Ps. 91 - Staying in the Secret Place

So we are starting on Psalm 91. We had started on Psalm 91 and so we now go to Psalm 91.1

It says in Psalm 91.1 that depending on the version you read, if you read the New King James,

it says, he that dwells in the secret place of the Most High. He that dwells in the secret place of

the Most High. When you read the message, it says, you who sit down in High God's presence,

High God's presence. And so most versions will find themselves in between these two. So if you

read the New King James, it says, he that dwells in the secret place of the Most High. And then the

message says, you who sit down in High God's presence. And so at the end of the day, the secret

place of the Most High, the secret place of the Most High is the tangible presence of God. When

we say tangible, what we mean is, yes, it's not visible, but it can be perceived, felt, recognized,

savored, engaged, first by our spirit and then with emotions and thinking.

And finally, there might be manifestations that are physical. This has been the case in the New

Testament and the Old Testament. So let me say that again. When we talk about the secret place

of the Most High, we are talking about the presence of the Most High, the tangible presence

of the Most High. And when we are talking about the tangible presence of the Most High, we're not

saying that it's visible. God is invisible. He lives in unapproachable light. Anytime he has shown

himself, besides when Jesus was on earth, it was always in an anthropomorphic way where you talk

about him showing his hand or showing his brilliant face and things like that. It's never in his full

presence because we wouldn't be able to handle it. So when we talk about tangible presence,

we are talking about it is not visible, but his presence can be felt, can be perceived,

can be recognized, can be savored, can be engaged first by our spirit, because all of us are born

again in a brand new spirit, and then with our emotions and our thinking and maybe occasionally

physical manifestations that were common in the Old Testament because they had no other way to

recognize God and is not as common in the New Testament, but has occurred and therefore is

a precedent. Any questions? And if we don't know how to do it, it's just because we don't practice

it. It's not because it's not real. You can hide in God, but the secret place of God is his presence.

Yeah. One is where you go to for safety and refuge. The other one is where you dwell. Yeah.

Experiencing him without emotions. I'm saying that even though here on this board,

we've clinically divided it, we can't clinically divide it. But he's easiest to recognize in our

spirit because the Bible says in Proverbs 20 verse 27, the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord.

Proverbs 20:27

What he means by that is I use your spirit to illuminate myself first. It's in your spirit

that you can instantly pick me up, but it's not like one follows after the other. Right now,

even as I'm talking, certain things are registering in your spirit, but your emotions are at work too.

Your mind is at work too. You cannot clinically divide it. It's the entire man. But God is first

recognized in the New Testament by the spirit of man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. Like calls to

deep. It's just that we are so accustomed to seeing things through observable data and

through processing it that it's not a natural instinct, but it's supposed to be that way for

us as believers. It's only a matter of practice. It's not that it's not real. It's just a matter

of practice. Any questions on that? So if you look at Genesis 2.8, that was a secret place. What

does it say in Genesis 2.8? And then God created a garden, and he called the garden Eden. And he

took man. God planted a garden, not created a garden. God planted a garden. That's different

from creating. He had already finished creating everything. And then he plants a garden. So he

plants a garden as in he planned it. He landscaped it for Adam and Eve. There was thought that went

into it. And then it says he put Adam and Eve in the garden, and he called it Eden. And what was

Eden? Eden meant delight, pleasure. It is a delightful place. And he plants them there. That

becomes their secret place where they walked with the presence of God. You move from there to Exodus

22, 25 or thereabouts. Let me just get you the scripture. Yeah, Exodus 25, 22. If you go to Exodus

25, 22, they've just finished building the ark. And on the ark, once the ark was built, it's sitting

there. And God says, Now I want you to build a lid for it. But here's a prescription for the lid.

It should have two angels with their wings stretched out this way. And he decided to call that space

between the two angels on top of the ark, the mercy seat. And then he goes on to say in Exodus

25, 22, listen, I will meet with you. And I will speak to you from the mercy seat. And I'll tell

you what to do. And I'll give you commands. It is a secret place. Moses would go there. Moses would

go there. Numbers 33. You see Moses setting up a tent, and he would set it apart from the congregation.

Anybody could go there. It wasn't a Moses thing. He called it the tent of meeting. And he would

enter in there. And it would become the secret place where the presence of God was so obvious

that all of Israel would watch and just be in awe. And he would go in and he would come out. This

is the Old Testament. So at the end of the day, when we talk about the secret place of the Most

High, it is the ability to find and locate yourself in the presence of God. And it can be savored,

it can be tasted, it can be felt, it can be expressed. It must be seen by others through you,

though you can't actually see God. Part of the reason God comes to live in a people,

we sang that song, God with us, God for us, is so that he can make himself visible to others

through you. Not in his physical form, but in his nature. What a privilege, eh? What a privilege

to be able to let the world see him through flesh, you and I. And the word became flesh.

