26th May 2024 - Teaching Service - One Word Can Change Everything

Makeup brush. That's what you call the Girl's Guide to Microphones. So this

month's theme is a word from God that can change and everything. So the

title is one word that can change everything? Wait, did John call someone

else? I believe that the Lord wants me to start with a couple of

prophetic words. Whilst they're for specific people, be them in the room,

watching online or listening later to the podcast, I believe that the Lord wants

me to share them now because there are elements within them for all of us.

So the first one, then the Lord is telling one person to wait.

Everything is lined up, it all looks good to go, but you

have a slight check in your spirit which you can't quite fathom. It doesn't

make sense to you. And I believe that the Lord's saying, when it's

time for action, that check in your spirit will no longer be there,

and then this promise will hold for you. In Isaiah thirty verse twenty one,

and I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible, Isaiah thirty twenty one.

And whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will

hear this command behind you. This is the way walk in it. Although

this isn't aside, but believe that the Lord just wants me to briefly explain

what it means to have a check in your spirit. As it says in

Romans sixteen, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit. The context here

is that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit regarding our identity as children

of God. But the Holy Spirit can bear witness with our spirits about other

matters too. It's something that resonates with us that we know to be true.

A check in your spirit is something inside, like a red light a

stop signal. The opposite can also happen, like a green light, which

is the go ahead signal. That sense from the Holy Spirit of what we

should and shouldn't do is also known as the inward witness, and we need

to learn to recognize it and trust it enough to obey it. It's worth

noting that the Holy Spirit will never prompt us to do anything contrary to the

Word of God, So if we're not sure whether it's the Holy Spirit,

that's one way we can check. If we make a mistake, God can

always fix it. He can bring good out of anything if we ask him

to. It's to be aware of the inward witness, because it's probably the

most common way Lord leads us. Another point I want to make here is

about trusting God's tiing Psalm thirty one, verses fourteen to fifteen. In the

classic amplified translation that Psalm thirty one, fourteen to fifteen says, I trusted

in, relied on, and was confident in you, Oh Lord. I

said, you are my God. My times are in your hands. You

are my God. That's about knowing God, knowing in whom you trust.

Elohim is the Hebrew translated here as God, which refers to the absolute,

unqualified, unlimited power. He alone is the eternal, the Almighty, the

Creator, the source of all life and being. This is about making Elohim

God in your life, putting him first place in all things in all ways.

Aw Toza was an American Christian pastor and author, and as he once

said, put God in his rightful place, and a thousand problems are solved

at once. I said, you are my God, My times are in

your hands. I found something. Joyce Smiers wrote about this helpful. She's

a Christian American author and speaker. As you to place your time in God's

hands, believing that His timing is perfect for all things in your life.

Your human nature wants good things to happen in your life now or yesterday,

not later. But as you mature in the Christian life, you learn to

believe for things not now, but in God's perfect timing. Trust in God

often means not knowing either how or when God is going to accomplish something.

But not knowing how or when stretches your faith and teaches you lessons in trust.

They can be hard lessons, I might add, But when we surrender

that desire to be in control by faith, we'll find peace in the midst

of the storm. We're not necessarily removed from it, but will find peace

in the midst of it. We'll find peace regardless of our circumstances. Timing

plays an important part in learning to trust God. As you experience his faithfulness

over and over, you will give up trusting yourself and place your life in

his very capable hands. It's the only place to be so. Moving on

to the second prophetic word now, which I believe is for a few people,

I'm going to read initially from Isaiah fifty one Versus one to four,

or the start of verse four as society one to four, and I'm reading

from the Christian Standard Bible. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were cut,

and to the quarry from which you were dug. To Abraham your father,

and to Sarah, who gave birth to you. When I called him

he was only one, I blessed him and made him many. For the

Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places, and he

will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the

Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her thanksgiving and melodious song.

Pay attention to me, my people, and listen to me. This is

who you are, the real ye. Look to the rock from which you

were cut, unto the quarry from which you were doug. Look to Abraham,

your father, and to Sarah, who gave birth to you. When

I called him he was only one, I blessed him and made him many.

I believe the Lord's saying that in Genesis fifteen I made a promise to

Abraham, when he was already an old man, that he would become a

father. Then showed him the Starlit sky and said, that's how numerous your

audinance will be. I was thinking of you when I made that promise.

