Bayless Conley sermons - " Open Doors | Prayer Of Deliverance "

we are going to talk today about open doors and yes Jesus opens doors that no man can shut he shuts doors that no man can open but you know with most things there is a cooperation between us and God even as the Apostle Paul said I planted Apollo's watered but God made it grow and then he went on to say we're co-laborers together with God we are fellow workers together with God and when it comes to this business of opening doors we're going to talk about different types of doors usually we have a part to play so let's get into the Word of God together I want to speak to you about open doors the Bible talks about a lot of different kinds of doors some of them open to rich blessing and Holy Spirit adventure while others open up to grief and to heartache so we're going to go on a journey together and find some of these different doors the scripture speaks of and discover what lies beyond them and we're going to begin here in Genesis 4 as we look at the very first door mentioned in the Bible I'll refer to it as the door of sin Genesis 4 and verse 3 and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground of the Lord and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat and the Lord respected Abel in his offering but he did not respect Cain and his offering Cain was very angry and his countenance fell so the Lord said it came why are you angry and why is your countenance fallen if you do well will you not be accepted and if you do not do well sin lies at the door and its desire is for you but you should rule over it sin lies at the door literally in the hebrew it's crouching at the door like a wild beast ready to spring that's actually the picture that's painted in the original language now apparently God had relationship with the sons of Adam he met with them he talked with them he visited them because this conversation he has with Cain it doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary I mean Cain's just answering back to God as if it was a normal thing and whether they learned it from Adam and Eve or however it came about they would bring an offering to the Lord Cain was a tiller of the ground his younger brother Abel was a keeper of sheep and it specifically tells us that Abel's offering was the first of his flock the firstborn and the fat literally the richest party gave God his first and he gave God his best but when it comes to the older brother Cain's offering it just says it was an offering of the fruit of the ground there's no description given and since God did describe Abel's offering if Cain would have been given or would have given God the firstfruits and the best of his crops I'm quite sure the Bible would have told us so in fact that's confirmed in the New Testament for in Hebrews chapter 11 it says by faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain and that the phrase more excellent literally means better quality Abel gave us first and his best Cain just brought something and it wasn't a matter that God you know didn't respect it because he was expecting an animal animal offering because even when we get to the time of the law it was completely in order for people that worked the fields and people that made an agrarian living to bring of the fruit of the ground to God but the truth is our giving is a sure indicator of where our hearts are in relation to God Cain's trivial gift demonstrated what significance he placed on his relationship with the Lord God said sin is crouching at the door wasn't in the house yet Cain should have mastered it but he didn't he did not want to give his best he did not want to do what was right so sin entered his life and the first fruit of it was the murder of his younger brother Abel Cain was angry because God had blessed Abel but he wasn't willing to do what was necessary to get the blessing himself that's worth pondering he was angry because God blessed Abel but he wasn't willing to do what was necessary to get that blessing himself now in this context I want to share with you two things that I believe the scripture reveals that can open this door of sin God said was waiting crouching at the door ready to come in the first thing is being grieved that someone else's blessing be it prosperity position popularity someone that's recognized in advance before and beyond us when we're grieved over it when we don't like it when someone else is blessed or preferred before us sin is crouching at the door you know there was a particular Christian leader that had gone off the rails into a pretty corrosive pattern of sin and the thing that made it particularly odious was the attitude that he had adopted along with it very flagrant attitude reminiscent of Cain's attitude when God said hey where's your brother my brother's keeper how do I know this is like he tried to you know hide it and then you know passed the blame it's not my responsibility and that was the same kind of attitude this leader had and it actually bothered me a lot more than it perhaps should have and I really wrestled with it because I know there was a restoration process with those that were over him that was set in place and he completely disdained it and when his own way you know blamed everybody else and and just you know it was really hard and it was just one of those things that I kept bringing it up you know Janet and I would talk and I don't get it I don't why why did he do that how did he get there and it was really really bugging me and we're laying in bed one night and I brought it up again and Janet made a statement that just went off inside of me I recognized that in that circumstances being true she said Bayless Envy is it the root of everything he did and I began to think about it and I know that a number of his colleagues that had been educated along with him had been recognized