“Daring to Live by Every Word” - 3ABN Today (TDY210049)

[Music] as you're well aware we're living in unprecedented times join us now for today's special program i want to spend my life [Music] removing pain lord let my words [Music] i wanna spend my life mending broken people i wanna spend broken people hello and welcome to 3 abn today my name is angela loma kang and i'm so glad that you have decided to tune in today thank you for your prayers and your financial support of this program that is going into the whole world well speaking of the whole world you are going to be blessed by our guest today melody mason welcome melody thank you it's good to be back yes yeah you've been on this program a few times when i say this program you've been here at 3abn a few times and it's always good to have you here thank you and also melody you and i have met before haven't we yes where have we met we met on a flight to australia i was dreading flying across the ocean and there i saw john and and angela loma king and i was so excited so we flew across the ocean yes we did that very long flight yeah and you have been involved in prayer ministries for some time yes but you are also a registered nurse is that correct yes that's correct as well now how did that transition come about from registered nurse to prayer ministries yeah so well i was just working as a nurse and then was getting more and more involved in ministry and prayer ministry began to grow and then pretty soon i had so many requests and obligations with the prayer ministry that i realized i needed either either work or or do prayer ministries so i stepped out of nursing back in 2012 and uh started working full-time prayer ministry and now of course working with the general conference prayer ministries so wow it's been an amazing adventure i'm sure it has i'm sure you have lots of stories to share about how prayers are answered in so many different ways and we're going to be talking about that today well before we go on we have a wonderful rendition of people need the lord by mary grace you're going to be blessed [Music] thank you mary grace for that beautiful rendition of people need the lord is that ever true now more than ever before we do need the lord anyway melody it's always good to have you here back again and you have written a couple of books called daring to ask and dear into ask actually darren to ask for more not just darren to ask and darren to ask for more tell us a little bit about these two books and then we'll share a little bit about the present book where we go sure yeah daring to ask for more was basically written out of the journey that god took me on in prayer just i just recognized i had grown up in the church of laodicea as we all have and that there was something lacking in my life and i just began seeking the lord with all my heart just with my open bible before me i i would i would be reading the bible and i'm just i recognized something was missing and just be praying and pleading with tears coming down my face and just saying lord i want more i don't know what that looks like but i want more so that is the journey that launched me on basically into prayer ministry and into writing that book which is all about teaching people how to go deeper in their prayer life that's beautiful practical how many languages and distribution has this yeah so daring to ask for more um from what i know so far uh close to a hundred thousand copies in parents and it's in about ten languages wow yeah and now what about this small book is she said it's a companion vlog yes that is the sharing version that the pacific press just uh produced uh like a year ago which is just great to share with friends family just across the board just kind of gives a little it's a condensed version of daring to ask so it's it's the same but just a condensed version like eight chapters out of the main book so that's a great book just to share out on the street or with people that are interested and growing their walk with god amen that's beautiful we all need prayer amen and we all need that relationship with the lord through prayer that's right and i like this less talk more prayer so you want to pick that up now this is the newest book daring to live by every word and what is the inspiration for you right in this book yeah well i i'm just recognizing and i'm sure that you are you do as well that we're just we're living in a society that's disconnected and i'm not just talking about society but even the church i feel like oftentimes you know we're we're told that we're the people of the book we're the people of the word that's our history as believers but i've just been recognizing more and more that that there's there's a lack when it comes to practical christianity and how we actually apply the word of course we'll talk more about that but there's a story that really inspires me and it's a very old story god kind of leads me to these stories i started daring to ask for more with a with an old story as well um but this story that i start daring to live by comes from about 320 a.d wow and actually the emperor constantine had had made an edict that excuse me christianity was was approved and encouraged across the roman empire but he had a co-rival licinius on the eastern side of the roman empire he that tolerated this for a while but then he he broke the alliance and he said no we're going to stamp out christianity we we don't want christianity and so kind of his rival uh began persecuting persecuting the christians and he decided that he was going to send his army um you know to to wreak havoc on the christian world but he realized before he did this he had to get the christians out of his army he had to remove them or there would be mutiny in the ranks