This is reality from my perspective. I am comforting you. I am making

your wilderness like Eden, and your desert like my garden, fruitful and full

of abundant life. Listen to me, receive the truth. Then go.

Don't wait until you think you're ready, but go in the strength that you

have, because I am with you. You don't need to feel it,

just to receive it by faith. In Judges six fourteen in the Christian Standard

Bible, Judge is six fourteen, it says the Lord said, go in

the stress you have. I am sending you. I believe that the Lord

gave me both of these words, primarily for the individuals concerned, but also

to illustrate the point that there's a time to wait and a time to go.

There's a season for everything in life, as it says in Ecclesiastes three.

But today I believe the Lord wants us to consider something that affects all

of us at some point, that work that can change everything and can cause

us to align with God's timing, and is especially helpful when he's the only

one who sees the bigger picture of our lives, and that word is wait.

Weight is not a rude fall letter word, although some of us react

to it if it was too often, we understand waiting to mean we're wasting

time or not taking charge of a situation, not taking responsibility. How often

do you think that reference to waiting is found in the Bible? Any guesses

very good, but it's over a hundred. It's approbaximately one hundred and sixteen,

but obviously it depends on your translation Biblically. My understanding is that waiting

is an active verb. It's not passive, to include being aware through all

our senses of what is occurring around us and discerning the right time to do

the next thing when we're hurrying or busy to these I had an interesting call

of what it means to actively wait when we were at the bus stop at

Heath Thrown when we came back from our holiday a week ago. There was

a guy at the bus stop who I actually know by sight, and he

got there ahead of us and was waiting for his bus. He was waiting

and very actively. His luggage was deposited right next to the bus stop.

And sometimes he stood still, watching and looking for his bus. He didn't

do anything else. He didn't look at his phone, he didn't look around.

He kept his eyes solely on the road ahead where the bus would come.

If other buses stopped at other stops in front in such a way that

his view was obscure was coming, he moved around so he could get a

better view. After he'd been waiting a little while, he checked the being

printed on table on the bus stop, and something he actually did three times

to my amusement, because I mean, it won't have changed since you that

it occurred to me. There's actually quite a good example of waiting for the

Lord. He was very alert and in the right place, and he didn't

move from it. If something blocked his view, he moved around so he

could see better. And more than once, after we'd been waiting for a

while, he doubled the written word, as if to reassure himself waiting does

have to be a negative experience. Remember who we wait for? How long

did God wait before sending his son Jesus to die for us, his beloved

children, and rise again so that those who believe in him could be eternally

reunited with and reconciled to our heavenly Dad. God knows how to wait,

and he can help us. We will have a better experience of waiting.

We'll manage it better if we learn to exercise patience. And it's worth remembering

that patience is the first attribute of love mentioned in the definition in the First

Chapter of Corinthians, Chapter thirteen and First Book of Corinthians. Sorry. One

example of waiting the Old Testament is in seven and verse fourteen. That's Psalm

twenty seven, verse fourteen. Way, Lord be of good courage, and

he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say on the Lord. That

Hebrew word weight means to expect, to look for, to hope, to

look eagerly for. That's active, at the very least in attitude, even

if there's no relevant corresponding action. The definition actually includes patiently. Think about

who you're waiting for. The Hebrew here is word known as yahweh. In

other words, the One True God be of good courage. Encouraging as it

is to hear those words, it means so much more when you know it's

not just saying be positive, but that God will back you up. Be

of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. That's a specific and

really helpful anchor for your soul. When you choose to be of good courage,

God himself will strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the

Lord standing on a promising scripture for something that is yet to come to pass.

Mindful, I was still waiting. The Lord said this to me recently.

I believe my word, do you Yeah? It wasn't ouch moment.

I'll let you ponder that one. When we believe God's word like he does,

miracles will become the norm, but the weight may not be over In

abrahams did twenty five years the story of Abraham and Sarah's recording. The Genesis

missed this elderly man and his elderly and infertile wife that they would have a

son, and twenty five years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Think

about where you were, what you were doing twenty five years ago, if

you were even born. It gives an idea of the time frame. Twenty

five years ago. I was at Holloway doing my masters, so I was

probably in the thick of exams. That was a long time ago. My

point is that's how long Abraham and Sarah waited. Obviously, twenty five years

isn't the standard waiting time for all promises from God, Thankfully, but Abraham

is a great example of how to sustain yourself, how to get even stronger

in faith, how to be of good courage and remainable him twenty to twe

that's Romans four twenty to twenty one. He did not waver at the promise

of God but through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to

God and being fully convinced that what he'd promised he was able also to perform.

