Faith, Prayer, and Divine Guidance in Relationships

Summary

In today's gathering, we explored the profound nature of faith, prayer, and the spiritual dynamics that govern our relationship with God. We began by discussing the role of angels, emphasizing that not all angels are warriors; some are messengers, and their presence is a testament to the divine order and purpose in our lives. This understanding leads us to recognize that our worship replaces the worship of fallen angels, highlighting the significance of our spiritual engagement.

We then delved into the complexities of relationships and the importance of discernment. If a relationship is unhealthy, it is crucial to sever ties decisively rather than gradually, akin to cutting off a monkey's tail an inch at a time. This metaphor underscores the necessity of making bold decisions for our spiritual and emotional well-being.

The sermon also addressed the feeling of punishment despite being blessed, reminding us that God's intention is not to punish but to guide us. The blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience, and any voice suggesting otherwise is not from God. We must separate the precious from the vile, as Jeremiah 15 instructs, and trust in God's will for our lives.

Prayer was another focal point, with an emphasis on praying according to God's will. Just as a menu at a drive-thru represents what is available, the Bible is our menu of God's promises. Knowing His will allows us to pray with confidence, understanding that God has already said "yes" to His promises.

We explored the concept of headship, where Jesus desires to lay His authority on the church, paralleling Jacob's experience of laying his head on a stone. This symbolizes the church's role in carrying Christ's authority and mission.

Finally, we discussed the importance of discerning God's voice, which comes through time spent in His presence. Whether through hearing, seeing, knowing, or feeling, recognizing God's voice requires immersion in His Word and Spirit. This relationship is transformative, not transactional, as we become more aligned with His will.

Key Takeaways:

- Angels and Worship: Angels serve different roles, from warriors to messengers. Our worship replaces that of fallen angels, emphasizing the importance of our spiritual engagement and the divine order in our lives. [01:35]

- Decisive Action in Relationships: Unhealthy relationships should be ended decisively, not gradually. This metaphor of cutting off a monkey's tail an inch at a time illustrates the need for bold decisions for our spiritual and emotional well-being. [03:41]

- Understanding God's Will: God's intention is not to punish us but to guide us. The blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience, and we must trust in God's will, separating the precious from the vile as instructed in Jeremiah 15. [04:35]

- Praying with Confidence: Knowing God's will allows us to pray with confidence. The Bible is our menu of God's promises, and understanding His will enables us to pray effectively, knowing He has already said "yes" to His promises. [05:32]

- Discerning God's Voice: Recognizing God's voice requires time spent in His presence. Whether through hearing, seeing, knowing, or feeling, discerning His voice involves immersion in His Word and Spirit, leading to a transformative relationship. [09:14]

Youtube Chapters:

- [0:00] - Welcome
- [00:53] - Introduction and Questions
- [01:35] - Understanding Angels
- [02:22] - The Role of Worship
- [02:57] - Cutting Off Unhealthy Relationships
- [03:41] - The Monkey Tail Metaphor
- [04:35] - Feeling Punished vs. Being Blessed
- [05:32] - Praying According to God's Will
- [06:26] - The Bible as Our Menu
- [08:14] - Headship and Authority
- [09:14] - Discerning God's Voice
- [10:45] - Surrendering to God
- [12:32] - The Importance of Obedience
- [14:20] - Yielding to God's Word
- [15:48] - Trusting in God's Promises
- [17:41] - The Power of Prophetic Insight
- [20:09] - Trust and Relationship with God
- [22:25] - The Role of the Bible
- [25:11] - Faith and Hearing God's Word
- [27:10] - Seeing God's Vision
- [31:05] - Becoming Through Belief
- [35:12] - Strengthening Faith Through Praise
- [39:27] - Speaking and Acting in Faith
- [41:03] - Resting in God's Promises
- [43:33] - Meditation and Transformation
- [47:40] - Prayer and Resurrection Life

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:

1. 1 John 5:14-15 - "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."
2. Jeremiah 15:19 - "Therefore thus says the Lord: 'If you return, then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them.'"
3. Colossians 1:18 - "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

