The last one is just feelings sometimes that God is not reliable, thought-induced feelings.
Thought-induced feelings.
Thought-induced feelings where over a period of time because in certain areas I found that things are taking too long.
Over a period of time because certain requests or prayer requests of mine were not granted.
Over a certain period of time when I realized that he didn't take up on my behalf.
Now my thoughts begin to crystallize to the point where my feelings are induced by the thoughts I have nurtured.
And no longer am I willing to let go of the suspicion I have of God.
And the moment you have suspicions about God, your love becomes transactional.
And transactional relationships with God have existed since the beginning of time.
We see in Genesis chapter 4 that Cain is angry with God because God hasn't responded with what he thinks he is due after the sacrifice he gave.
So this goes back a long way.
Where Cain is upset with God, why didn't you respond the way I think you should respond given the fact that I gave you an offering?
Why didn't you respond the way you're supposed to respond?
Satan is a transactional trader.
Right from Genesis 3 verse 6 where he tries to have Eve transact her relationship with God for something else.
To Luke chapter 4, 6 where he's trying to get Jesus to engage in a transaction saying if you bow before me I will give you this or that or the other.
He's always been a transactional merchant.
So in transactional relationships there is always a lurking suspicion
in transactional relationships there is always a lurking suspicion that God is withholding something
that God is withholding something
or God will punish
or God will exact his pound of flesh.
There's always this lurking suspicion in the background.
Whenever things go wrong you think this is what is happening.
Whenever things go wrong this lurking suspicion becomes very deafening.
This is why I believe that a revival that is personal in terms of how I can be rooted or embedded in the love of the Father
can really destroy both things that are transactional in my life and things that are legalistic.
This is a legalistic mindset that whenever things go wrong
the lurking suspicion in my mind is that God is withholding something, God is punishing, God is exacting his pound of flesh.
If that is how I think and if that lurking suspicion begins to grow louder
I need to deal with it because I am not rooted and embedded in his love the way I'm supposed to be.
You either think that you did something wrong or you think that you didn't do something right.
Job and his friends were in this kind of a situation.
Job's friends were convinced that either Job did something wrong or he didn't do something right.
They spent about 30 chapters going down that road.
In transactional relationships circumstances color the face of God.
Circumstances color the face of God.
It's happened to the best of them.
If you read Jeremiah 15 verse 18, Jeremiah 15 verse 18, can someone get my phone from somewhere please?
Jeremiah 15 verse 18, thanks.
Jeremiah 15 verse 18
It says that Jeremiah at one point says this,
Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
And he's saying to God, will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
So it's not something that only the weak Christian goes through.
Jeremiah was someone who was so in tune with God.
And yet he at this point begins to speak like this because circumstances color the face of God.
And in the process distort the character of God in my life.
I need a change in this.
Jesus wasn't like this.
Some of us may have gone through things for a while.
Some of us haven't gotten the answers we are supposed to get.
Some of us have prayed and things come in spurts, but they do not flood the field.
Some of us have been waiting for vindication or waiting for restoration and it still hasn't happened.
Some of us have gotten to a place where our hearts are either resentful, full of pity, sad, unable to trust God.
And in the process our relationship with God and our love for him becomes transactional.
Where like Job's friends, like Jeremiah, like Cain, like Eve, we begin to say, but how come you didn't do this?
Or okay, I don't think I can go ahead and trust you in this because last time or the time before that or for the last four years.
And no longer are we embedded or rooted in the splendid love of the Father.
And no circumstance on earth should drive me to that place outside the Father.
No circumstance on earth should drive me outside that place in the very heart of the Father.
No circumstance.
My hope is that never again in my life will a circumstance drive me into that place.
You know between euphoric first love that you see in Song of Songs chapter 1 to say chapter 2 verse 13
and between invincible all conquering love that you see from chapter 5 to chapter 8 of Song of Songs.
There is this period between 2.13 and 5.8 where the woman is unsure, where the woman is doubtful,
where the woman is in the wilderness having lost her way, where the woman is uncommitted,
where the woman is suspicious, where the woman is not sure of the lover.
