Pastor Ken…
Good morning, everyone. Good to see you all. Welcome everyone who has logged on. We’re so glad to have you with us.
God has answers for us…
This morning, I have various thoughts percolating in my heart. But I was thinking about and sensing that God’s saying that He has answers for us. He has answers for you today, wherever you might be joined with us online. He has answers for that situation. He has answers for what you’re facing… that decision you need to make. In fact, it’s quite easy for Him to give you answers.
God wants to stretch and enlarge our capacity…
And if there’s one thing God is wanting to do in the church right now and in our lives is He’s wanting to stretch us. Stretch and enlarge our capacity… stretch the fabric of our consciousness regarding Him and our identity and who He is and what He can do.
God has a book in a library in heaven about you…
I was reminded as we were worshiping, how when I was younger, much younger as a young adult, I remember somebody had a prophetic word for me. And I’m just a new young kid out of high school, trying to figure out what I was gonna do with my life. And this prophetic word was given to me, and it was awesome. It just seemed like God had a roadmap for my future and had all the details written down. And, of course, later I would discover Psalm 139 and that God, in fact, had a whole book of destiny in a library in heaven for each of us, in fact, where He has penned all the days of our lives. If I can quote the Word “before we were even born.” And that it seemed like He had worked all the details and all His purposes and all His plans and some just amazing things for us in that book.
In that book, He’s got answers and direction for us…
And so I was reflecting on that this morning when God spoke to me all those years ago, how comforting that was. And even to this day, that He’s got answers for us. He’s got direction for us. He wants to expand and stretch our mindset this morning and in the days ahead.
We need those answers because we’re about to step on a train that will take us places…
Because whether we realize it or not, we’re about to step on a train, if you will, that’s going to take us to some new places as a church, as individuals. Because as I’ve said before, God is pressing down on His accelerator—the accelerator of His plan. And it’s gonna take us some new places. It’s gonna cause us to see some things that we’ve not seen before.
Aimee Semple McPherson, “God wants to do a creative miracle today.”
In fact, speaking of answers and solutions, I had screenshotted this a while ago, but it’s a story that was confirmed and documented by multiple sources. But it was about Aimee Semple McPherson who many years ago was holding a tent meeting. And the story goes that while she was ministering, the Lord dropped in her spirit the words, “I want to do a creative miracle.” Can anybody use a creative miracle online or in this chapel this morning? It could be physical. It could be financial. It could be in your soul. It could be in a relationship. It could be with your outlook on your future. Whatever the case is an overhaul. He wants to do a creative miracle. And I’m saying that because God is going to do some creative miracles here today. He’s gonna do some creative miracles. It’s gonna be more commonplace in the days ahead. He’s getting us ready. He’s preparing us.
Don’t wave the white flag…
Don’t start to coast in your spirituality because you’ve gone to Living Word for four decades or whatever. No, God has more for you … more for us. That’s why we come together to pray. We’re gonna be in the earth until the job gets done and there’s more to be done. There’s a harvest to be reaped. There are people hurting, hopeless, lost in darkness that need our prayers and help to redirect the trajectory of their futures into God’s house and into His plan.
Aimee Semple McPherson story continued…
But as the story goes, she said, “God wants to do a creative miracle.” Without hesitation, she declared God wants to do a creative miracle. “If you are in need, come down here to the front.” She gave the call for about 10 minutes; however, nobody responded. So she went right on preaching. The Lord prompted her again. So she gave the call again for another 10 minutes. Finally, a woman in a chair with a blanket over her lap came up to the front. She stated, “I know you said God wanted to do a creative miracle, but I didn’t know if you meant this creative.” Just then she pulled back the blanket to reveal she had a baby that had no arms, no legs, and a deformed face. Sister Aimee then prayed a simple prayer for the child. Then she said, “Let’s all lift up our hands and worship God.” For the next 30 minutes, they did nothing but worship God. And then something amazing happened. All four of the baby’s limbs grew out of its little torso and the face was completely restored back to normal. Wow! So that’s an answer, isn’t it, to this mother’s cry and desire?
