Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

What's God Up To? Pt.3

Let's turn to Proverbs 16; we'll pick up where we were on Sunday. We're going to be, as I said, the next number of sessions going through a couple of different aspects of spiritual guidance and understanding the will of God for our lives, how to perceive God's working in our lives, and understand the specifics and the logistics of guidance. The important thing, as we've shared over the years, is: if we get how God wants us, we can get where He wants us. So, it's important that our hearts are pure and that we're seeking, first of all, His will. That's what we're talking about in this first couple of sessions: getting how God wants us to the point of submissiveness, to where we are walking free from our own personal agenda. You'll never hear the voice of God in guidance if you already have your mind made up, until He begins to move in His sovereign role (and as we've shared with Jonah) will ultimately direct your path by sending along a storm in your life and a fish to swallow you up. Aren't you glad for the love of God in His big fish in our lives? That's the love of God-the trials, the difficult times, whatever it takes to get us back on course. God loves you too much to let you miss His ultimate purpose for you; and that's conformity to the image of Jesus. And so, whatever it takes in your life, in God's timing, however He works it, He will deal with you in that manifestation of His love to direct your path.

Proverbs 16 and Proverbs 19. We want to look at those two Scriptures; and then we're going to continue on in another portion of this for this evening. But look over at the sixteenth chapter of Proverbs, and again at verse 9, "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps." We took quite a bit of time on Sunday morning, and we were talking about this aspect of it, to where we all have the understanding; we think we know what God's doing in our lives. Many of us even think that we know our own hearts; and we don't. Some of us are probably a little more truthful with ourselves than others. But the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked, and who can know it? We just really don't know our hearts at all times, our motives. And so, the word of God is continually that mirror before us that's showing and revealing to us the motives as they're contrasted against the heart motive of God for us. The word that's alive, and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. If you don't spend time in the word, you will be deceived. If you don't spend time in the mirror of God's word according to James, you will not know the will of God. You'll think that your will is God's will. You'll think that your perception is truth. Until we understand how easily deceived and deluded and distracted we can become, until we understand that, we're in peril. But once we understand that, and will go to the word of God and confirm everything that is "a word from God" with The Word of God, we're going to begin to move in some safety. There's a foundation that we're working off of.

As we get into the spiritual guidance aspect, we said that another thing that's important is our time in the word, and then we want to always seek counsel because in the multitude of counselors there's safety. And so, we understand then that the most sure word that we'll ever get from God in guiding us is the revealed word of God, confirmed at the mouth of two or three witnesses. Now you're on course. The good news that we have here in the sixteenth chapter, we take a look at these things, and it says, "A man's heart devises his way." We have our own ideas, and our own vision, and what we think God's doing. It's not always something simple. We're not talking about something that we're lusting after: coveting, or that we're moving in the flesh. We're talking just about we think we know what God's doing. Let's contrast that with the obvious lust, and covetousness, and worldliness, and all those things that may be taking us in one direction. A lot of times we think we're doing the will of God. Man's heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps. Thank God (as we saw) that He sets us right! And so, all of our intentions-you know, as we pray and whatever, we have the assurance that God's going to set us right. Only one thing, and this is what we're going to talk about tonight, can keep us from being set back on course; and that's self-will. Self-will: "The plan, the agenda, is already set. I will not hear anything else; and I'll tell you what: nothing else is going to stop me. If God sends a fish my way, I'll kill him, because I've got a course set!" Once we begin to move into that vein, now we're coming into the stiff neck that's broken tragically without remedy. It takes a long time to get there; God's merciful; He's longsuffering. But we need to understand that's part of God's provision for us and His love for us.

And so, we get thinking we're in the will of God. We're moving along, and we become a little bit distracted; and we get a little confused; and we didn't hear it exactly the way we should have heard it. And God begins to direct us back on course in many different ways. We see that the Holy Ghost forbids us to go into Asia and preach; and as much as we try, we make provision, God restrains us. Then all of a sudden, the Macedonian vision, and now we're moving back onto course. Paul was not doing anything wrong; he was doing everything right to make provision to go into Asia; but he just didn't see clearly. Our heart devises a strategy and a plan. But what are we learning? The Lord directs our steps. And so, all of our plans are not necessarily correct the first time around. You will not be able to be precisely led by the Spirit when you think that you know everything, when you think that every time you hear something, you have a handle on truth; you've got the plan of God. "I've got the next twenty-five years planned out!" I've found, in a lot of things God shares with me, that the next change is coming in twenty-five minutes! And God may have something else for us to do. The minute we become settled, and complacent, and assured of our course, we're dulling that still, small voice that wants to say, "This is the way; walk in it."