I don't want to keep visiting this place called wilderness love where I am unsure, where I am suspicious,
where I am not absolutely euphoric or invincible in my relationship and my love with the Father.
And if we can live there we will be surprised at how quickly God will be able to do what he wants to do with this revival.
So how do we deal with it? Here are some steps that I thought we could employ in our own lives.
To move out of this place in our lives permanently and then repeat it again and again if it ever makes a resurgence.
Step 1. Desire to turn away from orphanhood. Desire to turn away from orphanhood.
One of the things about God is just when you think you've mastered a certain area in your life,
he'll show you a few more feet that you can go.
And I am just surprised that there are still such strong streaks of orphanhood in my life,
even though I have a decent relationship with the Father.
And I want to get to a place where it's no longer there and I desire it, I badly desire to step away from orphanhood.
Because I know that the claims that the Father makes about himself and the character that I see of the Father through the life of Jesus
and the relationship I see that Jesus had with the Father, because I know these are real, I just don't think it's...
I think it's putrid when I stay here.
So the first thing, step one is to turn, to have a desire to turn away from orphanhood.
The word turn away is just another word for repent.
If I say repent you may think more in terms of sin, that's why I'm saying turn away from orphanhood.
Second, confess Psalm 92, 15, which says that there is no unrighteousness or wickedness in our God.
There is no unrighteousness or wickedness in our God.
I must look at my condition in different areas where I feel God hasn't come through or God has let me down or where I can't trust God.
And I should say this may be so, but I confess today, I say right from the depths of my heart, O God, that you are righteous and there is no wickedness in my God.
There is no wickedness in my God. There is no shortcoming. There is no failure in my God.
I say it with all the strength that I can muster. Say it, say it.
Words, yeah, words must be used.
Eve could have changed the course of mankind's history with words. Adam could have changed it with words.
Step three, I was surprised at this step. Step three, ask God to heal you. Ask God to heal you.
This has been an amazing thing. God can heal you.
This is when I always think of the simple words, trust the work of the Spirit, trust the work of the Spirit,
where if the first two are met, God moves in like a mother eagle.
He swoops in and he begins to heal. He begins to heal the resentment.
He begins to heal the suspicion. He begins to heal the wounds that have been open for years.
He begins to heal it, where he takes it away so that I can love again.
So that's something I'd like to pray right now.
Father, bring with me everyone who in any form experiences any of these things we have talked about.
I bring to you my own self, wanting to turn away from orphanhood,
wanting to stop looking at you through the eyes of my circumstances,
saying, Oh God, that you have always only been perfect and fair and good and kind, unfailing,
never betraying, letting down, ignoring, setting aside, never irritated, annoyed.
That there is nothing that is less unrighteous, wicked in you.
And then I come to this all-important step three, where with all that are standing with me,
Spirit of God, I trust your work, something that only you can do.
And I ask to be healed, to be healed of distrust, to be healed of disappointment,
to be healed of loss, to be healed of regret, to be healed of the fear of trusting again.
To be healed of wounds, to be healed of resentment, to be healed, Oh God,
so that I may love you by giving myself away to you again.
I want to give myself away to you again.
I may love you by giving myself away to you again.
I want to give myself away just like you have given yourself away to me as that song says,
I want to be healed that I may give myself away.
I thank you Spirit of God, because this is your work that is happening across the,
across listeners right now, people being healed, people being miraculously healed, miraculously healed.
Miraculously healed, triggers being broken,
people being freed to join God in love,
people being freed in body and soul, in thought and feeling,
people being repaired and freed by the work of the Spirit.
I thank you Holy Spirit. Thank you that you are able to do this, that you are willing to do this,
that you initiated it and that you will complete what you have started now.
That when I finish this prayer, we are going to not say now the healing has started,
we are going to say we will walk in the healing that just happened.
I received this in my own life with great joy, with great gratitude, Oh God,
free to love, free to walk in your love, free to walk with you,
unfettered, uninhibited in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.
Step four, return to the Father's heart. Step four, return to the Father's heart.
Return to the Father's heart.
Return to the Father's heart. What are we talking about?
