The Disciple 2

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There is no power in the things of the flesh, no matter how religious or well-meaning they might be.

Prayer, God, Faith must be real.

Psalm 51:6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

The thing is, the Bible also says that the Lord is Good.

  • How can He be so good with all the evil and injustice we see?
  • Does He even exist?

Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

The question is not if we want to be blessed, for we all do.

The question is how can we “taste” the intangible?

How can we trust someone or something that shows no evidence of being real?

The answer is by faith.

Waiting

No pain, no gain.

Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Waiting: to allow time to go by, especially while staying in one place without doing very much, until someone comes, until something that you are expecting happens or until you can do something

  1. Make the time, pay the price, to listen to the Lord.
    • Nothing free.

Luke 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—

Ecclesiastes 10:10 If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.

  1. Be still.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

The Bible says very clearly that we are to be still.

God never said, “Be quiet,” because it’s not enough to just be quiet. He said, “Be still.”

There’s a big difference.

  • Quietness is soulish.
  • Stillness is spiritual.
  • If you allow it, quietness will lead you to stillness.
  • Start with what is there in your hand.

When you are quiet long enough, God will bring stillness to your spirit man.

Let God quicken you to stillness from quietness.

  • I recommend an hour per day minimum.
  • Like spending time with your spouse or a friend, that’s how we build a relationship with the Lord.

Make the time and effort.

  • Remember that God is not willing to share you during that time. Jealous God.
  • Don’t allow anything to disrupt the flow of communication from and to God.

 The Holy Spirit manifests Himself when we are still.

  • Stillness activates His power.
  • Stillness releases His power in us.
  • Stillness manifests the presence of God in us.
  • Stillness leads us to a deeper understanding of what it means to be in the presence of the living God.

In Psalm 46:10 when God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

  • He is saying, “Be still, and then you will know who I am.”
  • He is saying, “Be still, and then you will know My presence.”

We don’t know His presence because we do not want to be still.

  • We think being still is hard because we have to sit there and do nothing.

How can we trust someone or something that shows no evidence of being real?

  • This is where we must change our thinking.
  • We are not doing nothing because we are not waiting on nothing.
  • We are waiting on the Lord.
  • That’s not nothing; it’s a very important something.
  • It’s an action, or rather, an act of faith.

Waiting on the Lord requires you to believe that while it seems as if you are idle, you are not wasting time.

In reality you are actively communicating with the Lord.

  1. Seek the Lord with your whole heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Psalm 119:10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!

Seeking God with our whole hearts empowers us to keep His testimonies.

The Hebrew word that is translated “testimonies” in Psalm 119:2 means God’s precepts.

Psalm 119:2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart!

A precept is a principle or rule that regulates behavior or thought.

When we seek God with our whole hearts, it gives us the strength to not wander from His commandments.

Seek the King

Seeking God with our whole hearts is a master key to practicing the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 119:45 And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts.

What does it mean to mount up with wings as eagles?

  • It means knowing the currents of the winds of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

  • The eagle does not fly; the eagle soars.

1 Corinthians 1:29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Psalm 147:10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

 

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, And rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the LORD!

 

Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

The eagle surrenders to the winds.

  • It waits for the strongest winds and then surrenders.

Waiting upon the Lord results in surrender to the Lord.

Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

It doesn’t say, “He that visits the secret place.”

  • The Secret Place is the Spiritual world that God wants us to live in.
  • That’s the problem.
  • Too many people visit and then leave.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place…shall abide.”

  • That means it’s your address, your residence. It is where we live

Waiting upon the Lord is the secret.

Deuteronomy 29:29  “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The question of how we can “taste” the intangible is answered today.

Waiting upon the Lord is the bridge between the flesh and the Spirit.

Isaiah 40:30-31 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, [31] But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

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 Jesus loves us all. There is no doubt about that. And his love is something we may not even understand or comprehend. But there is no power in the things of the flesh, no matter how well meaning they might be, no matter how religious

your prayers might be, no matter how you claim your faith is. If it’s in the flesh, it’s useless. Your prayer, your God and your faith must be real. And it must be so real that it supersedes the reality that we see in the world with our five senses.

How do we do that?

 How do we make God so real that we choose him about everything else? Today, we’re going to learn about.

Are we going to start learning about that?

 First of all, it is not by might. It is not by power, but by the Holy Spirit.

And I’ve been teaching you about the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and we’re going to continue to learn about him.

