Pastor Ken…
Good morning! Happy Tuesday everyone. Great to have you with us.
Check out The Prayer Movement…
If you haven’t already, check out the Living Word Facebook page and check out our groups. And if you haven’t already, join our Prayer Movement Facebook group. You can also go to theprayermovement.com. We’ve got a prayer page with some resources and other online groups that you can join in various time zones around the world. So check that out. And there’s a link there where you can join The Prayer Movement Facebook group. So be sure to check that out.
Next-level praying…
As I was thinking a little bit this morning and as we’ve been talking about 2023 these last few days, I was reminded that 2023 is a year for next-level praying and next-level ministry and next-level purpose and calling that God intends for us. And that, as we said last week, the best first step for 2023 is to lean in and reconnect and recommit to intimacy with our Heavenly Father, to following hard after Him… to engaging Him deeply, consistently in connection and fellowship in hosting His presence. I guess what I was thinking is that God wants to mentor us into the next level of His plan for our future. He wants to show us and coach us how to receive what He’s already prepared for 2023… for you and for me.
Things happen when we get into His presence and His presence gets into us…
And that comes through intimacy, through time with Him, through sitting and through hosting His presence. When we get into His presence and His presence gets into us, things start to happen. He begins to counsel us. The Holy Spirit, above all things, He’s a counselor. He’s a teacher.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus Himself said “How be it when He the Spirit of truth comes” that’s God the Holy Spirit. “He will guide you into all the truth.” Not only truth regarding His Word, but truth regarding what He intends for your future and your life. He’ll guide you into that. He’ll lead you. He’ll counsel. He’ll mentor you in that.
Enter into from a place of presence…
And He has some things for you in the coming days that you will only enter into from a place of presence, from a place of intimacy with the Father, from a place where you allow Him to counsel you, to mentor you, or as I like to say, coach you. God the Holy Spirit this morning is hovering over us. The Bible says the Spirit of God hovers over His people. And He wants to mentor and coach and instruct and guide. He wants to inspire us.
God literally grants prayers…
Pastor Lynne has taught us that God literally grants prayers. He delegates, He gives us, He inspires in us divine utterances. It may be just a word to say. I said yesterday that you’re born into this earth to ask. It seems really simple, but it really is that simple. Why? Because God wants to do it. He wants to grant prayer through you. He wants you to walk and exercise your God-given dominion. He wants you to bind and to loose, to wield and become very skillful in the usage of the Keys of the Kingdom. Because in that co-laboring between earth and heaven, heaven and earth, in the middle of that, God begins to flow. The work of God has transacted. We engage and begin to taste, as the Bible says, of the powers of the coming age.
What? What are you talking about?
Well, Paul, the apostle talked about tasting of the powers of the coming age. The powers of the coming age is simply the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus and the power that outflows from that resurrection, that great spiritual turbine, that great power source is the resurrection. And in Romans 8:10, from the Passion translation, it says, “Now Christ lives His life in you.” And even though your body may be dead because of the effects of sin, or will one day die, right? It’s appointed to every person to die once and then the resurrection of the body. It says, “your body may be dead because of the effects of sin, His life-giving spirit imparts life to you.” Somebody needs to receive that this morning. He’s imparting life to you. He’s brooding. He’s hovering over you and your circumstances and that situation and that dead thing. Maybe it’s a dream, maybe it’s a relationship, maybe it’s a financial deal that’s “dead on arrival” in some way. Can I just announce this morning, the Spirit of God is alive and well and planet earth and He’s hovering over you, your church, your ministry, your business. He’s got intentions… and they’re good intentions! He’s got a plan, and as the scripture reads, He’s got a good plan. Hallelujah!
Dealers in hope…
As pray-ers, we’re dealers in hope. We’re here to release the parking brake on God’s plan to release hope, to release the good things that He intends for you and for me, and for our church and our cities and our nations. We get to participate in that. The heavenly hosts are cheering us on in this hour. I can almost hear them saying, “Keep going! You got this! Get after it! Go! Run! Chase after God. Do the work. Preach the word. Pray those granted inspired of the spirit prayers. Let the lightnings of God be transacted through the laying on of your hands.”
