"We will Not Bow" - Morning Meets with God - Weekday Corporate Devotion

too [Music] we will cry it out shout it out our love to you king supreme [Applause] [Music] from one sun to the king from one mother to the king from one father to the king where would we be where would we [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] shout it out our praise to thee and give glory for coming miracles [Music] okay where will we be [Music] where would it be [Applause] how can we [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh oh [Music] thank you for the love you've given us your faithful love has brought [Music] good morning everybody good morning good morning good morning and happy thursday it is thursday we're pressing on through we making it we're making it i have to think for a moment what day is it is it actually thursday or is it saturday no i'm just playing no it's thursday i'm so excited so happy to be here with you guys this beautiful thursday morning um if you don't mind taking some time to share with those that you're connected with those on facebook share share share um those that are on i don't know if you can share on periscope or on youtube for that matter but share share share so excited to be with you guys on yet another morning um meeting with god uh engaging with the lord this morning super grateful so excited um but happy that you are here and you are a part of this beautiful morning with us i'm gonna share my good mornings um really quick um and acknowledge you guys this beautiful morning while you're sharing my acknowledge and then we're gonna dive in from there so i want to say good morning to craig and naomi good morning yvonne martin good morning to you delores good morning maria g good morning to you antonia christopher kemp good morning katherine aysha and gg good morning ebony harris good morning candace angela childs good morning to you good morning yvette good morning maya and arsenia in christ uh good morning vinnie and lasagna good morning renika louise good morning shintel good godly morning to you casino charon good morning ramona good morning good melinda good morning karen suzek good to see y'all aydah good morning natasha good morning i see you lorraine good morning uh try styles good morning charity and dab good morning teresa good morning to you tanisha good morning beverly fights good morning kevin borrows good morning mccall good morning carla good to see you good morning to you girl um angel good morning i declare change good morning to you laquita good morning tammy dobb good morning tatiana good morning apostle pastor prophet justin good morning to you good morning holla holla good morning crystal good morning to you good morning janine and miss mickey good morning to you guys uh patricia keon jazzy mood stephanie um joy old good morning chris good morning adriana uh good morning to you elder cedric good morning i don't think did i make it through oh i made it through i made it through yes yes yes yes i made it through this morning alexis good morning to you guys kevin good morning and those of you that are on um that maybe didn't have a chance don't worry about it good morning rachel good morning nina g just excited that you guys are with me this morning megan good morning christy good morning elanja good morning it's good to be with you guys on this beautiful thursday um if you don't know every week i know there are different people that come on time and time again but my name is thomas ray it's kiss god beautiful also thank you for thank you for letting me know that my name is thomas ray and this is morning meets with god we do a corporate devotion monday through friday at 7 00 a.m in the morning of course i'm a little tardy for the party this morning um y'all should have saw us last night packing getting things together for heart songs atlanta so um excuse my tardiness this morning but we're here nevertheless and we are grateful to be with god um and to gather with you all right here in the lord um in the presence of the lord um this year i know there is something going on with one of my facebook pages not exactly sure what that is but um you know sometimes it's just always something but it's something going on but nevertheless um i am so grateful that you guys are here and so i want to make sure i'm not missing anybody good morning renise i am so sorry it is something going on with this facebook page so um nevertheless i'm excited about us gathering with the lord this morning and i hope that you are let's pray let's pray and then we can um we can continue to grow in god i'm excited about what the lord shared um as far as what we're gonna be chatting about this morning and i'm i'm grateful to the lord for that so um because we are still strengthening our devotion we're still moving forward and knowing that our devotion is rooted in love it is rooted in love for god adoration for the lord who is sovereign and mighty and holy and true and faithful and righteous he is perfect in all of his ways and there is absolutely no one and nothing like him sorry no one and nothing like him in all the earth so let's pray let's pray and um thank you so much thank you so much let's pray and we'll uh continue to dive forward in there so father in the name of your son jesus i thank you lord for your faithfulness i thank you for being god all by yourself i thank you for rest ruling and abiding i thank you for being our healer i thank you for being our redeemer i thank you for coming to our rescue seeing every part of our needs god and meeting those needs thank you that you're sovereign and holy and true and you're faithful god and we appreciate you father we thank you we're so grateful for just your mercy this morning we're grateful for your kindness we're grateful that you are just with us god that you are walking throughout this journey called life with us we're grateful that we get an opportunity to embrace your presence to sit in your presence to soak in your presence but most importantly to to behold your beauty to worship you in the beauty of holiness and to inquire in your temple god we're just grateful we thank you lord that you have made it possible we thank you that you have made it possible for us to have right to be in right relationship with you and to grow in our fellowship with you and we thank you god that as we grow in our fellowship you're constantly encouraging us to stand firm in the things of you you're constantly encouraging us father not to move or not to shift in any way shape form or fashion you're constantly encouraging us to stand strong in you and for that father we are grateful we're grateful god that that we never have to worry we don't have to fret but you're always on our side for us uh even god pushing us into the place of being perfected in you maturing in you growing in you and for that we honor you for god hallelujah we praise you lord because you are so good you're so good in your mercy endureth forever and on this thursday god we give you our day we give you our life we give you our full attention we give you every aspect of us we give you our entire being we say thank you lord thank you for calling us forward from one place to another thank you for bringing us out of