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Series Code: BOLS
Program Code: BOLS000123S
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00:06 #S064 - Prayer Changes More Than Things (Part2)
00:19 Welcome to The Breath of Life 00:21 Television Ministries broadcast with Pastor Debleaire Snell. 00:25 In today's episode, 00:26 Pastor Snell will continue part two of the powerful message 00:31 titled Prayer Changes More Than Things. 00:34 Now let's go deeper into the word of God. 00:38 the Bible lets us know that when he first started 00:41 the praying that Nehemiah was a weeping, angry heaving 00:45 bucket of tears that his soul was disquieted with in him 00:50 when he found out that the walls 00:52 had been broken down and that the gates 00:54 had been burned with fire. 00:56 But he literally says that as he prays, his faith 01:00 begins to swell, his courage begins to increase that. Mr. 01:04 Long petition forms in his mind. 01:07 In other words, man, we waiting for strength 01:09 to get into the secret place. 01:11 But I need you to know when you go into the secret. 01:16 Do I have seven or 01:17 eight folk that's ever going weak into the secret place? 01:21 You didn't have strength when you went in, 01:23 but man had something on you that when you came out, 01:28 it caused the forces of hell to fall back off 01:32 a child of God. 01:38 And see, the reason this is critical 01:39 is because Nehemiah does not go into the prayer closet 01:43 man with this rotund faith and these huge convictions. 01:47 I need you to get that there is a process 01:49 that takes place 01:50 that the more he prays, the more his courage begins 01:54 to develop, the more his strength is maintained. 01:57 See, I need somebody to understand that strength 02:01 is not a prerequisite for prayer. 02:04 Strength, the result of prayer. 02:07 See, we've created unwittingly this faulty narrative 02:10 that says, Man, only the strong have the ability to pray. 02:14 But the reason somebody gets strong is not 02:17 because they had the ability before they prayed, 02:19 but they got the ability. 02:20 Once they begin the habit of calling on the name of the Lord. 02:26 See, see some of us, our problem is we try to preach, 02:29 treat prayer like some people treat going to the gym. 02:34 You know how like sometimes you don't really 02:36 want to go in the gym 02:38 because you see all these people already in great shape. 02:41 And so there's almost a part of you 02:43 that says, I need to get in shape 02:45 just so I can go to the gym. 02:47 But you don't get in shape to go to the gym. 02:50 You get in shape by going to the gym. 02:53 And the reason those are in the gym are in shape. 02:56 It's because they go, Tell me, tell y'all not hear me. 02:58 Like, in other words, you don't get strong to go to God. 03:03 You get strong by going to God. 03:05 He is your strength and your portion. 03:12 And see, I want to talk to that soul today 03:14 that feels like you're too weak to pray, 03:16 that you're too meager to be able 03:19 to pray that you don't have. 03:20 The courage to be able to pray. 03:22 I need somebody to understand 03:24 that you've got to get to a place 03:25 where you pray in a principled fashion. 03:30 And when you pray in a principled way, 03:32 it means that I am going to summon a strength from within. 03:37 I'm not going to wait for a feeling that comes from without. 03:41 How many of us know that if you're waiting 03:43 on a feeling to start praying, 03:47 okay, I'm not going to keep it real. 03:48 Me today. 03:50 How many of us can keep it real and just say that 03:53 most days you don't feel like praying? 03:56 yeah, Y'all not going to be honest. 03:58 I care. 03:59 I'm gonna tell you, I'm the pastor and I can admit 04:01 that I don't wake up in the morning 04:03 and angels don't fill up my bedroom. 04:06 A light does not sign from heaven. 04:08 I do not hear angelic symphony 04:11 there days where I'm tempted to fall asleep when I pray. 04:14 There are some times when my mind wanders, when I pray. 04:18 But what I have to do as I have to grab my thoughts 04:21 and I have to secure my spirit 04:24 and I have to pray, pass my feelings. 