right well there was a group of soldiers about a hundred soldiers that were camped around a lake outside the city of sebasti which is now modern-day turkey sevis in modern-day turkey and so the emperor had a message sent to the commander of that army so one night this messenger comes up and this was in wintertime so it's cold it's freezing and just uncomfortable the lake is frozen and this messenger comes riding up and gives a message to the captain of the army and this was a message i want you to call all the men into rank and to line and i want you to build an altar and you're going to give every man a cup of wine and they're to go around the altar and to pour out that wine in reverence and worship and kind of adoration to the empire oh and those that don't those that refuse to do that they're going to be killed and so yeah this was a very serious implication because he knew the christians wouldn't do that right and that would separate the christians from the other the other soldiers so that's exactly what happened they sounded the bugle and and called the men into line it was dark you know evening and cold and they built the altar and then they passed out the cups of wine and the men started going around and pouring out the wine well after i think the second or third person the fourth man refused and he just poured it out on the ground and the commander you know pushed him aside okay you stand over there and and they went through and out of those 100 men 40 of them chose to dump their wine out on the ground they were not going to worship the empire because they knew we can have no other gods before us god is our god and you know they might not have had the bible like we have now but they knew the ten commandments and they knew that god is god that's right and so that night what happened was those men were stripped of their clothes and they were sent out on the lake to die and as they were out on the lake they started singing and just beautiful songs coming from the lake and the captain tried to try to pull them back you know by by making these warm fires out along the edges of the lake so that they could come back and and and be warm and escape their their freezing death but the men stayed out there and they kept singing and then as the singing gradually faded away um one man broke rank and he came back to the edge of the lake he came off the lake and and just collapsed by one of the fires a deserter well the guard that was watching to make sure that the soldiers you know stayed out on the lake you know the ones that were were being were being forced to die he was so convicted that he threw off his clothes and he said i am a believer in the god of these men and i'm going out to join them so he took the he took the place of the man that had deserted so in the morning there were 40 men that had died in honor to god and and just seeking to to not bow down to any other god but but the god of heaven and that story i mean it's a it's a tough story to tell and you're like oh you know right these type of stories are tough but i really see that we are in a time of testing and and we're in the great controversy battle as we know right now and it's increasing yes and we're in a battle today you know over um how we worship and over parental authority and ecclesiastical authority and how we take care of our bodies there's this battle going on and the big question is you know who are we going to bow to and i really believe that the biggest battle is between self yep and the authority of god's word so are we going to bow to what god tells us in his word or are we going to go after our own inclinations of our heart and do what we want to do and that's what you know that's what that's what the world is doing it's just it's just falling apart right we're living in perilous times yes times that we have read about in the word of god and spirit of prophecy and now we're alive to see these things happen yeah i mean the story you told was amazing you know these were martyrs that gave their life for the lord but we know that blessed are those who die and they will have their reward when jesus returns right they are resting from their labors yes wow okay now this book daring to live by every word it took you a few years to write this book didn't it yes it did the timing is right that's right god's timing is perfect yes but it was a struggle to get this it was a real real struggle yes honestly about four years of of of battle to get it written but then when it finally came out just ahead of the uh the covid pandemic i felt like it was very very perfect timing because we're we're in a time of great testing of our faith and and we're all under trials i mean multiple things are happening and we don't know what's happening and we don't you know we don't have the same security we don't have the same peace that we have previously and um god is teaching us through these times yes can we trust him will we trust him will we honor his word yeah will we depend and yeah i really love um that just different scriptures we see throughout the bible you know we're told to love him with all our heart body mind and soul and it's not just about going to church on a specific day it's not just about paying or tithe or doing this it's a holistic it's a whole body relationship heart mind and soul experience and yes you know what you're just saying there about a relationship god is saying and and jesus is saying in his word you know you call me lord but you don't do the things that i say and you say that you love me but you don't keep my word amen and so where where is that and so i was really convicted just by things i saw happening in my own life and and things i was experiencing and things i'm seeing you know that are happening