I want to keep us keen, and bring us to the understanding of how we have to guard against that in our own hearts. But at the same time, I want you to be encouraged that God will put you on track; He'll put you back on course. And so, we need to rejoice in that, and have confidence in that, and understand that this course that you and I are to be walking on, this straight and narrow, it's already a predetermined course anyway, (as we were dealing with Sunday night). It's already predestined. We didn't spend a lot of time on foreknowledge and predestination on Sunday night for the very reason that it hurts my head! You can't figure it out. When you try to understand God's sovereignty, and His infinite being, and His omniscience, and you're just a little, bitty peanut brain, it hurts! You can't do it; and I guarantee you one thing. You're going to end up in false doctrine. The thing you have to do (as we shared those three principles) is understand God working from three, two, one. A lot of people spend all of their time on principle number one (that God is completely sovereign). If you spend a lot of time just meditating on the sovereignty of God and whatever, you're going to get yourself in trouble because you cannot understand sovereignty and His infinite being with a finite mind. It cannot be done. If you can comprehend infinity with a finite mind, then it's not infinite. We try to think about this, and come up with understanding, and there's certain of us that want God, you know, everything has to have a place. We've got a little pigeonhole for everything; and we have to have everything in order, or we're not happy. Some of us are that way; and yet, I want to tell you something. You're not going to figure God out. You will not understand sovereignty; you will not understand the foreknowledge and predestination of God; you're not going to comprehend His triune being. You will not understand His sovereign workings, where James dies, and Peter lives, and be able to satisfy yourself. So, forget about it! So, what do we do? We understand God is sovereign; we rest in his sovereignty.

I was talking to Janet about this this morning as we were driving down the road. A funny thing happened (I think it was Monday). Sal came up to the garage for a moment, and we had let him know that the air conditioner wasn't working properly. He comes in and takes the thermostat off, and he looks and says-what do you think he said? "I have never seen this happen to a thermostat! It can't happen; I've never seen this!" And then he stopped, and kind of looked over at me, and realized what he had said. And I just said, "What else is new?" You understand that we only have two choices in this life, beloved. We believe in God's sovereignty or fate; we can't have both. God is either in charge of and overseeing everything, or He's not sovereign. Now, the way that he chooses to oversee it-through whichever agency He wants, whether He specifically originates it, or just originates the being who originates it. I don't know; I don't want to get into that. The one thing I know is this: every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess He is Lord. And so, when you begin to understand God's revelation of Himself, "I am the Lord; there aren't any others," we realize His vast power and authority. We then see things happening that just don't seem right from our limited perspective.

But God (number two) is infinite in wisdom. The Judge of all the earth does right. We understand His character and His desire to do us good all the days of our lives, and that every perfect gift comes down from the Father of life, with Whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning, His immutability. He's the same; He changes not. And so, everything God does is right. "Should I accept good and not evil at the hand of the Lord? I'm not going to curse God and die. God is sovereign, but God is wise. I don't understand what He's doing; and in fact, from my perspective, I disagree with what He's doing. I think..." And then you learn to put your hand over your mouth as Job did. It's too big for you. And you say, "You know, God's wise; and I don't know what I'm doing. God's wise; and I'm an idiot for even trying to question it."

