What Are You Trusting God In By: Dr. Pete Norris

Today on Power in the Word They couldn't die guys, they couldn't kill him. He had to give it up. Welcome to Power in the Word. Do you find it hard to trust in Jesus Christ? Well, today Dr. Norris shows us in the Word of God that trusting in God is directly related to meditating and implanting the truths of God's Word in our minds and hearts. This message is going to help you be victorious in this life, so you stay with us. What are you trusting in? In every area of your life, what are you trusting in? What are you trusting in? You know, there's certain areas of our life we trust ourselves, we trust certain areas of our life, we trust situations and circumstances, but I want to ask you tonight, what are you trusting in? What are you not willing to let go of that you want to hold on to because you identify yourself that way? And so I want you to turn to 3 John chapter 1 and I want to start with verse 2 and I want to read a scripture to you that I believe is really a little bit thought-provoking if you listen to it. So, beloved, so he's talking to believers here, right? You're a beloved, right? Is he talking to you? So he said, Beloved, I pray that you may prosper, I pray that you might prosper in all things. So he wants you to prosper, it's his will for you to prosper in everything. Now, one translation says wish, but the Greek word there is not wish. He's not wishing that you'll prosper in all things, he's made it available for you to prosper in all things. And then he goes on to tell you how you're going to prosper in all those things. And be in health. He said, in other words, my will is for you to prosper and be in health.

Now, why did he say that? If you go back to the Jewish customs, you can find out why he said that. Because the word peace or shalom in the actual Hebrew means what? Wealth, health, and peace. So he was saying, my beloved brethren, I wish above all things that you prosper in all things and be in health. But he said that's only going to happen as your head prospers. So the only way you're going to prosper financially, and the only way you're going to prosper in your health, is for your head to change. So if your head don't prosper, your body ain't going to prosper, and your finances ain't going to prosper. So you've got to think differently. Now, we talk about this a lot because it's what a man thinks that he is, Proverbs 23, 7. Whatsoever man thinketh in his heart, that's what he is. But the actual identical Hebrew word there is talking about the mind. It's not about the heart at all. It's about what you've got in your mind. So whatever you've got in your mind is where your life's going to go. So he said, I pray that we all prosper in all things, in all things. That means in your marriage, in your home, in raising your children, in your finances, in your health, in every area of your life he wants you to prosper. In all things. But you're only going to prosper based on your what? Your soul prospering. And then he puts a period there. But look at verse 3. For I rejoiced greatly, God said, I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that was in you. In other words, God rejoices when truth gets in you.

That's why he said I'm the way, the truth, and the life, John 14, 6. There's no other way to the Father except through truth. So the Bible said in John 17, 17 that the word of God is truth. So if I want to know truth, where's it at? On the inside of me. So I rejoiced greatly, brother, when the brethren came and testified and told me that the truth was in you. Turn to somebody and say the truth's in me. Someone ask you a question. Does God rejoice over you? Yeah, because the truth's in you. Just as you, just as you walk in that truth. Now listen, wherever your head is, is where your walk's going to go. You're walking out exactly what you believe. God said I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and told me about how much truth was in you. Now let me ask you something. So evidently they could see the truth in these brothers because the brothers came and told them, Look, John, look at God. There's truth in these guys. Just as you walk in that truth. Now there's a period there too. But now look at verse 4. I have no greater joy in life than to hear that my children walk in truth. So it's no greater joy to God than you and me walking in truth. Now he's not going to do it for us, guys. We have to do it. We have to walk in that truth that we believe. have, but you're walking in the level of truth that you have in your life. Your physical walk is based on the level of truth you have in your life. You don't have to sit around and think about what you're going to say if you've filled yourself with the right things. So John was saying, I want you to prosper. God

