In Everything

Well, praise the Lord. Isn't it wonderful the truths that we have to sing about? Praise God. Well, as usual, we kind of need the Lord this morning, don't we? He always puts us in a place where we don't have in ourselves what it takes, but we have everything we need in Him. And I just praise Him for His love and His mercy for all that He's done, and none of it is based on us and our worthiness. It's all based on Him. So to Him be the glory. Well, I've had the Lord kind of talk to me about needs that I have, but I'm also very aware that I'm not the only one, that there are certain truths that we need to grow in if we're going to grow up and be all that He wants us to be. And most of the time, they're not new and exciting doctrines that just kind of tickle our intellect, but they're very practical things that the Lord desires that we walk in. Pardon me. I've got to get that frog, whatever it is, to go down a little bit further. But the Lord is good, frog or no frog. But anyway, my mind was drawn to a very familiar scripture, and I'll just read it, but always the emphasis is a little different, and yet I believe it's truth we've heard many times. But need to walk in, because most of the time there are things that we've heard, but we don't really, really, really walk in it like the Lord wants us to. And it's not a matter of condemnation, it's a matter of kind of growing up and learning. I'm so glad the Lord is merciful to us and knows right where we're at, and He's not a hard task master, He's a loving Father. So anyway, the familiar passage, and I'll go ahead and just read it first, and it's in Philippians 4, we've heard it so many times. And I just want to emphasize one particular area in it, particularly, I should say. Rejoice in the Lord, verse 4 of chapter 4, rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, set your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you. And I guess the thing that came to my mind earlier in the week as I was just meditating and looking to the Lord was a very simple thing. You know, we've heard it so many times in verse 6 about not being anxious about anything, but there is a, the next phrase, and I think it came to me out of the King James Version, but in everything, there's something that follows in not just some things, in everything. And it kind of focused my mind and what the Lord is desiring from me and from every one of us, it's that we walk with Him, that we have a personal relationship with Him that is not just on Sunday morning, not just praying when something comes up and we feel a need, there is a constant sense of communication. It doesn't mean we're jabbering all the time, but it does mean that there's an open channel where we're talking to the Lord and it's not just about the big issues of life or thanks for the food, Lord. We go through a form so many times. So much of what we do is like, well, here's our religion. Here's what we do. We show up on Sunday morning and we say our prayers in the morning and we go through a form of thanking the Lord for the food, asking Him to bless it, and that's kind of it. And I believe the Lord hungers, longs, not to be our taskmaster, but He longs to actually

be with us. Can you imagine such a thing? The God of all creation, the power, the purity. The holiness, the greatness of this God actually wants to spend time with you and me. But that's what this is about, I believe with all my heart. The Lord was just trying to focus my attention, saying, Lord, saying, Phil, you know, you need to spend more time with me and it's not a matter of, okay, let's go into my closet and I got to mumble a bunch of more words. It's I want you to live with an awareness that I'm there, I'm with you all the time and I want us to be able to talk to one another. And like I say, it's not just a whole lot of words that go back and forth, but it's an openness where I sense Him in His presence and it's not an emotion, it's not a feeling that I've got to have all the time, but it's the reality, it's the faith in the reality that what He says is true. Look how He leads into this. What are the words right before, do not be anxious? Where is the Lord? Is He off somewhere? Because we just don't feel something or we don't see things, we interact with our world by what we see and what we feel in an outward sense. But Paul wants everyone to be reminded regardless of what you feel and what you even see, what you might be going through at the moment, there's a simple truth that we need to always reckon on and that is the Lord is near. Did He not say that He would never leave us or forsake us? Praise God, there's something about the relationship that God desires with His people that we miss. It's not just a God who wants to give us a better life and give us rules to live by and then take us to a nice place one day, this is a God who actually wants to spend time with us and have us look to Him and enjoy His presence, not endure it. He doesn't want us just going through the right emotions and believing the right ideas and all of that thing, all of those things, but He wants us to talk to Him about how many

things? All things, everything, in everything. I think other translations say by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. There's a sense that He wants me to live with that I don't have what it, not only that I don't have what it takes, but He actually wants to walk through life with me. Does He care about the little things in your life or just the big decisions and otherwise it's all up to you, you just go do your thing and if you've got a problem, okay, then you come to me, but I'll try to break away from my busy schedule and I'll try to pay attention to the little old you, no. He is with you and me every single moment of every single day. How would it be if you had a friend, somebody important in your life and they were with you all the time, but most of the time you didn't even pay attention to them. They might as well not be there. You just kind of ignore them, you talk to your other friends and you go around and you do your stuff and they're there, but you, you know, maybe once a day, oh, hi, nice to see you. How would that person feel? But here is God's entire, the focus of His being. He created us. He gave us new birth with His own life. We are His sons and daughters. He walks with us through this crazy world with one aim in mind, and we've talked about this so many times, to prepare us to live eternally with Him. And of course, there's so many needs that we have and He knows all about that, doesn't He? Is He concerned about the little things? How many testimonies have we heard over the years of somebody who just loses their keys, can't find them? And they look and they look and they look and they look and then find, Lord, please