around me that we need as christians to learn how to take god's word practically and how to really make it personal to our lives and this book i'll just you know i'll just give you a disclaimer this is not a book of to do list of you know this is what you need to do and this is what you need to do and you know and i'm not the i'm not the the role model right you know jesus is the role model amen he is the role model and it's not a book of righteousness by works it's it's about righteousness by faith but having said that our faith is evidenced amen by how we live there you go and it's really about worship it's it's we honor him we honor his word by how we live our lives that is worship yes and so i love that but let's go back to the garden of eden about the word of god share with us with our viewers and listeners about the garden of eden how the word was tried back then exactly well in the garden of eden you know we know the story of of adam and eve and how god said don't touch and you have all this all this garden all this amazing paradise imagine we've been placed in paradise yeah but this is not for you don't touch it if you touch it if you eat it actually it's what god eat it if you eat it you will die it's like a child you tell a child don't touch the stove you're going to get burned what do you want and that's the one thing they become intrigued with yes the stove exactly go ahead yeah tell them don't eat it so that story i think is is symbolic what happened in the guardian eat what happened in the garden of eden is symbolic with what we have seen happen ever since it's been a battle over the word will we go by what god says in his word or will we go by what the tempter is saying and the temptation is saying and he you know he says oh did god really say exactly and you know if you if you do that you're not gonna die yeah but we're told the wages of sin is death we're told you know what is going to happen as a result he's given us these things as safeguards his word yes so i just believe that the garden of eden paints a picture of the great controversy yes that we see even today and that's the battle and of course when we get to the end of time which i believe that we're living in the end of time the whole battle is over the word yes will we trust what god says in his word the key is trust yes will we trust yes that's the thing today so many people are not trusting in the word of god that's right but there's so many versions of the bible right yeah that's true tell us about the jefferson yeah the jefferson bible um is i i i didn't know about this i didn't i don't need it yeah the jefferson bible basically thomas jefferson was a professed believer of god and but he went through the bible and he started clipping and cutting um well no that no that's not right and he started cutting and making his own bible so he cut out the parts he didn't like which was much of the gospels yeah and and said and so he pieced together his own bible and can't do that no we can't do that but you see that happening in society today it's all about what we believe truth is relative truth is like well what i think and what i believe this is truth it's a designer's bible isn't it it's a designer's bible and it's it's it's satan's poison because he gets people to take it because they have a little bit of what well this is good you know but then you have the deception that comes in with it and we cannot rewrite the scriptures we have to as you the book says we have to dare to live by every word that's right and that's why you wrote this book every word that's right what about the disclaimer yeah just just the fact that i really have a big burden that people understand the righteousness by faith message because we do not have within ourselves the ability to be who god has called us to be exactly we don't have the strength we don't have the willpower we don't have the the grit and determination oh if i can you know i i can do it for a certain amount of time but it's always going to fall short and and we know god tells us in his word i think it's isaiah 64 that our righteousness is but we do have what we need in christ and he is our perfect righteousness and so the key is not to focus on ourself but to keep focused on him and as we stay focused on him and stay in his word he's changing us he's growing us to be more like him and to reflect him but of course we're always under the righteousness of christ it's never yeah and so that's what i'm continually trying to bring out again and again as we go through because i do talk about a number of topics that deal with our our life and principles and trying to help people you know how do we apply scripture how do we apply the principles of scripture to our lives as i actually go through the book i have different bible studies at the end of each chapter uh that people can study out what we've discussed and that's right and see for themselves that's right romans 12 we all know romans 12 1 and 2 i beseech you brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice how should it be holy acceptable acceptable to god which is your reasonable service amen and do not be conformed to what this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and the battle is always over the word of god yes in the beginning was the word and this is what the struggle is today the word of god thus says the lord people are not listening to what the lord says anything it's what i want to do that's why i said it's a designer's bible that's right it's you know you pick and choose what you want but you can't do that that's friendly i love i have a quote that i wrote down this comes from one of my favorite authors ellen white in the book christian service and she says holiness is not rapture it is an