Devoted Conference 2020- Alex Seeley

[Applause] [Music] oh come on can we give Lisa a huge hand for what she just brought why don't you take your seats you know I often say to so many people in my church the difference between the people that probably have something to say and the people that are maybe sitting listening to what's being said is that we've just done the work there's no actual special favor of like that person's better than that person and that person is more gifted or talented actually we just did the work because my story is quite similar to Lisa's and that which is broken God redeems and makes a whole but you've just got to do the work we've just got to take responsibility and we've just got to let God be God in our lives no matter how fractured you are no matter how broken and abused you have been God has a beautiful story that he will weave and turn for good if you let him but he loves to colabor with us see men and he wants us to do the work with him and I tell you your life I often say that my life is a trophy to the Lord because I shouldn't be where I am I shouldn't be married 22 years this year to the greatest man alive and 22 years and he has been a gift from the Lord but I tell you I had to do the same thing I had to deal with my past and deal with my anger and deal with my abuse and deal you have to and you're the only one who can do that no one can work on your breakthrough more than you can and so don't blame the pastor's that are not praying enough over you I cannot tell you how many times pastor Alex will you pray for me that I will not have evil thoughts no just get yourself into line and go to Jesus I can't pray I had to get on my face thank God forgive me not can you transfer your anointing do you know how you get the power and authority is you do the work and so we've got to do that so I love that this is just going to really dovetail beautifully so can we pray because I just always need God more than anything in the whole wide world to help me preach so father God again I pray that what you've just done God is so your layering your layering so beautifully your work and your word to transform our lives so that we can live the best life a life abundantly God the thief has come to steal kill and destroy but you came to give life and life abundantly and got everything we're learning over this weekend God is causing us and giving us tools to live abundantly because you've given us a life that is beautiful so got up again I pray that this word would penetrate into the heart would penetrate into the spirit and God it would bring transformation and that we would take what we have heard and we would not just be hearers of the word but we would be doers of the word because faith without works is dead so god I pray that as we go home this weekend and we go in there our families that we would be different and our husbands and our siblings and our family members will go what has happened and you would be able to say that I have been with the Lord so God let this word come out of my mouth and be transforming into the lives of your precious daughters in Jesus name I want to speak to you today about being a prison of circumstance the title of my message this morning is when your prison becomes your pulpit because all of us get caught in to some prison in our lives whether you like it or not there's a prison of circumstance and I'm not talking about a prison of consequence this is very different but this is a prison of circumstance where you had no control over the prison that you are now in and I want us to read a big portion of Scripture but I love the Word of God and so we need to read it and when we here at faith comes by hearing the Word of God so let's read from acts 16 verse 16 and it's a big passage but bear with me once when we were going to the place of Prayer we were met by a female slave who had a spirit in which she predicted the future she earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling she followed Paul and the rest of us shouting these men are servants of the Most High God who are telling you the way to be saved she kept this up for many days finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the Spirit in the name of Jesus I command you to come out of her and at that moment the spirit left her when her owners realized that they their hope of making money was gone they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities they brought them before the magistrates and said these men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar nothing like a good exaggeration by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice the crowd joined in an attack Paul and Silas very much like Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods after they had been severely flogged they were then thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully there was such criminals when he received these orders he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks but about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison was shaken at once all the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose the jailer woke up and when he saw the prison doors open he his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped but Paul shouted don't harm yourself we're all here the jailer called for lights he rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas he then brought them out and our sirs what must I do to be saved and they were played believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you and your household and then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house and at that hour of the night the jailer took them washed their wounds then immediately he and his household were baptized the jailer brought them into his house and said a meal before them he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God and he and his whole household when it was daylight the magistrate sent their officers to the jailer with the order release those men the jailer told Paul the magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released you can leave go in peace but Paul said to the officers mmm they beat us publicly without a trial even though we are Roman citizens and threw us into prison and now do they want to get rid of us quietly no let them come themselves and escort us out and the officers reported this to the magistrates