The word is still becoming flesh. Only he's got an entire body now. He's got Chava and Derek and me

and what's his name sitting next to you, Dhawan? Dilna. Yeah. So one of the things about secret

place living is secret place living is exclusively relationship based. It's exclusively relationship

based. As in, it's initiated by God or put into covenant or put into practice by God,

it's sustained by the Spirit. It's sustained by the Spirit and our yieldedness to him allows us

to experience the fullness of it. So even if you look at the Old Testament, anybody who actually

got to say things like or dwell in the secret place or the presence of God, and you'll find David,

David talks about this often. It says, at your right hand, our pleasures evermore, in your presence,

there is fullness of joy. If you look at the guys who actually wrote things or understood secret

place, these were guys who knew how to engage the presence of God. Moses, Adam, David, these are the

ones who were able to do it. And so one of the things we need to realize is that secret place

living is exclusively relationship based. The moment you shift that or introduce anything else,

it's like contamination. And we contaminate this and therefore are not able to savor it to the

extent. And we'll talk about how we contaminate this. But secret place living is exclusively

relationship based. It's initiated by God. He's the initiator. He's the author. He's the one who

makes the covenant. He's the one who says, this is what I'll do for you. This is how I adopt you.

This is who I will be to you. Everything is initiated by God. There's absolutely no part

that we play. We don't play a part in this. It's initiated by him. It's sustained by the Spirit.

The reason he gives us the fullness of his Spirit, fullness of his Spirit is so that we can

continuously be sustained in the secret place. As in continuously have the presence in us and

the presence around us. And I've said this more than a year ago, periodic awareness of his presence

was never God's design for man. The periodic awareness of presence was never God's design

for man. It was never God's design that you get periodically aware of me when you worship or when

you have an intense moment during your quiet time or you suddenly see me do something for you. That

is not how I wanted you to exist. That is not how Adam existed. That is not how Moses existed. That

is not even how David existed. That these guys were in the Old Testament without a covenant. I

want you Chava to be someone who does not have these periodic times of awareness of me. I want

you to be constantly engaged with me which is why I sustain it by the Spirit by putting in you myself.

And we may be at different places in this process but my God we are all in this process. So don't

be discouraged at what you're missing out on. Be encouraged that tomorrow this can be even more

real than today. And it's sustained by the Spirit. Where do we play a part? Our part is to the extent

that you want to taste it. To that extent you can yield and it'll become tastier. It'll never be

held back from you. Never be held back from you. The presence of God will never be held back from

you. Sin will not drive away the presence of God. Hear me. Sin will not drive away the presence of

God. You do not speak Psalm 51 anymore. Cast me not away from your presence, O God. Take not your

Holy Spirit from me. Does not apply to the New Covenant. Even sin does not take away the presence

of God. What it does is because of the relationship you have, because it's solely relationship-based,

what happens is relationship is broken and relationship can be fixed but presence is

never removed. Never. The presence is even more powerful when sin happens because the presence of

God wants to draw you back into the place that you always belong which is where? Which is in his

embrace. If one looked for God after sinning or in sin, you would find him even stronger than usual

because he is there to draw you back. Whether he draws you back with extravagant love or whether

he draws you back with discipline, he will be there to draw you back. Any questions on that?

So what is the opposite of exclusive relationship-based living that we sometimes

engage in that contaminates secret place living? One, reliance on self. You have to put yourself

in the place of a little child with your father. That's how we have to think this. It becomes real,

presence becomes real if I can be childlike. If I get grown up, presence kind of morphs. But if

you think like a child, this becomes very easy. So here are the things that rob a child of presence.

The first one is reliance on self. Second, rule keeping to gain favor or protect from danger.

Three, appearances. As in being a certain way for the sake of people and God. It's what's called

false piety. Four, works, which goes back in a sense to rule keeping. But works is when good

works gain favor. This is what every other religion in the world is based on. Every other

religion has that at its center. Five, perfection. Wanting to be, wanting to get it,

wanting desperately to get it right. And if you don't, it's devastating.

Or in other words, all this can be put together under the word. That's what it looks like.

Therefore, you find suddenly that some of us, all of us at some point or the other,

are legalistic because this creeps in. So you have to think like a child. A child misses out on the

presence of the father when the child decides that I'm going to rely on myself. I'm going to

do this myself. I don't need you. Because this is solely relationship based. Presence is always

because of a relationship. Two, rule keeping to gain favor or to protect from danger. As in when

I am keeping rules because I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't. Or if I'm keeping rules

because I think I'll get something if I do. Both are not helpful. It damages the relationship.