Let your minds be saturated with resurrection power and to think in new ways, create in new ways, solve problems in new ways. Raise the dead, cast out demonic entities that have attached themselves to people’s souls and have kept them bound in many cases, years and decades.
This is the hour…
This is that hour that the prophets spoke of. This is that hour! You are that people! This is the time! And if you’ll move with God and let Him move in you, then guess what? By default, we become the next move of God. We’re not like waiting on something. God is moving. And if we’ll move with Him, like the children of Israel moved with the cloud by day and moved with the pillar that burned with fire by night. If we’ll move with the Spirit this morning and today as we go throughout our day, no matter how mundane, repetitious our day may seem, the Spirit of God is brooding and hovering over you, over your spirit, over your life.
We were born with spiritual DNA…
We were born with spiritual DNA to be aware of God the Holy Spirit and become very intimate with His workings and movements, to more and more be aware of Him and move with Him in our thoughts, in our words, even subconsciously, without even knowing it at times, because our hearts are crying out to Him. And our lives are just, “Lord, we just yield and surrender to you.” And as a result, He’s able to move, He’s able to breathe, He’s able to do supernaturally.
Don’t get it mixed up…
Oh, don’t get it mixed up, as I say. The supernatural isn’t a bunch of fireworks that are sparkly and loud. Oftentimes as brother Kenneth Hagin used to say, the supernatural of God is very, very peaceful and at times unassuming. But nonetheless powerful and profound and life changing for all those involved.
So get that this morning. Open your heart up in prayer and in your daily life and say, “Lord, move in me. Move through me. I will follow you.” Because as we move, He moves. And we become the next move of God.
We’re fully accepted… fully forgiven…
Once again, Romans 8:10 says, “Now Christ lives His life in you. And even though your body may be dead because of the effects of sin, His life-giving Spirit imparts life to you because you are fully accepted by God.” Come on now! You’re fully accepted… fully forgiven… completely loved… you’re sanctified. He sees you as lovely and beautiful in His sight. You’re the apple of His eye, not because of what you’ve done right or what you’ve not done wrong, but because of the graciousness and the fullness of a beautiful work done on our behalf by one, Jesus Christ of Nazareth… the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Hook your hope onto the promise of God…
Verse 11 says, “Yes, God raised Jesus to life, and since God’s spirit of resurrection lives in you, He will also raise your dying body.” If that’s for you, if you’re feeling like you’re dying in some way, emotionally, mentally, relationally, financially, if there’s some physical things going on or a negative doctor’s report, just grab a hold of that. Hook your hope to the promise of God this morning. Say something different today. Say what God is saying. Say what He’s saying.
That’s what faith is. Faith is agreeing with God despite how you feel. We get to glory when we feel weak or we don’t know, or the future looks onerous. Why? Because, as Paul said, when we are weak, He is strong. God is leading on purpose the church up to a place, up to the very boundary or precipice where we can’t and don’t know or have it because at that point then God shows up.
He is the God of the supernatural…
But if we always just stay at what is known and comfortable and convenient, then we really won’t experience what God wants and can do that is far above and beyond what we can do. He is after all, the God of the supernatural. He is well able. His eyes burn with fire. Wherever He walks in our lives, He leaves molten footprints of fire. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is burning bright. He lives within you if you professed His name. And He wants to release this resurrection power through your praying here and as you go about your day. He wants to release fire into your body this morning. He wants to release holy fire into your soul. He wants to bind up wounds. He wants to stop the bleeding and impart refreshing and life and hope and courage.
Resurrection life lives in you…
So resurrection life lives in you. It says He will also raise your dying body to life by the same Spirit that breathes life into you. Oh, I love that! There’s such an anointing available to us in this hour. Don’t live informed exclusively by your five physical senses. Drop from here, your head into your heart and recognize that the resurrection of Jesus wasn’t just to forgive you of your sins. That’s huge if it was just for that. That would be enough to shout and praise Him for eternity. But that same resurrection released a continual flow of power to and toward you and me for eternity. Enough power to do what needs to be done today.
