because that’s who He is. Oh, hallelujah. Jesus, we can never love You enough. Thank You that You give us Your love. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah.
Ms. Jeani…
I love the effortlessness of that! The Word says that we love because He first loved us? Even when we love Him, we’re loving with the love that He has for us. So, even loving Him is effortless!
Pastor Ray…
That reminds me that Pastor Lynne always said that He loves Her the best.
I remember coming out of the previous building we were in. I came out of the front door of the building and Pastor Lynne is sitting in her car. The window is down and it’s not running. She was just sitting in there. I can’t even describe the look on her face. I probably should have just walked on by but I came up to her window. She said, “Oh, I was just in the garden and I was seeing that He was raised up, alive.
She would do that more than once. She would see herself in the Word, what the Lord would be saying through the Word, and see herself right there in that Word. I love it. That’s kind of like that. Just the seeing that absolute love that He has for all of us. Wow.
Not everything we Hear is true. Not everything we Hear is the Lord or the Word. So, one of my favorite books from Kenneth Hagin is, How to Be Led by the Spirit.
When Kenneth was a teenager, he was sixteen months bed-ridden and almost paralyzed. He couldn’t get out of bed but he began to read the Word and read the Word and read the Word and He received his Healing.
The following excerpt was taken from How You Can BE Led By The Spirit of God by Kenneth E. Hagin:
No one was in the room when I received my healing. I had been getting up and walking around the room for a couple of days before I said to Momma, “Please bring me a pair of shoes and socks, some underclothes, and a pair of pants and a shirt. (I had worn nothing but bedclothes for 16 months.) I am going to get up and go to the breakfast table in the morning.”
“Oh, son, do you know what you’re doing?”
It took me 45 minutes to talk her into the notion of laying out those clothes for me.
Now you could just mark it down. Grandpa got up early and sat out on the porch swing. When you heard that porch swing creak as he got up and headed toward the back of the house to the dining room, there was no use in looking at your watch; it was 7:30. Grandpa ran on schedule. If you did look at your watch, and it didn’t say 7:30, you had better set it. It was 7:30.
My bedroom was in the front of the house. At 7:30 that August morning I heard that porch swing creak. I heard his footsteps as he walked to the back of the house. I was already fully clothed, sitting in a chair in my room. I gave them time to get seated at the table. Then I walked out of my room, across another bedroom, and into the dining room.
They did not expect that. Grandpa, a man of few words, looked up and said, “Is the dead raised? Is Lazarus raised up?”
I said, “Yes, the Lord has raised me up.”
Then he asked me to offer the blessing. I prayed. And we ate. It is amazing how quickly you can eat if you don’t talk so much. You didn’t talk at Grandpa’s table—especially the young folks. Within 15 minutes we were finished.
I went back to my room. It was 10 minutes till 8 o’clock. I knew Momma would come in about 8 o’clock to make up the bed. Usually I was in it and she would give me my bath. Just two days before, the day I was healed, she had bathed me. I was that helpless. So this Thursday morning, even though my heart was beating right, I felt weak from exerting so much energy.
So I thought, I’m just going to lie down across the bed and rest till Momma comes to clean the room. Then I’ll go out and sit with Grandpa in the swing. I had in mind to walk uptown about 10 o’clock.
I dozed off to sleep and slept ten minutes. At 8 o’clock I suddenly became wide awake. I thought Momma was in the room. Someone was in the room. I didn’t see him, but I heard this voice to me it was audible.
The voice spoke in a slow, deep monotone and even quoted scripture. It said, “AND WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOR THAT APPEARETH FOR A TIME, AND THEN VANISHETH AWAY”
There was a pause.
Then the voice said, “AND TODAY THOU SHALT SURELY DIE.”
Every voice is not God. The first audible voice I ever heard was the devil, but I didn’t recognize that then. I thought God was right there in that room.
I sat up in the bed. Thoughts came into my mind faster than machine gun bullets fly I knew James said, “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). I knew that was scripture. And I knew the Lord told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah, ‘Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live” (Isa. 38:1).
Also, for the first six months of being bedfast, before I had known about divine healing, I had prayed the only way I understood. The doctors had said I had to die and I had accepted it, so I had prayed, “Lord, just let me know ahead of time, so I will have time to tell everyone goodbye.”
