Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000024A
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00:25 Hello, and welcome to Heart Lift.
00:26 I'm Jill Morikone, and I'm so glad that you 00:29 have joined us today. 00:31 We're on a journey toward hope, toward healing, 00:34 toward the transformation that the Lord Jesus Christ 00:37 wants to work in your heart and in mine, as women, 00:41 as daughters of God. 00:43 If you're just joining us, we're in the middle of our section 00:47 dealing with transformation. 00:49 We talked about the washed heart, the pruned heart, 00:52 and last program we began a two part on The Spirit Filled Heart. 00:58 We likened the Spirit to being the dew 01:01 that falls on our hearts. 01:04 And just as when dew falls on the grass, 01:07 it requires time in order to form, it requires stillness, 01:11 and quietness, and cooler temperatures, the same way 01:15 it requires time waiting before our Father in heaven. 01:20 Today we're discussing Watering By The Dew, 01:24 and Equipping Through The Dew. 01:27 Our Scripture is Joel 2, Joel 2:28, 29. The Bible says: 01:36 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out 01:39 My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters 01:44 shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, 01:47 your young men shall see visions: and also on My 01:52 men servants and on My maid servants I will pour out My 01:57 Spirit in those days. 02:01 Let's pray. Father we come before You right now 02:06 in the name of Jesus, thanking You that You want to pour out 02:11 Your Spirit upon us as Your daughters. 02:15 Lord we open our hearts to receive it, 02:18 and we pray just now that our minds, our hearts, would be 02:23 prepared to receive what You have for us in Your Word. 02:27 And we thank You, and surrender our lives anew to You, 02:32 in the precious, and the Holy name of Jesus, Amen. 02:36 It was one of those hot, lazy days of summer. 02:39 But I didn't have time to sit down, or to run outside, 02:43 or to get wet and jump in the pool. 02:45 Greg and I had rushed home from work. 02:48 We'd eaten a quick supper, and we were on our way back out 02:51 to visit a church member. 02:53 I was on my way out the side door into the garage, 02:56 and I opened up the door, and the heat just hit 02:59 me full in the face. 03:01 The temperature gauge in the garage, 03:04 it stood at a flat 100 degrees. 03:07 Greg had already opened up one of the garage doors in order to 03:12 cool it down a little bit, and because we were getting 03:14 ready to drive away. 03:16 Just as I was ready to get in the car, I heard Greg's voice. 03:20 Jilly, come here quick! 03:22 So I came and I looked and there at the very peak of our 03:27 garage roof was a little humming bird, beating its green wings 03:33 in a vain attempt to escape out of the peak of the roof. 03:36 I ran outside. I grabbed a humming bird feeder. 03:39 I came in and I held it up high in a hope that possibly 03:45 she would come down, get some food, 03:47 and we could get her outside. 03:48 It didn't work. Greg said, That's not going to work. 03:52 We've got to get her quick. 03:54 Its so hot. It was 100 where we were. 03:56 You know its hotter right all the way up at the peak. 04:00 He grabbed the ladder. 04:02 He climbed up. He had on his gloves. 04:05 Then I kind of held my breath as he stepped from truss to truss, 04:09 there in the rafters in the roof. 04:12 And he reached up his hand and grabbed the little humming bird. 04:17 She began to squawk in a way that I've never heard 04:21 from a humming bird before. 04:22 He stepped from truss to truss, and then I held the 04:26 ladder as he descended. 04:28 Quickly we went outside, shut the garage door, 04:32 and I got the humming bird food and brought it to her. 04:35 Greg opened up his hand, and she just laid 04:38 there in his hand. 04:40 After awhile she opened up her beak, 04:44 and began to drink the nectar. 04:47 We just watched in wonder for a few seconds, 04:50 and then she must have gotten enough sugar, enough nutrients 04:54 in her body, and she lifted off and was gone. 04:57 As we drove away, I thought of my own life, 05:02 and my own experience. 05:04 How many times had I wandered where it was unsafe, 05:08 thinking I could get out of the temptation any moment I chose? 05:12 How many times had I refused the open door, the easy way home? 05:18 How often had my Savior climbed the ladder of my own 05:23 stubbornness and pride? reaching out His scarred 05:28 hands to pick me up, exhausted from the struggle, 05:31 and desperate for a way out? 05:34 How often had I cried out against the very thing He was 05:39 using to bring me home? 05:41 And yet my precious Father, after rescuing me 05:47 and giving me strength to walk again, had opened His hand 05:52 and released me, setting me free to choose again? 05:57 I love that about our God. 06:00 He gives us freedom of choice. 