takes great joy in your prospering. I thank God that he told me how you guys are walking in this truth, but there's no greater joy in the world for God than for here that John, that Larry here, is walking in truth. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 15. Now watch this. This is Paul talking to the Corinthian church. For though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ. Now how many of you listen to different teachers? Yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. In other words, he's telling the Corinthians, I want you to the Lord through the gospel that I taught you. Now you have a bunch of people who's going to come in and tell you stuff and get stuff from them, but Paul said I'm a father to you. Now look at verse 16. Therefore I urge you, Paul said, imitate me. Now watch this a minute. Now think about that a minute. Don't I sound a little bit arrogant? But Paul said, imitate me. Isn't that what Paul said? Imitate me. Isn't that what Christ said? Look at verse 17. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. In other words, what he's saying is, I want you to imitate me because I'm gonna send Timothy and he's gonna reveal to you some stuff that I've been revealing to him for you to walk in and imitate what I'm what I'm preaching and what I'm saying. In other words, Paul's telling, be just like me. Now that don't jive with us too good really, does it? If you think about it, that sounds a little bit arrogant, don't it? But he said, imitate me. Now watch this. So let's go to First Corinthians 11 and 1. Paul said again to the Corinthian church, imitate me just as I imitate Christ. He didn't say just as I imitate Jesus. He said as I imitate the resurrection. Imitate me just as I imitate him. So what is he telling? Paul said, be like me. Now think about that. When you get that in the concept of your mind, that sounds a little bit arrogant. But Paul's telling the Corinthian church over and over, I want you to the Lord, I preach the gospel to you, now imitate me. Be just like me. Do the same thing I've told you to do. Let's go to John 17, 17. Sanctify them by your what? Sanctify them by your truth. In other words, set them apart, Lord, by your what? Now the only

thing that's gonna set us apart is truth. That's why Jesus said, I'm the way, the life. How many of you know that's the three doors going into the tabernacle? The first one, the outer court, is the way. The inner court is the truth. And the holy of holy is the life. So we see that that's a parallel of what he's trying to tell the church. He said, now I've set you apart for such a time as this. I've set you apart in Christ by your truth. Now listen, let's read it again. Sanctify them by your truth, John is saying. In other words, I want them to have the truth of the Lord, because your word is what? So how are they gonna be set apart? How are we gonna be sanctified or set apart? We're gonna be set apart by truth. What's the truth? So you're not gonna be set apart by anything, anybody's preaching. You're gonna only be set apart by the word. Which is who? Okay, go with me to Psalms 119, 142. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is? So what's the law? That's not talking about the law of the Ten Commandments. It's not talking about the law in an old covenant. It's about the Word of God is the truth. So if your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth. So if he's everlasting righteousness, and you're everlasting righteousness, that means your righteousness never ends. So the Word of God is what? Truth. So who am I gonna trust in? Am I gonna trust what I see, what I hear, what I think about, what I feel? But I'm gonna show you something that's powerful in this, and this is probably one of the... I say this every Wednesday night, but this is probably one of the most... What's one of the best messages you need to hear? You need to get ahold of this revelation I'm teaching you tonight, because I'm telling you, this is what's gonna change your life. I want you to go with me to Psalms 119 verse 151. You are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are truth. Now, how many of you know the law is the truth? But this is not what he's talking about. This is David in the Psalms. 119 is the best Psalms in the world. You need to read this. 160, 176 verses in it. It's broke down into five different books symbolizing... The first five books of the Bible, by the way.

But we've got to understand that Psalms 119, he's telling us, and all your commandments are truth. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal. All those things are truth. Right? Everything in the Word is truth. But you can't live the law, you're living under grace now. So he said, you are near, O Lord. Lord changes the emphasis from Old Testament text to New Testament text. So go with me to Joshua 1 and 8. The spiritual law that God has given that is the key to every other spiritual law is called the law of meditation. How many of you believe in laws? The law of gravity? How many of you know the law of gravity works? If I jump off of this, it's going to happen. The law of lift can override gravity and take a plane up in the air that weighs thousands of pounds. Every law that God has designed works every time. They all work every single time. But God's given you a spiritual law that you need to get a hold of, and here it is. This is the book of the law, talking about the Bible, the truth. Shall not depart from your mouth, but you should meditate. Here's the key. Meditate. Say meditate. What does meditate mean? The word meditate is to murmur it over and over and over and over and over and over and over to yourself. In other words, he said, don't let this depart from you. Now think about it a minute. The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you should meditate. Meditate. When? On it what? Day, in the day, in it day and night, that you might observe to do according to all that's written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. Now look, God don't say he's going to do anything. He said you meditating on it, you're going to make your way prosperous.