That he is unadulteratedly good, that he is continuously looking for ways to do me good every minute, every hour, every day.
That he is embarrassingly lavish and extravagantly kind.
That the way he deals with me is with anger-free discipline that prospers me.
That his attitude is, come close, let me show you what I am doing.
That he is unadulteratedly good, that he is continuously looking for ways to do me good every minute, every hour, every hour, every day.
That he has laughter-filled Jacob-enjoying eyes.
That his laser counsel and presence does not leave me for a second for the rest of eternity.
That he gives me inward and outward purity through the always speaking, freshly slain blood of his own son, Jesus Christ.
That he heals my wounds and places me in Christ, in the heart of God himself.
These are the things I must ponder on so that I can return to the Father's heart, regardless of the circumstances that I find myself in.
Because I will find myself in circumstances in the future too.
But do not be troubled, for I have overcome the world.
In the world you will have trials and tribulations, but do not be troubled, for I have overcome the world.
And I find myself in the overcome of the world.
That is where I need to be deeply, deeply rooted.
Step five.
As things happen tomorrow, day after, separate worthless words from worthy words.
As in when things go wrong and there's a resurgence of old memories, old patterns that you have been healed of a few minutes ago.
Do not go down that route.
Because in Jeremiah 15.19 you see God saying to Jeremiah, in 15.19, therefore that says the Lord,
If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.
To go back and say, no Father, I refuse to say the things that I used to say.
How come? Why not? I did this for you. Or how come you haven't come through?
Where there's this accusation that begins to rise in your heart against the Father, that you may or may not express.
It doesn't mean that you don't talk to him about it, but decide ahead of time that this is who he is, this is how I feel,
and I'm going to use words now to move from where I feel to what is the truth about him.
That is what David would do.
They would say, this is what I feel, but this is who I know you are,
so I'm going to use words to go from what I'm feeling to who the truth is.
That's what he would do.
So when you read Psalm 42, he may say in Psalm 42,
Why are you so sad, my soul? Why so distressed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet trust him.
And then in Psalm 43, he ends with,
Send forth your light, send forth your word, and let them guide me well.
Let them lead me to your mountain, to the place where you dwell.
For I will go to the altar of God, my joy and my delight, and I will praise him with the harp.
Oh Lord, you are my God.
That is how it ends.
From feelings to truth with words.
But from, this is one of those times where we are seeing the end from the beginning and saying,
This is who God is, these are my circumstances.
I cannot be uprooted from who God is.
I will no longer transact business with him.
I'm embedded in him, in his love. I know my father.
This is where I want to live for the rest of my life.
One minute at a time.
Step six.
The pleasure of his presence.
Live out of the pleasure of his presence.
When you begin to love like this,
when love is no longer transactional,
you will find that presence is easily located and presence is easily lived in.
Psalm 16 verse 11 says that at your right hand,
are pleasures forevermore.
The idea is, okay, if I'm going down this route Lord,
I will enjoy the pleasure of your presence.
Jesus always enjoyed the pleasure of the father's presence.
These are things that sometimes we may enjoy during a time of worship
or during a time when we are sitting and talking to God.
But what about walking in the pleasure of God's presence?
Isn't this what reviving a church looks like?
Once this happens, isn't it natural for anyone and everything that we touch to catch fire?
The pleasure of his presence.
And then the last one is,
trust that whenever we do mess up,
that there will be correction in love.
Corrections in love.
In love.
Correction in love.
Psalm 32 verse 8 says that,
listen Jacob, I'll counsel you with my eye upon you.
I'll instruct you with my eye upon you.
It's the way you instruct Phoebe.
I'll instruct you with my eye upon you.
And occasionally when Phoebe is like a horse or a mule,
you'll use bitten bridle to prevent what?
To prevent her from stumbling into things that would hurt her.
That is so different from a God who has a stick to slam you.
I know it's an old picture and that we think we've escaped it,
but we have our own variations of Jesus with a stick.
Guys, it's not possible to understand Jesus apart from his affection,
his trust and his awareness of the Father.
