WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.520 Good morning, or good day, everybody. 2 00:00:04.520 --> 00:00:09.480 It is day 20, and this is labeled the prize. 3 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:14.380 So we are halfway there today through our 40-day journey. 4 00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:16.079 Restful one, listen with your spirit 5 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:17.960 to the word of God for you. 6 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:19.540 Therefore, since we are surrounded 7 00:00:19.540 --> 00:00:21.320 by such a great cloud of witnesses, 8 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:24.160 let us throw off everything that hinders 9 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.000 and the sin that so easily entangles, 10 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.680 and let us run with perseverance 11 00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:29.840 the race marked out for us. 12 00:00:29.840 --> 00:00:32.159 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, 13 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:35.000 the author and perfecter of our faith, 14 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.000 who for the joy set before him endured the cross, 15 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.960 scorning its shame, and sat down 16 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:43.760 at the right hand of the throne of God. 17 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:45.320 Hebrews 12, one through two. 18 00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:50.100 As much as you are loved, restful one, 19 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:53.080 you have experienced pain in your life. 20 00:00:53.080 --> 00:00:55.200 This world is under a curse, 21 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:57.320 and you are a part of a great battle 22 00:00:57.320 --> 00:00:59.720 against the enemy of the most high God. 23 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:01.400 You will endure pain. 24 00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:03.440 I bless your spirit with the ability 25 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:06.680 to have joy that transcends pain. 26 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:08.520 I bless you with a clear picture 27 00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:10.400 of what is before you, 28 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.560 the thing that God has called you to do, 29 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:18.560 so that you can endure pain to get there. 30 00:01:26.280 --> 00:01:27.240 Let me reread that. 31 00:01:27.240 --> 00:01:29.800 I bless you with a clear picture 32 00:01:29.800 --> 00:01:32.880 of what is before you, 33 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:34.760 the thing that God has called you to do, 34 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:36.760 so that you can endure pain to get there. 35 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:38.880 For the joy set before him, 36 00:01:38.880 --> 00:01:41.520 Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of your faith, 37 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:42.880 endured the cross. 38 00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:45.640 He endured more pain than you ever will. 39 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:47.200 He paid a higher price. 40 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:51.480 He suffered greatly for you to receive these blessings. 41 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:56.120 I bless you with having his joy set before you. 42 00:01:56.160 --> 00:01:58.880 You must have a clear view 43 00:01:58.880 --> 00:02:01.400 of what is on the other side of the pain. 44 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:06.600 I bless you with eyes to see the joy set before you. 45 00:02:06.600 --> 00:02:08.880 The enemy will do everything possible 46 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:12.560 to magnify the pain and cause you to focus on the pain. 47 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:15.040 But I bless you with an awareness 48 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:16.840 of the joy set before you. 49 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:21.840 I bless you with stepping up to the battle for joy. 50 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:25.920 Listen again with your spirit to the word of God. 51 00:02:26.720 --> 00:02:28.360 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, 52 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:30.240 in view of God's mercy, 53 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:32.880 to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, 54 00:02:32.880 --> 00:02:35.080 holy and pleasing unto God. 55 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:37.240 This is your spiritual act of worship. 56 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:40.520 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, 57 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:43.920 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 58 00:02:43.920 --> 00:02:45.120 When you will, 59 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:47.760 then you will be able to test 60 00:02:48.720 --> 00:02:52.000 and approve what God's will is, 61 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.880 his good, pleasing and perfect will. 62 00:02:54.920 --> 00:02:57.880 Restful one, I bless you with testing and approving 63 00:02:57.880 --> 00:03:01.880 what your father's good, pleasing and perfect will is. 64 00:03:02.760 --> 00:03:07.360 I bless you with discerning between the good and the best. 65 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:10.480 I bless you with discerning the traps of the enemy, 66 00:03:10.480 --> 00:03:12.600 the false offers that he makes. 67 00:03:12.600 --> 00:03:15.800 I bless you with discerning between the real joy 68 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:17.280 that your father offers 69 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:22.280 and a counterfeit transitory joy that the enemy offers. 70 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:26.360 I bless you with an understanding from the word of God 71 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:28.720 to receive the principles of his word 72 00:03:28.720 --> 00:03:31.360 and the joy that you can expect. 