Now what did he tell you back just a minute ago about what prosperity? It was his will for you to have prosperity. But what do you have to do? Change the way you think. If your mind don't prosper, then you're not going to prosper. How do you prosper? You prosper by getting this truth inside of you to where no longer can you respond to anything that's untruth. You only can respond to truth. Jesus never had to deal with untruth. He only could respond to truth because he was full of truth. So untruth was not, listen, he couldn't die guys. They couldn't kill him. He had to give it up. He was so full of life. He didn't know what death was. He didn't know how to die. We haven't learned how to live. But look what he said. And then you'll make your way prosperous. And then you'll have good success. You'll make your way prosperous. You'll have good success. How? By the level of truth you have. The difference in you and somebody that's a millionaire, what's the difference? They know something you don't know. And what God's trying to do is he's trying to bring us to a place in the body of Christ to where we're more than just barely getting by, but we're living in abundance. And he said, I'll prosper you and I'll prosper your health and I'll prosper every part of your life if you'll get truth in your head and meditate on it. Meditate on it. Feed yourself with it day after day after day after day after day after day after day. And as you feed yourself with the Word of God, the truth will come alive to where there won't even be an option for you to make untruth. You can't even respond to untruth because you're so full of truth. So turn to somebody and say, I'm full of truth. So who's going to make your way prosperous and who's going to give you good success? You are. Now watch this. Go with me to Psalms chapter 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scornful.

Verse 2. But his delight is in the Word of God. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates on it day, and he meditates on it night, and he don't feed himself with garbage. He don't feed himself with all the things that they're hearing and saying on TV, but he puts himself in a place to where he's so full of truth that he don't... Listen, you can't even recognize lie because it's not a part of who you are. You won't have to pray about, is this truth or is this untruth? You'll know truth because this is the only thing that's true. Now look at verse 3. I want you to see verse 3. He shall be like a tree. Now I want you to see something here. Why, right in the middle of the sentence, have you got a capital P? And so I was reading this just a few weeks ago, and I said, Lord, I don't understand. Why is it a capital P? Is that a mistake in the Bible? He said, no, you got to understand what planted means. And I said, Lord reveal. He said, I planted a garden, and I planted, and I placed man in the garden. He said, I've done everything for man, and then I placed him, or planted him in the garden, as the Bible says. He said, that's what you are. You're like a tree, planted. What did the Bible say? We're trees of righteousness. And we're like trees planted by the rivers of water. Water represents what? The Holy Spirit that brings forth its fruit in its season. What season? The season you have truth for. See, listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. The seasons don't determine you. You determine the seasons. Well, pastor, are we talking about spring, summer, and fall? That's not what he's talking about. He's come out your season that you have truth to manifest and bring into the now

Whose leaves will not wither and if whatever he does shall prosper whatever he does It doesn't say if he does the right thing all the time It says he's like a man a tree planted by the rivers of a living water brings forth fruit in its season in its season in its season in Its season in its turn to my says my season Now what season are you in you're in the season that you have truth for? You're in the season that you have truth for you're in the season that you have truth for If you if you don't have truth for this season the seasons gonna pass you right by So what we do is we get discouraged and frustrated and disappointed because we've been believing God believing God believe it And he don't do it in 13 seconds But the reason he's ain't doing he's waiting for you to get to the place to receive it You know God gave me a prophetic word Back in 2005 and here's what he told me and I wrote it down I read it just last night about 430 this morning I was reading this thing because I got a book I keep beside me and I read all the time About things that's been saying he said this to me He said I've got a I've got a people waiting for you if you'll come up to their level He said people people are waiting for you. I've got people waiting for you. If you'll come up to their level Is he telling you to got to come up to another level You can't stay where you are. If you do you're only gonna get what you've been getting But if you don't come up you're not gonna get what you just what you're looking for because truth produces something bigger every time Because it took truth for Jesus to go to the cross it took truth for him to come out of the grave so he had a different truth when he came out than he did when he went in and He was truth himself. So you and I have truth for the season that we're in turn to my say it's my season So meditate means to talking to oneself. In other words, talk to yourself turn somebody talk to you said Somebody need to talk to you said have you ever ride that road talk to you said have you ever answer? I Talk and answer I talk and answer because I know when I answer it's the Holy Spirit speaking to me Took me a long time to learn that one So y'all ain't figure that out because y'all think y'all crazy if y'all ain't got an answer for what you've been sprayed for but you Are the answer to what you just prayed for?