and preferred before him they had been advanced beyond him some of them he was their senior and yet I believe because of their gifting and just because of God's choice they were recognized and and promoted and he wasn't and he was angry because of that his countenance had fallen as we read in the scripture and it opened the door to sin in his life you know we need to learn to rejoice when others are blessed and and you know thank God when others are blessed even if we feel like we've been the ones that have born in the heat of the day and maybe been out there striving longer than they have and you want to say God you know hey what's up with this but we ought to say God thank you that you are good you show mercy to whom you show mercy and I just rejoice in that person's advancement a second thing in this context that I believe opens the door to sin is not keeping God first in our lives Cain did not give God his firstfruits because in his life God was not first able gave the firstborn of his flock because God was first in his life where is God in your life you see anything or anyone that comes before God in our life becomes an idol and every idol has its own parent parasitical sins that come along with it and there are some sin is lurking at the door others their hand is on the handle others have opened the door and they've been mastered by a sin that they should have mastered themselves and it's critical for many reasons one of which is if we open that door to sin it alternately causes another door to open that none of us won't open the door of judgment look in verse 11 with me if you would it says God is speaking to Cain so now you are cursed from the earth which is opens its mouth to re-save your brother's blood from your hand when you till the ground it shall no longer yield its strength to you a fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth and Cain said to the Lord my punishment is greater than I can bear those that willfully indulge in the pleasures of sin never want to experience the pain of its consequences but sin always has consequences the Bible says it has pleasure for a season but that season always ends as all seasons do and then you have to go to the paymaster you know James 5 and 9 it says behold the judge is at the door and I just want to say with fear and trembling that I do hear footsteps of judgment approaching it may not be some direct judgment of God but there are some that are about to reap what they have sown you see God has wired into creation wired him to life as we know it a judgment in Galatians 5 says don't be deceived God is not mocked whatever a man sews that will he also reap think about King David you know he was man after God's own heart but we know the story committed adultery with Bathsheba got her pregnant tried to cover the whole thing up and eventually had her murder her husband murdered so that he could take her as his own wife and David lived in broken fellowship for over a year he never asked for forgiveness he never confessed his sin to God he covered it up and continued on as if there were no judge until finally Nathan the Prophet came and exposed him and as a result David reaped judgment the child died and other things terrible things happened in his family but you know what God being the merciful God that he is gave David a long space to repent and David never took it you see there is something God has given us to interrupt the sin to death cycle God has given us a shovel to dig up the seeds of sin so that they don't have a chance to put roots down and bear fruit up or so that we have to eat that bitter fruit and the consequences of it it's called repentance oh the mercy of God and some have some seeds in the ground and I'm telling you you don't want to eat the fruit when it comes up but it isn't if you don't get the seed out of the ground maybe start using that shovel repent ask God to forgive you get the seed out of the ground interrupt the cycle God is merciful if he wasn't none of us would be here he is rich in mercy he is kind and incredibly long-suffering but there is a difference between the person that hates their sin that's fighting to be holy you know that repents when they mess up and the individual that continues on in sin as if there would never be a judgment never repenting never truly disgusted with their failures I'm here to tell that person footsteps were approaching and another door is about to open that you don't want to open now truly the whole world stands guilty before God we've all sinned and come short of his glory and it would be hopeless if we're not for the fact that God has opened some other doors and we want to take a look at some of those turn with me to Acts chapter 14 if you would Acts the fourteenth chapter Paul and Barnabas have returned from their first missionary journey the home church in Antioch and they're relating their experiences summed up in verse 27 of Acts 14 now when they had come and gathered the church together they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles so here we find a door of faith that God open to the Gentiles at this point in the church's history the church is almost exclusively Jewish in fact it was completely Jewish for the first ten years Peter and all the rest of them believed that in order to become a Christian to be saved you had to become a Jewish proselyte become circumcised keep the Jewish law and only through the door of Judaism could one become a Christian and God turned all that upside down in Acts chapter 10 and the Apostle Paul you know preached hard justification by faith without the works of law but up to this point still the church is for the most part just made up of Jewish converts but now God opens this huge door this door of faith to the Gentiles so that they could hear the gospel and receive and friend that door remains open today