Norval Hayes, anointed man of God…
I’m thinking of a story Norval Hayes shared many years ago, a great man of God who has gone to be with Jesus in heaven. Many years ago he went to the Philippines to do some missions work and to do some things for God at that time. And one of the things he did is he spent a great deal of time praying and fasting and God used him miraculously to deliver a number of people in the nation that were possessed of demonic entities. And in many ways, at the time, held the nation hostage through these strongholds that had occupied and taken up residents and some certain people. And he was able to bring deliverance to them miraculously.
And he said the next day after all that had occurred, a minister somewhere invited him to go play golf nonetheless on a course somewhere in the Philippines. And when he was out golfing, he went to the first hole and he hit a hole in one, which was extremely rare, right? I’m not a golfer, but I know that that’s rare. The next hole he got up to tee off and he hit another hole in one! And as he recounts it, he went to the third hole and hit a third hole in one, which is like unheard of… really impossible statistically, right?
Norval Hayes he was mentored by Smith Wigglesworth. He spent time with him in Smith Wigglesworth’s later years. So you know he had a spirit of faith about him. A no nonsense, bold, “I don’t play” sort of faith with the devil. And so God used Norvel in some mighty ways when it came to setting captives free.
I don’t want to waste this anointing on golf…
So after that third hole in one, which really is impossible, he threw his clubs down and said, “I’m done. I don’t want to waste this anointing on golf.” And he turned to his assistance and said, “Let’s go schedule some meetings and let’s go turn the devil’s territory upside down and bring life and resurrection power to this nation.” That’s what the power of God was intended to do, to bring life and bring hope and healing and deliverance and freedom to the captives. And so he would go on to host some great meetings there in the Philippines where thousands of people came to Christ. Deliverances and healings and the miraculous were commonplace for the weeks into the future.
If that anointing is available to him, it’s available to us…
So I use that as a story just to kind of jog your consciousness and your mindset to think, “Wow. If that was available to him, what’s available to me that I’m not taking advantage of in prayer and in my daily life?” The power of God will morph to be what it needs to be for you today and in our praying.
The Ark of the Covenant a.k.a the presence of God…
Under the Old Covenant, a lesser covenant if you will than our new and better covenant according to the Scriptures, which was represented primarily by the ark of the covenant, the Bible says wherever that ark went, change occurred, good things happened. Wherever the ark went before the people of Israel, the enemies were routed by the hand and the angelic armies of God. They didn’t even have to fight. Wherever the ark went, a.k.a the presence of God, the people of God prospered and thrived, had wisdom to know how to deal with nations around them with their own enemies. In some accounts, the grass grew greener and the crops grew more prolific wherever the ark or the presence of God went. Well, guess what? You and I have been made into new creatures, a new ark, if you will, for the presence of God. It is with us. It’s in us. It’s about yielding and surrendering and becoming more aware of that divine resurrected power of the coming age that’s already in us. God gave it to us as a down payment of our salvation… the presence of God… the Spirit of God… the resurrection power of God!
So if Norval Hayes can have three holes in ones, what can we do today in prayer in our daily individual callings, ministries, businesses, households, and lives? I pray that the Spirit of God would just get a hold of your heart this morning and just cause you to be shaken to new levels of awareness and perception of what exactly we have stepped into here… what we’re walking in… what we are wielding.
We’re not playing church…
This isn’t playing church, we’re talking about here. This is the very power of God sent to dwell in us and flow through us. The Bible’s very clear that we’re called to connect with heaven’s flow and by virtue become a conduit for a flow to come through us of that power. Amen. So, all that to say, God wants to coach and He wants to counsel you in His presence as to how to become skillful in that power of the coming age. How to be more skillful in prayer and in the usage of the keys of the kingdom. Where to step and where not to step in the coming days. How to invest and where not to invest. Who to talk to, what to say, and when you need to pull back and rest and have a “me day.”
I want to stir you up…
There’s so many more things I can say. I just want to kind of just stir your hearts up in that regard this morning. The Spirit of God is hovering over you. He’s with you. He’s for you. He’s there to help you. He’s ready to go to do what you can’t do. Will you be aware of Him? Will you give Him place? Will you allow Him a place of preeminence in your heart?
