Logo

Message 3: Wholly Committed

Someone has said “Superficiality is the curse of the modern age.”

We live in an age of instantaneous everything. Broadband, high speed, on demand – get it now! And while I appreciate the changes that the technological revolution has brought – there is a down side. Getting everything we want, when we want it – has caused us to not take the time to really think through things and evaluate them with depth. Face it, our culture is superficial.

And God bids you to come with Him into the deep places. He is calling you out of the shallows and into the depths.

If there is a reason this fellowship exists, it is to challenge each one of us to look deeply into the things of God and to allow Him to utterly transform us, body, soul and spirit.

In the sixth chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul is talking about death to self and life in Christ. He talks about baptism as a picture of spiritual death and rebirth. He assures us that if we’ve been united with Christ in his death, we most certainly shall be united with Him in His resurrection.

One of the major challenges that we face – daily – is to stay dead to self and alive in Christ. We all know what it means to battle the flesh. We all know what it means to do the things we don’t want to do and not to do what we really want to do. This is a battle. And it is a battle that will remain with us so long as we live in our corrupted by sin bodies.

Randy Clark, in his book Power, Holiness and Evangelism, writes these challenging words:

“The church as we know it is not transformed; it is not clean and powerful; and it is not victorious. It is not full of healed, delivered, self-denying, transformed believers. Rather, it is often made up of wounded, worn-out warriors. Many of us in our church – leaders and members alike – carry weight of buried, unconfessed past sins that we were never meant to carry. Many of us suffer from unhealed emotional wounds that prevent sus from responding to situations, as the Holy Spirit would like to lead us. Instead, these wounds cause us to respond, consciously or unconsciously, in ways that are influenced or even controlled by our unhealed pain. Many of us are locked into addictions that are ungodly and unseemly, such as gossip, backbiting, dishonesty, pornography, gluttony, outbursts of anger or hate, uncontrollable sex practices, TV, abiding bitterness, and unforgiveness. Many persons, even leaders in the church, live in the realm of the flesh by being touchy, easily offended, controlling, manipulative, greedy and proud.”

Can this be what God intended?
Is this the church that Christ said would storm the gates of hell?
Is this the abundant life that we’ve been talking about for two years?

Christ is calling you into the depths – where He will be empowered to set you free.

Look at Romans 6:13
“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” Romans 6:13

Today, God wants to take up an offering. Not one of money, but much more personal than that – He wants us to learn how to offer ourselves to Him as instruments of righteousness.

Look back at verse 11-12
“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” Romans 6:11, 12

Paul is saying that in order to live – you’ve got to die. “Dying to self” is not an uncommon theme in the NT, but it’s time for us to learn how to do so.

When I die to myself, I am dying to sin, dying to selfish desires and dying to personal agendas. I’m dying to the ways of the world and the traps of the enemy. I am dying to these things in order that I might live to a higher purpose, agenda and reason.

What happens a believer dies physically? There is a separation between the flesh (the body) and the spirit. The flesh goes into the ground and the spirit of man goes directly into the Presence of God.

When we learn to die to self daily, what is happening is that we are putting ourselves into a place of becoming alive – in the now – to the Presence of Christ.

Missionary Heidi Baker says: “God wants to kill us in order to give us real life – His life!”

Now turn to Proverbs 6:16…

“There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19

I want you to notice something very clear: Eyes, mouth, hands, heart and feet.

When I live my life seeking to please my natural senses, I will miss out on experiencing the amazing plans that God has for my life. But, when these natural senses are yielded ‘die’ to God, than I can begin to move into the abundant life and experience of His presence like never before.

That’s the message. God is calling you to experience real and lasting life through dying to self and surrendering daily the fleshly desires that scream for attention.

And here’s what I want to do now. I want to teach you how to pray through the realities of Romans 26:13.

EYES

Ezekiel 12:2 warns about spiritual blindness.

“Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.” Ezekiel 12:2

I lived most of my life in this condition. I just didn’t get it. I thought that it was all about me. I didn’t see what God was doing and I wasn’t seeing with the eyes of the Holy Spirit.

1 John 2:16 cautions us against the lust of the eyes. This speaks to eyes that wander and are drawn to all kinds of sensual pleasures. No one succeed in the spiritual life with eyes that are full of lust.

What is the focus of your eyes?

Look at John 5:19…

“Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” John 5:19

Jesus was so in tune with God that He saw exactly what His Father was doing. He was not looking with the eyes of the flesh, He was looking with the eyes of the Spirit.

Let’s get the eyes of the Spirit today.

• Give your eyes over to the Lord.
• Tell Him that you want to see with His eyes.
• Repent of lustful eyes.
• Tell Him that you want to see what He’s doing in the earth.
• Tell Him that you want to see from His perspective.
• Tell Him that you want to behold His beauty.
• Tell Him that you want to experience dreams and visions.

Let’s say outloud together: “God who gave me eyes, I return my sight to you. Grant me true sight through your Holy Spirit. Amen.”

EARS

The same Ezekiel passage we just read also mentions those who have ‘ears to hear, but do not hear…’

We live in a very noisy world. The problem is that we are listening to the wrong sounds. For two years I’ve been teaching you about how to hear the voice of God, yet, many of you are simply not listening to Him!

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says:
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3, 4

Listen to me: Truth has the power to set you free! Truth has the power of overcome your problems. Truth has the power to bring you into places of great blessing and favor with God.

Therefore, it is vital for you to learn to hear His voice correctly.

Jesus said:
“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you--and even more.” Mark 4:24

The more we listen to certain things, the more they will become part of our lives. If you will discipline yourself to listen carefully to the voice of God, you will experience increased levels of His peace, His joy, His righteousness and His power.

Nothing is better than knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that God is intimately and accurately directing your life!

So, let’s give Him our ears.

Tell Him you want to have ears to ear.
Tell Him you want to filter out the junk and receive the good.
Tell Him you desire His voice above all others.

Now pray this outloud with me:
“Lord, I give you my ears. Grant me discernment to know your voice. Separate me from the noise and move me into the quiet places with you. Amen.”

MOUTH

The Bible makes in clear in numerous places that what comes out of your mouth can either be a blessing or a curse.

Proverbs 18:21 says:
“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21

It’s time to give Him your mouth.
It’s time to ask Him to use your tongue for His purposes.
It’s time to ask Him to speak through you.
So, we pray: “Lord, I give you my mouth. My mouth, my lips, my tongue, my voice – all to your glory! Let my mouth speaks the praises of God!”

NOSE
It may strike you as funny that we are to give God our nose.

But 2 Corinthians 2:15 tells us something special about ourselves.
“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” 2 Corinthians 2:15

When you are being touched by God, your life takes on a fragrance of Christ! Your life becomes more fragrant and more aromatic – and like a great homecooked meal – you draw people into Christ through your life.

And God wants us to give Him our noses.

• Aren’t you tired of smelling the stench of this dead and dying world?
• Isn’t it time to ask for a new intimacy with Him – so much so that you can move in close and smell His sweet fragrance?

Let’s pray:
“Father, I am yielding my nose to you. I want to smell the fragrance of Christ. I want to breathe in the Spirit of God. I give you my nose. Amen.”

HANDS

The Apostle Paul talks about the importance of not dirting our hands with sinful things. Look at 2 Corinthians 6:17:
“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17

• What are you touching that is unclean?
• What are you doing with your hands that isn’t of God?

It’s time for God’s people to embrace holiness and purity as important virtues. It’s time that we live differently than the people of this world.

• God wants to use your hands as if they were His.
• God wants your hands to accomplish His goals.

Pray with me:
“God, I give you my hands. Use them to serve you. Use them to touch those in need. Use them as instruments of healing. Cause me to touch only that which you are touching. Amen.”