Another translation says he was strengthened in faith as he gave glory to God.

A vague sense of God's faithfulness was not enough to sustain Abraham's faith.

He clung to a particular promise. He remembered how God had caused him to

look up to look up at the starry sky and said, so shall your

offspring be. Abraham did not doubt God's promise, but was fully convinced,

fully persuaded that God was not only able but willing to do as he had

promised. Abraham didn't move from them like the man at the bus stop with

the Avonham word to keep us reassured. I assured that man who was witting

for his bust, Abramham, gave glory to God. He honored and praised

our heavenly Father by faith for years before the promise came to pass, because

he was fully convinced that God would be true to his word. My point

is it's a helpful reminder for us to really praise and honor and glorify God

by faith before we see what we're waiting for come to pass. Moving on,

we all faced different types of battles at different times, and seeing them

through to the end could involve waiting at different stages. I believe that the

Lord wanted me to include here this word that I gave for a friend fairly

recently who was facing more than her fash era of battles on different fronts.

There are three types of battles here. The first one will be like the

when a few Israelites went into the enemy camp and found that the enemy had

fled, and the price of bread went right down overnight. This is recorded

in two Corinthians seven, verses three to seven. But we won't turn there

now. But it's two Corinthians seven, verses three to seven. There were

four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. Why should

we sit here waiting to die, they asked each other. We'll starve if

we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we'll starve if

we go back. Let's go and surrender to the Aramean army. Let us

live great, but if they kill us, we would have died anyway.

But when they go to the camp of the Arameeans, no one's there,

for the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sounds of a great

army approaching. So they're panicked and ran, abandoning everything. These guys with

leprosy were just waiting to die and were galvanized into action as they considered their

prospects at a very natural level. That's when they discovered that there was no

battle to fight because the Lord had dealt with the enemy on their behalf.

There are times when the Lord fights our battles on our behalf. We may

be very aware of it, but sometimes the weight is over, but we

need to recheck the facts to discover it. The second type of battle is

like when Moses had support to hold his elf. Joshua and the army thought,

you will need support, and identify feathers of support you need, and

show how to pray it through his inclusion. So seventeen thirteen seventeen nine to

thirteen, and I'm reading IV, Moses said to Joshua, choose some of

our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow. I will stand

on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands. So

Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and her

went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his

hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the

Amalekites were winning. When moses hands grew tired, they took a stone and

put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron on her held

up his hands one to one side, one on the other, so that

his hands remained steady until sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the

sword. Moses had to hold his position and wait for the battle to be

won by others, and he needed support to play his part. There's a

time to be actively involved in the different types of battles that we face,

and there's a time to wait it out physically on the sidelines, but not

spiritually, and we may need support to play our part to persevere until the

end. I mean the third type of battle you will have to fight,

but not in your own strength. I will show you clearly the next step,

but not the whole path at once. There's a great quote from Martin

Luther Martin Luther King Jr. Which says, you don't have to see the

whole staircase, just take the first step. It takes courage to take a

step without knowing how everything's going to work out. But the only one who

knows the beginning from the end is God, and he is our loving,

heavenly Dad. So let me encourage you to trust in His love as you

take that first step, and then the next, and then the next.

Isaiah forty one ten says, so do not fear that I am, and

we not be dismayed, For I am your God. I will strengthen you

and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That's

Issiah forty one ten. We need to ask the Lord to show us which

type of battle we're facing and what our role in it is, and to

help us to wait. Well, if we're at a stage where we need

to wait, remember what our spiritual father Abraham did whilst he was waiting and

rememade it his nature, his faithfulness and praise and glorifying faith for keepers.

Psalm thirty nine, verse seven. In the amplified Psalm thirty nine, verse

seven says, now Lord, for what do I wait? My hope?

My confident expectation is in you? Now Lord, for what do I expectantly

wait? My hope? My confident expectation is in you. I read this

recently. It's easy to look at your struggles in life and get discouraged.