God wants to do the same for you…
He’s got an answer for us today. No matter how deformed our lives might be or challenged we might feel or hopeless it might look, God is wanting to do some creative miracles. That means He’s wanting to create something out of thin air, if necessary, for you to restore, to put back, to redeem some aspect of your life, to do something in and through the church. We’re going to see creative miracles today. And in the days ahead.
Get used to God stretching your mindset, your consciousness…
And so get used to God stretching your mindset, stretching your consciousness. You know what they say? Once a mind that’s once stretched doesn’t go back to its normal state. So let Him stretch you this morning. Let your mind go in the direction and realize that God has already gone before us once again. He’s prepared the way.
The James Web Telescope…
I mean one real practical way to do this I think outside of God’s Word, of course, is naturally you probably have heard about all the amazing photos that are being returned back from the James web telescope that was sent out and now is capturing images that humanity has never seen before. That are just like awe inspiring. Like there’s just no words you can wrap around what you’re seeing in the way of galaxies and star systems and nebula and all kinds of things that we didn’t even know existed. And it’s just beginning to return images. And you just look at that and you think, “Wow, what am I worried about? I need to trust God a whole lot more.”
And the truth is God’s goal is all about relationship…
And the more you journey with Him and the more you open your heart to Him and the more you pray and in particular pray in your heavenly prayer language, the more you open yourself up to His thoughts and His ways and His consciousness and what He has for us, the more we begin to understand that you’ve been set up to succeed… that the Holy Spirit is in your life to help you overcome and to triumph.
God wants to bring us up to another level…
In fact, I have learned as I’ve journeyed with Him that He’s always wanting to bring me up to speed. In fact, He’s wanting to do that in the church right now. He’s wanting to bring us all up to speed to another place and another perspective and another level of divine destiny. Because I believe we’re called to see as this present generation the works of Jesus and greater works.
A word for someone…
So here’s the thought I had this morning. I feel like this is for somebody. And that is, if you’re facing a challenge or you’re going through a tough time, just know God has equipped you to go through that and come out on the other side… stronger and stretched. Sometimes it isn’t God’s will for you to pray every problem away. I’m not saying God causes problems, but very often there are challenges in front of us that we can take advantage of. In the sense that they can make us stronger and stretch us and enlarge us and cause us to see truly the capacity of God. The apostle Paul seemed to think so when he said, “When I’m weak, then I’m strong… that He’s strong in me.” And so lean into challenges and unknowns today with trust and an expectancy that God is gonna see you through. He’s gonna lead you through, in fact, to the other side. And you’ll find on the other side of that challenge, on the other side of that obstacle, on the other side of that adversity is gonna be something even greater. The enemy thinks he’s trying to throw things at us to defeat us, but if we’ll respond to them rightly, they only prepare us for a greater level of fruitfulness and destiny and purpose and expression of Jesus’s personality. Hallelujah!
Get quiet before God because He wants to speak to you…
So keep going today. Answers are flowing. When you get in the presence of Jesus, you’ll find He isn’t so much interested in what you have to say. He is. Don’t get me wrong. He’s gentle. He’s kind. He’s loving. He’s the most gracious person you’ll ever meet. But He has a whole lot to say. He’s the consummate coach. And when you get quiet and listen, He’s speaking. He’s coaching you. He’s giving you strategy and answers to navigate what you’re facing in life, to know what to do next, to know how to invest, to know even what to think. Right?
God speaks to you through His Word…
And if you don’t necessarily sense or hear Him, then know that when you read His Word, you’re hearing Him for He and His Word are one. Even just that alone, like just read some of the passages of the New Testament and remember that that’s God speaking to you when He says, “I’m able to do exceeding, abundantly above and beyond what you can ask or even think.” Well, let’s take that for face value. He can do exceedingly more than you could ask or think. So start agreeing with that in your situations. Agree with that and say that over your family member that you’re believing for to come back to God.
