Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to those of you who are joining us online; great to have you with us.
Jonah prayed when he was in a difficult circumstance…
As we talked about yesterday, one of the most needful things is for us to daily hear what the Spirit is saying. As I was preparing for this morning, I was reminded of some different verses, and I want to share a couple with you. I love the story of Jonah. It’s not just a story we learned in Sunday school long ago, but it is truth in reality and recorded history even beyond the Bible. And the scripture reads in Jonah 2. It says, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.” In other words, from difficult circumstances, literally a dark night of his soul in the belly of that fish. He prayed from a difficult place. And the Bible says in verse two, “And he said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction and He answered me.” Isn’t that awesome? Out of the belly of Sheol, or a dark place, “I cried out and you heard my voice.” God hears your voice this morning. Your cry from the depths of your being, He hears that.
Like what happened to Jonah, the enemy will have to vomit you onto dry land too…
And if read the rest of the chapter, you’ll find out that the fish vomited, gave up Jonah unto dry land. In other words, the enemy couldn’t hold him down, couldn’t hold him back. And the same is true for you this morning. If you’re going through some not very certain circumstances or some difficulty, the enemy cannot hold you back and cannot hold you down. Your difficulty, what you’re facing, make no mistake about, does have an expiration date. And if I can just prophesy out of the gate this morning what the enemy meant for harm, for evil, for downfall, for failure, if you will respond out of the spirit of Jonah and turn your attention to Him, it’s going to work out for your benefit. It’s going to backfire in the enemy’s face, what you’ve been through, what you’ve faced, the trial that you’ve endured, the patience that you’ve deployed day after day is going to work out to your benefit. It’s going to cause you to grow stronger.
In fact, I say that over you today. “You’re growing stronger. We as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ are growing stronger. We know from the Word that our destination, our destiny, is that we would grow brighter and brighter, that we would go from victory to victory, from glory to glory, onward and upward into the face and presence of God. Until one day we are like Enoch. We were, and then we are in His presence.”
Philippians 1:6…
In Philippians 1:6 Paul says, “I am convinced and sure of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ,” or right up until the time of His return, “developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.”
God is at work, continuing to…
It’s a good day today because God is at work continuing to fulfill, to perform, to accomplish, to work in you what is good and what is right, and what His intent for your life on the inside and on the outside of your existence. The Spirit of God is at work today. We declare He’s at work in America today. He’s at work right here at Living Word today. We declare He’s at work in your family today, in your marriage today. We declare that He’s at work in your finances today, in the heart of your pastor and leaders and our president and nations decision makers. He’s at work today. He’s continuing the good work He began in America long ago. He began in the church long ago. He began in you and me long ago.
Whether you realize it or not, that’s a prayer right there. We’re just declaring some things today. We’re planting some faith seeds, some God intentions into the realm of the spirit. God has called us to be just that… to shape and create not just your individual world, but to shape and create and tear down and erect what He intends with your words.
Don’t wave the white flag…
Somebody say, “Continue!” We declare today the work of God continues. The plan of God continues. Don’t wave the white flag. Don’t throw in the towel. Don’t kick your faith stance to the curb. Stand up this morning. Just continue. Oftentimes, the plan and will of God on a daily basis is to just continue, to not grow weary in well doing, which is to believe fundamentally. That’s the greatest thing we can do today. Simply believe and go with God and say what He’s saying. Because He will continue that good work until the day of Jesus Christ, right up until the time of His return. Developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.
I’m reminded that after all the Bible proclaims that we are destined to grow up into the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ Himself. And so even the difficulty and the delay…a delay is not a denial. But even in the delay, God is working. God is continuing to form in you. And in your behavior and in your thought patterns and in your day-to-day routines, the image of Jesus. How many of you know Jesus went through some difficult things? He overcame some things. And so we too in the spirit of Jesus are overcoming some things. Hallelujah!
“For I know this will turn.”
Scripture reads in Philippians 1:19, Paul records “For I know this will turn.” I could just stop right there. “For I know this will turn.” Can you just sense and hear the faith dripping from Paul’s utterance there. For I know. There’s no gray there. There’s no middle there. It’s just, “I know.” Do you know this morning? God wants you to know that this will turn… you fill in the blank. Those symptoms will turn and are turning. Healing is sweeping over your body I declare this. That messy situation relationally, God is working to resolve. And He’s calling out the big guns, so to speak, to work on your behalf. Amen.
“For I know” Paul says, “that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” I like that!
Romans 8:26–28, New King James…
And then a familiar verse we read from time to time in the New King James; Romans in verse 26–28. It says, “Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weakness, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Continue, continue, don’t throw in the towel…
Do you hear Him this morning? The Holy Spirit’s interceding for you. The rank and file of heaven is cheering us on this morning saying, “Continue, continue. It’s turning. Things are changing. Your best days are right before you. Don’t throw in the towel. Don’t give up on what you first believed. Don’t look to the right or don’t look to the left but look onward and upward to Jesus for your salvation, your deliverance, your returning, your restoration. Your answer is closer than when you first believed.”
Amen! Don’t get it mixed up. God is certain what He’s going to do in your life. His Word is certain, right? There’s no shadow of turning in Him or in His Word. He’s certain that you’re going to go from one place to the next place of glory, that you’re going to have exactly what you see in your heart, exactly what you’ve prayed, exactly what you’ve professed. Just continue!
