Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
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Please join us today on
Pressing Into His Presence,
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as we're going to learn how
to leap over that wall that we
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erect between us and God.
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Welcome to
Pressing Into His Presence.
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On this series we
are walking through the
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praise prayer pattern.
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We've already studied
the P which is for praise,
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R for repentance,
A for affirmations,
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I for intercession, and
today we are going to start
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talking about the S,
which stands for supplication.
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When we come before our
Lord expressing heartfelt needs
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of our own, that's
what supplication is about.
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Now if you're following along
in our program companion book,
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Pressing Into His
Presence, today we are going to
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begin with Chapter 9.
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When praying for special needs
for yourself, rather than for
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others, the word supplication
is often put into service.
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It means to make an entreaty;
to cry from a heart filled
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with a sense of need.
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David frequently used the
word supplication as he pleaded
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for his own benefit.
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And we see that in
Psalms 143:1 where he says:
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And in the garden of Gethsemane
Christ made supplication
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for Himself in the
midst of His prayers.
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Hebrews 5:7 says:
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You know, Paul tells us
also in Philippians 4:6,
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Be anxious for nothing, but
in everything, by prayer and
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supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your request
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be made known to God.
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So for the purpose of the
praise prayer, the PRAISE,
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this pattern, supplication
is used to define prayers
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on behalf of ourself.
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With clean hands, and a
pure heart, and Godly reverence,
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we will, as Hebrews 4:16
invites us to come boldly before
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His throne of grace, to make
appeals to our heavenly Father
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for help in our time of need.
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In this series we have also been
noting how the praise prayer
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pattern relates to the ancient
earthly Sanctuary pattern.
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And on the basis of this
symbolism, we will consider
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the last piece of the
furniture within the holy place,
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the golden candlestick, and my
perceived connection with this
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prayer segment on supplication.
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You know the
Sanctuary was a covered tent.
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It had no windows, so there
was no natural light within.
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And the seven branched golden
candlestick was the light bearer
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in the holy place.
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It was exquisitely decorated.
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It was a beautiful work of
art made according to the divine
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pattern given by God on Mount
Sinai, and approximately five
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feet tall, and
constructed of pure gold.
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It was formed by hand.
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From its base
rose a single pillar.
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It was a pillar like branch.
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That was the lamp stand.
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And then it had six arms, three
on each side, that came out and
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three...Well three on one
side, and three on the other.
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So multiple almond shaped
bowls were on this main branch,
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and on each of
the branch like arms.
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And those bowls held the
purest hand pressed olive oil
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as the fuel source for the
seven, richly adorned lamps.
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The lamps provided necessary
light in the holy place
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for the priests to
perform their duties,
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and they burned continually.
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In fact in Exodus 27:20, and in
Leviticus 24:2, God commands the
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continual burning of the lamp,
which would necessitate cleaning
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one lamp at a time, because
the hanging door entrance,
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to the entrance of the holy
place shut out all the natural
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light in that 30 x 15 foot room.
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So how does the Sanctuary
symbolism of the golden
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candlestick relate to us
in our time of supplication?
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In the interest of brevity,
I'm going to offer a quick
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parallel point summary.
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In the first chapter of
Revelation the apostle John
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describes Christ walking
through seven golden lamp stands
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identified as seven
churches of apostolic times.
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Now we are the church.
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Our bodies are
the temple of God.
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But there's no
natural light within us.
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Jesus is the great lamp
stand, the light of the world,
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and in Him we
have branch like life.
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He is actually called
the Branch in Scripture.
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And God refers to His people
as the branch of My planting,
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the work of My hands.
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We are God's workmanship,
recreated in the image of Jesus,
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according to the divine pattern
shown on the hill of Calvary.
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God is purifying and
refining us by His hand into
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vessels of pure gold.
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In Bible symbolism oil
represents the Holy Spirit.
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Kings and priests
were anointed with oil.