It is not possible to understand Jesus or to walk with Jesus
unless we understand that at the core of his walk here on earth,
he is not a person who is not a person who is not a person who is not a person
because unless we understand that at the core of his walk here on earth and now in heaven,
because his life wasn't any different on earth as it was in heaven,
that at the core of what Jesus did here on earth was this awareness,
affection and trust that he had in the Father.
Jesus went through these circumstances changing around him multiple times.
In Matthew chapter 11, for instance, the cities are rejecting his teaching.
People are accusing him of being in league with Beelzebub.
His family thinks he has lost his mind.
All three things have just happened.
And in the middle of these circumstances, in Matthew chapter 11, verse 27,
what a hero we have that we can follow.
What a hero we have.
He's a champion, man.
He is a hero.
In the midst of this, with cities rejecting his teaching,
people accusing him of being in league with the devil,
his family thinking that he has lost his mind,
Jesus is talking about a unique father-son operation coming out of father-son intimacies.
Go to Matthew 11, verse 27 and read it out the message.
Matthew 11, verse 27 and verse 28.
Jesus resumes talking to the people but now tenderly.
The Father has given me all these things to do and say,
this is a unique father-son operation coming out of father-son intimacies and knowledge.
No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.
But I'm not keeping it to myself.
I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
Then he goes on to say, are you tired and weary?
I'm willing to go over it line by line with anyone who's inclined to listen.
He's calling me.
He's inviting me every day.
He's calling you.
He's inviting you into this relationship that he has with the Father.
And he's willing to go over it line by line.
Listen to me.
I don't know whether this is the most important line in this teaching.
But every morning he's calling you.
He's inviting you into the same relationship that he has with the Father.
He's inviting you, saying, come, I'm inviting you into the same relationship as I have with the Father.
And I'll go over it line by line so you can walk in it.
Guys, I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the Father.
I was created, and I don't want to live below my privilege.
This privilege is mine because of the shedding of life.
It is in his death that I am included.
I don't know if I can afford to continue living below my privilege, at least in this area,
where I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the Father.
And every morning he's inviting me into it.
At work, at home, with your wife, with your mother, with your children,
with your sisters, with your brothers while you're driving,
you're being invited every day because you were created to enjoy what Jesus has with the Father.
One of the, perhaps, ways to put it that may offend some,
but actually makes a lot of sense, is that I'm included in the Trinity.
I'm included in the Trinity, as in the relationship that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have.
I'm included. Come, let me show you.
This is why I created you.
I want you to be part of my relationship with the Father.
And it's not possible except by the Spirit of God.
And the thing that I'm living so far below it,
I don't know if I want to spend another minute like that.
To be aware, even as I speak to you and I'm trying to look at the camera,
and aware of my notes and all that, to be aware that there is someone else here who is the Father.
And that every moment as I speak, as I look at my notes, that he's inviting, Jesus is inviting me,
that listen, I've done this too. I've preached, I taught, I had to think of a hundred things.
And while I was doing that, I was highly aware of the Father.
And I'm inviting you and I'll go over it line by line with you,
so that whether you're leading worship, whether you're cooking, whether you're teaching, or whether you're talking,
whether you're driving, or whether you're with your wife, or whatever your situation is,
I want you to know that I'm inviting you into a relationship with the Father 24-7.
That'll be the prime relationship out of which everything else finds its alignment.
We must show the world how to live out this intimacy with the Father.
Because this is the prime reason Jesus came.
This is the prime reason why he's raising a bride or a son here on earth.
I once saw a dream and that dream always comes back to me at times like this.
And in that dream I'm on a beach and it was not Hawaii, where the three of them are going.
I was on a beach and strangely a wave comes in, but when the wave retreats, on the beach are words.
You would think the wave comes in, the words should disappear.
No, when the wave comes in and leaves, there are words on the beach.
And it was Psalm 80 verse 14 or verse 15.
And I woke up and I quickly opened my Bible and I started looking at the words.
And I saw a picture of a woman who was in a dream.
And I was like, what is this?
And I woke up and I quickly opened my Bible and I started looking at the words.
And it said, you are the root my right hand has planted.
You are the sun that I'm raising up for myself.
And it always comes back at times like this.
That Jacob, I have invited you into such great privilege.