What'll cause you to make that statement is point number three: God is perfect in love. When you understand that God is perfect in love, you can live with His wise decisions and His sovereign being. If not, then you're still Adam's son; and you're still expressing self-will; and you're wanting to judge God; and you're wanting Him to answer to you. So, if we're going to be led by the Spirit, we're going to have to deal with this attitude. How many of you know that we've got attitude? We're going to have to deal with this. It's part of who we are, and it's in our members. "We are gods now, and I want an answer! I want to understand this thing! Hey, I want to tell you something. My eyes have been opened, and I can know and discern good from evil. And I'm telling you what: this doesn't seem just, what God is doing. Come here; I want You to answer to me, God!" Now, we wouldn't say that, but how many times do we say that? And we speak as Adam's son instead of the Son of God, Who says, "You know, I haven't come to do My will, but the will of He that sent Me."

We want to talk about that aspect of that a little bit. So let's jump over there and see that attitude, because that's really what I want to deal with. John chapter 9 speaks toward that spirit. If we don't have this, beloved, we're going to end up in trouble. We're going to want God speaking to us. We're going to just begin to make our own judgments on why this person is blessed, and why that one I prayed for died, and why this one got healed. "That doesn't seem right. How come that baby's born like that? How come that one's suffering? Why is it that all of a sudden I'm on this roll, and things just seem to be going negatively? I just don't think it's right to contrast prosperity with the lack that's now upon me that we read about on Sunday." And we begin to call God into question. But listen to the proper spirit that we're to have if you and I are going to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit.

John chapter 9, verse 4. Jesus is speaking toward the man that was born blind. He says in verse 3, "Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents." You see, that's that pagan thought process I was telling you about. It was in man; and man felt, "This man is born blind so somebody sinned. Maybe it's a generational thing. His parents sinned, and so the consequence is he was born blind. It's payback time!" And Jesus speaks and says, "You've got to understand that neither has this man sinned nor his parents. But that the works of God should be made manifest in him, I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it's day. The night comes when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. I must work the works of Him that sent Me." That phrase we pull out of there --- now, we're not going to talk about sovereignty; we're not going to talk about foreknowledge; we're not going to talk about healing. We're going to talk about the direction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was there at this event for one reason: to work the works of Him that sent Him. He was there to bring about deliverance and healing. He came into the world that He might destroy the works of the evil one. Jesus went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, that it might be fulfilled, the Scripture says. And so we realize that Jesus is moving now, doing the works of Father.

John 4, of course, is the classic, as we look over at John 4:34 in this. The Master is speaking here in this 34th verse. "Jesus saith unto them, My meat [My bread, My sustenance] is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not, ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true: One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours" (verses 34-38). And so, Jesus is speaking here in the context of the ministry to the woman here at the well. We see the gifts of the Spirit in operation. We see the guidance of the Spirit in bringing them; "I must needs go through Samaria," the compulsion to move and take the long route, the unpleasant route, the route that really isn't the Pharisaical route. There was a reason; God had a plan. Jesus may have seen this already in His spirit - I don't know; but He was being led. We, many times, just feel this compulsion. We don't know what God is doing, "But I just feel that we need to do this and move in this direction." Our steps are being ordered by the Lord. And as He comes to this place, we realize that He hungered, and they went to get some food for Him. Jesus stopped at Burger King! There was a McDonald's across the street, but He stopped at Burger King! And He was hungry, and He now contacts this woman and begins to minister the Spirit of God to her. "Master, here's the food. You said You were hungry, man!" He's in the midst of this ministry and He says, "I have meat to eat that you don't know anything about, to do the will of Him that sent Me." We need to begin to ask ourselves, "Is that what sustains us?" How many of you can sense that in your lives? It's something that I think the majority of us here have sensed. When you know you're about Father's business, aren't you energized? Isn't there a peace? It's now a greater peace; there's an abundance. There's some excitement; there's some faith; there's some energy. There's that knowing that, "I'm about my Father's business; I'm exactly where God wants me, doing what He wants me to do. I can't be bothered!" This is what He wants to do in our lives. This is what's available to us. Now, contrast that with that self-will. "I've got my own agenda; I'm on a course over here." You're just straining, and you're struggling, and all of these different areas. It begins to show us that we're missing the meat of the Father, that that's available to us in obedience so that we can fulfill His purposes.