FEET

Proverbs 4:26-27 says…
“Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:26, 27, NIV.
How many times have you ended up someplace in your life that you had no intention of going to? Every step you take to please your flesh is a step you are taking away from God. It’s time to be wise as to where you walk.

On the other hand, Isaiah 52:7 says:
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

A life that is dedicated to only going where God leads is a life that will bring beauty to all those you touch.

Let’s pray:
“Lord, I give you my feet. Order my steps that I will be at the right place at the right time. Keep me from steps that lead to evil. My feet are yours. I will walk as you lead. Amen.”

And lastly…

HEART

Jesus gives this warning in Matthew 15:8…

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Matthew 15:8, NIV.

I have discovered that many people in church have hearts that are far, far away from Christ. They weren’t always that way, but they let little compromises turn into hardness of heart. Tragic and unnecessary. God wants all of your heart. All of it.

Jesus said:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

It’s time for you to give your heart fully to Him. Nothing less will do and nothing less will satisfy.

Pray with me:
‘GOD, I give you my heart – all of it! Take my wounds and heal me. Replace my heart of stone with a heart of tenderness and compassion. Give me a heart of love and a heart that is passionate for You above all else! Amen.”

CONCLUSION:
Living for Christ on a daily basis will change everything. It’s time to come out and be counted as truly His.

Give Him your EYES, MOUTH, EARS, NOSE, TONGUE AND HANDS!

It’s time to go deep with Christ!

Message 2: Holiness and Confession

INTRODUCTION: Turn to Isaiah 6

We have to make a choice. A choice that has two options:

Option One: We are alone in this world. There is no God and we cannot expect there to be help from above.

Option Two: We can know God personally and expect Him to intervene in our lives.

Most Christians believe option two but live as if they believed option one.

It’s time to change that.

It’s time to know God and to move into His Presence.

It’s time to not only hear His voice, but to do what He says.

PRAYER

To enter His Presence, we must come to see the absolute holiness of God, and our desperate need to confess our sin.

Look at Isaiah 6:1…
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8

Look back at verse 1
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Isaiah is a man who desires to enter into the Presence of God. And God rewards his desire with a vision.

“I saw the Lord…”

God opens up heaven and grants Isaiah a vision of the throne room of God.
God said in Acts 2:17….
“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Acts 2:17

We can have this too – dear friends! We can move into a level of intimacy with God in which He opens up Heaven and shows us the realms of His Kingdom!

Now, let’s look closer at Isaiah’s vision. Verse 1 again:
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

In his vision, he sees GOD. No kidding. He sees GOD. The word he uses is “Adonay” – which is the most common Jewish term for God. God isn’t messing around, He grants Isaiah a vision of Himself.

And he sees GOD on His throne. The vision takes Isaiah right into the very throne room of God.

Notice how Isaiah describes this: “seated on a throne, high and exalted” This is the reality of who God really is.

“High and exalted” – refers to…
• His character
• His nature
• His authority
• His power

God shows Isaiah the massive difference that exists between mankind and Himself.

The Angels Response:
Now, look at verse 2-4:
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

Notice what they do with their wings:
• With two they cover their faces
• With two they cover their feet
• And with two they fly

Why cover faces and feet? To show great humility before God. Imagine what spectacular creatures these angels are – yet, face-to-face with God, they are nothing. And as worshipping angels, they humble themselves before Him!

And what do these angels say?
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

• They declare His nature: He is holy! Holy means set apart, different, superior.
• They declare “holy, holy, holy” – three times – this could very easily be a picture of the TRINITY of God. Holy is the Father! Holy is the Son! Holy is the Spirit!
• They declare the impact of His nature: “The whole earth is full of his glory…” Everywhere you look, you can see the glory of God! Where there is spendour, abundance, dignity, honor – this is the evidence of the glory of God!