Go to Psalm 51 six. Behold, you decide truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part. You will make me to no wisdom. So God wants truth. When you apply that alone, the truth in your inward part says there is no God. This is not real. I’m just preaching because I have nothing better to do. For example, the thing is, the Bible always starts with what God did, not proving God. That choice is yours to make. A fool in his heart thinks there is no God. So you have to decide to follow God because you believe he’s real or something in you tells you that he’s real, but he hasn’t shown himself to you. And that’s what happened to me. I knew God was real, but I could not find him in religion. Understand what I’m saying. Yes, I asked a priest. He didn’t know what he was talking about. Ask a mom about who God is. He gave me all the answers in the Quran. But then later I found out that this is all a deception. When the Lord Jesus appeared to me, you cannot find it from man. You cannot find it in the world. But the Bible says that the truth will set you free. And the truth is that the Lord is good. How can you be so good with all the evil and injustice we see?

How can you be so good when we ourselves go through hell? Where is the real tinnest? We must have truth in our inner being. And this truth says God doesn’t exist. Does he even exist? These are the questions I asked myself. And I’m here to tell you that he does. And I’m telling you, I’m going to teach you from the word how he has put himself real to me, and hopefully you will take this to heart and find God good. Hallelujah.

Go to Psalm 34.8. This is, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is a man who trusts in him.” The question is not whether we want to be blessed or not, for we all want to be blessed. We all want that. The question is, how can we taste the intangible God? Tasting is real. Yes, I can tell you about the recipes, but can you taste them? In the imagination, maybe. But here it doesn’t say, “Taste and see in your imagination that the Lord is good.” That means he’s real. How can you be real to you? So much so that when it comes to God

 and the flesh, you choose God because he’s real. But how can we trust someone or something

 that shows no evidence of being real? The answer is by faith. Once again, I say that the answer is by faith.

 How do you get that faith? In the world, at least when I used to lift weights long time ago, there was a sign that read, “No pain, no gain.” Here’s a problem. When there was pain, I said, “Oh, there is no gain in this pain.” But what they said, what they meant was, “Your muscles need to be destroyed and rebuilt for it to grow.” I did not know how true that is spiritually. But here’s the thing. You need to fall into the word, not the word fall into you, meaning you need to renew your mind. How do you gain faith? How did I gain faith? Let’s go to Isaiah 40, 31. “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

 They shall mount up with wings like the eagles, and they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” Waiting to allow time to go by, especially staying in one place without doing anything until someone comes or something comes that you’re expecting is what this is talking about, and that someone is the Lord. Being quiet, being still, but there is a difference. But before that, we have to make the time to wait no matter how busy we think we are, because we made ourselves busy.

We chose this job that made us busy, for example.

Toil is a curse word. Understand this clearly and biblically. You must make the time. You must pay the price to listen to the Lord. If you don’t do that, it won’t work. There is nothing free. Even salvation, God had to pay the price. But for you and me, it’s free. Yes, but someone had to pay the price. But here, Jesus said, count the cost.

 Go to Luke 14.28. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? I could go on, but I want you to understand this counting the cost is not the cost of salvation. No. Do you want to hear from God? Do you want to know which tie to wear, the blue tie? Let’s take the time. If you don’t do that, then you will have to put me on speed dial or run to and fro in other men of God who think they can hear from God. Who knows what they’re saying is right or not. How do you have a confirmation? All you have is their word. I’m not saying they’re wrong or right or whatever. But you’re nullifying what Jesus did in the cross for you and me. He reconciles to God. Long time ago, someone asked me, should I call a prophet? He’ll give you the answer. I said, no, let me hear from God myself. Why should I hear from the prophet? But for that, you must make the time, not take the time, make the time. There’s a difference. At least he has this 10 10. If the ax is dull and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength. But wisdom brings success.

 Do you understand what I’m saying? Yes.

 Make the time. If there’s a cost to pay, then pay it. Is God worth it? Is hearing from him yourself worth it? If you have a doubt, yes, you can call me.

 But make the time. The second thing is to be still.

Go to Psalm 46 verse 10. It says, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Bible says very clearly that we are to be still. Now, during the Bible study, I spoke about darkness and light. You take stillness versus loudness.

And you compare to darkness versus light. Where does it fall? In light or dark? Stillness. For me, it falls in darkness. But here God says what?

 Be still. What is that? It’s a deeper level. It’s not that darkness is your friend, like Simon and Garfunkel says.