Look over at the fifth chapter, verse 19, as we continue along. Jesus brings about, again, the healing ministry. This man that was infirm now for 38 years. He looks at the man (in verse 6) and says, "Do you want to be made whole?" And the impotent man says, "I have no one to put me in the pool." And Jesus said, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." And immediately he was made whole. This causes an uprising among the Pharisees; and they're concerned with Him breaking the Sabbath, and all of these different things that He was being accused of. And Jesus says down in verse 14, "Behold, Thou art made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing comes upon you." The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus and they came back to persecute. Then He makes this statement, starting at verse 17. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

We've talked about laboring to enter into the rest of God. The rest of God is ceasing from our own labors, ceasing from trying to be righteous in ourselves, ceasing from trying to bring about our own agenda. The labor is just to do away with self-will, and self-reliance, and the independent spirit. It's a daily job to crucify the flesh and to grasp the heart of God. As Jesus is speaking here, He makes that statement to us, and He says, "My Father works; I work. Father rests; I rest." This is one of the things I shared with you that we're dealing with in Africa and one of the things I was sharing again with Ron. I said, "Look, man! There's somebody poor on every [corner]; the poor you'll always have with you. There are all kinds of things going on. Find out what the Father is doing, and that's what we want to do. There's a lot to do; but if the Father is resting, I'm going to rest. I don't care how many people are begging. I don't care how many people are trying to draw on you. If the Father rests, I rest. If the Father works, I work. How do you deal with that from the human empathy standpoint, from all of these different things? The pride of thinking, "I can solve the problem; I'm the answer man"? I want to tell you. It's harder to say "No" than "Yes." But if the Lord doesn't build the house, we're laboring in vain. What can you really do without Him? We all know that we can do stuff without Him; but He said, "Without Me, you can do nothing." "Oh yes, I can. I can do a lot." He understands that, and that's not what He was saying. He was saying, "Without Me, you can do nothing that's accepted of Me. If it doesn't originate in Me, it's not acceptable; it's not finished; it's not the will of My Father." If we're going to understand spiritual guidance and understand what God's doing in our lives at this moment-"What's God doing here? Am I to take this job? Am I to buy this house? Am I to involve myself in this particular ministry? What's God doing?" The first thing you have to do is step back, examine your heart, understand how much is your own will, your own perspective. How strong you are in thinking, "Yeah, this is what God's doing. Now, maybe something can be added to it, but I know." What is your meat, and where is your wisdom and your strength? And so, as you study, and you understand this principle: "My Father works, and hitherto I work." "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God" (verse 18). Isn't it interesting that their interpreting the Sabbath is not making themselves orderly? But here's a man now who does something contrary to what they believe and perceive, and they're having trouble accepting it. "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, [Mark this down beloved. Get it in your hearts. It would be good to get it into your notes, but it's better to get in into your hearts] The Son can do nothing of himself..." (Verse 19). Do you have that attitude? The Son can do nothing of Himself.

We have the exact opposite attitude in this nation, don't we? We all want to teach our sons to be independent. "You need to be independent! You need to be self-sufficient!" Of course you want to teach maturity and responsibility. But, beloved, this other perspective is pride. Pride is not what we're wanting to instruct our children in. Maturity, responsibility, character, diligence, all of these things that allow them to function and to be able to glorify God through victorious living, through successful decisions, through the ability to move in the wisdom and the power of God; but the humility always to accept the understanding of the wisdom of God as our source. The worse thing you can ever do is teach your children to become independent when that excludes God. And I want to tell you something. You don't get to God, young people, by bypassing your parents. They're your door to God. You're under their authority; and it never goes away; I don't care how old you get. You don't see anywhere in the Scriptures where the order is broken. Now, all of those other things function. We're not talking about micro managing; to where you're fifty years old and your parents are still micro managing. "No, you can't wear those socks today!" Our Father doesn't micro-manage our lives in that way, and the system doesn't work that way; but neither is there an independence ever. We need to understand this. It's the flesh. It's the Adamic interpretation, but it's not the Biblical interpretation. Jesus, very God, showing us to live in dependence on the revealed purpose of God the Father, never usurping, never moving into an independent spirit or direction, always seeking to glorify the Father. How are we responding? Can I ask you something? Is the servant greater than his Master?