entire surrender of the will to god it is living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god it is doing the will of our heavenly father it is trusting god in trial in darkness as well as in the light it is walking by faith and not by sight it is relying on god with unquestioning confidence and resting in his love it's beautiful but i i underline the part uh trusting in god in trial and darkness as well as in light so many people don't like the darkness and the trials yes well i don't like them either right none of us do right yeah we don't like to go we don't like these awful fiery trials that we're going through that's right yeah but we got to trust him that's right that's the key now share with us about the walden seas walden yeah so i had the privilege a couple years ago um this would have been about the time actually that that we met on that flight to australia because i came back from that trip and ended up going to europe and did a great controversy tour and it was awesome always wanted to do that yes i i just if there's ever an opportunity to do that it's so building i mean we were we were following in the steps of the reformers and i'm reading the great controversy and looking you know how how they had gone and i'm just weeping and crying and it was just beautiful but my favorite place was in the waldensian valleys of course we got to go up and see the caves where many of them hid where many of them were killed and their homes they're still there rocks made of rocks after hundreds and hundreds of years yes still there so that was so inspiring but one story um that i share that has just really inspired me is there was a group on the side of the mountain there the soldiers came in to to wipe them out and they were collecting all the bibles and burning them and everything and there was a family bible that someone was trying to save and so instead of putting it in the fire they actually threw it over a cliff oh and in the process they were killed so the person that threw the bible over the cliff died and everyone scattered and left 50 years later some of the group and family began to move back into the area and they discovered the bible in the bushes over the edge of the cliff it had survived in wind rain snow and storm for 50 years and it was still intact what's 50 it was still intact i should have brought a picture to show that bible because i have a picture with that bible and it was just so inspiring seeing how people are willing to give up their life for the word of god and that's the kind of faith i don't feel like i'm strong i don't feel like but but that's the kind of faith i pray for lord i want to stand for your word if the heavens fall i want to be faithful even to death will i defend your word well god says well you know if you want to be you know strong in the future well how are you honoring my word today how are you living by my word today because if you can't follow what i'm showing you today that's right then how are you going to stand strong tomorrow tomorrow so that's back to the whole yeah that's right wow that's powerful and you know it's as i said that earlier it's a relationship with the lord that's right and it's a one-to-one relationship years ago you said oh i could write on john's coattail to heaven that was foolish i cannot ride on no one's coattail to heaven that's right it's me and the lord i cannot so anyway let's go down let's break down the overalls four sections of daring to live the world so yeah basically i broke the book into four parts um and we'll kind of talk through as we have time here a few illustrations from each part but the the word that breaks yes the word that restores the word that transforms and the word that empowers and that's how i go through and i'm very real and vulnerable as i go through this book sharing with people you know challenges that i've had and how i've struggled with some of the principles and how god has has grown and is growing me through the process and um one of the the first testimonies that i i share i don't know if i should yes but anyway people can go back and read it again yes but it is i was i was leading in prayer ministry and i was at a very large event we had a conference and there were a lot of people there and i was supposed to lead prayer time this next morning and and in the process of praying and preparing god brought something to my mind that was not right with him something that i needed to not just confess and repent but i needed to do something about right and i realized i can't i can't take care of this before i do prayer ministry tomorrow and maybe i shouldn't maybe i shouldn't go up and lead and and i was just like oh lord please forgive me i'll get somebody else and i was crying and praying and and so i went to sleep that night and i'm like i'm gonna get somebody else to replace me but then in the morning i woke up and i just felt the holy spirit telling me melody i want you to lead the prayer time in the morning i'm like no lord i can't you know and and you know you know how could i share you know and i just felt him convicting me you just need to be real and honest you know it's not about what people think you are or who people think you are it's about calling them with you to the foot of the cross just be real just be vulnerable and call them with you and so i went forward that morning and i was just crying and i was so humiliated because here i am as a leader in ministry and i'm going before people and i'm saying you know what god convicted me of something last night that's not right right with him and so i'm coming today not as someone who's there but as someone that's in need of a savior and i'm inviting you to come with me to the foot of the cross so we had this beautiful