06:03 And the same thing holds true with the spiritual dew 06:08 that we're talking about, with the anointing 06:10 from the Holy Spirit. 06:12 It's a choice. We can say, I don't want that. 06:16 I don't want anything to do with You. 06:18 Or we can open up our hearts to receive the dew, 06:23 the anointing from the Holy Spirit. 06:27 Hosea 14:5 says: I will be as the dew unto Israel. 06:35 God wants to be as the dew, bringing water, refreshment, 06:40 abundance, life, vegetation, fruitfulness to your 06:45 life, and to my life. 06:47 We're talking today about watering by the dew, 06:50 and equipping through the dew. 06:53 I think there's four keys to being watered, 06:56 four keys to being watered that we want to look at. 06:59 1. Time. The process takes time, both in the physical world, 07:06 and in the Spiritual world. It takes time. 07:08 Time for the dew to form on the plants. 07:12 Time for us to linger in His presence, to savor being with 07:16 our Father in heaven. 07:18 2. We need to ask. 07:22 Ask for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 07:25 Ask for the dew to be poured upon us. 07:30 Luke 11 talks about this. 07:33 Luke chapter 11; we're looking specifically at verses 9-13. 07:38 The Bible says, I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; 07:42 seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened unto you. 07:48 For every one who asks receives; 07:51 and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks 07:54 it will be opened. 07:56 If a son asks for bread will the father give him a stone? 08:01 Of course not. If he asks for a fish, 08:05 will the Dad give him a serpent? 08:08 Or if he asks for an egg, is the Dad going to 08:12 give him a scorpion? No. 08:15 Then he says, If you then, being evil, know how to give good 08:20 gifts to your children; how much more is the Father in heaven 08:24 going to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? 08:28 Simply come into His presence and ask. 08:32 For two years we had a prayer group at our local church here. 08:38 It was a woman's prayer group. 08:39 We met every Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. to pray. 08:43 We did it partly as part of the Revival and Reformation 08:47 Initiative that had prayer from the General Conference, 08:50 that had prayer at 7:00 in the morning and 7:00 at night, 08:54 every day of the week. 08:56 But we met as women to pray together to seek God's face. 09:01 We prayed for revival in our hearts. 09:03 We prayed for reformation in our lives, and in the lives of our 09:07 husbands, and the lives of our families. 09:10 We prayed for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 09:15 My friend, Melody Mason, she coordinates Prayer Ministry 09:22 for the General Conference, and not in the sense of the Prayer 09:25 Ministry Department, I want to make that clear. 09:28 But she coordinates these Special Prayer Initiatives 09:31 so when they have a General Conference she coordinated 09:34 the hundred days of prayer leading up to that. 09:36 She coordinates, goes around the world and does Special Prayer 09:39 Initiatives when they have Fall Council, and the leadership 09:42 comes together to make important decisions, 09:45 she comes early with her team. 09:47 They walk up and down the halls; they pray. 09:52 And each one of the offices; they come early in the morning 09:57 before anybody's there. 09:58 I think they start at 3:00 or 4:00. 10:00 I don't remember how early. 10:02 They start early and pray in the offices for revival, 10:05 for reformation, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 10:11 James 4:3 says, You have not because you ask not, 10:17 so ask, and seek, and find. 10:21 What if we are not watered by the dew? 10:25 What if I'm not watered by the dew simply 10:29 because I never asked, simply because I never came into 10:34 God's presence, took time and asked Him for the Holy Spirit? 10:41 1. We know that it takes time; time to linger in His presence. 10:47 2. We ask. Ask for the Holy Spirit. 10:51 3. Let Him fill you, or allow Him to fill your 10:58 life and your heart. 11:00 Ephesians 5 talks about this very thing. 11:03 Ephesians 5:18. Paul says, Don't be drunk with wine, 11:13 in which is dissipation;... 11:14 The second part of the verse is what we want to focus on. 11:16 ...but be filled with the Holy Spirit;... 11:20 The New Testament was written in Greek. 11:24 And if you look at the Greek word for filled: 11:26 ...be filled with the Holy Spirit;... 11:28 You know what it means? 11:30 It means continually; with continuous action, 11:35 be filled with the Holy Spirit. 11:37 It doesn't mean, I'm filled this morning, and I'm good. 11:41 I'm good. I've got this, God. 11:42 I'm good for a week, or two, or a month. 11:45 It means continually, not just every morning. 11:50 It means throughout the day. 11:52 Let Him fill you. Allow Him to fill you. 11:56 4. Walk in obedience. 12:02 God tells us that He gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey 12:10 Him; to those who walk in obedience. 