And they enter into a level of worship that you and I have yet to experience. Look at verse 4:

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

This isn’t a quiet Sunday morning service! This is the kind of worship that shakes everyone and everything! No one is left the same. For He is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY! For the whole earth is filled with HIS GLORY!

And we can have this kind of experience as well!

This is what happened at Pentecost – look at Acts 2…
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Acts 2:1-4

For ten days God’s people had been gathered in that upper room seeking and waiting. They were hungering and thirsting for MORE of God – and God met them. And shook the whole world! We can have this! I believe it with all of my heart! I’m longing, I’m crying, I’m hungry for MORE of God! Are you?

Now – look at verse 5 – OUR NEED FOR CONFESSION

Isaiah sees a vision of God’s throne room and as a result sees himself more clearly than ever!

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

Woe to me! – A passionate cry of grief and despair! It’s as if he is saying: “I’ve seen God, and now I see myself for the first time! And it’s not pretty!”

I am ruined! – Literally, “I am cut off from God! I have no access to Him because of His holiness!” If God were to deal with us with strict justice, we’d all be judged and would have no standing before Him!

I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips! – Maybe I thought I was doing pretty good, but now I’ve seen true holiness, and I’m not even close, even on my best days! And neither are those I live with! I am a sinner. I am anything but holy.

And it gets worse, for Isaiah says:
My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty! – Once you’ve been exposed to the truth, you become responsible for it! Isaiah had seen things as they really are, and there was no turning back. He could no longer pretend, he could no longer deny, he could no longer compare himself to others – He had seen GOD. And frankly, Isaiah is without hope.

But let’s take a look at verse 6-7:
GOD’S PROVISION FOR MY SIN
“Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” V. 6-7


God sends his ministering spirits – the seraphs – angels – from the throne room down to Isaiah. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, God did the same thing for Him – in Luke 22:43 we read…
“An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” Luke 22:43

God loves to send His angels to care for us. Billy Graham said in his book: Angels: God’s Secret Agents “Believers, look up – take courage! The angels are nearer than you think!”

Now this angel bring a live coal from the altar of God and touches Isaiah’s lips with it.

Now it is vital that you get the purpose of this.
• He touches him, not to hurt him, but to heal him.
• He touches him, not to harm him, but to purify him.

We all need this. If we are going to enter His presence, we need to be healed of the effects of sin. We need to have Him examine us closely for the generational sins of our fathers and mothers. We need to be healed of the abuses of our past, we need to be healed of the disappointments put upon us by others and by our own failings.

And that is exactly what God desires to do for each of us as we pursue Him.
The live coal comes from His altar and it brings purification.

John the Baptist prophesied that the Holy Spirit would come with purifying fire:
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11

This is what the Holy Spirit does – He purifies us! He burns out the unnecessary, in order to reveal the glory of God in our lives!

And in verse 7 we see that through the touch of God, our sin is forgiven! Our impurities are purified! Our debt is paid! Our guilt is removed!

If you are walking in guilt – you need to be touched by Christ’s power. You need to let Him access every part of your life with His purifying fire! Cry out to Him, acknowledge your sin, acknowledge your need, your desperation, your lack – and seek His touch!

What is the point of all of this? GOD’S PREPARATION FOR GREATER THINGS! Look at verse 8
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8

God is looking for men and women who will live their lives with Him as their goal. He is looking for people who will serve His plans and purposes. He is looking for people who will put aside personal goals and selfish desires, in order to pursue His presence – and here’s the amazing thing:

As you are purged of a guilty conscience you are being prepared to serve the Living God!

• God doesn’t waste a hurt – he translates it to a powerful tool for healing!

The purification and removal of your sin is absolutely necessary for you to speak with confidence either to God in prayer of for God in preaching!

CONCLUSION: The Heaven’s are open. Visions, dreams, prophecies, words of knowledge are all available to God’s children. As you hunger and thirst, God will quench. As you move into His Presence, He’ll not only make you aware of His holiness and your sin, but He will heal you.