If you look only at your obels, it's easy to lose hope. Resist

the temptation to look at what and what you don't have. It's not it's

a but thinking about where your focus is. Yes, of course the time

to prosonage loss. And I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about looking

forward and not making excuses to do so. Choose to look at all God

has done, is doing and will do we do. Hope will come alive,

Joy will increase, and your faith will grow as it says in Romans

fifteen thirteen. May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace

as you trust in Him, so that you overflow with hope by the power

of the Holy Spirit. So what are we waiting for? It's important to

recognize the purpose and or the person for whom we're waiting in order to value

the weight. For example, as it says that at the beginning of Psalm

sixty two, verse one, for God alone, my soul weights in silence.

I love that for God alone, my sweet weight in silence for whom,

For God, God, for Elahem, the Eternal, the Almighty,

the Creator and the source of all life and being. I know I've mentioned

this earlier, but it's in the Bible a number of times. So I

feel justified. For God alone. There's a challenge, not for all my

problems to be solved or my circumstances to change, but my soul waits in

silence for God alone. We're talking about an inner stillness that can come from

absolute quiet before the Lord, through time, in his word and in his

presence. I like how the Christian Standard Bible puts Psalm sixty two, verse

one, I am at rest in God alone, try and meditating on that

just that short part of the verse, and it doesn't take long to start

feeling your soul relax. I don't know how else to put it. You

may not have realize, for example, that your facial muscles are until they

start to relax as you ponder this simple but profound truth. I am at

rest in God alone. If the purpose or person for whom you're waiting doesn't

exactly fill you with joy, let's remember who waits with us, Immanuel,

God, with us Jesus. It's also worth remembering not to wait for what

is already ours. For example, in Hebrews four sixteen, that's Hebrews four

sixteen in the New King James version, it says, let us therefore come

boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace

to help in time of need. Thankfully, we don't need to wait for

a special occasion or have a particular role in the church in order to approach

God, like in the Old Testament. But sometimes, with our instinct for

independence, we wait before turning to Him. I need to learn to turn

to Him first. We clearly have an open invitation to the throne room of

the Living God, our heavenly Father, thanks to Jesus. I like what

Joyce Mayer puts in the notes in her classic Amplified Bible. Here when you

and I pray, we need to make sure we approach God as believers,

not beggars. Remember, according to Hebrews four sixteen, we are to come

boldly to the God's throne, not beggarly, but boldly, not belligerently,

not with a bad attitude, but boldly. Be sure to keep the balance,

stay respectful, but be bold. Approach God with confidence and recognize your

need for grace. Remember we can approach him like a young child who is

secure in the love of their Father. I'm going to finish by mentioning a

book I recently read by a lady called Margaret Hayes, called Missing Believed Killed.

It's a gripping yet harrowing book to be honest, and yet a gold

thread runs through it her faith and God's faithfulness. She was a missionary in

the Congo in the nineteen sixties and got caught up in a rebellion where she

endured imprisonment by the rebel army, witnessed horrific violence. Friends murdered, squalor,

humiliation, and very inadequate food. Yet still she praised God, for

example, for the time she actually had a bed to lie on, although

she had no choice about the fact that she was sharing it with a rebel

soldier and his wife, although the wife slept between the two of them.

She also led, I don't know how how many people to the Lord,

including rebel soldiers who would come to her on the choir, and she experienced

miraculous provision, et cetera. Her conclusion says it all, it's from one

King's eight fifty six, one King's eight fifty six. There has not failed

one word all his good promise. It's something we will do well to remember

whilst we hold on to God's word and wait. Let's pray Father God,

thank you, thank you, Thank you you heavenly down we can hold on

to your There has failed one word of all your promise. Thank you for

your promise. In one hundred and three eight let them bring word of your

unfailing love. But I have put my trust in you. Show where for

you my intrust my life with your unfailing love. Thanks so comply worthy of

our trust. Was also as to go, please Lord, you be a

trust our our lind teach us to be more and more attuned to the Holy

Spirit in us, helping us to well. In giving your courage they take

a step when it's time, help us to fulfill the potential that you've put

twenty to one one of us for your glorbery. So we ask it in

Jesus' name, know only that you've heard us. Thank you, com