prayer time that morning everyone came forward we had this beautiful time of prayer and it was just i think it's one of the most powerful prayer services that i've been part of a lot of people came up and you were afterwards i loved the opening yeah you were open yeah yeah yes great i love that when oh it was very it was very humbling experience but god uses those times yes and it was so neat because afterwards a lot of people came up to me and they shared how things that they had been convicted to make right with god and this old man this old man even even came up and he says you know i've always felt like it's a little bit of a show you know you go to events and everybody's you know they've got the perfect christian life but you can't have a god but i saw as you were real and as god was breaking you and showing you your sins and and changing you that he could do the same for me and i've decided to give my life to christ oh and it just broke me and i was like lord forgive me if my pride ever again gets in the way of what you want to do of so so the whole premise that i'm starting the book off is with the beauty of brokenness oh roof off walls down we have to to be broken um before god and be willing to be broken before our brothers and sisters and the beginning of true revival is brokenness amen and we have to be broken by the word and that's the whole so that's the whole start where we get off beauty of brokenness sacrifices of god or broken spirit is that that one that bible takes a broken contract yeah and and i i'm glad you mentioned that verse because uh psalms 51 17 talking about that sacrifice and broken if you actually look up uh the hebrew for that brokenness i didn't realize but it's actually a grinding to powder it's actually dust now think about this when you you grind something to powder you can't glue it back together you can't like tape it back together it's dust it's broken broken and and that's really symbolic i believe of what god wants us as christians to be totally humbled before his throne and this is not a uh you know woe is me self-depreciation this is recognizing who we truly are amen before god his holiness our unholiness that's right and i talk about the fact that you know he's called us to holiness and we don't have that but again as we were talking about earlier he does he does it's like humpty dumpty everybody knows humpty dumpty sat on the wall humpty dumpty had a great fall all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put him back together but who could do it that's right amen no matter how far you feel like you've fallen i'm too bad i'm too sinful i've done so much horrible stuff no god will pick that those pieces up and put them together like he did for humpty dumpty that's right he could do that for us you know when people talk with me i am sharing you know i have a lot of people that talk with me in ministry and i know you and your husband do as well and they're just like yes i just feel so broken and how could i ever and i say it's the best place to start is being broken so if you feel like you're in a wilderness experience if you feel like you're dry if you feel like i have nothing to give yeah then that's great that's the point where he can you know uh ellen white makes a statement in the book ministry of healing she says our only claim to his mercy is our great need amen our only claim to his mercy and so until we are broken of self pride of everything this is not about anything of us and who we are i mean we got to totally be humbled and broken then that's when he can begin to do his work in us yes and it's a continual process it's not just one time no you know i like that your good point is continue a few years ago my husband and i were we were broken and i tell you that's when we said lord we are broken we cannot do we cannot go any further he started to work in us to restore us to build us back up amen and it wasn't us but we came naked before the lord we just said lord help us you know when i say naked in our mind and our soul that's right we just lay bear before the lord so but he could also restore us can't yes he yes and that's where the beauty of the word that restores come in comes into the picture i share in this part some of my journey and just recognizing the sweeter song you know we we tend to desire this and we desire that and we desire things that are not good for us um but god wants to teach us that what he has is better and not just better it's the best i like that not just better yeah it's what we really really truly need and there's a story of a young man he's still alive his name is called brother yoon a chinese christian in fact he has a book the heavenly man some of our audience may be familiar with it's a powerful story of faith and prayer but this man grew up in china where they didn't have access to the bible and he was just hungry and thirsty and pleading for a bible he knew that they existed but he didn't have one and he prayed and fasted for like a hundred days and this is in an area where if you have a bible you could be imprisoned or even killed or very very difficult yeah um and god brought him a bible wow and this man could not even read but he began looking up character one character after another and and and began reading the word and then he began memorizing the word and and just as his life changed people started you know flocking to hear and he began preaching and starting these little house churches and just just thinking about the hunger of the hunger he had for god and his word has just been so inspiring for me and that's what i really believe that god wants to to give each one of us and as we immerse ourselves in the word of course he's changing us and making us more like him amen i've been