I want you to enjoy what I have with the Father.
I include you as part of the Trinity so you can hear us whisper, you can hear us talk.
What was a once in a lifetime event for Isaiah can become a normal thing for you.
I'm willing to go over it line by line.
I'm inviting you into this relationship every day.
We must show the world how to live out this intimacy with the Father.
We must show them how good and faithful He is even when life is uphill.
It is even when life is uphill that is when I need to openly show them that He is still good and faithful.
It is possible for Christians when life is uphill to show the world that He is good and faithful.
But inside their heart they are not thinking so.
But outside they are professing so.
Good. But there's a better place we can live in.
Where inside and outside it is the same.
That is when you are transparent about your uphill.
We need Enoch's guys. We need Enoch's.
Genesis 5 22, Genesis 5 24.
Twice it says in those three or four verses that Enoch walked with God.
We need Enoch's.
Enoch walked with God the other day.
He walked with God the other day.
Enoch walked with God.
The idea of walking with God was three-fold.
It was communing.
It was intimacy.
It was one-and-othering.
What kind of life did this man live?
He lived for 365 years.
Where he had the ability to commune with God.
This is not a man who lived in the New Testament.
This is not a man who was sinless because only Jesus has been sinless thus far.
But this was a man who knew how to commune with Yahweh.
This is early.
Shortly after the fall.
Just before the flood.
Not just before.
A thousand years before the flood.
Where he could commune with God.
As in converse with God.
Where he could have an intimate relationship with God.
Have an intimate relationship with the same invisible God we are talking about.
At least we know him through Jesus.
Where he was one-and-othering with God.
We need more Enoch's.
My God.
Some of you young people have life ahead of you.
Show them what Enoch's are like.
Disappear from the earth then.
Enoch walked with God and then one day he was not.
And twice it is said there.
Usually when God says something twice in three verses.
It is worth taking note that here was a man that was exceptional.
To walk intimately is to sit at his feet hanging on to every word.
Like in Luke 10.39.
To walk intimately like Enoch did.
To walk intimately.
Find time to sit at his feet hanging on to every word.
But Jacob you have no idea how busy I am.
Absolutely.
But there is something that is far greater value.
That will release far greater rest.
And far greater fruitfulness into your life.
If somehow you can craft.
The time to walk intimately by sitting at his feet.
Hanging on to every word that comes from his mouth.
Like in Luke 10.39.
Asking him to tell you about himself.
He is inviting you into his relationship with the father.
Even in Matthew 11 as he is walking.
He is actually having a conversation with his father.
But it is a conversation that is loud enough.
I am just going to make Manoj's life a little miserable.
It is a conversation that is loud enough.
Manoj go do something with the camera.
I am going off screen.
He is just sitting there.
You have got to now turn the camera this way.
Now you will have to change it again.
He has to do this twice during the thing.
Thank you Manoj.
Your work has been duly noted.
I don't know why.
In the middle of such a serious sentence I thought of Manoj.
But anyways.
Yeah.
Guys he is inviting you.
He is.
Manoj come up.
Come up.
Yeah.
Let me just pray for you.
Father.
Father I just break him out of his mould.
Out of his job.
Out of his present occupation.
Out of that which he is consumed with.
Stooped over.
Father you are saying to him.
That what you are in is good.
But what you are in does not explore the truth.
The depth and the breadth of who I made you.
So get ready for a change.
In job.
In challenge.
In level of difficulty.
In terms of what I want you to attempt.
And so I am going to open the field before you.
I am going to lay it open.
I am going to stretch it from one end to the other.
Where you are is very limited.
It is almost insulated.
It is beginning to mould you and shape you.
And I am not going to allow that to happen.
Because what I had put in you before you were born.
Is a far greater value.
It requires far greater sunlight.
Far greater exposure.
And so as changes begin to come.
None of them will be destructive.
None of them will harm you.
None of them will bring you down.
None of them will harm you.
None of them will bring you down.
But I...
want you to be afraid of the changes.
But I am changing entirely the picture that you will view from here on.
It will be a new panorama.
It is not what it used to be.
It will be a new scene.