darkness into your marvelous light thank you for sharing your truth with us thank you for allowing us to be able to enter into your presence with fullness of joy hallelujah knowing that there is fullness of joy in your presence fullness of joy in your presence fullness of joy in your presence fullness of joy as we turn uh oh god on on every side we thank you that our joy is renewed our strength hallelujah it is renewed in the name of the lord jesus christ and we praise you father and we thank you lord god and we turn now to another hallelujah we declare even on this morning that we will not bow because of pressure we declare this morning that we will remain committed and dedicated to you and our devotion god is really in our adoration god because we simply love you we truly love you and god i thank you that you're maturing us that we're growing from just our adoration our devotion because of duty you're growing us up from our adoration because of fear fear of of not being able to to get into heaven fear of having and spending eternal life but you're maturing us and we're growing in our fellowship with you that our relationship with you is growing our devotion is growing because we're growing in our love we're growing in our love we're growing as we learn more we're growing in our love as we read your word as we uh commit ourselves to this devotion god we're growing and we're learning more of who you are and so father we thank you this morning we thank you this morning hallelujah that our hearts are just overflowing with love for you hallelujah we love you oh god i must share we love you with everything that's within us we love you with our whole heart we love you god we love you lord jesus we love you lord jesus and i thank you that our devotion is strengthened through our love for you we thank you that our devotion is strengthened because we love you lord hallelujah we thank you that our devotion is strengthened hallelujah because we love you hallelujah we appreciate you we thank you for your kindness god we thank you for your mercy you didn't have to be merciful but you've been merciful you've been faithful you've been true you've been so kind and we thank you god for your mercy we thank you father for your faithfulness we thank you father for being god all by yourself we thank you that there is no one like you hallelujah and we declare even as our devotion is strengthening as we're learning to live a life totally and completely committed unto you dedicated to whatever you say obedient to whatever you proclaim whatever you declare as we live our lives according to that i thank you father hallelujah that you're causing us to grow in our devotion hallelujah we're growing in our devotion we're growing in our devotion our devotion is being strengthened in this hour and season and we're not committed and dedicated to you for blessings oh god it is not an exchange for blessings it is truly because we love you hallelujah come on if you love the lord i'll just begin to declare that unto the lord hallelujah i'm devoted to you god not for blessings not for miracles not for what you can give me but i am devoted to you because i love you hallelujah i have grown in my love for you i'm continuing to grow in my love for you the more i fellowship with you god the more i grow in love for you god the more i learn of you the more i grow in love for you the more i become a student of you the more i grow and love for you and so my devotion does not come from the blessings that comes oh god they're just a byproduct but my devotion comes up because i love the lord hallelujah father i bless you for that and we as sons and daughters are we have to be able to strongly proclaim that we have to be able to strongly proclaim god my devotion unto you is because i love you my devotion is not because i i'm looking for you to bless me i'm looking for you to come a lot of people i cannot stress this enough a lot of people seek after the lord go for the lord they um pursue the lord because they're looking for something in return but god is looking for a mature people that are just devoted to him because they love him that will model his son jesus and that will do what he says do because they love him hallelujah not because they are afraid of being reprimanded or punished afraid of being separated from him afraid of of even even his uh scripture tells us that actually nothing can separate us from his love and so he's constantly loving on us but our problem is actually if we're loving on him no matter what if something is actually separating us from the love of god this wasn't even the right i was i wanted to go and probably will get to there but that's that's the thing the the reality of this matter is that although nothing separates us from his love and how he loves us the question is is there something that's separating you from your love from him for him is there something that's separating you from your devotion hallelujah can we actually proclaim much like jesus proclaim i do what i see my father do and if my father is not separated from you um and nothing is separating him from from him pouring out his love to you then we have to literally reciprocate the same thing is there something in me that is separating me from loving god from being devoted to god like i say i am is there something that's distracting me from my devotion the way that um uh truly truly uh i'm called to become devoted team is there something that's doing that and we have to evaluate that's why all of this time all of this week we've been dealing with our devotion being strengthened and and and we're so we're always proclaiming the truth in god's word but in reality is that is that same standard reciprocal do do do is there something that separates you from loving him as much as there is nothing that separates you from the love of god from receiving the love is there something in you that is separating you is there something in you that is separating you from from giving him your fully complete attention giving him your whole entire heart um is there something in that capacity and for many of us a lot of us are are we all find ourselves devoting to something else in the midst of pressure in the midst of persecution and let me tell you something the more that we become a disciple a student the more that we learn of god we grow in our love for him the more that we embrace his truth we truly grow in our love for him which is why in order to be devoted we got to be disciples we cannot do that separate from being disciples we cannot grow in our devotion separate from being ones that learn of god that know of god that becomes students of god um and so even in doing that students of his principles studying students of his way what he likes and what he doesn't like like being coming students and studying those aspects really allows us to be able to grow in god the way that we need to grow in him but sometimes our devotion is oftentimes challenged by the pressures we endure um throughout life and and many of us in this day and hour the pressures of persecution um will sometimes challenge you the pressures of the tests and trials that you endure while you're leading that you're enduring while you're birthing that