thinking about the fact that well actually this morning when i was reading in my own devotional time i was reading hosea 4 and it says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge and i was thinking about the fact we have a coming famine we have a famine coming for the word of god and so now god is giving us opportunity to prepare to grow close in our walk with him because when he comes back to take us home it's not going to be like what did you do thank you how many books did you write how many sermons did you preach you know where have you been around the world it's not going to be any of that for us it's going to be like do i know you amen do you know me are you honoring me and that is evidenced by our life amen it's the fruit it's it's the fruit it's not the root he's the root but the fruit of how we live our life in in honor to god's word and so i'm just i'm just wanting to share and and show people how the word changes you as you spend time and i yeah i like that as you spend time you have to make time the world will swallow you up if you don't make time for the word of god that's right and we do that every morning we say we have to get in the word of god and and evening even throughout the day you have to spend time with the lord you spend time with your children you people spend time with their spouses their parents whatever spend time in the word of god how about the word empowers the word that transforms transforms okay i forgot about that one yeah so we we the word that breaks the word that restores the word that transforms ah okay well this is all about virtuous living in an unvirtuous world okay we've already talked about that disconnect and yes god really inspired me um a few years ago and he's still inspiring me today with the process he really wants to do a makeover not just a makeover a complete renovation in our lives and i like to equate it with a home because we all have a home so think about the fact we have a home and we invite jesus to come into our life and we say you know come in make yourself at home here um here the the living room's clean that's usually where we have guests and it's right make yourself at home here's some books to read now i'm going to go do my business in the kitchen or or bedroom or or wherever yes well jesus begins knocking on doors and he's like you know yeah um you don't want to go in that room well yeah exactly and you're like um you're going to come into the kitchen um don't tell me you're going to you're going to start touching what cabinets yeah what i what i cook or what i put on my plate or you're going to come in lord this is private don't look in that closet and and the whole point is he he is to influence every area of our life every room of our life and it's a counter cultural message actually um if you think about it it's it's upside down it's an upside down model of christianity yes how we are to live as christians because of course the world says you know if you want to be get somewhere then you got to push your way and you got to push others down and he says we're to deny ourselves and and so it's it's opposite and so i'm really encouraging in a number of practical ways you know like how our uh our digital devices affect us and our time you're touching a point there that's right how how how much is this leading us in contrast thank you for this thank you um talking about just everything every aspect of our life i have a i have a little verse over um over my closet and it's romans 14 and it says put ye on the lord jesus christ make enough provision for the flesh and the whole point is really what is this is this to glorify self or is this to glorify god how is our life and especially this gets difficult when we when we talk about the ways that we've been wounded the ways we've been hurt there's a story i'll share very very briefly about a woman who this happened during the genocide in rwanda back in yes and you might have heard the story it's a story mark finley actually tells about a woman a church where they came in the the hootsies and the i don't know if i'm saying it right but two different two different tribes yes and one tribe came in and killed the other one a woman survived her husband had been killed and she barely lived but she survived and she began to regain health and come back and then when she got strong enough she wanted to minister to those that had killed her husband and so she started going to the prison and feeding them and eventually one man fell down at her feet weeping and said you know can you ever forgive me i'm the one that kills your husband and she says i already forgave you amen now i i've prayed for you that's a tough one yes i mean how can we do that we can't naturally do that except through the power of the holy spirit and so not only did she forgive him but eventually the government gave amnesty to those prisoners that they and they were set free and that man his family had been killed in the genocide as well so he had nowhere to go so he went and knocked on her door and she had been become his friend and she'd been studying the bible with him he actually was baptized so now at this point he was already in the church yes and he came knocking on her door what do i do and she says you can come and live with me and together we will wait for our loved ones isn't that beautiful yes so she adopted the man that killed her husband killed her husband yeah wow that's a tough one yes but like you said it's only through the spirit of god that's why you do that you can't do that in your human flesh that's right no what's the next section so the final section is the word that empowers and that is really you know what we have been called through acts you know he says you know he's calling the disciples