Get ready for it.
Loosen your grip over that which you thought
is your bread and butter.
Or your livelihood.
Or your area of operation.
No matter what you do.
Or your area of operation.
No longer.
It's like a flood that comes in.
And the flood goes away.
And you see that the land has been
shaped and changed in its contours.
That is what I am planning to do.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Yeah. And so ask him.
One of the things he
is inviting us into.
Like perhaps Mary did.
Sit at his feet and
ask him to tell you about
himself.
And at the end of the day
you will hear him say,
you've chosen the good portion and it won't be taken away from you.
You've chosen the good portion
and it won't be taken away from you.
These are the things we need to hear.
Eh?
It's not
the quantity of time.
There will be days when time needs to be
spent.
Mostly it is
the intent of the heart.
The intent of the heart always creates
the amount of time that is necessary.
It doesn't matter what
I'm doing. Whether I'm preaching, whether I'm singing.
And Phoebe will come up
doing her funny little
steps and look up. And then she'll go like this.
It doesn't matter what I'm doing.
I'll go like this too.
God should be able to say to me every day,
you have won my heart Jacob.
You have won my heart Jacob.
It is one thing for him to hear that
from me. You have won my heart
and I am yours.
But I want to hear that
from him too. Jacob you have won my heart.
A people
revived like this
set the world on fire.
It's my daily
destiny or portion
to be loved by God.
I said that
yesterday. It is my daily destiny
or portion to be loved by God like this.
And it initiates a chain
reaction that
is mentioned in Ephesians
3, 17 to 19.
It initiates a chain reaction
that you read about in Ephesians
3, 17 to 19.
Hey Gary,
Caleb, if you want to head to
Pilgrim and get there by
fiveish, that's good.
Ephesians 3, 17 to 19.
That Christ will live in you
that Christ will live in you
as you open the door and invite
him in.
And I ask him that with both feet
planted firmly on love
you will be able to take in with all
Christians the extravagant
dimensions of Christ's love.
Retour and experience the breath,
test its length, plumb the depths,
rise to the heights,
live full lives, live in the fullness
of God. If I read it from the
NIV or ESV.
So that Christ may dwell
in your hearts through faith
that you being rooted and grounded in love
may have the strength to comprehend with
all the saints what is the breadth,
length, height and depth and to know the love
of Christ that surpasses knowledge
that you may be filled with the fullness of God.
Here's what we are saying guys.
We are saying that if I learn
to be loved by God
that's
then it inevitably leads
to loving God in return
uninhibited, unfettered
not transactional
and that inevitably leads
to loving others with God's love.
That's the progression.
But it all starts here.
Then it goes here and then it goes here.
That's what Ephesians 3.17 to 19
is really saying.
So,
I'm going to read it from the NIV
and ESV.
And I'm going to read it from the NIV
and ESV.
And I'm going to read it from the NIV
and ESV.
What does this
look like when you have too much time
on your hands?
I'm one of those blessed people who's got too much time
on my hands.
And when you have too much time on your hands
then God
allows you to
explore adventure options.
Hey Jacob, so now that you and I
have talked, would you like to plan something
for this person or plan something for
this country or plan something
for the
house church or would you like
to read about this or would you like to read
about that or would you like to talk to me
about those six things you had in mind?
Do you want to write them down? Let's talk about them.
Would you like me to answer
them immediately? Well then let's sit together
and why don't you try to figure out
what I'm trying to say?
Let me give you a scripture. Go look at it.
And as you look at it, I'll begin to develop
thoughts so that you can
write down things so that you have
the ability to remember the words you were teaching.
Even though you may never teach it, you will learn it.
Oh by the way, let me
point out some flaws
that we can discuss that I've been keeping
quiet about for the last 14 years.
But I think it's time to bring it up
because I think you can handle it.
Ah Jacob, you've got so much time
on your hand. Why don't you do
nothing? Just leave me alone for a while
and I'll leave you alone for a while.
Though we'll both be absolutely present. Do nothing.
Or go watch hockey.
I'm not kidding.
All these are real.
I wasn't being
facetious.
Whenever I say that word
I do not understand why it is spelled the way
it's spelled.