So when I heard this voice speaking to me, I thought God has moved in this supernatural way to let you know you are going to die so you will have time to tell everyone good-bye. Divine healing is right. You have been healed. (The devil couldn’t argue that. I already had the Word on that.) Your family knows you have been healed. They can see that.
But remember, the Bible said, “It is appointed unto men once to die,” and your appointed time has come. You are going to die today.
I got up off the bed and I tiptoed across the room (I thought God was standing right in that room) and I sat down in a chair by the window. There I waited, from about 8:30 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon, to die.
About 2:30, still sitting in that chair, some words came floating up from somewhere down inside me. I didn’t know then what I know now. But I was born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was in my spirit. And He is the One who wrote the Bible. Holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit knows what is in that Book. Because He was in me, then my spirit knew some things that the Holy Spirit knows.
So these words came floating up from somewhere inside me into my mind, With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
I didn’t listen to them. I just let them float away from me. I still sat there waiting to die.
The second time, these words came floating up from inside me into my mind, With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
I picked them up and turned them over a couple of times in my mind. Then I thought, Yes, but God has moved in this supernatural way to let me know l am going to die today. When I got my mind on that, those words disappeared.
The third time, as I sat there and these words came floating up, that inward something said to my mind, With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
For a moment, I picked them up and repeated them just in my mind. Then I said, in a whisper, “Yes, but God has moved in this supernatural way to let me know that I am going to die.” Again, when I got my mind on that, I missed it.
The fourth time, a little more authoritatively, the Spirit of God spoke. I jumped. I thought someone had slipped up behind me. The voice of the Spirit of God said, “With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”
I said, “Who said that?” I meant, Who is in this room talking to me?
But the voice answered and said, “The 91st Psalm.”
My Bible was on the floor under the chair I had been sitting in all day. I hadn’t even looked at it. I picked it up now and turned to Psalm 91. When I got down to the end, sure enough, it said, “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (V.16).
But do you think the devil will give up that quickly? Oh, no. Another voice–it seemed like something sitting on my shoulder said in my natural ear and mind, “Yes, but that’s in the Old Testament. That’s just for the Jews. That’s not for the Church.”
I sat there and thought for a moment. Then I said, “I know what I’ll do. I will run my references. If I can find anything in the New Testament like that I will know it belongs to me and to the Church.”
I started with Psalm 91. A reference to “with long life” led me into Proverbs. Then the Word began to enlighten me. In Proverbs I began to see that that first audible voice could not have been God.
The voice had quoted Hebrews 9:27, ”And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” but had misinterpreted it, because the devil knew I didn’t know any better, the voice had said, “Everyone has an appointed time to die.” You hear people say that all the time. Even born-again, Spirit-filled Christians say, “When your time comes, you’re going to die.” That is not true. You do not have an appointed time to die.
I read in the Book of Proverbs again and again that if you do certain things, your days will be shortened. But doing other things will add unto you length of days. I knew God’s Word was right. I knew that even though that voice picked a verse out of a chapter and gave it to me, it could not have been God, because it was not in line with the rest of the Word of God.
I continued to run references. This brought me over into the New Testament. I came over to Ephesians 6:1–3. And then into First and Second Peter. And I found that Paul and Peter quoted the Old Testament concerning long life (1 Peter 3:8–12; 2 Peter 1:3).
I jumped up out of that chair with my Bible in one hand. I doubled up my fist, kicked with my foot, and said, “Devil, you get out of here. That was you talking to me. That was you that spoke to me in that supernatural voice. I want you to know that I’m not going to die today! And I’m not going to die tomorrow! And I’m not going to die next week! And I’m not going to die next month! And I’m not going to die next year! And I’m not going to die the next 5 years! And I’m not going to die the next 10 years! And I’m not going to die the next 15 years! And I’m not going to die the next 20 years! And I’m not going to die the next 25 years! And I’m not going to die the next 30 years! And I’m not going to die the next 40 years! And I’m not going to die the next 50 years! And I’m not going to die the next 55 years!
God’s Word says, ‘With long life will I satisfy thee’ (Ps. 91:16) And I’m going to go on living until I’m satisfied!”
Pastor Ray…
What he thought was God’s Word to Him, “You’re dying today” and he was waiting to die, but once he got the revelation that we don’t all have a time to die but it’s up to us! BOOM!
“Well, you know, the Lord took Him.” Have you ever heard that? There was a car accident, “I’m sorry, it was just his time.”