Kenneth E. Hagin prophecy…
There’s a prophetic word that I wanted to read here for a couple days. It was given a number of years ago by Kenneth E. Hagin. And again, I love prophecy because part of the reason it’s given is because it’s designed to stretch us and expand us and help us to get up to speed with what God wants to do. And brother Kenneth Hagin inspired by the Holy Spirit, said this many years ago. And I think it’s apropos for where we’re at now.
He said, “No, the time of the end is not yet. No, America is not doomed, I heard Him say. No, judgment will not fall as yet. Some have seen some things in the spirit and didn’t know how to interpret it. They interpret it as happening now. I didn’t say it was going to happen now. In the spirit, you see things in a distance and even in another age. When the church age is over, judgment will fall. But the judgment will not fall upon the church, for the only judgment that the church will face is the judgment seat of Christ.”
In other words, I call that the audit. When you die, there’s an audit done on you. And that audit is what you did in this life for God as compared to what God had planned for you. God has so much for us, right? That He has planned for us. So that’s why I often say God is pressing down on the accelerator. Go with Him. You can do all that He’s called you to do and so much more than you realize.
Prophecy continued…
He goes on to say, “They’ll not face the judgment of the enemy or the judgment of God, for they are protected by God. And there’s more to happen yet. There’s missionary work to be done. And even the renewal that you call the charismatic renewal and the move of the Spirit in these last days, you’ve only seen a little. There shall be those that stand before the leaders of this nation and work miracles. And it shall be even so as it was with Philip, after that he had baptized the Eunuch that he was caught away and found in another city.”
God can manipulate time and space…
In other words, there was translation. You guys know that God can manipulate time and space, right? It’s not a big deal to Him. If He can grow out limbs in a little infant and restore its face to live a normal life, then He can manipulate time and space. We’re seeing that in the James Web Telescope. We’re literally seeing how space is bent because of how light is bent in space and just different things that we didn’t think was possible. But we’re seeing it in a picture now. So God is not limited by time or space. He knows all things at once. He’s everywhere at once at one time.
Prophecy cont…
He goes on to say “after he had baptized the eunuch that he was caught away and found in another city. And so shall be in this city and television cameras shall be trained upon him. The reporters will say ‘There he is in Dallas, Texas.’ And as fast as you can snap your finger, a television camera in Los Angeles and there he is in Los Angeles.” In other words, he was translated just like we see in the scriptures.
“Some will say, how did he do that? It shall be the Spirit of God that shall catch him away. And these signs and wonders shall be more prevalent. Signs and wonders have come here and come there, but they shall become more prevalent and more prevalent in these last days. And like a trumpet sounding across the valley, I heard His voice so strong and clear, and He said, ‘I am not coming for a church, that’s weak, emaciated, sickly, and underground. I’m coming for a spiritual giant that’s alive and living and working the works of God.”
I challenge you to become a “spiritual activist”…
So I just challenge us as pray-ers, as believers, let’s step out and do what we’re seeing in our spirits. If there’s one thing that should characterize pray-ers and that is that they should be seers because as you pray, you hook up with the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the future. And as you pray more, you sync up with the frequency of heaven and you will start to see things that could be and should be in your life and in the world. One, so that you can pray. Two, so that you can act, thereby becoming a true spiritual activist: you pray and you act.
Prayer synchronizes you with the heart of God…
And so I just challenge you. You’re seeing things in your spirit. Don’t shrug ‘em off. Don’t ignore them. Take them as cues or promptings to pray and to act. That’s how we’re to function. That that was the normal everyday functioning of Jesus. He prayed for hours, and then He just went and He heard what His Father said and did what He saw His Father do. I’m convinced we’re gonna see more results, more fruit. We’re gonna see creative miracles. You’re gonna see greater favor in operation in your life. Prayer synchronizes you with the heart and plan and timing of God. And as a result, you start to see more unprecedented opportunities come your way. Promotion becomes easy for you. Favor seems to just follow you wherever you go. It hunts you down. In fact, overtakes you.