And so, as the Master speaks here, and He talks about this, look at what He says. "...The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (verses 19b-22). You can continue to read down through this passage for some great truths. But what we're looking at right here is that spirit of dependence to where we do nothing [get it in your notes; capitalize it; put stars; underline it twice; put pink marker over it; do something] nothing of Himself. We do nothing of ourselves.

Look on down in the narrative to verse 30. "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just..." Here's the safety valve of this whole thing, beloved. If you get this tonight, it's going to be a big help to you. "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just [it's true, it's righteous]; because I seek not my own will...". You will never be able to fulfill the will of God, be on course, with self-will, pride. "My mind's made up; I already know; I don't need any counsel. Okay, I'll listen." A lot of us listen to counsel but never take counsel. It's like the little boy, right? "I'm sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on the inside!" "I'll agree with you, but I'm not going to do what you say. I'm going to find some way to manipulate this to where my will is being done." With that kind of an attitude, if we deal with people that way, we're going to deal with God that way. God's more merciful and longsuffering than people are a lot of times, and you don't realize you're in trouble yet. The other shoe hasn't dropped. And we just think, "Well, praise God! I got away with that one!" And God loves you too much.

Now, what's the spirit here; what's the attitude? "My judgment is correct; I'm making right decisions and observations because I seek not My own will." That's a hard thing to do. When you're counseling your children, when you're ministering in your family situations-these things, men, that you're having to contend with-I know myself, this is one of the first things I do when I'm faced with something like this. When I'm going to speak from a position of authority-whether it's overseeing my household, whether it's in the oversight of this ministry, whatever it is-the very first thing I do is, "Okay, step back, man! This has nothing to do with what you want to happen. What is the will of Father? What is the word of God to us in this circumstance?" I'd like to say that I'm successful at that a hundred percent of the time, but I'm not. But much of the time (most of the time, I should say to be more accurate) it is. I've found that in making decisions that affect my own preferences, and me I am much more apt to do my will than I am when making a decision from a perspective of authority that pertains to oversight. It's important that we become disciplined in both of these areas. And you may find that in your own life, I don't know; you may not. You may find that when you really understand you're representing God as opposed to serving God, you become a little more careful. I do; and you shouldn't. But the spirit of our Master is, "I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father Who sent Me." Now we're becoming candidates. Now we can begin to hear what the Spirit of God is saying, and we can finish the work.

That's what John 17 is all about; turn over there for just a second. In the seventeenth chapter of John, verse 4, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with tine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word" (verses 4-6). And so we see then that Jesus says in verse 4, "I have glorified You on the earth: I've finished the work which You gave Me to do." What a great testimony! So we examine our own hearts and say, "Now is this my spirit? I can do nothing of myself; I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear I judge; I speak not my own will. I've finished the course, the work that God's given me."

John 8, go back a few chapters and look at John 8 again. Fabulous truths throughout the gospel here as it pertains to guidance! Jesus is revealing Himself as the oracles of God, and He says, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone: for I do always those things that please him" (verses 28-29). What's that statement do to your heart? "I do always those things that please Him." Isn't that really our ambition? Isn't that your heart's desire? Don't you want that to be your testimony? How would you like that to be written on your tombstone? "He always did the things that please God." They write that on your tombstone and hope they don't go to hell for lying! You see the Spirit of Jesus and what we're trying to achieve. We've got a ways to go. Now, if you can't say, "I always do those things that please God," then how can you stand so firm right now and say, "I know the will of God; this is the will of God; I don't need any of your counsel; God has spoken to me; this is the will of God?" We end up at the designated point, and we pat ourselves on the back, "Praise God!" It took a burning bush, a talking donkey, and a big fish to get you there! And you're going to boast in it, like you did anything? Oh, beloved, we're so dependent on Him if we're going to finish this race. "I can of my own self do nothing."

Chapter 12, verse 49. Good study here through the book of John. "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (verses 49-50). Again, Jesus is accrediting all that's being done, all that He's saying, as the words of the Father, the will of God. And we can come into that confidence that He's working in us once we've established that God is perfect in love, that He is infinite in wisdom, and that He is complete and total in His sovereignty. Once we divorce ourselves as the source of truth, once we step back, and our eyes are now opened to the fact that when our father Adam's eyes were opened and he died, we now see the invisible God. We look beyond ourselves and trust in His ability and not our own. What are you looking to tonight? When you pray, are you praying from the Garden's perspective, "Not my will, but Your will be done"? When you pray, are you praying according to the Beatitudes, "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"? Once we answer that question, we can be more assured in God's ordering of our steps. It's a time of rest and a time of peace that we can come to.

