One Word

Matthew 14:22-33

I want us to read together several verses of scripture from Matthew the fourteenth chapter, beginning with verse 22. We’ll read down through verse 33 together. We’ll talk about a little bit, and then I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do after we’ve just made a few points. Actually, I’m gonna have you ask yourself three questions, and I’m gonna give you one reminder, and then we’re gonna have a special close to our service today.

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it’s you, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink. And he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, immediately, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of the truth, Thou art the Son of God.

Of course, this sword teaches a lot of great kingdom principles. It lays out some really practical wisdom for each of us who’ve chosen to walk by faith. Scripture says about every Christian we walk by faith and not by sight. But there’s something I want to settle in on today. It’s really been on my heart now for several weeks now to take some time out of a service to specifically pray for those of you who might describe your present condition. It’s not where you always find yourself, but you find yourself, you have found yourself of late in a sort of a sinking condition.

Divine Flow

You felt yourself, you’ve been experiencing a weariness that you can’t sleep off. You can’t get enough hours’ sleep, you can’t take enough vitamins, you can’t eat good enough to shake the weariness that has been on your mind and has been weighing you down. It’s affecting for some of you, not all of you, but it’s even affecting your health because of what you’re going through and what you’re experiencing.

And John Osteen, Joel Osteen’s father, who’s been in heaven now for a number of years. But Joel John was one who often God used to speak into our lives when he was alive and at a different part of our journey of faith. And he would talk about the divine flow. Would you say that word out loud with me? Divine flow. And he taught in the simplest of terms to follow that divine flow when it was at work within us.

And all of us have experienced that, however we described it when it happened or when it’s happening right now in some of you towards someone else. It might be a family member, it might be a friend, it might be a guest, a visitor today, a stranger, someone you don’t know. Maybe you experienced it this week towards someone. I have no doubt that when we’re paying attention to the Holy Spirit, that it is a regular part of our life, whether we recognize it or not.

Wrestling in Life

Because again, God is not just working his way to you or to minister to you, but he’s working his way through you. We are blessed to be a blessing. Say that out loud, I am blessed. To be a blessing. And so that divine flow is really the Holy Spirit. It’s another way of just describing the work of the Holy Spirit as He is moving in you and again through you to bring heaven to earth or to bring blessing to someone which is meant to reveal who Jesus is. It’s to encourage people, not to look at you, of course, but to look at what is occurring and in what is occurring to see Jesus.

And so I have been feeling for some time for you this divine flow in this area that I just briefly described to you. I was in the shower Tuesday, a week ago, and that’s not the last time I took a shower, by the way, but just to clarify things. But I was in the shower and I was cold when I got in, then I got really hot, and I’d step away and I got cold again, and it got cold, hot, cold, hot, and I don’t know why, but in that moment I began to think about how light in life there’s a lot of that wrestling that goes on between being happy and being sad, between being grieving and joyous, being healthy and then having to battle our way through sickness, being confused, and then like all of a sudden clarity and knowing exactly what to do, again, being joyous and other times just kind of down in the dumps, this back and forth wrestling that we find ourselves in life.

Paul described a spiritual wrestling that goes on between us and those that are in the heavenlies, wicked spirits. He said, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world against principal spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. So there is this wrestling that goes on. My point is just that it wears us down or can wear us down, even following after Jesus.

Don’t Be Weary in Your Well Doing

In fact, again, we have an encouragement in one place in the New Testament that says, Don’t be weary in your well doing, don’t be weary in your welldoing, because it can happen. And I believe that there’s going to be at the close of today’s service a special grace available to all of us who will take advantage of it. I want to pray for as many of you as I can, as many of you as you will allow by the laying on of hands. We’re not hesitant to do that, but some people have been real hesitant for us to do that with them since COVID.

But if it’s okay with you and you desire it, we’re going to follow through with that today. And Cindy and I, at the close of today’s service, with the help of our worship team, are going to again work to create an atmosphere and a culture of faith for you, but mostly God’s deep care and concern for you. If you didn’t notice as we worshiped already this morning, that was the theme of worship. It was the theme of worship was the care of the good shepherd. The theme of our worship today had to do with Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If he ever worked a miracle, he’s working them today. If he ever did anything for you at any time in your life over someone you know in their past or is presently doing with them, he’ll do it for you because he’s no respecter of persons. We need a constant reminder more than ever in the age that we’re living in, the day that we’re living in, a constant reminder that God is committed to our care.