Man died and went to heaven and talked with Jesus…
I love this word picture. I know it’s not scripture, but I think I can back it up with scripture if I have time. But I heard this one man of God who had a visitation. Well, actually he actually died, went to heaven. When he was talking and having conversation with Jesus in the heavenly dimension, he said when Jesus would refer to something or talk about something or said we’re gonna go here. It wasn’t so much that we like were translated and went there. When Jesus talked about something or commanded something, it was like whatever He was talking about or commanding came to Him.
We don’t chase after things—things are supposed to come to us…
Is it possible we’ve had it all wrong? That really, when we walk with God in the spiritual dimension, when we pray and act as the prophet of our own lives, that things actually are supposed to come to us. Rather than us trying to hunt the next promotion down or hunt a ministry down or a dream down or another a hundred dollars a month down. That actually God’s got things set up in such a way that they’re designed to actually come to us… when we synchronize with the frequency of heaven through prayer, when we plant His Word in our hearts.
There’s a force even in patience…
I mean, think about that. Let that stretch you a little bit this morning… that actually, as you patiently walk with God because yeah, there’s patience is required. And sometimes patience… when God is requiring us to be patient, it’s meant to stretch us and settle us down and help us just to be still and trusting in Him. Jesus said, patience possesses your soul. There’s a force even in patience or consistency. When you’re patient, you give time for things to come to you.
God’s already got it all worked out, so don’t be anxious…
Sometimes we get off track because we’re anxious and we just take matters into our own hands. When the truth is God’s already got everything worked out. You don’t have to work something up. He’s got it already worked out. And I believe it’s intended to just come to you.
Your life is destined to intersect with divine appointments…
Or you could say you’re destined to intersect things just like you intersect when you drive down 35W, you will intersect the Crosstown or 62. You will eventually intersect 494 in Bloomington. You’ll intersect the border of Iowa and Minnesota eventually if you keep going south. Your life is destined to intersect certain divine appointments. You’re on a path to do certain things, pray certain things, be at certain places, have an influence and affect history according to God’s plan.
That’s why prayer is so important. Prayer keeps you in a settled place of rest and trust. It synchronizes you with the heartbeat of God, so that you stay on His path that is marked out and prepared for you and brings the greatest blessing and favor and dreams you could ever imagine in your own intellect.
So prayer, oh my goodness, is so important. You can pray yourself. And if you’re not where you feel like you’re supposed to be in God’s plan, you’re facing some unprecedented circumstances in your life, the Bible says is any afflicted or going through a tough time, let him or let her pray. Because prayer grabs hold of the extended hand and mercy of God. And leads you back onto His path and His place for you at this time and in this season for your life.
Looking back at that prophetic word…
I can look back at that prophetic word that was given to me all those years ago and I can see many of the things have already transpired in my life. And most of them I didn’t make happen. I can remember years ago, graduates from Rhema that were visiting Living Word for a special conference. I don’t even know why they heard about me or whatever, but they came up to me and wanted to know how this happened for me and that happened to me and “Ken how’d you become a pastor” and “how’d you get this opportunity” and “how did that happen?” “I don’t know,” I said. I didn’t make any of it happen. If anything, I wasn’t really interested in it even. But I was interested in Him and I did make a commitment long ago. I want to do your will, Lord. I will contend, I will fight in other words, to stay with you all the days of my life. And hear what the apostle Paul heard… In other words, you’ve crossed the finish line. You fought the fight of faith. You have finished your course. Enter into the joy of the Lord.
“So what are you saying, Ken?”
I’m just saying that God has things prepared for you. He’s coaching you today. He’s prompting you. He’s guiding you. He’s nudging you today. And prayer is your opportunity at every moment, 24/7 to just sync up with Him. And one form of prayer really is just being aware of Him.