help me find my keys. And the Lord leads them right to where they're at. You know, I was thinking, I wish I could remember the details, it doesn't really matter, I guess, but most of you remembered Brother Jim Petrie. He was pretty handy with a whole lot of practical things and he testified that there was one day when he was struggling to figure out, how can I make such a, this thing that I want to make happen work? How can I construct, you know, whatever it was, I don't remember all the details. And he just... wrestled and wrestled, how can I do this? And finally, well, Lord, you know how to do it. Please help me figure this out. And the Lord just dropped a picture in his mind and boom, and it was just right. Do you really actually believe that the God of all creation wants to walk with you, that He cares about the details of your life? And what do we have in Scripture that reminds us of that simple fact? The hairs of our head. There goes number 60,000, 120. Some of you come out on top, I know. That's perfectly all right. The Lord keeps track of all those things and He knows exactly what He's doing. But if He cares about the hairs on our head, He keeps them numbered. If He takes care of the sparrows, can't we have more of a consciousness that He is with us to the point where we actually talk to Him about everything in our lives? It's such a simple thought. And I just, you know, as I thought about it, you know, there's so many things that we just kind of do out of habit. This is my life, Lord, I'll just put my day in Your hands, okay, and I'm going to do my stuff. And it's not like we've got to, oh God, I've got to mumble words all the time. It's just, Lord, thank You for being with me. I'm looking to You to help me. Even as I get in the car and I go, I'm trusting You to guide my steps, trusting You to lead me, and just actually enjoy His presence. I think the truth of the matter is that Daniela has so many ways of corrupting this simple idea. But we, he, first of all, he wants to make it a little bit fearful. I'm not so sure I want Him with me everywhere. Is He going to really be happy if I go here, if I do that, if I say this or do that? Do you think maybe God wants us to, to recognize who we are and why we're here and walk with Him

and be in tune with Him rather than the world? That sounds so complicated, doesn't it? I mean, here, I just felt like the Lord drawing me to, to grow in this area. And it's not, we've said this so many times, it's not like you can come into an experience and suddenly, okay, now we're here and we've got it and we know what we're doing. Okay, now we're here and we've got it and we know how, what to do. This is like a little child that just needs to grow up and learn and recognize, I've got a Father who loves me. I've got a Father whose heart is for me to learn how to be the adult that I, I'm meant to be. And not just play and do foolish things and do stuff that's not, that doesn't add to that. And yet He recognizes that, you know, I'm, I'm not, I'm, I'm only three years old. I can't expect but so much, but yet He's working with me at that age and He's helping me to grow right there. And then if I get to be six or eight or whatever, okay, now there's a little bit more expected and He's trying to teach me and help me to understand life. And, but the thing is we, we are so tuned in to this life. Am I telling you the truth? That's what we're focused on. It's like, all right, I said my prayers. I know He's with me in this vague general sense, but it's like He's right there beside us caring about every little thing and we're ignoring Him. Instead of just, thank you Lord. And I rejoice in you. You're, it's so wonderful to know you and to be with you. And the devil, like I said, will do everything in his power to take that sense away from us or to make us afraid as though, oh God, He's just looking down on me. He's constantly criticizing me. He's unhappy with this. He's unhappy with that. Oh God, go away for a while. I just don't want to feel all that condemnation. Is that the Lord? Is that His heart towards us? Oh, all the songs we sung about the meaning of the cross. When that blood flowed down, my sins flowed down with them. Thank God my sins were forgotten at the cross. For everyone who's joined Him in that and absolutely embraced His heart, His vision, the fellowship that He wants. But again, He doesn't want just people to sign on the dotted line and practice the religion. He wants to know you and wants you to know Him on a day-to-day, moment-by-moment basis. Interesting. I was, you know, it's not uncommon for me to say, Lord, is this really You? You know, confirm it some way. I'm a little bit unbelieving, I guess, like nobody else here would ever do that.

But anyway, one of the songs that kind of came to me was, believe it or not, was Just a Closer Walk. We haven't sung that. I can't remember the last time that we sang that. You think maybe the Lord might be saying something, that He actually wants a closer walk with us. It's not like you've got a religious duty and you're just not living up to it. I need you to come and do your thing. Oh, my God. It's just the opposite of the devil who wants to rule and control and destroy. Jesus wants to fill us with His love and the joy that comes from Him. The things that you cannot get from this world. Oh, how much we just need to be walking with Him, don't we? I guess the thoughts are so simple, I don't know how long this is going to be, but think about some of the examples from the Old Testament. One of them, when they go through the genealogies of all the people from Adam to Noah, one of the names stands out, doesn't it? You remember which one it was? Enoch. And what was it said about Enoch? He walked with God. It's interesting to me that it doesn't say, and God walked with Enoch. Well, that's true enough, but it was something in Enoch's heart that reached out and recognized, there's a God who loves me, who wants to walk with me, and I love that. I want that. That's the source of my greatest hope and rest and joy and peace in this world. It only comes from Him. It doesn't come from all the stuff that's going on around me. I have a source of life that I can go to every single day, and I just, I wake up in the morning instead of saying, oh, good Lord, it's morning, I say, good morning, Lord.