12:13 Now I know obedience can seem like a little stressful word. 12:17 We think, I can't obey. 12:19 And, of course, we can't. 12:21 Only the Lord Jesus Christ pours Himself into our 12:24 hearts as we surrender. 12:26 He enables us to make choices for Him. 12:29 But to me obedience is simply saying, Yes, to Jesus. 12:33 When He calls for my heart I say, Yes! 12:36 When He says, Jill, don't go hang with those people. 12:39 I say, Yes. When He says, Jill forgive so and so. 12:45 I say, Yes. And I can't, but work out Your will in me. 12:49 Enable me to do that. 12:51 It's simply saying, Yes, to Jesus. 12:54 When I was nine years old, my parents got me 13:01 my first pair of heels. 13:03 They were white, and they were adorable. 13:07 Now, you have to understand, growing up we did not have 13:10 a great deal of money. 13:12 We always had enough for food, and we always had enough that 13:17 I never wanted for, you know, warmth, clothing, shelter. 13:23 Never for that. However, my sister and I, 13:27 we always wore hand-me-downs. 13:29 I was ten before I had my first store bought dress. 13:33 My grandma sewed, and she would sew me a lot of my clothes. 13:37 And then I had two older cousins, and when they outgrew 13:40 their clothes, they would pass them down to my sister and I. 13:45 And so getting this pair of white shoes 13:47 was incredible to me. 13:49 Now they were not brand new. 13:51 They had some little scuff marks on them. 13:53 But my Dad polished them and made them white again. 13:56 And to me they looked brand new. 13:59 And besides that, they were a heel, and they had the little 14:02 strap around the ankle. I was so excited. 14:05 I remember the first Sabbath I wore them, 14:09 the first time I went to church I wore my white heels. 14:12 And as I walked down the aisle at church, I thought everybody 14:17 is looking at my feet. 14:19 Everybody thinks, Ah, Jill got new shoes! 14:21 And, of course, nobody was, but in my mind 14:24 I was so proud of my shoes. 14:26 As I sat in church the minister that day talked about the things 14:31 in our lives that we love more than Jesus. 14:36 He talked about the things that separate between our heart, 14:41 and that of Jesus. 14:43 And I sat there, my little white heels not quite touching 14:48 the ground, and I thought, Oh, is he talking about my shoes? 14:53 Is he talking about my little, pretty, beautiful, new to me, 14:58 white shoes? Is that what he's talking about? 15:02 And I was conflicted in my heart. 15:07 And the minister said, What ever is in your life that you love 15:11 more than Jesus, give it to Jesus. 15:14 And I went home and I cried. 15:18 And I said, God, I want nothing between me and You. 15:22 I want to love You more than anything. 15:25 But right now I love my beautiful white shoes 15:28 more than anything. 15:29 And so I took them off; those little straps, 15:33 the pretty white shoes, and I brought them to my Mom. 15:36 And I said, Here, could we take these down 15:41 to the Salvation Army? 15:42 And, you know, a different parent might have said, 15:46 You like those. Those are your brand new white shoes. 15:50 You ought to keep them. 15:51 But you know, my Mom loved God. 15:55 And she said, I want you to obey God more than anything else. 16:00 Yes, it seems simple; it's a pair of white shoes. 16:03 Who cares about a pair of white shoes? 16:04 But the principle is, as we grow up in life, 16:07 there's bigger decisions. 16:09 There's sometimes painful decisions. 16:12 And God says, Are you going to choose Me? 16:16 Are you going to say, Yes, when I call for your heart? 16:20 or are you going to choose these other things that have a greater 16:24 hold in your heart? 16:26 James 1:22. James says, Be a doer of the word, 16:33 and not just a hearer only, deceiving your own selves. 16:40 What is the cost of obedience? 16:42 Some times it can be painful. 16:45 Definitely I know the cost is denial of self. 16:49 I know that for certain. 16:50 It could be ridicule from your friends, from your business 16:54 acquaintances, from some one who says, 16:57 You're being kind of radical. 16:58 Why even follow Jesus? 17:00 Who even knows if Jesus exists? 17:02 Just live what ever you want to do in life. 17:04 That might be the cost. 17:06 The cost of obedience might be estrangement from family. 17:11 I have a good friend who, when she stepped out and followed 17:15 God, the rest of her family said, You're crazy! 17:19 What's wrong with you? 17:21 Who is God anyway? 17:23 The pain, a little bit of tension there, 17:26 in her relationship with her family. 17:29 In some countries, where you are watching this broadcast right 17:34 now, you might be in danger of being put in prison, 17:39 or even put to death, for watching this broadcast, 17:43 for learning about Jesus, because every country in this 17:48 world does not have religious freedom. 17:51 Sometimes that is the cost of obedience. 