It's a warping of the relationship. Three, I was wondering what he was coming up to do.

Third, appearances. Appearances. Where it is possible to show something on the outside that

I'm not. One of the things we have to be careful, guys, is when we meet people first, try not to

pretend. Because how we pretend is the impression they take away. What they give us and they don't

give us is based on their first impression. Try not to make a first impression. It's a bad idea

to make a first impression. Let them find out who you are over a period of time because that's a

real you. Pardon? Yeah, but I'm talking about you creating a first impression. I don't want to

create a first impression. Yeah, you have to hear my words. You have to create a first impression.

You should avoid creating a first impression. Because we do that. We are told to do that. One

must get a good impression of you. It's not worth it, guys, because you either end up getting what

you don't know how to handle or you give people an impression of you that's not true and they'll

find out later or you end up not being given what you should be given because over a period of time

they'll find out how solid you are. Appearances. Being a certain way for the sake of people.

Sometimes it's called false piety. We do it with God too, eh? We do it with God. Not all of us know

how to be starkly naked before God. Starkly honest. This is how I really feel about you.

Not all of us can write Psalms like David. This is the truth. And then the next one is works when

good works gain favor. That I don't think is a problem, at least as far as I know amongst us.

And then the last one is perfection. Wanting desperately to get it right to the point that

if you don't it's devastating. It is so important to be free from that. So important to be free from

that. When it's a relationship, getting it right is less important. When it's not a relationship,

getting it right is super important because everything depends on that. These are the things

that contaminate presence, guys. This is why you love your children's drawings. They are so clumsy,

they are so useless. Your fridge is crowded with them. You want to get rid of it. You wish you

didn't have grandchildren. And then you keep sticking it. You buy another fridge. You put

another. It just goes on and on. Why? Because it's just a pure relationship that you have with these

grandkids and kids of yours. Yesterday, Yaya and Phoebe drew something and it's stuck on my fridge

now. At some point I'll have to remove it. It's pretty bad. But the point is you don't. Why? Because

it's based on relationship. These are the things that contaminate presence. Go ahead, Anne.

Appearances. Being a certain way for the sake of people. What's the question?

I'll give you one from my life. I would go to certain churches and then they would ask me to

lead worship. I would know the song I need to choose because the Lord would say,

this is what I want you to choose. But I would also know the song that I could really sing

that would affect people, that would even make them weep. And so it was important for me to move

the congregation, to show them the kind of worship I can lead. And I would choose a song that I wasn't

supposed to lead. It's to create an impression. We do that. People would come and tell me how

was. Eddie, same thing. I was in a church. Very clearly the Lord tells me, I need you to preach

this message. And I'm looking at all the other speakers and they're preaching messages that are

so amazing that everybody's clapping and shouting hallelujah. And I immediately knew if I spoke what

God asked me to speak, I would get no hallelujahs. And so I changed and I gave, I spoke a really

rah rah message. Everybody started shouting hallelujah and praise the Lord and all this stuff. And

Eddie meets me and Eddie comes and tells me, I want you to, God wants you to know that when

you try to copy others, at best you're a lousy copy. Why don't you stick with God is what God

has told you. You have a uniqueness. Can you express that? Or do you want to be like others?

Appearances. Jesus gave a parable. He said there was a rich man and there was a poor man. The rich

man stood before the Lord and he said, Oh Lord, I have done this and I have done that and the

other. And the poor man stood on the other side and he said, I'm a worm. I'm worth nothing.

Yeah, that's a completely different context. Yeah. Try not to create appearances.

It's a side point, but it's an important point. Your inadequacy is God's greatest ability to display

himself. Always remember that your inadequacy is your greatest strength. For when you are weak,

he and his presence are ridiculously strong. The world does not allow that. The world says otherwise.

But always remember this. Your inadequacy is your greatest strength and God's greatest weapon.

Because when you are infirm, when you are weak, when you come with your knees trembling,

when you have broken speech, when the way you speak is not worth anything, 1 Corinthians 2

immediately goes into effect where Paul says, I did not come to you with any manner of oratorial

skill or strength. I came to you in trembling and in fear. And yet God began to then take my

infirmity and he began to demonstrate the power of the spirit through my weakness.

When we go down this route, we lose, we lose our connection with presence. It's very hard to practice

it because the world says otherwise. Sorry? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It is counterintuitive. It is an upside down kingdom. These things cancel kingdom culture.