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Observation Questions:

1. What roles do angels play according to the sermon, and how does this relate to our worship? ([01:35])
2. How does the metaphor of cutting off a monkey's tail relate to ending unhealthy relationships? ([03:41])
3. What does 1 John 5:14-15 say about praying according to God's will, and how does this relate to the sermon’s message on prayer? ([05:32])
4. How does the sermon describe the concept of headship and its significance for the church? ([08:14])

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the sermon suggest we discern between God's voice and other voices we might hear? What role does time spent in His presence play in this process? ([09:14])
2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that our worship replaces the worship of fallen angels, and why is this significant? ([01:35])
3. How does the sermon explain the relationship between knowing God's will and praying with confidence? What practical steps are suggested to align our prayers with His will? ([05:32])
4. What does the sermon imply about the transformative nature of our relationship with God, and how does this differ from a transactional relationship? ([31:05])

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a relationship in your life that may be unhealthy. What steps can you take to address it decisively, as suggested by the sermon? ([03:41])
2. How can you spend more time in God's presence this week to better discern His voice? What specific practices can you incorporate into your daily routine? ([09:14])
3. Consider a situation where you feel punished despite being blessed. How can you shift your perspective to see God's guidance rather than punishment? ([04:35])
4. Identify a promise from the Bible that you want to pray for with confidence. How can you ensure that your prayer aligns with God's will? ([05:32])
5. How can you embrace the concept of headship in your life, allowing Christ's authority to guide your actions and decisions? ([08:14])
6. Think of a time when you felt disconnected from God's promises. What steps can you take to reconnect and trust in His word? ([31:05])
7. How can you cultivate a transformative relationship with God rather than a transactional one? What changes in mindset or behavior might this require? ([31:05])

Devotional

Day 1: The Role of Angels in Divine Order
Angels are not just celestial beings; they play distinct roles in the divine order, from warriors to messengers. Their presence in our lives is a testament to God's purpose and order. Understanding this helps us realize that our worship is significant, as it replaces the worship of fallen angels. This highlights the importance of our spiritual engagement and the divine order in our lives. By acknowledging the roles of angels, we can better appreciate the spiritual dynamics that govern our relationship with God. [01:35]

Hebrews 1:14 (ESV): "Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?"

Reflection: How can you become more aware of the spiritual dynamics in your life, and how does this awareness affect your worship and daily actions?

Day 2: Decisive Action in Relationships
In life, relationships can either uplift or hinder our spiritual and emotional well-being. When a relationship becomes unhealthy, it is crucial to take decisive action to sever ties rather than allowing it to linger. This is akin to the metaphor of cutting off a monkey's tail an inch at a time, which illustrates the necessity of making bold decisions for our well-being. By doing so, we protect our spiritual health and align ourselves more closely with God's will. [03:41]

Proverbs 13:20 (ESV): "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."

Reflection: Is there a relationship in your life that is hindering your spiritual growth? What steps can you take today to address it decisively?

Day 3: Understanding God's Will
God's intention is not to punish us but to guide us. The feeling of punishment despite being blessed can be confusing, but it is essential to remember that the blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience. Any voice suggesting otherwise is not from God. We are called to separate the precious from the vile, as instructed in Jeremiah 15, and trust in God's will for our lives. This understanding allows us to live with confidence and peace, knowing that God is guiding us. [04:35]

Jeremiah 15:19 (ESV): "Therefore thus 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.'"

Reflection: In what areas of your life do you feel punished despite being blessed? How can you shift your perspective to see God's guidance instead?

Day 4: Praying with Confidence
Prayer is a powerful tool when aligned with God's will. Just as a menu at a drive-thru represents what is available, the Bible is our menu of God's promises. Knowing His will allows us to pray with confidence, understanding that God has already said "yes" to His promises. This assurance transforms our prayer life, enabling us to approach God with boldness and faith, knowing that He hears and answers according to His will. [05:32]

1 John 5:14-15 (ESV): "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."

Reflection: What specific promise from the Bible can you pray for today, knowing that God has already said "yes" to it?