I'm one of those Gentiles that walk through it hallelujah and Gentile this context just means anyone that's non-jewish it opened up the gospel to the whole rest of the world and you know just like when you came into the auditorium or into this building today you maybe came through a main door once you get through that door there's access to a whole lot of other doors and through that door of faith of the Gentiles we find a number of other doors some of them open to specific people groups some open to specific regions some open to individuals let's look at one of those doors turn with me if you would in your Bible the first Corinthians 16 first Corinthians the sixteenth chapter and verse eight Paul riding and he said but I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost for a great and effective door has opened to me and there are many adversaries all right this great open door at Ephesus it was a door of revival and a pagan city among an idolatrous people became specific through the door of faith of the Gentiles and now in a specific City you know I am have an acquaintance that spent quite a while in Jamaica and he found a group of Rastafarians living in a communal situation in a beach area and he just went and hung out with and their highlight of the morning afternoon and night was to smoke weed and he just just hung out didn't judge him didn't get high with him but didn't judge him and shared his story how he'd come to faith in Christ out of a background of drug addiction and violence and they liked him and he just just just you know ate with him and hung around and kidded around with them and and did share his testimony and after about a week that the leader of this you know a communal a group here on the beats and him on we liked you why don't you tell us about your Christianity and so everyone gathered around and he shared Christ with them and the story of redemption and 25 of them prayed with him and got saved and he immediately baptized all 25 in the ocean right there in front of their little encampment I say God opened a door to them now when Paul here says for a great and effective door is open to me the word effective implies that it's full of labor in fact it comes from the root word this word effective in the Greek language meaning to work the NIV translation says for a great door for effective work has opened to me and if you read the account in the book of Acts where Paul was in Ephesus he worked hard day and night for over two years he preached and he prayed and he organized he worked much and revival eventually came most of God's open doors require much work some people bring God open a door as if God was to do just everything and you just sort of sit back and it all happens you know most of what God does is a joint effort the Apostle Paul said we are coal laborers together with Christ I planted you know Paul is water God gave the increase and we don't get the credit the one that plants and waters they're not anything but God who makes everything grow so you know look what the Lord has done amen to that but God does use his people Paul said hey this great door that's going to require much Labor's been open to me and there are many adversaries there are always adversaries when God opens a door the devil always wants to stop and to hinder and to slow down what God has planned and you know when the persecution and the adversaries raise their heads rather than breaking the spirit of the faithful servant of God it should only rekindle their zeal to carry on and harvest more fruit if you're praying for an open door all I can say is get ready to work all right look with me just a couple pages over second Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 12 furthermore when I came to trow asked to preach Christ's gospel and a door was opened to me by the Lord his door in Troas now it's interesting to note he's not referring to his first trip to the city of Troy house which is recorded in Acts chapter 16 because when he was there in that instance he was there and left right away and nothing happened later on in Acts chapter 20 we're told about another trip into troe asks where he men administered for at least seven days sharing the gospel and the point is this God's doors sometimes have a timing mechanism like a door on a bank vault and we must be sensitive to God's timing the first time Paul was intro ass was not the right time for the door to be open right place not the right time for that particular door do you remember when Jesus brothers were urging him hey if you're really the Christ if you are who you say you are go up to the feast and show yourself to everyone prove it Jesus response my time is not yet your time is anytime my times not yet you find Jesus responded that way more than once he did it the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee my times not yet come sensitive to the timing of the Holy Spirit you see God sees everything when we don't sometimes we're stamping our feet and saying where is in this door open sometimes there's a timing issue hey you might say all right pastor what about my situation you know we've talked about a door of faith of the Gentiles and salvation and I agree it's the most important and I got some needs I got some trouble in my life and I need help does God have any doors for me well actually yes he does look with me in Acts chapter 16 if you would we'll call this one door of sudden deliverance Acts chapter 16 this is where Paul and Silas have been wrongly accused beaten without a trial and thrown into the inner most prison their feet made fastened in the stocks and I want you to look what they did in their darkest hour when everything seemed to be going against them act 16 of verse 25 but at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed don't you like those words suddenly and immediately suddenly there