All things work together for good…
So in verse 28, it says, “And we know that all things work together for good.” For good… not for bad, not for evil, not for a mediocre middle, barely enough. But we know “it works together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Jude 1:20…
And so then the other verse that came to me last night was Jude 1:20. It says, “But you beloved, build yourselves up, founded on your most holy faith. Make progress, rise like an edifice.” In other words, advance higher and higher. How? By praying in the Holy Spirit.
He said, “Pray more in the Spirit and less in your understanding.”
I heard a man share a testimony how years ago he asked the Lord what was the one most important game changing truth that he could embrace and know. And very quickly the Lord showed up and spoke to him. The Lord said to him, “Pray more in the Spirit and less in your understanding.” That’s what Jude 1:20 is saying. That there’s a progress that’s made. There’s a continuation of the plan. There is an advancement. There is a rising in the plan and the purpose of God. There’s a dissemination and a transmission of skillful wisdom for daily living and ministry and victory that occurs when we pray in the Spirit, and in our known language under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
How many of you know that the Spirit of God has some prayers for you to pray today? As Pastor Lynne has taught us, He grants prayer. He’s giving inspiration to your vocalization. He’s giving inspiration to what there is for you to say today. Your words must be intentional. Choose them wisely. As it says in the “Last Crusade” in Indiana Jones movie “Last Crusade,” that monk or that that old man says, “Choose wisely” to Indie. Right? Choose your words wisely.
“Prayers and Decrees That Activate Angel Armies” by Tim Sheets
So let me read something here and then we’ll jump into some prayer. Again, I’ve read from this a couple of times. This is from a book entitled “Prayers and Decrees That Activate Angel Armies” by Tim Sheets. It’s written in devotional formats. He has Spirit-inspired eloquence in some of the things he’s sharing. And I thought I’d share this with you because it goes along with what I’m saying.
He starts with Isaiah 51:16, which states, “I have put my words in your mouth. I have covered you with the shadow of my hand that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth and say to Zion, you are my people.” So God is prophesying and highlighting the importance of intentional Spirit-inspired utterance… or words or what you say with your mouth. Amen?
And he goes on to write in this devotional, “In this verse in Isaiah, God talks about words sounding forth from the mouth of his sons and daughters.” In other words, His heirs into the realm of the heavens or the earth. “This again emphasizes that words are seeds, word-seed decrees. This also includes prayer because prayers are words of communication seeded into the heavens.”
It was in the news recently a country had been seeding clouds and had some results in it producing rain and precipitation. They go up into the clouds, they seed them. And for some reason, I don’t know scientifically how it works, precipitation is the result. Well, is it possible that our words seed the heavens and seed the spirit dimension so that there’s a precipitation of the plan of God? In other words, a result, an answer, a coming forth, or as I said yesterday, a delivering from one realm to another because of the words that we speak.
So I get it that we are called to do some things and engage in some things naturally. But the tip of the spear, the first step on any given day or moment in our lives is with our mouths. Life and death, once again, is in the power of your tongue. Not just Pastor Mac’s tongue or Kenneth Hagin’s tongue, but our tongue … each individually, we have a choice to make today. And our continuation in the plan of God, our running a race of faith occurs first with our mouths. We lead the way. The tip of the spear is in our words, in what we say.
And so Tim goes on to say, “Prayer is speech to God, making requests. But it is also at times a decree of God’s promises. Prayers express confidence in God’s answering abilities.” Are you confident this morning in His answering ability? “Or they may ask for divine intervention into a situation. From the beginning, God’s original intent was for His sons and daughters, His heirs, to open their mouths and declare His Words into the earth. He has put His Words in your mouth so that you may plant it in the heavens and the earth.”
He goes on to say “The word for plant in Hebrew is the word nata, and it means to plant, to fix, or to set in place. God Himself was the original gardener and we have inherited that job from Him as His heirs. The entire universe is made to harken to the voice of God’s Word.”
Just think about that for a moment. The entire universe! I mean, God has wired things up, set things in motion, put things in place all around you in the spirit dimension and in this natural realm, including your body in such a way that it responds to your word.
“Can you say that, Ken?”
Even science is corroborating that, right? I’ve often referenced how we know for a fact we can measure, that your speech center is directly hooked up, wired up to your central nervous system. We can measure responses in the human body. We can measure certain results already scientifically because of what we say. How much more must the effect and the response be in the spirit dimension around you when you say, when you pray, when you decree, when you open your mouth and offer up a heart of expression and praise to God.
Oh, there’s just some things that God is wanting us to open up now … that we’ve not opened up, including in the realm of worship. You don’t necessarily need music. It’s nice to have music, but you can sit on the floor of your bedroom or a closet or be on a lonely walk somewhere in nature and begin to just express a heart of gratitude to God. Begin to worship Him and sing praises to Him and press into Him.
We don’t have to stop when we get uncomfortable or distracted. In fact, the Spirit of God often is saying, “Take a step beyond your uncomfortableness and your distraction and press into Me.” Because in that, there’s a step of faith. In that, there’s a connecting to our hearts. In that, there is a connecting with the heart of God. Amen.
I challenge you!
I challenge you this morning! I double dog dare you this morning to lean in with worship. Like I said yesterday, it’s not that we need another word. Just go back to the last word that God spoke to you. Pull it out of your sheath and begin swinging it. And that word may be, “Praise Me.”
In the short version of the Westminster Catechism it asks the question, “What is the chief end of man?” And the answer emphatically and succinctly is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.