Day 5: Discerning God's Voice
Recognizing God's voice requires time spent in His presence. Whether through hearing, seeing, knowing, or feeling, discerning His voice involves immersion in His Word and Spirit. This relationship is transformative, not transactional, as we become more aligned with His will. By dedicating time to be in God's presence, we learn to recognize His voice and guidance in our lives, leading to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Him. [09:14]

John 10:27 (ESV): "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

Reflection: How can you create space in your daily routine to spend more time in God's presence and better discern His voice?

Quotes

1) "If you know something's not healthy for you, somebody's pulling you down, using you, then you need to cut it off. How many of you ever heard me tell the story of the monkey tail? Uh-oh, I got to tell it. There was a guy who had a friend who had a monkey. And the monkey was always hanging by his tail and tearing stuff up. And so he said, one of these days I'm going to cut that monkey's tail off. And so one day this guy was over to his friend's house, and he kept hearing this blood-curdling scream every few seconds. And he's like, what's going on? So he knocked on the guy's door, and the guy came to the door. He said, man, what's going on in your house? I keep hearing this screaming coming. He says, well, remember I told you I was going to cut that monkey's tail off? He said, yeah. Well, I'm cutting it off now. He says, well, why does he keep screaming over and over again? Well, so that it doesn't hurt so much, I'm cutting it off an inch at a time. And that's the way some of y'all try to get out of relationships. The wrong relationship is an inch at a time. Cut the thing off. Change your number. Put a block on. Amen." [02:57] (65 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

2) "One of the things you have to realize is that the blood of Jesus is aimed at your conscience. Amen. If God was going to punish you, you wouldn't even be here. If that was his mindset was to punish you, you wouldn't be breathing right now. Are you here? The fact that you're breathing means he wants you. Okay. And so what you have to do in Jeremiah 15, I believe it is, he talks about separating the precious from the vile. Okay. And if you read that in the Amplified Bible, he says, if you get rid of this unwarranted suspicion about my will towards you, amen, that's not the voice of the Spirit. That's not the voice of God. So when a voice comes accusing God of punishing you or being your problem, how many of you know if God's your problem, you don't have an answer? Amen. And so we want to make sure that we're walking in the truth, okay?" [04:35] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

3) "How do I know it's God's voice? Okay. How do I know if God is speaking and my, my, my favorite two words, when somebody asked that is time spent, somebody say time spent. When God speaks to you, you're going to hear something, you're going to see something, know something, or you're going to feel something. All of those are the way the voice of God operates. Okay. You can hear, you can see something, you can just know something, or you can even feel something. Now you have to be in the word because everything you feel is not God. Is this making sense? So you have to be in the word in order to know this. Okay. And so time spent with him in his Bible, in the Bible with him. Him in the spirit helps you to be acquainted to his voice. I still miss his voice. So I don't know if you'll ever be perfect. Okay. But you can be better. Somebody say better." [10:06] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

4) "Let me just say that. Okay. And so somebody asked the question, how do you know when to yield or when to fight? Okay. Now the truth is, is that you can't fight until you've yielded. So surrender is in both of them. When you fight or when you receive as a child, surrender is the key to both of them. What does the Bible say in James four, seven, therefore what submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So I, so even in warfare, I have to yield to what God has said, because usually the fight is a fight of faith. The fight is a fight of focus. The fight is a fight of what the enemy is saying, as opposed to what God is saying. So before I can, I can resist the devil. I have to say. Submit therefore to God. That's one of the reasons why obedience is so important because obedience will help me in my warfare. It's hard to war without clean hands. Are y'all here?" [12:32] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

5) "Look at somebody. Tell him all I need is a word from God. A word will shift everything. Is that making sense? Um, at the wedding, they ran out of wine. I don't know why they ran out of wine after Jesus and the disciples came. But for some reason, they ran out of wine. And so Jesus' mother came to him and said, we're out of wine. He said, what do I have to do with you? My time is not yet. And the mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. So obedience is the key to manifested promises to the power of God. Amen. We live obedient lives because we want to be powerful." [15:48] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