Revival can be defined as being more aware of Him…
Somebody defined the revival as being more conscious of God, just being aware of Him. “Lord, what are you up to today? What are you saying to me? Where do you want me to go? What about that situation, Lord? I just lift that up to you. I make mention of that to you, Father. Show me. Have your way, Lord.”
And then just trust in His nature. That He’s a good God. That He’s all powerful as we’re witnessing through the James Web Telescope… all powerful and infinitely creative, that He’s worthy of us leaning into Him, that He’s worthy to be known and listened to. He’s a good God. And He wants you to have all that is in your heart. Cuz the truth of the matter is, He put it in your heart. That dream, that desire, that aspiration, that longing to be free in some way. He’s put it in your heart. He’s taking you there right now today as you just walk with Him. Okay, that isn’t the prophecy, but that could be prophetic.
Prophecy cont…
Brother Hagin goes on to say “So don’t become fearful because He said He’s not coming back for an emaciated, weak, sickly underground church, but He’s coming back for a spiritual giant that’s alive and living and working the works of God.” So he says, “No, do not be fearful nor cast a glance roundabout you and become askance.” Askance means disapproving or distrusting or negative. Don’t be negative. Don’t be disapproving. Don’t blow it off. “But look up to Him for He is the head of the church. And through the church, the head will manifest Himself and men and women are the hands of the Lord and the hands in the body. And He shall stretch forth His hands to heal the sick that signs and wonders shall be accomplished in the name of Jesus.”
Come on now! Signs and wonders. He desires signs and wonders to happen through you. He desires life to be emitted through you. If goodness is a substance that Jesus emanates, and I believe that the goodness and the personality and the love of God is a substance that gets on us and flows from us.
He goes on to say, “And two things shall shortly be manifest unto the real people of God. One is further light in teaching and revelation in the area and realm of physical healing and divine healing. That will be the key that will unlock the chain that has bound so many. And they’ll never be the same. And then there shall come revelation.” Or in other words, further understanding or light. “According to the Word concerning the miraculous. And the part that faith does play. For faith is like the fuse that ignites the dynamite. And when the explosion goes off, all can hear and see, but there was a fuse that had to be lit.” That fuse is your faith. “And you shall be able to stand and take a blackboard like a teacher teaching mathematics and write out the equation and come up with the right answer and any man or woman, boy or girl standing or seated in the congregation or the classroom will be able to take that mathematical equation and translate it into the spiritual realm. And their faith will ignite the power of God and they’ll have an explosion in their community.”
Sometimes you have to step out and do what God has told you to do…
Can I just comment? I’m sorry. I’m a teacher. Yes, prayer is so important, but also be aware and watching and conscious that God is prompting you with steps as well. Because sometimes you just gotta step out and do what you know you need to do. It’s time to stop praying. I’ve had times in my life where I went to pray and I was ready. I remember one instance. Years ago, I was ready to pray all night, just gut it out and pray all night long. And I did that for a few minutes and I realized I don’t have it. And I realized the praying had been done. I already prayed this thing out. “It was time to do. It was time to act.” But I wanted to keep praying cuz I didn’t want to do what He was telling me to do. It made me sick to my stomach honestly. The step I was gonna have to take and the person I was gonna have to confront and the situation I had to deal with. It was kind of a big deal at the time. But the thing that was gonna light the fuse to change that situation was my action. My faith.
Yes faith is released in prayer, but then there comes a time when faith is released … like Peter, you gotta get outside the boat. You gotta get outside your mind sometimes. That sounds horrible, I know, but you gotta get outside … cuz there are some things that you’ll be limited. And if you stay within your consciousness, you’ll be limited. Cause there are some things God will ask you to do that will require you getting outside what you think… outside of your preconceived ideas … outside of your religious indoctrination even. You gotta step out and follow your gut, follow the Spirit of God in you. Cast caution to the wind and go for it.