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And now that the Holy Spirit
has been poured out on us,
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we have His anointing.
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And in the book of Revelation
the sevenfold Spirit of God
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is before His throne.
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Now that number
seven is symbolic.
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It's the symbolic expression
of completion or perfection.
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It is the power of the
sevenfold Holy Spirit that keeps
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the flame of God,
just the zeal, godly zeal,
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burning in our hearts
continually, as represented
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by the oil that fueled
the seven branched lamps.
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The priests of old were required
to dress this candlestick
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each morning; throwing out the
ashes, and refilling the oil.
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And as we go before our
Lord with our supplication,
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I consider that we are
symbolically dressing the seven
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branched
candlestick in the morning,
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seeking a fresh
supply of His Spirit.
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Consider what
Zachariah 4:6 says.
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I'll read from
the Amplified Version.
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Oh, we need for God to
pour out His Spirit of grace
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and supplication on us.
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Grace for power to go
through the day victoriously,
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and supplication as
guided by the Spirit,
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for we know not how
to pray for ourselves.
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Romans 8:26 says this:
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You know, Psalms 37:4 says,
Delight yourself in the Lord,
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and He shall give you
the desires of your heart.
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What a beautiful promise.
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And what a tragedy that
this verse has been hijacked
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by prosperity teachers
who twist the Scriptures
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to their own destruction.
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Those false prophets foster
the idea of naming most anything
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that you want, and claiming
it from God, implying ye have
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not because you claim not.
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They do not consider the
context of their reference,
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or what the rest of
this Scripture says.
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It seems that they have
forgotten what James 4:2-4 says.
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Here's what James wrote:
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And then in 1 John
2:15, 16 John warns us:
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You see, when we find our
delight in God, His desires
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become our desires.
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Our all consuming passion is not
for a new Mercedes Benz vehicle,
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rather we hunger and
thirst for righteousness.
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And like Jacob in his mysterious
wrestling session that he had
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we cry out, Oh, I will not
let You go unless You bless me.
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You know, this is the only Bible
example that I can think of
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off the top of my head where
prayer was presented as a demand
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rather than as a request.
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And it was indeed a prayer,
because the man with whom
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Jacob wrestled was God.
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The Lord rewarded him
with a change of character,
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which was symbolized by changing
his name, Jacob, which meant
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deceiver, or supplanter,
to Israel, a name that means
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a victor with God.
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In my own prayer experience,
as God increased the intimacy
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and the intensity of my prayers,
through pressing into His
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presence, I
learned to be like Jacob.
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I learned to make supplication
for that which was most
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important, a changed character.
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When we delight ourselves in the
Lord, we pray for those things
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which are most important to
Him, and He graciously adds our
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required
necessities to our life.
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As Jesus said in Matthew 6:32,
He said, Seek first the kingdom
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of His God, and His
righteousness, and all these
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things shall be added unto you.
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As we seek His righteousness
first, our Father, who longs to
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bless us; He longs to give
us gifts, and many pleasant
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surprises, He hears.
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And perhaps the greatest example
of this principle in action
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is the account of Solomon's
prayer after God instructed
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Solomon, Ask.
What shall I give you?
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And acknowledging the Lord's
goodness, the young king asked
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for nothing more than
wisdom to rule over His people.
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The request found favor with
God, and in 1 Kings 3:11-13,
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this is what
God said to Solomon:
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See, Jesus teaches us to
pray for our daily needs,
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so it is Scriptural to
pray for life's necessities.
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Still, let me ask you something.
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And this is a
penetrating question.
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Above and beyond all of
your critical requirements,
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if God spoke to you like
He spoke to Solomon saying,
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Ask, ask of Me anything.
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What would you have Me give you?
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What is your greatest desire?
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Let me ask, What
treasures would be on your list?
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Are they essential for eternity?
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God taught me that there is one
supreme prayer request that I
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should present first when I come
before Him with supplication.