Praise God. Praise God. You think maybe that's what the Lord wants more out of us. It's not a matter of condemnation if we're not there, because we're not. There's not a person here who has grown up in this area and just all the time that we just enjoy the Lord's presence. But yet we can't we grow and learn and develop more of a consciousness and a reaching out to Him? And of course, the word also says about Noah the same thing, Noah walked with God. Well, I believe God is going to have, that He has a people in this hour who are going to learn His ways. Can we ask Him to teach us His ways? Are these His ways? In fact, I want you to know me. I want to be able to be such a big part of your life that you just enjoy being with me. And it's not a matter of coming apart and being with Him all the time in that sense. There's a time for that. But Lord, as I lay this brick, Lord, as I pound this nail, Lord, as I make this drawing on a computer or whatever it is, Lord, whatever I'm doing, I just don't want to get away from Your presence. And I can still concentrate and focus and do the things I'm meant to do and I'm supposed to do. It's not a matter of doing away with all of that and trying to be spiritual. Being spiritual is just being connected to the Lord and living out the life that He's given us and being able to enjoy Him and having a sense of purpose. Praise God. Does this make sense? Is this what the Lord actually wants? So why don't we enjoy this more? Maybe the Lord wants us to be more conscious of the simple truth and just reach out to

Him and realize that when it comes to praying and reaching out to Him, it's in everything. In everything. God wants an acknowledgment. Now what does He say in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6? Trust in the Lord with part of your heart anyway, with all of your heart, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. This life is not meant for us to figure it all out and do it all ourselves in human energy. It's meant for us to become His children and learn how to handle everything based on that new life, not the old life. So that's what I need. Praise God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't lean on your own understanding, in most of your ways. In all your ways, do what? Acknowledge Him. I mean, if whatever I'm getting up in the morning to do, I need to say, Lord, guide my steps, I'm trusting in You, and I'm looking to You. And if I need to know something, let me know. Otherwise, I'm just going to go in faith that You are with me, that You're going to give me the wisdom and the strength to do whatever my responsibilities are. It's not a matter of either or, either I'm with the Lord or I'm doing my thing, my responsibilities, it's both. It's the presence of His presence with us in everything that we do, changes everything. Praise God. So that's the ground upon which everything stands. He is near, isn't He? We're told not to be anxious because that's the natural state of human beings. We want to be in control, and we just aren't. But He says in all things, in this translation, it's in every situation, but in all things, I guess, is the language that came back to me. In every situation, every situation, by prayer and petition.

Now, the prayer He's talking about here is not just asking God for something. This is every kind of communication because He mentions Thanksgiving right here, doesn't He? So this is worship. This is, Lord, I'm so glad You're with me. I appreciate You. I love You. I rejoice in You, which He just said before that. Didn't He say rejoice? Rejoicing is a choice we make that has nothing to do with circumstance. It means, Lord, I know You're with me, and I'm glad You're with me, and I know that You're in control and You love me. Which kind of has something to do with trust in the Lord with all your heart. You see how all those things dovetail into one another? Faith and rest and hope and trust all absolutely dovetail in to get together in this equation that the Lord is painting, the picture the Lord's painting. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, but there's a sense of thanksgiving that we know He wants to be with us. This is not a question whether He loves us. My God, I pray that God will reveal that to us. If that's a struggle for you, you need to reach out and say, Lord, I need you to help, please help me. Help me to know the truth about how you feel about me, in spite of all that's lacking and all that's needful. Help me to see the reality of why Jesus went to the cross for me, not just in some vague general sense, and maybe I'll slide in the door, but Lord, that You had me personally in mind when Your Son went to the cross. That was Your motivation. It had everything to do with seeing me not just as a lost, helpless, hopeless sinner with just no prospects, but to take me out of that garbage can of sin and lift me up and give me a hope and a future.