Okay. God
put me
God put Christ into me and
me into Christ. John
14.20 says that. That
God put Christ into me
and me into Christ
so that his presence was no longer
dependent on me.
I find some of the things
that God does so funny. God put
Christ in me and me in Christ so that
his presence was no longer dependent
on me. God put
Christ into me and me into
Christ so that his presence was no longer dependent
on me. It's like
a dandy.
It doesn'tப matter what I do.
shake myself, I can push, I can jump. It doesn't matter, he doesn't go away. I'm
I'm in Christ. It doesn't matter how much I shake. It's like shaking something
inside a cup. You don't escape it. You can hang me upside down, Christ doesn't come
out. God has put Christ in me and has put me in Christ so that His presence
was no longer dependent on me. Did I ever tell you? Of course I've told you but I
love telling the story. So my sister Reba was asking Caleb, my nephew, to sit
and eat and there were about three or four mussels left and she said you're
not getting up till you finish eating and Caleb had one more mussel and she
said nope I said you will not get up till you finish eating and then he takes
one more mussel and then he says to my sister if I eat one I'm so full that if
I eat one more mussel Jesus will have to come out and that created such a
dilemma for my sister Re because does she tell her boy to obey and lose his
salvation or can he keep Jesus inside but disobey? Guess who won? The boy won.
Yeah but it doesn't matter what you do you can't empty yourself of Jesus. He's
taken care of presence forever. As a son or a daughter I draw his presence. I
never lose it. I don't have to worry about keeping it. He has taken care of
that so that presence is no longer dependent on me. I can be aware of it or
not. I can draw his presence just because I'm a son. We talked about this
during the time of revival that it is natural for fathers to be drawn towards
their sons there. It is very natural. I draw his presence. I don't have to grovel
for it. I don't have to perform for it and I cannot repel it because this is my
father's presence. I cannot even repel it because it's my father's presence. I
cannot even repel it because it is my father's presence and a father is drawn
to his son. I would say to you that awareness of presence, awareness of
presence is, awareness of presence stems out of, is a sensitivity, is a sensitivity
that stems out of intimacy. Awareness of presence is a sensitivity that stems out
of intimacy or is spawned by intimacy. As in, when I'm intimate with someone,
I'm very aware of their presence. I remember this person I was really
friendly with. I could, I knew the click clack of her heels even at a distance
because she walked a certain way. I could be in an elevator and she'd enter and I
had no, she was in the elevator even if it was crowded because of the perfume
that she wore. How? You become aware of someone's presence, it is a sensitivity
that stems out of intimacy. We just know. Derek, these things will happen to you
one day. But Derek's eyes are set on things above, not things of the earth.
Yeah. Guys, our experience of God's nearness or distance is not, is not a
description of his actual proximity but just of our experience of intimacy. Our
experience of God's nearness, I don't feel God is close to me or I feel God is
very distant. It's really not a description of his proximity because
once and for all that has been settled. It is just an experience of our intimacy
with him and the more intimate you are, the more you are sensitive to his
presence or aware of his presence. A distance from God is almost always due
to a disruption caused by sin or ignorance or distrust or disappointment
which is why we are saying let us not go down that road of distrust, suspicion
and disappointment because we choose to be embedded and rooted in God. No more am
I going to succumb easily to distrust, disappointment, suspicion. No more. Even
when things are uphill, even when things are not happening, even when requests are
I cannot go there. We cannot go there. Let me conclude. This part is important.
Intimacy is by faith not by atmosphere or emotions. Intimacy, intimacy is by
faith not emotions or atmosphere. Emotions and atmosphere may precede and
proceed from intimacy but it is not what intimacy is born or birthed out of.