was an earthquake and immediately everyone's doors were opened you know sometimes God does do things suddenly and immediately he opens the door to healing he opens the door to financial blessing he opens a door and excuse you out of the jaws of trouble and I love the sudden and the immediacy of God however most of God's doors of deliverance are doors of process where the wheels of deliverance begin turning and as we stay in faith and obedience and continue to seek Him he brings us out on the other side now I'll just go on record before God before you God I like the immediate I like the sudden that makes me happiest the truth of the matter is you study the Scriptures most of God's miracles most of the things God does or process and they're more important because during those times you know we we examine ourselves and we strip away unnecessary things when we repent we make relationships right and keep our eyes on his word and when we come out the other side we're bigger people when we come out the other side we have a better character when we come out the other side we're closer to God we have a better relationship with God but but whether it's if sudden and immediate or whether it's a process you need to know God does want to deliver you and it is important to realize that it's not just for you it's always deliverance with a purpose God loves you but he wants to love someone else through you you know in this did you notice wasn't just the door to paul and silas's prison but everyone's doors were open a few verses later the Philippian jailer and his family gets saved yes God wants to prosper you but it's not just for your own benefit and so you can give and support his kingdom yes God does want to heal you but it's so that you can share with others and pray for them yes God wants to deliver you but it's so you can share and it courage somebody else in their midnight hour God does something for you because he ultimately wants to do something through you so here's a question how do we get these doors to open is it always a matter of divine timing we just have a wait until the mechanism clicks and God's is okay now or you know a matter of some you know form of God's sovereignty that there's nothing we can do well God certainly sovereignly opens some doors and some are linked to divine timing absolutely but I'm convinced that much of the time God is waiting on us do you notice that in their midnight hour Paul and Silas were praising God in fact it says they prayed and we're singing hymns the word pray doesn't mean making requests it literally means a door they were adoring God they weren't even making a request they're just adoring and praising God and it was an earthquake and the prison doors flew open there are some doors that will only respond to the sound of your praises they're voice-activated when they hear the voice of praise they swing open Isaiah 60 and 18 says but you shall call your wall salvation and your gates or your doors you will call them praise some of you in a midnight hour you need to start worshipping God praising God and you will find that your praise will open certain doors that will never open any other way but Revelation chapter 3 look there with me we find something else that's essential to seeing doors open in our lives Revelation chapter 3 as Jesus speaks to the church in Philadelphia verse 8 revelation three and eight I know your works see I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it for you have a little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name now there's three things there little strength haven't denied my name and you kept my word and I would like to accentuate the one in the middle you've kept my word keeping his word I believe moves the Lord to set open doors before us the greek word here for keith literally means to keep the eye upon and a holdfast hang on to the promises of God keep your eyes upon them keep them in the midst of your heart their life to those that find them in health to all their flesh the Book of Proverbs says don't let that word depart from you hang on to the promise for the salvation of your family hang on to that promise for your healing or whatever it is keep your eyes on it hold tightly to it do not let it be wrenched away from you you know in Romans chapter 4 it says that Abraham grew strong in faith while looking on to the promise of God it will not only awaken your faith it will sustain your faith during the tough times and my word you just hold on hold on a little longer you may just have a little strength all right apparently they've been trusting they've been standing it felt like they were almost drained of strength you said you got a little strength and you haven't let go of my word you've kept your eye on the promise and you know what I've set before you an open door and no one no one can shut a door that I open you hang on there you cling to God's work hey there I hope you were blessed by the message and I have something that I really really want to tell you maybe nobody else in your world tells you this maybe you don't hear these words from any other human being but I want to tell them to you you are loved you're loved by God more than you have the capacity to understand it you are loved by God and you know what he loves you no less when you're at your worst and when you are at your best God loves you my friend yes he does I am talking to you God loves you he loves you he loves you and he will never ever give up on it and it should give him a chance why don't you open your heart to his son Jesus find out how wonderful that love could be when you embrace it we'll see you next time god bless so glad you enjoy me today we're going to be looking at one of the great prayers of the Bible hey you know some of the greatest prayers in scripture are the shortest prayers in Scripture we're going to look