04:27 I can't wait on those feelings. 04:30 I hear what I'm saying, friends. 04:32 So you got to pray regardless of the circumstance, 04:36 and you'll find strength in the secret. 04:40 And let me just say to somebody 04:41 who's still wrestling with this idea, 04:43 because you're saying, Man, I don't have strength to pray. 04:47 I don't have the mind to. Pray. 04:49 See, it's because you have a lone interpretation 04:51 of what strength looks like. 04:55 How many of us understand that the strength to pray 04:59 is found in the burden you carry? 05:05 See, you 05:06 thought the burden was taking away strength? 05:09 No, but your burden is actually the strength 05:12 that you need to settle in the secret 05:15 place and call on the name of the Lord. 05:18 In other words, the strength to pray for your kids 05:22 is in the burden you have for your kids. 05:25 The strength you pray for your marriage is in the burden 05:29 you have for your marriage, the strength to pray for Oakwood 05:33 is in the burden you have for all good. 05:36 The strength to pray for the sick is found in your burden 05:40 for the sick and. 05:41 Other words, 05:43 you don't have to wait for it to come like a cool breeze. 05:45 But wherever you have burdened 05:47 you find access to God in prayer. 05:50 In other words, your burden ought not push 05:53 you away from God. 05:54 They actually usher you to the throne. 05:58 Y'all hear what I'm saying, France And see. 06:01 This is why friends IV 06:02 need us to know that even when you don't feel it, 06:05 you got to pray. 06:07 When you don't see nothing happening, 06:10 you still got to pray. 06:12 When you don't see no momentum, you still got a call on 06:15 the name of the Lord. 06:16 Because, see, 06:18 I need you to know that when you don't, you forfeit 06:19 one of the most powerful promises. 06:21 And Philippians Chapter four when it says Be anxious 06:28 for nothing 06:29 but in everything, 06:32 make your Thanksgiving. 06:35 Let your request be made known unto God 06:39 and the peace 06:42 that passes all understand 06:45 will guard your heart and your mind through Christ. 06:49 Jesus wants this church. 06:51 I need you to realize that before God 06:55 things God changes you. 07:01 He changes your 07:02 disposition, He changes your spirit. 07:06 He replaces your distress with peace. 07:09 He your chaos with order 07:12 before he changes stuff outside of you. 07:16 He's got to make a change inside of you. 07:19 Now Notice what the promise is. 07:21 Because I need you to know that God takes a while 07:24 to change things. 07:28 But you know what can be changed? 07:30 As soon as you get off your knees, 07:33 your spirit can be changed, your soul can can be secured. 07:38 You can have the peace of God. 07:40 that the word says is so great 07:43 that it passes human understanding, 07:46 so that when you go through, you go through 07:49 and you don't respond like folks think you are to respond. 07:52 They thought you were going to be out of your mind. 07:55 They thought you wouldn't 07:56 make it through what you've gone through. 07:59 They anticipated your collapse and your demise. 08:02 But when they see you walking around 08:05 and your head is held high 08:07 and you're wrapped 08:08 tight in your mind and you're not a bucket of tears, 08:11 they can't explain it. 08:13 They think you're getting drunk. 08:15 That's your own Prozac. 08:17 That's in denial. 08:18 It's just the peace of God 08:23 that is securing me 08:26 in the face of adversity 08:31 and see something. 08:32 One of the things I say all the time. 08:33 I need you to understand that 08:35 prayer and peace play on the sea salt together. 08:39 yeah, I missed it. 08:41 So the Bible says the more I pray, 08:43 the more peace I'm going to have. 08:46 You'll know when you're on the seesaw. 08:47 When you mess down on one side, it raises up the other side. 08:52 So the deeper I go down in prayer, guess what? 08:55 The more my piece begins to increase. 08:58 So the more you go down. 09:00 y'all not hear me, the more your peace goes up. 09:04 But the more I stand up, the more my peace goes down. 09:09 And I'm looking for a church who's going to stay down 09:12 on your knees so that your peace can go up, 09:16 your strength can go up, your help can increase. 