Do you want to know one of the things that really hinders us? We're praying and wanting to know the will of God; but you know, we're too distracted by what's going on in everybody else's life. "Lord, what do You want me to do? What do You want me to say? And by the way, how come they're doing that? They shouldn't do that. God, they shouldn't have that. Why...? Speak, Lord! Your will be done." For who? By who? Whose will? We just read, man, that your judgment is not just. What you're seeing is not real. Your position to judge is one that you have usurped if you're injecting your will into everything you're seeing. And so, it's very important for us to back off, and to die to self, and to look for the truth that sets us free. And so, it's an exciting thing, as we get ready to go (in our next session) into some of the logistics of how to hear the voice of the Lord and how spiritual guidance works. Once we establish these things, we're going to begin to hear more clearly. You're going to be surprised how much more frequently you will be aware of the Holy Spirit's guidance when you stop trying to do your own thing, when you've already established truth, a course that's not amendable. You'd be surprised once you're here to reap where another's sown the harvest that you can glean for the glory of God. It's already been sown. Jesus has already sown the path, the truth, and the seed. We don't need to do it again. There doesn't need to be another Lord. We need to do the will of He that sent us.

Father, we thank You for the word of God. As these principles become reality to us, this is nothing new to our understanding. We understand these principles. Father, we're talking tonight about application. We're talking about an awareness in this generation and the time that we live to doing things Your way. Give us understanding, Father. Deal with our hearts that we might cry out, "Without You, I can do nothing! Father, I have no agenda. Here am I; send me. Father, I've called you into judgment. I've judged you unrighteous because You've not done things my way. It seems like You've held me to a strict commitment and others are taking license, and that's not right; and I've resented it." You need to be free of that tonight. "Why have others prospered and I haven't?" You need to be free of that tonight. It's not about others; it's about you. What is the Spirit of God speaking to you tonight to make you a greater vessel for the glory of God? Not, "What have You done?" but "What more can we do? Here am I, Father; send me." In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's stand before the Lord tonight. As Gary plays for us and we take a moment to just rest, can you step back right now and enter into the rest of God, cease from your own labors, let it all crumble? How about the job? Can you just watch it crumble? What about the idol of material things, the home? What about the children? Can you let them crumble? What about your flesh that's out of control? You're being driven, or you're slothful. The compulsions: over-eating, under-eating; preoccupation with it, occupied with eating and supplements, and all of this. Can you let it crumble? Your perception of ministry, school of the prophets-can you let it die? "I want to become a soloist." Can you let it die? Are you able to step back right now and say, "What do You want to do, Father, in my life?" "Lord, I'm willing to give some money; but I'm not going to Africa! Thy will be done." Or, "Hear I am; I want to go to Africa!" You haven't even been faithful here. You don't even show up on time; you don't do your work when home fellowship group's meeting. You're not going to Africa. Can you let it die? Like Samson, you look upon this beautiful woman, "I've got to have her!" Can you let it die? "Father, I want to go into the highways and byways and preach Your forgiveness, but I refuse to forgive this person." You've got to let it die.

Speak to us, Father. Our hearts are deceitful; they're wicked. We can't know ourselves. Let Your word illuminate us and speak to us tonight, that we forget not what manner of men we are, that we might glorify You.

As we sing this chorus, let Him start a work tonight that will assure us that He's directing our paths. Just worship Him now; just pour your heart out to Him. Let Him speak to you. Oh, speak to us tonight, Lord! Give us understanding. Father, open our eyes, Lord, that we might be about Your business, that we might glorify Your name. Help us to be faithful, Father, in our neighborhood, on the job, Father, as we're in the way, that we would declare the goodness of our God, that we would declare this great gift of reconciliation. We'll give You the praise for it, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "The Lord's directing my path." Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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