This is what legalism looks like. It is a practice that's based on a self, effort and not relationship.

Okay. So when we look at secret place, we said it's presence. And what are words used for presence

in the Bible? Kabod, Hebrew word for the weight of his glory. English, glory. Greek, doxa. Hebrew,

shekinah. These are all words that mean the same thing. What's presence? What's the Hebrew word

for presence? Panim. What does it mean? It's the same word used for face. He that dwells in the

secret place of the most high is basically he that dwells in the face of the countenance of God. And

it is never taken away. We've done that chair thing where someone's sitting on a chair and God's

facing him. You're upset with God and you turn your chair and before you turn your chair, he's

already facing you. Doesn't matter which way you turn, he's facing you. Who came up with this first?

Psalm 139. What did David say? It doesn't matter where I go. I take the wings of the morning,

you're there. I hide myself in the deepest depths, you're there. Wherever I go, you turn up. At the

end of the day, the secret place is the ability that you and I have. Even if it's for five minutes

a day. Start there man. What are you doing? You are one of those rare species on earth who gets to

see the countenance of the living God, invisible yet tangible, face to face for five minutes out

of 24 hours. Wonderful are you. Tomorrow five minutes, 20 seconds. It keeps increasing. You

think you won't change? 1 Corinthians 3, 18. We behold him face to face and we are changed from

glory to glory. We behold him face to face and we are changed from glory to glory. In intense

moments of shame, in intense moments of condemnation, in intense moments of guilt, in intense moments of

feeling unworthy, go to that one place that you usually don't go to because again we go back to

legalism. Fix it before you come to God. How do we fix it? We fix it Christianly. What does Christian

fixing look like? Oh Jesus, I'm a worm. I really messed up. Oh forgive me. I don't deserve it but

please oh God have mercy. Cleanse me. You go through that fix it. But what if you beheld his face? You

would still find a face that favors you just like a child is favored by the parent. Be it through

extravagant love or be it through discipline. The faith does not change and I wish I could remember it.

I wish I could remember it always because that's what it means. Panjim, faith, presence, same thing.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. The Lord lift up his

countenance and give you peace. Do you realize that he has never turned away his favor-filled

face from you? Never. We just forget because every other relationship in our life turns their face

away right? We superimpose that on God. So when you are in the secret place, the air or the atmosphere

or the environment is electric with these things. Right living or righteousness, peace, joy, power,

presence. The air is electric with it. The air is electric with it. As in if you could touch it,

it would go grrr. You know what happens when you touch static or you touch a live wire? Everybody

together. It's a Greek word. Betty, you want to try it? No? Okay. So the air is electric with it.

As in it's impossible to be engaged at even a diluted level of the presence of God and not

have this desire to be upright. It's not possible. It's not possible to be engaged even at a even

at 30% 40% with the living God and his presence and not have a desire to be upright. It's not

possible to not then have shalom begin to crowd into your life. The kind of shalom, the kind of

peace that comes with a sense of rest like you're restful in it. It's not something you have to hold

on to. Joy, power, presence, these go together. This is the evidence, this is the litmus test

of whether a person is walking with presence in presence and whether a person can savor this,

can express this. This is the litmus test. And there are moments like this in our lives every week

where all of us experience this. Sometimes all fight together and when you experience that,

that's let heaven come. That's what it looks like. I don't want us to think that this is something

we've got to keep pushing towards. I'm saying we already have experiences of this. Just increase

it. Because if you do, people will see. One of the jobs here on earth is to telescope God

so others can see him not as a distant star but as someone close by, telescoping God. And a person's

maturity and walk with God is often displayed in these characters being evident. Upright walking,

peace as in restful peace where you're in rest. Joy, not because things are going well but because

you are full of hope. Joy is impossible without expectation. Joy is impossible without expectation.

When hope is gone, joy is gone. Habakkuk 3.19 just talks about that, right? Though the fig tree will

not blossom, I'll do cartwheels of joy because I know it's going to happen. Power and presence,

which then means that if these are the things that define presence, it then means that the kingdom

of God is really, and this Jesus said it so it's not some new discovery, the kingdom of God is

really the presence of God in your life or in our midst. Where do we read this? We read about it in

1 Corinthians 14 20 and Romans 14 17. What does it say? The first one says the kingdom of God is

not about talk but is about power. What does Romans 14 17 say? The kingdom of God is not about eating

or drinking what we should eat, what we should drink. It's not about that. It's about righteousness,

peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So at the end of the day then, the kingdom of God is really the

presence of God in your life or in our midst. So when we say let heaven come, that yours is the

kingdom, yours is the glory, one of the ways to make it evident is by cultivating this. And this

happens when you and I increasingly begin to dwell in presence. Any questions? Yeah, how do we explain

to a non-believer that they can now experience this by having them follow you? Let them savor it

through you. This must be made flesh. You have certain things you're struggling with in terms of

you're still waiting for physical healing, right? Can you in the midst of that trust the power of