73 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:34.920 I bless you with hearing through revelation from the spirit 74 00:03:34.920 --> 00:03:37.600 things that are specific to your own life 75 00:03:37.600 --> 00:03:40.240 so that you can savor in your spirit 76 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:41.960 the joy set before you. 77 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:45.240 I bless you with rejoicing in the knowledge of God's will 78 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:46.360 as he reveals it. 79 00:03:47.760 --> 00:03:51.480 For he cannot reveal to you now everything 80 00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:52.720 that is on his heart. 81 00:03:52.720 --> 00:03:55.360 I bless you with receiving all the joy 82 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.380 that God wants to show you. 83 00:03:58.360 --> 00:04:01.760 Listen again with your spirit to God's word. 84 00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:04.000 I have much more to say to you, 85 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.440 more than you can now bear. 86 00:04:07.640 --> 00:04:11.240 But when he, the spirit of truth comes, 87 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.680 he will guide you into all truth. 88 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:16.240 He will not speak on his own. 89 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:19.040 He will speak only what he hears 90 00:04:19.880 --> 00:04:22.280 and he will tell you what is yet to come, 91 00:04:22.280 --> 00:04:24.480 John 16, 12 through 13. 92 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:26.840 I bless you, restful one, 93 00:04:26.840 --> 00:04:29.300 with receiving every new revelation 94 00:04:29.300 --> 00:04:30.860 that the spirit of God gives you 95 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:33.680 to see clearly each facet of joy 96 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:36.280 that your father is offering you. 97 00:04:36.280 --> 00:04:39.040 The world offers you happiness. 98 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.500 Satan offers you delusion, 99 00:04:41.500 --> 00:04:45.720 but God offers you the joy of his presence 100 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:48.560 that comes from partnering with him. 101 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.000 I bless you with embracing the call of God 102 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:52.600 for each chapter of your life, 103 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:55.520 seeing his joy in each step of your life 104 00:04:55.520 --> 00:05:00.000 so that you advance to the next revelation and the next. 105 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.800 I 106 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:08.380 Bless you with sufficient understanding of the joy set before you that you will not count the cost 107 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.160 But you will pay the price 108 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:18.360 I bless you with godly dissatisfaction that you will always hunger and thirst for new joys new levels of your 109 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:26.360 Father's revealing his joy to you. I bless you with joy beyond any joys you have already experienced 110 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:32.640 I bless you with possessing your birthright and full with never being satisfied with a single measure of joy 111 00:05:32.760 --> 00:05:35.320 But with always wanting more 112 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:38.600 Wanting the very best God has for you 113 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:44.320 I bless you with yearning for the fullness of joy that is beyond what you have already 114 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:50.520 experienced so that you embrace any pain scorn the shame and pay the price to 115 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:53.160 possess your birthright I 116 00:05:53.640 --> 00:05:55.640 Bless you with a profound deep 117 00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:01.920 Driving desire for more of the joy that you have a legal right to have joy 118 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:07.040 That is coupled to your birthright. I bless you with hunger for more and 119 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:13.560 For the satisfaction of that hunger. I bless you in the name of Jesus of Nazareth 120 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:15.560 I 121 00:06:21.400 --> 00:06:25.160 Literally do not know what more than a prayer I could offer 122 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:33.480 Lord I truly pray God that you put a place in our heart 123 00:06:37.200 --> 00:06:42.120 We have an unquenchable hunger it's been a prayer for mine for a long long time 124 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:45.560 That you wouldn't let us settle Lord 125 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:54.960 Just for transparency for the sake Lord I I have so many times said Lord don't give up 126 00:06:57.520 --> 00:07:03.480 Or said please don't leave me and I I know intellectually that that I can't escape your love 127 00:07:06.760 --> 00:07:11.400 But there's a hunger that I've tasted but I have not maintained 128 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:16.200 Lord I pray today there to be an unquenchable 129 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:22.000 Unconquerable hunger that you will not let us settle the Lord 130 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:28.440 You will doggedly pursue us just like when you pursued us into a place where we 131 00:07:28.960 --> 00:07:30.960 Surrendered our lives to you 132 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:33.840 That there be that same 133 00:07:33.840 --> 00:07:41.200 Dogged pursuit there's not like you just you you want us and now we're taken for granted that there be a place God 134 00:07:41.400 --> 00:07:47.880 And out of the heart of God where their desires and things that only you could have placed there and that God 135 00:07:47.880 --> 00:07:51.320 I'm asking for the grace for those things to remain and grow 136 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:58.440 I have a 137 00:07:58.440 --> 00:08:05.680 friend that has a profound relationship with the Lord and he often is with all the crazy things he's done and experienced and 138 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:12.760 His two main focuses are is Jesus your first love and radical obedience 139 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:19.840 And Lord your love is not like our love we don't even understand it 140 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:26.040 Some people think that if we're just going back to the law and we just 141 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:31.040 Do the best job we can of