God’s Commitment to Us

You know, we’ve heard a lot through the years. If you’ve lived any life at all, if you follow Jesus for any length of time, you’ve heard an awful lot about the importance and necessity of our commitment, living out our commitment to Jesus, and rightly so. Some of it can get real off path and become legalistic in nature and harsh in nature, but it is important that we keep our end of the covenant that we have with God. We say we love him, love then acts a certain way toward him.

We’re not living a certain way, hear me. We’re not living a certain way or trying to live a certain way to get God to love us. We’re loving God back. The way we live our life to honor him is, as we said in our creed, a gift back to him. His life to us was a gift. We could never earn it, could never deserve it. And so we’ve given up at Believer Center. We don’t try to earn or merit or deserve the goodness of God. God never asked us to.

Others ask us to. Others have taught things poorly. They say from the scripture, and urging us to try to live a certain kind of life, a holy way of living, in order to get God to love us. God loved you and God loved me while we were yet sinners. And the Bible is clear about that. God doesn’t love you because you’re lovable. Now I didn’t say you’re not lovable. And I don’t want you to look at your neighbor and say he’s talking about you right now. Okay. But God doesn’t love us because we’re lovable. He loves us because he is always love. He is forever love.

Even when we’re not faithful, even when we, the Bible says, find ourselves in unbelief, he remains faithful to us because the Bible says he cannot deny who he is. All right. So God, I just, I just find that that we need, especially now for some reason, and that’s all. Only way I can put it to you. For some reason, God wants to emphasize again to you, his unchanging, his unconditional, his forever commitment to you. He is the good shepherd you shall not want. He is right now leading you to a place where the waters are still.

The Good Shepherd

Sometimes the good shepherd had to go ahead of the sheep that he was leading because there weren’t a lot of waters that were pooling up and becoming still where they were. So the shepherd would go before the flock, and he would dam up the water here, and he would dam up the water here to cause pools that were still and easy to drink from. Truly refreshing. Because there’s little, there’s not another, I think, another animal on the planet more skittish than a lamb. More prone to being afraid and easily shaken like a lamb.

But the good shepherd goes before the lamb and makes this place this special place to drink from and to be cooled from. Laying down on a cool bed of green grass. The psalmist David would go on to say, he will lead us through where the threatening shadows of darkness are. I’m tired of Christians trying to find some sort of mysterious message in what we’re facing and going through. I’m tired of it. I think it’s stupid theology. I think it’s lazy theology. I think it denies the character of Jesus Christ.

It actually contradicts what we know to be the character of Jesus Christ. God is not making you sick just so he can make you well. God is not ruining your business so you can suddenly be reminded that he is your source. He’s not trying to get into your pockets and ruin you. So that somehow, some way, now maybe you’ll finally get the message that you ought to be honoring God with your substance. He’s not ruining your marriage so you can finally find a good one. He didn’t take your baby while it was in the womb.

He’s the giver of life. Satan is the oppressor. Bible says Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. He went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil. If you’re oppressed, if you’re sinking, if you have that sinking weariness on your life this morning, and you know that. You know what that’s like. That’s not God at work. That’s not your good shepherd. It’s just part of the landscape. And Satan is the God of this world. He is constantly working evil, just like God is constantly working good.

Psalmists would go on to say, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid. God, because you’re with me. God doesn’t run when we get into trouble. All we got to do is lift up our head and look, there he is. It’s not all about feelings, but you can feel God’s presence. And we’re not against that. God wants you to feel his comfort. He wants you to feel his strength. He wants you to feel his ability available to you. He wants you to experience his healing hand.

Sustaining Faith

My God. We’re so imperfect in our love, and yet if we have children and our children have ever come to us hurting in any way, we don’t raise up our hand against them. We don’t raise up our hand to make their life worse. Even if they’ve been disobedient and got hurt because of their disobedience, we pull them to ourselves. We put our hands on them. But it’s to bring healing. If there’s someone bigger than them, there’s someone that cares for them, there’s someone who has some provision for them, and there’s someone that’s going to do whatever they have to do to make sure they’re going to be okay.

And that’s imperfect love. How much more do you think the good shepherd loves us? The psalmist said, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. You would think that there in the Psalm 23, it would read this way surely trouble shall follow me all the days of my life. But that’s not what it says. Keep with the text. Say it, surely, not surely. Say, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me. All the days of my life. The Lord is my shepherd. He said, I will not fear. He said, My cup is going to be running, running, running over, not empty, running over.