God, display joy, and be at rest? Do you know what that does mark when people hear of what you are

waiting for and how you behave that way? Just... Sorry, go ahead. Can there be demonic oppression

that can stop somebody from enjoying this? Yeah, but then we also have help, right? We can go and

ask for help because there'll be others who can help us. So there might be demonic oppression

that can prevent us from in certain areas walking upright because there's a stronghold that has

become an addiction. There might be deep depression instead of joy. There might be torment instead of

peace. But the beautiful thing is why are we given the body? Why the gifts in the body? Why the equipping

roles in the body? Why leaders in the body? Why? Only one answer. That the Spirit of God who dwells

in our midst is sufficient through her, through you, through you to help me overcome these so

that I can engage in presence without handicap.

Yeah. If someone says... The question Mark is asking is if you meet someone who's witnessing and they say they do not believe in God,

and they have never felt him before, what do you do? There's so many different answers. I'll give you one that

happened recently. Don and I met somebody who is not a believer who needed help for someone who was

demonically oppressed. So here's God's solution to it. God is saying go deliver them, and once you deliver them,

tell them who did it, and then ask them if they want me in their lives. Show them who I am. Show them the power I have.

Show them the peace I can give. Show them the joy that I can bring into their lives. Show them presence. And once you do,

now let them ask them the question, do you want this man or not? As in this man, Christ or not? This is something God does

regularly. So the person wrote back saying... The person wrote back two things. I came to your church and I found the place

so peaceful and you guys such a family that I've never experienced it before in any religious place. And the second thing the person

said was, I just want you to know that the person we brought for prayer has been marvelously different this week. Can we

meet again so that certain other things can be removed too? Show them. With us, because we have the presence of God,

it's always show and tell. Jesus used to do the same thing. Go tell John that the gospel is being preached to the poor,

the sick are being healed, demons are being cast out, the dead are being raised, and lepers are being cleansed. Go tell him that.

Because John was asking, are you the real deal?

We have the most amazing thing in the entire earth. We have presence. We are carriers of the presence of the living God and it

never, never goes away. Never goes away. Never goes away.

Sin does not drive it away guys. If sin drove it away, I'd have only about 15 minutes of the Holy Spirit every day.

So what prevents me from getting into this? What prevents me?

From getting into

the Holy Spirit. And what forces me out of the secret place?

I have these two pictures of, hey Brandon, can you throw it up on the screen just as a diversion before we go on?

That's Tentan. And then I found someone else. Isn't there a similarity? Just go back again.

Then I realized I've actually met him. There. There he is.

All righty, going back to...

I mean, people who actually watch this on video will wonder why that interruption came.

What prevents me from getting into and what forces me out of the secret place?

And the answer is not sin. That's the first answer. Please, please understand this.

That it does not make the presence of God disappear. It's not an Old Testament pattern.

Broken relationship can be fixed, but his presence does not leave. Just be absolutely sure of that.

If we could get really sure of that, we would hurry back to God quickly.

We wouldn't need two days to be good before we get back.

Sin created separation in the Old Testament. The blood of Christ has forever cemented unity.

Sin breaks down relationship, but that's the idea of confessing.

The idea of confess your sins to God was not because God needs to be informed of what you've done.

He knows it anyways. It is an admission that there is a violation of relationship.

Things are broken down between you and me, Dilna. So let's talk. Why do you like cats?

And then the discussion begins. And eventually it gets reconciled.

So at the end of the day, know that there is no separation from his presence.

So if it's not sin, what is it? I'll probably end with that for today.

The emphasis is on the word probably.

The reason we find it hard to sometimes get into the secret place and find it easy to be forced out of it is

This is the main reason why I am not able to stay in presence.

There's this deep desire inside us as humans to control life.

Deep desire to control life. Let me read it as I've written it.

It's my desire to control life so that everything is ordered, everything is predictable, everything is balanced.

Because of my desire to control, I worry, I get frustrated, I become bitter, I need attention, I feel guilty about not doing more.

I fret to find another way. And my mind becomes a battleground of doubt, conflict, anxiety and distrust.

Let me write that down. It is a reason. This is what drives us out or prevents us. It's not sin.

So let me write that down. It'll take a while.

It is my desire to control life so that everything is ordered, predictable.

As in I know what's going to happen then.