Today is a day to be healed of the sins that are holding you back. Let go. Cry out to God for His healing touch. Confess and be healed.

Message 1: Hungering and Thirsting

INTRODUCTION:
• I want you to look at the front of your bulletin.
• Notice the title of my new series of messages: “Entering His Presence”
• We just finished “Supernatural Jesus”
• I’ve realized that living in the realm of the Supernatural Jesus requires that we learn to enter into His presence.
• When you look at the people who have made the most difference in this world for Christ, without exception they all have known how to enter His presence.
• Moses stood on holy ground and saw the back of God
• Elijah saw the Spirit realm with his very own eyes!
• Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego stood in the fiery furnace and had Christ as their companion.
• When Pastor Jack Hayford speaks, you know that every word that comes out of his mouth is the direct result of being in the Presence of Christ.
• Without His presence, we will live as mere men and women – we will never ‘get it’!

Over the past couple of years, God has rebuilt this man. Oh, how I praise Him for doing so. He has enabled me to sit, to listen, to hear His voice. He speaks to me. Do you know what that means to me?

Tomorrow, I begin seven weeks of chemo and radiation for this cancer in my neck. Listen to what the Lord spoke to me last week about this:
“Doug, you are entering into a season of blessing. Major blessing. I am working in an opposite spirit. You have cancer. You are undergoing chemo and radiation. The world would say that this will be a very difficult time, but I am working in an opposite spirit. You will enjoy major blessings. See my hands of blessing, Doug and stay in close with me.”

God is going to bless me and my family through this! Just the opposite of what the world would say! My task in all of this is simply to ‘stay in close’ with Him. I simply need to make sure that I am entering His presence in order to enjoy His blessings!

Can you even imagine what this does for me?

Let me tell a few things that entering His presence does:
• I get peace.
• I get guidance.
I get comfort.
• I gain revelation and understanding of what He is doing.
• I get vision.
• I get corrected when I’m off track.

Those are all good things. Very good things.

And you can have them too!

I love you. I desire good things for you. I want you to grow in Christ and enjoy Him more than ever. I want you to experience the Supernatural. And I would be remiss in my role as you pastor – shepherd – if I didn’t give you some practical guidance into how to enter His presence.

And so, for the next few weeks, we are going to be exploring some of the things that God’s Spirit has revealed that will help us all move in closer.

PRAYER

Turn to Matthew 5 – in verse 6 Jesus tells us about the first things you need to possess if you want to enter His presence:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

This isn’t rocket science. To enter His presence, you have to hunger and thirst for Him.

We’ve all heard the expression: “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.” And the same is true of the life of the Spirit – I can teach, encourage, counsel, challenge, model – but if you don’t have a hunger and thirst for the things of God, there is nothing anyone can do to help you.

But, if you DO hunger and thirst, God promises that you will be fulfilled! He won’t leave you wanting. He won’t leave you empty. He won’t leave you lacking. God says: “If you hunger and thirst for me – I will give you everything you need!

What a promise! What a joy! God says: “I will meet with you. I will be with you. I will show up and you’ll recognize my presence! And it all begins with desire!”

Let me describe this desire with a collection of David’s writings from Psalms:
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:1, 2

Think of a time when you’ve been really thirsty – how desperately you desire to have that thirst quenched. Think about how dry and parched your mouth, lips, and throat were. Think about how all you could think about was getting some water to drink – in order to have your thirst quenched. It was priority one. That’s what it means to ‘hunger and thirst for God.’

“My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalms 84:2

Have you ever been homesick? Lonely? Longing to be with your loved one? Have you ever been away from your loved ones and stood in the airport terminal looking for the one face that will satisfy? That’s what it means to ‘hunger and thirst for God.’