You're not looking for the answer. You are the answer You're waiting for God to do it. He's got to put it inside of you for you to discover it Oh, come on somebody you need to get in this ballgame So you it's what you're going through is not is this only a temporary thing is it's subject to change because it's temporal but eternal Things are the things you can't see and you ain't felt them yet But you know see everything you feel is gonna come into your life and what you can't feel you won't ever have It's something about feeling You said what do you mean by that? You feel it feel it what it looks like to ride in a new car feel what it looks like to drive something feel What it looks like to get around right people feel what it's look like feel yourself around the right folks feel yourself Doing the right thing. He said pastor you do my mind of a matter. I'm talking about spirit of a physical So what's this? Joshua and the children of Israel were going to possess the promised land and by meditating he told him he said meditate on it day and night Today we must possess the promises of God by operating the same law you got to operate the same law What do you tell Joshua do? Meditate upon it day and not meditate upon it day and not meditate upon it day and not meditate upon it day and not Meditate upon it listen to me do me a do me a little timetable Do me a little timetable take your 24 hours period and see what you spend the most time doing Now most of y'all sleep at least seven eight hours, so a third of your 24 hours gone So if you sleep six in a 25% of your day is gone But think about it most of you spend seven or eight hours a day some of you She will got a tough job and you farmers you work 10 hours 12 hours a day So if you work 10 or 12 hours a day you sleep six hours a day Then 75% of your 24 hours is gone Now you do that over and over and over and over and over Now if you can throw in there about an hour a day spending with the Lord or just meditating on the Lord That's not even a tenth of your day I'm not trying to put you in any guilt trips. I'm just say keep a record for a week of your time And every time that you spend with the Lord log it in

See how much time you spend with him in a week And I guarantee you if you do that, that's what changed my life because the Lord spoke this to me in 1986 And he said Pete keep a record of your time you spend with me log in and log out You know, I was shocked after the first week Because not much logging in it was not much logging out Now I was thinking about him at times, but I was thinking about him Now I was thinking about him at times, but it was on the fly. It was on the fly. It was on the fly What if I only thought of my wife Anita on the fly? What if I didn't sit down to eat supper with her what if I didn't lay with her every night What if I didn't spend time with her? What if I didn't talk to her? What if I just got her on the fly? What if I was riding down the road in my car and I say Lord, thank you for thank you for Anita Lord, glory to God. We wouldn't have a relationship with me thanking God for Anita We have a relationship when I spend time with Anita Are you You see what I'm trying to say? This is not a condemning message. Please don't take it that way. But you're going to get out of anything what you put in it. And I'm not saying this has nothing to do with salvation. It has nothing to do with salvation. But I want to know this man more tonight when I go to bed than I did when I got up this morning. I want to know something about him that I don't know. And so I want to spend time with him. I want to hear his voice. I want to know what's going on in his world because that's the world I want to live in. I'm going to go there to live forever so I'm practicing now. Let's go to John 15 and 7. And Jesus said to the Jews, If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you will. The word ask is make a demand. Now the word ask here is like going to a bank. And it's not holding the gun and making the demand on them to give you the money that you ain't got in the bank. But it's going to the bank and making the demand.

If you got a thousand dollars in the bank, say I want to get eight hundred dollars of it. They've got to give you your eight hundred dollars because it's your money. That's what he's talking about here, making the demand on the Lord. Hey, look, I know what my rights are. I've come to collect my rights. He said if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask what you desire. What you desire, what you desire and they'll be done for you. Not what you need, not what you want, but what you desire. If you continue in his word. How many of you has God ever give you something and you didn't even ask for it? I don't never remember praying in my life for a wife. Never in my life. Did I pray to ever have a family? Never did I pray to have a wife. Never did I pray to have children. Never. God bless me in spite of my ignorance. I want to have everything today that's mine. That my father has provided for me. And when I get there, he's going to say, well Pete, you know what? You could have had this buddy and you could have had this and you could have had this. But you know, I tried to show you in the scripture, but you wouldn't take the time to listen. Go to John 8. And Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him. If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. Now there's a period there. If you abide in my word, what does that mean? That means live in my word. Let that be the source of your life. Let that be the strength of who you are.