keeping your commandments that that means that we love you 142 00:08:31.080 --> 00:08:38.159 But we could do great exploits in your name and still you don't know us that there be a place God where we would 143 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:41.200 Know God and be known by God 144 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:49.200 But that we would we would take on a new aspect of love in our or what it is that we are saying that we love 145 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:50.480 you 146 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:56.040 There are things that we do or we don't do that really are communicating something completely different 147 00:08:57.040 --> 00:08:59.040 Lord for each person here 148 00:08:59.960 --> 00:09:03.320 We know the phrase that you are our treasure 149 00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:08.720 You are our reward and that we in some form or fashion are your reward 150 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:15.680 And there is an aspect where we have received something that we didn't even pay for. I 151 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:19.720 Can't remember if I say if I 152 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.480 shared this before or not, but there's a 153 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:25.000 Another friend of mine 154 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:33.360 Ken fish I'll give him credit for this one and and he does this great message about the gospel 155 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:42.480 And it's an expanded it's almost like a call to arms he he he's a very learned man 156 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.080 He's very he walks a lot of power and authority 157 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:50.400 But he he's a very learned and probably the smartest man in the world and he's a very 158 00:09:50.520 --> 00:09:53.720 He's a very learned and probably the smartest person I've met and he has had a 159 00:09:55.040 --> 00:09:59.680 Love of histories his whole life in addition to all of the other things that he 160 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:07.400 He's done and experienced in his life, and he talked about during the time of Jesus that 161 00:10:07.400 --> 00:10:12.960 there was an understanding of the term gospel that is lost to us. 162 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:18.280 That in each changing time during the Roman Empire, when there was a changing of the guard, 163 00:10:18.280 --> 00:10:25.120 when there was a new emperor, that there was a need for him to establish himself, especially 164 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:26.800 in the minds and the hearts of the people. 165 00:10:26.800 --> 00:10:32.840 And so typically, they would identify some area within the Roman Empire that was rebellious 166 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:45.080 or some place that needed, you know, that maybe was unconquered yet. 167 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:49.440 But by this time, it was mostly places that were living in rebellion, and they would send 168 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:55.640 forth the Roman army, and they would do battle. 169 00:10:55.640 --> 00:11:01.780 And when they won, when they persevered, they would walk down the Appian Way on the way 170 00:11:01.780 --> 00:11:03.560 back to Rome. 171 00:11:03.560 --> 00:11:06.080 All roads led to Rome. 172 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:14.920 And they would have these heralds that would go all before the army. 173 00:11:14.920 --> 00:11:21.280 And they would say, behold the gospel, which was good news. 174 00:11:21.280 --> 00:11:23.400 There's a new king that is being crowned. 175 00:11:23.400 --> 00:11:29.360 He has fought a battle on your behalf, one that you do not have to fight. 176 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:38.240 He's fought a battle on your behalf, and you get to share in the spoils. 177 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:45.320 So when Jesus came, he declared everybody there, when he talked about the gospel being 178 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:50.700 good news, it wasn't just there was salvation, which is absolutely true. 179 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:52.360 It wasn't just those things. 180 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:59.120 He was making a declaration of war that all people understood what that term meant. 181 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:02.800 Hear the gospel that there is a new king. 182 00:12:02.800 --> 00:12:07.760 He has fought a battle on our behalf that we do not have to fight, and we get to share 183 00:12:07.760 --> 00:12:14.520 in that victory, though we ourselves did not have to fight it. 184 00:12:14.520 --> 00:12:19.480 And throughout the message of Jesus Christ, Lord, when you were on the earth, you had 185 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:25.160 a simple model where you would repeatedly go for, behold, the kingdom of God is at hand, 186 00:12:25.160 --> 00:12:31.960 and bang, miracles, bang, healing, bang, Lord, the eyes were open, the ears were open, the 187 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:36.120 eyes could see, lepers were cleansed, the dead was raised, all these things came at 188 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:38.240 the declaration of your kingdom. 189 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:45.960 But the basis of all of this stuff, Lord, is there's an aspect of what you have done 190 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:47.800 that we do not understand. 191 00:12:47.800 --> 00:12:53.000 Even if we do, we know what you've saved us from to some extent, but there's so much 192 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:57.800 more that we do not understand, that we don't comprehend, and if we did, we would live our 193 00:12:57.800 --> 00:12:59.240 lives differently. 194 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:14.720 I heard it said by a well-known leader that there was a really famous itinerant, kind 195 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:20.840 of evangelist kind of person, and he said, you know, I think really about 80% of the 196 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:26.840 churches out there really don't believe in the resurrection. 197 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:29.960 It's staggering. 