and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens they were alarmed good they came to appease them and escorted them from the prison was requesting them to leave the city after Paul and Silas came out of the prison they went to Lydia's house where they met with the brothers and sisters encouraged them and then they left there is so much in this passage that I don't have the time to unpack its entire entirety it would take four weeks but I'm gonna take a few moments here because what I want you to see here is Paul and Silas men of God men who were doing the work of God men who were right in the center of God's will doing what was right healing mankind setting demons free from a woman doing what God had asked them to do going on their business to pray and see the captives set free and delivered all of a sudden find themselves unjustly persecuted unjustly jailed unjustly put in prison so irrational to the crime that they supposedly committed yet they find themselves in the most abusive situation yet they do not grumble they do not complain but their prison actually becomes their pulpit and what I need you to understand ladies is that if adversity is gonna come to your household whether you like it or not because the Bible says so he says it's inevitable offenses will come you will go through adversity but consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters when suffering comes to your household because what it does in you and what it does through you is reveals the glory of God but we've got a bunch of Christians right now in our Western culture that when a little itty bitty problem goes our way we throw our fists up at God and we go why God oh we need to stop asking why and asking why have you got me here there is a reason there is a reason there is a reason sometimes you will be put into a prison of circumstance that is out of your control you will be given a diagnosis of sickness your children will leave and go cray-cray it's not your fault it's not your fault but you will be thrown into a prison of circumstance but you have a choice ladies whether you bow to the crushing of that in a negative way or you bow to the crushing and you allow God's glory to shine out of that prison and I want you to know that suffering and adversity is inevitable if you are a follower of Christ ever being that person that drew the line in the sand and then the very next week all hell breaks loose over your life and you're like but I just decided to commit to the Lord yeah the enemy's not happy about it the enemy loves to throw mud in your face and get you off cause he may throw things into chaos but this is where we've got to learn how to be like Paul and Silas and so many things in this scripture alarm me in the best possible way that God help me be the woman of God because there have been times in fact just recent times where I've been thrown into a prison of circumstances that are out of my control and I would I really wish I could say that cheering it I was really awesome but you know just even this last month a prisoner of my circumstance has ripped a part of my heart out that I didn't know existed I didn't know I could be hurt so deeply I didn't know it could be so painful and I found myself in my bathroom yelling and screaming at God it was the first time and I'm ashamed to say it but God's healed me since then but I want to show you this is what happens to a woman has been in ministry for over 26 years because some days your prison is so unjust and some days your prison is so painful that you throw your hand up at god and i said god this is the first time that i feel like you've not been faithful and I felt the rebuke in my heart so gentle and so kind because that's who he is God said hey sweet huh I'm not finished yet I'm not finished yet I'm not finished yet the people are listening people are watching and you can give in to the enemy or you can choose to practice what you actually preach let's see this is where we get the choice every single day whether we are going to whine and complain in our prison oh that was unjust how dare they put me into this place I mean they delivered a demon from a woman but because it disrupted the economy of the world system and guess what when we choose to live righteously in this generation right now you will be persecuted for it when you choose to stand and make a declaration against what is happening in today's culture you will be deemed evil if you are not agreeing with people's lifestyles right now you may get put in prison have you thought of that are we ready for the persecution of the church to realize that when we are disrupting the culture of the day that it will be so unjust that we could actually be thrown into prison what are you going to do because when the Bible says that those that love their lives will lose it but those that lay down their lives will gain it this is what it means and so Paul and Silas didn't defend themselves when they were being severely flogged they were Roman citizens have you never thought about the fact that they didn't go excuse me excuse me I'm a Roman citizen they said it after the fact would it be that Paul and Silas were like hold on a minute we may be about to be thrown in prison but you know what maybe this is God sending us there to preach the gospel because maybe no one else is ever going to go into the inner cells and preach the gospel who is going to tell those people about Jesus and so you've got to understand that God's got a much bigger picture involved when things happen at you and so Paul and Silas don't say anything but they get severe the flogged stripped beaten with rods for just delivering a woman and setting her free they get thrown into prison and I would at this point be going God why but you know I've learned to not ask why because I don't think we're gonna be happy with the answer anyway River thought about that like God why did that happen well we just live in a fallen world we've just got to realize that we live in a broken world full of sin and full of tragic things but I tell you what this is where we get to shine as the church we get to rise up and so it's like God come through cuz there will be assignments against us I think about this and I go wow they they went into prison for something a good deed and yet they weren't getting mad at God they weren't saying God do you know how many years I've been serving you because you see this is what I did