09:20 It's like the old song say, Is this hard to stumble 09:24 when you're on your knees? 09:27 And y'all hear me today, friends. 09:31 Second thing I want to say quickly 09:34 is that things should not change 09:38 faster than you do. 09:48 Prayer changes things, 09:52 but those things should not change 09:56 faster than the one trait. 10:01 All right. 10:02 Have you noticed that Nehemiah Prayer is actually filled 10:06 with more repentance than requesting? 10:11 It is filled with more contrition 10:14 then the collecting of things. 10:16 Are y'all catching this today, friends, 10:18 so that when you look at me 10:19 and my prayer is not him coming before God and saying, God, 10:22 give me this and give me that and give me the other 10:24 I want, I want, I need, I need this man. 10:26 Prayer is actually fueled with this sense of remorse 10:29 where he literally talks about how he said 10:32 how my father's house have sinned, 10:33 how the generations have sinned against you, 10:36 how we've done wickedness, and how we have your commend mix. 10:40 And see, there is a particular movement 10:43 behind the way that Nehemiah phrase, 10:46 because Nehemiah understands that it was their unwillingness 10:50 to repent that was the cause of the exile. 10:53 And if they God concludes the exile. 10:56 But there is no repentance, there is going to be 11:00 a revisiting of the judgments of Babylon by another nation. 11:06 See the happiness of this moment brings 11:10 Nehemiah to a place of complete and utter despair. 11:13 Understand that 11:14 the reason Nehemiah fuels this prayer repentance 11:19 is because even if God changes their outward circumstances 11:23 without changing their inner disposition, 11:26 that disposition is gone. 11:28 Will those same circumstances back into reality 11:33 so that if God changes their financial posture 11:36 and their legislative posture and their political posture 11:40 without amending their spiritual posture, I need you to know 11:44 life will have this cyclical nature to it 11:47 and instead of Babylon, it's going to be somebody else. 11:52 I don't know if we're quite getting what Nehemiah 11:53 prays this prayer of repentance 11:57 and with weeping and grief, it's crazy 12:01 because they've been in exile 12:03 for seventy years. 12:07 Okay, 12:09 So it's strange to me 12:11 why Nehemiah breaks down and cries 12:14 when he hears that the gates have been burned 12:17 and the walls have been torn down. 12:20 Like, in other words, that should have been given. 12:23 They have been taken by siege and taken from their country 12:27 over 70 years ago. 12:29 Why is Nehemiah 12:30 now weeping about broken walls and burned gates? 12:34 That should have been an assumption. 12:35 That's what happens 12:36 whenever one country absorbs another country. 12:40 But understand there is something 12:42 about the visual that is communicated that 12:45 communicates a more deeper and powerful truth 12:49 because the broken down walls and the burned gates are simply 12:53 an outward reflection of Israel's spiritual condition. 13:00 And Nehemiah 13:01 understands that if God changes outward structures 13:05 before he reveals the inner structure of the people, 13:08 see this, see this is the tension 13:10 that someone is living in right now, in this moment. 13:13 Because me you're frustrated 13:14 because prayer hasn't changed things, 13:18 but you realize that that thing was sent to change. 13:20 You wanting God to change this uncomfortable thing. 13:29 But that uncomfortable thing was sent to create a character 13:33 stirring and agitation that was to bring about 13:37 a permanent change in your soul disposition 13:42 and see God understands this, that if God makes bad 13:46 circumstances good without making bad character 13:50 good, then bad character becomes permanent. 13:55 You see, sometimes 13:57 we mismanage the narrative. 14:02 We all quiet in church today. 14:04 don't at your watch. 14:05 Look at me. I'm right here. Amen. 14:09 So this is one of the things I'm 14:10 starting to wrestle with in my mind, 14:12 because we say, man, that God takes a long time 14:16 to change things. 