you're enduring while you're creating the distractions and the traffic that the enemy is throwing your way to throw you off course and to stop you from staying on your course those things those type of pressures can keep you from being uh where you need to be being devoted completely unto god without any um a compromise in any way our goal our prayer my prayer all of this year has been lord help us not to compromise help us not to compromise on when we're pushing in the good and the bad help us not to compromise as we go to and fro help us not to compromise in this set hour and season and we're truly finding ourselves experiencing different pressures different pressures different um pressures that could that can come and it is sent to throw you off it is sent to challenge your devotion um let me tell you i'm just i just really want to proclaim and really want to bring this to light that we will not bow we will not bow we have to make a a really conscious conscience very conscious decision to say that we will not bow in the midst of pressures we will not bow in the midst of distractions we will not bow in the midst of persecutions turning our devotion turning our attention turning our dedication to something outside of what god has truly proclaimed and what god is saying and yesterday we we read about daniel who did not compromise and we read about being able to um being a student not only just of god but also of the fields god is calling us into because of this particular season that we're in and because of the things that we're embarking upon as sons and daughters of the most high god we in order for us to be able to dominate in those fields we have to be secure in our devotion unto god but we also have to demonstrate what it's like to be devoted even into those fields and one of the things i mean i just i just rested on second timothy 2 and 15 the voice translation that told um when the apostle paul told timothy you need not be ashamed of your mission we need not be ashamed of what you are called to do uh and where you're called to go but i'ma tell you something that you're going to be challenged in what you're called to do and where you're called to go and if you don't know by god your mission in the earth your purpose and your responsibility in these fields you will run the risk of your devotion being challenged and even falling because of the fact that you're just ashamed not that i one of the things i was telling my friends i said the thing about being a not being ashamed of your mission is not that we don't know what our mission is we just have not fully embraced what our purpose and our mission is maybe because you don't believe you're worthy of that calling but the reality is that's not your call the reality is that god is bringing us into a place where we are totally and completely committed to him we're committed to him and through us being committed to him we complete our mission we fulfill our purpose in the earth being committed to god being devoted to god allows you to be able to fulfill your purpose being devoted to god and saying that you love the lord brings you to a place where you will literally uh completely do as the scripture says that jesus said if you love me you'll keep my commandments and and being devoted to god being committed to god being dedicated to god because you love him allows you uh positions you in a place of obedience and so it doesn't matter what letter literally literally what you're thinking it doesn't matter what you're thinking what it matters is what is it that god is telling you to do and if you're devoted to him you will do it you will do it in the face uh when we talk about courage in the face of fear you will do it in the face of pressures and you will especially do it in the face of persecutions and god is constantly strengthening our devotion but he will he will like sin things will come our way that will test us he will test us things will come our way that will test our devotion and so if you have noticed that throughout this year your devotion has dwindled this is not a time to live in condemnation that's not what god does and that's not what we're going to do here we're not going to condemn you but what we are going to do is to encourage your hearts to to be strengthened and to get back in in place and to get back on the ball being devoted unto the lord because when we poss when we encourage one another to get back in place then we hold one another up it's just like holding up the arms uh aaron and her holding up the arms of moses we hold one another up and so we refuse to let you fall in this season very simply because um you got distracted along the way or even in this case there were some pressures and i really want to encourage you in that because we pressure pressure cannot keep us from demonstrating our devotion and that's what it's coming down to what it's coming down to is that our divorce sometimes is strong in the secret place but is it strong enough to sustain us when we go out have we committed wholeheartedly and clearly and and and realistically in the secret place that we are sustained in the public or do we take that part of us off do we turn that that part of us off uh god is really challenging our devotion even as he's strengthening it he's looking at and examining the cracks and he's measuring its balance and he's measuring what we're doing and he's literally coming down to the plow and saying hey these are the areas that need to be strengthened and one of the things i know amongst the body of christ that need to be strengthened is in the midst of persecution behind the pressures of persecution yesterday we read about daniel and he experienced um something that that that in the midst of it he stood strong even in the midst of the king attempting to give them diet a different diet but today i want to talk about his friends today i want to talk about those um we know this story so very familiar daniel 3. um we know this story we know what this scripture is all about so i'mma kind of just really pull out the scriptures i want to rest on but i'ma kind of give you an overview just in case somebody is just not uh don't necessarily remember shadrach meshach and abednego or their names originally was hananiah mitchell and as azra as ryam um they were the ones who in the midst of one of one of the trying times king nebuchadnezzar had built up the statue of who he is and he just loved this statue so much that he made the entire nation of babylon including those that were children of god israel they must bow to this particular um they must bow to this particular um statue um and they must obey and every time here here's the caveat every time you hear music you gotta bow isn't that crazy and we oftentimes use music to worship but that but every time they heard the sound every time they heard music at the king's command they must bow to the statue well uh michiel hananiah and azariah said we're not doing that we are not going to bow to worship this y'all y'all know i love worship y'all know um i oftentimes look at scripture to see what have we implemented in our culture kingdom culture that should not have been implemented um and so um if your worship doesn't go beyond praise and worship at church as your worship does not go beyond the musical part of your services then something is wrong you have taken on a babylonian mindset when it comes down to worship period and that's not even to say um that's not even to say that that they were worshiping um this this the uh the statute that's just simply to say that they literally proclaim at the sound listen to commands of the king um daniel 3 starting at verse 4 when you hear the sound of the horn when you hear the musical instruments bow to the ground and worship king nebuchadnezzar that was their instructions so again if your worship if your worship if your worship is only centered or connected to musical the musical aspects of your services then you have actually embraced a babylonian mentality when it comes down to worship david said it better like this i will bless the lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth whether music is playing or not i will always magnify the lord i will always exalt his name i will always give him glory and that's the part of our devotion that sometimes we stop being devoted we stop demonstrating our devotion because we don't have no music we don't have music and that mentality y'all is oftentimes a babylonian mentality and it stems right here from daniel 3 whenever they heard the music so that meant outside of the music they could do whatever they wanted to do whenever they wanted to do and it embraced and kept worship connected to just music but worship is not you so that's a very babylonian mentality y'all see how we still functioning in some of these thoughts you know um and some of these thoughts in it uh we're still we're still functioning and lorraine that's funny so um um so nevertheless i you know i just like worship so i pull out certain things like that it's just certain things like that just just really grips me um and so um at the sound of music at the sound of music they were to begin to worship this statue and pretty much that um michiel hananiah and azariah said no we we we we're not gonna bow um verse 12 there were some people some astrologers that went to the king and informed him that the jews um that the jews wasn't bowing um in verse 12 and i'm just skipping along because this scripture is very familiar verse 12 it says but there are some jews shadrach meshach and abednego um whom you put in charge of the province of babylon so let me before that they got into leadership because their homeboy daniel who did not compromise and was able to interpret the king's dream he got promoted and because he got promoted and was in a governmental field he he actually vouched for his friends to be promoted to and to be put in charge and to be placed in governmental uh uh fields to be able to complete the work y'all let me tell you they were infiltrating this system and so um and so they they call themselves telling all them you put them in charge of this province and i'm telling you right now they're telling them they're not bowing with they're not they're not paying any attention and they're not worshipping what you have built up they're not worshiping what you've built up i'm paraphrasing and i'm i'm trying to hurry up along the way they're not worshipping what you build up and so nebuchadnezzar got mad and he decides you know he's gonna go and order them like look first of all he questioned them really like is this true that you're not bowing to you're not bowing to this i set a commanded place i put a decree in place is this true that you're not bowing to this thing that i've built up is it true that you're not compromising you're not you're not bowing down at the sound of music to these things and he he even pleaded with them from for the most part he said i'm gonna give you an opportunity i'm gonna give you a moment to to demonstrate to demonstrate that you're going to bow or that you're not just outright defiling what i have put in place you're not outright defying what i've put in place i'm just gonna give you an opportunity to do so especially now think about this from the king's perspective especially if you're leaders if i put you leaders over this territory and you as leaders over this territory don't listen to what i say then a lot of other people are going to grow in not listening to the things that i say a lot of the people will not have a mind of their own a mind that is rooted in something else and they will you know they will because a lot of people obey the king because they were just afraid hitch the other um leader who told daniel if i don't feed you what the king said to feed you i'm afraid i'm going to be beheaded and that's the thing in the midst of persecution we are we are we will compromise we will bow in the midst of persecution at the threat of persecution we will bow but shadrach meshach and abednego they refuse to they um and i love this verse 16 and i want to rest here um verse 16 shadrach meshach and abednego um replied oh nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you if we are thrown into the blazing furnace the god whom we serve is able to save us he will rescue us from your power your majesty but even if he doesn't we want to make it clear to you your majesty that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up this has to be our proclamation a lot of us are waiting to hear the word of the lord concerning different pressures that we have to endure throughout our journey called life lord what are you saying are you gonna rescue me from this because if you're not gonna rescue me then i'm gonna rescue myself if you're not gonna save me then i'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure that i'm protecting myself but but but this moment scripture did not tell us that they were waiting to hear a word from the lord to decide whether they were going to bow or not scripture does not tell us that they literally found themselves like wait we got to seek the lord and see what the lord is going to do no because they were devoted to god they demonstrated their devotion outside of even the secret place we know that they prayed often scripture tells us that daniel prayed three times a day and he prayed whenever he wanted to you know he prayed unto the lord despite what culture was saying all around him and and shadrach meshach and abednego literally they were the ones who uh who literally was like okay look here's here's the bottom line we want you to i know we serve in this thing and i know that we're we're living in this culture but we don't have to bow to this culture i want you they they literally told him if god chooses to save us which he has the ability to and paraphrasing if god for because he's able because he's able to save us we still won't bow and as he decides not to obey us we still will not bow and that has to be the determination of the sons and daughters of god i know he's able but if he don't we won't bow and and persecution and the threats of persecution cannot put us in a place that will cause us to compromise when it comes down to our devotion i believe that one of the testing of the sons and daughters of god is how we handle this level of pressure how do we handle persecution will we be like peter who denied christ three times after walking with him and after jesus proclaiming you are going to be the one i will build my church on and the gates of hell will not prevail and he still compromised he knew the mission that he was called to fulfill in the earth he was not blinded by it but he became ashamed of his mission and denied jesus three times and jesus told him that he was going to do so and you think he this did you think that i you know i would think if jesus told me this is something that you're going to do i would want a war against that and say okay he brought that to me so that i wouldn't do it and guess what peter did he went and did it anyway hey ain't you that god i hang out with jesus no no no i don't even know who he is like you completely deny jesus be because of pressure because of persecution and that's my prayer my prayer for the body of christ is that we do not compromise because of persecution we want to cry and we want to uh let me tell you something too if we take principles from what they did shadrach meshach and abednego they didn't war with the culture about what they per se was doing they just stood daniel they didn't argue with the other people and say you should not eat the king's diet no they just said for me i'm not going to eat it i'm devoted and that shine brighter than them trying to convince other people oh man you shouldn't you shouldn't eat the king stuff it's going to make you weak but in their personal convictions and in their personal devotion in their personal convictions and in their personal devotion they stood to proclaim as for me this is not going to do it and even when the person asks what it is danny was like just just try and see just test and see um that that what we do in this hour and season that it's going to make us strong and just test and see that god is real and this is when um they begin to share like meshech and begin to proclaim we don't have to defend ourselves we don't have to defend ourselves we really right here in this place if you throw us in like do what you have to do but i'm telling you now god is able to save us and if he decides not to he's still god and we will not bow and that's the whole thing i pray that the sons and daughters of god will build up a confidence and will build up and be strengthened in their devotion so much so that they will not forget their devotion in the midst of persecution that we will because that has weakened our faith that has weakened our witness in the earth and because we have mixed things up because of culture we have mixed things up because it's not popular to do um because of the fact that we have literally truly uh because we were being persecuted that we have so even now like when we think about back to the civil rights movement i am so just uh grateful and but i i am inspired by the courage that some of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers and grandmothers endured during the civil rights time they had courage in the midst of persecution and we're forgetting that in this day and age we're forgetting that in this day and age we're forgetting that we're forgetting that shadrach meshach and abednego the culture was going to do what the culture was going to do the world is going to do what the world is going to do but who's going to stand who's going to stand now here's the deal shadrach meshach and abednego they stood so much so that the demonstration god coming through on their behalf y'all know the story right that was thrown into the fire and even those that took them in the fire got burnt up even those that were leading them to the fire got burped up and shattered me shagging and bending they kept on walking that alone should have just showed that hey man they are devoted they they are devoted because um the scripture says that um they bound them up and they begin to throw them and they went to throw them into it he turned the fire up seven times hotter the pressure got even greater than what it typically would be to throw them up and they threw them in there fully dressed and then that day them garments wasn't weak them garments was heavy and so they threw them in there and even the soldiers on their way the soldiers that did it the flames killed the soldiers that were leading them into the thing but they kept walking what integrity what integrity because in this moment they refuse to bow in this moment in this time they refuse to give up and some of us we're gonna have to be built in our devotion so that we will not compromise and we will not bow in the midst of this and so when they came and searched nebuchadnezzar let me tell y'all something that was the lord i want to tell you that was the lord that was keeping shadrach meshach and abednego from burning up before they got to the furnace it was the lord that kept nebuchadnezzar so that he could see because if the other soldiers got killed by the flame of fire don't you think everybody else that got closer to the fame would have got killed but no they didn't so it had to be the grace of the lord that kept them so that they could see so that kept them so that this very thing could be demonstrated and some of you you're going to literally be walking in the midst of some pressures and some persecutions and it and it could come from your own folks it could come from your own people that claim that they can believe it it may not even come from the world it may just come simply from people within your circle that just don't agree or you know the body of christ we're all persecuting one another the world don't even have to do it because we're taking their spot persecuting one another was we should all be believing the same thing well we should all be saying the same thing if we serve the same god we should all be saying the same thing but i believe it was the grace of the lord that kept shadrach meshach and abednego so that they can demonstrate something and it was the grace of the lord that even kept nebuchadnezzar so that he could see he could see who was god and many of us are not willing to be that example we're not willing and my prayer has just always been for a long time my prayer has when god strengthen the body of christ strengthen the body of christ so that in the midst of persecution we will not bow strengthen us so that in the midst of persecution we will not compromise my heart grows big for the underground church and i really pray for them because they're not bowing they're not bowing they're not compromising but who's praying for them who's sending them songs and words of encouragement who's covering them because in the midst of persecution many of them are not bowing and many of us will get away afraid after of these reports that we hear of these reports that we hear about you know many being persecuted because of their faith and we will be like lord jesus but we really have to uh walk in this moment and have to evaluate our lives will we we and we have to be honest with ourselves has our devotion grown stronger in that in the midst of persecution we will not bow have it has it grown has it grown has it grown that i mean we can our devotion is compromised just because our job tells us to work overtime our devotion is compromised because we you know we work this job and we gotta pay these bills y'all how are we going to be strengthened for it but it comes from us teaching the word the scripture tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of god and and my goal in this thing this morning is to build your faith my prayer is that through the word of the lord that your faith is being built so that your devotion will will be strengthened in this hour because we need our devotion strengthened we cannot afford to compromise at the cost of our fear of persecution i'm telling you it's causing us to be stressed to be weakened in this day and so that's my prayer my prayer is that the body of christ will literally proclaim just as sharik meshech and bitter gold our god has the ability to deliver us but even if he don't we still will not bow we still will not bow we still will not bow if he does not and let me tell you something in the midst of what seemed like a persecution god turned it around so that they would be a demonstration for him in the midst of persecution god turned it around so that they would be a demonstration for him they didn't sit there trying to tell other people in the country about man what y'all doing is wrong no they only had to proclaim it to the king and and when all came down to it in verse 28 nebuchadnezzar turns around and says well praise god praise the god of shadrach meshach and abednego he sent his angels to rescue his servants who trusted in him they defied the king's command and were willing to die whether than rather than serve or worship any god except their own god therefore i make this decree if any people whatever their race or nation or language speak a word against the god of shadrach meshach and abednego they will be torn them from limb and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble there is no other god who can rescue like this and then what did the king do he promoted shadrach meshach and abednego again they got promoted again and i want to tell you guys this i don't know what this new year holds for us i don't know what god is really calling us to do but you studying the culture of the field that you're called to conquer for the glory of the lord you studying that is not a doorway for you to compromise in your devotion you serving in those different fields it's not a door for you to compromise in your devotion and you hearing what different people are saying what different people are doing whatever laws are being passed i'm not saying outright defy the laws of the land but not at the cost of defying your god not at the cost of compromising in your devotion not at that cause and we have to be willing to be those that will demonstrate that will demonstrate what it looks like what do what this what this looks like if god god has the ability to save us and if he does wonderful but if he does not he's still god and we will not bow so father i i pray for the body of christ father i i position you i i petition i i put up before you your sons and daughters i cast that care on you this morning and father i act that you would strengthen your sons and daughters who proclaim that they believe strengthen them now in their devotion that no matter what happens no matter what comes up no matter what they're facing that they will not bow oh god i pray that they won't bow they won't bow in the midst of persecution they won't bow in the midst of cultural shifts they won't bow lord god in the name of jesus i ask lord god that you will continue to demonstrate your power in and through them and that they will continue to be the light shining in the midst of darkness that's what shadrach meshach and abednego even proclaimed that they were light right here in the midst of this dark time and season they demonstrated what it was like to be light to be sought of the earth they demonstrated that by not uh compromising in the midst of this persecution and so lord i pray and i ask for god that you will begin to strengthen the sons and daughters of god that you will strengthen your sons and daughters that you will strengthen those who proclaim they believe in you god that you allow them to grow and learn more of what you want and what you desire that they will not confuse mixing culture with faith help us to embrace the culture of the kingdom oh my gosh i'm really i'm really y'all my heart is grieved because we have mixed our culture our carnal culture and proclaim that that's kingdom and it's not we have lied to the people but we have to not we have to be willing not to compromise and we cannot pervert our devotion god i acted you would help us not to pervert the devotion not to pervert this area we have taken the world culture we have taken what they've permitted we have taken what culture has agreed with what the world has agreed with and proclaimed that it is kingdom and it is not proclaimed that it is god and it is not we cannot be we cannot pervert this thing and it just goes to show how much we dishonor god by perverting what god has already said we cannot do that y'all we cannot do that we have to stand and say we will not bow the world can do what it wants to do the world can do what it wants to do but for those of us that are in the kingdom we are to become students of god to become students of his righteousness that's what the scripture matthew 6 and 33 says seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and his righteousness so we're to seek him and we're to seek what he's what he deems is right what what he proclaims as being in right standing we must study that we must seek that we must become students of that and we cannot pervert our devotion on the basis of what this world accepts and what this world has deemed as right no because they're not living along the lines of righteousness they're doing what they want to do but we have to embrace the righteousness that god has set in moses the standard of righteousness that he has put in place not our own not our own and so father i ask that you would forgive us where we have compromised in our devotion i asked father that you would keep us that you would surround us with your truth and that you would help us to father live a life that is worthy of the calling that is worthy of being sons and daughters that is worthy of being light shining in the midst of darkness father we don't want to be like peter as we did um as if we deny you three times and more because of the pressure of persecution but father help us to stand help us to stand in the midst of persecution help us to stand even when culture all around us say that one thing is right help us to become students so that we'll know on which side to stand on a lot of us have not been disciplined and we have not become disciples and therefore we don't know which side to stand on we're thoroughly confused because this side of the body of christ says this and this side of the body of christ says that and because we're not students ourselves of god and his righteousness we don't know which side to stay indoors it's a shame alone that that we're even departed or not even departed that we're even uh uh divided that's a shame within itself but we have not become students enough to be able to stand on the side on on the right side let me tell you something the children of levi the tribe of levi that tribe became known and was promoted because they didn't bow have you noticed that every time someone doesn't bow they get promoted every time someone doesn't doesn't bow they get promoted and some of y'all are looking to be elevated in the realm of the spirit but you're going to have to pass the test of not bowing you're gonna have to pass the test of not bowing so you cannot you cannot afford to compromise in your devotion i know it seems like i'm saying the same thing and i'm bringing up different examples but i need you to realize every area god is measuring every area god is looking at and he's seen where has his people uh uh come just uh been a little old where has his people not vowed to literally give him what's due his name where has his people compromised we've compromised uh for the sake of being alone we've compromised out of fear of not knowing what's truly what god wants and what's not we have to be able to pass this test we have to be able to stand and not to bow to the world culture and that's why we pray that father our devotion is strengthened do it for your glory lord strengthen it in us give us a passion to to become students of you and students of your righteousness give us that passion help us to grow in this passion help us not to fear what this culture what this world or what man may do but help us to stand that we may we may be able to demonstrate to others that that that you are greater you are greater and so i thank you god yes we thank you for what comes when we don't compromise but most importantly we ask that you keep your hand upon us so that we will not compromise help us not to look to the world to affirm our devotion oh jesus y'all we cannot afford to look to the world to affirm our devotion i'm sorry you you cannot look to the world to to affirm your devotion and if you become students of the most high god then your affirmation and your devotion comes from god that god alone and you to be willing to to grow in this thing not for the sake of just promotion and elevation alone but because you love god very simply put because you love god even in spite of what i feel in my being even in spite of what i do even when i don't understand i know that this does not honor god so i'm just not gonna do it even i want to be angry long but i can't be angry long because me being angry alone gives a foothold to the enemy and i i don't wanna i don't wanna do that so i'm gonna move outside of that y'all some of us we got to start thinking about these things you um um just literally having an alt even talking to myself having a all to get someone i i you know i can't i can't hold on to that all right i can't hold on to that i gotta i gotta let it go you know and the thing about it the reality of the matter is is that and this is the whole uh we have a hard time with forgiveness right we have a hard time with forgiveness but even in those things we are demonstrating who we bow to and i know that the world tells you you know you forgive them you know you can forgive them but you know you don't forget and all of these things but what does god say about forgiveness and what does god demonstrate regarding forgiveness and if those are areas that we need to grow in then ask the lord to help us to grow and mature in those areas because at the end of the day our devotion cannot be compromised because of a circumstance our devotion cannot be compromised because of a situation our devotion cannot be compromised because of it and so i want us to about prayer is that the body of christ just completely grows my prayer is that you would you would stand in prayer with me that we as the body of christ will be strengthened in our devotion that we will not compromise that we will not compromise god is measuring every aspect of us that where we have perverted our devotion look to the world to affirm our devotion or in every part where we have bowed because of persecution or the pressures of it god is god is god is looking he is looking for us not to bow and not to bend in that and so father i thank you i thank you for your truth i thank you for your word i thank you that you have examples in your word that shows us how not to compromise i thank you that we're not without instruction we're not without insight but i pray that as the body of christ we will grow in our devotion we will be strengthened and that we will not bow and father in those areas where you're calling us to stand help us to stand in those areas where we're seeking you god i pray that you will make it plain and clear to us various areas in which we should stand on don't uh father i actually truly just not leave us out here to have to uh have to figure it out but teach us your way teach us what it's like to stand on the side of righteousness teach us how to embrace righteousness and and your truth alone o god teach us how not to compromise and not to pervert our devotion teach us how to do these things not because of elevation not because of the blessings that come with it but teach us how to do these things because we love you help us to grow in our love for you oh god and i pray that if we're doing these things outside of of our love for you god i pray that you will correct that in us too that you would make that change in us too that you would set this and you would do a new thing in us too i thank you that you're setting us apart i thank you that you're causing us to be a light shining in the midst of darkness soul of the earth and god i thank you that we're not worshiping you just for the blessings we won't just worship you when the music is playing god and i pray that if we've done that god remove us from that babylonian system we'll remove that babylonian mentality from our minds and help us to grow in being devoted unto you without compromise so i thank you for those that are committed those that demonstrated this morning god i want to be devoted i want my devotion to be strengthened there are people on this live right now father that are rededicating their devotion back to you with complete heart with sobriety with full and complete understanding they're giving this back to you and because they're giving this back to you father i ask that you would bless them i access you would you would renew their strength that you would give them what they need that they won't compromise in this hour come on if that's you right here i i know i hear the lord saying there are many people that are rededicating their devotion back unto me and so i want to give us the opportunity to take that time to do so rededicating our devotion if you don't know the lord jesus take this time to actually embrace him father i i i i admit that i i've said i admit that i've compromised in times past i admit that i had not been devoted i admit that i maybe i didn't even know you but now that i'm hearing your word i want to know you more i want to grow in my devotion i want to be strengthened in my devotion i want to be found on the side of righteousness in your eyes and so father we embrace you as our lord jesus christ we acknowledge that we know you died on the cross for our sins you came into the earth just so that we can be redeemed back into right relationship and fellowship with our lord jesus christ and so father