Intimacy is by faith. Intimacy is by faith. I know this is who you are. I know
you are present. I know you understand. This next line is for me mind and heart
shaking. Intimacy with God, intimacy with God often occurs, often occurs. Intimacy
with God often occurs in places of your greatest need where you need to trust,
where you must trust, where you must trust Him most. As in sometimes in those
very areas that in the past have turned you to distrust, to suspicion, to
disappointment, to resentment, in those areas very often intimacy with God can
occur in those places of your greatest need, in those places where you
trust Him most. That is where some of the purest intimacy occurs. I've known
husbands and wives who have come into such a place of bonding when one of
them fell ill and the other one took care of them. Or people who didn't know
each other, who were enemies, who were stuck in a tragic or critical
circumstance that begin to bond like no other place. Your flesh demands proof of
God's love in situations like this. Your flesh demands proof. If you are God then
come through. If you're God, heal this. If you're God, take this pain away. If you're
God, do this for me. If you're God, where are you? If you're God, your flesh demands
proof of God's love. Israel was a poster child for this often. Where is the bread?
Where is the fish? Oh for the leeks and cucumbers of Egypt. Where is the water? It
was always transactional in the desert which is why in Luke chapter 4 Satan
comes and tries to be transactional with Jesus and says, hey do you want the
kingdoms of the earth for which you have come? Bow before me and I'll give it to
you. Your flesh demands proof of God's love while the spirit in those
situations begins to reveal God's love, reveal God's later, reveal God's
faithfulness and says, hey Jacob do you want to draw closer independence in this
area and I'll bring you into a place of intimacy you haven't seen before.
There is nobody who has gone into the wilderness with a correct attitude and
has not come out without greater intimacy. Jesus went, came back like never
before. Moses went, came back like never before. Even Israel went, came back like
never before. Saul or Paul went, came back like never before. Hagar went, came back
like never before.
What song did you have in mind Jane? What song did you say you had? Which one? Okay
Let's, even if you don't know the song I pray God that the words be...okay there's
someone called Surian who wants prayer for a job. Yeah? So just pray open doors
for him so that he gets things according to his ability and that his
dependence for livelihood be on God and not on his job so that the job doesn't
take center place and yet provides a amazing God. Hey guys I'll just stop
there. May our flesh not demand proof of God's love and yet in every place where
the devil says hey do you really think you can trust him? Remember the last
time you trusted him and remember what happened? Aren't you disappointed? In
those places let the spirit reveal God's loving nature. In those places let the
spirit reveal God's faithfulness. In those places may I be drawn even closer
into dependence in that area. One of the coolest ways to be drawn even closer to
God is to start being full of gratitude for what he's done, who he is. I will not
lower my expectations. One of the things that churches say is you should be happy
with salvation. Isn't that good enough? Why desire anything else? You lower your
expectations you never need faith. The lowering of expectations hollows out
faith. Worst case scenario Christians are not practicing Christianity.
Okay let's sing that song. Father before Jane comes to sing is there anything you want me to just pray out for our sake?
Father I hear you sing to all of us when I take these words to heart. I hear you
saying don't be afraid to love me openly, recklessly, boastfully.
Don't be afraid to love me openly, recklessly, boastfully. I've healed you from the past. I've healed you from the past. Trust me son I've healed you from the past.
When you prayed I healed you. Here's another secret he's letting you in on. He's saying from your standpoint you have never been closer to me than I have been to you.
There is nothing between you and I. Nothing between you and I. He says your roots are embedded in your heart.
Nothing between you and I. He says your roots are embedded deep in my love. Abide in my love. Abide in my love. Jesus said those words in John 15. Abide in my love. Dwell, tent. Giving you a new start.
Giving you a new start. A bride revived in love for her bridegroom is a bride that will boast of her bridegroom across the earth. This is all part of my plan for you.
When I told Jacob to start teaching from Song of Songs for two days, Saturday and Sunday, it is part of my plan. This is part of my intent to revive you. A bride revived in her love, in her fresh new love for her bridegroom is a bride that cannot keep quiet.
I will announce her bridegroom to the entire world. I love you. Receive my love so that you can return it. So that I may fill you with a fullness of love. So that you can love others and draw them into the relationship that Jesus is inviting you into.
Will you remember this children? Will you remember this tomorrow morning, this evening? That I, Jesus Christ, am inviting you into the same relationship I have with the Father. You are included in the conversations and the relationship of the Trinity. Come. Come.
So I end with these words, says God. You have won my heart. It's the best gift you could have given me today.