14:19 Well, some 46 says that God is our refuge 14:21 and our strength, a very present help in the time of trouble. 14:26 And I guess my question is, does God take a long time 14:30 to change things or do we just take a long time to change? 14:36 Is the issue how slow God is to move 14:40 or is the issue how slow we are to adjust 14:44 to the chastening buffeting circumstances life 14:48 that are designed to drive us back 14:53 in the direction of our Savior. 14:56 So sometimes God 14:58 doesn't change that irritating circumstance 15:01 because he knows that 15:03 if he changes the placement of the circumstance 15:05 before he changes 15:06 the placement of your character, 15:08 then your character is going to get set in stone 15:11 or cemented in something that has you on the outside of 15:14 the city looking in. When The earth is made new 15:19 and this is why 15:20 Nehemiah says, Man, we got to repent 15:23 now that we're repented ain't done by the fancy church word, 15:25 it simply means a turn around and turn away from it. 15:28 It means that we've got to turn 15:30 in the direction of Jesus Christ 15:32 and see this thing I like about Nehemiah, 15:34 and this is why I need the church 15:35 to really kind of embrace the principle. 15:37 Notice that Nehemiah didn't do a bunch of asking. 15:39 He didn't ask, Hit it, ask God for bricks and straw and mortar. 15:43 He just says, Lord, we're sorry. 15:45 He just says, Lord, we acknowledge what we have done 15:47 because Nehemiah 15:48 understands this, that if they are able to repent, 15:52 they don't even have to ask God for a whole lot of things. Why? 15:56 Because God's design for them are greater than what 16:00 they can even ask for. 16:01 I think God said to them 16:03 in the Prophet Jeremiah, he says, I've got 16:07 I have plans to prosper, you know, give you a future 16:11 and a hope. 16:12 And see, the problem is we want to request without repenting. 16:15 But if you repent, I need you to know that God will give you 16:19 ten times more than what you can ever request. 16:23 Is anybody realize that we serve the God of a three in 320 16:27 that says now unto him 16:29 that is able to do exceedingly and abundantly. 16:33 Above all, you can ask or think, but you've got to put 16:36 some repent tents before your requesting 16:44 Seems crazy because people want to put the cart 16:46 before the horse 16:48 and wonder why we can't make any motion or traction. 16:51 I mean, it's just like I remember one time know 16:52 we were in the house and and, you know, there was some food 16:55 had been in the fridge too long 16:56 and one of the kids put it inside of the trash can. 16:59 And after a while it began to give off a bad odor throughout. 17:02 The house. 17:03 And it's crazy because, 17:04 like once everybody smelled the bad order, 17:06 you know what their initial response was to 17:08 do was to get air freshener 17:11 and spread all over the house. 17:14 But how many of us understand that air freshener only lasts 17:16 for a few minutes? 17:18 C, c c air freshener? 17:19 It won't kill stench. 17:22 It just mask it for a little while 17:25 and see 17:26 those that make requests without repentance. 17:29 All they do is mask the stench. 17:33 But God is saying to somebody, You got to take out the trash 17:36 in your life. 17:38 You got to get rid of the garbage and stop masking 17:42 the things that you don't want to address 17:46 so that if God changes your finances 17:50 without addressing your stewardship, 17:53 he's just masking the inevitable. 17:56 If God changes your health status 17:59 without you changing your health practices, it 18:05 we're just masking the inevitable. 18:08 If God changes the condition of the marriage, 18:11 if without changing your posture and the way you talk down to 18:14 your spouse, 18:16 it is just a masking of the inevitable. 18:20 And what I'm saying to somebody today 18:22 is that God does not function on the level of your image, 18:25 that God is functioning on the level of your character. 