Ordered, predictable, balanced.

There are no surprises.

Because of my desire to control, I then worry, get frustrated, become bitter, need attention.

Feel guilty about not doing enough.

I fret to find another way.

I fret to find another way.

I fret to find another way.

And my mind becomes a battleground of doubt, conflict, anxiety and distrust.

What is lost? An awareness of presence. Presence is not lost. An awareness of presence is lost.

Any questions on this?

Yeah, we...

Yeah.

What is lost? An awareness of presence. Presence is not lost. An awareness of presence is lost.

Any questions on this?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So we'll talk about that. We will. Any other questions on this? Especially the

last line really gets me, that my mind becomes a battleground of doubt, of conflict, of anxiety

and worry. And this is what has me lose an awareness of the presence of God in me, around me, for me,

just kind of disappears. It's not sin that drives it away. It's not sin that prevents me from entering

and it is this. Any questions? Any comments? This is what happened to the disciples in the boat. When

the water began to rise, the storm happened. This is what happened to them. And if you say that this

is not your situation, that you have no anxiety, no conflicting thoughts, no doubt, no worry,

then blessed are you, men. So we are able to, we need to understand that the secret

place and kingdom is only, is increasingly experienced as I surrender the need to control.

There's a need, there's a craving that we have as humans to control. The secret place and the

kingdom is increasingly experienced as I surrender the craving to control, as I surrender the craving

to control. One of the things that's happened to us since the fall is that the chief aim of our

natural life is controlling the next second minute, hour, day. And we do it in two ways,

and these two ways are important. The first one is by exerting our strength to affect or create

outcomes. And the second one, which is as sometimes even more sinister, is ignoring

the responsibility of knowing his will on earth as it is in heaven. By sweeping, I'll

go over it again, by sweeping everything under the sovereignty rug. So our natural life likes

controlling every second, every minute, every hour, every day. If we can somehow control it,

how do we do it? Either by exerting our strength, your strength, to affect or create outcomes. What

can I do to create this outcome tomorrow? What can I do to create this outcome two hours from now? So

that's one way we do it. The other way we do it is even more sinister. We just completely ignore

the responsibility of trying to find out what God wants. And that then allows us to go whatever

will be will be. And everything gets swept under the God is sovereign carpet. And then you don't

have to worry about anything. You can just coast. Both are ways of control. One is an exertion of

is an abrogation of responsibility. Both serve the same end. And neither is something that God

wants. This is complacency to the nth degree. This is control to the nth degree. And both are

terrible. This creates martyrs. This creates intimidators. Both are forms of control. I can't

hear you. How do you surrender to what in a healthy way? Yeah, the thing is, who am I surrendering

to? I'm surrendering my need of control to God saying, I need to control this. I need to control

tomorrow's outcome. But I'm going to come to you and surrender my need to control. It is the craving

I have. It's a desire I have to make sure that tomorrow works out a certain way. That is what

I'm surrendering. And I'm surrendering it to him. And what does that look like? Jesus, I have a

desperate need to control things. And I'm saying to you, I'm going to take my hands off this and

trust you and trust you on many different levels. First, I'll trust you as a good responsible father.

Second, I'll sustain it by faith, by recklessly depending on you. Those are the first two steps.

Raphael was asking, what are the first two steps? The first two steps of this, I come to you,

the only way I can surrender to you is if I actually think you are a responsible good father.

My problem, O God, is I don't think you're a responsible good father. So help me, Holy Spirit.

And then the Spirit of God takes you to the Scriptures. And he begins to show you the nature

of the Father. He begins to show you the nature of how responsible he is, how much he can be

trusted. As you read the Word, strength will rise. Trust will come. Faith will come. Because it only

comes through the Scriptures. And then once you get to the responsible Father that I can surrender

this craving to, the next thing is, can I sustain it by faith, by recklessly depending on you? When

every time I want to touch it, I want to touch it and can I not? That is done by faith. These two

are the essential first steps. And if this is not possible for you, it's just because of our skewed

understanding of the Father, which can be fixed because we have the Word and the Spirit. Both are

available. Both are available. And there's nothing greater to change humans than the Word and the

Spirit. The entire earth is going to be changed. You have been changed. You are born again by the

Word and the Spirit. He can continuously do it. He doesn't stop at salvation. You have changed so

much. It was the work of the Word and the Spirit.