I wanted to just go through that because I believe in these days, when we see and hear things, we can’t yield to the negativity, the rebellion or to all of the lies and inaccuracies about, really what the Word says about you and me.
He has told us that He wishes above all things we’d prosper and be in divine health, prosper in our spirit, prosper in our soul—prosper, prosper, prosper, prosper!
It’s the will of God and it’s the will of God for today. Just like He said, “It’s the will of God for the next five years.” It’s the will of God for the next, whenever! Throughout eternity! It is His Word and my God, your God will never lie! He is the same today. His Word is true today, tomorrow, and all the way through! Hallelujah!
So, let’s get our confessions right! Let’s stand on what we know to stand on! The Word of God!
Ms. Annie…
I was thinking about the story about how Kenneth exited on out of here. That’s kind of a satisfied story. He loved breakfast. It was his favorite meal. I think Ms. Byllie talked about it. And He loved strawberries. And we all know He loved his wife. He said their marriage was heaven on earth. So, He was sitting having breakfast with his wife and eating strawberries and his head just went (her chin dropped).
That’s a satisfied homegoing with those you love and enjoying the things of this earth. I guess I’m satisfied, I’ve had enough strawberries (laughing). That is beautiful.
I loved how He said that some “words came floating up” from inside him. It’s such a lesson and there’s so much in there. We have such a responsibility to put the Word in our heart. If we don’t put the Word in our heart, there’s nothing in there to float up.
And how many times we hear a voice coming from outside that sounds like God, like He did. But how do you know if it’s God or not? You know from what floats up from the Word of God, inside.
And that’s such a precious lesson. to just hide the Word in our hearts. It’ll keep us from being deceived.
Ms. Annie led us singing By His word
So, Lord, we choose your Words. We prize your Words highly, Lord. We esteem Your Words more than are necessary food. We hide your Words in our hearts that we might not sin against You. And Your words are life to us who find them. Your Words are healing and health to all our flesh.
By your Words Your servants are made wise. Hallelujah! Your Words are found, and I do eat them. Your Words are the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. I meditate on Your Words, day and night. I bind them about my neck. I write them on the tablet of my heart. I speak of them when I sit down, when I rise up, when I sit in my house, and when I walk in the way. And Your Words keep my feet on the path of righteousness. Hallelujah. Glory to God!
Ms. Jeani…
John 12 says, six days before the Passover began, Jesus went back to Bethany. The town where He raised Lazarus from the dead. Before He even went back to Bethany, He was in the wilderness with the disciples because He had just raised Lazarus from the dead and now He was in big trouble. But then He returns. (tongues)
He returns to the place of controversy and it was there that Mary anointed Him and prepared Him.
Anything at all that looks impossible, even right now, anything controversial, anything… Jesus returns. He returns to those places and the finished work is finished.
The mystery of Jesus returning to the place of resurrection right before He was about to be resurrected! And in the midst of that, the people of God anointed Him! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
He would not allow controversy! He would not allow fear to keep Him from returning to the place and to receive the greatest sacrifice from Mary! The anointing of the oil! The costly, costly fresh oil!
We just tell anything controversial. the ending is life—which is the beginning! Anything controversial right now, “Life! Life!” Resurrection come out of it!
Father, those things that look impossible. Father, we thank You that with You, Jesus already finished it!
It’s time for the finished work to manifest here in America! Here at Living Word! The finished work to manifest! Today! Today! Today! Today!
He went back and He ate with Lazarus! He went back and He ate with Lazarus! (tongues)
And Mary! This question keeps coming up in me! “Why did You go back to that place, Jesus?”
Why was that the designated area? There’s a mystery in that You may have for us, right now. (tongues) Lazarus! Lazarus coming back! Raised from the dead! Did you come back in the middle, in the middle of controversy? You go right back there! You go right back there and then you do an even greater work! And then you do an even greater work! (tongues)
So, we declare today the Church will not shy away from those things that are controversial!
She runs in! She rushes in! She completes her assignment and the finished work manifests! The finished work manifests! Dominion, kingdom dominion, coming upon the earth!
As Pastor Folu says, “Revival! Is already here!”
Pastor Folu…
Saints, just like my sister said, revival is already here. We’re not waiting to go into revival. If you have been revived, guess what? We are in revival. If you have been revived, you are in revival.
That means everywhere you go, the people around you, just because of your presence, just because you are in that space, the touch of God, the presence of God that is in you begins to operate. Especially, if you see it as such. And then because of you and because of the Word of God that is in you, that whole atmosphere gets changed. Because wherever you are, God is. Because you are the sons and the daughters of the Living God.
And in these last days God says, I will perform a show – a show! a show! a show! And the show will come through you! And the show will be a demonstration of the Holy Ghost that is in and on you and operating through you!
So, it’s time for a Holy Ghost show! Hahaha! It’s time for the joy of the Lord to spring forth like never before! The show, the show, the show of the Holy Ghost coming in and through you, my brother! Coming in and through you, my sister the show. (tongues)…
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Acts 10:38 (KJV)
Now saints, I want you to see yourself from that vantage point. How God anointed you! Cause Jesus is not here right now. You are here. I am here. It’s how God anointed YOU. Some of us need to go to town on that! Just that verbiage right there! Meditate on that!
A lot of times the enemy is speaking and he’s speaking so loudly that even… It’s like Ms. Annie said. We need to hide the Word of God in our hearts. God has anointed you. Let’s just have a Selah there for a minute. Let’s just ponder that right there, how God anointed you just like He did Jesus.
Some people might say that is a blasphemy. How can you say that? God anointed me just like He anointed Jesus?
Actually, He did. Remember Jesus said the you and I will even do greater works than He did. Why would Jesus say something like that? Just think about all that He did and that He’s going to say that His sons and daughters would do greater than He did? Why? Why?
Because it’s God. It’s God. How God anointed you. Just let that soak in for a few seconds, saints. Cause it doesn’t matter what level you are in, it’s always glory to glory; it’s always strength to strength.
Even if you’ve been on this journey for the past 50 years and working very closely with the Lord, the Lord says, My son or daughter, there’s more. Especially, in these last days, there is more.
Ms. Annie led us singing You Live Within Me, Oh Lord
Ms. Jeani…
I’m thinking about that beautiful moment when Mary poured out the oil on Jesus feet and then dried His feet with her hair. And about the humility that Jesus practiced in just receiving from Mary and the humility that’s required from us to receive from the Father. The boldness of sacrifice that Mary had.
Father, the church is a ready to receive because whenever we humble ourselves before You, we are only positioning ourselves to receive. And You demonstrated it for us.
And because You did it, we can do it. What an honor it is to offer it all to You!
And thank You for receiving. Just the honor of You receiving from us! And being the example of what it looks like to receive. If You received, You live in us and we can receive. So even right now we let You into any place where we resisted receiving.
Word of the Lord came forth…
So just because you’ve seen Me (and you have) move for thee and do things that you could not do, do not doubt that I went back to Bethany to celebrate with Lazarus and thank the Father above for what happened to him, brought back life. But I was looking ahead unto what I would do which would be a greater work for you! For the world, for the earth, for every man, woman, and child throughout history – Freedom.
And in these days, yes you have seen Me, you have seen Me move, you have experienced by the Spirit a flow and a knowing, growing. But I am about to show up in a new entirely different way than you’ve seen Me before today. So, look up, look out, look ahead! I am about to do double what you’ve seen before. Double what you’ve heard before. Double what you’ve walked in before. For these are greater days in these days, now!
Ms. Annie les us singing Holy Spirit You Are Welcome In This Place
Pastor Ray…
A larger vision, a larger vision. You’re so welcome in this place.
The spirit of seeing, especially the spirit of seeing, is on the increase and we’ll begin to see things we’ve never seen before and we’ll begin to experience those things like we’ve never experienced them before. And so, what was done for us and what is done for us, what was finished for us, we’ll step over into and we’ll begin to see it over in this natural realm, actually coming true. Thank You, Lord.
I like how we did that before, just a little Selah and just thinking about it. We think on it, that we’ll experience in many ways the things that we have experienced but they’ll be doubly better, greater in these last days. For in these days, the time is picking up. The time is moving more quickly, and we are on a march of victory.
So we’ll not quit. We’ll not give up. We’ll not turn around. We’ll not sit down. We’ll never, never, never go back.
Thank You for what You’ve done, Father, in the past. But we’re looking ahead, believing to see everything You said in Your Word come to pass in you and me.
Oh, Thank Hou, Lord, for the Church, the body of Christ, today, on the alert, getting up, rising up, speaking, declaring, and commanding—this is the way it shall be, in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Amen. Glory.
Thank you for coming today, for joining with us. We’re joined with you and we’re blessed. Amen! Hallelujah.