18:28 So how many of us 18:29 see we're grateful that we serve a God who saves, 18:35 but we don't rejoice 18:36 over the God who sanctifies sin. 18:40 We just want the God that just say expunge is the record. 18:44 We just want the God that wipes away the strain. 18:47 But I need a God that doesn't just make me new in heaven. 18:52 I want a God that's going to do a work 18:55 so powerful in me on earth that what he says about me 19:00 in heaven becomes true in my walk on earth. 19:04 So he doesn't just say, I'm righteous up there, 19:07 but it can be said about me as I walk down here. 19:10 But I need you to know that character growth 19:13 will not always be done voluntarily. 19:19 Come on and save in church. 19:22 God has to choose for us. 19:25 The That's why through Isaiah, 19:27 he says, I have chosen for you the furnace of affliction, 19:32 man. I be like, God, 19:34 I wish I could grow men in 19:37 in a space of extreme comfort. 19:42 I wish character grew when you just had millions in the bank. 19:45 Come on, Azamat. 19:46 I just wish, man, that man, I became more prayerful. 19:48 The more nice things people said about me. 19:51 I wish I became more diligent, the more friends I have. 19:54 But how many of us can tell the truth? 19:56 That's not where we grow, 19:59 right? 20:00 I love how you looking at me right now. 20:01 I mean, come on. 20:03 Like it is when you are so broke, you can't pay attention. 20:07 That's you. 20:08 Stop praying, 20:09 rehearse prayers, and you start praying like Nehemiah. 20:12 It is 20:13 when your enemies seem like they're going to overcome you, 20:16 that you begin seeking God with a different of intentionality. 20:20 And see, I need you to know that God will never allow you 20:23 to be swallowed up. 20:24 He will never allow you to be overwhelmed. 20:26 He'll never allow you to be burned by the fire. 20:29 But he's going to tailor the fire. 20:31 He's going to tailor the heat so that it removes the dross 20:34 and the impurities so that it fixes in place 20:39 heavenly properties 20:41 that God is able to use for His glory. 20:44 I hear me today, friends, this is I'm almost done. 20:47 Nehemiah Chapter versus eight through ten. 20:49 Look at with me real quick Nehemiah one verse eight. 20:52 The word says this Remember, I pray 20:56 the word that you commended your servant Moses, 21:01 saying who? 21:04 Jesus 21:08 is so good. 21:10 Remember, I pray the word that I commanded 21:12 your servant Moses, saying, If you are unfaithful, 21:16 I will scatter amongst the nations. 21:19 But if you return to me, 21:24 keep my commandments and do them. 21:26 Those. 21:28 Some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens. 21:32 Are you all catching this church 21:36 yet? I will gather them 21:38 from there and will bring them to the place 21:42 which I have chosen as a dwelling 21:45 for my name. 21:49 Last thing I need somebody to know 21:51 is that no matter how far you get from God, 21:55 God always leaves the light on for His people. 22:03 Chris, I read this 22:05 and my soul almost exploded because. 22:10 What Nehemiah is praying is the promise 22:14 that God made to Moses and Deuteronomy 31. 22:18 And it shows something powerful about God's grace. 22:23 That grace is never reactionary. 22:27 Grace is always preemptive. 22:32 So notice what God says. 22:34 He says literally, that man, if you are stray, 22:39 he says, I'm gonna scatter you 22:41 to the furthest parts of the earth. 22:44 But notice what he says, that if you ever return 22:49 and keep my commandments, I'm gonna leave the light of grace 22:54 on so that you can always find your way home. 23:00 In other words, I need somebody to understand 23:03 that the grace of God, it is not a permissiveness of sand, 23:07 but it is God's acknowledgment of your sinful nature. 23:11 It is an expression of His great love, where God 23:15 says, I don't want you to sin, but guess what? 23:18 I understand who you are. 23:20 I understand how fallen you must be so that even when you do 23:28 know God, 23:30 He didn't say If you do it, 23:33 he says, When you do it, 23:35 I want you to know that even before you sing, 23:39 before you stray, 23:40 I want you to know that even when you get far from me, 23:44 and even when you are using my breath 23:48 to do your dirt, 23:51 I want you to know that no matter how far you get from me, 23:56 I'll always leave the light on 23:59 so that you can find your way back home. 24:06 So it's just kind of like this. 24:08 Those of us have small kids. 24:09 I remember there'll be times where you're on Sabbath. 