And I believe somehow God can communicate that to you by the laying one of hands today. Somehow the peace that He carries can be released to you in a special moment of prayer. I’m not saying all your problems are solved. I’m not saying everything you’re up against. Certainly the world’s not going to change as we lay our hands on you, but what you experience of God can so strengthen you and transform, it can unhook you from what you’ve been going through and what’s been taking you. It can bring relief to you.

But that momentary relief can so get you to a place where you’re ready now to go another round. But now something is different on the inside of you to go that next round. And I’m praying that for you, and we’re going to pray that for you. You may feel threatened today by what you’re going through. Peter started sinking after he walked on the water. And he started sinking. And he became threatened by that. And those who didn’t follow him out of the boat were threatened by what they were experiencing.

And that’s interesting point, just interesting point in and of itself. These were professional men. They were used to storms. This is not the first, their first rodeo, so to speak. This was not their first storm. They had survived a number of these, but this one must have been terrible. And they were afraid in the boat. And that shape, that fear on the inside shaped what they saw coming at them. They shaped Jesus. The image of Jesus, same happens to us today. What’s on the inside of us often shapes how we see God.

We see an angry God because of what’s going on on the inside of us. We see an unforgiving God because of what’s happening to us. We see a God who really is sort of detached from us and could care less. He’s got too many other more important things to do or handle than us because of the fear that’s going on on the inside of us. Can I say to you, the real miracle that happened that day was not Peter walking on the water? The real miracle that happened that day was fear was finally arrested.

And it was silenced in the storm. It was silence, but it was silence in the heart of Peter, and silenced in the heart of the disciples who remained in the boat, so much so that they couldn’t do anything but fall on their faces in worship. If that happens today, I’d love to see it. Where God would deal with you so strongly, so powerfully, so personally, so intimately, that all you could do is go down to your knees and thank him for who he is. Amen.

Is Jesus Speaking?

Very quickly, here’s some questions I want you to ask yourself. I won’t spend long here because I want us to pray. But we learn from this story that it’s important to know when you hear a voice, if it is Jesus or not. So the first question is, is Jesus speaking? Again, there are many voices in the world today. It will help you get your heart to a better place. Now I want it to be simple. You know, sometimes we tend to overthink things, and that’s true even about faith.

And teachers, myself included, as we’re pressing for details, the end result is sometimes not what we want it to be. The end result is that we’ve complicated it more than we needed to complicate it. And I hope I don’t do that in the next few minutes. I really am working to just keep it simple. But at the same time, the scripture is clear. Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing, not the next good opinion or the next good idea, or what we think God might have said, or what we think the scriptures teach us.

Faith comes by actually hearing a personal word from God. And it can be so powerful, and I don’t want to jump ahead of myself, but it can be just one word. One word from Jesus can get you walking on the water. Amen. And another word can get you back up out of the water if you’re sinking today. Don’t you love what the scripture teaches? Scripture says when Peter sank, Jesus immediately grabbed him and pulled him back up and walked with him, whatever distance that was, short or long, back to the boat. Amen.

But it’s important for you to know if it’s Jesus who’s speaking to you, because that’s where your confidence is going to come from. Amen. In fact, your enduring confidence, faith that is sustained is going to come by the same word that got the journey started. You don’t necessarily need another word to keep on going. Sometimes you just need to go back to the original word that Jesus spoke to you. You say, I can’t hear Jesus speak. I can’t, I haven’t been able to hear him speak for months. Just go back to what you remember he said to you last and pick that back up and start walking again.

But many voices again vying for your attention. Remember again that there are plenty of lies that are coming at you. But there are also words that are coming at you that are attached to the name of Jesus. That Jesus never spoke. And as a Christian, I know you’re more interested in what God obviously is saying than what others are saying. I know that’s true about you. But just know there are well-meaning sometimes Christians coming at you or voices coming at you, and they’re saying in the name of Jesus, but that’s not always the case.

We’re warned not to use the Lord’s name in vain. And for years as a young believer in my teen years, I thought that just meant cursing, cursing God’s name. Saying, God damn it. But that’s not using the name of the Lord in vain, the way it’s meant in Scripture. It’s me when you sit in scripture and you see the warning in Scripture about using the Lord’s name in vain. It has to you to do with attaching his name to something he never said. And if you want to get it right, you’ve got to know Jesus is speaking to you.