Jesus says to us today: “You are in fact BLESSED if you possess this desire, this longing, this passion for me. You are blessed, because you will soon be in MY PRESENCE! Your desire will be fulfilled!”

God isn’t messing around with us today. He won’t disappoint. He will arrive. He will speak. He will reveal. He will touch. It’s what He does, if you hunger and thirst, you’ll be satisfied.

The problem? We hunger and thirst for the wrong things.

We long for things that simply don’t matter. And in doing so, we miss out on what really matters.

We’ve all heard the saying: “No one ever comes to the end of their lives and wishes that they spent more time at the office.”

Let me suggest this: How tragic it would be for any of us to come to the end of our life on earth and not have pursued what really matters and what will really last: Our relationship with God!

Yet, this happens far too often. And I’m not talking about non-Christians – I’m talking about Bible-belieiving born-again Christians who miss out on the best part of our faith: Intimacy with God.

And I’m talking from personal experience.

For years my faith was an intellectual exercise accompanied by a set of moral laws. My prayer life was lukewarm and my worship experience was virtually dead. I had as my goal the vague goal of growing a church – but I wasn’t aware of or experiencing abundant life in Christ!

But all along, God was trying to get my attention. And He loved me enough to allow me to have an accident. I hit the wall.

Every man or woman of God will eventually hit the wall. And it is almost always a wall of their own making.

I hit my wall about 2 1/2 years ago and I’m so glad I did. In October 2003 – we had a day when Beth and I both realized that all the years of striving, suffering and seeking to ‘grow’ the church simply wasn’t working. In fact, it was killing us. And God spoke to us and gave us this word: “Something is going to change or something is going to change.” From that point forward something did change. And it was mostly me. I surrendered and I’m still surrendering – my will is simply not important. What I want doesn’t matter. My ways don’t lead to life. My ways are limited by time, space, experience and knowledge. But God’s will and God’s ways are far better than mine. And when I align my life with His will and His ways, my life takes on a quality that I never ever experienced doing it ‘my way.’

That was my wall. And it changed everything.

If you are surrendered, you have a wall in your future. And it’s a very good thing that you do. Because if you aren’t surrendered, you are heading in the wrong direction. I’m not saying that you aren’t saved. I’m not saying that you aren’t a Christian. I’m definitely not saying that I’m better than you. I’m simply saying that because God loves you, there will be a wall in your future.

When I hunger and thirst for anything other than God – I am headed towards a wall.


What walls are made of:
• Financial problems - Debt. Compulsive spending, Trying to ‘buy’ happiness.
• Relationship problems. Bickering, inability to communicate, Apathy or Enmeshment
• Inner problems – lack of peace, stress, compulsive behaviors, a general sense of frustration or disappointment with yourself or with life.
• Health problems – Headaches, skin rashes, nausea, inability to sleep.
• Business/career problems – Inability to keep a job, or to stay with a job. Sudden rise of income, or loss of income. Inability to stop working or to feel satisfied with a job well-done.
• Sexual problems – porn, lust, or other fixation. Or, coldness or distinterest.

If you are hitting walls like this – maybe, just maybe – God is attempting to get your attention. Maybe, just maybe He loves you enough to let you hit the wall, in order for you to turn towards Him for healing and restoration.

After I hit my wall, my life changed. I began to enter His presence. And I began to get exactly what I needed from Him. My life is far better today that it has ever been before. And, I am closed to Him that I’ve ever been.

Here’s why: Christ promised and Christ keeps His promises!
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

• I am blessed.
• I am blessed because I hit the wall, and in doing so, He changed my direction.
• I am blessed because I now hunger and thirst for Him, more than anything else.
• I am blessed because as I hunger and thirst for His presence, He fills me up.

He fills me up with…
“…the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

Do you need peace? Hunger and thirst for God! Enter His presence! Simply by entering His presence, what was chaotic and confusion, becomes filled with peace and clarity.
So, what will you do this week to enter His presence?