24:11 You go to somebody's house, 24:13 and there be times where I would have to make 24:14 two or three stops when Sabbath afternoon. 24:16 And so if man, you know, I would tell the kids, 24:18 you know, that that, you know, if you go in here 24:21 and you know how you have to do as a parent, 24:22 you got to you got to threaten them, 24:25 you got to say act like you got some sense, Come on. 24:28 Your parents ever told you, act like you got home training. 24:31 Come on and say, man. 24:32 And I tell them, man, don't you be out there in the backyard 24:35 don't you be crawling all over the floor. 24:37 Don't get your church clothes dirty. 24:38 Now, I give them that instruction 24:41 and I expect them to do it. 24:43 But guess what? 24:43 You know, your kids. 24:46 So I know that if I'm going to a house 24:49 where they're going to be other kids, guess what? 24:51 I don't bring a change of clothes 24:54 because I know they don't get dirty. 24:56 Y'all missed it. 24:57 In other words, I'm not giving them permission to get dirty, 25:01 but I just love them so much that I can't take them 25:05 to the next place. Still soiled. 25:08 I got to put some clean clothes over them 25:11 and cover their stains. 25:13 And what I'm saying what John said, he says, 25:16 I write these things that you do not sin. 25:19 But the good news is that if any man says 25:22 we have an advocate with Father Jesus Christ, the righteous, 25:29 and say, I need somebody to understand that the grace of God 25:32 is never reactionary, it is always preemptive. 25:36 So I need you to understand that even Jesus 25:40 was not a reaction 25:43 to Adam. Sam, 25:48 After Adam and Eve ate the fruit, 25:50 the father didn't say, Jesus, what you want to do about it? 25:53 See, I need you to know that the plan of salvation, 25:56 it was not a reaction to man's lushness. 25:59 The plan of salvation was a part of the original design. 26:04 The plan of 26:05 this salvation was laid before the earth was framed. 26:08 Our gravity put in place. 26:10 It is why, when John and Revelation 13 26:13 eight sees Jesus, he says, Behold the lamb 26:17 that was slain from the foundation of the Earth, 26:22 so that before he created the world, 26:25 he created it a plan of redemption. 26:29 Because grace is not a reaction. 26:33 It is preemptive. 26:35 And God always, always has you in mind the same. 26:39 Can the Church say amen? 26:43 It's graduation season. 26:45 And I want to say congrats to all of our recent graduates. 26:48 And though we're thankful for how God is blessing you, 26:51 the only problem is that we ask 18 or 19 year olds 26:55 to make decisions that affect the rest of their lives. 26:58 That's why I'm inviting you to join me for our 27:01 first ever breath of life decision day. 27:04 It's a one day online conference on July the seventh. 27:08 I'm going to be joined by a number of individuals. 27:11 They're going to help 27:12 our young people make decisions about their future. 27:15 We're going to be discussing 27:16 things like how to discover your calling. 27:19 Doesn't HBCU put me out of this advantage? 27:23 When do I need to pivot? 27:24 Changing schools are majors or how to dream big. 27:29 It's going to be held on July the seventh from 10 a.m. 27:32 to 2:00 PM. 27:34 It's a free conference, 27:35 but we don't just want the kids to come. 27:37 We want the parents to come so that we can make these decisions 27:41 with God's tutelage as a village. 27:44 So again, that's going to be July the seventh from 10 a.m. 27:47 to 2 p.m. 27:49 I need you to know it's going to be a great time of learning. 27:51 You're going to be equipped. 27:52 You're going to be given some tools 27:54 to make sure 27:55 that you land at the right place 27:57 and that you make the right choice. 27:59 I look forward to seeing you soon. On decision day. 28:06 (Breath Of Life Music)- |
Revised 2024-06-05