weight and you will receive power to go to jerusalem and judea and sumerian under the uttermost parts of the earth and there's different stories i share in this testimony but one really inspirational story that's still ongoing and happening is is about a church in kenya elder at kenya who they've they've been implementing a lot of the different um initiatives the prayer ministries and things that we have been encouraging for the last ten plus years with the church and it's just been so inspiring to see so um five years ago when we had a hundred days of prayer we had a hundred days of prayer leading up to the the big general conference one of our big meetings and they started meeting together to pray and first it was a group of 50 people and then it was a group of 75 and then 100 and and they had to keep making more room and they ended up with about 400 people praying together wow and people from the community heard you know the holy spirit is really with this group and come and join and so they had many believers of multiple faiths that were coming to pray together and so they they the the pastors were just so impacted the pastors of these other denominations and faith were so impacted by what they saw happening in the group and they asked the leaders they said can you share with us you know what do you believe what do you believe as a church and so the leaders began studying with them what we believe and they saw how it's rooted in god's word it's it's about the word it's biblical it goes according to the word and these pastors were so convicted and these are of other denominations and faith that they were convicted to become baptized what into the adventist church and so there were like um of 30 pastors there were 16 at that time that came in now there's been over a hundred wait a minute you said pastors from different yes other denominations wow yeah so there's all these plans yes beseeching the lord yes and it's just through the outpouring of the holy spirit and that group was just seeking the lord and they saw there's something different here we want to know what do you believe and why and it's just led to this beautiful revival that's still ongoing they have a health ministry there a center of influence there multiple um this is in kenya in kenya elder at kenya oh my have you gone there i have not been there yet personally yeah they keep asking me to go and i haven't been able to go but i keep hearing reports and it's just and of course we know this is going to happen in a much greater degree people are coming people are coming to the truth but this is very key yes ellen white makes a statement if we have not lived up to the light that we know how are we going to receive the latter rain when it comes if we've not lived up to the light it'll be falling all around us yes but we won't receive it if we've not lived up to the light we know and so that's why we have to get back to the words he'll align our lives and our hearts and our minds and lord please help me oh so true i don't want to be i was reading my husband and i were reading um great controversy with flying home and we were reading on the plane and it was about uh not having that one-to-one relationship is called what does she call it it's like superficial christians you don't want to be that you want to know the lord personally and that's my prayer to you viewers and listeners you want to know the lord personally and that's my desire to continue that relationship with the lord oh boy we have so much to cover what about the is that the one that's okay to die the martyr story well it's not the one yeah it's very interesting um the final chapter in daring to live by every word yes is titled it's okay to die ah the best is yet to come yes and in that chapter i share i share stories back up back when did this book come out so it came out in the spring of 2020 what time in like march right basically when the pandemic hit yes this book was just had just finished rolling off the press god's timing was perfect oh i know i my god me too about it but go ahead continue yeah and and i just i just feel like like i shared before i was trying for four years but it just didn't come together and then it finally did and it was such a spiritual battle the whole process literally i don't feel like i've ever been part of something that's tax taxed me so much spiritually physically there's been a lot of different things that have happened well this last year since the book came out which has just reminded me how important and crucial the message is it's okay to die you know ultimately unless we are in that final group that live to see jesus christ we are going to eventually but the best is yet to come thank you there's nothing to fear he tells us again and again fear not we know in the world we're going to have tribulation but be of good cheer have overcome the world i like that it's okay to die yes and so many people oh no no i want to live but this is not the end of the story once you die your chapter is not completely finished there is a uh what would i say there is another part to the story right the better part the best is the best just yet to come exactly the best so you were spiritually attacked yeah just just in the whole process of writing the book was a real challenge and i have a i have kind of a closing thoughts where i share about that but after the book was was published i i went through a real health crisis my mom who's been struggling with cancer praise the lord she is still with us but she came close to dying several times my brother was in a very tragic accident which should have killed him it was just like thing after thing after thing began to hit and fall apart and and and i i was coming face to face with some of the things