6) "The more you know him, the less warfare you have to go through about him. Amen. Are y'all here? The devil can't fight me about Olive Garden. Because I know. We're going. Unless they close up. Unless there's a tornado or something. Are y'all here? Did you get anything out of that? Thanks. Thanks, Mike. Glory be to God. That's what trusting is. Thank you, Lord. Somebody say the logos. So we start out with the logos, the general will of God. Okay. We want to know who he is by the photograph the Bible gives us about God. Okay. You read. First of all, you read. I gave you a pattern a few weeks ago. You read. You hear. You see. You speak. I added one. You rest. Then it comes to pass. So let's dig into those just a little bit. Is that all right? I just want you to get it, man. I'm your pastor. I just want you to get it." [20:38] (61 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

7) "So in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god the same was in the beginning with god all things that were made were made by him and without him nothing was made that was made everything that we see came from the unseen world that's represented by the word of god amen now the bible is important because it shows you who to go to does that make sense okay um john 5 39 says it this way says you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life but it is they that testify of me and you will not come to me that you might have eternal life life so if your relationship as a Christian is simply with the Bible you don't get it the Bible is telling you about a person and you're supposed to go based on the Bible you're supposed to go to that person and have a relationship with that person and live based on what that person is saying to you that's agrees with the Bible and not just trying to formulate principles of your own from the Bible does that make sense okay I want you to see that so you read then you hear somebody say you hear okay you hear the anointed word say that with me the anointed word the anointed word is where the spirit and the word meet the spirit and the word are one okay and so you're not dealing with the word until you're dealing with the anointed word the spirit and the word do you listen to me okay the anointed word it speaks to us the logos becomes a rhema a living spoken specific word from God a person you can trust somebody say faith comes okay in Romans 10 17 it says it this way so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God now sometimes how can I say I will pray something just because it's in the Bible but I don't always have faith just because I've read the Bible and there's times when I've been stronger than others and what I was praying about and the differences screws it's not αυτό hear from God specific word about this." [23:47] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

8) "And some of us are disappointed because we set things up that God never co-signed. I'm going to be this by this time. I'm going to do this by this time. And it doesn't happen, and you're disappointed with God. Well, God wasn't committed to it in a specific way in the first place. Sometimes when you know the Bible, you will go into a place of entitlement. Well, you feel like things should just happen just because who you are. Are you listening to me? No, you need, you need, you have a living relationship with God. You need a living relationship with him where he speaks to you, and then that translates into faith, and then you operate from faith. Okay? So, so you hear, somebody say you hear. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the rhema of God. So in my time alone, with God, he's talking to me and producing faith in me. It's hard to make this stuff work without an intimate relationship with God. Now, how do I know I've heard? I know I've heard because I see." [25:11] (75 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

9) "You ever cried until you didn't have no more crying in you? That's some serious crying. And then after they got done crying, they got mad at David and got ready to stone him. The Bible says he encouraged himself in the Lord. He went into praise and worship and strengthened himself. Guided himself back into the presence of God and said, God, what should we do about this? Shall I pursue them? God said, yes, pursue them. You shall overtake them and recover all. I know the end of the game now. I don't have to sweat the fact that I don't see anything anymore. I don't have to because I know how it's going to come out. I just got a prophetic word that cut me off, that divorced me from everything the devil is trying to do in my life. Come on, somebody." [35:12] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

10) "He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. What's he performing? He hastens over his word. Come on, somebody. To perform it. He became convinced. The picture became clear. He was persuaded. He stayed in the presence of God long enough. He heard from God long enough for the picture to be clear. Well, Pastor, how long is that? I don't know. All I know is when it's clear. How long does it take a woman to get pregnant? I don't know. For some of y'all, it's taken three, four years. It happens when it happens. You stay with it until it happens. Is this making sense? Somebody say being fully convinced that he had promised that what he had promised, he was able. He was able to perform." [36:49] (66 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Chatbot

Transcript

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