17:53 At the same time there is huge blessings to obedience. 17:59 I think of the peace that we can have from God 18:02 that passes all understanding. 18:04 I think of the joy that God wants to pour into 18:07 our hearts and lives. 18:09 When I was a teenager I remember sitting in class one morning 18:14 in church, and a little old white haired lady, 18:17 she actually wasn't old, she probably was in her fifty's, 18:20 but I thought she was old. 18:22 A little old, and her hair had turned prematurely white, 18:25 white haired lady; she was the sweetest lady. 18:28 And I remember she asked a question. 18:30 She said, If there is no afterlife, 18:33 if there is no heaven, would you still follow Jesus? 18:37 And I thought, Absolutely not. 18:38 That was my only purpose, was maybe there's a heaven. 18:42 Because at that point I wasn't super committed. 18:45 I had been when I was young, and then I had fallen away. 18:48 And at that point I wasn't committed. 18:50 But she said, Even if there was no future with God, 18:54 even if there was no tomorrow, no heaven, no eternity, 18:59 I would still follow Jesus today, because the peace 19:04 and the joy I have now, in this life, is indescribable. 19:09 Blessings of obedience is the fruits of the Spirit. 19:12 Witness for Jesus. 19:13 Other people won to His kingdom, in a special sense, 19:17 abiding sense, of God's presence. 19:20 As we're watered by the dew, we know it takes time, 19:26 we ask for the Holy Spirit, we let Him fill us, and we choose 19:31 to walk in obedience. 19:33 Let us look briefly, in our last couple of moments, 19:36 on what it means to be equipped through the dew, 19:39 or the equipping through the heavenly dew. 19:42 I'm turning back to John, John 16, and we're going to look 19:47 at two verses: 7 and 8. 19:49 Jesus says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It's to your 19:53 advantage that I go away: for if I go not away, the helper will 19:57 not come to you; but if I depart I will send Him to you. 20:01 And when He is come, He... 20:03 Meaning the Holy Spirit. 20:05 ...will convict the world of sin, 20:07 of righteousness, and of judgment. 20:10 You know, the Holy Spirit brings conviction. 20:15 What are the results of being filled with the Spirit? 20:18 We're talking about the equipping through the Spirit. 20:21 The Holy Spirit brings conviction. 20:25 The Holy Spirit teaches us about Jesus. 20:30 He says, The Comforter,... 20:32 Which is the Holy Ghost. 20:33 ...when He, when the Father will send Him in my name, 20:36 He will teach you all things. 20:38 The Holy Spirit brings conviction to my heart. 20:41 The Holy Spirit teaches me about Jesus. 20:44 3. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us. 20:49 Likewise also the Spirit helps our weaknesses: for we don't 20:53 even know how to pray as we ought: but the Spirit makes 20:56 intercession for you and I with groanings 21:00 which cannot be uttered. 21:01 The Holy Spirit intercedes for us. 21:04 The Holy Spirit delivers us from the power of sin. 21:09 Romans 8:2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 21:13 has made me free from the law of sin and death. 21:18 Are you tired of sin in your life? 21:20 Do you want to be set free? 21:23 Open up your heart, surrender. 21:26 Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you, 21:29 and to cover you with His dew. 21:32 The Holy Spirit writes God's law in our hearts. 21:36 This is one of my favorite Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 3:3. 21:41 New King James says, Clearly you're an epistle of Christ 21:45 ministered by us, written not with ink, 21:48 but by the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, 21:52 but on the tablets of the heart. 21:54 But I like it the most in the New International Version. 21:57 That version says, You show that you are a letter from Christ. 22:03 You and I, we can be a letter from Christ, written not with 22:08 ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of 22:13 stone, but on tablets of human hearts. 22:16 In my friend, Resas' life, the Holy Spirit, 22:20 the fruit of the Spirit, is abundantly evident. 22:24 When you talk with her, when you share with her, you see Jesus 22:31 coming out all over her. 22:32 The Holy Spirit has written God's character in her heart 22:38 as it were a letter, so that when you look at her, 22:41 it's like seeing a picture of Jesus. 22:44 Finally, the Holy Spirit endows us with Spiritual gifts, 22:48 and the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives. 22:52 Galatians 5:22, 23 tells us what the fruit of that Spirit is. 22:58 Do you want to be watered by the Spirit? 23:01 Do you want to be equipped through the Spirit? 23:04 Open up your heart to the Lord Jesus. 23:08 Ask Him to fill you. 23:10 Choose to say Yes to Him every time He calls to your heart. 23:15 We're going to take a short break, and we'll be back in a 23:17 moment with our application. |
Revised 2016-05-17