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The matter of foremost
importance, to be desired above
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all else, is to pray
for a continuous filling
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of the Holy Spirit.
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It's the very thing He commands
in Ephesians 5:18 saying:
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And not only does God
command this continuous filling,
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but it is the very
thing He is most eager to do.
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In Luke 11:13 Jesus tells us:
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One of the greatest desires of
our Father's heart is for us to
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recognize our need to be filled
with the Spirit, and to walk in
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surrender to His will.
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We should ask Him daily
for this great gift of grace.
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We'll prove this from
Scripture in just a moment,
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but for now we need
only to consider why.
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If we call ourselves Christians,
but we do not possess
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the Spirit of God, we are
nothing more than pretenders,
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people who profess to belong
to God's family, when in fact we
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have not been born again.
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We may be convinced,
but we're not converted.
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And then there's the sentimental
Christian who professes love for
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Christ, but refuses
to walk in obedience.
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They lack the Spirit of God.
00:15:17.21\00:15:18.95
On the other side is the
Pharisaical Christian who's
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devoted to doctrine
rather than to Christ.
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They lack the Spirit of God.
00:15:26.82\00:15:28.42
Both are walking in the flesh,
and flesh defined is the nature
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of man without the Holy Spirit.
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We must put off the old, and
put on the new nature recreated
00:15:36.46\00:15:43.47
in the image of Jesus.
00:15:43.51\00:15:45.84
Daily we should ask to
be filled with the Spirit.
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Let's look at Ephesians
3:14 and onward. Paul writes:
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What is this power?
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He just got through saying.
00:16:25.88\00:16:27.18
In the Greek is
actually says strengthened
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with power, with dunamus.
00:16:29.42\00:16:31.19
So according to that
dunamus power that works in us,
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There is only one
way to walk with God.
00:16:43.10\00:16:46.63
We must be filled with
the Holy Spirit day by day.
00:16:46.67\00:16:49.57
This is how we
possess the life of Christ.
00:16:49.60\00:16:52.87
His Spirit makes a profound
difference in our lives,
00:16:52.91\00:16:56.75
as He works His power to create
God's purity and purposes in us.
00:16:56.78\00:17:02.82
Oh may the recognition of
our great need bring us to our
00:17:02.85\00:17:08.12
knees, and may our heart cry
of supplication be, Oh fill me
00:17:08.16\00:17:14.76
with Your Spirit Father.
00:17:14.83\00:17:16.87
He is eagerly
waiting to respond.
00:17:16.90\00:17:20.14
And as He does, our hearts
will be ablaze with the power,
00:17:20.17\00:17:25.57
and the presence of God.
00:17:25.61\00:17:27.61
You know, sometime late in the
year 2000, I experienced a short
00:17:27.64\00:17:33.52
spelled spiritual
falter when I quit practicing
00:17:33.55\00:17:37.62
life affirmations from
Scripture for a few weeks.
00:17:37.65\00:17:40.69
And praying God's promises had
been a vital practice, which God
00:17:40.72\00:17:45.33
had taught me to do,
but I just wasn't doing it.
00:17:45.36\00:17:48.46
The strong desire I previously
had to do this seemed to be
00:17:48.50\00:17:52.23
overridden by a type of
spiritually numbing resistance.
00:17:52.27\00:17:57.44
So one morning, as I pressed
into His presence, I reached a
00:17:57.47\00:18:01.68
pivotal point, and I forced
myself to include affirmations
00:18:01.71\00:18:06.35
in my prayer. So paraphrasing
1 Corinthians 6:17, I prayed
00:18:06.38\00:18:12.85
and said, Ah, thank You
Father that because I am joined
00:18:12.89\00:18:17.03
to Christ, I am
one in Spirit with You.
00:18:17.06\00:18:20.16
And my words of affirmation
just had a crushing impact.