He’s not your old friend. I mean, the darkness cannot stand the light. Yes, you understand. Yes. So I’m talking about a deeper level. Please understand me carefully. And if you have any questions, ask me about them. God never said, Be quiet. Your teacher may have said that. Teacher told me that many times. Be quiet.

I said, No, I was not talking. He was talking or she was talking. But for some reason she told me to be quiet. I don’t know. But God never said, Be quiet, because it’s not enough just to be quiet. What God said is be still. And there is a big difference. Quietness is soulish. Stillness is spiritual. I’ll say that again. Quietness is soulish.

Stillness is spiritual. But God asked Moses what is in his hand. That was obviously something physical. You can say that was soulish. What I’m trying to make you understand that if you allow it, that is that quietness, that quietness will lead you to stillness. Start with what is in your hand to do. So when you are quite long enough, God will bring stillness to your spirit, man. This is what I have found. You have to take the time, make the time and let God quicken you to stillness from quietness because it has to transcend from the natural to the spiritual. I recommend at least an hour minimum per day. I’m telling you what I’ve gone through. It’s like spending time with your spouse or a friend. You don’t need an instruction, but that is how you build a relationship with the Lord. You spend time with them. If you don’t do that, what’s the point? And if at that time you may spend three hours, all you do is send them requests. And instead of communicating with them, what is the point in that? Like I said, anything done by the flesh is foolishness. God knows what you’re going through. You don’t know how to give him a news brief of what is going on. He knows.

 But you must make the time and effort. Remember, when you do that, that God is not willing to share you during that time with anything, be that the chicken that is being fried or your phone call, he’s a jealous God. In other words, don’t allow anything to disrupt the flow of communication from you and to God between you both.

 Don’t allow any interruptions. That’s why when you have responsibility

 in the world during the day, you get up earlier. The night I used to reset, sometimes God will tell me, take a left, I took a right and then I have to reset. Yes, because I don’t want to carry it to the next day. But what I want you to understand is that the stillness activates his power. The stillness releases his power in us. The stillness manifests the presence of God in us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. That is a reality. But the reality we face is a barrier. That is the reality that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. So we must feed the right dog. Understand.

Man had two dogs.

A black one and white one. The neighbor asked him, which one is stronger? He said, simple. The one I feel is stronger. Yes, stillness leads us to deeper understanding of what is meant to be in the presence of the living God. That is when you taste and see that the Lord is good. In Psalm 46 10, when God says, be still and know that I am God says, no, that is an experience. He’s saying be still and then you will know who I am. He’s saying be still and then you will know my presence. We don’t know his presence because we do not want to be still. The thief comes to what?

 Steal, kill and destroy. As he’s stolen that from us. The time to be still and know.

Jesus prayed throughout the night before he picked the disciples throughout the night. I thought the night was sleeping. Yes, you need to wisdom from God to know how to use it properly, because after all, he’s our general. You can’t have a formula. And if you stay throughout the night praying in the flesh, do you know good? Except you may feel good about it because there were many following Jesus, but he had to pick out the twelve and he needed to pray and he prayed throughout the night. We think being still is hard because we have to sit there and do nothing. In the beginning, it was like that. I was like, OK, now what? I put everything away. I shut the door. I’m sitting there. I’m like, OK, God, show up. It’s time for you to show up. I’m here. Hello. Hallelujah.

 How can we trust someone or something

 that shows no evidence of being real? Like I said, by faith, this is where we must change our thinking, because we are not doing nothing, because we are not waiting on nothing.

 We’re waiting on the Lord. And that is not nothing. It is a very important thing. In fact, it is a pearl of great price. Once you taste and see God is good, you look forward to that time with him. And I found through experience that he shows up before you do in that place. Today, during worship, before we started, his presence was here. I’m like, oh, you’re already here. Why? Because he loves us. But how many of us could taste and see that he was here? That he is good. That is why we need to remove that barrier. And I’m telling you from my experience how I remove that barrier. And I have to constantly keep that barrier removed.

 It’s an action.

Or rather, it’s an act of faith.

 Waiting on the Lord requires you to believe that while it seems as if you are idle, you’re not wasting your time. In reality, you are actively communicating with the Lord.