Who doesn't want to walk with somebody that's motivated by that? I love you. I want to walk with you. I want to be a part of every part of your life. Why would we make decisions and just charge along and do our own thing and not pay much attention to Him unless there's a real problem? And then we go, and we expect Him to fix our life the way to suit us. Instead of saying, Lord, I just, I want in on Your plan. That's the one I'm signed on for. I want You to work and do whatever it takes to bring me to the place that You have laid out for me. Praise God. So anyway, with that kind of communicating, open line of communication with Him about every, in every situation all day, there is at least an open channel where we can hear His voice. Peace results, doesn't it? Praise God. You know, I'll just drop this one thing in. I read recently about a situation where, I guess it was a young boy who was doing something rather foolish, playing, and got himself in a life-threatening situation. Couldn't help himself. Well, his mother was busy doing the dishes, probably something along that line, and just, you know, had an open spirit, looking to the Lord. There wasn't any chatter going on necessarily, but she had this sudden strong impression, you need to go check on your son. And so, there, she... She began to look around the house and found him and rescued, basically saved his life. I wonder how many of us are really in tune enough that we could actually hear the Lord speak

in situations like that. Now, it's not like the Lord is gonna sit there and say, all right, don't pick up that dish, pick up this one next. No, or you come to a stoplight. Lord, which way should I go? Oh God, please, you know, God has the perfect balance between helping us to grow up and learn to make choices that are good, that are in harmony with his will, with a sense of, Lord, I want to please you and I don't, I know I'm not there yet, I'm gonna make mistakes, but I love you and I wanna grow, but also able to intervene when the need is there. He can talk to us when we need it, he can teach us as we go, and yet most of the time, he's not sitting there chattering in our ear about what to do. We know what to do, if you get up in the morning, you eat, you do whatever your responsibilities are, and you just say, I acknowledge you in all of this, Lord, I'm looking to you, if I need to hear your voice, you know how to talk to me. Otherwise, I'm just acknowledging you in all of my ways. You know, I've told you this, I guess, in the past, but I remember in college, we had a fellow student, I guess he was older, he had to have been, he was a soldier in the war and had PTSD, and the only war I can think of was the Korean War at that point, Vietnam hadn't quite happened yet, and, gosh, I'm dating myself, aren't I?

But anyway, he was convinced that his life, in his life, he needed to be led by the Spirit. Well, being led by the Spirit meant, Lord, do you want me to go to supper or not? I mean, it gets down to that kind of stuff, he needed, in other words, God had to tell him every little thing to do. That's not the relationship God wants. You know, you want your child to be able to grow up and make good choices, don't you? Do you sit there and every little thing, you're just hovering over them and they can't even think for themselves? God wants us to grow, wants us to learn his ways and have a heart that says, Lord, I want to be the person you want me to be, help me to take what I know and trust you and look to you for the strength, because I know I don't have it, that's part of learning. I recognize that I don't have what it takes to do any of this, but I am looking to you, right now, this moment, and I'm trusting in you and praise God, I'm just gonna do what comes to hand, you're the one who's arranging my circumstances and by the way, the circumstances aren't all good, aren't all nice from an earthly standpoint, are they? Didn't Jesus say something about my peace, I leave with you? And he also talked about giving them, I told you all these things so that in me, you might have peace.

In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage or be of good cheer, whatever, different translations, be of good courage, why? I have overcome the world. See, God's gonna put you and me in all kinds of situations that have everything to do with our growing up in him and he wants us to be overcomers, not because we have what it takes, but because he's with us, he's wanting us to look to him, to believe him, and the amazing thing is in all of this, what is he wanting to be the state of our heart? What kind of atmosphere does he want to produce in our hearts? It's peace, isn't it? That's incredible. What does the word say in the prophets about the people of the world? The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, there's no peace, says my God, to the wicked. Now, the wicked are not just people that are, you know, doing really bad things from an earthly standpoint that's anybody whose heart is in rebellion against God. Says this is my life, I'm the God of my life, no one tells me what to do, praise God, I'm his. Jesus gave up his everything for me, can I not give up everything for him? To give myself to somebody who loves me like that, whose heart is absolutely, not just for my general welfare

in some vague sense, but he actually wants to spend time with me, you got to be kidding. Is this a need? Is this something where we all have a lot of room to grow? Yeah. I'm thankful the Lord brought that to my attention in a fresh way, and I pray that it won't be just a little, okay, I thought about that this week and on to something else. This needs to be a way of life where we absolutely walk with the Lord. And this is the thing. If I'm in harmony with Him, if I'm at peace with God, I'm certainly not at war with Him, I'm not contrary to His desires, His will, I'm not trying to take Him bad places. I'll tell you, I'm thankful the Lord's with us, but I wonder so many times, where do we take Him? What do we do? I think the Lord can help us with that. And I believe He can convict us without condemning us, and help us to grow and make better choices in our lives, and enjoy more of what He's talking about. What is He looking for? Is He looking to bring us into submission and subjection to where we just feel like we can't do anything we really want to do? No. He wants to produce in us a desire that absolutely responds to His love and enjoys His presence and longs for it and wants it. Praise God. Is that what He wants for us? Am I just making this up? Do you really believe that, again, that the Lord wants, longs to spend time with you? That He loves you that much? It's one of these things that we can acknowledge with our minds, but I wonder how many people really believe that when you look in the mirror.