00:18:20.20\00:18:25.10
To be one with God is to
be united in thought, purpose,
00:18:25.13\00:18:29.37
and action. And I was far from
being one in Spirit with God.
00:18:29.40\00:18:33.78
But I wanted to be.
00:18:33.81\00:18:35.98
And by faith I accepted
that this was God's will for me,
00:18:36.01\00:18:39.61
and that He would work
this oneness into my heart
00:18:39.65\00:18:42.45
if I would only cooperate.
00:18:42.48\00:18:45.15
And so I began to weep.
00:18:45.19\00:18:47.02
And I said, Please, Father,
I know I'm not one with You.
00:18:47.06\00:18:49.69
I'm simply calling
things that are not
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as though they already were.
00:18:51.79\00:18:53.26
I know it's faith, but
Lord I don't know how to become
00:18:53.29\00:18:56.16
how to become one with You.
00:18:56.20\00:18:57.80
Why is it that I run in a
teaching that you have given me,
00:18:57.83\00:19:01.87
and then awake one
day to find out that I'm
00:19:01.90\00:19:05.21
no longer following it?
00:19:05.24\00:19:06.47
Please help me to understand.
00:19:06.51\00:19:08.98
And God impressed this
thought upon my heart saying,
00:19:09.01\00:19:13.28
I will soon explain to
you the wall of resistance
00:19:13.31\00:19:19.59
that you are hitting.
00:19:19.62\00:19:20.92
Wow! His thought impressed
upon my mind was stunning!
00:19:20.96\00:19:27.10
Exactly! That was it!
00:19:27.13\00:19:29.36
I felt like I had hit the wall.
00:19:29.40\00:19:32.03
And although I did not
know the solution to my problem,
00:19:32.07\00:19:35.70
I was somehow comforted.
00:19:35.74\00:19:37.74
God understood, and He
would soon share the solution.
00:19:37.77\00:19:42.01
For two weeks I prayed and
said, Lord, explain this wall of
00:19:42.04\00:19:46.98
resistance that
You talked about.
00:19:47.02\00:19:49.38
What is it? And each day my
prayers became more earnest.
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One day I was praying 2
Corinthians 3:18, paraphrasing
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God's promise as an affirmation.
00:20:00.50\00:20:02.86
And I was saying, Thank
You Father that I am beholding
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in Your Word, as in a mirror,
Your glory, Your character,
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and that I am being
transformed into your image,
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from glory to glory, transformed
from one level of Your character
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to the next by the
power of Your Holy Spirit.
00:20:21.58\00:20:24.65
And suddenly my eyes
stung hot again, and sorrow
00:20:24.69\00:20:30.16
poured forth in tears.
00:20:30.19\00:20:31.66
You know what,
I'm not a weepy woman.
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But I felt that I was in a
spiritual stupor, and powerless,
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absolutely powerless to
advance in my Christian walk.
00:20:37.97\00:20:41.67
I needed help to get
beyond this mysterious
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wall of resistance
that was blocking my way.
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And as I was seeking God
with heart-rending humility,
00:20:49.38\00:20:55.25
a scene appeared in my eyes.
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Has this ever happened to you?
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Now I've spoken with many Saints
who have experienced this;
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when you're praying and
you suddenly see a picture.
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What I saw was
this huge staircase,
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and it was
illuminated by a bright light.
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And it ascended way
up into the heavens.
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It had exceedingly high steps.
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Each of the steps were
drawn out for a great distance
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of length as well.
00:21:24.61\00:21:25.95
And there I was running
along one of the lower steps,
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glancing back over my shoulder.
00:21:30.32\00:21:33.05
And without warning, as
I'm looking back, whack!
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I hit the wall, and I cried
and I said, What is it Lord?
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What is this
wall that I'm hitting?
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And immediately this thought
was impressed upon my mind.
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Listen carefully
because this was amazing.
00:21:51.07\00:21:55.28
What God spoke to my heart
was this: Every time you hit the
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wall it is a wall of
self-preservation that you hit.