What is Your Request?

Number two, once you recognize that it’s him, Peter said, Is it you? Once you recognize that it’s him, what is it you want to say to him? What is your request? I was again getting ready for Tuesday night service, and I heard the Lord, I was meditating on these verses, I heard the Lord. Just quiet voice on the inside of me, but when I heard his voice, he explained something to me about these verses I had never heard him say before. It’s it literally not an exaggeration, I’m not one of those, but it made me to tremble.

And then I wept just for a few minutes, not long, but I wept for a few minutes over what he spoke to me because it was so beautiful, so simple, and so faith-building. I just had to stop and think about it for a few minutes. What was that, Pastor? Well, what the Lord spoke to me was this. He said, Peter never asked to walk on the water. He asked me to let him come to me and to join me on the water. I want you to think about that. The water was just at that moment, and in that set of circumstances, the way that Peter would have to go to get to Jesus.

It might as well have been a desert. Because what was in Peter’s heart and what the Lord made clear to me, what was in Peter’s heart in that moment was not, oh, let me walk on the water. It was Jesus. If that’s you, say, come. I want to come to you on the water. His heart’s desire was to be. Listen, it needs to be your heart’s desire, my heart’s desire today, too. His heart’s desire in that moment was to be where Jesus was. Just to be where he was. Jesus, wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.

Jesus, wherever you go, that’s where I want to go. Jesus, whatever your will is, I want to be in the middle of that. Again, his request was to join Jesus to be able to get where he was and to experience what Jesus was experiencing. That’s a whole lot more. And it’s more pure in the way of a request than just to walk on water. In fact, Jesus was not known. Remember, he said it’s a wicked generation that seeks after a sign and a wonder. He wasn’t into just doing that for the sake of doing that.

He wasn’t going to do it with Peter either in that situation. But Peter’s request was not, Lord, I want to walk on the water. It’s I want to go where you are. I want to be with you right now in this situation. Amen. And that makes more sense to me, especially when it comes to faith that ended up not enduring. Because actually, Peter, if his request was to walk on the water, hear this. Request fulfilled. He didn’t do it long, but he did it. If that had been his request, it was fulfilled.

But it wasn’t his request. See, I don’t know about you, but I’ve asked myself as a pastor teacher for many years. Why would Jesus refer to Peter’s faith as little faith when he actually walked on the water? I’m sorry. But if you and I can take one step out of a boat and walk on water, one full step. That’s a pretty good miracle. It took more than a little faith. Am I making the point? If it if his request had been, I want to walk on the water, well, he did.

But his faith was small. It was little, not in the sense of substance, but of endurance. I’m going to get to that. But here’s what the third question is, and I’ll stop. How now I’ll get to number four. How did Jesus, what did Jesus say to you? That’s the third question you need to ask. And did Jesus, how did Jesus respond? How is he responding to you? You got a request this morning. The question is, how did Jesus respond, or what will he say to you? You’re looking for a yes from Jesus.

You’re looking for positive permission. Because again, one word from Jesus is essential to your faith. Isaiah 61, 11. I have this from the Amplified, says this, for as surely as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring forth, so surely the Lord God will cause rightness and justice and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Watch this, through the self-fulfilling power of his word. The word that Jesus will speak to you has the power to fulfill itself.

It is self-fulfilling. Very important to the fourth point we’re about to get to. Remember that. Whatever word Jesus speaks to you, whatever positive permission, whatever revelation he brings to your life, has the power within itself, much like a seed does, the power to fulfill itself. What’s in within what’s within it? God watches over his word to perform it. Amen. So Jesus will be clear with you concerning your request. Amen.

What Jesus Begins, He Finishes

And the last one here, this is the reminder. In order to sustain faith to receive, you must always remember that what Jesus, what that what Jesus said yes to, he essentially begins with you, your walk on the water, he finishes with you. Again, in order to sustain faith to receive, you must always remember that what Jesus said yes to, what he essentially begins with you, your walk on the water, he will finish with you.

Again, the words little faith there in the scripture, the phrase little faith is a sort of a long, hard to pronounce Greek word in the original text. But it actually literally means this. It means to be almost persuaded. Say almost persuaded. Would you stand to your feet with me, please? So here’s what happened. Peter said, Lord, if that’s you, speak a word to me, and here’s my request. Jesus said yes to his request, spoke a word, just one word. That’s all it was necessary.