at one that had a profound impact on somebody who's prone to make mistakes I think you're going to enjoy we've been looking at great prayers of the Bible actually studying the prayers themselves on Wednesday night this is our eighth installment and we're going to look at jehosophat's prayer for deliverance he was one of the kings of Judah he was a good King and I'm going to share with you ten thoughts from the prayer and some of the events surrounding it some of the things that happen and hopefully one maybe two of these things will be good for you you can latch on to them and get something from God that you need tonight so we pick it up in second chronicles chapter 20 second chronicles 20 verse 1 it happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon and others with them besides the ammonites came to battle against Jehoshaphat then summoned some came and told you hospitai a multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea from Syria and they are in houses on Tamar which is in Getty and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah so Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord now Jehoshaphat and Judah are threatened by the combined armies of several nations naturally speaking things are looking extremely bleak for them here's some thoughts thought number one Jehoshaphat went to God first he went to God first bad news came fear struck it's a Joseph had feared and the first place he looked was to God even as the psalmist said in Psalm 50 63 whenever I'm afraid I will trust in you he didn't call on the king of Israel to join forces between Israel and Judah and fight the enemy he didn't try and hire mercenaries from some of the surrounding Nations has often happened in some of these scenarios as they unfolded in the scriptural record but he went to God first it wasn't a final last-ditch attempt after all human resources had failed it was God first jesus said seek first the kingdom of God everybody say first seek first the kingdom of God we need to seek first the God of the kingdom not second or third or fourth and it's not that God will refuse to help us unless we go to him first that's not the case it's just that we fail to honor him when he is relegated to the status of some hope so back-up plan after I try everything else so first thought is God first whatever you're facing God first in your marriage seek God first the job situation seek God first you got a teenager that's acting like they don't have a brain God first and we all have been there so it's amazing how some parents get amnesia but God first bad doctors report God first not after we exhaust every avenue of human help and then a woman I guess I'm gonna have to go to God but God first and then second thought is he set himself to seek the Lord it's very interesting and it reads slightly different in different translations but that's a good translation he set himself he set himself to seek the Lord and set has several shades of meaning in the Hebrew language is really an interesting word one meaning is to focus your total attention so when he set himself to seek the Lord he focused his total attention there's a second meaning it's actually a technical meaning it means to hand something over to another or to trance at something to another and it's used in both of those ways throughout scripture so to focus your total attention and to hand something over to another put together Jehoshaphat focused all of his attention on putting his problem into God's hands and we want to do that hopefully before we are finished tonight take our problems take the things that are worrying us and robbing us of the quality of life that God wants us to have put our focus on him and put those things in his hands which means they leave our hands first Peter 5:7 says casting all of your care upon him for he cares for you so Jehoshaphat said he set himself to do it he was determined and I just want to say to you make up your mind that tonight you will release your problems to God not your responsibilities but your worries we're going to give him to God all right thought number three he proclaimed a fast a fasting does not change God and it doesn't convince him to do something that he's otherwise not disposed to do some people think all right I I pray God in there so I'm gonna fast and God will see me suffering and and this will somehow change his mind fasting does not change God at all it doesn't change his mind it doesn't make him more disposed to give you favor and grace than he would otherwise do what fasting does is it helps change us we're the ones that need changing not God it helps us to get into a position to hear from God and into a position to receive from God and in fact it literally quiets down the body and it's desires if you fast long enough and it is a way of humbling ourselves before God and it is part of the Christian life every Christian should fast from time to time jesus said in his teaching and when you fast wash your face you know put on your clothes and so that you don't appear to men to fast you didn't say if you fat he said when you fast he said you fast your father who sees in the secret place and your father will reward you openly so it is part of our Christian life and frankly when you get serious enough about getting an answer from God that you'll begin fasting generally the answers you seek are not too far off all right for Thought Jehoshaphat enlisted others to pray with him he proclaimed this fast and everybody gathered together in Jerusalem to pray Ecclesiastes 4:12 says a three-fold cord is not quickly broken if you have one strand maybe you can snap it you wind two strands together it's tougher you wind three and it's not quickly broken at all and the idea is there is strength because sometimes when you're down the other person is going to be up they're going to lift you up they're going to encourage you when you're you're faltering and vice versa jesus said in Matthew 18:19 if any two of you agree on earth concerning anything you ask it'll be done for you by my father which is in heaven don't do this thing solo friend you need to get friends and enlist the help and the prayers of others and so we move on and we actually begin to get into the prayer as Jehoshaphat is praying in verse 5 then Jehoshaphat stood in the Assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court and said O Lord God of our fathers are you not God in heaven and do you not rule over the kingdoms of the nations and in your hand is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand you are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham your friend forever now as he prays he actually acknowledges three things and they're pretty important things number one he acknowledges relationship number two he acknowledges rule number three he acknowledges the record' relationship rule and the record he starts out by saying god of our fathers that's covenant talk and he even brings up our father Abraham God entered into a covenant with Abraham and a with Abraham and an animal's blood was spilled and that covenant was ratified by the shedding of blood in fact the Hebrew word for covenant that we read here is Bharath it means to cut or blood flows and when they would enter into covenant one party would say all right all I have I make available to you and I assume all of your depths and your liabilities and I yield all of my strength to you and the other person says the same thing all right you know all of my strength everything I have I make it available to you and I also assume your debts and liabilities you get in trouble I'm going to go to bat for you if I get in trouble you come to bat for me now obviously God was on the losing end of that that covenant on his part you know he has no liabilities he has all of the resources and her neighbor ham side it's just the opposite and actually the New Testament word sort of brings out God's position even better it's a word Greek word diet the key that's the New Testament word for covenant means the agreement that we have through the shed blood of Jesus Christ but the Greek word literally means an unequal covenant where one party does all of the giving and the other party does gets to do all the receiving can you guess its which end we're on right so it's a covenant talk acknowledged is this covenant first relationship well we have a better covenant established upon better promises Jehoshaphat Abraham they were servants we are sons and we are daughters as a different relationship it's a better relationship I was in the house studying today and I heard somebody rummaging around in one of the rooms I came in there Harrison our oldest son had come over and he was looking for something he didn't even knock this came in the house and started taking stuff he acted like he belonged or something he does and it was like what the heck are you doing here like hi son what's up man his family I'm his father we have a relationship I have a relationship with God he's my Heavenly Father because of the shed blood of Jesus and I realize I'm on the receiving in to this and but what I can give Lord Here I am you know here's my time here's my mind here's my voice you know here's my body if you can do anything with it you got it baby but I realize I'm on the positive end of it but I do have a relationship so he acknowledges that in prayer and when you start praying you need to remember you have a relationship with God you're not some outsider trying to convince some unwilling you know person that you have some you know legal claim it's relationship and then he acknowledges rule he said you rule over the nations and no one can withstand you how many think God still rules over the nation's how many think the kingdoms of the world are just a drop in the bucket to him he can still wake up kings and queens in the middle of the night and have them do his bidding I mean who was it that woke up the king in the middle of the night and you know he had this crazy idea bring me the police record I can't sleep and I feel like reading the police records and so the servants run down to the local courthouse and they bring back the police records and the Persian King starts reading it says hey there's this Jew named Mordecai and he faring foiled an assassination attempt on my life what's been done for him said well nothing he's never been rewarded says we'll go get Haman and and put Mordechai on his horse and have him you know we're royal clothes and have him and lead him through the city and pronounce thus is the king do you know for the man that he favors well it just happened that Haman was planning to kill Mordecai and he'd already made a gallows to hang Mordecai on it but God woke the King up in the middle of the night and gave him the idea to get the police records and read them who put the idea in Caesars mind to do a worldwide census and you know what I think when we do this census I'm gonna make everybody go back to the towns they were born in that'll be fun let's just imagine right now how many of you are not California natives okay look around the room how would you like it if suddenly the government said okay we're gonna do a census but you to go back to the state in the town you were born it would that be fun no that's what that's what Caesar did the supreme ruler of the ancient world why because it had been foretold that Christ would be born in Bethlehem and that's where Joseph was from friend God still rules your problem is no problem to God your issue is a non-issue to God as far as getting it fixed he rules a third thing he acknowledges the record talks about what God has done for them in the past again in verse 7 he says you gave this land you know to the