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Did you hear that?
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It's a wall of
self-preservation.
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You're headed in
the right direction,
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but looking back to self.
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He said, Turn
full face to Me child.
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Keep your eyes on Me.
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Mercy! Wow! A wall of
self-preservation was keeping me
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from getting closer to God.
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The Lord caused me to understand
that each step in this staircase
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scenario represented
another level of His glory,
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which He proclaimed to
Moses to be His character.
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Each advancing step symbolized
achieving another level
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of the Lord's character.
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And in my mind I moved backward,
and I was trying to look at the
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wall to get a better view.
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And all of a sudden I realized
that the wall that I hit
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was actually the
front of the next step.
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I gasped at the size of
it, which was at least ten
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times taller than me.
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I could see no way to
climb it, and I cried,
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How do I get over the wall Lord?
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How do I reach the next step?
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His response to me was to scale
the wall of self-preservation.
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To become more like Me, you
must be willing to give up more
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of your self interest.
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You must be
willing to surrender to Me.
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Take My hand and
I will lift you up.
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He directed me to a
Scripture that has become
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one of my favorites.
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Let's look at it. It is 2 Samuel
22:29, 30. David said here:
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You know I was
prompted to study on the topic
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of becoming more Christlike.
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It is God's word
that brings light.
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I had already
tasted the transforming
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power of His promises.
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I already understood
that God works in us to will
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and to act according
to His good pleasure.
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And I also knew that Paul said
in Colossians 1:27 that this is
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the mystery, Christ in
you, the hope of glory.
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The life of Christ being
lived out in us is our only hope
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of achieving His
glory, His character.
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And further study convinced
me that in order to have more
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of Christ's life in us,
we needed more of His Spirit.
00:24:56.06\00:25:00.80
You see, we can only be
filled with the Holy Spirit
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to the degree we
are emptied of self.
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To make it over this wall
of self-preservation we must
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come to Him. We must
be willing to surrender,
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willing to deny self, willing
to be filled with His Spirit.
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And further, if we'll just reach
up and take hold of His hand,
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He will lift us up.
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It is by His Spirit that we
are transformed, just as Paul
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explained it in
2 Corinthians 3:18.
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And lets look at that.
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2 Corinthians
3:18 reads like this:
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In other words not with a face
like Moses, who had to veil his
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face after
seeing the Lord's glory.
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It is all about the work
of the Holy Spirit in us.
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All we have to do is surrender.
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But you know something?
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When we use the word
surrender, a lot of us are like,
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Yeah, I know I'm supposed
to, but how do I surrender?
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I don't understand
what to do to surrender.
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And I am so excited
because that was my question.
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I went before the Lord,
and I prayed and I said, Lord,
00:26:46.20\00:26:49.87
I know what you're
calling me to do now.
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I realize that the only
way to get over this wall of
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self-preservation, this wall,
this selfishness in my heart
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that I don't want to
give up more of self.
00:27:02.02\00:27:05.05
The only way is if I
take hold of Your hand.
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And You want me to surrender,
but how do I surrender?
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And you know something?
00:27:12.36\00:27:14.13
God is so good! Anytime we
go to Him, anytime we ask Him
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a question, He
is going to respond.
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Sometimes He gives it to me
in just little pieces at a time,
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and then sometimes
He just pours it out.
00:27:28.51\00:27:31.58
But He will take us through
His word, and He will show us
00:27:31.61\00:27:35.82
how to do what we're asking.
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And that's what we're
going to do on our next program.
00:27:38.62\00:27:42.72
We're so thankful that
you were with us today,
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but I pray you will join us next
week especially, because we are
00:27:47.40\00:27:53.47
going to be talking about
how God taught me to surrender
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straight from the Scriptures.
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Our prayer for you is the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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the love of the Father, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit
00:28:02.88\00:28:05.88
will be with you always.
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