recently is he I'd made a bargain with God and I'd said God I will take on the Ministry of the belonging if you look after my family because I don't need my family being collateral damage for ministry I'll take on this job I'll take on I'll be obedient and then a curveball came and because I'm in the midst of my prison instead of just praising my way through it and I thank God and this is why when I honored Lisa the other day is because she's been on the other side of the telephone these last few weeks helping me do what I'm about to teach you to do because I don't care what state of life you're in you're all going to be thrown a curveball but we all have a decision and sometimes when it hurts the deepest the praise is the hardest to come forward and I sat there and I was like I made a promise God made a promise to keep my family safe God made a promise and I feel like he hasn't been faithful and that's when I just said uh-uh Alex I'm not finished yet but what I need you to do is not give the enemy ground in your life I need you to begin to praise I need you to get up in that bedroom and I need you to begin to sing I need you to let worship come out of your mouth in your darkest hour whether you feel like it or not I need you now to get into the depths of the recesses of your heart and begin to worship begin to intercede begin to pray begin to speak the truth and speak the scriptures because right then and there in your darkest moment which is about midnight God is going to see what you truly believe about who he is you see it's about midnight that your truest theology of who God is gets revealed because at midnight you could be tossing and turning in your bed full of anxiety full of depression and you could be coping you could be overeating you could be binge watching next Netflix you could go on a massive shopping spree I don't know what your little addiction is but let me tell you it's about midnight that determines where you stand where God is in your life it's in the midnight hour that you either go to pornography or you go to the word it's in the midnight hour that you get on the phone and complain and whine or you get on your face and begin to praise and worship it's about midnight that you need to be doing what God has put inside of you and let that come out of you to get the response that all of heaven will respond to us [Applause] and this is what the world will see because what you do in private overflows in public will you do in the hidden places you gain authority out on this pulpit and I can feel the anointing so strong you know why because I chose to sing and I chose to pray and I chose to declare the good things of God because I need to practice what I preach oh it's all good in theory until the crap hits the fan sorry am I allowed to say crap please forgive my Australian harshness ha but it's a map now midnight then when something begins to shift it's dark in that cell there are no lights there are in Chains they are physically restrained they cannot move they could have made every excuse in the book it would have been cold it would have been smelly it would have been starving I don't know what those inner cells look like back in first century Palestine I don't know but all I know it wasn't a pleasant experience I go into the jails every month I feel like some of our jails are like resorts some of our prisons are like resorts they get everything they get the programs they get the three meals a day they I mean this is beautiful prison compared to what Paul and Silas were probably in and even then it's a hellhole when I go into those place the atmosphere is dark but could you imagine this cell and they're thrown in and Paul and say that Silas were not complaining they won't go I can't believe I'm doing the work of the ministry and look at where I've ended up do you know how much I tithe do you know how much I've served do you know how many times I've been whipped Oh God where are you know they begin praying and they begin worshiping they begin singing because I don't know you but if you ever sung that song you're a good good father who you are it's who you are it's Who I am Who I am Who I am you are perfect in all of your ways ha you are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways to us is he really perfect I his ways really perfect when they end up in prison is he really good when your circumstances are not yes yes because your story's not over yet and this is where Paul and Silas knew who their God was they knew he was good and they thought well if I can't be preaching out on the courts I will could I will preach in the depths of my prison and I will let the other prisoners around us know what we really believe because how many Christians when you go through adversity are the church oh Jesus I don't think he's faithful oh he didn't heal my dad so I don't believe in healing anymore we lower our theology according to our circumstances we cannot do that we cannot do that when something goes wrong my dad died of leukemia do I believe God heals guess what yes yes do I still pray for healing absolutely if somebody gets affected in some way do I then throw out everything no he is perfect in all of his ways and eternity is a lot longer than us small time span that we think well if you don't do it on this side of eternity you've failed me god I want to also test target this thought God can't change people's free will and so your prayers don't give up on praying because your prayers keep God pursuing and I just want to speak to those of you that have got sons and daughters that are away from God and their hearts are hardened and perhaps their hearts are going through something right now God can't change their free will but oh he will never give up pursuing and knocking on the door of their heart and so your prayers and your worship push back the works of the enemy and his voice gets louder and I'm telling you if you've dedicated those children to the Lord and you've prayed them I'm telling you they will turn and there will be a day where they turn they will turn in the name of Jesus but you keep praying you keep singing you keep declaring the truth of God's Word and the enemy has already been defeated in Jesus name oh I'm ready to preach a little bit more a couple of things I told you people are listening you know my husband went through one of the darkest seasons of his life at about 2009 he it was like a spiritual