descendants of Abraham your friend forever you drove out the inhabitants he starts talking about things that God had done for them in the past and I think it can be very valuable to take a little time and think about what God has done for you you know the psalmist and I quoting in Psalm 77 he said I meditate within my heart and my spirit makes diligent search what's this internal search all about here's the questions he asked will the Lord cast off forever will he be favorable no more has his mercy ceased has his promise failed I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember your wonders of old I will meditate on all your work and talk of your deeds has God ever done anything for you or for someone you know has he all right you facing challenges now it would do you good to acknowledge some of the past victories that God has wrought in your life I dare say there's not a person in here that God hasn't helped in one way or another I mean the fact you're alive and you're breathing says something there's some some wild boys and wild girls in here it's a miracle you live long enough to get saved I like it's nothing short of miraculous that I live long enough to come to Christ the way that I was living God has done things for us so we need to bring those things to remembrance let's let's read on verse 8 verse 8 it's talking about the children of Israel says and they dwell in it talk speaking of the promised land and built you a sanctuary in it for your name saying if disaster comes upon us sword judgment pestilence or famine we will stand before this temple and in your presence for your name is in this temple and cry out to you in our affliction and you will hear and say that as you'll hear and deliver you will hear and rescue us alright the sixth thing he does is he quotes a promise and that's what he's doing here in verse 9 this is actually something that King Solomon had prayed at the dedication of the temple God if your people get in trouble anytime in the future if they're attacked by their enemies if their sword if there's famine if if bad things happen God if they'll turn toward this temple symbolic of turning towards you and they'll pray here and save them and God sent down fire symbolizing and showing them that what Solomon was praying was indeed God's work it was indeed a promise from God and so Jehoshaphat takes the promise and he quotes it that's so important said God you said that if we were in trouble or there was sword and there's a lot of swords out there I can see him we've got alien armies surrounding us that if we turn to you when we pray you'd hear and you'd save us God you said it it's your word it's your promise now sometimes he'll is adequate but it's always better to have a promise help only works so many times when you have the opportunity to become familiar with the promises I need wisdom I need peace I need you know material supply I need healing all right all those things exist in the nature of God what's my pipeline to connect my vast need with God's abundant supply the promise is the pipeline through these exceedingly great and precious promises were made partakers of the divine nature just think your promise is like a garden hose you can go to Home Depot buy yourself a nice bright green garden hose you get a 50-foot garden hose and you got that thing rolled up is it this is awesome I have a garden hose and I've got a big garden and I've got all sorts of stuff planted and I wanted to grow why will any water come out of the garden hose let's what a lot of people are doing in prayer see you have to hook the hose up to the spigot or to the faucet which is attached to a series of pipes that are attached to the water main to the source to the reservoir and she that hose is like your prayer but you've got to attach it to the pipeline which is the promise that's attached to the source which is God and his nature Jehoshaphat had a promise and with those promises you can water the garden of your marriage the garden of your finances the garden of whatever you need to grow all right verse 10 this is a noun and he's still praying here are the people of Ammon Moab Mount Seir whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt but they turn from them and did not destroy them here they are rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession which you've given us to inherit so God you wouldn't let us throw them out and now they're trying to throw us out of the inheritance you gave us all right here's here's thought number seven it is not God's will for the enemy to take away anything God has given you it is not God's will for the enemy to take away anything God has given you be confident in that think sometimes you know that the devil comes to steal kill and destroy Jesus tells us and the devil starts ripping people off and they immediately hi godnana mad at me you know the Lord gives and the Lord takes away well job did say that and he said that in the right heart but you ought to read the rest of the book of Job God to the thing job and said is not right job couldn't pull back you know the curtain he couldn't read job chapter one and find out that Satan had smote him with boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet he couldn't find out who his real enemy was the devil is the one that steals and but some people it's just like lost maybe God's taking this away from me it's not God's will to take anything away from you that he's given you and Josif at was smart enough doing that god they're trying to to push us out of the inheritance that you gave us listen it's not God's will that the enemy take away your family your finances your health your peace your Liberty nothing that God has given you Jesus had a holdfast what you have alright number eight thought number eight verse 12 o our God will you not judge them God take care of this for we have no power against this great multitude that's coming against us nor do we know what to do but our eyes are upon you my thought number eight is this they confess their inability to cope for the situation we don't have the ability God we don't have the resources and we don't have the wisdom and our eyes are on the enemy shields and their glittering swords No and our eyes are on our own inability no our eyes are upon you but they very very enjoy house with that very freely confessed God we don't have the power to deal with us nor do we know what to do we don't have the wisdom we don't have the resource to cope with this we are bankrupt as far as being able to take care of this ourselves listen that's not a bad place to be because 0 plus God is all you need and then it's not just admitting it and wallowing and all I can't do this and I don't have that and I'm just so inadequate it's not that it's like Jehoshaphat said God we don't have the ability we don't have the wisdom but our eyes are on you our eyes aren't on our inability our eyes are not on our lack of wisdom but our eyes are on you we know we can't but we know you can and friend that's the key so he acknowledged freely confessed his inability to cope but then look to God and obviously God did answer him just like God answered the Apostle Paul you know says I'm going to rejoice in these things in the power of Christ may rest on me and God's power doesn't rest on you to do nothing when it rests on you it delivers you it lifts you it sets you free etc all right verse 13 I'm almost done this is now all Judah with their little ones their wives and their children stood before the Lord all right this is thought number nine what are they doing in verse 13 I think people do everything we've read up to verse 12 but they don't do verse 13 they were waiting on God the prayer has been prayed these acknowledgments of you know God's past help of their relationship all of those things the promises have been quoted they've made their requests known to God that confess so they can't do it themselves they said God we're looking to you the prayer has been prayed and it says they all stood before the Lord they're waiting on God see friend you can skip the meals quote the word come to grips with your inabilities even enlist others to pray with you but there are times when you must wait on God tap your neighbor and say wait you wait for direction from the Holy Spirit wait for him to impart what you need an army would never dare move forward to engage the enemy without waiting for orders and without waiting for supplies and the Holy Spirit furnishes both as we wait on him he furnishes orders and he furnishes supplies George Mueller and I would suggest you get George Mueller's diary and read it some of it's a bit dry but it's it's well worth the read he made this statement he said the most important time in prayer is the 15 minutes after you say Amen you know as kids we used to ring the neighbor's doorbells and then run away a lot of people do that in prayer they ring God's doorbell and then they run off before the wisdom comes they get busy with stuff and they never hear what God has to say they run off before the direction comes they they run off before the resource and the supply comes into their spirit that the Holy Spirit wants to bring to them I think most of our failures in life most failures in ministry can be attributed to one thing we've waited too little on God we're too busy to wait our schedules are too full to wait we're too nervous to wait I mean my goodness if you sit quiet and we sat quiet for five minutes in here it would be so uncomfortable for some people thing Suns gotta happen now they waited on the Lord and they wait and you know what God speaks verse 14 and the Spirit of the Lord came upon jahaziel the son of Zechariah the son of benaiah the son of jail the son of mat and ayah Levite of the sons of Asaph in the midst of the assembly and he said listen all you have Judah and you inhabited to Jerusalem and you King Jehoshaphat thus says the Lord to you do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude for the battle is not yours gods tomorrow go down against them they will surely come up by the ascent of ziz and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Giroux you will not need to fight in this battle position yourself stand still and see the salvation of the Lord was with you Oh Judah and Jerusalem do not fear or be dismayed tomorrow go out against them for the Lord is with you so they waited on God and the Lord spoke he gave him direction he imparted courage to them he even supernaturally told him where the enemy could be found and then there's just one final thought and that's obedience they wouldn't need to fight the Lord said but they would still need to obey they still needed to go down where God told them to go down they still needed to position themselves and obey God you'd obey what God tells you to do I hope that you got something out message today and my prayer is that you will do something with it it's been said that the only word of God that we truly know is the Word of God that we do that we practice may not just be a hearer but a doer of the word and you will be blessed in your doing we'll see you next time god bless

Channel: Brindless Senley

Views: 7,725

Rating: 4.6989245 out of 5

Keywords: answers with bayless conley, bayless conley sermons, bayless conley accident, bayless conley testimony, bayless conley biography, bayless conley podcast, bayless conley devotional, bayless conley 2015, new sermons, god sermons, bayless conley church, pastor bayless conley, bayles conley, bayless conley this week, Bayless Conley (TV Personality), bayless conley new, open, door, prayer, of, deliverance

Id: _jEAR0IjIC0

Length: 57min 4sec (3424 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 14 2015