that i'd written about because i'm encouraging people and i'm excited about these things and then suddenly i'm like i'm not ready for this yes just to be honest here i'm encouraging people it's okay to die and i'm like i'm not sure if i'm ready to die i'm not sure if i'm ready to see my family die and i just began crying out to the lord this last year has probably been one of the most challenging of my life just crying out to the lord and like lord help me and it and it's it's been it's been a good experience what the enemies meant for evil god is turning to good but it's been challenging and it's just yeah yeah but but god's growing us and you know this this really brings me i think to the the closing thought that i really want to share with the audience we are in a time of testing yes and it's not going to get easier it's going to get harder it's going to get harder and so god is growing us by little challenges and little trials now to stand firm and to stand upon his word not on our feelings not on our fears but faith in his word he's teaching us to stand on his word and there's a story that i love that's really really encouraged me and it comes from daniel 3 17. it's basically where uh daniel's three friends i love our pay are placed in a very very important trial about let me let me back up really quick yes when daniel's daniel and his friends were taken to babylon as captives they had a very important test yes they did between them and god and that was what are we going to how are we going to take care of the temple that god has given us oh and they purposed in their heart that they would not devil the temple that god had given him yes and god honored that yes and i believe that obedience to god and his word about how they honored him with their temple prepared them to be a living sacrifice wow so nebuchadnezzar is saying if you don't bow down and worship me you know fast forward the dream the image and everything if you don't bow down and worship me i'm going to throw you into the fiery furnace and i love the challenge that daniel and his well his three friends daniel wasn't part of this it was the three friends but they were prepared for this by their surrender and obedience and that is they told the king they said our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace but even if he doesn't we will not bow down amen and that's what i believe we have to come to in our walk with god today is we serve a god who's able to deliver we serve a god that's able to get us through the fire but will we will we stand for him even if it doesn't seem like he's with us even if it seems like he's forsaken us and god said he will never leave us he will never forsake us it's a promise from the word of god and also these were men of implicit trust the three hebrew they were they trusted the lord no matter what and i have to share this real quickly it's in it's in prophets and kings page 508 it says from the history of their fathers the hebrews they had learned that disobedience to god results in dishonor disaster and death and that the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom the foundation of all true prosperity and this is the part i have underlined here their tr their faith strengthened as they declared that god would be glorified by delivering them and with triumphant assurance born of implicit trust in god they added but if not and some of you are going through your but if not experiences right now remember this is not the end of the story god is with you well we're gonna have to take a break right now so we will be right back for more information about revival and reformation you can write to them at 12501 old columbia pike silver spring maryland 20904 you can call them at 301 680-6000 that's 301-680-6000 or visit their website at revivalandreformation.org that's revival revivalandreformation.org you can also email them at masonm gc.adventist.org [Music] i hope you were blessed by this wonderful wonderful interview we had with melody mason daring to live by every word this book is at the abc you want to pick one up and i am so blessed so do you have any closing thoughts melody that you'd like to share with our viewers and listeners i guess i just want to encourage yeah encourage our viewers and listeners to be in the word to saturate your mind with the word of god to spend time take time for him daily there's always so many things that are cluttering our life so much busyness so much distractions but it's time to get right with god it's time to be in his word and and spend time on our knees and you know we're told um we should be preparing for what is soon to overtake the world as an overwhelming surprise and how are we to prepare we can stockpile we can do this we can do that that's not what we're told we are told to study to diligently study the word of god and seek to conform our lives to god's precepts and i love the quote and great controversy it says none but those that have fortified the mind with the truth of the bible will stand through the last great conflict which every soul will come the searching test shall i obey god rather than man so that's what god is seeking uh to prepare each of us and he wants to prepare you uh get in his word and and keep your eyes on jesus and he will give you the strength to stand through the coming conflict amen thank you once again and there's a there's a big frame in front of me you guys you can't see it it says behind you it says pray trust and wait those are the three things you must do i want you to pray and i want you to trust and wait on the lord amen be of good courage the best is yet to come have a blessed day in jesus amen [Music] [Music] you

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Published: Sat Sep 11 2021