I'll tell you, that's the gospel. That's what this is about. Why would He emphasize all these things like the peace of God which transcends, goes beyond all your understanding? You can't figure this out. You can't come up with a logic and say, well, this is why. Oh, okay, I understand it. No. This goes way beyond that. There's no way to understand how a God like that could want to bring me in so much in harmony with His heart that I'm at peace on the inside. Even when there's a storm outside in the world and things aren't necessarily going the way I would prefer that they go in a natural sense, I can still be at peace because I know my God. I know His love and I know where I'm headed. And I know He's promised to take me there. The peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And then, of course, we have the guarding of our minds, focusing on the things that are right and true and lovely and all of that. And notice the end of that paragraph though, at the end of verse 9, and the God of peace will be with you, kind of repeating the same general truth and principle. There's so many things, so many ways that this truth is brought out in the scriptures that we know these scriptures, but how about Ephesians chapter 6? Paul's writings, it seemed like the end of his letters often carry this simple thought. He's talked about the warfare and the armor and all of that, but look at verse 18. When you've done all that and you're standing and you're looking to God and pray in the Spirit, now the Greek there, the word in carries the sense of by. In other words, that's how I'm able to do it. It's not just, I don't know what in the Spirit means otherwise.

Pray by the Spirit means I need God's help. To do this, I need God's help. Well, if He's told me this is His will, can I not expect Him to help me if I ask Him? Real simple truth, isn't it? Boy, the devil wants to counter this in so many different ways. Pray in the Spirit occasionally. Doesn't say that, does it? And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. So this isn't just one little thing, is it? This is an open line of communication between you and the Lord and He longs to have it. So that you can talk to Him, you can just acknowledge, thank you, Lord, for being with you. Thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for the strength to get through it. Thank you for your peace. Thank you for your presence. Lord, I need your strength right now. Help me to handle this situation that's come up. You know, this atmosphere that God wants to have. How many of us enjoy that atmosphere in our inner being all day? How about none of us, but we're getting there. This is what the Lord longs for. Can't we expect Him to help us get there and grow in this? Yeah, this is what He wants. This is His heart. Oh my God, how could He want to be with somebody like me like that? But He does. All right? With all kinds of prayers and requests. Now with this in mind, be alert.

That's an interesting word because we're not very alert, are we? We get so embedded in the things of this life that we just don't pay attention to things like this. We get distracted. You know, I saw a cartoon recently and this theme has come up an awful lot because we have a generation of young people that spend their days like this. And the cartoon had five young people who it was like they finally got together around using a certain app and said, okay, we're all friends now. Whatever that meant in that particular social media app. And the last scene in the cartoon was five people sitting there in the same place, every one of them looking at their phone instead of talking to one another. Boy, I'll tell you, the devil has so many ways of just getting our attention and holding it. And I believe God wants us to have more of a sense of, certainly wants to connect with one another genuinely, not through electronics. I'm thankful it's a good tool, but a very bad master. But I know the Lord can help us with these things. If we really ... Do you really want Him to help you? Do you really want to draw an eye to Him and experience what He's talking about here? Or is it sort of like, I'm not so sure. I'm not really comfortable with that. I just don't know. Where does that wisdom come from? Is that the Lord's wisdom that would cause anybody to feel that way? It's certainly coming from the enemy, isn't it? But anyway, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert. There are going to be needs and situations when God wants to communicate with us and help us to recognize the truth about situations, maybe discern something. Be alert and always, always keep on praying.

For what? For all the Lord's people. So this isn't just focused on me, is it? This is about my place in His kingdom and how I affect other people. I need to not just say, oh God help me, I'm having trouble. This is having my brothers and sisters in mind. God's given me the power and the responsibility as part of growing up to be His child, to actually be a channel through which He can help somebody else. There may be somebody else that's going through something right now, and He's given me the job of helping them by bringing them before the throne, bringing their name by faith before the throne of the situation and believing Him that He actually cares, that that matters. It's not just a form. We've seen the Lord touch people in the last few days particularly. There were requests that went out and the Lord worked. You think maybe the Lord might want to encourage us? Praise God. All right, always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Then He says, pray also for me. So Paul felt the need of other people praying for him. He didn't say, I'm somebody special, I've got this wonderful relationship with God. You all go on, live your lives, I'm cool. No, he had the sense that I need you to pray for me because God's given me a mighty job but you're part of it. We are connected to every other believer in the body of Christ, and God is training us to be like Him. Well, what's He like? What is His love focused on? Gratifying Himself in a selfish way? No, it's focused on the welfare of the objects of His love. Wow, is that the opposite of the nature with which we were born?