198 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:36.720 And the thing became, and I've heard this many times, it's, I won't say it's tickled 199 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:45.840 my ear, it's gotten my attention, is this idea that if we truly understood, Lord, if 200 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:52.080 we truly believed the finished work, if we truly believed that you had resurrected, because 201 00:13:52.400 --> 00:13:58.520 in the early church, it was Jesus Christ crucified and the resurrection. 202 00:13:58.520 --> 00:14:03.080 You know, there was the forgiveness of sins, but it was the focuses of the teaching were 203 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:09.080 very different than the focuses of our teaching today, that Lord, that if we really got it, 204 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:11.920 then our lives would look different. 205 00:14:11.920 --> 00:14:20.880 What I pray today, that we see, we comprehend, we get something, an aspect of you and what's 206 00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:31.440 been done already, but of you being the prize that we have not yet gotten. 207 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:37.720 That journey from the mind, the 18th inch journey from the head to the heart, and that 208 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:51.680 there'd be some aspect of that, Lord, where the mutual song is being sung between us. 209 00:14:51.680 --> 00:14:56.000 I remember, Lord, looking at this noted. 210 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:08.180 person in the Christian world and it was a woman and I was fairly new to the 211 00:15:08.180 --> 00:15:12.760 prophetic and I was very sheepish about all of this but I kept seeing something 212 00:15:12.760 --> 00:15:19.920 and I kept hearing something and I felt so silly because it seemed so trite. And 213 00:15:19.920 --> 00:15:26.600 I saw this person looking in a mirror brushing their hair and they were 214 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:34.640 singing that song, You're So Beautiful to Me. And I could see the notes. I could see 215 00:15:34.640 --> 00:15:40.320 almost like the the scripts or the writing of the the bars and the things 216 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:46.960 that the you know traveling and it reaching your ears and then as she's 217 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:51.580 singing this song you're singing the same song, You're So Beautiful to Me, to 218 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:54.640 her and she's singing it to you and you're singing it to her and there was 219 00:15:54.640 --> 00:15:59.500 this circle of elevation that was happening in between and I was just I 220 00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:03.260 could see and experience this whole thing and it was magnificent and I felt 221 00:16:03.260 --> 00:16:08.680 and I was like wow that's amazing I don't I mean but when it came time to 222 00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:15.140 share I felt so small and I said I'm really embarrassed to say this but I 223 00:16:15.140 --> 00:16:23.340 keep seeing this image and and it's so pleasing to the Lord and she 224 00:16:23.340 --> 00:16:32.160 smiled with a bit of emotion and said that's our song. That's the song before 225 00:16:32.160 --> 00:16:37.840 between the Lord and I only He could have showed you that. There is an aspect 226 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:43.200 Lord and I know everybody likes to borrow this phrase you know where we're 227 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:47.440 his we're your favorite and we're all your favorite but there's an aspect Lord 228 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:54.940 of of where you really are everything beyond and the more we can really 229 00:16:54.940 --> 00:17:00.500 capture and understand all that you are the our life will really take on a 230 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:08.420 different dimension. It really will shift how we view life how we make decisions 231 00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:13.940 that Lord if we truly get a hold of who you are and all that you are everything 232 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:18.680 as Graham Cook would talk about like the I don't know why I keep referencing him 233 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:24.920 but the majesty of life that that the the met the majesty of God like the 234 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:28.680 bigger God becomes the more insignificant everything else becomes 235 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:38.480 like I've heard it said by someone once that that that it is like anxiety is 236 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:42.880 like a sin because in a sense we're communicating that our problems are 237 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.980 bigger than God's ability to deal with so there's an aspect Lord of us needing 238 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:51.260 to understand and it will really shift us but there's an equal aspect which is 239 00:17:51.260 --> 00:17:58.860 very mysterious we're somehow from your perspective we are the pearl of great 240 00:17:58.860 --> 00:18:07.220 price we're the one that you went after that we are the thing that makes it all 241 00:18:07.220 --> 00:18:10.920 made it all worth it that when you weren't enduring the cross you could 242 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:23.200 look ahead and see the sticky note here Casey Christine Kate Lindsey Liberty I 243 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:29.000 think that's Nick Rita and Renata and I believe there's one other person and 244 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.960 forgive me if I'm forgetting you that you saw each one of them and you're like 245 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:41.340 that person is worth everything that I'm about to go through I would do it 246 00:18:41.340 --> 00:18:49.560 all over just for that one person God I pray that somehow some way into the 247 00:18:49.560 --> 00:18:58.620 feeble words of this man that is trying to bring the ends of whatever this seems 248 00:18:58.620 --> 00:19:04.020 to be meandering mumbling prayer that God that you would do something in our 249 00:19:04.020 --> 00:19:12.380 hearts today that you would shift us not just our circumstances but shift our 250 00:19:12.380 --> 00:19:19.100 position shift our comprehension our consciousness our being conscious of a 251 00:19:19.100 --> 00:19:26.780 reality and a truth it seems so hard for us to be able to grasp 252 00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:33.860 you would give us greater capacity today and I pray Lord that you truly get the 253 00:19:33.860 --> 00:19:39.300 reward of your suffering we bless you and we love you in Jesus name