attack and I don't say that lightly because he went from Henry who I've always known him to be just full of faith and full of joy and my husband's the hardest worker you'll ever meet he's no servant hearted man honestly I I don't know who I would be without my husband Jesus and Henry have made me the person that I am today he is the godliest most humble and most beautiful human on the planet and I thank God that I got gifted with him in my life but there was a season where he went through the darkest season it was like a spiritual blanket a negative one that came over his life incredible depression incredible anxiety where there would be times where he would be feet or positioned in bed my husband's an incredible worship leader kind of a songwriter and musician and there was a season where he thought he was going mad because he'd had this writer's block that just literally overwhelmed him but I knew it was spiritual and I watched my man just kind of almost slump into a shell of a person and we've been so faithful in ministry and we had been working everything tirelessly we'd given our whole lives to the ministry and I'm watching my my husband become collateral damage and the enemy's aunt and I I'm watching him shrink and I remember one day just going this is not who he is this is not his destiny and the enemy tried to put in my ears well this is because of this and this is because of that and this is because of that person and this is because of and he tried to get me blaming others and causing division and seeing the circumstances as it is but actually this was just a spiritual attack that I needed to learn how to pray and how to get into the depth of this scenario and this is why as women wives we are called the helpers of our spouses because when one is down the other is up and when the other is up you need to go in to bat and you have full authority over your children and your husbands and when they're going through something this is where you go into is an intercession and prayer and I will never forget what we would do is every one could see that not something was not right and I just began I would go down in his studio in the midnight hour when I would watch him just whimpering and crying out for God to help his mind and I was like God this is where I come in and I would go down in his studio and I would paced up and down and I would not stop praying until I saw a breakthrough I would pray and I would speak of all the prophetic words that were over his life and I would speak to that enemy and I would say enemy you were defeated at the cross you have no power you have no authority I speak life over my husband I speak a sound mind I speak that worship is hard to rise up or David may have been depressed and anxious but he came out good so God you do the same for my husband and I began a worship and I began to praise and God said do not speak negatively at all out of your mouth you speak life you speak power you speak a sound you speak that spirit to come alive and I would love to say that after a week of Prayer things changed it was a couple of years a couple of now he was functioning but you know we refused to let the enemy win over his life and you know what everybody was watching but what happened was when his breakthrough came and it did everybody else around him got free too because this is what happens when you are in a prison of circumstance and you choose to worship and you choose to pray and you choose to enter see because our feelings want us to stay home our feelings want us to go to those comforts that we think are good but they're just counterfeit comforts because Holy Spirit is the only true comforter the Holy Spirit is the one that sets free and delivers the Holy Spirit is the one that comes by his spirit and gives us a sound mind and I tell you I learnt to praise in my prison of circumstance I began to turn it into my pulpit and I'm telling you the greatest authority over your life will be when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you fear no evil and you come out of the other side surely goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life and this is what he does this is what he does because there will be a time where the suddenly comes this suddenly always comes I'm longing for the certainly in my current situation I am walking through in real time what I am preaching and that's why I felt to preach this this morning because I just know the enemy wants to keep us bound he wants to keep us sad he wants to keep us isolated he wants to keep us just feeling sorry for ourselves but this is where the church begins to shine this is when the world will look at you and go I want what she has I want the stability I want the power I want the joy I want the peace I want the goodness I want the love that oozes out of her even though she is walking through one of the hardest times there is no stench to her and this is what the world will look at and go that's what I want but what I have seen is that most Christians look like most non-christians when they're going through adversity they're blaming everybody they get them angry everybody they're offended by everybody and isn't it amazing that the very person that flogged them and kept them in their cell in the worst part of the jail salvation came to his household see salvation wants to come to the very one that perhaps diffused you or come and persecuted you salvation needs to come and see if we understand how God that he is good in all of his ways he's perfect in all of his ways he will turn everything around for good and he will vindicate you to the point that the actual person who bound you in those chains you will bring freedom to them and their household see the enemy wants us divided and the enemy wants us pitted against each other and the enemy this is why my book the opposite life you've got to get it because it's the gospel it is just the plain gospel it is doing everything contrary to what your flesh wants to do if you've been ripped off the world says soon God says give it when you've been slapped in the face God says don't retaliate turn the other cheek when someone steals from you he says you know what have that and also take my coat - you see we don't like those scriptures in real time or they're good to read and feel good about ourselves but when you get ripped off and when you get persecuted and when you get unjustly accused do you forgive or do you take revenge do you justify yourself by rallying the people around you because what I have learned is that Jesus Christ never changed his posture whether he was betrayed spat out and abused he stayed step fast Judas his own friend his best friend knew that he was going to betray him this is what the world looks at see this is what happens in your day your darkest hour you're about to be sent to execution and your friend is the one who sends you there and yet Jesus stands in front of Judas and Judas comes and kisses him what a mockery what an insult but that kiss represented this is the one you will execute and Jesus doesn't go how dare you all that I have done for you how dare you I brought you into my inner circle how dare you I taught you how to raise the dead heal the sick preach the gospel how dare you betray me right now you're going to hell he doesn't say that do you know what he says he allows Judas to kiss him and he says do what you must do friend friend do what you must do friend I believe Judas took himself out because of Jesus did the complete opposite to what most of us would do if somebody sent us to be executed we would rally a team we would have the picket we would have the release Alex Ely she is innocent but what about if my life was meant to be laid down so that others would be free salvation came to the jailer and his household but you know what the beautiful thing is is that they were vindicated and the story changed and I love how Paul just conveniently adds at the end yeah well you know what we ain't just leavin now cuz you just unjustly accused us you unjustly flogged us you unjustly put us in jail because we're Romans you're not allowed to do that to us and they were frightened and they were fearful and they were like Oh crumbs we in trouble but Paul went no we need to finish our business here and we need to go to Lydia's house we need a minister to the Saints meanwhile all the jailers were set free meanwhile the jailer was set free his household was baptized and set free now what I want to encourage you today ladies is that when we get our hearts right when we know who we are in Christ when we deal with the junk and then we outwork and do and change our habits we become the life that everybody is craving for we become the women that are steadfast no matter if our ground is shaken and we become the women of breakthrough for others and instead of being broken ourselves because it's really alarming to me Church if I can say this with such tenderness please hear my heart but when you've got the Christians divorcing at the same rate as the world when you've got as many Christians on medication as the world when you've got so many Christians bound by their fear bound by their pain bound by their circumstance I am sorry but we must live the resurrection power of Jesus Christ so that we can show the world that he is alive and that he will set us free and that no matter what comes our way we stand strong and we stand ho and we stand sound minded and we sound with I worship in our hearts that people go what on earth right now if you're going through a prison of circumstance if you're just in something that is out of your control whether it is sickness in your family or in your own life whether it's a child that's away from God whether it's a financial situation that has nearly taken you out whether it's a work situation where you're feeling persecuted whether it's your family that has just come again I don't know this may be just for a few but whatever that prison of circumstance is I want you to stand to your feet because I want to pray blessing over you and I want to pray that won't from this day forward that you would find it that in your bedrooms and in your cars and in your living room or wherever that space is that you would learn the art of praise and worship at midnight that you would do away tonight with your comfort things that make you feel comfortable some of you drink yourself to sleep some of you just anew the ties with movies some of you and neetha ties with shopping some of you in neetha ties with food some of you and neetha ties with starving your food some of you and neetha ties with sexual promiscuity some of you anetha ties from all the things that you're trying to find comfort in and God says no no no no daughters I have got an anecdote for you an antidote for you that is this and that is praise and that is worship and that is intercession and God is calling us to be women of praise of a worship and of intercession so raise your hands right now and I just want to pray over every single daughter Wow Oh God you see you see you see the pain you see you see the her you see the unjustice injustice you see the circumstances God you know every detail god I pray right now that your daughter's from this conference I love that it's called devoted because when we're devoted to you God something shifts on our insights and when we're devoted to you God we give it all to you and we cast our cares but God your teaching your women to have warfare in the spirit and what worship is is warfare because praise precedes the miracle praise precedes the miracle praise precedes the miracle and you are gonna go home and instead of crying and instead of complaining and instead of whining and instead of just talking about it over and over you're gonna begin to praise your beginning done it begin to pray and you're gonna begin to declare the good things of God and you're gonna say he's a good father and you're gonna say you're perfect in all of your ways because your story is not finished yet so god I pass that you would put a bold courage inside of every single woman I pray that you would inject a fire that cannot be quenched then you would consume them with your power of your Holy Spirit that there would be a resolution that takes place where they would resolve to get up and pray to get up and worship to get up and tell the devil that he is defeated in the name of Jesus and I declare by this time next year the testimonies in this room will be miraculous in Jesus mighty name Amen let's give God some praise [Music]

Channel: Wave Church

Views: 1,704

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Alex Seeley, Belonging Co., Wave, Church, Sharon, Kelly, Virginia, Beach, Devoted, Conference, 2020

Id: bBcz7uNuybk

Length: 40min 7sec (2407 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 09 2020