But God is teaching and training. But I'll tell you, that doesn't happen by coming in and acknowledging what the book says on Sunday and then going and living our lives as though, I'll see you later, Lord. I'll call you if I need you. God deliver us from that kind of a life and thinking that way. Those are scriptures that we know, we've heard many times. I think it's 1 Thessalonians 5. is one of them. Very similar language, verse 16, rejoice always. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Pray continually. Now, pray continually doesn't mean chattering 24 hours a day, but it's certainly, there's an open channel with God, and there is a listening that's a two-way communication of just simply, Lord, I'm in tune with you, I need you, and I'm trusting in you, and I'm looking to you in this circumstance. It's not chatter, you don't have to be a chatterbox. In fact, if walking in these scriptures gives you a sense of thinking about these scriptures gives you a sense of anxiety, is that what the Lord is after? Where does that come from? That comes from the enemy, doesn't he? I believe the Lord can teach us what this means if we'll ask him, if we'll look to him and say, Lord, help me to understand these things and what they actually mean in practice. Because I know what you want for me is peace, it's not anxiety. And if I'm, if trying to do this is actually giving me anxiety, then it's me trying to be religious. I don't want to be religious, I want to join, I want to get closer to him. And I want to want to get closer to him. And Lord, you're going to have to help me with every bit of it. Is that what he wants? Will he? Yeah, absolutely. Praise God. All right. Rejoice always, pray continually or without giving up, give thanks in all circumstances. Boy, that's what, that takes faith, doesn't it? But is he, is, are the truths that he's given us in his word, are they actually real? Do they apply to me here now? That's part of growing up in faith, isn't it? Is making that choice when those circumstances happen. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I'm going to think of some of the other scriptures I thought about. One of them is, I think it's 1 Peter. Praise God. 1 Peter 4, I believe. All right. I didn't make a list, but anyway. 1 Peter 4, verse 7, the end of all things is near, therefore be alert. Now again, if I'm so bogged down and so busy with earthly concerns, and that's all my, has all my attention, I'm not very alert, am I? I'm not very aware. Now being alert for things

that are needful in the spirit doesn't mean I don't do my stuff. There's a perfect balance that God can bring about, where I can do all the responsibilities that I have, and yet I'm still, I've got this sense, Lord, I need to be in tune with you. And I want my heart ready. If you want to speak to me, I want to be able to hear it. It's that simple. Be alert. So I tell you, what does the devil want to try, want to do to God's people in this hour? Distract us? Put us to sleep? Don't you get that picture in the scriptures? But everybody was, everybody went to sleep. The Lord is warning us, don't do that. Don't let the devil put you to sleep. The end of all things is near, therefore be alert and of sober mind, so that you may pray. Again, he goes right back to the fact that we need to be in communication. We need to be aware and alert, and God can show us what we need. He can talk to us when we need to hear His voice, and He can overshadow us and help us when it's a matter of our growing and our responsibility and our choices in learning. And even when we make mistakes, we can bring them to Him and say, Lord, teach me through this. As I've said many times in the past, help me, Lord, even though I've failed, help me to fail forward. Help me to learn from my mistakes and just grow in You. Praise God, simple truths, aren't they? I think you can go on and on, but I don't want to, I don't want to go beyond. Anyway, look at James chapter 4, one of the scriptures I think I'll refer to. And he talks about people who are living in a very carnal state and squabbling with one another and wanting, wanting things based on selfish desires. But one thing he says in the middle of it is you do not have because you did not ask God. God wants us to look to Him for all the needs of our lives. Yes, we can ask for selfish things, but He wants us to say, Lord, I need you. And I'm asking, and I'm looking, and I'm expecting that when I ask for things that I know are Your will, I know You're going to hear me and help me. Pretty simple, isn't it? But then he goes down and talks about, you know, people who are a friend of the world in two with that and you're the enemy of God, if that's the case, if that's where your heart really is, you are God's enemy. God wants to bring you and make you a friend and a son and a daughter, but he gives us more grace. Anyway, look at verse 7, submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. But here's the part that I was focused on, come near to God and he will come near to

you. Now, it's not a matter of that he's off somewhere, he's right there, but if we're not focused and actually consciously saying, Lord, I need to be in touch with you, then he's just standing there, being ignored. I wonder how much we do that, God help us. But what a promise that is, if we reach out to him, he'll reach back, doesn't mean we're going to be overwhelmed by some feeling necessarily, but I'll tell you, his peace can dwell in that kind of a heart. You know, I'll just refer to a couple of scriptures that we know. Well, let me turn quickly to 1 John 1. These are things you can look up and think about later. But John writes about the relationship that we have and the fellowship, which is not just an outward association, but this is an actual spiritual connection that we have. Because we've been born of the same spirit. If you know Christ and I know Christ, then we are absolutely connected. It's not just that, you know, we get along, we like each other, that should follow. But there is a real connection that's living and he talks about that fellowship. But then the verse, the end of verse, anyway, toward the beginning, the end of verse three, I think it is, and our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. This is a living relationship that we have with him. What does that look like? Then he goes on and said, God is light, in him is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, so now we're talking about walking, aren't we? We're talking about our daily lives. We're living where God can shine the light on anything he wants to in our lives. Lord help me to see the truth, help me to walk in it, to want it. Help me to draw near to you, not afraid of what you're going to shine the light on. But to know that your motive toward wanting to shine the light in my heart is that you