That is why I tell you, when you spend time with him, you start with offering up prayers and petitions to understand, because that’s what Philippians 4 talks about. Yes, have a book, have something, make it real, make it tangible. If not, it is foolishness to call you of a Christian. What I’m trying to get at is that when you seek the Lord,

 seek him with your whole heart. Just because you spend one hour, two hour, one day, two days, or maybe a year with him doesn’t mean anything. You have to seek him with your whole heart. Go to Jeremiah 29, 13. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. You will seek me and find me. You have to seek and then search. I’m not going to go into that, but it requires you to actively do something. It’s not passive.

Seek me and search me with all your heart. And if your heart is not there,

it’s not all your heart. You’ll get up and go, Psalm 119, verse 10. With my whole heart, I have sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments.

Seeking God with our whole heart empowers us to keep his testimonies.

 It helps us to stay holy. The Hebrew word that is translated testimonies in Psalm 119,

 like if you go to verse two, it means God’s precepts. Let’s go to Psalm 119 verse two. Said, blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart. A precept is a principle or a rule that regulates behavior or thought. How do we get that? If you seek him with your whole heart, how do you get there? In the stillness. Do you see the connection? When we seek God with our whole heart, it gives us the strength not to wander from his commandments.

 Seek the King who is the King of kings. Jesus, yes, seeking God with our whole heart is a matter of the utmost importance. In fact, it is a key to practicing, quote unquote, the presence of God. You must seek him. Take the time. Even before I came here, though I was busy with so many other things getting ready and all that my mind and my heart was on him.

I already know what he’s going to do. But I said, OK, let me be more sensitive because I have to deal with the flesh because I’m human. Yes. But here’s the thing. Go to Psalm 119 45 and I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. It’s not a coincidence that the song was chosen. Yes, I didn’t know that you were going to decide on this song and whatever. Do you understand? When the Lord gave me the stock or to teach, do you understand? In Psalm 119 45, I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts. So if you don’t have liberty in your hearts,

 stand fast in the freedom

 for which Christ has set you free. Where does it say that in Galatians 5 1? If you don’t have that, take the time, make the time. What does it mean to mount up with wings as eagles? It means knowing the currents of the winds of the winds of the spirit.

 Remember, I had a vision where the wind was blowing and then spread the sail. Can have if you turn the fan on, you’ll have wind.

The AC is producing wind, but there’s a wind of the Holy Spirit. How do you know the real from the fake? Go to Galatians 5 25 says, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Here’s the thing in the spiritual, you run before you walk and after you walk, you stand the natural is the other way around. Yes. But the eagle we’re talking about, eagles, does not fly more than that. It’s source.

 Long time ago, from the Pallimukku House in the balcony, I used to watch eagles those days. There were eagles flying around.

Or soaring.

So high in there, I used to use binoculars to see them and watch them. The soaring is knowing where the hot wind is for the eagle.

And for you and me, it is knowing where the spirit of the Lord is moving. And we cannot do that in the flesh. We can only mimic that. Remember, I was talking about the smoke machine. Yes. There’s nothing wrong with smoke machine, but it does not substitute the anointing of God. Yes. Go to 1 Corinthians 1 29 that no flesh should glory in his presence. You cannot enter into his presence also with the flesh in your hand. Must be by the spirit. Quotes Psalm 147 verse 10. He does not delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. Why? Because he created the muscular system. When we can’t do anything by might, by our muscles, by our talents, we need to do it by the spirit and the spirit gives us the muscles, gives us the talents, gives us the wisdom. Without that, it’s all foolishness.

 So in the flesh, do you understand? He doesn’t delight in that. To please God, what must you have faith? Read Hebrews 11. Yes, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Go to John 36. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the spirit is spirit. The spirit, the first time is capitalized. The second time is not capitalized. So we’re just talking about the Holy Spirit being born in you, being born again. Yes. Go to Isaiah 31.

 One word to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they’re very strong, who do not look to the holy one of Israel, nor seek the Lord. In other words, don’t rely on horses. They’re good. Provided the Lord tells you get on the more youth, I mean, chariots. But don’t rely on chariots. Don’t go to Egypt for help. Egypt symbolizes the world. Trust the Lord. Seek the Lord. What happens is that most of the time the Lord and seeking Him is the last option after we exhausted everything else. That is foolishness. Seek the Lord.

Romans 88. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In Psalm 20 verse seven it says some trust in chariots and some in horses. But we will remember the name of our God. That is the name of Jesus. As far as you and I are concerned in the spirit, not in the flesh.

 There’s no point in spending one hour in the flesh.

I don’t know what you’ll achieve.

Do you understand? But start if you must in the flesh and God will lead you to the spit provided your heart is right and you are really seeking Him. Yes. What is there in your hand?