Not really, because when he talks about not being able to do the question, is this a quandary that

Paul is speaking about in Romans 6, 7 and 8? Not really, because in Romans 7, Paul is speaking as

a Jew. He's saying, Who will save me from this wretched life? What kind of a man am I? He's not

talking from the perspective of a man who is now alive and filled by the Spirit. Therefore, it ends

with, What a wretched man I am. Who will save me from this life? And then Romans 8 opens with the

crescendo, Therefore, there is no condemnation for the Spirit of life in Christ has set me free. So

in that sense, no. But it is possible to be born again and to be caught in this quandary, where it is

impossible for me to hand this over to God because if I hold it, I'll fix tomorrow. But if you want

me to surrender this to you, Nick, I've got to know that you're a responsible, good father. And

I'm not convinced of that. And if I'm not convinced of that, I need to go back to the word and go over

it again and again till I'm convinced that he's a good father. It's surrendering the need to control.

Yeah. Yeah. If you read Matthew 6, looks like a hippie lifestyle. I mean, it's a hippie who would

say, Look at the birds of the air. And Woodstock had a few birds. And then they would go and pick

daisies off the Woodstock floor and say, Look at the flowers of the field. Yeah, it is this. When

you read Jesus's words in Matthew 6, they are highly irresponsible. Here's the thing. If you read

Matthew 6, here's a conclusion you get. This is what God is saying. I am not saying do not prepare

for tomorrow. I'm not saying do not make provision for tomorrow. Do that through prayer, through the

instructions I give you, through diligence. But here's what he's saying. Dhillna, do not worry

about tomorrow. It is the Gentiles who worry about tomorrow. But you are the children of God. Do not

worry about tomorrow. That's where the hippie and Dhillna differ. Did you go to Woodstock? No. Okay.

Just checking. Oh, you weren't born? Or you were just born? Yeah. I feel like it's the one thing I

missed out in life. Yeah, but that's a different thing. Oh, he's trying to prove that he's younger.

Okay. You and I are in the same age bracket, by the way. Yeah, for another year. Guys, the Gentiles are

characterized. We used to be Gentiles, so it's not some kind of a racial term. The Gentiles are

characterized by worry. The sons of God are characterized by faith. And God's intent throughout

Matthew 6 is do not worry. Do not worry. Why are you worried about this? Am I not a good father? And

the good father is not just limited to provision. It is limited. It covers everything. And the thing

that we do, the thing that we are taught from when we are a kid is, hey, make sure you control the

outcomes. Make sure you affect the outcome. And God is saying, can you not do that? Can you let go of

it knowing that I'm a father? Can you as a child trust the outcome to me? Can you stop? Can you kill

the need or the craving to control? And the only way you can kill it is if you know he's a responsible

good father. And two, if you can sustain it by faith. Why sustain it by faith? Because you can

think of a few incidents in your life where you felt you trusted and nothing happened, and now you're

scared to trust him again. Sustain it by faith. We get an opportunity every week, every day. I'll stop

here. Any questions, guys? Do you think you can try and practice this? It only happens to practice,

eh? Don't pamper your natural life. It's dysfunctional kingdom living. Don't pamper your

natural life. Don't take the other route, too. I hate this route. Just ignore trying to find out

what God wants. Just keisarasara. That's not Christian living either.

Do you, if you wasted time controlling the outcomes of life for years and now you begin to

have this eureka moment and you decide from now on I'm going to straighten life out, do I waste,

do I then lose the years that I've gone by? Sometimes yes, often no. When is it a yes? It's

a yes when it's deliberate. There are people that have been told too often, change, change,

change, fix, fix, fix. Prophets were sent, people were sent, writings on the wall were sent,

scriptures were sent, will not change. Then there is the possibility that I miss out. But when people

don't know, when the people are ignorant, when people are innocent, when people haven't heard,

when people have tried and failed, the Bible says the years that the locusts have eaten,

God will restore. Favor doesn't go away, presence doesn't go away. But stubborn resistance to the

truth is always followed in First Thessalonians by a delusion that takes you off course. And even

then favor doesn't go away, his countenance doesn't go away. He says, Jacob, this, don't talk to me

about it again like he said to Moses, you ain't going to the promised land, but I'll show you

everything else. So there are times when that happens. But that's if I'm continuously resisting

him, continuously refusing to change. But otherwise, he always restores the years the locusts

have eaten. That's a speciality restoration. Any other question? Comment? Okay, let's pray then.

The things I control or the things I want to control in my life for God,

either because I want a certain outcome and I'm not sure you will deliver, or I can't trust you,

either with the timing or the urgency. And I usually have the means to fix it and getting

done. I have the power to make it happen. You're showing this image of Jesus being tempted by the

devil who said to him, you can turn these stones into bread. Jesus had the power, but he refused to.

How can we do this, oh God? You're saying it's not, you're saying think of the positive reinforcement.