love me and you want to set me free from things that would bind me and keep me from being the person you want me to be. Lord help me. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, what? We have, this is an experiential thing, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. Praise God. Praise God for his heart toward you and toward me. I want to live my life every day with more of a consciousness of him. What do we do? How do we get there? Well, something I wish to hear Brother Thomas say, you start where you're at and just say, Lord help me. And it's not, oh God, I'm not there yet, what's wrong? God can give us peace in the process. I'm reaching out to you, Lord. I know what you want. I'm not there. I'm still a little kid here. I've got a lot to learn. Help me to grow. But help me to reach out to your love. And then maybe like David prayed, search me, try me, know what's in my heart. I forget all the language, but lead me in the way everlasting. You believe that's what he wants for you? This morning, right now, right here. I know the enemy is talking to a lot of you saying, I don't know about that. It's hard for me to believe he really feels that way about me. Look at me. Well, stop listening to the voice of the enemy.

Start listening to his voice. Look at the cross. Look at the cross. That's just not words. That's deed. That's the ultimate deed where God showed his love for you. Not just for a special ones, but for you and me. I want to respond to that, don't you? And just look to him every day and just learn how to walk with him like Enoch did to a greater degree and just learn and not try to be spiritual. I'm being spiritual. It's not an act, it's just something where we say, Lord, teach me, help me, help me right where I am to walk in that place and enjoy the peace that you promised down in here. And if you need to talk to me, go for it. If you don't, praise God, just help me to walk in what I know and just to learn to make choices and experience sometimes the consequences of making the wrong one, but learn from it and just grow as your child and learn how to be the person that I'm ultimately gonna be, not just what I am in this world, that's irrelevant. You can help me here to be the kind of, to actually live out your life as a responsible citizen of heaven. But I do what I do not just to please men, I do it to please you. Praise God. So many truths in this that are so simple

and yet there's a profoundness in this, isn't it? Isn't this profound that God loves you so much, He wants you to walk with Him in every area of your life to enjoy His peace in a practical sense and just simply grow and honor Him. To Him be the glory. Praise God. I just had a simple little thought come to me as Phil was speaking this morning. You know, he mentioned about technology being a useful tool, but not a good master, I was thinking about, you know, many times we say it or encourage one another, you know, if the Lord speaks to you, puts a thought on your heart, especially if it's about somebody, you know, He brings somebody to your heart, what's one of the things we say? Well, maybe give them a call, you know, or give them a text, you know, just say, hey, I'm thinking about you, I'm praying for you, whatever. But I was just thinking about that, the fact that we can do that, you know, there would have been a point in society where that wasn't such an easy thing to do, right? I mean, you might've had a thought about somebody, but if you're in the middle of work and you might be somewhere you didn't have a phone, because I know it's as hard as it will be for some of our younger ones to believe

that phones used to be not something everybody had. You didn't have one with you at any case, you had to go somewhere where there was one. It was a little bit of a process sometimes to communicate with somebody to even say, hey, how you doing? Or I'm thinking about you, I'm praying about you. But that's become a trivial thing that we can do so easily because technology has changed and that's changed society. And I was just thinking about how, what a blessing it is we can just encourage one another in that way. But that same mindset of, you know, where maybe once we found it hard to communicate with somebody because of technology, now it's very easy. Now, in fact, we're essentially in constant contact with pretty much anybody, right? Anybody on our contacts, anybody we have their number, I can send them a text anytime. And they may not immediately text me back, but I know they're gonna get it, they're gonna see it. If I call somebody, I can leave a message, they can call me back. It's much easier to communicate. And that's the image I had in my mind that God is willing to call us to a mindfulness so that we can talk with him that same way. You know, in the same way, he can put a thought on our heart about somebody.

And now because of technology, it's easy to act on that and encourage somebody. But what about when that gentle voice comes and says, hey, talk to me about it. Hey, spend time with me. Hey, communicate with me. Well, it's just as easy to communicate with him. Now, thankfully with God, his people have always had that privilege, technology or not, throughout the centuries, we've always had that ability to communicate with him instantly. But, you know, that mindset of we're always in contact. It's not some special thing. It doesn't have to be some big event. It doesn't have to be some special effort. It's just constant, it's available. And that's what he's inviting us to this morning. You know, I know there's a devotion that some of us have read where each day, it's like a little short passage about what the Lord would say to us for that day. It's written as though it's the Lord talking to us and it's called Jesus Calling. I know many of you have read that. But when Jesus is calling, we have to be able to hear that so that we can come and listen and respond. And I believe that's what he's encouraging us to do this morning as we walk through the day