 Because that is what I did when God said cast your burdens to Him. I could not. I did not know how to. But I had a vivid imagination and I could imagine him standing there.

I cannot imagine Jesus coming close to me because I didn’t think of myself worthy so then I could imagine a JCB.

So I would cast all my burdens onto JCB

 into that cup and it would turn around and give it to Jesus.

That worked. I was at that time that I read somewhere like there’s a poster of a man walking in the beach, there were two footprints and there was one. And then so he asked Jesus, then what? Where were you when I was going through the trouble?

 And Jesus said, that was my footprint. I was carrying you.

That’s when I realized God was carrying me. Jesus was carrying me. That Jesus was there.

 So start with what you have, because waiting upon the Lord, I found that results in surrender to the Lord. The eagle waits for the strongest winds and then surrenders to that wind. And then it soars up because the wind takes it up. Go to Psalm 91.1. So the eagle surrenders to that wind.

Yes. But now coming back to you and me in Psalm 91.1, it says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” It doesn’t say he that visits the secret place. It’s okay to have, quote unquote, a prayer closet. But this morning I didn’t have a prayer closet. The whole world, including this church, was my closet. My prayer closet.

I hope you understand what I’m saying. Yeah, I’m not degrading anything. But you understand. Yes, the secret place is a spiritual world that God wants you and me to live in. Live in, not visit. That is a problem.

 Too many people visit and then leave.

They visit like you visit the bathroom and then you leave. The secret place is not the bathroom. Hallelujah.

 He that dwelleth in the secret place, he that lives in the secret place shall abide.

 The abiding anointing. Remember, I taught you about that. Yes, this means that it is your address,

 your residence.

 It is where we live. The secret place is your address. It’s not a place that you visit. It is where you live.

 Waiting upon the Lord is the secret.

 It’s not the secret place. It’s the secret. Whatever you do, wherever you go, that is a key.

Waiting upon the Lord. Even as I’m preaching to you, I’m waiting upon the Lord for His instructions.

 For what He will say, if He says enough, I’ll put this away. If He says, talk about this, then I’ll talk about whatever He tells me to. Why? Because that is not revealed before.

That is the secret of the Lord. To go to Deuteronomy 2929. Waiting upon the Lord is a secret.

The secret things belong to the Lord, our God. But those things which are revealed belongs to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. I tell my children to wait and hear from the Lord and to have that confirmation from the Lord. I don’t expect them to be as sensitive as I am. But what do I do? I follow the scripture because it belongs to us and to our children.

Are you teaching your children to trust in the world or seek the Lord? Don’t answer me. And it says that we may do all the words of this law. Hallelujah. This is for your personal inspection.

 The question of how we can taste the intangible God should be answered today.

How? By you seeking Him. Without that, it doesn’t work. Yes, God can appear to you in a vision like He did to me. But after that, I made it a lifestyle to wait upon the Lord. No matter where I am, how busy I am, what I’m doing, that is a pearl of great price. That is the most important thing. And with that, if you have that, it can forgo all kind of rituals.

 I’m not saying prayer is not important. No, but don’t let it become ritualistic. Waiting upon the Lord is the bridge in the flesh and the spirit.

 I’ll say that again. Waiting upon the Lord is the bridge between the flesh and the spirit.

 We have one island here and another island here. As an example, there is a bridge. There’s flesh. There’s spirit. You must always live in the spirit. How do you do that? By crossing that bridge.

 How do you do that? Waiting upon the Lord. Am I clear?

Take the time to wait upon the Lord. If you haven’t done that today, do that today. Don’t put it off for tomorrow. Bible says, taste and see the Lord is good.

Once you get that taste,

you will always go back to the same restaurant because the Lord is good. Yes. Hallelujah. You understand what I mean? Yes.

Go to Isaiah 40, 30 and 31. Even the youth shall faint and be fury.

And the young men shall utterly fall.

 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be fury.

 They shall walk and not faint.

Hallelujah.

 They shall walk with the Lord and not faint because his commandments are not burdensome.

Hallelujah. There is more and I’ll teach you more. God willing.

Why do I say God willing? It’s not that I don’t want to teach you. I have to make it palatable.

And for that to happen, the Lord has to guide me. And for that, I need your prayers. Do you understand? Yes. But don’t pray in the flesh.

 Pray in the spirit. Seek him and live. Hallelujah.

Let’s worship him some more.

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