Multiple resurrections meant for you; but will you kick yourself in the butt and battle?
Do you find it hard to process, read God’s Word, and pray when emotionally upset or mentally troubled? I do. And it is in these times that I can get so frustrated concluding, “I can’t hear”. I reach out to my prayer partner and tell her the same, “I can’t hear”. She’s heard that from me a couple times of late. She’s stayed with me though and helped me keep watch. What a gift.
We need that. In addition to our ever present help who is Christ, we need others to stay and keep watch with us. Jesus modeled asking for group watch and prayer.
Matthew 26:37b-38… and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, stay here and keep watch with me.”
He knew their flesh would fail soon, and that they’d need to watch together and pray…
Matthew 26: 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
From a human perspective, the flesh is weak. And God understands! We are not transformed all at once. It is a continual ‘watch together and pray’ process.
There are places not yet surrendered; there are places I cannot reach. I lay myself down in my weakness. LORD of mercy descend… rise up in me.
There is a lot to watch for. What binds us in the flesh is a long list… lies, distortions, half-truths, condemnation, shame, anger, flesh, people pleasing, self-pity, selfishness, delusion, sorrow, fear, anxiety, blame shifting, unhealthy relational dynamics, and on and on… These are strongholds to break by the power of the Spirit.
The Spirit will give wisdom, to us and through others watching and praying with us.
It’s important. Many of us stay stuck because we have isolated our issues. We are stuck in a state
skewed by the distortions of flesh and soul. And in our veiled view, we easily
falsely translate
what God is saying and many think He is not saying anything! Wrong!
We need the watchers spiritually in tune with the Spirit; and we ourselves need to know the way of being in tune with the Spirit. Otherwise we will reach distorted conclusions of what we are to do. We need obedience and knowledge of His WORD to hear anything. Above all, we need the Spirit for translation and personal application.
We will never hear the ways God is speaking or apply scripture unless it is understood through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is key because it’s easy to twist God’s Word. It’s easy to see God in a false light. It’s easy to find scripture that might appear to support what we falsely conclude. It’s dangerous ground. To accurately hear from God, the Holy Spirit must be the teacher and you must remain in fellowship with Christ…
1 John 2:27- But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true- it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
There is no revelation without the Spirit. Ask for more of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaching is the key difference and effectual work that separates wordly meditation and biblical meditation. Worldly meditation is based purely on flesh and a failed promise for mind control. There is no Holy Spirit of Christ involved at all in worldly practice. No transforming light to find without Christ within, the LIGHT of the WORLD.
As we watch and pray, we wait for God’s help. We must test what we hear and know how to translate.
What is an example of what could be a very confusing whisper of God?
Let’s say in your spirit you keep hearing, “sing”. Well sing what? Why sing? How does that answer my questions? How is that supposed to help? Maybe its not God because it does not relate to any practical step for earthly issues and just seems weird.
Well it’s a powerhouse whisper of the Spirit.
How would I know that is the Spirit speaking and teaching me? It’s in the Word of God over and over and over. Acts 16:25-26 and 2 Chronicles 20 are two excellent examples. In 2 Chronicles, when enemies were so fierce and overpowering, God’s people cried out and basically said, “We are terrified by their force. We do not know what to do; but our eyes are on you.” They fasted, prayed, bowed in worship, and sang LOUD AND HIGH and received prophetic direction with miraculous deliverance.
22 Chronicles: 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”
22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
Yes the Spirit is saying, “Sing.”
I testify it is a weapon of deliverance. When I lived in San Clemente in early 2000’s, I would often drive in the hills after work, worshipping as loud as I could. Up and around Avenido Pico and Avenida Vista Montana, round and round. It was supernaturally transformative. Those hours month after month, combined with lots of church, small group, learning how to study God’s Word, and obeying… loosed me from “the something” that had me which was deep emotional despair, severe brokenness, and torturing mental anguish. I have never lost that lesson. Singing worship is one of many powerful spiritual weapons God uses to heal and loose flesh from darkness.
So if God started whispering “sing” to you. Would you obey? Now that you just briefly skimmed over it as truth from God’s Word, will you obey? Are you curious enough to read the scripture and ingest it as truth? It is easy to ignore it and move on, staying stuck and filled with anxieties and fear and unbelief.
Psalm 116:17- I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.
Thankfulness required! I need that reminder right now in my “pit”. Have not been thanking Him enough for my personal struggles. Have not been rejoicing in affliction. Have not been reflecting enough on the joy of my salvation. Was even convincing myself to not sing in the choir this weekend at my church despite what I just said in this blog! The flesh is weak!
God knows you are merely dust! He sees your heaviness and sees the battle of the flesh. But despite that, sing! Despite the fact that I did not feel like it, despite the fact that I missed 2 rehearsals, I kicked myself in the butt last night and told myself to go to the final practice! Kick yourself in the butt too! Sing praise! Watch and pray! Pu
sh through all the excuses and flesh that screams “I don’t want to.”
Die to self. Rise. Die to self. Rise. Over and over, over and over, til we meet Him in Heaven.
Here is a prayer help from Youtube. It’s a Word-based prayer song by Hillary Scott. It is based upon Jesus’ soul cries in the garden. “Not my will; but thy Will be done.” May you find your soul cry, lift your voice. Look vertical! Your help comes from ABOVE! As God sent an angel to strengthen Jesus in the garden, He has sent His Spirit to RESURRECT your life in the body too!
Romans 8:11- 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
