What you do when no one is looking matters.
Hi this is the Restoring Word podcast and I'm Leanne Friesman and today I want to start
off with a beautiful example here in Matthew 14 verse 23.
After he had sent the crowds away, now this was Jesus, he went up to the mountain by himself
to pray and when it was evening he was there alone.
You know one of the greatest secrets to walking successfully with Jesus is what do you do
when nobody is looking?
What do you do, just you and Jesus that only he knows about?
Well my pastor Billy Joe Doherty used to call it the breakfast of champions, other people
call it quiet times or daily devotionals or whatever you want to call it but you know
if we follow the example of Christ in our lives, there was a moment where Jesus had
to send everyone away and he had to get quiet.
This is from Psalms 5, 2 and 3, Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for you I pray
in the morning, Lord you hear my voice, in the morning I lay my request before you and
I wait expectantly.
I've learned the hard way what to do and what not to do and I know from doing it the
right way that when I'm alone in the mornings and it's quiet and I go off alone to be with
him that that is where my strength is going to come from for the day.
I pray over the things that concern me that don't concern me, I invite him into everything
I can think of and even when I don't have the time and there are times guys you get
too busy I mean you can get so busy doing good things for the kingdom that you don't
spend enough time with him alone one-on-one and when you do that you can get in trouble.
This season is season four and we're talking about our Catalina sailboat the 25 that we're
restoring and one of the secret things about this sailboat is the keel.
Now what is a keel?
Well it's a gigantic chunk of lead that comes down out of the hull and it goes down on 25
about two feet eight inches and it's got a flare on the bottom of it it's got a wing
and this piece of lead is so vitally important because what it does is it stabilizes the
boat it stabilizes it when the wind blows too hard one way or the other way it keeps
the boat upright and moving forward and you know what guys that is what early morning
prayer does for me it keeps me upright because guess what stuff is gonna happen all day long
it's gonna try to what blow you over knock you over suck the strength out of you if the
shocking things that you're gonna get hit with or the challenges you've got a face or or the
thing that pops up out of the blue that you really were not prepared for if you will let
the presence of God and the Word of God stabilize you steady you keep you upright when things get
crazy I can guarantee you you're gonna keep moving forward because even how this keel is
designed it's designed to help the boat actually lift up or fly inside the water I can tell you
that when I get serious about it and I discipline myself in the correct way and I have that quiet
time in the morning I feel the lift of the Holy Ghost I feel the lift of his presence I feel the
lift of him moving me forward by the Holy Ghost and there's things that don't shake me they don't
I mean you know I mean stuff happens right but there's just something about rooting yourself
and grounding yourself in the word so that when it does happen you might get
knocked over a little bit but guess what you're gonna come right back up
Psalms 25 verse 5 says lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God
who saves me and all day long I put my hope in you. Now I don't get to think
about the Lord all day long I get to think about my kids and their academics
and their challenges and why aren't they understanding fractions or why can't we
diagram the sentence or whatever but you know what when he walks with me during
the day what happens is he will help me here he will help me figure out the best
solution for my kids. You know life isn't going to be easy but I think I
just want to challenge you today what what grounds you what keeps you steady
what is the hidden secret in your life the thing that no one sees and no one
knows about but you that your strength comes from Jesus wants to be the center
of your life the Holy Spirit wants to quicken you and give you peace that
passes all understanding he wants to empower you to go forward he wants to
walk with you he wants to talk with you just like the old song says but you've
got to put him first now sometimes you can't do it in the mornings well then do
it in the evenings sometimes you don't get enough time in the mornings you got
to pray in the car and you gotta listen to praise and worship don't get
legalistic about it just know that when you are sincere at heart and when you're
alone with Jesus and you have that opportunity to just be quiet before him
he will give you peace that passes all understanding thank you for listening
and have a great day oh one more thing I am going to record another message soon
on the three things that the body of Christ needs to keep an eye on right now
regarding the future and the prophetic I hope you'll stay tuned watch again for
the next broadcast and have a great day