Don’t forget that this time of year we remember a number of things, and among them the words of the angel to Mary, the mother of Jesus. And Mary came to this conclusion after hearing the angel speak, as impossible as her situation was and would be, giving birth as a virgin, conceiving, giving birth as a virgin, she made this decision. She said, Lord, let it be unto me according to what? My word. Your word. One word from God. What’s happening? So Peter grabbed hold of that.

Watch this. He did walk on water. So his request was not fulfilled because his request was to join Jesus and be where he was to experience with him what Jesus was experiencing. Can I say to you again this morning? Jesus, almost every situation, there are a few things that Jesus reserves for himself, even during his earthly ministry. He didn’t have even his closest circle of friends join him every place. Even in this story, there was a time where he wanted to be alone to pray.

So there’s some places Jesus doesn’t want you to go with him. There are a few of those places. But a lot of places remain where Jesus wants to walk, not listen, he doesn’t just want you to walk. He doesn’t want to just walk you to them. Because what Peter, his faith did not endure. The word oligopistos is the word, and it doesn’t have to do with the size of faith, we would say dynamically, or physically, or you know, it didn’t have anything to do with the amount of faith that Peter had.

It had to do with a faith that was at work. Peter was in the process of being persuaded, but the process was interrupted. How is it interrupted in this case? He got to looking at what was happening. He got to really paying attention to the crashing waves against him. He got to his mind started working. He started thinking about his friends. I’m just kind of imagining this. He began to think about some of his close friends who didn’t make it in a storm, whose bodies were still perhaps at the bottom of this very same body of water.

He began to be afraid. The force of the winds got to be too much for him as he was in the process of being persuaded of what, Marshall? Watch this. That what Jesus had begun, he would also finish. We talked about it, touched on it. This is so key. But what Jesus begins in you, he is committed to complete in you. He didn’t listen, yeah, yeah. Here, he didn’t say to Peter, okay, Peter, come. Now you’re on your own. What’s wrong with you? He didn’t do that.

He had every intention of not just calling Peter to him, but walking with him. The whole journey. Scripture says that, Philippians 1 6 says it in a number of places. But Paul wrote this, he said, I pray with great faith for you. Because I’m fully convinced that the one who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue. Would you say that faithfully continue? The process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Doesn’t the Bible say that we should keep our eyes on Jesus? Who is what? The author and what? Finisher of our faith. Amplified says He’s the one who puts a polishing touch on our faith. Amen. Jesus isn’t just committed to you having faith, He’s committed to you sustaining it. And He’s gonna, he was right there with Peter again. You’re gonna fall, I fall. We’re gonna start out in faith, we’re gonna get our get out of the boat. Miracle is already happening. Because there’s so many that said we would never get out of the boat.

There were so many that said you can never walk on water. There’s so many that say you can never have what you’re praying for. Miracles are over. But you got out and you started walking on the water, but you found out it wasn’t just a moment, it wasn’t just an event to be had, it was a part of a process that Jesus is equally committed to. So I’m telling you this morning. Whatever is weighing you down, whatever is pressing on you, whatever’s oppressing you, whatever’s saying you, speaking you, screaming out to you, threatening you.

Whatever it is, Jesus is just right there. Even in your sinking, He is so close. He’s on the inside of you. But his hand is outstretched. Just to show you how important it is to breathe. That’s not Jesus. I see you. It’s dark. The waters are dark. They’ve got their eyes closed. They’re afraid. Where’s the help? Jesus said, I got you. I’m your I’m your insurance policy. I’m your health care. I’m your great physician. I’m your banker. I’m your counselor. I’m your what I’m your healer.

I’m whatever you need today in your journey and following after me. He reached down, he pulled Peter up. And he he didn’t get in his face, say, Oh, you little faith. He got Peter up out of that water. And he looked at him and he said, Well, you were almost persuaded. That to me sounds like a compliment. You got out of the boat, Peter. Way to go. Yeah, you’re sinking. You don’t feel great right now, but guess what? I’m proud of you. You took a step of faith. You trusted in what I said to you.

Yeah, you’re sinking. But here I am. Let’s get back up. He reached down in the waters to pull him back up and they walked back. Now I like to imagine they danced a little bit on the water, just a little something. Or they took the long way back. I like to think that. I don’t know that’s what happened here. I’m just having fun with that part of it. But they walked together back to the boat, whatever distance that was.