Look at 32. And you shall know the truth. And you shall know the truth. And you shall know the truth. Now you see, you read that a different way than I read that. I don't read that as I'm going to know his truth. I'm going to know the truth. I'm going to know the truth because he's the truth. I want to know him. And the truth that's in him will make me free. But it's not going to make me free just because I've heard the truth. The truth is going to make me free when I know the truth. When I know that man. When I spend time with that man. When I'm along with that man. When I understand the moves of that man and the desires of that man. We ought to get to a place. And every day this is my prayer. Lord, I want to think like you think. I want whatever moves you to move me. And if it don't move you, I don't want it to move me. And crisis and situations in our lives doesn't move him. It only moves us. Compassion moves him. Desire moves him. Love moves him. Go to 1 Corinthians 4 and 4. So what are you trusting in? Whose mind the God of this age has blinded. Who do not believe the least the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

Who is the image of God should shine on them. Then watch this. Whose mind the God of this age. Who's the God of this age? The devil. Has blinded. Has blinded. Has blinded. See, some people just want to be saved. Some people just want to go to heaven. God's a fire extinguisher. And they just want to go to heaven. I'm not looking to heaven. I'm not looking to go anywhere. I want truth. I want to know this man with truth. I want to sleep with truth. I want to be truth. I want to speak truth. I want everything that comes out of my mouth to be truth. I want to be so confident in truth that I can't even comprehend or understand a different avenue of obstacle of anything but truth. Come into 2 Corinthians 4 and 18. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary. That means they are subject to change. But the things that are not seen, those are eternal. See, you're not going to see truth with your physical eyes. You're only going to know truth in this eternal realm. Truth is not something I feel. Truth is who I am and what I belong to.

Truth is not a decision I make. Truth is who made a decision for me. So now... I don't get an opportunity to not know truth, I have an opportunity to be truth. So I'm not looking a revelation out of a scripture, I'm looking the revelator of the scripture. So I want to be so much like Him that you can't tell us apart. So when you're talking to me, you're talking to Him because we're the only ones that He's ever going to see on the earth. So when Jesus is not coming to here to preach again, He's coming here to light our lives and to illuminate us that the Father is revealed out of everything we do. And we don't worry about whether we're right or wrong, we're just speaking truth. We're so full of truth, wrong is not an option. My dad used to tell me all the time, as long as you give yourself an option, you'll never succeed. If you give you an option or excuse for failure, you'll never succeed in prosperity and favor. Think about it a minute. What are you willing to do that truth will be revealed in you? Are you truth? Or does sometimes you make the right decisions or sometimes you miss the right decisions? Let's go to Psalms 143 verse 5. I remember the days of old. I meditated on all your works. I muse on the work of your hands. In other words, I ponder on it. David said, look, I remember, Lord. I remember the days in the past. I remember when I was whipping that lion, tiger, and bear. Oh, my. I remember when I went and took out Goliath. But if he hadn't won the battle with that lion, tiger, and bear, he would have never been in public with Goliath. And all of a sudden, here's a 19-year-old boy and they put him out there and he said, I can take him. He said, all I want to know is what I get when I whip him.

He said, well, you're going to get the king's daughter and you're going to get the wealth. He said, well, get it ready and go to the bank and draw it out because I'm coming. And he shot Goliath and then he got in the middle of it and he cut his head off and he held it up in the air. And everybody knew then that David meant business. David didn't have no wisdom. David didn't have an insight. He just had a revelation. Why? Because he had meditated on the Lord. He had been to a prophet named Samuel and Samuel come to Jesse and said, look, you got a son here. And your son's going to be the king. And he brought his seven sons out and the seven sons thought, well, he's the one of them. Why? Because David's mama wasn't who he was married to. Go be to God. And so all of a sudden, he told him, he said, this right here, this old red-headed freckle-faced boy is going to be the king. And so he went and sent him right back to the sheep. And he looked after the sheep and took after the sheep and cared about the sheep and looked after the sheep. But he was meditating with the Lord. He was learning about the Lord. Why? Because if he read, why was David looking after the sheep? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. See, he understood. Once he understood, listen to me, once he understood what the shepherd really did, he became the shepherd. So he was the shepherd to the sheep. And once he looked after them sheep, God could make him king of Judah and he could be a praiser. Then he learned how to praise.

And then he made him the king of Israel. See, you can't be a king until you learn how to praise in the middle of your stuff. Thank you for joining us today at Power in the Word. All of us here at Harvest Fellowship Church want you to know that God is not mad with you, but he loves you so very much. And he has a plan for your life. Please feel free to contact us here at Harvest Fellowship Church at our website, HarvestFellowshipChurch.net. So until next week, please remember, there's power in the word.