and he walks through it with us. As he puts these things on our heart, in the same way you might just think, oh, I need to do such and such. And you might text your wife or your husband about something. God can put something on our heart and say, I need to go to him about that. You know, I need to pray for this person he just put on my heart. I don't even know why they came to my mind, but they did. I'm gonna stop and talk to him about it. I feel the need to come to him. I hear him calling me to communicate. And it's just that easy and just that available. And I believe he wants to make us realize too that he wants that from us because he's the one that initiates this drawing. He's the one who's calling us to him. You know, I thought, because Phil talked about that, sometimes the, I guess, hesitation we might have thinking, oh, I don't know if he really feels that way about me. Can I go like that? But I was thinking about the example of Esther. You remember the situation that came up there where God had arranged sovereignly for her to become, even though she was a Jew, to become the queen of the Persian empire there. And there was a plot that was being hatched by somebody in the government against the Jews,

against his people. there in the Persian Empire, and God had brought it to light, and Esther had been commissioned as the queen to go and speak to the king about this. But there was a, I guess the way their customs were, you couldn't just barge into the throne room any old time, right? You had to be invited. And if you did barge in there uninvited, then you were going to be executed. And the only exception was if you came in and the king extended out his scepter to you in a gesture of, okay, I received this one, it's all right. And Esther, you know, she was nervous because she hadn't had this particular invitation to come, and I don't know what it was, 30 days or whatever it was, and the king was there in court. And so she was worried about needing to go and do this. And she was encouraging people to fast with her and pray with her and sweating bullets. And finally, after three days, she finally worked up the courage, just like, okay, I'm going to go. And if I die, I die. Well, when she went there, what kind of a reception did she find? The king not only extended the scepter out because he was so glad to see her, he said, what do you need? What do you want? Whatever you ask, I'll give you, even if you ask for half the kingdom, it's yours. Sometimes we are like, kind of like Esther, we're sweating bullets about that idea of coming into his presence, really open and just honest and coming in. And yet we find when we get there, that's his question for us. What do you need? What can I do for you? I'm so glad to see you. And I believe he wants to make that real to us this morning so we can enjoy the reality of what we've talked about, that we can talk to him.

We can commune with him two way, right? Phones go texting and phone calls that goes both ways, right? I can, I can send a message to somebody, but they can send a message to me too. God wants to be able to shoot us a text during the day and say, Hey, talk to me about that. Hey, you need me for this. It's a simple thought, but I tell you what, it is a privilege that we have as his children to be able to come boldly to the throne of grace. That is a standing invitation because what does it say? We go there and we find first, again, we may feel our own need, but when we go to the throne of grace, what do we find first? Mercy. But then not only do we have mercy that allows us to come, we are able to find grace to help in time of need. When is that invitation open in times of need? Whether that's need for me, whether that's need for somebody else, whether that's need for a situation, a loved one, there is a standing invitation to come boldly to the throne of grace. And I believe he's extending that love to us today to make that known. And I just thank you. Praise God. I appreciate this morning. Ben was talking about, you know, young people not knowing about, uh, well, having to find a phone. Uh, I remember, uh, several times when I was a young, young person, teenager, trying to find a pay phone to call mom and daddy, tell them I'm running just a little late, but I will be home. And, uh, kind of, I know some of y'all have experienced that, um, and they always told me be home before midnight. You know why? Nothing good happens after midnight.

So anyway, uh, but I do appreciate this. Um, Phil was speaking and then, uh, Ben got up and several things that was said, um, you know, you know, just a closer walk, walking with them, prayer, peace, privilege, all this reminded me of, uh, him, um, you know, and I tell you what, uh, nothing wrong with, uh, the songs we sing this, this day in this day and time, uh, God blesses it. Uh, they are anointing, but I tell you what, some of these old hymns, well, I tell you what, there's a lot of truth in these hymns. I tell you, and God has spoke to the, the writers of this, but, uh, the one I thought about was what a friend we have in Jesus. And I'm, I'm just going to read it and, uh, uh, as they say, get up, speak up, shut up and sit down. So what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege. There's that word privilege again. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace. There's that peace Phil was talking about. We often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. And we know prayer is basically just talking to the Lord, just saying, Lord, I need you today. I need a touch today. I need, I need your strength to help me to get through. Have we trials and temptations? Phil was talking about that, um, this morning. Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so fateful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden? What'd he say about that? Come unto him and he'll give us rest. Are we weak and heavy laden? Cumbered with a load of care. Precious Savior, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise forsaken thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take and shield thee. Thou will find a solace there. And solace is just a comfort. You could say it's a peace. But if you take it to the Lord in prayer, you're going to find a peace there. You're going to find a rest. And I thought about that when Phil and Ben was up speaking and just everything kind of tied together in, uh, at least in my mind with this song. So I just, I appreciate what's come forth today. Um, and I think the Lord is trying to encourage us to have a closer walk with him. Don't, don't forsake these things. It just every once in a while things happen. Say, even like Ben said, I mean, you can just sit there at your desk or walk and say, Lord, you know, I've got this situation. I need your wisdom. I need your peace. I need you. I need thee every hour. It breaks down to every hour, every minute, every second. So anyway, I appreciate this this morning. Amen.