Guys, can I say something to you? Jesus is right here right now. Whether you’re walking on the water or whether you’re you’re sinking in the water. Your tendency and my tendency is to begin in the spirit. But then we take it as a challenge to our own ability to finish it. You’re in good company. Abraham, the father of faith, did that very thing. Paul had to rebuke the Galatian church who had heard the gospel. Grace and faith. Their lives were transformed.

They fell into a time, a season of legalism where they began to think, well, it’s what Jesus did on the cross, but it’s also what I can do that saves me. And Paul wrote a very emotional letter to them, and he asked this question. He said, Have you never but having begun in the spirit? Do you really think that now you’re going to reach maturity and be made perfect by what you can do? He’s saying, God forbid. And I’m urging you, and I believe with the help of the Holy Spirit, you’re going to rise up above this.

You’re going to lay down your faith and your effort, your faith in what you can do. And you’re going to get your eyes back on Jesus. What does that mean? Listen. Have you ever really, I know you have. Have you ever really looked into the eyes of someone who truly, truly, deeply, deeply loved you and desired life with you? It’s life changing. And so when the Bible teaches us to look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, it’s teaching us to set our eyes on his.

Show you again what it’s like to walk by faith, just like he did Peter. Amen. So, did you get anything out of this? Does it help you this morning? So here’s what we’re gonna do. Oh, I’m so grateful for the opportunity. There’s one thing Jesus knows that I love to do. He knows I love to do that. But he knows beyond that. I love touching you and praying for you. He just knows that. And so anytime I sense that divine flow, which I’ve been sensing and I sense this morning for you, I just I feel honored and privileged, and I just look so forward to it.

I lose sleep, looking forward to it. And we’re going to pray for those of you who are here today who want us to pray with you. This is a time where we’re dismissing. Anyway, I’d hope to finish sooner, and that’s going to be a miracle for me in the future. I cut over half my notes out and still went this long. But I believe it was necessary for what’s about to happen for you. No, we’re not going to keep all of you here. If you, you know, you want to go, you want to leave, that’s that’s that’s fine.

And we’re gonna let you do that in just another minute. But and just keep those who want to be prayed for by the laying on of hands in service with us. I love that our worship team is committed to this. Would you thank them for me? I just, you know, they they’re gonna they’re gonna lend their gifts and their graces to again establishing a culture of you walking on the water or you recovering yourself from the water, again, whatever circumstances of life you’re you’re faced with today.

But I did want this, and this was last minute, and I asked Carlin, thank you, Carlin, to do this with me. In fact, I don’t even have a paper copy of it, but I’ve got it for you on the screens. And here’s what I want to do with all of you this morning before we shift. I want you to pray this prayer with me out loud. We’re just gonna go through it like you know, we probably we do this with the Lord’s Prayer. We repeat it together. This is a prayer that the Spirit of God inspired on the inside of me for you, and for a moment like this for all of you.

So whether you’re gonna come up in the prayer line or not, I want you before you leave the property today to pray this out loud with me. Would you do that this morning? I think it’ll be a blessing for you. Say, Father God, I pray today for a first return, if need be, to your Lordship and our privileged place of following closely after you. You offer mercy for new opportunities and grace to help us make the most of them. We receive both mercy and grace now by faith.

I pray for fresh revelation of your thoughtful provision for every area of our lives, literally every area, as well as for an understanding of the deep commitment you’ve made to get it into our hands to enjoy and to use wisely, for relief, special lifting grace tailored specifically to what’s happening now and for the weariness we’ve carried within. I pray for ordained times that will restore faith, renew strength, and revive joy. I pray that we would regain our mental and emotional health.

We thank you for deliverance from all that troubles us in our minds now. We declare a soundness of mind for all in Jesus’ name. I also pray for supernatural release from what continues to threaten us and fill us with fear. Lord, cause us to recognize and to hear your voice and to resist any attempts of the stranger, words from the shadows to get us off path. I pray rehabilitation concerning our ability to hope again and willingness to dream great things for the future.

Open our eyes to how you see us and how valuable we are to you and all you have prepared for us. Of the superabundance that we already possess in Christ, a life we could never deserve or afford. We respond with a heartfelt please and thank you, and the assurance that you have both heard and answered our prayer. In Jesus’ exalted name, we pray this day. So be it. And amen. Come on, let’s give God our praise today. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord.