Prayer and Waiting on God

SPEAKER B Jesus promised his disciples in Acts One eight, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all here and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Welcome to. You shall receive power. And here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Colin Hone. SPEAKER C Greetings and a warm welcome to you shall receive power Colin and I are glad that you can join us again today. We are continuing our current series of programs featuring the book 50 Days Prayers and Devotionals to prepare for the latter Reign and Christ's Return by Pastor Dennis Smith. Now as we start our program, would you please join us as we ask God to bless this program. Gracious Father in Heaven, it's always a privilege just to come into your presence. We just thank you for the gift of prayer that we can have direct access into your throne room through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, Father, that also intercedes and mediates for us in regards to making this connection with you. And Father today as Colin myself work through this Bible study and we commune to you and with you through the Word. We just pray Father, that you would accept our praise, our adoration, and also our prayer through Jesus. Bless the person listening as well. Father, may we be blessed and drawn closer to you is our prayer in Jesus name, amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C So today Colin, we have another lesson and we're on day 22. So what is your topic for today? SPEAKER D Well, today's topic is on prayer and waiting on God. So we're going to cover what it means to pray and then wait on God and also listening to God in prayer. So we're going to talk about those two topics today in today's lesson. Most people's concept of prayer is a one way communication from man to God, isn't it? SPEAKER E Sure. SPEAKER D And so much of prayer will be just like that. The Christians sort of thanking God or making requests of Him. However, prayer is to be more than that. Prayer is also to be a time of communication from God to the believer. And so this two way communication is not only to take place during our more extensive times in prayer, but such as time in our morning devotionals, but also we're to continually commune with God and receive directions, instructions and encouragement throughout the day. And so we're going to look at those sort of things. And also another important lesson is today is waiting on God. What does it mean to wait on God? It's a difficult thing to learn to wait and trust on God. Many times we ask God, we have a request to Him, say, Lord please do this or we ask him to do this, but we then don't wait, we then go and try and do it. Ourselves. We've just asked God to do something, but we got to wait on his time and his ways. And that's not easy for human beings because we want to rush in and. SPEAKER C Get things done good and patient. SPEAKER D Yeah. So waiting on God really means resting in entire dependence on Him for everything. And when you can get to this, there's a book by Dennis Smith called Waiting on God. There's a whole book on this. SPEAKER C He's written a few books. SPEAKER D He has. I read this book every year because I'm the type of person that likes to rush in. I always go ahead of, you know, I'll ask God something, and then instead of waiting on God to deliver, I then go and start trying to achieve it in my own ways. And usually when I do that, everything gets messed up. SPEAKER C The great patriarch Abraham was a bit like that. As know, the Lord promised him that his descends will be as the stars in the heavens. And then, of course, he says, Well, Eliezer is going to be the one. And he goes, no, it's not. Someone born from your body will be the one. Then of course, he waits a little bit longer. And then, of course, he now takes on Hagar, who then bears him a son. He goes, no, your wife, which is Sarai, who will be called Sarah later. She will be the one. So he takes through a process where he runs a little bit ahead of God, first of all through adoption, then by surrogacy, so to speak, and then finally God actually says, no. It all happens by promise, by believing God. SPEAKER D And how did that work out for Abraham and his family? SPEAKER C Well, look, if we look at the history of those two nations that came from Ishmael and from Isaac, you only have to look at the Middle East now to see all the problems they have there as a result of it. SPEAKER D And even his own family split them. Split the family. There was problems. He had to send away his son Ishmael eventually. I mean, how hard was it for Abraham to do that? SPEAKER C It would have been very difficult. SPEAKER D So waiting on God is good for you? SPEAKER E Yeah. Amen. SPEAKER D It's good for you. It also teaches that trust Him. Now, such waiting is absolutely essential for one's prayer life to be effective. And we can learn the importance of waiting on God by observing nature. Okay, just have a look at nature. All of nature by instinct waits on God. Think about that. SPEAKER C Yeah, I had to think about it for a second there. SPEAKER D God provides for the animals, and they must wait on Him to provide. I think it basically says in Psalms, chapter 104, verses 27 28, what does the Bible say about this? SPEAKER C Says, these all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. Verse 28. What you give them, they gather in, you open your hand and they are filled with the good. SPEAKER D So every created being from God waits on God to provide animals, birds even Jesus said that, doesn't he? The birds don't go over and do things. God provides for them everything they need. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C There's that other text in the Bible as well that says that you open your hand and you satisfy the desire of every living thing talking about. SPEAKER D So here we have the principle. By just even in nature, god provides everything that's needed. I mean, he created this world, so therefore he knows how to provide. And it was God's work to create, and it's God's work to maintain his creation. Did not God create this earth? SPEAKER C Yes, he did. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C Spoke it into existence. SPEAKER D So it's his role or job, I guess you could put it, to maintain that creation. And the Bible tells us that God is upholding all things by the Word of his power. In Hebrews, chapter one, verse three, let's just read that. SPEAKER E Okay. SPEAKER C Now, referring to Christ, it says here, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. So that's the image of God, the Father's person, and upholding all things by the Word of his power, when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So Christ is the One who upholds all things by the Word of his power? SPEAKER D Yeah, just by His Word, everything is upheld. And so God is constantly maintaining and providing for his creation? Yes, that is how he established all things, and that is how he wants us to view Him not only as our Creator, but as our maintainer and provider. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C Doesn't that bring the concept of living by faith to a whole new level, that you'll live by faith and expect God to provide for you? And I guess for people who have an abundance, they don't really need to live by faith to that extent, but for those who are impoverished God's people to live by faith that they provide. And we know some missionaries who do that. They go out, they've got no means of income, and God provides for them. They sustain everything they need. God provides in his time. SPEAKER D He does, and he comes through. And this is how intimately God desires to be connected to his creation. That's to you and me and to our listeners. God has created this earth. He has created you, and it's his role to maintain it. Our role is to trust and believe that he will do what he said he would do. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And when we don't, what do we do? What do we normally, when we don't trust God, we run ahead of ourselves. SPEAKER C We do Jesus there on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter six from verse 21 25, that he talks about providing and giving. And it says then, verse 25 of Matthew six, therefore I say to you. Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? And he says, look at the birds of the air. For the neither sow nor reap, nor gather and bunch, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more of more value than they? And which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So he says, Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And he says that, yet neither these, even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these. Now, if God so clothed the grass with the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, o you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? And what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. And then that beautiful text, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. SPEAKER D So there it is. He just goes through creation and says, listen, Jesus this is Jesus explaining. SPEAKER C Yes, that's right. SPEAKER D He's saying, Why do you worry about anything? What you're going to do or drink or eat and things like that. And he gives example. Look at the birds. They don't reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D And then he goes, this and this is what I want us to get this point. Are you not much better than they, of more value than they? He's saying, we're of great value to God. And for example, I love it when he sort of makes a bit of a joke, like by worrying, are you going to get taller? Can you grow taller by worrying? SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D I mean, let's be honest, some people worry more than others. SPEAKER C That's true. SPEAKER D But worrying has never changed anything ever. SPEAKER C No, not at all. SPEAKER D Has anything you ever worried if it. SPEAKER C Goes into the wrong thing? SPEAKER A Yeah. SPEAKER D It doesn't change anything, so why worry about anything? And the thing is this if you know that God loves you, and God does say in John 17, jesus says, did you know that your Heavenly Father loves you as much as he loves Jesus? SPEAKER E Wow. SPEAKER C Oh, that's incredible. SPEAKER D Did you know that? So if you know that and that's what Jesus said. Now, if Jesus telling the truth, what he's saying is, God loves us as he loves Jesus. I mean, that's a powerful statement. SPEAKER C That is incredible. SPEAKER D And so did God take care of everything for Jesus? SPEAKER E Yes, he did. SPEAKER D Of course he took care of all his needs. Jesus never had to worry. Why didn't he worry? Because he trusted. That's what it's really about. Do we really believe that God loves us? I mean, the Bible says in John, doesn't it? The famous Bible text. What's the most famous Bible text in the Bible? SPEAKER C John 316. SPEAKER D For God so loved the world yeah. That he gave his only beloved son that ever should believe on Him should not perish. So do you believe that that God gave his son? And so God has made a promise that he will take care of us? SPEAKER E Yes. Yeah. SPEAKER C That's an incredible faith, isn't it? You know, my wife and myself have been confronted with this just recently because we've been talking about, you give your heart to the Lord, you make a full surrender. But I was convicted the other day that have I really given everything? There was a new chapter open to me, hidden to me that I wasn't sure of in regards to all our finances and the way we decide about money and whether we invest or whether we keep or whether we do, we put in the Lord's storehouse now. And the thing that convicted me is that there'll be a time when no one can buy or sell. SPEAKER D Yes. Revelations 13 says you won't be able to buy and sell unless you have the mark of the beast. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C So if you delay and you don't put everything into the Lord's hand to deal with it according to his will, when the time is right, you may find yourself in a place we're sitting on all these assets. You can't buy, you can't sell. And God's work is languishing and you should have been able to do something early, but you didn't. And Spirit of Prophecy actually makes a comment on that, says, these people will be sorely oppressed and really upset with tears. They will confess the fact that they weren't faithful with putting everything into the Lord's hands. SPEAKER D Yeah. And so I just love that that God is our provider and he promises to take care of everything. I mean, Jesus confirms that. And again, Jesus says that God loves us as much as Jesus. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D And so what is the answer? What does Jesus say after all that? Don't worry about everything. He even says, I love it what he says in Matthew, chapter six, verse 32, where he says, for after all these things, like do we need food? SPEAKER E Yes, we do. SPEAKER D Do we need shelter? SPEAKER E Yeah, absolutely. SPEAKER D We need all these things. And after these things the gentile seeks, what he's saying is that is their focus. And don't you think that's the same as the world today? I mean, we live in Australia. The whole focus is on gaining riches. I'm a financial planner and I speak to clients all the time, and they're just so worried about money. I mean, they've got more money than most people I speak to. And I've been to countries all around the world where they have nothing, and yet they're worried completely worried, will I have enough? A lot of my time is not only just giving advice around how to construct a portfolio and how to invest and things like that and how to save, et cetera, but a lot of my time is trying to help people stop worrying. Stop worrying. But the great thing is when you know God and you really trust God, and that was a problem with Abraham, wasn't it? You just gave that story. You said what did you say? You told me that Abraham, God said through your seed, through Sarah, all right. A woman who was, like, 90 years of age, right? He says the promised Messiah is going to come and there's going to be a nation that you won't even be able to number the stars, millions and millions of them. Now, if Abraham believed that, he would have waited for that to be fulfilled in God's time. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D But what did he do? He says, Hang on, I need to fulfill that prophecy, and I'm just going to go. SPEAKER C And time's been dragging on, so maybe God's expecting me to do it. SPEAKER D So was he tested? He was tested time by delay, time tested, yeah. So do you think that's going to happen in our lives? SPEAKER C I think it will. SPEAKER D How's? The only way that we can actually learn to trust God through experience being tested yeah. By your faith may be tried. By our faith being tested, we learn to depend on God. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D And the only way that can happen is it gets tested. The only way you can build up strength, isn't it? SPEAKER E Yeah, absolutely. SPEAKER D And sometimes that means waiting on know, most young people I know, Eddie, and they don't wait on God for their partners. SPEAKER E Wow. SPEAKER C You know, that is true. I've seen it in some of my friends over the years, and unfortunately, it's worked out very poorly for them because they haven't waited on the Lord. SPEAKER D We haven't waited for God. Now, God might have a plan that might be hey, it could be down five years down the track or even ten years down the track. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D I mean, look at Jacob. How long did he have to work? How patient was he? SPEAKER C Well, he had to work seven years and then another seven to get the wife that he really wanted. Yes. SPEAKER D 14 years he waited. I mean, that's patience, isn't it? SPEAKER C Very much so. SPEAKER D Most people these days, young people and that they just yes, that's it. They don't wait on God and they go straight into relationships that they shouldn't. Got. Yeah. SPEAKER C I got sent this thing through in the mail just a day or so ago, and this thing says God said no. Now, it's interesting, and I just want to read it to you. It says, I asked God to take away my habit. God said, no. It's not for me to take it away, but for you to give it up. I asked God to make my handicapped childhood. God said no, his spirit is whole. His body is only temporary. I asked God to grant me patience. God said no. Patience is a byproduct of tribulations. It isn't granted, it is learnt. I asked God to give me happiness. God said no. I give you blessings. Happiness is up to you. I ask God to spare me pain. God said, no. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me. I ask God to make my spirit grow. God said, no, you must grow on your own, but I will prune you and make you fruitful. I asked God for all these things that I might enjoy life. God said, no, I give you life so that you may enjoy all things. I asked God to help me love others as much as he loved me. God said, finally you have the right idea. SPEAKER D Finally got it in the end. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C So quite often tribulations now we ask God to take away our tribulations. And that was more the point of what I was trying to say through that reading. But through tribulation, our faith is strengthened and also we learn patience. SPEAKER D The only way that you can grow is through test being tested. And so sometimes that is going to take patience on our part to really trust God that he'll deliver. But God says he would deliver on every promise he's made. He will deliver. But it's in God's timing. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Let's be honest. Sometimes there's people who are sick, who have cancer and who have some disease or some health, and sometimes people are saying, well, sometimes he heals and sometimes he doesn't. And I love what someone said to me once, heard a sermon and they basically says, we pray for healing. But it's in God's timing. Now, whether that's today, and sometimes I've seen healing straight away. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D Whether it's one week or one year or at the second coming, we'll be healed. But we leave the timing in God's hands. That's the trust part. It might be what we want. But God sees the big picture. He sees all the commutations of everything and he understands it all. We don't understand everything. Sometimes we're just going to have to wait till we get there to ask some questions of why and he'll explain it true. Okay, I get it. But did you see the most important thing? In verse 33 of Matthew, chapter six, he says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So our focus is on that. Yes, if your focus is on that, then he says, and all these things will be added to you. Because he knows we need things. He knows we need to eat, we need water, we need a shelter, we know what we need. All these things. SPEAKER C Absolutely. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C Seeking the righteousness of God is very important. I mean, we're not just using that as a cliche. But even the Apostle Paul talks about the power of the Gospel and how through it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. And that's Romans, chapter one, verse 16 and 17. So very important that through the Gospel we experience the righteousness of Christ and we seek it by faith. SPEAKER D That's right. I love what Jesus is saying here. He says, Take therefore no thought for tomorrow. That was the point. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D For tomorrow shall take care of itself. Just worry about what today is happening. So notice what we're to do. We're to seek an intimate relation with God first by seeking his kingdom and righteousness. So that's step one is we seek his kingdom and righteousness, after which we have no need to worry about anything because he has promised to provide whatever is needed. SPEAKER E Right? SPEAKER D God's promised to provide whatever's needed. We're just to live one day at a time. If you only have to worry about what's happened today, well, there's only so much on a plate, isn't there? But if you start worrying about tomorrow's what's on the plate the next day, no wonder you get overwhelmed. You can get depressed. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C You overload your mind. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C With things they reckon, 80% of what people worry for never happens. Never happens. So 80% of your energy goes into something that is just pie in the sky worries that don't eventuate. And that's why it's so important to rely on the Lord and to have that confidence and faith and that peace that passes all understanding that we can only receive through Christ. SPEAKER D And you know what? When you trust in God and believe in Him and have faith in Him, as not only is your Creator and your Redeemer, but as your provider. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D When you trust in Him for all those three, then you have the peace that Jesus promises. SPEAKER E Amen. SPEAKER D Because once you have trust and faith in Him, you don't have to worry. And when you don't worry, what's the opposite of worry? Peace. SPEAKER E Peace? Yes. SPEAKER D So there's the key. If you want to have peace in your life, trust in God that he's provided your salvation. Trust that. Believe in that. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D Surrender to that, believe in that. And then you can have that peace that he promises by trusting Him in everything. And that's the only way you can have that peace is by trust. Because if you don't trust, you don't have peace. That's right, because you're depending on your own. And let's be honest, our own source. SPEAKER C Of peace is not found within ourselves. SPEAKER D It's not. SPEAKER C Yeah, I know people meditate until try and empty themselves, but that is not actually true peace, that doesn't come that way. SPEAKER D So I'm just saying people try it out there, wait on God resting entire dependence on Him, and you will have that peace. Also. Know what Jesus said in the preceding verse, in Matthew, chapter six, verse 24? SPEAKER C Okay? SPEAKER D I love that he says no man can because there's a connection here? SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D He says, no man can serve two masters. SPEAKER E That's right. SPEAKER D You can't be serve one master and serve the other. He's saying further, he will hate the one or love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Verse 25 begins with the word therefore. And the word therefore means indicates the coming statements related to the previous statement. SPEAKER E Yes, that's right. SPEAKER D So he's connected this statement about worrying and everything to the previous statement therefore. SPEAKER C Words are always important. I remember a good pastor actually presenting says, if you receive the word therefore, you always got to ask what's it therefore? SPEAKER D What's it therefore and what was preceding? Because it also means what he just said before is relevant to what he's saying now. So he begins the word therefore, indicating a coming statement is related to the previous statement. Hence, Jesus is saying that we are serving mammon or God of money and materialism if we worry about the necessities of life. SPEAKER E Wow. SPEAKER C He makes that connection. SPEAKER D That's what he's saying. Yes, if you're worrying about all that stuff. And when we wait on God for our necessities, it's a form of worshipping Him, isn't it? SPEAKER E It is. SPEAKER D It's a form of worship. I trust in you. When we worry about the necessities of life, we're actually focusing on money and material things rather than God. So who's your focus on? Money and materialism? SPEAKER E That's right. SPEAKER D So when you focus on God, guess what? You don't worry about the money and the materialist things. God's going to take care of that. I trust you. SPEAKER C God beautiful. SPEAKER D I love it. It's a beautiful saying. And this is why Jesus said, when we do this, we're serving mammon or worshipping mammon or money. Therefore, in learning to wait on God to provide for our need is actually a matter of worship. So our relationship with God must center on waiting on God and depending on Him 100% for everything. That's whether it's money you're looking for your partner, you're looking for that person. Wait on God? SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D He knows you need somebody. He created us not to be alone. He created us to be together. Man and woman should join together and become One. He created it this way. So God is able to find the perfect partner for you, the perfect husband or the perfect wife. But you need to trust Him and learn to wait on Him. And that's every aspect of your life, whether it's money, work, everything you need. And the reason for our lack of faith to wait on God is that we don't really know Him. We don't really know Him, or perhaps we don't know. That is what we're supposed to do as Christians. And concerning the lack of knowing God, if we knew God better, we would not be concerned about anything. The more you get to know God, the more you get to trust God. And the more you're not concerned about stuff. SPEAKER C Yeah, I think it's a misapprehension or a misunderstanding regarding the character of God that quite often stops people from going so far with their faith and no further. If we can trust God implicitly with all that we have, including our reputation and what he wants us to do, if God says to go and do something, oh, no, that's a little bit hard, go to Nineveh and go and preach to them and go, no, no, I'm not going to do that. That's really lack of trust that God will actually protect you through the process. SPEAKER D Now, God takes time for people to get there. SPEAKER E Sure it does. SPEAKER D God understands that. Just have a look in the Bible. It's full of people who it took time to get there to trust God completely. Look at Peter. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D Look at Peter. SPEAKER C Well, it's encouraging to us to know that God can actually transform and change lives. And people with like passions as us have gone through similar struggles, but yet obtained the victory by faith. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D Look at Peter before the cross. Look at Peter after the cross. After he was baptized with the Holy Spirit. The guy's put in jail to be executed the next day. He's going to be executed the next day. Let me ask you, how would you sleep, Eddie, and if you were told today, if someone came along and they put you in jail and they said, tomorrow you're going to be executed, right. How would you sleep that night? SPEAKER C You probably wouldn't sleep too well if you do sleep at all. SPEAKER D Yet Peter slept like a baby. The angel had to shake him violently to wake him up. You see, he got to the place where he trusted completely in God and he was okay with wherever God takes me, I'm okay. Whether it's to my death, whether whatever it is, he got to that place because he actually now knew God and trusted in Him before that. You only have to look a few examples before that where he'd take Jesus aside and says, hey, you can't go and do know so well. SPEAKER C Thank you for that, Colin. We're just going to take a break on that and when we come back, we'll unwrap that a little bit further about waiting on God and listening to God in prayer. Don't go away. SPEAKER F You're listening to the angelic sound of Carly Fletcher, just an average Australian woman who has chosen to use her musical talents to uplift her Lord and King Jesus Christ. SPEAKER A You matter to Him you are his precious child won't you realize that you. SPEAKER F Really matter to him kylie's debut album, Follow the Lamb, features gentle acoustic guitar, piano and voice rich in harmonies and accompanied by various instruments. SPEAKER A It's gonna be worth it in the. SPEAKER F To purchase a copy of Follow the Lamb with all proceeds going to three ABN, Australia, contact us on 024-97-3456. Today we will follow the land. SPEAKER C Welcome back to You Shall Receive Power with Colin Hone and Etienne McClintock. Now, just before the break, we were just having a discussion about waiting on God. And Colin, obviously, the importance of trusting God and knowing God's incredible character, his character of love. God is love. And that his thoughts towards us is not thoughts of evil, but thoughts actually to bless us and to prosper us. So once we understand how great and benevolent and loving God is, we will trust him more. And we were just talking about that growth before. You know, Peter was a different man after Pentecost than he was before Pentecost. Even when his life was threatened, he's supposed to be executed the next morning. He sleeps in prison like a baby and the angel actually has to come and tap him to wake him up. Now, that's the kind of peace that we want and that's the kind of peace that Jesus offers us. SPEAKER D That's the kind of peace we're going to need with what's coming upon this earth. We know what's coming at, Ian. SPEAKER E Yes, we do. SPEAKER D The Bible tells us there's a great crisis coming, the mark of beast crisis, where you won't be able to buy or sell. And it says not only will you not be able to buy and sell, eventually there's going to be a death decree. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D Goes on God's people if you don't receive the mark of the beast. So how do you get to the point where you can trust in God completely? Because what happens is when they take everything away from you, I mean, you can't buy or sell. SPEAKER E That's right. SPEAKER D They take your job away. SPEAKER C All earthly support will be cut off from you, everything. SPEAKER D So how do we prepare for that? Well, the only way to prepare for that is start trusting now and growing in that trust. Paul got it. Paul got it. In Philippians, chapter four, verse six to seven. Philippians, chapter four, verse six to seven, paul describes this as be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made unknown unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. So what is it the peace of God will get you through? So that's the peace that we want. We want to grow and learn to trust in God, in everything. And those who know that God loves them deep in their hearts, not just intellectually, but they know deep in their hearts that God loves them, they will be able to survive this crisis. They'll wait on God and trust in Him to provide. In actual fact, if you read in the Bible, it's those who trust in God, even though everything is cut off like you said, all earthly support is cut off. Everything is taken away. They can't buy or sell and a death decree and they're fleeing into the mountains or put in jails. It says those people who get to that point know deep in their heart that God loves them. And what happens? It says the Bible says that their bread and water is made sure. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D However, those who say, well, I'm not going to go along with I don't care, they receive the mark of the beast, so they can still buy and sell. But what happens to them? Eventually they receive the seven last plagues. SPEAKER E That's right. SPEAKER D And they are actually going to be starving. SPEAKER C They were without a shelter during that time. SPEAKER D Shelter, starving, everything's taken away from them and they're lost. So even though it might appear that when the Mark of the Beast crisis comes, that everything's going to be really bad, and it will be bad, but it'll be worse off receiving the Mark of the Beast for those who receive it, even though temporarily they might have food and shelter and have all the things, the trappings of life, but eventually that's going to be completely taken away from them as well. That's everything. And then they receive the seven last plagues. So it's important that we wait on God and trust on God. And the only way that is to believe that he will provide what he says and to know that he loves you deep in your heart, because even though they might take away everything from you, they can't take away your provider. SPEAKER C Yeah, that's true. Psalm 91 is specifically written for people who will go through that time of trouble. It says there that he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, so has that connection with God. SPEAKER D Where's the secret place in prayer? The secret place is in your communion and prayer time with God. He dwells in that secret place, that time in God. And we're going to talk about Enoch, who spent that time in God, right. He walked with God. He knew God. But keep going. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C So it says there that you shall not be verse five. You should not be afraid of the terror by night, or the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noonday. And then it says verse seven, a thousand shall fall in your side and 10,000 your right hand. But it shall not come near you. SPEAKER E You. SPEAKER C Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. So those who are in the pavilion of Christ, who have connected themselves so closely with Christ will go through that time unscathed. But they'll see destruction to the left and to the right at night, during the day. But this will only be the reward of the right. SPEAKER D That's right. So it doesn't mean it's not going to be better roses, but I know which side I'd rather be on. SPEAKER C Our bread and our water will be sure. SPEAKER D Yeah. SPEAKER C God fed Elijah with the ravens, so he will protect and feed his people. SPEAKER D Although they come, they brought bread to him, didn't they? SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D They brought bread to him. So we also wanted to look at listening to God in prayer. It's a two way street, this listening in prayer. And it's not only to take place during our more times of prayer in the morning devotionals, but we can communicate with God continually and receive his directions, instruction, encouragement throughout the day. First, thessalonians chapter five, verse 17 yeah. SPEAKER C Which says, pray without ceasing. SPEAKER D Yeah. Pray without ceasing. Paul is saying it's a command. Pray without ceasing. So in the morning, pray throughout the day. When the Spirit impresses you, continue to pray. You can pray in your mind as well. And so each day, we must seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and pray in the Spirit for this two way conversation to take place. God wants to communicate with his children. And so we've got enoch. Now, Enoch is like a type of remnant, right? It's a type of remnant. So what I mean by that is because we know there's a remnant. God has a remnant people or remnant church that are going to be ready when Jesus returns. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D It's called a remnant. And Enoch is a type of those ready to meet Jesus when he returns. Because Enoch was translated to heaven without seeing death. Seeing death. And so God's people who are alive will be translated when Jesus returns. They are given a new body, according to Corinthians, a new body. And so they're going to be translated without experiencing death. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER C There's only two people we know of there's, Enoch and Elijah, that were translated without seeing death. We know that Moses was raised. So we know that Moses is in heaven as well. But he's a type of those who actually take the underground to get to heaven, so to speak. SPEAKER D That's right. Yeah, that's right. So Enoch, we read, walked with God how long? SPEAKER C 300 years. SPEAKER D 300 years. Now, that's a long time to be communion with God. And I love it that it says when he had his child at the age of 65. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D Then Enoch worked with God. So having a child for Enoch drew the experience of having a child, the father and son experience. He understood that father and son experience with his heavenly father. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D And it says he walked with God. If you go and look at the text, actually, that's when it said it happened. SPEAKER E Yes, that's right. SPEAKER D After he had his son. So he walked with God 300 years. Now, that's a long time to be in communion with him. He communed God because it was agreeable to him. He loved the society of God. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D He loved hanging around with God. And eno was a marked character. Many look upon his life as something above what generally of mortals can ever reach. Most people say, well, that's just know that's an extreme. But Enoch's life and character represents. The lives and characters of all must be. Like Enoch, they are subject to be translated when Christ shall come. So his life was what the life of every individual may be if he closely connects with God or she. We should remember that Enoch was surrounded with influences so depraved that God brought a flood of waters in the world to destroy its inhabitants for their corruption. SPEAKER C Isn't that incredible? So even amongst all that corruption and it was really bad. I mean, we think it's bad now. It was just as bad there, if not worse. SPEAKER D Evil was on the part of everyone. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D Every single human being apart from, obviously, Noah, because he found grace with Noah, but that's how bad it was. He was surrounded by corruption. So he didn't have any better than. SPEAKER C Maintain that pure connection, that communication with God. SPEAKER D Yeah. So we've got Enoch's cases before us. He lived in a corrupt age when moral pollution was teeming all around him. We have moral. Let's just have a look at what's happening in the world today. Jesus said it'll be like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, the days of Noah. This is what we're sort of experienced in today's life. So Enoch has experienced what we did, yet he trained his mind to devotion, to love, purity. SPEAKER C Trained his mind? SPEAKER D Interesting, his conversation was upon heavenly things. He educated his mind to run in this channel, and he bore the impress of the divine. His countenance was lighted up with the light which shineth in the faith of Jesus. Now, I'm reading from a book called Conflict and Courage, page 29, okay? And it says that Enoch had temptations as well as we had. So he had the same temptations we had. He was surrounded with society no more friendly to righteousness than that which surrounds us. The atmosphere he breathed was tainted with sin and corruption, just like it is with us. Yet he lived a life of holiness. He was unsullied with the prevailing sins of the age in which he lived. So may we remain pure and uncorrupted. He was a representative of the saints who live amid the perils and corruptions of the last days. For his faithful obedience to God, he was translated. So also the faithful who are alive and remain will be translated. They will be removed from a sinful and corrupt world to the pure joys of heaven. And I love what Ellen White says in Conflict and Courage, our present work is to come out from the world and be separate. This is the only way we can walk with God, as did Enoch. SPEAKER E Amen. Wow. SPEAKER C That's such a powerful statement that I just love the fact that there was something that he could do. Obviously, by faith. It wasn't his works or anything, but he trained his mind to run in those channels that he can bear the impress of the divine, the impress of Christ's character. And I just love the fact that he could live that life untainted by the atmosphere of sin and corruption that was around him. SPEAKER E Yeah. SPEAKER D What did Paul say? Pray without ceasing. Ceasing. So that means you're constantly in communion with God. SPEAKER C Yeah, that's exactly what it means. So even we can have that constant connection with Jesus. Some people can't stay away from their friends or these new people, they just fall into love every moment. They want to communicate. If they're not in their presence, they're on the phone. If they're on the phone, they're texting. And so here, by this loving relationship that God offers each one of us, we can also have that constant connection. Better than text messaging. Better than WhatsApp? Or Facebook. SPEAKER D Yes. SPEAKER C Praise God. SPEAKER D Well, we're having communion with the Creator of the universe. SPEAKER C Oh, what a privilege. SPEAKER D How do you beat that? SPEAKER C Can't beat it. SPEAKER D I mean, there's a Satan trying to attempt to try and beat, and every day the world is constantly vying for the attention of people, isn't it? It is, yeah. It seems that people are so lonely that they have constant audio or visual input coming into them, whether it's in their cars, iPhones, ipods, iPads, television, movies, Internet, constant input coming into them. SPEAKER C Okay, so what you're saying there, Colin, is that God desires to have constant communion with us so we can talk to heaven, but what the devil does he implants in people's this desire for? SPEAKER D Maybe they sow earthly communication versus heavenly communication. SPEAKER C They constantly have these inputs coming in and that, of course, would drain out then the communication with God through the Holy Spirit. SPEAKER D That's right. It's like we've got heavenly Internet. We've got a heavenly internet. SPEAKER C Yeah, we do. SPEAKER D But Satan obviously has counterfeits to distract us and we have a think about them. We surf the Word, we play computer games, we watch television, we listen to radio and CDs, and sometimes it's all right okay to listen to this radio. This is three AB and we're talking about Jesus. It's okay to listen to this radio. SPEAKER C Thank you for the endorsement, Colin. SPEAKER D When you think about it, why is this kind of lifestyle so popular? Satan wants us to be constant communion with worldly means in order to keep us from receiving the communication God wants to give us. They're just distractions. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D And many of the things that people watch or listen to may not be all that bad either. SPEAKER E Sure. SPEAKER D However, if those things interfere with our communion with God or communication with God, we will not grow into the fullness of Christ as we must in order to be ready for the Second Advent. SPEAKER C Well, that's what this program is about, is about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, receiving the latter reign and preparing for Christ's return. SPEAKER D Now, if you want to test this out, if you want to test this out, if you want to see how much these things impact your life, oh. SPEAKER C You'Re going to give us a test now, Colin. SPEAKER D I suggest you try something called a prayer fast. SPEAKER E Okay. SPEAKER C What's a prayer fast? SPEAKER D For ten days, eliminate every unnecessary secular activity such as TV, radio, secular music, web surfing and games, phone conversation, and replace those things with communion with God. And I'm not talking about just being on your knees and prayer constantly. I'm referring to talking with God and reflecting on Him as much as possible. Talking with God in your mind? SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D Reflecting on him. I guarantee that if you did Ish, you will experience the presence of God as perhaps never before experienced. I'm going to do this again myself. SPEAKER E Okay. SPEAKER C I'm going to take you up on that challenge too. SPEAKER D Time that we're talking about secular stuff here. SPEAKER E Sure. SPEAKER D Spiritual stuff's. SPEAKER E Fine. Yeah. SPEAKER D Listening to three ABN or watching three ABN, that's spiritual. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D Or listening to spiritual music. But you get rid of all the secular stuff. Okay. Whether it's music, TV, radio, web surfing, games, unnecessary secular stuff, because TV mostly. SPEAKER C For me, is probably watching the news. But there's so much death and destruction and bad news on there. I'm going to cut that out for ten days as well. If something seriously happens, someone's going to tell me, I know about that, so I probably won't miss out on that much. SPEAKER D Yeah. And what will happen is your stress level will lower and you'll experience greater peace. You probably won't want to go back to your old lifestyle again. So I encourage people try it. Ten days communion with God. There's a lot of great devotionals around you can use. There's one called Ten Days Prayers and Devotions to experience the Baptism Holy Spirit by Dennis Smith. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D There's a number of devotionals you can get. SPEAKER E Okay? SPEAKER D But just spend it with God. Now, you still got to work. I know that. You got to still do. There's certain things you need to do. SPEAKER C That's right. But you still got to be for some earthly good. SPEAKER D Yeah. But constantly just cut those things out for ten days. Focus on communion with God. Cease without praying when you potentially can in your mind and see what happens in your life. SPEAKER C Colin, one of the things I struggle with is multitasking. I can't do it. They reckon women are better at it, but even the science suggests that women may not be quite as good, but they can probably have a broader perspective than men could. Men have more of a tunnel vision, kind of a focus. But I have noticed that when I do spend time with Lord praise that ceasing that I can actually be working and still have the connection with God. For some reason, through the Holy Spirit, our minds are unable to do this where we can have communion with God. It's not the formal kneel down, pray, but it's just that communion, there's a constant backwards and forwards between God and God impressing the mind. And it's almost like I'm talking to God about what I'm doing. SPEAKER D Let's be honest. When we talked about this. Ten days, that's not easy to do, let's be honest. SPEAKER C Well, it's going to take a bit of training. Like Enoch had to do a bit of training to train his mind. SPEAKER D Yeah, but you got why don't start with ten days with God? Commune with God for ten days and. SPEAKER C Just love the idea. SPEAKER D Have a time out and spend it with him and see what happens in your life. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D You will be closer to God. You'll be communing with God and yeah. SPEAKER C Why wouldn't we want that? SPEAKER D Go for walks in nature. Go for walks in nature. Contemplate God's creation. Just spend time in his word, just in prayer and communicating with God and just listening to God and waiting on God. And you watch, your life will be. SPEAKER C Know the greatest compliment you can give someone is your time. And God is offering us his time. What an incredible gift. I think the devil often blinds our minds if we don't really appreciate what is on offer. Through Jesus Christ and God the Father, we can connect with the King, the creator of the universe. What a privilege. SPEAKER D That's right. So I want to talk a little bit about listening with God. Listen to, you know, we need to pray and go throughout the day in an attitude of prayer, right? SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D So when we do this, we will hear God's still small voice speaking to us. To illustrate this what I'm talking about, I want to share a couple of examples. Often in prayer, the Lord will communicate something to us concerning, for example, to me, a sermon or some church issue that I've dealt with. The prayer. All of a sudden something comes to me. Doesn't matter. I could be in the shower and I've asked God and something, a thought will come or something he wants me to write down and present a sermon. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D I've gone and sort of try to create something. Then he comes and says, what about this? SPEAKER C I'm going, oh, yeah, I've written a sermon overnight. Once on a Friday night. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER C And then that morning, I'm convinced I shouldn't be preaching that sermon. And I redo the whole sermon. SPEAKER D That's right. That's listening to the small voice. And sometimes these communications will come when you're not necessarily focusing on that particular need. And it's usually indication that you're hearing God's voice. That's usually indication when the voice saying, hey, listen, I want you to preach and teach on this. I want you to do this. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D Now, God's voice and not just my thoughts or ideas, all right? It's not just our thoughts, ideas. It's something sort of just telling you something. You're going, I believe that we need. SPEAKER C Assume it as well to say, is it something that's originated in us or something that's come from know there's many. SPEAKER D Times when you can do that. God wants to communicate to know, he wants us to pray for certain individuals and circumstances. And there's many times saying, you know, I've been given a ministry I want to distribute and share these wonderful messages about the early reign, the baptism, the Holy Spirit of Christ in you. And many times I've gone ahead of that because I'm naturally a sales type of person, right? I'm in sales. So you think of sales, you're thinking, well, I've got to do this, this and this and this. I've got to do marketing, I've got to do this and this. And many times when I've gone ahead of that, it hasn't worked out really well for me. And God said, Wait on me. Hey, don't you think that I can make this all happen? And so there's many times I've had to sort of say, okay, I'm going to have to do absolutely nothing. Lord, this is your work if you want it to happen, then you get the books out to people. And you know what he does? Every single time I wait on God, the next day bank, all of a sudden there's orders coming from nowhere. SPEAKER C Is that right? SPEAKER D But whenever I go ahead of God, usually it brings trouble upon me in some way or another. It upset people or things have just happened in my life over the years, and I've seen it so many times I'm a bit slow. And God has to keep reminding me, saying, hey, listen, don't you think I'm capable of if I want to get this message out, I can do this? SPEAKER C We can sometimes take too much on ourselves and think that the Lord is dependent on us. We should be dependent on the Lord so we can work for Him. It's the other way around, isn't it? SPEAKER D It's exactly the other way around. But because it's just our natural thing to go and do things in our own strength, it's righteousness by works. In a sense, I've got to do this and this and this and this. And so what I've learned is to wait on God, listen to God and say, Lord, this is your work. You open the doors. SPEAKER C Reminds me of that beautiful text in Isaiah, chapter 1431. There's even a little song that was written about it, says, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagle. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. SPEAKER D Why is that? SPEAKER C Because they're waiting on the Lord, and the Lord's the one that gives them strength. SPEAKER D Yeah, he's got the power. And so when I've done this in my own life, especially in ministry and many things, other things, but especially in ministry, it might be whatever God has given you to do. Everyone has different things that God's given us to do in this world, different ministries. But when I do that, God just opens up the doors. Now, sometimes he makes me wait. I remember when I asked God, I said, Lord, I get to preach around the world on revival and reformation, on the early reign, the latter reign and Christ's second coming. I said, and I'm telling people about that, we need to be in small groups, and I'm in a small group, and what a blessing it is. But I also talk about Jesus. When he ministered people, he ministered people one on one. He was in a small group. Jesus was in a small group. Twelve. He did public evangelism. And so I'm talking about these are Christ's methods. He met people one on one in small groups. He also met Him in the synagogues or at churches, and he did public evangelism. So I'm telling people we need to ask God for divine appointments to bring people to Jesus. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D The point is, though, I said, Lord, I need to do this myself locally, where I am. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D So I did. I asked God, you know what? Six months I had to wait. And I didn't go out asking. I said, Lord, if you want me to do it, you'll bring someone to me. Six months. Then all of a sudden, some circumstances changed. Next minute I had two or three wow people where I were actually giving Bible studies, and they're getting baptized actually this month. SPEAKER C Oh, praise the Lord. SPEAKER D So it's really exciting. But I waited six months before God answered that prayer. And sometimes that's what it means by waiting on God. Did I give up, though, praying and asking that prayer? SPEAKER E No. SPEAKER D Because we're to persist. SPEAKER E That's right, yes. SPEAKER D No, I just kept on asking till. SPEAKER C God delivered beautiful testimony. I appreciate that very much. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER C Waiting on the Lord. SPEAKER D So we've talked about waiting on Lord. Now, listening to God, and we want to listen to God. And the way to listen to God is to follow Jesus as our perfect example. He was daily filled with the Spirit, so daily asks for a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit. He communicated with his Father constantly. He was in prayer constantly, wasn't he? SPEAKER E He was. SPEAKER D And because of this, he knew exactly where to work in cooperation with the Father, with what he was doing. In John, chapter five, verse 19, for example, and the Paul, the apostle followed the example of Jesus. He was filled with the Spirit after his conversion on the road to Damascus. That's in Acts chapter nine, verse 17 to 18, paul was so close to the Lord that his ministry was constantly under God's direction. For example, Jesus gave the Great Commission, didn't he? SPEAKER E He did. SPEAKER D To preach the Gospel in all the world. We find that in Matthew, chapter 28, verses 18 to 20. Now, human logic would say the Gospel should then be preached in every city through which the apostles pass, wouldn't you? Logic, you think? Yep, let's just city by city by city. That's what a salesperson would do. We got a city nick city right. SPEAKER C Methodically work through the process. SPEAKER D However, that was not the case. On one missionary journey, the Spirit directed them to bypass several cities and directed them where to go. In Acts, chapter 16, verse six to ten, do you want to read that? SPEAKER C Yeah, sure. And it says there, now, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to MYSA, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. And so, passing by Mycea, they came down to Troas and a vision appealed to Paul. In the night, a man from Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, come over to Macedonia and help us there's. SPEAKER D God saying, this is where I want you to be. Maybe those cities weren't ready, maybe he was protecting them from danger. God wants to do the same for us today. SPEAKER E Amen. SPEAKER D At times God will warn you of danger, which will usually save your life. And so there's many times that in my life where God has just said, close doors and it's been hard, but he's opened other doors and we're to follow God's direction in all things, just like Paul did and just that Jesus did. And if we do that and wait on God and listen to God and spend time with God, he will direct your path. SPEAKER E Amen. SPEAKER C Thank you for that, Colin. We're just going to take a short break to share our contact details with you and we'll be right back after these short words Thank you for joining us on You Shall Receive Power. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning 024-973-3456. Or you can send an email to [email protected]. You can also contact us on our 3ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We look forward to hearing from you SPEAKER C Welcome back to you shall receive power. I hope you got those contact details down. Now, just before the break, Colin was talking to us about waiting on the Lord and also listening to the Lord. But one of the things you did there, Colin, is you put out a little bit of a challenge for us. They called a prayer fast. Now, I'd not heard of a prayer fast before, but it is a prayer fast. It's a challenge for ten days to eliminate anything unnecessary in regards to secular activity. So that'll be things like TV, radio, secular music, web surfing. So perfectly fine to listen to Three ABN and watch Three ABN television or to read your Bible and those sorts of things. Or if you're going to post anything on Facebook, if you can't stay off Facebook, then make sure it's of a spiritual nature. So for ten days we are to do this. So, dear listener. We want to challenge you as well. If you want to join us, please let us know. You're welcome to use those contact details by either calling us, emailing us or contacting us on Facebook and letting us know. But ultimately, wouldn't it be great, Colin, if some of the people would write back after these ten days and let us know what their experience was, if anything changed for them? And possibly then we can share it on air and just say, well, this is experienced by Sister X or Brother X, or if you want to give us your first name, you're welcome to do that, or just anonymously. So we look forward to hearing from you and I hope that you will take up this challenge. We know that God will bless us because ultimately it's the prize set before us. Communication with God to pray without ceasing and to be in constant communication with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. SPEAKER D Well, we're just doing that promise. Seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness and all these other things will be added. So what we're going to do is try and for ten days let's seek God, spend time with Him in communion, take away secular activities as much as possible. I'm looking forward to hearing some of the listeners, how that experience was for them. SPEAKER E Amen. SPEAKER C So we're going to spend this in constant communion and prayer with God. And this will take a little bit of training, but we know by the grace of God he will not let us be by ourselves and we'll be able to train our mind just like Enoch did. Dear listener, we pray that you were blessed today. By listening to the program, you shall receive power. May you draw closer to God. We will be praying for you and hope you will be praying for us also. Until next time. SPEAKER A Shall declare the glory of his name all creation by at the coming of the King every eye shall see every heart will know every niche I every dunk on SA you holy, holy, holy see the coming of the King ho. SPEAKER C You've been listening to a production of. SPEAKER D Three ABN Australia radio.