I can say that cuz I’ve done that a few times in my life… in ministry … planting a church. Left my job, my insurance with my young family to go plant a church. Like how’s this gonna work, God? Then one day God sent somebody to me and said, “The Lord just told me to tell you He’s gonna take care of you.” Because I was kind of freaking out after leaving my job. I had been on staff here for many years and had this young family and a house and a mortgage and like, I’m gonna go plant a church. What! That was outside what I thought was safe and reasonable. We serve an unreasonable God. He’s not unreasonable, but He’s unreasonable from our objective or from our standpoint. But when you look through the James Web Telescope, when you read about an infant who had his limbs grow back and his face restored before people’s eyes, you realize… oh, oh, yeah, He’s reasonable. But He’s reasonable in comparison to what He has and what He can do, which is anything.
Prophecy cont…
All right, let me finish this up here. He goes on to say, “And they’ll have an explosion.” I got hung up on that. “You’ll have an explosion.” I feel like God wants to bring some explosions into reality in our lives today, in our churches today. We were not sent here on planet earth for this short lifetime to defend the status quo, to stay stuck in our rut, to keep going around the proverbial mountain of negativity and self-defeating thought patterns and behaviors. No! Jesus came to set the captives free, to open the prison gates, to open up the way for impossibilities to become regularly possible.
Ask for courage to get outside of the boat…
So I just declare that over you today. I declare that if you’re online, I declare an explosion of God’s power and His anointing and grace and what could be and should actually should be in your life. So whether it’s you need to make a commitment to have a prayer life and to give yourself to that on a regular basis, or you know that there’s something that He’s put in your heart and you just need to do. Then I just encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for courage and get outside the boat and do what He’s shown you to do. Because there’s something about the fuse of faith that will ignite an explosion.
Faith is the fuse that will ignite an explosion…
And I have found that that explosion will not only change your situation, will not only bring breakthrough, will not only manifest money if that’s what you need or an opportunity or a healing, but it also has a momentum with it that will bring much more. I’ve always found that. When you step out in God’s plan, it will not only release the immediate need, but it’ll bring much more than you can ask or think. I’ve seen that over and over when people have stepped out on the will of God, not only did they get their little breakthrough but then this blessing happened and then that fell into alignment and then they realized they saved money over here. And then that door opened over there because they’re syncing up with the plan that’s already been prepared and put in place for them to live out a destiny ordained by God.
Prophecy cont…
Let me finish up by saying, “And their faith will ignite the power of God. And they will have an explosion in their community, in their church. And it will be popping here… Kind of like popcorn, right? Nothing happens for like two, three minutes and then like three and a half minutes, suddenly pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, right? And it just starts popping everywhere until you got this full-blown explosion. And it will be popping here and popping there, popping here, popping there, popping here, popping there. So get ready for it. And the curtain was closed.” So in other words, a whole lot going on and the curtain was closed. “And into the realm of eternity, I could no longer see. And into the realm of eternity, I could no longer hear. But I looked again into the realm of time where you sit and live and say with words from heaven above ‘these things shall shortly be and shall shortly come to pass.’”
I read this because I was talking to Pastor Lynne recently and some of the people she talks to and… I’ll just kind of summarize it by saying that what is coming next for us, for the church, for us individually is gonna happen quickly. There’s gonna be an intensity of the miraculous and signs of wonders are gonna happen in the days ahead. It’s gonna happen just like an explosion. And then the end is gonna come. Amen. So get ready for it.
DJ shared…
I met someone few weeks ago in the lobby. This person told me she lived south from here. She said to me that she woke up early in the morning at three o’clock. And the Holy Spirit said to her, “You need to move to Maple Grove and you need to go to Living Word church because… The word she told me was in that church, there are things that are going to start happening… healings, health, wealth, and all kind of things. And she decided to put her house in the market and she was going to move right here because the Holy Spirit told her to come to this church. Is He saying to everybody? I don’t know, but at least to her.