here i am receiving you as my lord and savior come on if you're rededicating your life back to the lord take the time to do so uh but if you are if you are most of us we're dedicating our life back to the lord and we think that's just about uh salvation but some of us we need to rededicate our lives back to the lord simply because of our devotion we our devotion has been weakened and we need to rededicate remember remember devotion is our dedication that's rooted in adoration that's our devotion that it's our dedication written in in adoration and so we need to rededicate ourselves back to the lord father forgive me for not being one that was consecrated forgive me for being one that that that compromised in my devotion in times past out of fear maybe i did it out of fear and i thank you that you're so faithful to forgive us he's so faithful to forgive us y'all he is faithful he is faithful to forgive us while even now you know the scripture tell him tells us to call on him while he's near and he will forgive us of our sins and so father we we we take this time to say father we rededicate ourselves back to you we want to be consecrated and we declare that in the midst of persecution we will not bow we will not bow we will not bow and we thank you we thank you for for measuring us anytime the lord measures us it's not for us to be afraid we get to he assesses where we are he assesses our weaknesses and he gives he brings us into to the full knowledge of what our weaknesses is so that that those corrections can be made so that we can literally repent and then receive teaching and become a student and ask holy spirit to teach us how to to do this better teach us how to walk this walk better that's what fellowship is all about that's what it's all about so father i thank you i praise and honor your holy and righteous name and i thank you that you are so good i thank you that you are so faithful you're so kind you're so true and i reference you we reference you oh lord and we thank you for giving us the opportunity to rededicate ourselves thank you for giving us the opportunity to realign our devotion thank you for giving us the opportunity to declare that even in this we will not compromise and no matter what's coming up before us even in the things that are to come we declare that we will not compromise we belong to you we're devoted to you we're committed to you and god i just thank you for strengthening us in our devotion i thank you that we're not looking to the world to affirm us but we're looking to you the author and the finisher of our faith and we give you praise honor and glory for it in the name of your son jesus thank you lord thank you lord we will not bow we will not bow we give him all the honor and the praise and the glory for it amen amen i pray that you as you were just stirred in your heart and your spirit i pray that your faith increased by hearing the word of the lord um the logos and the rhema i pray that you are constantly growing in your devotion and that it is not it is not being compromised regardless of what the culture is saying they say do it for the culture my culture is the kingdom coach i'm gonna do it for the kingdom that's what i'm doing for i would do it for the kingdom and my prayer daily is that the body of christ does not compromise because of persecution and the pressure of persecution look keep being in the light keep being the salt and keeble allowing god to give god opportunities and making ways for god to use you in a way that he can demonstrate his power and his truth that's my prayer for all of us this day that we're strengthened for it thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord yeah we doing it for the kingdom charity hey lisa i miss you can't wait to see you cannot wait to see you that's gonna be our stance we're doing it for the kingdom amen amen i love y'all so oh my god i bless you i bless you lord thank you jesus thank you jesus i'm so excited tomorrow we're there we're in atlanta with the heart song experience and it's it's gonna be such a phenomenal time and so those of you who got your ticket those of you that are still going to get your tickets i'm excited for you i can't wait to see y'all i cannot wait to connect with y'all i cannot wait to just love on y'all i cannot wait to elbow bump some people still hug i can't wait to hug you and all of the above i'm not afraid i hug i hug people yep i do i do i do i do i do i'm so excited i saw i just feel like there's such a glory on this one i don't know what it is new jersey those of you in new jersey i got an update for y'all we got a spot so we're gonna be there on january 22nd and we're so excited about that so uh tickets and everything's gonna be opened up for that tampa you're next no new jersey you're next then tampa you're the week after that so it's going to be phenomenal it's going to be absolutely phenomenal and so i'm so excited so i don't know what's going to happen and what's going on but nevertheless we will not bow and we're going to see the glory of the lord and those of you that are in atlanta checking out the atlanta date by way of streaming or whatever it is we can't wait to see you guys we're so excited about it and um yeah god is so good y'all god is so good so i love y'all i gotta go make a run before we catch this flight and uh yeah it's all and pop it oh and pop it i'm gonna get the exact address for you and we're gonna post it on all of our social media platforms and it's going to be on our website as well so perfectly i'll have all of that up for you guys by tomorrow um so uh atlanta we're we're there tomorrow atlanta at embassy international worship center my second home we're gonna be their embassy international worship center and just enjoy the presence of the lord and then we're going to be in new jersey at um it's resting house of prayer resting place house of prayer i believe the name of it and um so we're going to do that and then we're going to be in tampa at center for manifestation in tampa florida on the 29th and in between there i got some engagements i'm gonna be in houston a couple of times in between there i am going to be in tampa on the first houston on the 31st uh so yeah it's gonna be pretty pretty dope oh you know that place internet cool yeah so i'm gonna get all the addresses and all the good stuff for y'all and we're gonna post it we're gonna put it out so y'all can get your tickets and i can't wait to see y'all for the hearthstone experience all right i love y'all so much y'all have a blessed tremendous thursday prosperous thursday if you still need to get your tickets and stuff like that go to our website be refreshed.com be refreshed.com go there click on the flyer it'll take you right to the ticketed site yesterday was the last day for the um the discount rate so i am going to um yeah so now it's back at full pricing and uh yeah we're gonna just see god together i'm excited about it it's gonna be so dope all right i love y'all yay mother see you soon i love y'all talk to you soon

Channel: Psalmist Raine & The ReFresh Team

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Id: a4bW_7N7gkM

Length: 78min 24sec (4704 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 10 2020