What you mean by that is, Jacob, Church, you know what my presence is like. You've tasted it. And

when you taste it, I see the satisfaction you have. Nothing thrills you more than that. Nothing

satisfies you more than that. There's nothing you long for more than engagement and the sudden,

absolute knowledge of my tangible presence. I've seen you enjoy it. Don't you want that more?

Isn't it worth it? Isn't it worth everything? We, oh God, say yes. Yes, it's worth it. I will never

take away my presence from you. My countenance, my faith will always be there. I'm not leaving you.

I am not leaving you. It's worth giving up things for that. We want it, oh God. I speak on behalf of

everyone here. We want it. We want the satisfaction of engaging, encountering, walking, expressing

your presence. Upright walking, peace, joy, power, presence, knowing the favor of your face. Gosh,

Lord. It is so worth it. That is what you want us to take away. For the sake of that,

isn't it worth giving up the craving to control? Because every time you crave to control tomorrow,

you are going to jettison yourself out of that space and you're going to find it hard to enter it.

I'm just going to ask Dilna and Derek to come up and just pray and conclude. And I'm going to ask

Kezia to come up and Dilian to come up and just pray and conclude. Come. Is Kezia here?

Okay. You guys start. If they come, they come.

Thank you, Abba Father, for this teaching, Lord. Especially for me, Lord, as a working as an

accountant, trying to learn how not to control the plan. Lord, in the things Lord, help me to just

learn to trust. Help us to learn to trust you more and more, Lord. We want to trust you more, Lord.

Lord, let us be children guided by faith and show us how to be responsible also at the same time

with what you have given us. Thank you, Abba. Let us take time to spend time with you in the

secret place. And Lord, help us to stop worrying about our sin, but our desire to please you,

Lord. Just time to spend time with you and know you are God. Help us to be still, Lord. Help us

to be still in our secret place experiencing your wonderful presence. And Lord, help us just to be

renewed and wake up. Renewed and be in wonder. Wake up with a sense of wonder and awe. And Lord,

help us to move from periodic presence to continuous presence. We pray all these things

in Jesus' name. Amen. Abba, we want to lay down legalism. Sometimes these are words that seem

far away, but it's very easy to see how things creep into our lives sometimes. So Father,

as a people, we come and we leave behind things that are not of you, but sometimes appear right.

It is the right word on the outside, but it is not of the Spirit. So Father, we choose to respond

to what you taught us today. To leave behind, Father, we don't want to birth Ishmaels.

We want to birth Isaacs. Isaacs are those we want to birth, not Ishmaels. So Father, we leave behind

our fleshly striving and the ways of our mind. And instead, like it was said today, Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

we cling on to the ways of the Spirit. So even for a second or two here, Father, right now,

we lay down those things and we cling on to the law of the Spirit, the life of the Spirit

as a church, so that our words are words that do not fall to the ground. So that our prayers are

prayers that bring heaven to earth, so that we become a people who can take, you can go into

Egypt and bring out a people to become part of the bride. Father, that's what we want. And then

last thing, Abba, help us to develop a lifestyle where we don't control things. It's not a one-time

decision, Abba. It's something we have to always go back to, to always consider our ways. And so,

Father, give us this ability to never control, to put things down and to say, I can't, can you help

me? I don't want to, can you help me? I don't want to do it in my strength, can you help me? Have I

not, have we not, Father, over the years learned that the best we can do is still so bad? But when

you are with us, you help us. So help us to leave our ways and to cling on to you, in Jesus' name.

So, without actually imagining a face, can you try and close your eyes and know the favor and the face of

God? Try not to, you can't put a face to God, right? I mean, you might think of someone kind,

someone like me, and that's the best you can do. But so don't think of a face. Think of, think of

what it would look like if you, if he shut our eyes and what is it to, what is he, what does he

look like in terms of his favor, his delight, his countenance right now towards you? Become a child

and then you will see. Become a child first, eh? Throw down your grown-up-ness, become a child. I'll

stop talking in a second. Become a child and then you will see. Not a face, but you will know what

it is to have his delight, his countenance, his face upon you.

And when your eyes are upon this child,

your grace abounds to me. Oh Lord, you're beautiful. Your face is all I seek.

And when your eyes are upon this child, your grace abounds to me. One last time. Oh Lord,

you're beautiful. Your face is all I seek. For when your eyes are upon this child,

your grace abounds to me.

I pray that whatever you gave us just now will be what we'll walk in for the next few days.

And if we lose sight, that will come back quickly and seek your face again.

In Jesus' name, amen. If you need prayer, as usual, there'll be people here to pray for you, yeah?